European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 11, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday january 11, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 9 celestial missing link discovered scientists observe Star devouring its companion Boston a astronomers have spotted a Star As it devoured its compan Ion orb and perhaps solved a celestial mystery. Scientists have Long argued about How some super dense stars called pulsars could get themselves spinning hundreds of times a second. The question May now be answered by the discovery of Ablack widow binary a Star that like the spider uses its companion and the destroys it. If current theories Are Correct the Sta represents a celestial missing link a Bridge Between fast spinning stars that have mates and those that do not. The combination of the Star and it companion labelled per 1957-20 in astronomers shorthand was detected Las Spring by Andrew Fruchter of the Carne Gie institution in Washington. At a meeting monday of the american astronomical society scientists de scribed the significance of the find in understanding the life and death of the stars. The duo is made up of a Pulsar a incredibly dense dead Star that transmits rhythmic beats of radar. It is orbited by much larger Ordinary Star known As a Brown Dwarf. Astronomers have evidence that the Pulsar is transmitting a powerful blast of Energy that is literally blowing its com Panion away. They believe this is the late phase of a Long one sided relationship Between the two in which the Pulsar steals matter from its mate to boost it Speed then turns on it with a Blaze of atomic particles. The companion is being destroyed said Frederic a. Radio of Cornell University. It is constantly losing  it could completely Digap  the Pulsar is one of six known Pulsar that spin extremely rapidly. The newly discovered pair is important because they seem to help explain How they get to spin so fast. It offers a missing link Between two classes of objects said Steve Maran of Nasa s Goddard space flight Center. That s Why astronomers Are so exit scientists Andrew Fruchter right and Jeff Hester discuss the Black widow binary Star at an astronomical convention in Boston.  a Pulsar is the collapsed remains of a Large Star that has exploded in a spectacular disaster called a Supernova. Pulsars Emit no Light but broadcast twin rotating beams of radar like lighthouses in the sky. While a Pulsar is Only 14 Miles across its mass is 50 percent greater than the Sun. One Teaspoon of Pulsar matter weighs billions of tons. Most pulsars spin about once a second and Are slowing Down. However the newly discovered one spins about 600times a second. Astronomers theorize that such fast moving pulsars Speed up by stealing a Stream of matter from a companion Star. The companion spins up the Pulsar like top said Fruchter. However astronomers have notice while some of these fast spinning pulsars have companions others do not. People wondered if you spin up the Pulsar with a companion where is the companion " said Fruchter. This May explain that. The Pulsar has evaporate the  in the newly spotted couple the com Panion is close to the Pulsar a distance of Only 2 /2 times the Sun s diameter. Yet it is being bombarded with atomic parti cles 5,000 times More intense than the Sun. Astronomers were Able to study the pair because the companion regularly eclipses the Pulsar. The companion revolves around the Pulsar once every nine hours and each time it blocks out the Pulsar s radar beam for about 50 min utes. This is the Only one mate eating Pul Sar that we have seen in the Galaxy said e. Sterl Phinney of the Californi Institute of technology. But there is the. Exciting possibility that there will be Many  new aids Survey offering $50 for blood test details on sex life Pittsburgh a a second attempt to learn How Many americans carry the aids virus was launched monday with the mailing of letters to 350households asking people to anonymously reveal their sexual practices and give blood in return for $50. The Survey intended to learn whether people would cooperate in a nationwide aids study is being con ducted with the Blessing of 21 diverse Community representatives in Hopes of avoiding the fiasco that scuttled the first Effort in Washington . A Lack of Community participation was blamed forthe last minute political flak that aborted an August study in Washington. Opponents claimed the Survey might have unfairly targeted Blacks. If the Allegheny county Survey wins enough cooperation especially from homosexual men and others i High risk categories the Federal centers for disease control will conduct an expanded preliminary Survey elsewhere officials said. Negotiations Are under Way with a Short list of other communities including san Diego and Dallas to be the Host for the next round of study said James Allen an assistant Deputy director for the cd. Concerns of a Pittsburgh panel led to a simplification of the printed material that explains the Survey and to changes in some questions. For example participants will not be asked for the Day of their birth Only the month and year to eliminate any Chance that the person might be identified. Guillermo Cole spokesman for the Allegheny county department of health said the Survey s results willbe meaningless because so few of the county s 850,000 households Are to be questioned. The Effort however could define the methods to reused nationwide. Those in Allegheny county who de Cline to participate will be asked Why they declined and their answers used to delete objectionable aspects of the Survey. On saturday professional interviewers and technicians trained to draw blood working in teams of two will begin the four to six week Job of knocking on 350 doors asking one person age 18 to 54 in each Home Totake part. Those who agree will be paid $50. They will beaked such questions As whether they have Ever engaged in behaviour that risks exposure to the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Risky behaviour includes sex with an infected partner Intra venous drug use by addicts and blood transfusions. Officials said each participant will Complete the questionnaire out of sight of the interviewer and technician and will Seal it in a tamper proof wrapper for mailing. They said neither the blood Sample nor the questionnaire will be labelled with the person s Ridenti  said the interviewer and technician will never see the answers and they risk being fired and fined $5,000 for opening the sealed questionnaire. The cd estimated the number of aids deaths inthe United states As of Jan. 4 at 46,344 since 1981., scientists see Hope m new aids drug Redwood City Calif. A a Patent was issued monday for a new aids fighting drug that scientists say May be a broader infection Blocker than the Only drug approved for treating the viral disease. The new drug is a compound of purified plan protein that has been shown in Laboratory tests to inhibit replication of the human immunodeficiency virus or his which causes the disease in to Lymphocyte and macrophage cells a news release said. Both cells play an Active Rolein human immunity and Are prime targets of viral infection in aids patients. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome at tacks the body s immune system leaving its Vic Tims vulnerable to a variety of infections. The Patent for the new drug called glq222,was issued to Gen labs inc., a private biotechnology company and the University of California at san Francisco. Gen labs has filed an application with the food and drug administration for clinical tests to begin Early this year. Inventors of the drug include consultants Michael Mcgrath an assistant professor of medi Cine at the University and director of the aids immune biology research Laboratory at san Francisco general Hospital Hin Wing Yeung of the chinese University of Hong Kong and Gen lab scientists Jeffrey Lifson and Kou Hwang