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What's New | 2 Dec 2002 21:40
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WHAT'S NEW Friday, 29 Nov 02

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 29 Nov 02   Washington, DC

1. MISSILE DEFENSE: THE SEARCH FOR STAR WARS II GOES ON.  In a
2001 May Day speech at the National Defense University, President
Bush called for Star Wars II.  The 1972 ABM treaty was swept
aside to make room for the new "layered defense" that was to be
in place by 2004 (WN 4 May 01).  Although tests of a ground-based
missile defense have not gone well (WN 14 Jun 02), we only knew
for certain that the plan was in trouble earlier this year when
the Pentagon urged anyone with a "new and innovative concept" to
write in.  According to a story in the Washington Post, the
Advanced Concepts Office at the Missile Defense Agency is now
going through 194 proposals.  If the ideas violate no more than
two laws of physics, the director of the ACO jokingly told the
Post, they make the first cut.  His example of a suggestion that
violated too many laws of physics was to put X-ray lasers in
orbit.  That, of course, was the idea that inspired Ronald
Reagan's Star Wars I.  So far, the United States has spent more
than $120B in the search for a ballistic missile defense.

2. ALTERNATIVE SCIENCE: INSIGHTS FROM THE HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL. 
The cover story in the Dec 2 issue of Newsweek is The Science of
Alternative Medicine.  That's an oxymoron.  If these alternatives
had a basis in science, they would just be medicine.  Newsweek
calls it "The New Science."  Only the new science turns out to be
the old medicine      thousands of years old in some cases, long
before it was known that blood circulates or germs cause disease. 
The alternatives can be put on a scale that ranges from plausible
to preposterous.  The treatments discussed in Newsweek tend to be
at the plausible end of the spectrum.  They include such things
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What's New | 6 Dec 2002 22:00
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WHAT'S NEW Friday, 6 Dec 02

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 6 Dec 02   Washington, DC

1. GLOBAL WARMING: NOW HERE'S THE PLAN   WE STUDY THE PROBLEM. 
The Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets are crumbling, the
sea level is rising, glaciers are fast disappearing and all but a
handful of climate scientists insist that human greenhouse gas
emissions are a major cause of global warming.  Three UN studies
in the last ten years and a National Academy of Sciences report
to the President just last year, confirm this picture.  But this
week, a climate conference called by the Administration dealt
more with adapting to a warmer world than reducing emissions. The 
White House science advisor, physicist Jack Marburger, cautioned
that we must be careful not to harm the economy; before we can
decide to go beyond the voluntary emission reductions called for
by President Bush, we're going to need a lot more data.  That, of
course, will take a lot more money and time.  The Administration
estimates the critical questions can be answered in four years. 
But skeptical scientists at the conference warned that without a
clear goal, the Administration can string it out indefinitely. 

2. FALL HOUSECLEANING: WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIC TEAM IS SACKED.  With
the unemployment rate rising to 6%, the highest in nine years,
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and White House economic advisor
Larry Lindsey today announced their resignations.  Lindsey, a
former Harvard economics professor, was in trouble for predicting
publically that a war in Iraq might cost $200B.  The outspoken
O'Neill, former Alcoa CEO, once observed that "Three Mile Island
and Chernobyl aside, the safety record of nuclear power is good."

3. MUSIC THERAPY: GETTING IN TUNE WITH THE UNIVERSE.  Last week,
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What's New | 13 Dec 2002 21:24
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WHAT'S NEW Friday, 13 Dec 02

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 13 Dec 02   Washington, DC

1. MISSILE DEFENSE: TEST FAILS, BUT "SUCCESS RATE" IS UNCHANGED. 
The "exoatmospheric kill vehicle" failed to separate from the
booster in Wednesday's test over the Pacific.  "It must be pretty
gloomy around the office this morning," I said to my friend Puff
Panegyric in the Missile Defense Agency.  "Not really," Puff
replied, "this one didn't count; it failed to reach the endgame.
Our success rate remains at the 88 percent quoted by General
Kadish."  I did a quick calculation: "But the interceptor only
hit the target in 40 percent of the tests."  Puff's voice was
rising, "You can't include tests that don't reach the endgame;
they haven't gotten to the technically challenging part."  Then
why, I wanted to ask, do they fail?  But Puff had hung up.

