What's New Robert L. Park 19 Nov 2010

WHAT=92S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 19 Nov 2010   Washington, DC

1. LIFE: A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE ON TODAY=92S GLOOMY NEWS OF THE WORLD.
Last week in describing the search for extraterrestrial life I recounted=20
the celebration in the Eagle pub of the discovery of the structure of DNA=
,=20
as told by James Watson in The Double Helix. I got a couple of lines in=20
response from Raynor Smith that put it in perspective. I posted it above =
my=20
desk and now share with you: "These great men did indeed discover the=20
secret of life. The secret is to gather with friends in a warm pub, and=20
raise your glass to celebrate your accomplishments, and likewise those of=
=20
your friends, whether large and earthshaking or small and humble."=20

2. START:  HAVE THE REPUBLICANS COMPLETEY LOST THEIR MINDS?
Here's the picture: It's been 20 years since the Cold War ended, but=20
thousands of thermonuclear warheads, still reside in Russia and the US=20
under conditions of questionable security. How many megatons does it take=
=20
to counter the threat from Iran and North Korea? Meanwhile, armies of=20
religious fanatics dream of the glory of being the first nuclear suicide=20
bomber.  It would seem to be a sensible plan to reduce the number of thes=
e=20
things, but the Republicans seem to be in no hurry to ratify the agreemen=
t.=20
There is always danger in delaying international agreements; windows have=
 a=20
way of closing in response to unrelated incidents. We knew Jesse Helms=20
(Senator No) was dangerous; he enjoyed blocking progress. Jesse went to h=
is=20
reward seven years ago.  Now we are finding that the Republicans are all=20
crazy. Their sole objective seems to be blocking Obama.=20

3. STOP: TODAY IS THE ANNIVERSARY OF CLIMATEGATE.
The suffix added to the word climate is intended to draw comparison to th=
e=20
Watergate break-in, but the comparison is spurious. In all of the public=20
scrutiny, no one seemed interested in finding the perpetrators of the onl=
y=20
criminal offense in the entire affair: hacking into private files. Anyone=
=20
who uses a computer should know by now that nothing in the cyber world is=
=20
truly private.  That shouldn't disturb scientists, openness is our cultur=
e.=20
Government should try it sometime.=20

4. WIMPS: THE UNIVERSE WE CAN=92T SEE.
When they were building the Large Hadron Collider it seemed to be all abo=
ut=20
finding the Higgs boson.  But there seems to be increasing interest in=20
using the LHC to to learn something about the 85% of the universe we can'=
t=20
see. We know it's there because it has gravity, but that's about all it=20
has. The betting is that it's a particle, and the leading candidate is th=
e=20
WIMP (weakly interacting massive particle). Gianfranco Bertone in=20
yesterday's issue of Nature predicts that if there is such a ghostly=20
particle it will be exposed by LHC in the next few years.

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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