What's New Robert L. Park 15 Oct 2010

WHAT=92S NEW   Robert L Park   Friday, 15 Oct 2010   Washington, DC

1. INCONTROVERTIBLE: APS FELLOW HAL LEWIS RESIGNS MEMBERSHIP.
Hal Lewis, a Fellow of the APS, has resigned his APS membership of 67=20
years. News stories described his resignation as a protest of the officia=
l=20
APS position on global-warming; but that's not quite what his resignation=
=20
letter says. He begins by recounting how things were before the serpent=20
persuaded physicists to taste the fruit of the money tree. An oversight=20
committee of "towering physicists beyond reproach" assured the independen=
ce=20
of the study panel.  The second paragraph is Hal=92s actual resignation:=20

"How different it is now," he writes. "The giants no longer walk the=20
earth.  The money flood has become the raison d=92etre of much physics=20
research, the vital sustenance of much more, and it provides the support=20
for untold numbers of professional jobs. For reasons that will soon becom=
e=20
clear my former pride at being an APS Fellow all these years has been=20
turned into shame and I am forced with no pleasure at all, to offer you m=
y=20
resignation from the Society."

Hal couldn=92t resist pissing on the APS Global Warming Statement, which =
he=20
thinks is a scam. The APS statement uses the word "incontrovertible" to=20
describe the evidence for or against global warming. =93Incontrovertible=94=
=20
should be unacceptable to physicists.  What sets physics apart from other=
=20
ways of knowing is openness to revision if better information becomes=20
available. Openness to new knowledge is the most important concept scienc=
e=20
can offer the world.=20

2. DISCONNECT: COULD IT HAVE BEEN WRITTEN BY PAUL BRODEUR?
Several readers of this column urged me to read "Disconnect: the truth=20
about cell phone radiation, what the industry has done to hide it, and ho=
w=20
to protect your family=94 by Devra Davis. The author=92s name was not fam=
iliar=20
to me, but I picked up a copy on my way to the campus health center for m=
y=20
annual flu shot.  I opened it in the waiting room.  At the top of page 1=20
was a quote from the Talmud that appealed to me: "Who can protest and doe=
s=20
not, is an accomplice in the act." I hereby protest this book. By the tim=
e=20
my name was called. I had reached page 21. The author was explaining that=
=20
the background level of microwave radiation to which we are all exposed i=
s=20
billions of times greater than the natural background level. Should we be=
=20
worried?  She doesn't say.  But I recalled another book that started with=
=20
the same statistics. Paul Brodeur, The Zapping of America: Microwaves,=20
their deadly risk, and the cover-up (Norton, 1977).  Devra Davis has give=
n=20
us a rewrite of a 33-year-old book. It was wrong then too. I explained wh=
y=20
in my 2001 editorial in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.=20
Robert L Park, JNCI, Volume 93, Issue 3, Pp. 166-167.

3.ASTROLOGY: MAKING MEDICINE FIT THE STARS--WHO KNEW? =20
An article by Eric Bellman in the Wall Street Journal last week may mark=20
the birth of a new era of cooperation between modern medical science and=20
the ancient wisdom of the East. Expectant mothers in India consult their=20
astrologer to find the most auspicious day and time to enter the world, a=
nd=20
schedule a C-section with their obstetrician for delivery at that moment.=
=20
This is a breakthrough but why stop there? Why not learn the most=20
auspicious time for conception? Perhaps there should be a staff astrologe=
r=20
in every IVF clinic.

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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