What's New Friday December 14, 2007

WHAT’S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 14 Dec 07   Washington, DC

1. SCIENCE DEBATE 2008: CAN WE TALK ABOUT ISSUES NOW?
The U.S. blocks climate agreement in Bali; American children trail the 
industrialized world in math; stem cell researchers are preoccupied with 
getting around the embryonic stem cell ban; the green revolution is 
diverted to feed SUVs instead of people; creationists are conspiring to 
get God back in the classroom; and our space program is reduced to 
pointless media spectaculars.  Instead of candidates debating who loves 
Jesus most, Lawrence Krauss and Chris Mooney propose that science be the 
subject of a debate.  An impressive group of science leaders has already 
signed on http://www.sciencedebate2008.com .  It deserves the support of 
every scientist and every science organization.

2. ENERGY BILL: SENATE DEMOCRATS CAPITULATE.
As oil lobbyists mounted a full scale assault on Capitol Hill, the Senate 
yesterday passed a diluted energy bill that significantly raised fuel-
economy standards, but omitted a tax on oil companies.  The bill also 
dropped requirements that utilities generate 15 percent of their 
electricity from renewable sources.  It now goes back to the House but 
passage seems certain, and the President is expected to sign.

3. POPE BENEDICT XVI:  A HINT OF ENLIGHTENMENT?   
Under Pope John Paul II, from whom so much was expected, there was little 
progress.  However, in his second encyclical letter to the faithful last 
week, "On Christian Hope," Pope Benedict XVI, reveals an unexpected side. 
As Cardinal Ratzinger, he had headed the Vatican office once known as "The 
Inquisition," and was the defender of traditional Catholic doctrine.  
About "eternal life" he now asks: "Do we really want this - to live 
eternally?  It appears more like a curse than a gift."  Elsewhere he 
finds: "The atheism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is - in its 
origins and aims - a type of moralism: a protest against the injustices of 
the world and of world history."

4. BIRTH CONTROL: FINDING THE COMMON DENOMINATOR.
What the Pope thinks, is important - even to atheists.   Progress in 
fighting disease, or hunger, or environmental degradation, or global 
warming will count for little in the long run if population growth is 
unconstrained.  The Church remains a powerful force in opposing birth 
control, although we note with some glee that the population growth rate 
in Vatican City is zero, as it is over most of Europe.  The rate is 
highest in poor countries, leading many to argue that the solution to the 
population problem is prosperity - but in some very rich oil countries, 
such as Saudi Arabia, the growth rate is quite high.  It’s not prosperity 
that keeps population growth down; it’s the freedom of women to achieve 
their potential - and prosperity follows.

5. DSCOVR: "THE WHOLE EARTH COMES INTO FOCUS."
An essay by Stewart Brand in last week’s Nature  makes the point that WN 
has made many times before: "Whether or not DSCOVR makes it to Lagrange-1, 
something similar surely must, and soon." 

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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