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What's New | 4 Nov 2005 22:00

What's New Friday November 4, 2005

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 4 Nov 05   Washington, DC  

1. EVOLUTION: BUSH ASKS FOR $7B TO FIGHT EVOLVING BIRD-FLU VIRUS.
This is the final week of the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School
Board trial in a Harrisburg, PA federal court.  Back in August,
before the trial was underway, President Bush came down on the
side of intelligent design, much to the delight of the religious-
right http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN05/wn080505.html .  On
Tuesday, however, he announced that he would ask Congress for
$7.1 billion to prepare the nation for a worldwide outbreak of
flu.  It's a hedge against evolution.  Although a virulent strain
of bird flu has killed at least 62 people in Asia, there have
been no confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission.  The fear
is that the H5N1 virus will mutate (evolve) making that possible. 
Does this mean that Mr. Bush has changed his mind on evolution?

2. SUPREME QUESTION: WHAT ARE THE NOMINEE'S VIEWS ON SCIENCE? 
According to the news, Samuel Alito, the President's new choice
for the Court, told Senators in both parties that the Court may
have gone too far in separating church and state.  How can they
be too separate?  That's particularly scary now when it seems
possible that the decision in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School
Board will be appealed to the Supreme Court, no matter how it
turns out.  We'll go back to questions submitted by readers next
week, but in light of Alito's nomination, WN will exercise its
editorial prerogative, posing its own question this week:

     "Does the intelligent designer who designs people, also
     design viruses?  If so, is this conflict-of-interest?"
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What's New | 11 Nov 2005 20:41

What's New Friday November 11, 2005

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 11 Nov 05   Washington, DC

1. INTELLIGENT DESIGN: YOU KNOW WHO'S RUNNING FOR SCHOOL BOARD?
In Tuesday's election, voters soundly defeated eight members of
the Dover Area School Board.  The ninth member was not up for
reelection.  For now, Dover children will learn biology untainted
by religious fable, but events in Kansas should be a warning. Six
years ago, the Kansas School Board simply eliminated any mention
of biological evolution, or the big bang, from the curriculum
http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN99/wn081399.html.  Kansans woke
up to laughter and voted them out.  Unfortunately, school board
elections don't get much notice until there's a problem.  As soon
as the voters relaxed, religious zealots were back on the ballot. 
The religious right again controls the Kansas School Board.

2. EVOLUTION: THE KANSAS SCHOOL BOARD REDEFINES "INTELLIGENT."  
As expected, the Kansas Board of Education adopted new teaching
standards on Tuesday that go beyond merely letting in intelligent
design.  The board went straight to the heart of the matter and
redefined "science."  WN noted earlier that by the Oxford English
Dictionary definition, "intelligent design" isn't "science"
http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN05/wn080505.html.  No problem. 
If ID doesn't fit the definition, change the definition.  In
Kansas schools, "science" is now a search for "more adequate
explanations of natural phenomena."  Who needs physics?  Divine
intervention can explain everything without all that math.

3. OK, TEACH THE CONTROVERSY: RELIGION HAS All THE DISAGREEMENTS. 
Last week, WN quoted Cardinal Poupard, head of the Pontifical
Council for Culture: "we know the dangers of a religion that
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What's New | 18 Nov 2005 21:46

What's New Friday November 18, 2005

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 18 Nov 05   Washington, DC 

1. ISS BUDGET: WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE LABORATORY DROPS RESEARCH.
The $16.5B NASA spending bill Congress sent to the President, with
an extra $50M for Hubble repairs, is actually a little more than
the President asked for.  Michael Griffin has the final say on a
Hubble repair mission, but he won't decide until after the shuttle
flight set for May.  Meanwhile, preparing for an unlikely Moon-Mars
mission is costly.  NASA says it will save $344M by halting life-
sciences research on the ISS.  That was about the only scientific
research left.  So what's this turkey for?  A NASA spokesman told
the Orlando Sentinel that lengthy visits to the station are the key
to preparing astronauts for a return to the Moon.  It seems more
likely that research on the ISS was of little value anyway.  This
is one more sign that human spaceflight is headed for extinction.

2. INTELLIGENT DESIGN: PAT ROBERTSON SHOULD HAVE BEEN A WITNESS.
Last week WN commented on the spectacle of televangelist Robertson
calling down the wrath of God on a bucolic village in Pennsylvania.
Kitzmiller v. Dover School District, which wound up testimony two
weeks ago, turns on the issue of whether Intelligent Design is a
scientific theory, as its proponents insist, or religion in drag. 
Several WN readers noted that this influential Christian evangelist
has demonstrated that ID is religion.  If Kitzmiller is appealed,
as seems likely, WN urges that Robertson be called to testify.

3. ACADEMIC DECLINE: GROWING INFLUENCE OF EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANITY?
A front page story in Monday's Wall Street Journal describes the
spread of college courses questioning evolution.  The driving force
is the Templeton Foundation, which provides start-up funding for
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What's New | 26 Nov 2005 13:54

What's New Friday November 25, 2005

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 25 Nov 05   Washington, DC

1. NASA: "VISION FOR SPACE EXPLORATION" IS ALREADY IN TROUBLE. 
It was less than a year ago, that President Bush announced his
bold plan to send people to reexplore the Moon and then explore
Mars http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN04/wn011604.html  The plan
is not going well.  First, we're told, the International Space
Station must be finished as the US promised, even if it is just a
Disney World ride for too-rich tourists.  That means 18 more
shuttle flights, which aren't happening due to new cracks in the
foam.  If the ISS is ever finished, it can be dropped in the
ocean.  NASA will then get on with a crew exploration vehicle to
go to the moon, where we were 36 years ago.  But that leaves a
four year gap between the shuttle and the crew exploration
vehicle with no Americans in space.  Would anyone notice? 

2. DARWIN: AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY OPENS NEW EXHIBIT. 
In 1987, Norman Newell, a paleontologist at the AMNH, shared the
Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award of the AAAS for his
early and persistent campaign to alert scientists to the threat
posed by creationism to scientific education.  At that time, the
Louisiana "equal time" law was before the U.S. Supreme Court 
http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN87/wn021987.html .  This week,
with the Dover School Board ID case before a Federal Court in
Pennsylvania, the AMNH opened an exhibit on the life of Charles
Darwin, featuring a live specimen of the storied Galapagos
tortoise.  Corporate sponsors for such educational exhibits are
usually easy to find, but the Darwin exhibit reportedly had to
rely on individual donors and private charities for the $3M the
exhibit cost.  Although the ID controversy frightened off
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