What's New Robert L. Park 15 Jul 2011

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L Park   Friday, 15 July 1911   Washington, DC

1. DAWN: NASA PROBE ORBITS MASSIVE VESTA ASTEROID.
Driven by a weak but steady ion engine, Dawn has been accelerating 1000 
days in a four-year spiral to reach the giant, 350 mile wide, Vesta 
asteroid, the second largest asteroid in the solar system.  By probing its 
secrets scientists hope to catch a glimpse of how the planets, including 
Earth formed out of a disc of gas and dust.  It is the second most massive 
asteroid in the solar system, with an unusually dark surface.  It is 
reassuring to see that the great science-NASA is still alive.

2. xkcd: IS THIS THE END OF THE GREAT CELL-PHONE SCARE?
There are five-billion cell phones in use worldwide according to industry 
figures, and yet there is not a single verified case of cancer being caused 
by cell phone radiation.  The science that explains why cell phone 
radiation can't cause cancer is more than 100 years old  
http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN11/wn010111.html .  Nevertheless, the 
Environmental Health Trust, founded by Devra Davis, exists solely to warn 
the public about the nonexistent cancer hazard of cell phones, and perhaps 
sell a few copies of her book.  On the other side is the webcomic xkcd.  Go 
to http://xkcd.com/925/ .

3. BLINDED: EARTH HAS ITS EYES PLUCKED OUT.
One week after a House subcommittee proposed terminating the James Webb 
Space Telescope (JWST), NASA's costly successor to the orbiting Hubble 
observatory, agency officials told an advisory panel on Thursday that JWST 
can be launched as soon as 2018, but political realities could delay the 
mission's start well into the 2020s.  "Political realities" could terminate 
it completely.  Meanwhile, the 2012 budget request NOAA sent to Congress in 
February asked for $47.3 million for the Deep Space Climate Observatory 
(DSCOVR) and $11.3 million for Constellation Observing System for 
Meteorology Ionosphere and Climate-2 (COSMIC-2). The House bill would not 
provide funding for either.  Republicans oppose any mission that would give 
evidence of global warming. Otherwise celebrity billionaires might be 
called on to pay taxes at the rate of working people.

4. HACKERS: CLIMATEGATE REVISITED.
Two years ago, e-mail files of the Climate Research Unit at the University 
of East Anglia were hacked and selectively posted on the web.  Rupert 
Murdoch newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal, expressed shock at 
the "criminal conspiracy" and "scientific blacklisting" 
http://bobpark.org/WN09/wn120409.html . The "gate" suffix was added to 
invite comparison with the infamous break-in at the Watergate by Nixon's 
goons, but the climategate burglars were treated as heroes.  There was not 
one line of criticism about the only criminal offense in the whole sordid 
climategate affair of hacking into private files.  It is ironic that 
hacking by the Murdoch papers is now threatening the Murdoch empire.  

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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