IP: Iranian-born researcher studies WTC collapse

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-attacks-skyscraper-saver1029oct29.story?coll=sns%2Dap%2Dnationworld%2Dheadlines

BERKELEY, Calif. -- Standing in a cavernous testing bay at the University 
of California, engineer Hassan Astaneh holds up a twisted chunk of metal.

"This is what steel can do," he says.

Once part of the sky-scraping World Trade Center, the chunk is now 
evidence, one of thousands of clues yielded from the tons of rubble Astaneh 
and others are studying.

At issue: What, exactly, made the buildings fall?

Astaneh (as-TAH-nay) thinks he has a pretty good idea -- when the hijacked 
planes slammed into the twin towers, the intense heat of the burning jet 
fuel caused the building's steel supports to buckle, sending the upper 
stories crashing down on the lower levels.

<snip>


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