What's New Friday October 5, 2007

WHAT’S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 5 Oct 07   Washington, DC

1. SPUTNIK AT 50: ITS INFERNAL BEEPING DROVE US NUTS.
A month later, Sputnik II was taking radiation measurements. Our 
embarrassment was compounded by the Vanguard debacle 2 months later.  But 
just 4 months after Sputnik I, Explorer I detected the Van Allen radiation 
belts - the first major discovery of what lay beyond the ionosphere.  The 
U.S. had taken the lead in the scientific exploration of space, and has 
never relinquished it.  Forget the dogs and chimpanzees and astronauts - 
the herd shot ‘round the world - they have made no contribution at all to 
life here on Earth.  It is our space machines that expand our knowledge of 
the universe and enrich our lives.  We urgently need more space machines 
to tell us what’s happening to Earth.

2. POLITICAL SCIENCE: SCIENCE HELD HOSTAGE TO POLITICS. 
How did Sputnik II miss the Van Allen belts, you might wonder?  The data 
recorder on board wasn’t working.  Scientists wanted to delay launch to 
make repairs. Khrushchev refused - he was headed to an important 
international conference and wanted to announce another success.  Thus, at 
the dawn of the Space Age, science was already held hostage to politics.  
Yesterday at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, Hillary Clinton spoke 
on "Reclaiming our Commitment to Science and Innovation."  Her strongest 
words came after the speech in an interview with the NY Times.  She called 
for protection of research from "political pressure," including 
restoration of cuts in space-based climate research.  

3. MALICIOUS: AUTHOR OF FRAUDULENT PAPER SUES CRITIC.
We’ve been reporting on the Columbia prayer study for six years 
http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN07/wn022307.html .  It claimed that the 
prayers of total strangers halfway around the world doubled the success of 
in Vitro fertilization.  As problems showed up, one author, the Ob/Gyn 
Dept Chair at Columbia Univ. said he had nothing to do with the work, a 
breech of scientific ethics.  Another, a business-man/fertility-doctor who 
operates fertility clinics in Korea and California, was charged with 
plagiarism in Korea in a separate case.  A third author, a 
parapsychologist and lawyer, went to federal prison for an unrelated 
swindling conviction.  Meanwhile, Bruce Flamm, clinical professor of 
Ob/Gyn at U.C. Irvine, who uncovered much of this, thought the J. of 
Reproductive Medicine should pull the paper, and Columbia should disavow 
it - neither happened.  So Flamm kept up the pressure.  The result?  Kwang 
Y. Cha, the fertility-clinic operator, is suing Flamm for defamation.  The 
infamous paper, meanwhile, can still be found at the Journal site 
http://www.reproductivemedicine.com/Features/2001/2001Sep.htm .   

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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