What's New Robert L. Park 3 Sep 2010

WHAT=92S NEW   Robert L Park   Friday, 3 Sep 2010   Washington, DC

1. NASA BUDGET: NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS BACK OBAMA SPACE PLAN.
In recent years NASA's programs for advanced technology has been cut by=20
more than 50%, robotic exploration precursor missions were eliminated,=20
commercial spaceflight, student research and robotic exploration were=20
scaled back or postponed, and University research was sharply curtailed. =
=20
In a letter to Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN), chair of the House Science=20
Committee, 14 Nobel laureates, joined by leaders in the space program,=20
endorsed Pres. Obama=92s strategy of restoring these programs by abandoni=
ng=20
the Constellation program that would return astronauts to the moon for no=
=20
apparent purpose. The Obama plan would position NASA to shift its focus t=
o=20
astrobiology, which has emerged as the most exciting field of space=20
research.

2. BIG FREEZE: WAS THE EVIDENCE OF A COMET-IMPACT JUST BUG SHIT?=20
Earth went through a relatively brief cold spell about 13,000 years ago=20
called the Younger Dryas climate episode.  It coincided with the=20
disappearance of the North American Clovis culture, and killed the mammot=
hs=20
and other Ice Age mega fauna. The accepted explanation was that ocean=20
currents in the North Atlantic had been disrupted by a large body of=20
freshwater emptying into the ocean. Three years ago, however, a story in=20
Nature by Rex Dalton, reported an alternative explanation involving the=20
impact of a comet. The key comet evidence was micro-diamonds found in=20
sedimentary layers from that period. Now comes another group that goes to=
=20
the same site but what they find is not diamonds but carbonized arthropod=
=20
feces.  The first group disputes this evidence and is preparing another=20
paper. It's not pretty, but it's science.=20

3. STEPHEN HAWKING: HIS BRILLIANT THEORY OF HOW TO MARKET A BOOK.
Send copies to all the pompous nincompoops it will offend. That's it!  Th=
ey=20
will sell it for you. BBC News today published their reactions to Hawking=
's=20
new book in which he says that science can explain the origin of the=20
universe without invoking God.  This is "naturalism," the dominant=20
philosophy of science in the 21st century.  It restates the first law of=20
science discovered by Thales of Miletus in 585 BC: for every observable=20
effect, there is a physical cause. I don't have Hawking's book, so I don'=
t=20
know exactly how he said it, but I would have preferred to say: "invoking=
=20
God would not help me to explain the origin of the universe.=94  Hawking=20
explains that the existence of gravity means the universe created itself=20
from nothing. The first offended pompous nincompoop was Chief Rabbi Lord=20
Sacks in the Times: "What would we do for entertainment without scientist=
s=20
telling us with breathless excitement that God did not create the univers=
e=20
as if they were the first to discover this astonishing proposition." Yes,=
=20
and did you learn anything?=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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