What's New Robert L. Park 21 Jan 2011

WHAT=92S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 28 Jan 2011   Washington, DC

1. INFINITESIMALS: EXCUSE ME DOCTOR, DNA IS CALLING ON LINE ONE.
The decades-long dispute between Luc Montagnier of the Pasteur Institute =
in=20
France and Robert Gallo, then at the National Cancer Institute in the US,=
=20
has taken on an entirely different complexion following Montagnier=92s pu=
blic=20
disclosure last month of far out homeopathic convictions.  What's new=20
reviewed homeopathy two weeks ago (http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu ). Ofte=
n=20
described as treatment with =93highly dilute=94 medicine, homeopathic dil=
ution=20
typically far exceeds the dilution limit, beyond which not a single=20
molecule of the solute would remain. In homeopathy, less is more.  Samuel=
=20
Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, called this The Law of=20
Infinitesimals. Luc Montagnier was awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Medici=
ne=20
for his discovery of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), while Robert Gal=
lo=20
who many thought had a legitimate claim to the discovery was left out in=20
the cold.  Interviewed by Martin Enserink for Science just a month ago=20
(Science, VOL 330, p.1732), Luc Montagnier explained he is leaving France=
=20
for Shanghai to escape the climate of fear surrounding mention of the=20
electromagnetic waves that he claims emanate from highly diluted DNA of=20
various pathogens, including those responsible for autism and Alzheimer=92=
s. =20
Jaques Benveniste, who Montagnier calls a "modern Galileo," made similar=20
claims. Others in Europe are afraid to publish similar results according =
to=20
Montgnier, "because of the intellectual terror from people who don't=20
understand it."

2. BENVENISTE: THE ONLY SCIENTIST TO WIN TWO IG NOBEL PRIZES.=20
My personal encounter with Jaques Benveniste is described in The Barbary=20
Duck, Chapter 9 of Superstition: Belief in the Age of Science (Princeton,=
=20
2008).  I met with Benveniste in 1999 to discuss a protocol for a test of=
=20
his claim that he could record the EM signals emanating from a homeopathi=
c=20
solution and transmit it over the Internet to activate homeopathic=20
properties in a remote receptacle of water.  Although the agreed-upon tes=
t=20
was described in Time magazine, Jacques repeatedly asked for more time to=
=20
prepare http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN99/wn051499.html .  He died seve=
n=20
years later, to avoid going through with the test, or perhaps he=20
inadvertently sipped distilled water and died of a homeopathic overdose. =
=20
Benveniste=92s company, Boiron, apparently scrapped plans to deliver thei=
r=20
product electronically. They may be on to something: the remote water wou=
ld=20
indeed be just as effective as other homeopathic medicine in treating=20
disease. =20

3. WI-FI: MORE ON THE AWESOME POWER OF NOTHING.
According to a story in the Albuquerque Journal, a Santa Fe resident is=20
taking the city and AT&T to court over Wi-Fi signal upgrades. He says he=20
suffers from electromagnetic hypersensitivity.  It causes him insomnia,=20
irritability, eye pain, dizziness, nausea, and headaches, and I have the=20
same reaction from just writing about it. Meanwhile, however, a study by=20
the name of COSMOS (Cohort Study of Mobile Communications) has been=20
underway in Europe for more than a year. If it's anything like all the=20
other significant studies it will find nothing, and Devra Davis will simp=
ly=20
add a few more years to her estimate of the latency period for brain=20
cancer. =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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