What's New Robert L. Park 11 Jun 2011

WHAT=92S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 10 Jun 2011   Washington, DC

1. ET TU TARA?  "PIERCING THE FOG AROUND CELLPHONES AND CANCER."
The WELL blog by Tara Parker-Pope was the top story in Tuesday=92s NYT He=
alth=20
Section.  Her story is not wrong, but it=92s told in the wrong context. =20
Science is a search for cause and effect, not an epidemiologic majority. =
=20
To settle the question, WHO invited 31 experts to spend a week in Lyon, t=
he=20
culinary capital of France, strategically located between the two best wi=
ne=20
regions.  Meanwhile, much had been made of a study showing that the brain=
=20
is "activated" by microwave radiation.  Of course, it is.  The effect of=20
microwaves on the human brain, as on cold pizza, is to cause chemical bon=
ds=20
to vibrate, which we sense as heat.  Unlike cold pizza, however, the huma=
n=20
brain resists being heated.  Deep within the brain, the hypothalamus, the=
=20
thing below the thalamus, senses any increase in blood temperature.  It=20
calls on blood vessels in the heated area to expand, and increases the=20
heart rate.  The fresh blood is a coolant, but incidentally, also increas=
es=20
the rate of metabolism. "Microwaves have activated the brain," the human=20
observers shouted.  The shout was heard in Lyon.  Amidst the clinking of=20
glasses, the vote of the expert panel tipped from "no effect" to "possibl=
y=20
carcinogenic to humans."  What could it matter?  No one is going to stop=20
using cell phones anyway.  Does anyone care?  One enormously powerful gro=
up=20
cares, the tort industry.

2. WHAT NEXT?  SHOULD WN DROP THE CELL PHONE/CANCER ISSUE?
Since 1993, http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN93/wn012993.html , WN has=20
criticized media coverage of cell-phones and cancer in 76 weekly issues. =
  =20
The media was also criticised in the Journal of the National Cancer=20
Institute http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/93/3/166.full .  Mine is=
 a=20
small voice.  Tara Parker- Pope would find the number of subscribers to W=
N=20
amusing, but I kept expecting someone in the media to realize that 5=20
billion is a very large number.  Does it matter that people take unneeded=
=20
precautions?  No, what matters is that they don't understand why it doesn=
't=20
matter. If one jury in Cupcake, SD awards monetary damages based=20
on "possibly carcinogenic to humans," there will be a stampede of tort=20
lawyers pushing class-action lawsuits.

3. NUCLEAR POWER: JAPAN UNDERSTATED RADIATION LEVELS.
Radioactive emissions from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power=20
plant in the early days following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami=20
disaster were understated by more than a factor of two.  This come as=20
Chancellor Angela Merkel announces plans for Germany to exit nuclear powe=
r=20
by 2022. This comes even as world efforts to control global warming show =
no=20
progress. Hope of revitalizing nuclear power in the US is dead.=20

4. PERIODIC TABLE: ELEMENTS 114 AND 116 HAVE BEEN ADDED.
Yet unnamed, the two elements were first formed in 2004 and 2006 as a=20
result of a collaboration begun in 1990 by Russian and US scientists at t=
he=20
joint Institute for nuclear research in Dubna, near Moscow.  The two=20
elements decayed after a few milliseconds.  The search continues for=20
possible stable elements.

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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