The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Friday, September 23, 2011 - 5

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, September 23, 2011 - 5

VIGIL
From Page 1
their testimony, alleging that
the police coerced them into
testifying against Davis. Mul-
tiple public figures, including
Pope Benedict XVI and former
President Jimmy Carter, have
also expressed doubt about the
verdict.
"We are in a judicial system
where you are innocent until
proven guilty," Brown said. "But

he had to prove his innocence."
Michael Dalton, assistant sec-
retary of the University's chap-
ter of the NAACP, said the event
was important for campus unity.
"As a people we need to come
together more often," Dalton
said. "Regardless of skin color,
we are all one people."
Brown said the event was
organized on the "spur of the
moment," but she said she was
pleased with the event. She
added that she said she hopes
the vigil will raise awareness

about a judicial system that is
"deeply flawed."
If only one person's opinion
about the judicial system and
the death penalty changed as
a result of the vigil, it would be
a success, Brown said. Brown
also stressed the importance of
action among students instead
of just talking about the Davis
case.
"You made your Twitter sta-
tus about (the Troy Davis case),
but nowlet's do somethingabout
it," Brown said.


MARS
From Page 1
Martinez, who is a research fel-
low inthe AOSS department, said
brine - a liquid combination of
water and highly concentrated
salt - could exist in Mars's envi-
ronment because of its unique
anti-freeze properties.
"Brines make the freezing
point of water drop," Martinez
said. "It's like when we add salt to
streets to melt snow."
Elliot is currently designing
the experimental chamber where
Mars-like conditions will be rep-
licated. The researchers plan to
create a chamber with tempera-
tures as low as -120 degrees Cel-
sius and extremely low pressures,
using the same Martian soil com-
position found in the Phoenix

landingsite, Elliot said.
Though Renno said he is- con-
fident his team will be able to
replicate brine in Mars-like con-
ditions, he said he is uncertain
about the success of the second
portion of his project, which is
to determine whether or not the
brines can sustain life.
He added that it is common for
brines to support life on Earth
in places such as deserts and dry
lakes.
"If you go to Death Valley,
there are dry lakes that have
brine water. There are shrimps,
called brine shrimps, that can
survive in these places," he said.
But Renno said examples of
life flourishing in brines on Earth
do not necessarily mean life can
exist in brines on Mars.
"On Earth, (microbes) would
be at much higher temperatures

than on Mars ... some of the salts
we found on Mars can be liquid
at -70 degrees Celsius. The chal-
lenge for us is finding microbes
that can survive in brines at
Mars-like temperatures," Renno
said.
But Elliot said even if the team
finds evidence that microbes
could survive in brines in Mars-
like conditions on Earth, it's a
"jump" to assume that microbes
actually exist on Mars. He added
that if the researchers discover
any evidence of microbes sur-
viving in brines in Mars-like
conditions, the finding would
potentially fuel a new generation
of space missions to Mars.
"We would need more rov-
ers, landers, more missions to
the polar regions. If you want to
find life on Mars, you need to go
there," Elliot said.

The launch of the hot air balloon on North Campus yesterday was delayed an hour due to gusty winds.

PROPOSALS initiative aimed at improving competition is also funded by
the state's economic standing. other organizations including
From Page 1 The funding for the New Econ- the Michigan Economic Devel-
omy Initiative comes from local opment Corporation, Business
Economy Initiative for South- corporations, which collec- Leaders for Michigan and the
east Michigan, a philanthropic tively donate $100 million. The University Research Corridor.
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BALLOON
From Page 1
in previous years, according to
Zollweg.
"More freshmen were on
North Campus last fall than ever
before," Zollweg said.
The Go North! Initiative
started with the North Campus
vibrancy committee, comprised
of individuals from several enti-
ties of the University who came
together to discuss ways to
improve student life on North
Campus. Zollweg said the initia-
tive took into consideration stu-
dent criticism from a forum in
April called "The North Campus
Rant: The Good, The Bad, and
The Dude!" and used it to struc-
ture the initiative.
"From that qualitative feed-
back that we got from the stu-
dents, we kind of created these
subcommittees," Zollweg said.
"And each subcommittee is
charged with providing events
and outreach and programs."
The Go North! Initiative is
comprised of four subcommit-
tees - programming, communi-
cations and marketing, services
and transportation - that stu-
dents can get involved in.
This semester, Go North!
has organized many events to
kick off the initiative, including
UMix Rock the Night at Pier-
pont Commons, Blockbuster at
the Belltower in which movies

are shown on the North Campus
Diag, a meet-and-greet for Jew-
ish students hosted by the Uni-
versity of Michigan Hillel and a
Countdown to Kickoff: Field Day
event before the Notre Dame
football game.
Nick Smith, assistant director
for University Unions Arts & Pro-
grams and chair of the Go North!
programming subcommittee,
said the events and programs are
designed to be innovative and
exciting for students.
"The concept is really to pro-
vide 'wow' programming on
North Campus that's not only
awesome for this campus but
that's going to draw students
from Central to North," Smith
said. "Hopefully these opportu-
nities start to create an inherent
vibrancy or excitement to this
campus."
One of the events is Bonus Bus,
in which students answer trivia
questions about the University
and pop-culture and receive
prizes while on the bus to and
from North Campus.
"It's kind of like Go North!
take on Cash Cab," said Zollweg,
referring to the TV game show
that asks random cab riderstrivia
questions.
Some students stood in line
for a few hours in the parking
lot behind the Computer Sci-
ence and Engineering Building
- where the balloon lifted off. As
they waited an hour for the wind
to die down before the balloon

could safely launch, students
snacked on free cupcakes, pop-
sicles and bubble tea.
LSA sophomore Kathryn
Hohs, who heard about the hot
air balloon festival through a
University Twitter account, was
drawn to the event because she
wanted to take advantage of the
unique opportunity to ride in a
hot air balloon.
"I just thought it sounded real-
ly interesting because I've never
been in a hot air balloon and it's
kind of always been something I
wanted to do," Hohs said.
She added that she doesn't
frequently go to North Campus
and wouldn't have gone had
there not been the hot air bal-
loon event.
"Personally, this is only like
my second time on North Cam-
pus," Hohs said. "I never had
a reason to go last year, and I
never really wanted to take the
bus."
Engineering freshman James
Power, who lives in Bursley Resi-
dence Hall, said he thinks there
has been a lack of organized
activities on North Campus since
he arrived at the University, but
would welcome events in the
future since they would be con-
venient for him to attend.
"If they have fun events like
this, I'd definitely come because
it's hard to hike down to Central,"
Power said. "It would be nice to
have more stuff happening up
here."

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party for the planet!

Tuesday, September 27
Central Campus Diag
Noon - 4pm