Reindeer Research

For additional information contact Kathy McDermott at kmm5@po.cwru.edu, 216-368-6518, or 1-800-368-CWRU.

REINDEER RESEARCH (running time = 2:01)

SUGGESTED INTRO: REINDEER ARE DOING MORE THAN PULLING SLEIGHS THESE DAYS. SCIENTISTS AT CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY ARE MIMICKING REINDEER ANTLERS TO MAKE LIGHT WEIGHT, HIGH-STRENGTH MATERIALS FOR THE MODERN WORLD. MORE IN THIS REPORT:

VIDEO

VOICEOVER: THEY'RE NOT ABOUT TO PULL A SLEIGH. THESE REINDEER LIVE AT THE CLEVELAND METROPARKS ZOO. THE ANIMALS WEAR THEIR ANTLERS WITH PRIDE. BUT ONCE THEY SHED THEM, AS THEY DO EACH YEAR, DONNER AND BLITZEN DON'T MIND THAT RESEARCHERS AT CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY STUDY THEM TO SEE WHAT MAKES ANTLERS SO STRONG AND RESILIENT. THEY ALREADY KNOW THAT DEER ANTLERS ARE MADE OF COMPLEX LAYERS OF PROTEINS AND MINERALS, BUT CWRU SCIENTISTS WANT TO BE ABLE TO MIMIC THE CONSTRUCTION OF ANTLERS USING BETTER COMPONENTS, SO THEY CAN MAKE THE NEXT GENERATION OF SYNTHETIC COMPOSITE MATERIALS. DOCTOR ERIC BAER LEADS THE DEER ANTLER RESEARCH.

SOT & SUGGESTED SUPER:

ERIC BAER

CWRU PROFESSOR OF MACROMOLECULAR SCIENCE

(OUTCUE: "...that we find in nature.") (:28)

VOICEOVER: DOCTOR BAER AND FELLOW RESEARCHERS ARE LEADING THE WAY IN A WHOLE NEW AREA OF SCIENCE CALLED BIOMIMMETICS.

SOUND BITE: ERIC BAER

(OUTCUE: " into the synthetic world.") (:17)

VOICEOVER: NEW SYNTHETIC MATERIALS CAN ALREADY BE FOUND IN LIGHTER, STRONGER CARS, AIRCRAFT, AND OTHER PRODUCTS. BY OBSERVING ANTLERS ON THE MICROSCOPIC LEVEL, CWRU RESEARCHERS ARE LEARNING HOW NATURE WEAVES INTRICATE PATTERNS OF PROTEINS AND MINERALS INTO RUGGED MATERIAL. DOCTOR BAER BELIEVES THIS NATURAL SYSTEM HOLDS THE KEY TO DEVELOPING TOMORROW'S ADVANCED SYNTHETIC MATERIALS.

THIS IS DAVE NAROSNY REPORTING FROM CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY, CLEVELAND.

-CWRU-