WHAT'S NEW Friday, June 10, 2005

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 10 Jun 05   Washington, DC

1. AIN'T MISBEHAVIN: QUESTIONABLE SURVEY OF QUESTIONABLE RESEARCH
The media loved the story.  The first I heard of it was an e-mail
from an evangelical Christian that began: "This is what happens
when you take moral certainty out of the picture."  Something
called the Health Partners Research Foundation surveyed several
thousand scientists funded by NIH.  Overall, one-third of the
respondents admitted engaging in at least one sort of misbehavior
in the last three years.  Does that mean the chances are one in
three that the numbers in the study were fudged?  Any scientific
misconduct is too much, of course, but they're not just talking
about research misconduct as defined by the Office of Science and
Technology Policy: "fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism." 
They also include stuff like, "inadequate record keeping," and
"overlooking the use of flawed data by others."  Misbehavior, of
course, is not limited to scientists.  Consider the next item.

2. CREATIVE EDITING: WHITE HOUSE AIDE ADJUSTS SCIENTIFIC CONTENT.
A lawyer with no scientific training, Phil Cooney was a lobbyist
for the American Petroleum Institute fighting greenhouse-gas
restrictions before moving to the White House.  The chief of
staff to the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Cooney
was assigned to edit government climate reports to make them more
supportive of Administration policy.  According to the New York
Times, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the President's
science advisor, John Marburger III, also approved the reports. 

3. CONSTITUTION: LOUISIANA SCHOOL DISTRICT DOESN'T HAVE A PRAYER.
In 1994, the Tangipahoa Parish school board voted to require
teachers to read students an it's-only-a-theory disclaimer before
they studied the theory of evolution in science class.  In 1997,
a Federal District Court found the disclaimer violated the
"establishment clause" of the First  Amendment.  The School Board
appealed the case, and lost again.  So they appealed to the
Supreme Court, and struck out for good.  Meanwhile, the courts
repeatedly told the Board to put a stop to prayers at school
functions, including school board meetings.  But by now the board
had a taste for losing, and appealing that decision.  Experts say
this could also end up in the Supreme Court.  Encouraged by the
political climate, the Board has outside financial help from the
Alliance Defense Fund, a powerful Christian legal group.

4. MISSILE DEFENSE: THERE HAVE BEEN NO ATTACKS, IS IT WORKING? 
When we last visited the Presidents missile defense system, there
had been a series of flops www.bobpark.org/WN04/wn121704.html. 
An outside panel examining the failures has just issued its final
report.  In an effort to meet the end-of-2004 deadline imposed by
the President, it concluded, officials put schedule ahead of
performance.  "Manage quality first and then schedule," the panel
advised.  But a missile defense no longer seems urgent.

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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