2. MISSILE DEFENSE II: WE STILL CAN'T SEEM TO STOP SCUDS.  The
ship had been tracked by the US since leaving North Korea bound
for the Middle East.  It was stopped and searched before reaching
Yeman, and buried under bags of concrete, inspectors found Scud
missiles.  What would a nation that threatens preemptive nuclear
strikes be expected to do next?  Citing International Law, the
United States allowed the ship to proceed with its cargo.  You
will recall that during the Gulf War the U.S. claimed to be able
to stop 96% of the Scud missiles with the Patriot, but in a
careful analysis of actual tapes, MIT physicist Ted Postol showed
the actual figure was zero percent (WN 20 Mar 92).  A decade
later the United States still can't seem to stop scud missiles.

3. GENESIS PROJECT: A REALLY GOOD SCAM CAN BE USED OVER AND OVER. 
Back in the early '70s, an inventor named Sam Leach claimed to
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What's New | 20 Dec 2002 21:58
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WHAT'S NEW Friday, 20 Dec 02

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 20 Dec 02   Washington, DC

1. MISSILE DEFENSE: BUSH ORDERS A LIMITED SYSTEM BY 2004. Just
ten interceptors in Alaska and California, to stop an attack from
North Korea.  Puff Panegyric in the Missile Defense Agency seemed
annoyed last week (WN 13 Dec 02), but this time he was up.  "You
can't imagine how proud we are to be a part of this," he gushed. 
I heard glasses clinking in the background. "But Puff," I said,
trying to talk over the sounds of celebration, "your interceptors
only hit the target 40% of the time, and that's when you know the
exact launch time and trajectory--and there's a homing beacon on
the target."  "Nothing's perfect," he snorted, "that's the beauty
of the plan.  North Korea only has a handful of missiles.  Can
you imagine a commander launching a missile if he thinks there's
any chance it might get shot down?"  Puff went back to the party.

2. PRIVACY: POINDEXTER HEADS "TOTAL INFORMATION AWARENESS."  The
1974 Privacy Act prohibits federal agencies from sharing personal
information, but 9/11 may have changed all that.  We are entered
in a database every time we enter a federal building or use a
credit card, and the government wants to integrate such databases
to keep track of terrorists--or anyone else.  But who has the
experience to head such a program?  Who but John Poindexter, the
man who invented "sensitive but unclassified."  A PhD physicist
from Cal Tech, where he was a student of Mossbauer, Poindexter
was National Security Advisor to President Reagan.  The same John
Poindexter masterminded the supply of arms to Iran, and sought to
extend government control over unclassified private data bases. 
His conviction for lying to Congress was overturned on an appeal.
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What's New | 27 Dec 2002 21:36
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WHAT'S NEW Friday, 27 Dec 02

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 27 Dec 02   Washington, DC

1. NUCLEAR WEAPONS: NORTH KOREA JABS THE U.S. WITH A SHARP STICK. 
So here we are, threatening to go to war with Iraq over weapons
of mass destruction, whether UN inspectors find evidence or not,
when North Korea decides to rub our nose in it by restarting an
old plutonium production facility, and expelling UN inspectors. 
North Korea was one of the 185 signatories to the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty.  However, they claim the agreement was
voided by the oil-for-nuclear-abstinence deal struck with the
U.S. in 1994.  Having threatened the "axis of evil" with
peremptory strikes, the U.S. is under pressure to follow through.

2. HUMAN CLONING: RAELIANS ANNOUNCE THE BIRTH OF BABY "EVE."  Do
you recall the controversy stirred up by physicist Richard Seed,
PhD Harvard '53, when he announced his intention to clone the
first human (WN 9 Jan 98)?  We haven't heard anything from Seed
lately, but today the scientific director of Clonaid says her
company has created the first human clone.  Clonaid was founded
by Raelians, a religious group that believes extraterrestrials
created humans.  There are no details on how the supposed cloning
of Eve was achieved, but physicist Michael Guillen, PhD Cornell,
has been selected by Clonaid to verify the claim.  Guillen has
just the credentials Clonaid needs.  In 1997 as the science
correspondent for ABC Good Morning America, Guillen did a three-
part series, "Fringe or Frontier."  Of precognition he concluded
"these guys are not flakes"; on astrology, "I think we're just
going to have to suspend judgement"; on psychokinesis, "you have
to take it seriously" (WN 3 Oct 97).  Indeed, Guillen covered
everything from James Patterson's cold fusion cell to Kirlian
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