WHAT'S NEW Friday, March 05, 2004

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 5 Mar 04   Washington, DC

1. POLITICAL SCIENCE: THE ADMINISTRATION ANSWERS THE SCIENTISTS.
Barely a week after 60 prominent scientists issued a statement
charging the Bush administration with manipulating the science
advisory process http://www.aps.org/WN/WN04/wn022004.cfm , the
White House delivered an eloquent response   two advocates of
stem cell research were abruptly ejected from the Council on
Bioethics, and  replaced on the panel by three appointees whose
opposition to stem cell research is solidly faith-based.  Anybody
else want to speak up?  John Marburger, Director of the White
House Office of Science and Technology Policy, has apparently
been assigned the task of belittling the scientist's statement,
but the 60 prominent scientists who signed aren't backing down.

2. ADVERTISING: WHAT IF AN ENEMY MISSILE HAD JUST BEEN LAUNCHED? 
The question is asked in the new Lockheed Martin ads that
appeared this week on TV and in newspapers.  An inbound missile
is shown, with a cloud-shrouded "target city" far below.  "What
would it take to stop it?" the ad asks.  Answer: "Information,
speed and accuracy in a multi-layered system that integrates all
three.  Decisive action.  Missile Defense."  But there is no
missile defense, and for that matter, there is no missile.  The
only place a missile could be coming from is Russia, and that's
why we still maintain a deterrent.  The Lockheed Martin ads just
happened to coincide with the first commercials of the Bush
campaign.  We have been tested, one says, but the challenge was
met with "faith, families and sacrifice."

3. BUBBLE FUSION: CORPSE OF "SONOFUSION" IS SAID TO BE TWITCHING.
A new claim of desktop fusion from collapsing bubbles is coming
out.  It's been two years since Taleyarken et al. at Oak Ridge
National Laboratory reported in Science magazine that they had
observed 2.5 MeV neutron peaks correlated with sonoluminescence
from collapsing bubbles http://www.aps.org/WN/WN02/wn030102.cfm ,
but others could not confirm their results.  By mid summer the
bubble had burst http://www.aps.org/WN/WN02/wn072602.dfm . That
was remarkably similar to the lifetime of cold fusion.  But now
Taleyarken has new results that some say are more convincing. 
Perhaps we should wait for independent confirmation. Cold fusion,
of course, still has believers, but not much confirmation.

4. MOON-MARS: IF FACTS CHANGE, A REASONABLE MAN CHANGES HIS MIND.
An editorial in today's New York Times points out that a few
months ago astronaut John Grumsfeld was a "Hubble-hugger" who
described his two Hubble repair missions as the most important
achievement in his life.  Now he defends the decision to kill
Hubble http://www.aps.org/WN/WN04/wn012304.cfm .  Have the facts
changed?  Yes, Grumsfeld is now NASA's Chief Scientist.

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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