What's New Robert L. Park 13 Aug 2010

WHAT=92S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 13 Aug 2010   Washington, DC

1.  THE HIGGS: CARVING UP THE GOOSE BEFORE THEY BAG IT.
They were unable to find the Higgs with the Tevatron, but now they're=20
looking for it with the Large Hadron Collider, the most expensive=20
scientific instrument ever built.  It=92s the only piece of the Standard=20
Model of Particle Physics that remains to be discovered.  So how do they=20
know the Higgs even exists? They don't; that's why they're looking for it=
. =20
If the Higgs is found, somebody is going to get a Nobel Prize. It was=20
independently predicted by three theoretical physics groups at virtually=20
the same time, 46 years ago.  You might think they ought to share the=20
prize, except for the rule (there=92s always a rule): the prize can be=20
divided among no more than three people -- not three groups.  Six people,=
=20
including Peter Higgs of Scotland, have a legitimate claim to the prize. =
=20
This kind of thing has come up before. The anointed winners always say in=
=20
their acceptance speech that they=92re really accepting it on behalf of a=
ll=20
the people who worked on it.  Yeah, that's life.  The Higgs squabble is=20
different; it's over credit for predicting a particle for which there is=20
not yet the tiniest shred of physical evidence.

2.  CONSERVAPEDIA: COUNTERING THE LIBERAL BIAS OF WIKIPEDIA.
An English-language wiki project written from an American conservative-=20
Christian viewpoint, Conservapedia was started in 2006 by home school=20
teacher and attorney Andy Schlafly, son of conservative Catholic activist=
=20
Phyllis Schlafly, to counter what he calls "the liberal bias of=20
Wikipedia."  The extent of my own liberal bias can be judged by the fact=20
that I was unaware of Conservapedia until it was pointed out to me by a W=
N=20
reader last week.  He was calling my attention to conservative hatred of=20
Einstein and his theory of Relativity.  As Conservapedia put it: "The=20
theory of relativity is a mathematical system that allows no exceptions. =
It=20
is heavily promoted by liberals who like its encouragement of relativism=20
and its tendency to mislead people in how they view the world." This=20
hopeless confusion of physical theory with Christian-conservative moral=20
values extends to a list of 28 counterexamples.

3.  POPULATION:  FDA APPROVES 5-DAY EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTIVE.
Marketed under the brand name "ella," the new emergency contraception pil=
l,=20
http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN10/wn061810.html ,  can prevent a=20
pregnancy as many as five days after sex. It was approved by the FDA toda=
y.=20
You will recall that the earlier emergency contraceptive "Plan B" had to =
be=20
taken within 72 hours to be effective.  The new pill, "ella" ove3rcomes=20
the "weekend problem." Critics insist that it can also be used as an=20
abortion pill. The evidence is mounting, however, that the world is alrea=
dy=20
well beyond the sustainability limit. It is not enough to slow the growth=
=20
of population, the world must begin seriously reducing population. Scienc=
e,=20
however, does not take sides. This morning's Washington Post has a front-
page story about the popularity of fertility treatments in seriously-
overpopulated India for women in their 60s and even 70s.=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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