What's New Friday Aug 29, 2008

WHAT’S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 29 Aug 08   Washington, DC

1.  ENVIRONMENT: THE LAST ENDANGERED SPECIES.
In the beginning there was no plan.  A speck of matter, trapped on a tiny 
planet orbiting an undistinguished star among countless other stars in one 
of billions of galaxies, replicated itself.  And the replicas replicated 
themselves.  Because the replicas were not exact, endless variations 
called "species" appeared in every niche of the environment.  Eventually, 
there came to be a dominant species that could push aside or eat all the 
other species.   That would be suicide, but the dominant species is well 
known for its suicidal tendencies.  Nevertheless, under a leader named 
Richard Nixon, the dominant species developed a plan called the Endangered 
Species Act of 1973.  Pushed through during a period of extreme 
environmental idealism, it doesn’t save many species, but it’s the only 
weapon environmentalists have to block development.  Under the Bush 
administration the law is simply ignored.

2.  POPULATION: U.S. BIRTH RATE DOUBLES IN A CENTURY.
The dominant species, which survives by eating other species or using them 
for clothing and shelter, is endowed by evolution with a powerful instinct 
to reproduce - or at least go through the first steps in the process.  
Availability of the pill, however, makes it possible for women in the 
developed world to be in control of their own lives and achieve their 
potential.  According to the Population Reference Bureau a record 4.3 
million U.S. births were registered in 2007. ABC News says the biggest 
factor is immigration, Huspanic immigration in particular.

3.  THE DEBATE: "SCIENCE" GETS A MENTION IN DENVER.
As the crisis in science funding grows steadily worse we look for any hint 
that our leaders are aware.  In his inspirational acceptance speech last 
night Barack Obama mentioned science once.  It was at the end of a list of 
things that government should do because we cannot do them for 
ourselves: "protect us from harm, and provide every child a decent 
education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools 
and new roads and science and technology."  It should be pointed out that 
everything on that list is dependent on science.  This is not exactly 
the "Science Debate 2008" scientists hoped to have, but we take what we 
can get.

4.  HEAVY METAL: MANY AYURVEDIC MEDICINES ARE TOXIC.
A study of 193 traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicines bought on the 
internet or from US stores contained high levels of lead, mercury or 
arsenic.  The traditional medicine of India, Ayurveda, is even older than 
traditional Chinese medicine.  Under the 1994 Dietary Supplement and 
Health Education Act they cannot be regulated by the FDA unless they are 
shown in court to be harmful.  "Not until the bodies begin piling up" as 
one FDA official put it.  

5.  PERPETUUM MOBILE: THE NEWMAN "ENERGY MACHINE" AGAIN. 
In Ashland, LA a weather-beaten oysterman with "practical inventiveness" 
has made the local papers with a car battery that runs a boat winch 
connected to a bicycle wheel that turns a car alternator that recharges 
the battery  http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN02/wn050302.html . It’s not 
new.  I must tell you that I invented such a machine when I was 10.  It 
didn’t work either.

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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