What's New Robert L. Park 20 May 2011

WHAT=92S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 20 May 2011   Washington,=20

1. SORRY: I WAS A VICTIM OF CONVERGING DEADLINES.
Or could it be that I'm getting slower in my declining years?  Next week=20
there won't even be a late WN.  I will be delivering an invited paper in=20
Stockholm.
 =20
2. CELL PHONES: SANJAY GUPTA USES A WIRED EARPIECE.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, MD, the Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN, uses a wir=
ed=20
earpiece to avoid radiating his brain with microwaves. I don't even use a=
=20
cell phone, so am I safer than Sanjay Gupta?  No =96 not unless Sanjay ke=
eps=20
his cell phone in his pants pocket when he uses the earpiece.  Our gonads=
=20
dangle in that silly scrotum to keep them slightly below body temperature=
,=20
but they do seem dangerously exposed.  Microwaves from the cell phone mig=
ht=20
raise their temperature a bit.  The most that could happen would be an=20
infinitesimal decrease in the fertility rate.  At least that's in the rig=
ht=20
direction.  Sanjay Gupta is a good writer, and he's probably a good=20
doctor.  I listen to him whenever I can.  My mother would have said, "He'=
s=20
a REAL doctor," as opposed to the PhD scientist kind.  Trust me Mom, an=20
M.D. is not a scientist. =20

3. MORE CELL PHONES: WHAT THE MEDIA DIDN'T TELL YOU.
Here's the conversation I have several times a day with total strangers:=20
Caller: do you use a wired earphone?  BP: No.  Caller: would it be too mu=
ch=20
trouble?  BP: No.  Caller: Wouldn=92t you be safer?  BP: No.  Caller: How=
 do=20
you know?  BP: Quantum physics; all cancers are caused by mutant strands =
of=20
DNA.  Electromagnetic radiation can't create mutant strands of DNA unless=
=20
the frequency is at or higher than the blue limit of the visible spectrum=
 =96=20
the near-ultraviolet.  The frequency of cell phone radiation is about 1=20
million times too low.  Caller: Wow!  When did this news break?  BP: Albe=
rt=20
Einstein let it out in 1905.  Robert Millikan, considered to be the world=
's=20
top physics experimentalist, spent a decade constructing an experiment to=
=20
test it.  It confirmed Einstein's theory perfectly.  Caller: I'm shocked!=
 =20
Are you sure this is right?  BP: Virtually the entire modern world rests =
on=20
it.  Caller: Why am I just hearing about this?  BP: Because Sanjay didn't=
=20
tell you.  We all depend on the news media to keep us informed, and the=20
news media all over the world let us down on this one.  And we scientists=
=20
should have been screaming louder.

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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