HOLIDAYS CAN BE DANGEROUS FOR PETS
Holidays are especially hazardous for pets. Tinsel, when swallowed, can lacerate an animal’s bowels. Chocolate contains a chemical that is toxic to dogs. Table scraps are often too rich for pets and can cause pancreatitis. To discuss these and other timely holiday pet tips, contact Dr. Veronika Kiklevich (Dr. “K” as she prefers to be known), one of the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital’s community practice veterinarians.
Contact: Veronika Kiklevich, WSU Veterinary Hospital
Phone: 509/335-0711
STUDIES SHOW 15 PERCENT OF DOGS HAVE BAD HEARTS
Studies now show up to 15 percent of all dogs seen by veterinarians have heart disease. Do you know what the signs and symptoms are? Often a dog that seems to just be getting older and slowing down is actually suffering in silence with a completely treatable condition. Dr. Anthony Tobias is a board-certified veterinary cardiologist at the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital and one of only three in the Pacific Northwest.
Contact: Anthony Tobias, WSU Veterinary Hospital
Phone: 509/335-0711
WSU ROBOTICS STUDENTS PART OF WORLD BALLOON TRY
Several WSU Robotics club members went to Mojave, Calif. in November to help aviators Dick Rutan and Richard Abruzzo get ready to fly the Global Hilton Hot Air Balloon around the world.
Engineering students Mike Vinje, Paul Daily, Frank Faultersack and Mark Fuller helped the team engineer a robot that points the solar cells toward the sun. The aircraft will depend completely on solar energy to recharge batteries for the non-stop world flight, which launches sometime between January and March from Albuquerque, N.M, as weather dictates. The Robotics teammates basically were enlisted through Vinje, who has worked with the Ratans since June. The particular robot they devised is an integrated electronics systems that runs the motors that move the solar panels.
The sky-room is a hermetically-sealed capsule that will fly on the edge of the stratosphere. Its pressurization system is adapted from those used on early space flights. For about two weeks the pair will live in the pressurized capsule with a slightly increased percentage of oxygen. The 170-foot balloon will cruise at 32,000 to 36,000 feet, and fly west-to-east around the world between the 30th and 50th parallels to break existing distance and duration records. Rutan also flew the Voyager plane non-stop around the world in 1986 without refueling. The winter jet stream will propel the 9- to 14-day journey. Rutan says “the helium that provides the needed lift cools when the sun goes down, and the balloon starts to fall. But our Roziere balloon system contains a hot air cone beneath the helium cell. At night we can fire burners to heat the air and expand the helium the way the sun does during the day. This technology will allow us to maintain our altitude in the jet stream after dark.”
Contacts: Paul Dailey or Frank Faultersack, CEA
Phone: 509/334-4532
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