WHAT'S NEW Friday, January 16, 2004

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 16 Jan 04   Washington, DC
 
1. NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION: NORTH KOREA POSTS "BEWARE-OF-DOG" SIGN.
What does a developing country that can't feed its people have to
do to get the attention of the world's superpower?  A year ago
North Korea pulled out of the 1970 Non-Proliferation  Treaty and
began flaunting its nuclear weapons program.  Preemptive strike?
Nah, the U.S. was busy looking for Iraq's nonexistent weapons.
But that's winding down (WN 9 Jan 04), so North Korea must have
decided it was time to try again.  An unofficial delegation of
U.S. nuclear weapons experts, including Sig Hecker, former Los
Alamos Lab director, was invited to view North Korea's "nuclear
deterrent" against a U.S. attack.  They were shown a substance
the North Koreans said was plutonium.  There was no way to verify
the stuff was really plutonium.  An empty cooling pond was said
to have contained 8,000 spent fuel rods before being reprocessed. 
We still don't know.  Is there really a dog, or just a sign?  
 
2. SPACE EXPLORATION: PRESIDENT BUSH PROMISES THE MOON AND MARS. 
Why now?  Well, it's not "now."  To pay for all this, the program
depends on money made available by phasing out the shuttle over a
period of six years, and completing our commitments to the ISS. 
After decades of telling the public that these two programs are
essential to space exploration, we discover they're just standing
in the way.  None of this will happen on Bush's watch.  Whether
he's reelected or not, the big bills won't start coming in until
Bush is safely out of office.  In fact, it's unlikely to happen
at all.  Even as the President spoke, the Spirit rover on Mars
appeared to be working perfectly.  It doesn't break for lunch or
complain about the cold nights.  Long before a human could land
on Mars, there won't be much left to explore.  Politicians tend
to underestimate the public.  An AP poll found 57 percent favor
having robots explore the moon and Mars; 38 percent said humans.
  
3. PEER REVIEW: A NEW WAY TO BLOCK ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS. 
Citing President Bush's commitment to "sound science," a new
administration proposal would block the adoption of new federal
regulations unless the science on which they're based passes a
centralized peer review overseen by the White House Office of
Management and Budget.  Under the current system, individual
agencies typically invite outside experts to review the accuracy
of the science.  The proposed change would lay out specific rules
regarding who can sit on peer review panels.  Participation of
academic experts who have received agency grants is explicitly
discouraged, but there is no equivalent warning against experts
with connections to industry.  Moreover, the executive branch has
final say as to whether the peer review process was acceptable. 


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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