What's New Friday July 6, 2007

WHAT’S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 6 Jul 07   Washington, DC

1. SCIENCE ADVICE THEN: EISENHOWER, SCIENTISTS AND SPUTNIK.  
In a feature article in the June issue of Physics Today, John Rigden tells 
the story of President Eisenhower convening a meeting of scientists in the 
wake of Sputnik that opened a new chapter in the relationship between 
science and government.  That was 50-years ago.  In those 50 years, led by 
the U.S., homo sapiens learned more about the laws of nature than in the 
previous 50,000 years.  But the U.S. is now falling behind.

2. SCIENCE ADVICE NOW: GEORGE W. BUSH IS LOOKING FOR ANSWERS.
A front-page story by Peter Brown in the Washington Post on Monday says 
the meetings are never listed on the president’s public schedule, and 
remain unknown to many on his staff, but Bush is summoning "leading 
authors, historians, philosophers and theologians to the White House."  He 
is searching for answers to the collapse of his presidency but scientists 
were not consulted. Perhaps it was an oversight by the writer, but it may 
explain the number of terminally stupid Bush programs that could have been 
averted by checking with freshman science students.  They could have told 
him: 1) Not even Dick Cheney can break The First Law of Thermodynamics - 
hydrogen is not an energy source and for that matter neither is corn 
ethanol.  2) Ballistic missiles are easier to make than they are to stop.  
3) Because the sexual urge, even of presidents, is shaped by evolution to 
insure procreation - girls under 18 need access to Plan B.  4) Embryonic 
stem cells are not one-celled people - the "soul" is an ancient 
superstition with no legal standing.  

3. EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS: WHY NOT ASK INFERTILITY PATIENTS?
A survey of patients at major infertility centers, reported in today’s 
Science, did just that.  In contrast to the prevailing view, they found 
that only 22% would even consider donating excess frozen embryos to other 
couples.  Most patient couples prefer that their excess embryos be used 
for research, and if not needed for that, simply destroyed.

4. PERPETUUM MOBILE: METHINKS ‘TIS A BIT O’ THE BLARNEY.
Yesterday, a Dublin company, Steorn, was to demonstrate its "Orbo" 
technology at the Kinetica Museum in London.  Orbo was claimed to produce 
unlimited free energy - it didn’t.  A year ago Steorn was recruiting 
scientists http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN06/wn082506.html to evaluate 
Orbo, but you can’t pick the reviewers and then call it peer review.  
Today Steorn blamed the air conditioning in Kinetica, and said the 
demonstration will be delayed a "few weeks."  Sure it will.

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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