Tuesday, September 10, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com (Tht idoigan 1ailm 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com ANDREW WEINER KIRBY VOIGTMAN Editor inChief Business Manager 734-418-4115 ext. 1252 734-418-4115 ext. 1241 anweiner@michigandaily.com kvoigtman@michigandaily.com RAINY DAY - Starry-eyed physics professor David Gerdes is a professor in the Department of Physics. He is currently teaching an introduc- tory physics course and is work- ing with the Dark Energy Survey to map a large portion of the sky. How did you first become interested in physics? Some of my earliest memories from when I was very little were of the Apollo moon landings and being allowed to stay up much later than my parents had ever allowed me to stay up so that I could watch the astronauts get out and walk on the moon. That sparked an interest for me in astronomy and space. When I started thinking about what to do in college, I asked around about what you should study if you wanted to be an astrono- mer. I assumed the answer was astronomy, but everyone I talked to said, "No, don't study astronomy. Study physics." You need to know lots of physics to do astronomy, and eventually you can specialize in astronomy in graduate school. So did you end up specializing in astronomy? I actually went to graduate school and studied elementary particle physics. I did my thesis on a particle collider experi- ment at the Fermilab outside Chicago and spent my time studying high-energy particle collisions. In 1998, while I was in the middle of doing this, a discovery was made that the expansion rate of the universe is accelerating, and you can obtain an accelerating universe if you put a term - called the cosmological constant - back in to Einstein's theory of general relativity equation. It turned out that 75 percent of the uni- verse is this weird property of empty spaced called dark ener- gy. That seemed like the sort of discovery that was worth drop- ping what you're working on to try to figure out, and that's how I got back into astronomy as a grownup. -ARIANAASSAF T H REE T HIN(.S YO U SHOIJII K NOW fOUAY Cheryl Strayed, author of bestselling memoir "Wild", recently recon- nected with her long-lost sis- ter, NPR reported. Strayed's sister recognized her father, and thus her sister, within the first chapter of the book. Coorrrectgionsod~~o o~oaa~iserot~o vorr,riosmciadiyom hr~i~erak. Dinlne SalesFiac onl inoeot,@m ichigoodaily corn fnneihent~~o News Tips news@michigandailycom Letterstothe Editor tothedaily@michigandaily.com ArtEditorial Page opohion@michigandaily.com Spors Seline Photography Setion phoomichigandailycom Classified Sales classified@michigandaily.com Finance finance@michigandaily com LSA junior Taima Attal and LSA senior Mary Raup share an umbrella to dodge the rain Monday. CRIME NOTES Chemical leak Visitor CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES WHERE: Harrison Randall L aboratory WHEN: Sunday at about ,:25 p.m. WHAT: University Police reported that an uknown substance was leaking from the ceiling. Occupational Safety and Environmental Health responded, but no report was filed. violations WHERE: Thayer carport WHEN: Sunday at about 6:50 p.m. WHAT: Suspected marijuana was confiscated from visiting subjects, University Police reported. All subjects were directed to leave the campus area. SUSpicioUS Another stolen skater bike Festifall El WHAT: At the beginning WHO of every year, 500 student Show organizations set up disco information booths on lapto Central Campus. Interested andn students are invited to sign retur up for any and all clubs. WH4 WHO: Campus Information Tech Centers WHI WHEN: Today from 11 a.m. to 5 p to 4 p.m. WHI WHERE: The Diag andP Biology Fu seminar Co: WHAT: Dr. Stephen Weiss WHO of the Department of Cell day t and Molecular Biology will your1 present a seminar to discuss Care. the process involved in progr connecting a membrane- will I anchored metalloproteinase movi to nuclear transcription WH( programs. WHI WHO: Biological Chemistry p.m. WHEN: Today at 12 p.m. WHERE: Medical Science Unit I, room 5330 ectronic sale AT: The Computer rcase is offering 'unted prices on ps, tablets, software more electronics for rning students. 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WHERE: 500 block of East University WHEN: Monday at 12:35 a.m. WHAT: University Police reported that sometime between 11 p.m. Sunday and 12:30 a.m. Monday, a bicycle was taken from a rack on Cooley Mall. AT: Today is the last o submit or tweet hashtag idea for er Center events and rams. Three winners be chosen for a free e and popcorn prize. O: The Career Center EN: Todayuntil 11:59 Activists passed out joints in Denver to pro- test a proposed tax on recreational marijuana, The Denver Channel report- ed. Marijuana is legal in Den- ver for those 21 and over, but public consumption is not. MORE ONLINE LoveCrime Notes? Get more online at michigandaily.com/blogs/The Wire Russia offers to control, Sinai Peninsula rocked by anti-extremist offensive destroy Offer seen as attempt to avert U.S. air strike MOSCOW (AP) - Syria on Monday quickly welcomed a call from Russia, its close ally, to place Syrian chemical arsenals under international control, then destroy them to avert a U.S. strike, but did not offer a time frame or any other specifics. 'The statement by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem appeared to mean that diplomatic efforts to end Syria's 2 /-year civil war were gaining momentum. But it remained to be seen whether it represented a genuine goodwill gesture by Syria or simply an attempt by Syrian President Bashar Assad to buy more time to prepare for a U.S. military H-B Syrian weapons attack. not acknowledging that it had "Syria welcomes the Russian them. proposal out of concern for the Moallem's statement came a lives of the Syrian people, the few hours after U.S. Secretary security of our country and of State John Kerry said because it believes in the wisdom Assad could resolve the crisis of the Russian leadership surrounding the alleged use of that seeks to avert American chemical weapons by his forces aggression against our people," by surrendering control of al-Moallem said during a visit "every single bit" of his arsenal to Moscow, where he held talks to the international community with his Russian counterpart, by the end of the week. Sergey Lavrov. Also Monday, U.N. Secretary- However, al-Moallem, would General Ban Ki-moon urged not give any further details in his Syria to immediately agree to brief statement and didn't