What's New Robert L. Park 13 Aug 2010

WHATS NEW   Robert L Park   Friday, 20 Aug 2010   Washington, DC

1. CELL PHONES: THE REBIRTH OF THE EMF FEAR INDUSTRY.
On balance, the irrational fear of cell-phone radiation has been good for=
=20
business. The sale of cell phones was virtually untouched by the news tha=
t=20
San Francisco was requiring retailers to post the "specific absorption=20
rate" of each model. On the other hand, all the businesses that profited=20
from the great EMF scare of the 90s are thriving again: there are EMF=20
detection kits, and an EMF protection pendant that blocks the harmful=20
effects.  Even Microwave News, the newsletter Lou Slesin began writing 30=
=20
years ago to warn about microwave ovens, now seems cutting-edge.  If your=
=20
only income comes from warning people about the danger of EMF, you aren't=
=20
going to find it getting any safer.  In Ontario, a group of parents is no=
w=20
complaining that Wi-Fi in the school is making their children sick, and=20
there's a warning that your bedsprings may act like antennas attracting=20
more EMF.  I=92m beginning to feel a little queasy myself.  It all began =
with=20
a 1989 article in the New Yorker by staff writer Paul Brodeur who, like=20
Slesin, has no science background.  When microwave ovens stopped scaring=20
people, Brodeur switched to power lines; Slesin just goes where the actio=
n=20
is.  A 1996 study by the National Academy of Sciences ended the power lin=
e=20
controversy, whereupon the ever-resilient EMF fear industry went back to=20
microwaves.  The public doesn't really understand the difference between=20
ionizing and non-ionizing radiation anyway.  Peole tend not to hear=20
anything beyond the word "electromagnetic."

2. CONSERVAPEDIA: OMINOUS ECHOES OF DEUTSCHE PHYSIK.
Last week I commented about Conservapedia, which was created to counter=20
the "liberal bias of Wikipedia." As an example, I quoted from an item abo=
ut=20
relativity and Einstein.  Physicist Don Langenberg, Chancellor Emeritus o=
f=20
the University of Maryland, who happened to be reading "The German Genius=
"=20
by Peter Watson (Harper, 2010), remarked that the Conservapedia position=20
quite accurately echoes a view expressed in May 1924 by Nobel physics=20
laureates, Philipp Lenard and Johannes Stark in which they compared Hitle=
r=20
with the giants of science. This marked the emergence of "Deutsche Physik=
,"=20
which eschewed relativity and quantum theory, arguing that they were too=20
theoretical, too abstract, and "threatened to undermine intuitive=20
mechanical models of the world."  Langenberg wonders if it=92s possible t=
hat=20
our rabid right might be pushing us toward revisiting the tragic events o=
f=20
the early 20th century.

3. ASTRONOMY:  NEW DECADAL SURVEY SHOWS RESTRAINT.
These surveys had become impossible wish lists for every kind of telescop=
e=20
an imaginative bunch of astronomers could dream up.  That's not smart.  I=
t=20
means someone else will make the decisions.  This is a reasonable survey.=
 =20
A lot of it has to do with extrasolar planets.  But while we're thinking=20
big, what are the theoretical limitations? How much is it possible to see=
=20
with a telescope if I can build it as large as I want and put it whereeve=
r=20
I want in the solar system?=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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