What's New Friday February 6, 2009

WHAT’S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 06 Feb 09   Washington, DC 

1.  IRAN: SATELLITE DOESN’T HAVE THE IMPACT OF SPUTNIK.
Iran’s launch of a satellite on Tuesday marked the 30th anniversary of the 
Islamic Revolution.  While Western news reports have stressed that the 
satellite was very small, so of course was Sputnik.  Intercontinental 
ballistic missiles were fielded by both the US and the USSR within two 
years after Sputnik.  It is, however, easy to exaggerate the threat of an 
Iranian ICBM.  It is the only weapon that carries a return address.  To 
deploy such a weapon against a major nuclear power would be insane.  
Ahmadinejad in Iran and Kim Jong-il in North Korea are indeed both a 
little strange, but in an age of satellite communication we cannot treat 
every launch of a satellite as a belligerant act.

2.  OPENNESS: OBAMA WILL NAME A CHIEF TECHNICAL OFFICER. 
According to U.S. News, a memo from President Barrack Obama to the heads 
of executive-branch offices directs the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to 
coordinate the formation of an Open Government Directive.  The only 
problem is that the President does not have a CTO.  Maybe this means he’s 
about to name one.  In November he said the CTO would focus on security of 
our computer networks and transparency in government.  Openness is 
responsible for the success and credibility of science, and it’s about 
time it was tried in government.  

3.  WARPED SCIENCE: "FRONTIERS OF PROPULSION SCIENCE."
Haven’t heard much about space from the Obama administration lately, but 
someone sent me a flyer for a new book from the American Institute for 
Aeronautics and Astronautics.  It told me more than I wanted to know about 
Frontiers of Propulsion Science by Marc Millis of the NASA Glenn Research 
Center and Eric Davis, CEO of Warp Drive Metrics.  You might look them up 
in the WN archives, www.bobpark.org .  Their book covers those tricky 
little problems you might have trouble with like Propulsion Without 
Rockets and Faster-than-Light Travel.  

4.  FISH STORY: JAPANSE TRAWLERS ENCOUNTER "PEAK FISH."  
Fish are good for us, and sushi is great.  Moreover, unlike oil, fish are 
a renewable resource -- but not renewable enough.  Blue-fin tuna in 
particular are being eaten faster than they reproduce.  The modern 
Japanese fishing fleet must scour the world’s oceans in search of fish – 
and it’s not just tuna.  Catches are declining everywhere.

5.  ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE: COVERED BY HEALTH CARE REFORM?
The development of universal health programs in the Obama administration 
is seen as an opportunity for alternatives to get a share of the action.  
You can expect to see a major push to include unscientific alternatives 
that often have large and outspoken followings.

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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