WHAT'S NEW Friday, 13 Jun 03

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 13 Jun 03   Washington, DC

(Andrew Essin contributed to this week's WN).

1. HOMESTAKE, SD: A MINE IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE.  What do
you do with a 125 year-old gold mine when the gold's gone?  Well,
if it's 8,000 feet under the Black Hills of South Dakota, with
excellent infrastructure already in place, you might turn it over
to a bunch of physicists for a Deep Underground Science and
Engineering Laboratory (WN 4 Jan 02).  At least you might if you
get the government to assume all liability for any environmental
infractions that come to light.  Or you could just flood the
depths and submerge any violations; Barrick Gold Corp. of Toronto
may have opted for the latter.  Two weeks ago, an NSF site panel
figured Homestake would make the world's best laboratory for
neutrino studies and the search for proton decay.  That's not a
guarantee that Barrick will be off the hook, however, and this
week the mining company turned off the pumps that keep the mine
dry.  

2. INTELLIGENT DESIGN?  NO SIGN OF IT IN LOUISIANA'S LEGISLATURE.
A resolution before the Louisiana House Education Committee
opposes the use of "textbooks that do not present a balanced view
of the various theories relative to the origin of life but rather
refer to one theory as a proven fact."  Why is it they don't say
what they have in mind?  It's because the Supreme Court ruled in
1987 that public schools may not include creationism in a science
curriculum.  Intelligent design is creationism that has evolved
protective coloring, and its proponents now resort to this sort
of "equal time" proposal.  The Louisiana resolution follows a
failed attempt earlier in the legislative session to censor
textbooks outright if they teach only evolution.  The legislature
goes home June 23, so we'll know by then if science education in
Louisiana will survive to fight another day...stay tuned.

3. PUBLIC TELEVISION: "UNLOCKING THE MYSTERY OF LIFE."  Tuesday,
Maryland Public Television aired a high image-quality documentary
that pretended to be science.  The program, produced by Illustra
Media, marks the 50th anniversary of the discovery by Watson and
Crick, but the Nobelists won't be pleased.  The blurb in the MPT
schedule sums it up: "A growing number of scientists now think
that DNA and the complexity of life point to purpose and design
in nature."  The Discovery Institute, which distributes the
documentary, is committed to replacing evolution with intelligent
design and is extremely well-funded.  This is Phase II, the
"publicity" phase of what the Discovery Institute calls the
"Wedge Project."  The idea is to use "intelligent design" as a
wedge to get religion into science education, and evolution out:
Phase I was research, Phase III will be legal challenges and a
focus on the terrible social implications of evolution.
"Unlocking the Mystery of Life" was shown earlier in Michigan and
Texas.  It may turn up on Public Television near you.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND and THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY.  
Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the
University or the American Physical Society, but they should be.
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