take transfer chemical weapons and any questions from reporters. chemical precursors to a safe Russia's proposal confirmed place within the country for for the first time from Syria's international destruction. Ban most important international said he will also propose to the ally that the Syrian government Security Council that it unite possesses chemical weapons, and demand an immediate and al-Moallem's welcome chemical weapons transfer was a tacit acknowledgment. should U.N. inspectors conclude Syria's Foreign Ministry last that such weapons were used in year retracted a threat to use an attack Aug. 21 in a suburb of chemical weapons, saying it was Damascus. French Foreign Minister O*WLaurent Fabius said L avrov's proposal "deserves close examination" but the chemical weapons would have to be placed under international control in a short time and those responsible for "the chemical 1 9 massacre" must be punished. Al-Moallem and Lavrov 6 4 didn't make any immediate reference to Kerry's statement when they spoke to the media after their talks, but a few hours later Lavrov went before cameras to say that Moscow would urge Syria to quickly 6 8 1 2 place its chemical weapons under international control and A r then dismantle it. 5 4 8 3 7 Lavrov, who held talks with al-Moallem in Moscow earlier 2 7 3 1 in the day, said he expected a quick positive answer from Damascus. "If the establishment of international control over chemical weapons in that country would allow avoiding ' strikes, we will immediately start working with Damascus," Lavrov said. 20 suspected militants killed, 20 captured EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) - Egyptian troops and tanks backed by helicopter gunships swept through villages in the northern Sinai Peninsula near the border with the Palestinian Gaza Strip on Monday, the third day of a major offensive against Islamic extremists, a military official said. So far, some 20 suspected militants have been killed and 20 captured in the operation, he added. Explosions rocked el-Mahdiya and Naga Shabana, two of several villages south of the town of Rafah, the official said, where the military hit targets and shelters used by militants wanted for the killing and abduction of Egyptian soldiers over the past year. A day earlier, an al-Qaida- inspired militant group based in the area claimed responsibility for last week's failed assassination attempt on Egypt's interior minister, describing the Cairo attack as a "suicide" car bomb. The claim could not be independently verified but it appeared on militant websites that regularly distribute statements from al-Qaida-linked groups. If true, it would mark the first time Sinai militants took their fight to the heart of the Egyptian capital with a suicide attack. Tourist resorts along the southern coast of the rocky, desert region saw a string of suicide bombings in the mid- 2000s thatleft atleast125people dead and triggered mass arrests and detentions of thousands of Bedouin tribesman. The crackdown soured relations between locals and the central government, intensifying the Bedouins' feelings of mistreatment and turning the northern end of the peninsula into an incubator for Islamic extremism. Like Ansar Jerusalem, other Sinai-based al-Qaida inspired groups have been blamed for a spike of attacks against military and police in northern Sinai since the military ousted former Islamist President Mohammed Morsi on July 3. The increase in violence has raised suspicions of links between Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic militant groups. Military officials have accused Morsi of handlingthegroupstooleniently and striking a truce with them to halt their attacks in return for suspending military operations against them during his year in office. This truce, they say, gave militants free reign to stockpile weapons, evidenced by the large caches of anti-aircraft missiles, mortars, and RPGs and other weapons seized by the army since Saturday. Mustafa Hegazy, the interim president's political adviser, told Egyptian TV station Al-Hayat that under Morsi's rule, the number of militants in Sinai jumped to 7,000 or more from 1,000. "It is graver than what we thought,"he said in a late Sunday interview. He said the attempt on the interior minister did not signal a broader deterioration of Egypt's security, which was being "restored" across the country. In the Ansar Jerusalem statement posted late Sunday, the group said it carried out the attack on Interior Minister Gen. Mohammed Ibrahim's motorcade to avenge Muslims killed by security forces during their violent Aug. 14 dismantlement of two sprawling encampments set up in Cairo by pro-Morsi supporters demanding his reinstatement. The day left hundreds dead in what was an unprecedented bloodbath. It also sparked a wave of unrest across the country where pro-Morsi supporters attacked churches and police stations. "The Interior Ministry, the slaughterer, has seen death with its own eyes from a martyrdom operation carried out by a lion of Egypt's lions," the statement said. "What is coming will be worse," it added. "We pledge to God the Almighty to seek revenge for Muslims on all those who contributed to their killings and assaulting their honor, above all el-Sissi and Mohammed Ibrahim," it said, also referring to Egypt's Military Chief Gen. Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi who led the coup against Morsi after millions took to the streets demanding his resignation for abuse of power. The statement urged Muslims to stay away from the ministries of interior and defense, indicating that these two institutions willbe targeted. It also showed an ideological proximity to al-Qaida, citing an Aug. 3 statement by the group's leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, that mocked the democratic process and called upon "soldiers of the Quran to wage the war for the Quran," the Muslim holybook. An Egyptian security official said authorities are still studying the statement, but confirmed that human remains suspected to belong to the suicide bomber were found inside the car used in the bombing. The Health Ministry said that one person died a day later of wounds sustained during the attack, and more than 20 were injured. Ansar Jerusalem does not have a proven record of carrying out attacks outside of Sinai. It has previously claimed responsibility for attacks on gas pipelines to Israel, rockets targeting Israel and a 2012 shootout along the Israeli- Egyptian border in which three militants and an Israeli soldier were killed. A