What's New Friday September 7, 2007

WHAT’S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 7 Sep 07   Washington, DC

1. ENERGY LEGISLATION: JIMMY CARTER’S "MORAL EQUIVALENT OF WAR."
After years of trying to drill our way out of the energy crisis, we have 
another chance to do what we should have done all along: increase 
efficiency.  It would put us a lot closer to meeting carbon emission 
goals.  Both houses of Congress passed energy bills; they must now be 
reconciled by a conference committee.  Historically, this is where it 
falls apart - the conferees tend to keep sugar and fat in both bills and 
slash the broccoli.  We need the 35 mpg fuel economy in the Senate bill, 
and the 15% renewable electricity requirement in the House bill, as well 
as cuts of some oil-industry tax breaks.  Finally, both bills call for 
more ethanol from corn.  That’s just crazy!  For all its good intentions, 
ethanol from corn doesn’t balance.  Why can’t scientists make themselves 
heard on a simple question of energy? 

2. DIPLOID GENOME: CRAIG VENTER STANDS BEFORE US STARK NAKED.
An academic consortium announced in 2003 that the human genome had been 
successfully decoded, but the other runner in the race, J. Craig Venter of 
the J. Craig Venter Institute just kept running.  He says the consortium 
stopped half way to the goal.  The consortium, led by James Watson, co-
discoverer of the double helix, had decoded the male haploid genome, from 
a group of people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds.  Venter 
has decoded the full diploid genome of just one person - himself.  So far, 
the experts seem to agree that Craig’s genome is better, which is not to 
say he has better genes.  He has genes linked to Alzheimer’s, alcoholism, 
obesity, antisocial behavior, tobacco addiction, substance abuse, and wet 
earwax.  And if there’s a gene for vanity, he’s probably got that too.  
Having those genes does not mean he has those conditions.  It does explain 
why privacy advocates would be concerned about decoding the genome.

3. BRAIN IMAGING: WHY DO PEOPLE BEHAVE LIKE, WELL, PEOPLE?  
Dopamine, a powerful neurotransmitter, plays a key role in addiction.  
Imaging shows that people addicted to alcohol or to methamphetamine have 
fewer dopamine receptors than healthy people, and so, it turns out, do 
obese people, suggesting eating may be addictive.  Human behavior used to 
be considered a "soft science."  Brain imaging and genome studies have 
made it a frontier.  

4. MOONSHINE: WE MISSPOKE LAST WEEK ABOUT CHANDRAYAAN-1.
The Indian spacecraft will not commit suicide.  It will stay in orbit and 
drop a probe to the surface, sacrificing its offspring for enlightenment.  
It sounds right out of the Old Testament.

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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