What's New Robert L. Park 23 JuL 2010

WHAT=92S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 23 Jul 2010   Washington, DC

1. SAINT GALILEO: HIS RELICS ARE ON DISPLAY IN FLORENCE.
We expect to find macabre relics of saints in centuries-old cathedrals, b=
ut=20
some of Galileo's parts, chopped off his remains a century after his deat=
h,=20
now reside in a new Galileo Museum in Florence. The relics will no doubt=20
draw an audience that would not normally be interested in Galileo's sort =
of=20
truth. The Galileo Museum made the front page of the New York Times this=20
morning in an article by Rachel Donadio.  Galileo was devout, but in the=20
16th century, who was not?  In his early years Galileo's family had its o=
wn=20
pew in the cathedral in Pisa.  To occupy his mind on Sunday mornings, you=
ng=20
Galileo timed the slow swings of the bronze chandelier that hung from the=
=20
cathedral Dome, set in motion by the movement of air. Using his pulse as =
a=20
clock, he found the period to be almost independent of the amplitude. =20
Countless students have since been called on to explain his observation i=
n=20
their first physics exam. Galileo's observations would someday shake the=20
foundations off the Church

2. MAKING WAVES:  SOMETIMES EVEN THE VATICAN GETS THE SCIENCE RIGHT.
A huge antenna complex, 25 miles north of Rome, is operated by Vatican=20
Radio.  The residents of nearby Cesano have claimed for years that=20
radiation from the antennas increases the number of leukemia and lymphoma=
=20
cases in children. The Vatican denies it. Science is on the side of the=20
Vatican this time. According to a story in IEEE Spectrum the first=20
epidemiological study of the Vatican radio waves by the local health=20
authority in Rome found eight cases instead of the expected 3.7.  Ken=20
Foster at the University of Pennsylvania, who has been studying the effec=
ts=20
of EMF for decades, describes epidemiology in a small area dealing with a=
=20
rare disease as "mission impossible."  Moreover, he points out that this=20
tiny study was only done for the purpose of litigation. The advocates pic=
k=20
and choose the data to get any result they want.

3. BIOFUEL: GETTING MILEAGE OUT OF GM POND SCUM.
It's not like harvesting corn once a year; algae gives you a new crop eve=
ry=20
day. The first step is to find the ideal oil-producing strain. Natural=20
selection doesn't have much to do with making oil, so a lot of work is=20
going into genetic modification.  This is not a hard sell in the US, wher=
e=20
genetically modified corn has been used for 15 years, and almost all=20
tomatoes are GM. In Europe. however, where a 2001 directive gave EU-wide=20
approval for farmers to cultivate GM crops deemed safe, but frequent clai=
ms=20
of new evidence of danger has prevented a single GM food crop from being=20
approved. For algae grown in open ponds, it would be impossible to preven=
t=20
GM strains  from=20
escaping.                                                                =
  =20
                                                                         =
  =20
   4. POPULATION: EARTH=92S POPULATION IS ALREADY UNSUSTAINABLE.
Global warming, vanishing fisheries, vast ocean garbage patches, peak oil=
,=20
perpetual warfare, all tell us the same thing.  There are just too many o=
f=20
us.  Cap-and-trade is not going to solve our problem.=20

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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