Friday, January 27, 2006

1. ALTERNATE WORLD: A LEAP INTO HYPERDRIVE? OR MAYBE JUST HYPE?

New Horizons, which is on its way to Pluto, is the fastest spacecraft ever built. Even so, the trip will take nine years. At the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics meeting last year, an award was given for a paper about a new propulsion system that could do it in a day. So why are we doing it the old-fashioned way? Because it works. There are two worlds. There is the world that sends robots to explore Mars, finds a vaccine for cervical cancer, unravels the structure of DNA, invents Global Positioning, etc. And then there is an alternate world that discovers cold fusion, homeopathy, the Podkletnov gravity shield, hydrinos, and the Heim space drive. Inhabitants of both worlds speak similar languages, look alike, even have identical DNA. It's not just that things don't work in the alternate world, that can happen even in the real world. But in the alternate world it doesn't seem to make any difference.

2. EARTH IS GETTING WARMER: LAST YEAR WAS WARMEST IN A CENTURY.

NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies reports the highest annual average surface temperature since instrument recordings began. 1998 was about as warm, but for the two warmest years to be that close together is even more troubling. Warming is no longer the question. What is causing the increase? Is it simply natural solar variation, as the polluters prefer to believe, or a build up of greenhouse gases? The administration would rather not know (WN 6 Jan 06) . The Deep Space Climate observatory, already built and waiting five years for launch, would provide an unambiguous answer. This clearly puts the administration in the "alternate world."

3. THE HYDROGEN CAR: TRANSPORTATION IN THE ALTERNATE WORLD.

Huge gaps in virtually every field of science would have to be overcome for a hydrogen car to be feasible. The goal is for hydrogen vehicles to be in showrooms by 2020, 12 years after Bush leaves office. Energy Secretary Bodman kicked off the Washington Auto Show on Tuesday with the announcement of $119M in funding and a "Research Roadmap." It's a roadmap of the alternate world.

4. MAP OF CANADA: A SUDDEN COLD FRONT BLOWS IN FROM THE NORTH.

Stephen Harper, a Conservative, elected as Canada's prime minister on Monday, informed the U.S. today that the Northwest Passage is Canadian water. Changing ice conditions due to global warming are opening the waters for the first time in history.

5. UCLA INFORMERS: CONSERVATIVE ALUMNUS WITHDRAWS MONEY OFFER.

Last week, WN reported that a former campus Republican leader was offering cash to students to keep tabs on radical professors. UCLA officials said this would violate school policy. Andrew Jones shrugged that students would volunteer anyway.

Bob Park can be reached via email at whatsnew@bobpark.org
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the University, but they should be.