What's New Robert L. Park 6 May 2012

WHAT=92S NEW   Robert L. Park   Sunday, 6 May 2012    Washington, DC

1. ALBERT WHO?  DEAD PHYSICIST DISPELS MOBILE-PHONE MYTH.=20
According to news reports last week: "There is still no evidence of harm =
to=20
health from mobile-phone technologies," or other wireless devices such as=
=20
Wi-Fi.  A study for the UK's Health Protection Agency (HPA) is said to be=
=20
the most complete review yet and new evidence is still being examined,=20=

according to Professor Anthony Swerdlow of the Institute of Cancer=20
Research, who chaired the study.  I once had a rubber stamp made that=20
said: "More research is needed," since it=92s found at the end of every=20=

science paper. The unanswered question is why anyone thought microwave=20=

radiation might be a cancer agent in the first place?  Cancer is linked t=
o=20
the formation of mutant strands of DNA.  More than 100 years ago in his=20=

1905 paper on the photoelectric effect, Albert Einstein predicted an abru=
pt=20
threshold for photoemission at about 5 eV, just above the lovely blue lim=
it=20
of the visible spectrum, demonstrating wave-particle duality.  He was=20
awarded the 1923 Physics Nobel Prize.  It=92s also the threshold for the=20=

emission of invisible ultraviolet radiation that causes hideous skin=20
cancers.  The cancer threshold, is therefore, 1 million times higher than=
=20
the microwaves band. The same enormous mistake was made in the 1980s when=
=20
epidemiologists falsely warned that exposure to power line emission can=20=

cause cancer.  Power lines abruptly stopped causing cancer in 1997 after=20=

the U.S. National Cancer Institute conducted a better study. It=92s painf=
ul=20
to witness this sad history being replayed with mobile-phone radiation.=20=

Aside: My apologies to regular readers who have heard this 20 times befor=
e,=20
but it has not gotten through to everyone.

2.ASTEROID PROSPECTING: WHAT'S HOLDING UP A SPACE-AGE GOLD RUSH.
There was a front-page article by Joel Achenbach in the Washington Post=20=

last week about Planetary Resources, the world's first asteroid mining=20=

business, started by space visionary Peter Diamandis and his colleague Er=
ic=20
Anderson.  Deep-pocket investors are said to be hyperventilating. Why=20
wouldn't they?  Untold thousands of asteroids are whizzing around the Sun=
=20
right now =96 and they're free. Just leave your business card on an aster=
oid=20
and it's yours.  But, although asteroids are free, "whizzing" is not. Wha=
t=20
are these guys thinking? You must chase asteroids down to extract stuff=20=

like platinum and diamonds, if there is any, and haul it to Earth.=20
Meanwhile the price of rocket fuel is up and tiny errors in trajectory=20=

could lead to huge damage suits or start wars.  But why bother? Some of t=
he=20
best asteroids are already here; Earth has been collecting them for eons.=
=20
Just look for craters and start digging. Consider the Chicxulub asteroid=20=

buried beneath the Yucat=E1n Peninsula. It got rid of the dinosaurs 65=20=

million years ago, clearing the way for the evolution of Homo sapiens.=20=
=20
Mining the Chicxulub asteroid should keep Planetary Resources busy for=20=

centuries. Asteroids already have a really bad rap, but I think Chicxulub=
=20
may be seen as evidence that God is a businessman.=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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