What's New Robert L. Park 16 Jan 2013

WHAT'S NEW    Robert L. Park   Wednesday, 16 Jan 2013   Washington, DC=20=


1. STEM CELL: SUPREME COURT WOULD RATHER NOT TALK ABOUT IT.
Last week the court refused to keep the government out of embryonic-stem-=

cell research, which is thought by many to be the most promising approach=
=20
to the treatment of numerous human diseases. About 20 years ago, however,=
=20
anti-abortionists pushed a bill through Congress banning the use of feder=
al=20
funds for research on human embryos.  They believed the Holy Ghost bestow=
s=20
a soul on the zygote at the moment of conception, making the zygote a=20
person (see What=92s New, 8 Nov 98).   The Obama administration long ago=20=

rejected this preposterous superstition, but it was kept alive by an appe=
al=20
to the Supreme Court.  Rejection of the appeal assures continued funding,=
=20
but the delay, contrived on superstitious grounds, may have cost many liv=
es.

2. BREAKTHROUGH:  THE HIGGS WAS THE TOP BREAKTHROUGH IN 2012.
As it does each year, the journal Science picked 10 breakthroughs to mark=
=20
the advance of science in 2012.  In the 21 Dec 2012 issue, Editor-in-Chie=
f=20
Bruce Alberts reported that the Higgs boson had been chosen as the "Top=20=

Science Breakthrough in 2012."  There is no immediate application for the=
=20
Higgs particle in sight, but it represents a huge advance in our=20
understanding of why the universe came out the way it did.  Science seeks=
=20
to trace the chain of cause-and-effect relationships back to a presumed=20=

first-cause. The Higgs boson is causally linked to the formation of the=20=

material universe. The discovery was made with CERN=92s Large Hadron Coll=
ider=20
at an operating budget of about $1 billion per year and the efforts of=20=

thousands of scientists.  By comparison the war in Afghanistan has so far=
=20
cost the US $1.2 trillion and 2000 lives with no tangible benefits?

3. KYOTO: WHY DID THE EMISSIONS PROTOCOL END IN TOTAL FAILURE?
On 1 Jan 2013 the Kyoto Protocol came to its scheduled termination. It's =
a=20
good thing; greenhouse gas emissions had only come up in response to Kyot=
o.=20
Hmmm. Could the UN solve the obesity problem with an international=20
agreement to limit food production? In an increasingly industrialized=20
society the only way to effectively reduce emissions is to reduce the=20
population.=20=20

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
---
Archives of What's New can be found at http://www.bobpark.org
What's New is moving to a different listserver and our
subscription process has changed. To change your subscription
status please visit this link:
http://listserv.umd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=3Dbobparks-whatsnew&A=3D1