Thanks to the Super Bowl, the weekly Columbia College Student Council meeting was moved from the trusty Satow room to the Student Government Office Area – but CCSC was ready to talk smoking bans and housing arrangements.

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Courtesy of the LDX Team

Michael Mauel, Columbia Professor of Applied Physics, and his MIT collaborators were able to use magnetic force fields from a levitating magnet to confine high energy found in plasma, thus demonstrating the principle of fusion in a laboratory setting. A few weeks ago, their findings were published in Nature Physics.

Fusion, the process responsible for energy production from the sun, occurs when two deuterium (heavy hydrogen) ions come together at very high temperatures. However, at exceedingly high temperatures, “100 collisions will result in only one fusion event,”according to Mauel.

Thus, confining fusion in the laboratory setting has often been an endeavor that physicists have sought for many years. Mauel often marvels at a photograph of the Northern Lights, a spectacle of colored lights that circle the night sky due to fusion and always wondered if the concepts of fusion can be recapitulated in the laboratory. Harnessing the energy from fusion makes it an instrumental way to produce large amounts of clean energy compared to its fission counterpart which produces radioactive wastes. (more…)

Could Roadrunner be far behind?

Three coyotes were spotted in front of Lewisohn Hall this morning, according to an e-mail sent out by Barnard Public Safety.

911 was contacted, and NYPD responded, according to the e-mail. NYPD saw one of the animals and recognized it as a coyote. The coyote that the NYPD spotted walked behind the Schapiro Center for Engineering and Physical Science Research and is believed to have left campus.

In addition to the coyote identified by the NYPD, an unconfirmed sighting was called into CU Facilities at around 10 AM. “All members of the community are advised not to approach these animals,” Barnard Director of Public Safety Dianna M. Pennetti said.

Urban coyote sightings have apparently been on the rise in the past few years.

Spectator put in a call to Public Safety, but the office had  no new information about the coyote sightings or why only Barnard students have received the e-mail alert. Public Safety confirmed that the NYPD had left the campus, and Spectator was told to “keep safe.”

Anyone who sees a coyote is encouraged to call Columbia Public Safety  at 212-854-5555 or Barnard Public Safety at 212-854-3362.

University spokesperson Victoria Benitez confirmed this afternoon that Columbia owns the building involved in yesterday’s reported elevator shaft death. The University had no further statement.

Yesterday, ABC News and WPIX reported that a man fell four stories to his death down an elevator shaft in a building on 129th Street believed to be owned by Columbia.

Information on the identity of the man or the specific building is not yet available.

A man died after falling 40 feet down an elevator shaft this afternoon in a building on 129th Street that is believed to be owned by Columbia, according to WPIX.

The man was treated at the scene, where he was found on top of the elevator, and was rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital, ABC News reported. He was declared dead on arrival.

The building was not identified, but was apparently under construction at the time.

There was a cupcake crackdown at the Tuesday night meeting of Community Board 7, which represents the Upper West Side.

The full board voted down Magnolia Bakery’s renewal of its sidewalk café application, with members saying that the café on Columbus Avenue takes up too much sidewalk space and doesn’t provide enough tables.

“No cupcakes for any of you,” Transportation Committee co-chair Andrew Albert said.

Some of the meeting’s less mouth-watering presentations, resolutions, and announcements:

• Air pollution worries: The Upper West Side is at the heart of the No. 6 and No. 4 heating oil problems in New York, according to Paul Reale of the Green Committee. Those two “dirty” heating oils produce 87 percent of the city’s soot pollution, which can cause lung disease and death, according to a report he shared. “This is arguably ground zero for this problem,” he said.
• Tax help for theaters: The board passed a resolution to encourage the city to pass real estate tax credits for nonprofit theaters. Theaters support neighborhood small businesses and attract cultural workers, CB7 chair Mel Wymore said, and this would help halt the “alarming trend” of theater closings.
• Crackdown on “illegal” hotels: Progress is being made, said Michael Kaplan of State Assembly member Richard Gottfried’s office. A bill is being introduced by the mayor’s office that would prohibit “Class A,” or residential buildings, from being used as hotels or hostels. “This will give the city the enforcement tools it needs,” he said. Thirty buildings that have been used as hotels for decades but are still zoned as Class A buildings will be given two years to shut their doors to the suitcase crowd.
• Hospital overcrowding possible: The possible closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village could have patients spilling over into other Manhattan hospitals, Kaplan said. A representative for State Senator Tom Duane said the governor may step in to sustain St. Vincent’s.
• Protests against student MetroCard cuts: Sixteen thousand petitions from angry parents and students were delivered by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s office to the MTA office last week, according to Stringer liaison Corey Peterson.