WHAT'S NEW Friday, 3 Jan 03

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 3 Jan 03   Washington, DC

1. TAIKONAUTS?  CHINA GETS TO THE STARTING LINE A LITTLE LATE. 
About 40 years late.  Yes, the space-race is back...and just in
time.  Shenzhou IV is in orbit right now, testing life-support
equipment for a manned mission later this year.  Already China is
talking about putting humans on the moon and Mars.  "Appropriate
in stature, quick in movement and unafraid of hardship, Chinese
astronauts are clearly superior," the head of China's space
program boasted to Chinese reporters.  The brilliance of
America's space strategy now seems clear: Lure China into a space
race.  To compete in human space flight, China will have to shift
energy and resources from its military adventures to Taikonauts,
which will have little or no military or economic payoff.  At
least we're now playing on a level field.  Toss in plans to the
Space Shuttle and we could cripple China without firing a shot.

2. LOS ALAMOS: BROWNE QUITS AMID CHARGES OF THEFT AND CORRUPTION.
In recent years, Los Alamos has survived raging forest fires, a
misguided spy hunt, a capricious hard drive that disappeared and
then reappeared, and mandatory polygraph testing.  Could the lab
now succumb to credit card abuse?  Two investigators, hired to
look into the credit card problems, were dismissed.  They did not
go quietly, claiming the lab was engaged in a coverup.  Now,
continuation of the University of California contact to operate
Los Alamos since 1943 is in question.  Lab director John Browne
and Joseph Salgado, principal deputy director, resigned.  

3. STOP CLONING AROUND: CLONAID HAS STARTED BACKPEDALING.  Last
week we reported that the company, founded by Raelians, picked
gullible physicist Michael Guillen to oversee verification of the
cloning of baby Eve (WN 27 Dec 02).  He says he's not being paid
to do this, but it is generally believed that he is working on a
book or film deal.  But it now seems that the parents (parent?)
of Eve are resisting such a test.  We are, of course, shocked,
but apparently a Florida lawyer has filed a suit claiming that
Eve is being abused or exploited and asking the court to take
custody.  Meanwhile, the vice president of Clonaid will explain
the new cloning technology and discuss investment opportunities
at the Broward County Convention Center on 11 Jan 03 www.money-
expo.com .  The workshop is free, but you're gonna need $99 to
reserve a seat.  Clonaid is a commercial company, and it's not
embarrassed about its goals: it expects to make a lot of money. 
Immortality, after all, should be an easy sell. 

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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