WHAT'S NEW Friday, October 15, 2004

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 15 Oct 04   Washington, DC 

1. EXOTIC WEAPONS: WHAT'S NEW ESTABLISHES THE "EXCALIBUR PRIZE." 
The $10 million X-Prize for the first civilian sort-of space ship
capable of offering affordable space sickness to the public got
front-page coverage around the world.  The WN editorial board was
inspired to offer a prize of our own.  We put our head together
and came up with the Excalibur Prize for the weapon based on the
most speculative physics.  "Excalibur" was the code name of the
fearsome X-ray laser that Edward Teller promised could wipe out
the entire Soviet missile fleet simultaneously.  They chose the
name of another mythical weapon.  Candidates abound, such as the
hafnium bomb http://www.aps.org/WN/WN04/wn041604.cfm , but lest
you think the prize is wired for Carl Collins, there's the
awesome anti-matter bomb, which comes up so often it's now called
the "doesn't-matter bomb."  The Air Farce slapped a secrecy lid
on the "positron bomb" after the San Francisco Chronicle carried
a story on it.  No word on how many positrons the Air Farce has. 
The Excalibur Prize consists of a free subscription to WN.

2. HOMEOPATHIC E-MAIL: LOOKS LIKE THE TEST WILL BE DELAYED AGAIN. 
Jacques Benveniste, 69, died last week after a heart operation.
The French biologist claimed in 1988 that biological effects of a
dissolved substance persist, even after the dilution limit is
exceeded.  A decade later he discovered that infinitely dilute
solutions emit an electronic signature that can be captured by a
coil, digitized, and transmitted over the internet to transfer
homeopathic properties to flasks of water anywhere in the world. 
I challenged him to a simple international double-blind test in
which he would be asked to identify which of several flasks had
been activated.  The challenge was carried in a Time magazine
article by Leon Jaroff (Time, 17 May '99).  I met with Benveniste
that June.  A pleasant man, he agreed to everything, but said he
needed time to get ready http://www.aps.org/WN/WN99/wn051499.cfm.
Weeks became months.  Years passed, trees fell, but to the end
Jacques Benveniste needed more time.  We all do.

3. CREATIONISM: THE BULL ABOUT EARTH BEING YOUNG IS GETTING OLD. 
You may recall that back in January, WN related that bookstores
in Grand Canyon National Park carried "Grand Canyon: A Different
View," a creationist account that contends the canyon can at most
be a few thousand years old, since that's how old the Earth is. 
A federal review of whether the book should be sold in the Park
has been delayed "over issues of church and state."  What issues?
Geology is a science.  Meanwhile the book has been moved from
Natural Science to Inspirational.  That inspired me to complain. 
As Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education put
it, "Nobody is saying this book should be burned, but it should
not be sold at this bookstore."

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.  
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
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