What's New Friday October 24, 2008

WHAT’S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 24 Oct 08   Washington, DC

1.  SCIENCE ADVICE: ADVISING THE PRESIDENT ABOUT ADVISORS.
Science magazine today has a brief assessment of where the candidates 
stand on ten science policy issues ranging from national security to 
space.  Obviously staff written, it wasn’t much help.  We need to know to 
whom the future President will turn for advice on science-related 
matters.  Presidents can call on anyone: FDR relied on Vannevar Bush, 
Truman on Isadore Rabi, Eisenhower to Killian and Kistiakowski, and 
Kennedy to Wiesner, none of whom are any longer available.  Alas, the 
stature of the science advisor diminished seriously under Nixon and 
Reagan.  It may have hit bottom in the 2003 state-of-the-union address 
when Bush announced his hydrogen initiative; it was clear that he had not 
bothered to check with his science advisor.  The job is no longer seen as 
the "nation’s top scientist."  Whatever influence the science community 
has should be used to persuade the next President to select a wise science 
advisor as quickly as possible and rely on the science advisor’s counsel.

2.  OBAMA: ENDORSED IN LENGTHY NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL.
The Times, read daily by millions outside New York, today put its 
influence behind Barack Obama.  Describing John McCain as "mired in the 
past," it was his choice of a running mate "so evidently unfit for the 
office," that was the decisive act of bad judgment.  For what it’s worth, 
What’s New joins the New York Times in endorsing Obama, but you already 
guessed that.

3.  PLACEBOS:  STUDY FINDS DOCTORS OFTEN GIVE PLACEBOS.
I was shocked to read this in the New York Times this morning; shocked!  
Does this mean that all those antibiotic shots for colds, at 40 bucks a 
pop, were just a trick?  Yes, but what a wonderful trick; you probably 
felt better before you left the doctor’s office.  And it’s not just 
antibiotics for virus infections; it’s Echinacea, and acupuncture, and 
homeopathy and herbal medicines, and spinal manipulation, and even a few 
surgeries.  Pain is a message that something’s broken; the placebo is a 
reply that it’s being fixed.  In Snake Oil Science, Barker Bausell 
explains that the brain responds to the placebo by releasing endorphins, 
endogenous opioids that block the pain receptors. 

4.  LHC:  EARTH’S TOP PARTICLE ACCELERATOR DELAYED.
Officials at CERN say the Large Hadron Collider will be sidelined until 
late May or early June 2009.  The time is needed for overhaul of a sector 
of the 27k machine to repair damage incurred on 19 Sept  08 when an 
electrical failure caused 6 tons of liquid helium to be dumped into the 
tunnel; 29 of the 10,000 magnets will need to be replaced.

5. CHANDRAYAAN-1: INDIA LAUNCHES SPACECRAFT TO MOON.   
The Washington Post today reported that the launch confirms India’s place 
as an emerging power in the new Asian space race.  Astrologers among the 
astronomers in the Indian Space Research Organization declared 22 Oct 08 
to be an auspicious day for the launch - not unlike American astronauts 
crossing themselves or saying a prayer before launch.

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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