WHAT'S NEW Friday, May 14, 2004

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 14 May 04   Washington, DC

1. MISSILE DEFENSE: DEPLOYMENT PLAN IGNORES TECHNICAL REALITIES.
Yesterday, a group of scientists, including Congressman Rush Holt
(D-NJ), released a new Union of Concerned Scientists study that
characterizes administration claims for the missile defense
system being deployed as "irresponsible exaggerations."  They
called on the Bush administration to halt deployment, and urged
Congress to require operationally realistic testing first.  The
director of the Missile Defense Agency, General Kadish, explained
two weeks ago that the current plan is to deploy and then test  
http://www.aps.org/WN/WN04/wn043004.cfm .  I asked my friend in
the agency, General Persiflage, how the plan is working 
http://www.aps.org/WN/WN03/wn121903.cfm .  "Great," he exclaimed,
"initially we were told to deploy by the end of 2004; that left
no time for testing.  But now that we've stopped testing, we find
it easy to stay on schedule.  We'll never go back to testing."    

2. OPEN-ACCESS JOURNALS: DOES ANYONE CARE WHO PAYS THE BILLS? 
"Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (eCAM) is
a new international journal that seeks to encourage rigorous
research in this new, yet ancient world of complementary and
alternative medicine...particularly traditional Asian healing
systems."  So begins an Oxford University Press announcement
http://www.oup.co.uk/jnls/list/ecam/ .  All eCAM papers are
available online at no cost and without subscription.  Unlike
other open-access journals there are no author submission fees. 
Who pays, skeptics might ask?  The "generous support of Ishikawa
Natural Medicinal Products Research Center, co-owner of the
journal with OUP."  Yes, it's the ancient-wisdom scam.  You are
asked to believe that before it was known that blood circulates
or germs cause disease there were these miraculous cures. If you
can live with a little superstition, you can save a couple of
bucks on page charges.  They may be on to something big here. 
Other industries might be equally generous.  Perhaps the Journal
of Gambling Studies, which deals with gambling addiction, could
cut a deal with the slot-machine industry.  And perhaps Join
Together Online, which opposes gun violence, could team up with
the National Rifle Association.  On the other hand, maybe not.
                    
3. THE VISA CRISIS: ARE VISA PROBLEMS HARMING AMERICA'S SECURITY? 
Twenty-five American organizations of higher education, science
and engineering, including the American Physical Society, warned
that new visa policies and procedures meant to bolster security
led to "a number of unintended consequences detrimental to
science, higher education, and the nation."  The new screening
procedures were instituted following Sep 11, 2001.  More
extensive security and background checks are the principal cause
of the problems.  The National Academy of Sciences says the
average wait for resolution of visa problems is 4.5 months.

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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