What's New for Mar 23, 2001

[Susan Gawarecki <loc@ICX.NET>]

Things have been a little slow on RadSafe lately, so I thought I'd share

Bob Park's latest column with the list.  Enjoy!



- --Susan Gawarecki



WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 23 Mar 01   Washington, DC



1. MIR MISSES BOB: RUSSIANS MANAGE TO HIT THE PACIFIC OCEAN.  The

odds of getting hit by Mir may seem small, but how big could they

have been that a century-old oak would fall just as I ran by?



2. DOUBLE ANNIVERSARY: PROMISES WERE MADE TO CHANGE THE WORLD. 

On 23 March 1983, President Ronald Reagan announced the Strategic

Defense Initiative.  He called on scientists, "those who gave us

the atomic bomb," to turn their great talents to developing a

missile defense that would render nuclear weapons "impotent and

obsolete."  Six years later, on 23 March 1989, the discovery of

"cold fusion" was announced.  Coincidence?  Either that or Nancy

Reagan and Stanley Pons used the same astrologer.  Remarkably,

there has been equal progress on missile defense and cold fusion.



3. CLIMATE CHANGE: NEW MIT STUDY CALCULATES THE ODDS.  The MIT

Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change has

released an "Uncertainty Analysis of Global Climate Change

Projections."  The study is meant to improve public understanding

of the climate issue.  It assumes that the public can grasp a

prediction given in terms of the odds.  For example: "the median

projection shows a global mean surface temperature rise from 1900

to 2100 of 2.5C with a 95% confidence interval of 0.9C to 4.8C."

Just how this will fly with a public that is willing to stand in

line for hours to buy lottery tickets is yet to be seen.



4. BUDGET RESOLUTION: WHO'S GIVING THE PRESIDENT SCIENCE ADVICE? 

Well, apparently no one, which would account for the grim science

budget figures, among other things.  This week, Rush Holt (D-NJ),

a physicist, sought to amend the budget resolution, adding $1B to

function 250 which includes science.  The amendment failed on

what I assume was a straight party-line vote.  When the budget is

completed before a new President names a Science Advisor, the

consequences for the science budget are usually devastating.  So

far, there are not even many credible rumors.



5. CENSORING DARWIN: ARKANSAS IS EXPECTED TO TRY AGAIN.  The

House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs of the

Arkansas legislature has forwarded a measure to the full House

that would bar mention of evolution or radio-carbon dating from

state funded textbooks.  The committee vote came exactly 20 years

after the Arkansas legislature passed a similar law, which was

subsequently ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

In spite of the growing conservatism of the Court, there is

little reason to suppose this measure would fare any better.  



6. EMF AND CANCER: TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL?  Consumer groups and

politicians in Rome have charged that the likely cause of a

cancer cluster around the Vatican is a high-powered radio

transmission tower used by the Church to spread the holy word. 



THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY (Note: Opinions are the author's,

and are not necessarily shared by the APS, but they should be.).



- -- 

.....................................................

Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director

Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee

                       -----                       

A schedule of meetings on DOE issues is posted on our Web site

http://www.local-oversight.org/meetings.html - E-mail loc@icx.net

.....................................................

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