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,
in discussing the Newsweek report on alternative medicine (WN 29
Nov 02), WN cited music therapy as an example of something that
might be nice, but didn't have much to do with medical science. 
Boy did we get straightened out.  Music therapy, one therapist
patiently explained, induces resonance and harmonies in the body
that restore the proper balance of chi, allowing the body to
enter a healing process.  Well sure, that's what we meant to say.

4. HYDRINO ROCKETS: BLACKLIGHT IS STILL LOOKING FOR APPLICATIONS.
Alas, NASA's troubled Breakthrough Propulsion Project never
managed to break through anything.  But the NASA Institute for
Advanced Concepts in Atlanta thinks maybe a thruster based on
BlackLight Power's method of persuading hydrogen to enter a
hydrino state, below the ground state, could achieve performance
orders of magnitude greater than chemical rocket propulsion.  So
NIAC contracted with the Mechanical Engineering Department at
Rowan University in Atlanta, to test the idea.  Well, they just
issued the final report for the 6-month Phase I study.  They
"successfully test fired" the thruster.  "However, due to time
and cost constraints successful measurements of the exhaust
velocity have not been completed."  Not to worry.  "These
concepts will be proposed for an ongoing Phase II study."

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND and THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY.  
Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the
University or the American Physical Society, but they should be.
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