What's New Friday October 31, 2008

WHAT’S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 31 Oct 08   Washington, DC

1.  OCTOBER SURPRISE?  THERE’S STILL TIME IF YOU HURRY.
One of the least attractive traditions in American politics is the 
planting of scurrilous news stories when there is too little time before 
the election to adequately refute them.  Scientists would prefer to 
examine the evidence.  Science, after all, is conditional, always subject 
to change.  An attempt to hold a presidential debate on science issues was 
doomed; there is not much science in either candidate’s background.  It 
wouldn’t have helped much anyway, even though it might have been more 
interesting than some of the debates we heard.  The President, however, 
can call on the best scientific minds in the country to advise him.  But 
will he?  And when will he do it?  That’s what we need to know.

2.  ENDORSEMENTS: NOT EVERYONE WAS PLEASED LAST WEEK.
Several readers complained about WN joining the New York Times in its 
endorsement of Obama.  This week it was the journal Nature, published in 
the UK.  As you might expect, Nature was more diffident: "This journal 
does not have a vote, and does not claim any particular standing from 
which to instruct those who do.  But if it did, it would cast its vote for 
Barack Obama."

3.  HUBBLE: THE SPACE TELESCOPE EMERGES FROM COMA.
Side B, the spare data relay channel, is now working perfectly after being 
off for 18 years.  So much for the good news, the bad news is that the 
mission to repair Hubble’s formatter problems will not take place earlier 
than May.  It would not take place then had NASA not been pressured by 
Congress, which was responding to a public outcry in support of Hubble.

4.  HYDRINOS: BLACKLIGHT POWER ANNOUNCES CONFIRMATION.
No, no, not confirmation of hydrinos, of a new 50 kilowatt reactor.  What, 
you might ask, does it react?  Good question.  It all began on April 25, 
1991 when Randy Mills M.D. held a press conference in Lancaster, PA to 
announce that "cold fusion" isn’t fusion at all.  "It’s hydrogen atoms 
decaying into a state below the ground state."  He called the new 
state "the hydrino", http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN91/wn042691.html , 
and formed a company, HydroCatalysis Inc., to exploit its wonderful 
properties.  Somehow, the name lacked zing, so he changed it to BlackLight 
Power.  Perfect!  Soon, investors with deep pockets were begging him to 
take their money, which he did; reportedly to the tune of about $60 
million.  Sales, however, have been slow; reportedly about $0.  The 
solution to that, Mills says, is BlackLight's new 50 kilowatt energy 
generator.   An engineering team from Rowan University in New Jersey, 
headed by Peter Jansson, reports that, following BlackLight’s procedures 
using material supplied by Blacklight, it has confirmed the energy 
production.  But they are silent on the hydrino explanation.

5.  PUBLICATION: OLDER SCIENTISTS PUBLISH MORE PAPERS.
According to yesterday’s Nature a team led by science historian Yves 
Gingras at the University of Quebec in Montreal found that publication 
data for 13,680 scientists shows productivity remaining high through their 
60s.  Regrettably, the study did not follow them through their 70s.

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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