What's New Robert L. Park 22 Oct 2010

WHATS NEW   Robert L Park   Friday, 5 Nov 2010   Washington, DC

1. RELICS: SUPERSTITION HITCHHIKES ON A MISSION TO JUPITER.
I was appalled to read in this week's Nature that the Juno mission to stu=
dy=20
how Jupiter's powerful magnetic field is generated, will carry a fragment=
=20
of bone from Galileo=92s earthly remains. Do the instigators of this=20
foolishness imagine that relics of scientific martyrs, like bones of=20
saints, will somehow confer protection on the spacecraft in the harrowing=
=20
Jovian environment? To compound my irritation, the information was in a=20
Nature editorial applauding the plan as, "a gesture that would add=20
emotional energy to the mission and remind the public that science is=20
fundamentally a human endeavor." All too human, it would seem; belief in=20
miraculous cures wrought by fragments of the remains of saints has=20
persisted for 2000 years.  The editor=92s confusion of metaphor and fact=20
continues to the end.  "The Juno mission will skim just 4,800 kilometres=20
above Jupiter. Galileo just might enjoy a closer look."

2. CT SCANS: LUNG CANCER DEATHS REDUCED BY EARLY DETECTION.
I would expect to find relatively few smokers among the readers of What's=
=20
New, but many must have smoked before the scientific evidence became=20
unmistakable.  Lung cancer will claim about 157,000 lives this year, more=
=20
than the deaths from colorectal, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers=20
combined, according to Gartner Harris=92s article in yesterday's New York=
=20
Times.  The high death rate compared to other cancers was attributed to t=
he=20
lack of a means to detect lung cancer at an early stage. The results of a=
=20
huge double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 53,000 heavy smokers age 5=
5=20
to 74. Lori Fenton, president of the lung Cancer alliance, which has=20
lobbied for widespread CT lung screening, said the debate about the=20
advisability of such scans is now over. Annual CT scans of current and=20
former heavy smokers reduced their risk of death from lung cancer by 20%.

3. MEDIA: "CLOSING THE NEWSPAPER WITH A SIGH IS NOT ENOUGH."=20
Good comment by Simon L Lewis in Nature on the page opposite the=20
editorials. His article deals specifically with what he calls, "the clima=
te=20
street fight." His advice is that when the media gets it wrong we should=20
call them on it, and stick with it.  As Lewis points out, the hacking of =
e-
mail at the University of East Anglia broke into the public almost a year=
=20
ago http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN09/wn120409.html .  Looking back, I=20
reacted just about right. Today, it's the cell phone/cancer issue.  Perha=
ps=20
I overestimate the knowledge of reporters, but the physics has been clear=
=20
since Einstein was awarded the 1920 Nobel Prize in Physics. All known=20
cancer agents create mutant strands of DNA.  Photons with wavelengths=20
longer than ultraviolet (which begins at (the blue end of the visible=20
spectrum) can=92t create mutant strands of DNA, and hence do not lead to=20
cancer.

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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