What's New Robert L. Park 01 Dec 2011

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Monday, 30 Nov 2011   Washington, DC

1. BIRTH CONTROL: IT'S NOW PART OF OUR NATIONAL HEALTH POLICY.=20
Earth=92s population reached 7 billion this month.  As WN pointed out two=
=20
years ago (WN 19 Jun 09) that's double what it was in 1968, the year=20
Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich warned of desperate shortages in "The=20
Population Bomb."  Julian Simon, a libertarian economist at the Universit=
y=20
of Maryland, challenged Ehrlich to a public wager on a list of commodity=20
prices.  Ehrlich lost on every point, but the real loser was the=20
environment: anthropogenic climate change, vast floating garbage patches =
in=20
ocean gyres, starvation in parts of the world, the Hubbert peak in oil=20
production, perpetual warfare etc. But there was also good news in=20
1968; "the Pill," a combined-hormone oral contraceptive, was approved by=20
the FDA.   The Pill is arguably the most important technological inventio=
n=20
in history, and last week the Obama administration made it clear that=20
health insurance plans are required to cover birth-control expenses witho=
ut=20
co-pays.  The policy follows the recommendation of the Institute of=20
Medicine, but prompted protests from Catholic bishops who will have fewer=
=20
souls to save.  An editorial in the New York Times called the policy=20
a =93proud achievement=94 of the administration.

2. CURIOSITY ROVER: WHY PEOPLE AREN'T GOING TO MARS.
You may have noticed that Martian landscapes photographed by Rovers are=20
pretty drab compared to Earth landscapes taken by Ansell Adams.  The=20
problem is not the cameras or the lighting.  Rocks, even red ones, simply=
=20
do not Yellowstone Park make.  The Mars lobby insists we should be tourin=
g=20
the red planet with humans rather than soulless machines.  But even if we=
=20
could find astronauts with the artistic instincts of Ansell Adams, the Ma=
rs=20
quest is for life to which we are not related.  Astronauts would be=20
compelled to spend perhaps nine months waiting for the appropriate=20
conjunction of Earth and Mars.  Unless a way could be found to suspend=20
their diurnal rhythms during those months, the risk of contaminating Mars=
=20
with Earth life seems unacceptably high.  The difficulty of mounting a=20
human mission to Mars is probably sufficient to keep us from doing=20
something foolish.  Meanwhile, the evolution of our Rovers with every=20
generation is a wonder to behold.  Humans, by contrast, have not noticeab=
ly=20
improved in 200,000 years.  A huge advance in Rover technology in Curiosi=
ty=20
is the use of RTG technology to provide power.
 =09
3. PU-238: RADIOISOTOPE THERMOELECTRIC GENERATORS.
Previous Mars rovers have all relied on batteries or solar panels for=20
energy.  Alas, they have problems in dust storms, and Mars is a dusty=20
planet.  For all of our deep space missions, however, we have relied on=20
radioisotope thermoelectric generators, RTGs.  It is the most reliable an=
d=20
longest duration electric power generation system ever devised, but we're=
=20
running out of plutonium 238.  We'll talk more about it in the next issue=
.=20
 =20
4. SPEED OF LIGHT: IT'S STILL THE SPEED LIMIT.
The only thing faster is the speed at which the media goes to print with=20
unverified accounts that seem to violate natural law.

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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