Wednesday, August 4, 197!6 TH IHIGAN DAILY Page Seven Wednsda, Auust4, 976 HE ICHIAN AIL Weird Martian soil activity Strange illness still unidentified probably not PASADENA, Calif. (P)-Viking biologists believe there is "al- most zero" chance that strange soil activity being detected by the robot lander is due to Mar- tian life, a scientist said yes- terday. Most Viking biologists are now convinced that a chemical pro- cess triggered by sunlight fall- ing on the dusty soil of Mars is producing results in Viking's minilaboratory that mimic life processes, said Dr. Frederick Brown. "THE DATA have almost zero chance of being a message about life," said Brown, a member of the Viking biology flight team. Viking officials have said in recent days they simply don't know whether the puzzling re- sults sent back by the robot lab, which is studying a Martian soil sample, are due to life or not. But Brown, Viking biologist for TRW Systems, manufacturer of the automated laboratory, said the prevailing view among the scientists is that life is not the cause of .the experimental results. HE PREDICTED that this view would be confirmed by an organic analysis of a fresh soil sample scooped up Tuesday by Viking's mechanical arm. Brown said the oxidizing effect of the supposed chemical pro- cess would constantly destroy organic materials in the soil. Thus the organic analysis should find "almost no organics" in the soil sample, said Brown. That analysis will be completed later this week. If the chemical theory is true, said Brown, "that says the chances for life on Mars go down," at least in the area where Viking 1 is located. A second Viking is to land Sept. 4 at a site farther north. BROWN explained that the suspected chemical process is so strong that "carbon-based life ought to be torn up very quickly." Viking scientists have been hotly pursuing the puzzling clues that turned up soon after the Martian soil sample was dump- ed into the lander's miniaturized laboratories last week. The experiments showed, first, a surprisingly high amount of oxygen in the soil, and second, a rapid and immediate outpour- ing of carbon gas from the soil after a nutrient was added to it. (Continued from Page 3) another state health official said bacteria could be the cause. A virus enters a body cell and attacks from the inside while a bacteria attacks from the outside. Meanwhile, representatives of the 41st International Eucharis- tic Conference, a week-long gathering of one million Catho- lics from around the world, said they planned no changes in any activities. The White House announced President Ford still planned to attend the confer- ence on Sunday. THE 100 STATE and federal researchers working nonstop on the problem still don't know what causes the flu-like dis- ease. Its symptoms include fever, congested lungs and chest pains. Bachman admitted that it still isn't known how the disease was transmitted, but he said food or drink were not likely possibilities. Researchers were at a loss to explain why only the people at the convention contracted the disease. The ages of the dead ranged from 39 to 82. . Whatever the disease, Bach- man said, the state is readying the machinery for a mass in- oculation program once the agent is isolated. State officials said last week they could be- gin a swine flu inoculation pro- gram on short notice. "LET'S HOPE it's not some- thing new," said Dr. Jay Satz, head of the State Health De- partment's immunology divi- sion. If it is a new type of dis- ease, it could take several weeks to develop a serum, he said. Bachman said officials think the disease was confined to the estimated 10,000 persons who attended the state American Legion convention in Philadel- phia July 21-24, but cautioned that "it is too early to discount the possibility" that conven- tioneers who didn't get sick may spread the disease. There are no documented cases of people getting the dis- ease who did not attend the convention, Bachman said. MANY OF THE latest vic- tims come from southeastern Pennsylvania. Most of the ear- lier cases were from central or western Pennsylvania. TONIGHT AT 8 P.M. IN POWER CENTER Palestinian camp evacuated BEIRUT, Lebanon (P-Under a shaky truce, the International Red Cross evacuated 91 badly wounded persons yesterday from the besieged Palestinian refugee camp at Tal Zaatar. In Geneva, the International Red Cross Committee said 150 more wounded will be evacuated from the camp today. AN ANNOUNCEMENT by the Swiss-based humanitarian organ- ization said the situation of the camp was "dramatic." "Some among them require surgery, which was impossible inside the camp, and have been waiting for weeks for medical treatment of their wounds," the committee said. A convoy of two ambulances and nine trucks entered the battered camp on Beirut's out- skirts, loaded the wounded and carried them back through the Christian sector and across the no man's land that divides Bei- rut to a hospital in the Moslem- controlled part of the city. WHILE the convoy wound through the narrow streets of the Christian district, scores of people gathered in the streets and on balconies, mostly in si- lence, to watch it pass. As it crossed into the Moslem sector, Palestinian guerrillas and other Moslem soldiers cut loose with a frenzied barrage of gunfire in the air, celebrating the rescue of the wounded. The evacuees were the first of some 4,000 wounded the Red Cross hopes to take from the camp, which has been under siege by Christian rightist forces for six weeks. YESTERDAY'S operation took nearly seven hours from start to finish, with the Red Cross convoy spending about 3% hours actually inside Tal Zaatar. During the period, there were sporadic exchanges of gunfire around edges of the camp. But the Christian militia that had prevented five previous evt-cua- tion efforts generally abided by the truce negotiated by the Red Cross and the Arab League, and signed by the leaders of all Christian factions. Christian officers refused, how- ever, to let the Red Cross take one truckload of medical sup- plies and water into the camp. A TENSE moment came just after the convoy, with Red Cross chief delegate Jean Hoefliger in the lead car, left Tal Zaatar and was waiting to pass a checkpoint manned by troops of several Christian factions. A few of the soldiers got into a heated argument apparently about who was going to check the trucks to verify that they contained only wounded. Two of them suddenly began firing their automatic rifles wildly, sending newsmen and other observers diving for cover. The convoy was delayed for about an hour near the check- point and a Red Cross source said it was because the Chris- tians, in checking the wounded, found five who could walk and forced them to get off the trucks. But after a long discussion, they allowed the five to board the trucks again and leave with the convoy. Kathy E. Badgerow portrays the role of May Daniels, one of three vaudevillians who head for Hollywood in the Michigan Repertory's production of "ONCE IN A LIFE- TIME." Tickets for this "delightful comedy" are avail- able through the Power Center Box Office M-F 12:30-5 p.m. For more information call (313) 763-3333. -TONIGHT-- VISIONS OF EIGHT (1973) in honor of the 1976 Otympics in Montrea1, we're showing a splenaid documentary of the 1972 games in Munich. VISIONS OF EIGHT is so named because each of eight of the world's top directors (Arthur Penn, KsonIchikawa, Claude Leloush, Mai Zetterling, etc.) picked an event to itm. An exciting documen- tary even if you don't like sports. The camera work is dazzling -see how directors approach the events of their own cinematic styles. AND. A ANGELL HALL 7 & 9 P.M. $1.25 UW -PLUS- ST UD ET N IG H T 50c Admission With Student I.D WEEKLY HOURS: 9 p.m.-2 a.m. HOURS Fri. & Sat. 8 p.m.-2 a.m. U 516 E. LIBERTY 994-5350 evENDS TOMORROW te ~Va/10:20, 12:15,2:20, 1015,120 52:0 , 4:30,7:15 9:45 q 4:006:30,91 JOHN WAYNE LAUREN BACALL "THE P SHOOTISr' > G """"""