National briefs

Live surgery to be shown on the Internet tonight

WASHINGTON - More than 300 miles from his operating room in Ohio,a physician in Washington will demonstrate, during live surgery onWednesday, how the next generation of the Internet might helpdoctorsin one city work with patients elsewhere.

Organizers planned to unveil their $500 million Abilene Network,the new super-fast data pipeline linking more than three dozenresearch universities nationwide at speeds 45,000 times faster thanthe best telephone modems people now use to surf the Web.The high-speed computer connection, named after an importantrailhead founded in the 1860s in Kansas, is faster, at 2.4 gigabitsper second, than all but a few highly experimental federalgovernmentnetworks.Privately financed by corporations and run by a nonprofit groupbased in Washington, its use is limited to academics and otherprofessional researchers, with no way to let home users dial intoAbilene. But experts anticipate benefits will trickle down toconsumers within just a few years.Dr. Jerry Johnson, who will be at Washington's Union Station railterminal, will collaborate Wednesday night with a surgical team atOhio State University's hospital as they perform laparoscopicsurgery, snaking a miniature video camera within a volunteer patientsuffering from a gastrointestinal disorder.Washington Monument reopens to visitorsWASHINGTON - The Washington Monument is open to visitors againafter being closed for four months while workers erected a metal andfabric web of scaffolding around it.Now work begins on fixing the monument's aging masonry joints,repairing cracked and chipped stones and cleaning the entireexteriorsurface of 36,000 stones.A crowd of about 75 people braved below-freezing temperatures andwinds gusting at more than 20 mph to wait in line to enjoy the viewof the city on Monday.The scaffolding, designed by architect Michael Graves, combinesblue outlining fabric and semitransparent netting. It allows themonument to remain visible throughout the restoration. It is to beremoved by the middle of next year.Compiled from wire reports