Friday, May 31, 2002
1. MARS: THE MOST EXCITING QUEST IN
SCIENCE GETS GOOD NEWS.
In 1962, John Glenn was the first American to orbit Earth. He went barely
100 miles from Earth. That same year, with less acclaim, Mariner 2 flew
by the cloud-shrouded planet Venus, 100 million miles from Earth, providing
the first direct information about conditions on another planet. The public
seemed unaware of what was happening: it was our robots, not our astronauts,
that were exploring the solar system. Forty years later, astronauts are
stuck in low-Earth orbit, while NASA scientists, using the Mars Odyssey
orbiter, have become virtual astronauts, discovering frozen mud beneath
the polar surface of Mars. The prospect of discovering non-terrestrial
life is now much greater. The search for life to which we have no genetic
link is surely the most exciting quest in science. But the Mars lobby
sees the mud as a source of drinking water for astronauts, and rocket
fuel for the return trip. Rocket fuel? In the early '70s, an inventor
named Sam Leach drove a car across the country using, he said, water as
a fuel. Alas, the oil companies suppressed it. We now face a deadline:
explore Mars before astronauts contaminate it. If they rely on water as
a source of fuel, it should be easy.
2. EMF: CALIFORNIA PREPARES TO RESURRECT
THE POWER LINE SCARE.
It's been more than 20 years since it was first claimed that power lines
induce cancer. In 1995 the APS Council stated that such conjectures "have
not been scientifically substantiated" (http://www.aps.org/statements/95_2.cfm).
A year later, the National Academy of Sciences concluded the same thing
(WN 1 Nov 96). In 1997, a National
Cancer Institute epidemiological study found no detectable EMF/cancer
link (WN 4 Jul 97). Not a single lawsuit
based on health effects of EMF has ever succeeded. Yet, California's Department
of Health Services, inexplicably turned to three obscure scientists in
the Department to "review" EMF studies. Without any new evidence, the
three "are inclined to believe that EMFs can cause some degree of increased
risk of childhood leukemia, adult brain cancer, Lou Gehrig's disease and
miscarriage." Their review has not yet been released to the public. When
it is, it will start this whole thing up again.
3. EVOLUTION: OHIO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
JOIN THE CREATIONISTS.
Reps. John Boehner (R-OH) and Steve Chabot (R-OH) jumped into the Ohio
School Board debate on the side of Intelligent Design. They quote the
Santorum Amendment, which passed overwhelmingly in the Senate (WN
15 Jun 01), but failed in the House. So it is in some sort of purgatory.
The driving force behind the School Board action is Jonathan Wells, a
theologian who went for a second PhD in biology because, "my prayers convinced
me that I should devote my life to destroying Darwinism."
(Christy Fernandez contributed to this week's What's New.)
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