headers
What's New | 8 Nov 2008 18:42

What's New Friday November 7, 2008

WHAT’S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 07 Nov 08   Washington, DC

1.  CHANGE: SCIENCE IN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION.
I was in the air between Washington and Seattle when the election was 
decided; I learned the result from a taxi driver, an immigrant from the 
republic of Georgia with children to educate.  He clearly enjoyed being 
the one to tell me.  He had the same enthusiasm for change that I sensed 
in the long line when the polls opened that morning.  The agent for change 
today, as always, is science, but throughout the tedious election campaign 
neither camp displayed much interest in a science debate and the idea 
died.  But what was it we wanted to know?  We already knew that neither 
candidate had any background in science.  We knew we didn’t need more 
Freedom Cars running on hydrogen or corn ethanol.  Nor do we need to 
defend the human rights of stem cells, or put up with barriers to buying 
Plan B, or for our children in science class to be taught "both sides" of 
the creationism issue.  Even less do we need old-fashioned crap like 
sending human astronauts back to the Moon in an age of automation.  What 
we need to know is who Obama will turn to for advice.   As President, he 
can call on any scientist in the country, and the time to do it is right 
now.  We’d feel even better if Obama were to signal his intention to 
elevate his science advisor to cabinet rank.  We could suggest about a 
thousand scientists who would do a good job, but it wouldn’t help if Obama 
ignores his science advisor.

2.  THE NEW OIL: A DESALINATION PLANT FOR LONDON? 
Most people think London has enough water, but the city is forced to build 
a desalination plant to accommodate population growth.  It’s not the 
fecundity of native Londoners that has risen; as in all of Europe, 
immigration is on the rise with inevitable cultural conflict.  Expect more 
such problems around the world as the demands of the green revolution
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
What's New | 14 Nov 2008 23:22

What's New Friday November 14, 2008

WHAT’S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 14 Nov 08   Washington, DC

1.  OBAMA: QUICK ACTION EXPECTED TO FOLLOW INAUGURATION.
Last year’s House pig out at the expense of the COMPETES Act decimated 
science funding.   There will be an effort to repair the funding damage in 
the Spring but now science is competing with the economic tsunami.  There 
are executive orders, however, that can be rescinded or modified at the 
stroke of a pen.  It all calls for an early appointment of the science 
advisor. 

2.  FIRST AMENDMENT: CORRECTING A SUPREME ERROR.
The city of Pleasant Grove, Utah has a Ten Commandments monument in its 
public park.  The Summumu religion is suing the city for the right to 
erect a monument bearing its sacred principles, called the "Seven 
Aphorisms," beside the Ten Commandments.  The case has reached the United 
States Supreme Court.  The Court should not be surprised; in 2005 on a 
complaint by a destitute homeless man, it ruled that a monument on the 
grounds of the Texas state capitol could stand because it "conveyed a 
historic and social meaning rather than an intrusive religious 
endorsement."  On the same day, however, on a complaint by trial lawyers, 
the court ordered displays of the Ten Commandments removed from court 
house walls lest they influence jurors.   Arguments in the Summumu appeal 
were heard on Wednesday and a decision is expected in the spring.  It’s an 
opportunity for the court to do what it lacked the courage to do in 2005: 
forbid all religious displays on public property.  

3.  FAITH WARS: MAYBE THE WORLD NEEDS A FIRST AMENDMENT.
The Faith Forum, a U.N. conference on religious tolerance this week, was a 
personal initiative of Saudi King Abdullah.  He’s not exactly a champion 
of women’s rights, but to demonstrate his credentials in the field of
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
What's New | 22 Nov 2008 01:30

What's New Friday November 21, 2008

WHAT’S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 21 Nov 08   Washington, DC

1. DSCOVR: WHAT IS IT THEY DON’T WANT THE WORLD TO SEE?
At a meeting of 44 top climate scientists in Frankfurt, Germany in March, 
it was agreed that observations from the L-1 point, a stable point between 
the Sun and Earth, are essential for assessing changes in cloud cover and 
climate.  The latest plan for the Deep Space Climate Observatory is to 
park it at the L-1 point, from which it could forever stare at the Sun, 
but modify it to prevent it from looking back at Earth.  It sounds like 
the biblical story of Lot. The plan, said to be urged by the Air Force, is 
the latest chapter in the bizarre history of DSCOVR, which was to have 
been launched in 2001.  Instead it was kept in solitary confinement in 
Greenbelt, MD.  From the L-1 point it could have continuously monitored 
reflected and emitted radiation from the whole Earth.  What don’t they 
want us to see?

2.  GM VOLT: THE AUTOMOBILE WE SHOULD HAVE HAD.
Burton Richter, the American physicist who shared the 1976 Nobel Prize 
with Sam Ting, showed up on CNN yesterday afternoon talking about the 
energy crisis.  Renamed "Barton" Richter in the caption, it was clearly 
the blunt spoken Burt who is on the board of directors of Scientists and 
Engineers for America, an organization focused on promoting sound science 
in American Government.  The Chevy Volt, Richter said, could cut US oil 
consumption by 60%, however, CEO Rick Wagoner had ignored his advice and 
pushed the arrogant Hummer, which a young lady in my class described as a 
very large middle finger.  Any bailout of GM should be predicated on total 
conversion to a maker of small high-efficiency vehicles.

3. GINKGO BILOBA: A TIP ON WHERE YOU CAN CUT EXPENSES. 
Annual sales of the herbal remedy Ginkgo biloba in the US are at $249
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
What's New | 28 Nov 2008 23:09

What's New Friday November 28, 2008

WHAT’S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 28 Nov 08   Washington, DC

1.  COLD FUSION:  OR IS IT THE "FLEISHMAN-PONS EFFECT"?
It’s been almost 20 years since the March 23, 1989 announcement that cold 
fusion had been discovered by two chemists at the University of Utah.  By 
June, cold fusion was an object of ridicule.  A small band of embattled 
defenders retreated to holding annual conferences of like-minded 
scientists to which skeptics were not welcome.  The story now seems to be 
entering a new chapter.  Believers have begun showing a willingness to 
confront skeptics, submitting papers to open meetings of major scientific 
societies.  They no longer use the term "cold fusion," preferring the less 
contentious "low-energy nuclear reactions" (LENR) to describe their field; 
LENR more accurately describes what, if anything, is going on.  However, 
the use of LENR has been undone by referring to "excess heat" as the 
Fleischmann-Pons effect.  This only serves as a reminder of the outrageous 
conduct of the university administration and the incredibly sloppy 
research on which the claim was based.  This year, there is great 
excitement over the work of Yoshiaki Arata, a respected professor at Osaka 
University.  In May Arata demonstrated the production of excess heat to an 
audience of 80, but there have been many such claims over the years and 
until it is replicated by someone outside the LENR community and a 
plausible explanation is advanced, it will change few minds. 

2. SCIENCE ADVISOR: NO, I HAVEN’T HEARD A WORD.  
It was clear back in mid-September that Wired had a brief article naming a 
group of scientist who were advising the Democratic candidate: Harold 
Varmus, 1989  Nobel in Medicine and former director of NIH, led the group, 
which included Gilbert Omenn, 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine, professor of 
medicine at the University of Michigan, Peter Agre, 2003 Nobel Prize in 
Chemistry, dean of medicine at Duke, Donald Lamb professor of astronomy
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |

Gmane