What's New Robert L. Park 8 Jul 2011

WHATS NEW   Robert L Park   Friday, 8 Jul 11   Washington, DC

1. FINAL VOYAGE: IT'S TIME TO RE-EXAMINE SPACE PRIORITIES. =20
In the beginning US space priorities were set by the Soviet Union.  0ur=20
only priority was to win.  We won hands down, but the end of the Cold War=
=20
left us split.  With the memory of tickertape parades in the Apollo progr=
am=20
still fresh, one side wanted to go Hollywood with the focus on heroic=20
astronauts.  The other side thought NASA should be a science agency,=20
leading the way into a new age of scientific instrumentation. The game=20
ended in a tie.  NASA was split right down the middle: manned and=20
unmanned.  By any objective measure the manned program is an expensive=20
drag, but it was never meant to be judged objectively.  The end of the=20
shuttle program gives us a tiny window of opportunity to rethink the spac=
e=20
option.  The highest priority must be to protect Earth by: 1) identifying=
=20
all Earth-crossing asteroids and projecting their trajectories into the=20
distant future, and 2) locating the DSCOVR observatory at the L-1 point t=
o=20
monitor solar activity and climate change on the whole Earth.  This is th=
e=20
most urgent responsibility imaginable =96 and only the US can do it.

2. CELL PHONES: EVIDENCE "INCREASINGLY AGAINST" CANCER RISK.
Saturday, a major review by a committee of experts from Britain, the Unit=
ed=20
States and Sweden concluded there is no convincing evidence connecting ce=
ll=20
phone use to cancer, and no established biological mechanism by which=20
microwaves might trigger cancer.  Their conclusion is, of course, correct=
. =20
So why am I troubled?  Some of you must recall the virulently anti-scienc=
e=20
postmodern movement.  About 15 years ago it was argued that there is no=20
such thing as objective truth: Science is a product of the power structur=
e=20
it serves, and scientific "laws" would come out differently in a differen=
t=20
culture.  It pictured scientists sitting around a table voting on the=20
truth.  Does that seem uncomfortably close to where we are on cell=20
phone /cancer issue?=20

3. THE FINAL SEWER: WHERE DOES IT GO WHEN YOU FLUSH? =20
In a special issue a couple of months ago Nature reported that there have=
=20
been five mass extinctions over the past 540 million years in which the=20
number of species declined by over 75% in a geologically brief interval,=20
http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN11/wn030411.html .  If you're not alread=
y=20
depressed, keep reading; you will be.  An expert panel of scientists,=20
convened by the International Program on the State of the Ocean (IPSO),=20
released its report a couple weeks ago.  It warns that ocean life is at=20
high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedent=
ed=20
in human history.  There is a growing conviction that life on Earth has=20
already entered mass-extinction six.  Previous extinction episodes have=20
presumably been initiated by catastrophic natural events, such as increas=
ed=20
volcanism, changes in sea level, or asteroid impacts.  Mass-extinction-si=
x,=20
however, is decidedly unnatural, resulting entirely from the spread of=20
civilization.
=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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