What's New Friday June 27, 2008

WHAT’S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 27 Jun 08   Washington, DC

1.  THE PRIZE: WILL $300 MILLION BUY A BETTER BATTERY?
I told my class last year that if they invent a better battery they could 
save the world and become rich doing it.  I neglected to explain how that 
would happen, but John McCain has a way.  He proposes that we offer a 
prize for a better battery amounting to "one dollar for every for every 
man, woman and child in America."  I’m in!  McCain figured the prize at 
$300 million, but I just checked the Population Clock and he’s $4,450,595 
short.  Oops!  In the time it took to type that the population went up 
another person, or another dollar depending on how you look at it.  It 
does that about every 10 seconds.  If I win the prize, I plan to sue 
McCain for the difference.  To win the prize, McCain said, the battery 
must "leapfrog" commercially available batteries.  How much is "a 
leapfrog"?  The Oxford English Dictionary defines "leapfrog" as "surpass 
or overtake."  The Financial Times explained that by "leapfrog," McCain 
means it must deliver power at 30 percent of current costs.

2.  PEW FORUM: U.S. RELIGIOUS LANDSCAPE SURVEY. 
The latest findings of the respected Pew Forum’s massive survey make it 
clear that we are an overwhelmingly religious people.  Only 16 percent 
identify themselves as "unaffiliated" and only a tenth of those are 
atheists.   The strongest predictor of a person’s faith has always been 
the faith of their parents, but with interfaith marriages increasing, a 
quarter of adult Americans have switched to another religion.  The 
greatest gain was in unaffiliated, but even among the unaffiliated 70 
percent said they believe in God.  The willingness of Americans to 
compartmentalize their beliefs, holding totally contradictory convictions 
in different spheres, is remarkable.  Scientists accept as a given that 
behind every physical effect lies a physical cause.   That seems to rule 
out supernatural causes, leaving gods with little to do.

3.  SCIENCE BUDGET: SUPPLEMENTAL BILL IS A DISAPOINTMENT.
The feeble position of science in America today was evident in the $186 
billion supplemental war spending bill approved by the House last week.   
The last hope for those science agencies devastated by the appropriation, 
the supplemental bill that went to the Senate included only $400M for 
science, less than half what was sought.  The Senate, which previously 
approved three times that, is expected to accept the House figure.  By now 
thoroughly domesticated, the science community meekly expressed its 
gratitude.

4.  MARS: THE PHOENIX LANDER FINDS GOOD SOIL, LITTLE WATER.
Nothing here for the Mars Society which planned to make rocket fuel for 
the return trip from the water they believed was abundant.  Nor does it 
rule out the possibility that Mars supports, or once supported, life.  
That possibility should rule out human explorers because of the danger of 
contaminating Mars with Earth organisms.  Never mind, the robots are doing 
great.  

5.  WINDMILL: GOVERNMENT REPORT DEFENDS COLLIDER.
You will recall the courageous assault of Don Quixote, alias Walter 
Wagner, and his loyal servant Sancho on the monstrous Large Hadron 
Collider. http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN08/wn040408.html .  The court 
set a hearing for September 2.   Operation of the LHC is set to begin in 
two weeks.

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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