What's New Robert L. Park 19 Feb 2011

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L Park   Friday, 19 Aug 11   Washington, DC

1. HOMEOPATHY: THE DILUTION LIMIT AND THE CULTURE OF CREDULITY.
Based in France, Boiron, a huge multinational maker of homeopathic-
remedies, is suing an Italian blogger, Samuele Riva, for saying=20
oscillococcinum, the company=92s featured flu medication, has no active=20
ingredient.  Congratulations Sam, I gave up trying to get Boiron to sue m=
e,=20
years ago but the Center for Inquiry, of which I'm a member, is pleading=20
with Boiron to sue us. "Anas barbariae hepatis et cordis extractum," is=20
listed as the active ingredient by the company.  It=92s prepared at a=20
concentration of 200CK HPUS from the liver of the Barbary duck.  The 200C=
K=20
means the solution has been diluted 1 part in 100, shaken, and repeated=20
sequentially 200 times. HPUS means the medication is listed in the=20
Homeopathic Pharmacopeia of the United States, and prepared according to=20
1938 federal guidelines.  It=92s a national disgrace that the antiquated =
law=20
sanctioning homeopathy, introduced by Sen. Royal Copeland, himself a=20
homeopathist, is still be on the books.  The dilution claim is totally=20
meaningless.  Somewhere around the 30th of the 200 sequential dilutions,=20
the dilution limit of Earth would be reached, with the entire Earth=20
becoming the solute.  That is, the possibility of even one molecule of th=
e=20
duck-liver extract remaining in the solution beyond that point would be=20
negligible.  Long before the 200th dilution, the dilution limit of the=20
entire visible universe would have been reached.  This is all quite=20
meaningless.   Astronomers put the number of atoms in the visible univers=
e=20
at about 10 to the 80th power.  It would take many universes to get to a=20
dilution of 200 C. =20

2. DARPA:  THE SEARCH FOR INTELLIGENT LIFE COMES UP SHORT.
According to Dennis Overbye in Thursday's NY Times, the Defense Advanced=20
Research Projects Agency is planning to award $500,000 for a study of wha=
t=20
it would take to travel to another star.  Actually, my class of freshman=20
physics-majors did that study last year, and decided they can't really go=
=20
there for any price.  A reality-based study of interstellar travel would=20
devastate the science-fiction industry.  The good news is that the Alpha=20
Centaurians can't, come here.  So why is DARPA doing this?  What we shoul=
d=20
be talking about is not visiting extra-solar planets, but what can be=20
learned about them without going there.  Although we can't travel at the=20
speed of light, information does all the time.  We can=92t travel to othe=
r=20
stars, but we see what's there.  We can conceive of telescopes many order=
s=20
of magnitude more powerful than the JWST will be, if we ever build the=20
JWST.  Telescopes don't make money, so why would we bother?  Maybe it cou=
ld=20
be sold to reality television.=20

3. NEON: THE NATIONAL ECOLOGICAL OBSERVATORY NETWORK.
The US has finally launched its ambitious project to systematically monit=
or=20
the environment.  The result will be an enormous database that scientists=
=20
can search to answer big questions, such as how global warming, pollution=
,=20
and land use affect ecosystems across the country.  It may not make good=20
reality television.=20

4. ENVIRONMENT: REPUBLICAN SKEPTICISM ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE.
Skepticism about climate change seems to have has joined opposition to=20
regulation, as the tenets of Republican orthodoxy.   But because of the=20
faltering economy, they are embraced with extraordinary intensity this=20
year.  High fuel prices, the Tea Party passion for smaller government and=
=20
an activist Republican base that insists on strict adherence to the party=
=92s=20
central agenda seem to be behind it. =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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