Friday, December 14, 2007

1. SCIENCE DEBATE 2008: CAN WE TALK ABOUT ISSUES NOW?

The U.S. blocks climate agreement in Bali; American children trail the industrialized world in math; stem cell researchers are preoccupied with getting around the embryonic stem cell ban; the green revolution is diverted to feed SUVs instead of people; creationists are conspiring to get God back in the classroom; and our space program is reduced to pointless media spectaculars. Instead of candidates debating who loves Jesus most, Lawrence Krauss and Chris Mooney propose that science be the subject of a debate. An impressive group of science leaders has already signed on http://www.sciencedebate2008.com . It deserves the support of every scientist and every science organization.

2. ENERGY BILL: SENATE DEMOCRATS CAPITULATE.

As oil lobbyists mounted a full scale assault on Capitol Hill, the Senate yesterday passed a diluted energy bill that significantly raised fuel- economy standards, but omitted a tax on oil companies. The bill also dropped requirements that utilities generate 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources. It now goes back to the House but passage seems certain, and the President is expected to sign.

3. POPE BENEDICT XVI: A HINT OF ENLIGHTENMENT?

Under Pope John Paul II, from whom so much was expected, there was little progress. However, in his second encyclical letter to the faithful last week, "On Christian Hope," Pope Benedict XVI, reveals an unexpected side. As Cardinal Ratzinger, he had headed the Vatican office once known as "The Inquisition," and was the defender of traditional Catholic doctrine. About "eternal life" he now asks: "Do we really want this - to live eternally? It appears more like a curse than a gift." Elsewhere he finds: "The atheism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is - in its origins and aims - a type of moralism: a protest against the injustices of the world and of world history."

4. BIRTH CONTROL: FINDING THE COMMON DENOMINATOR.

What the Pope thinks, is important - even to atheists. Progress in fighting disease, or hunger, or environmental degradation, or global warming will count for little in the long run if population growth is unconstrained. The Church remains a powerful force in opposing birth control, although we note with some glee that the population growth rate in Vatican City is zero, as it is over most of Europe. The rate is highest in poor countries, leading many to argue that the solution to the population problem is prosperity - but in some very rich oil countries, such as Saudi Arabia, the growth rate is quite high. It's not prosperity that keeps population growth down; it's the freedom of women to achieve their potential - and prosperity follows.

5. DSCOVR: "THE WHOLE EARTH COMES INTO FOCUS."

An essay by Stewart Brand in last week's Nature makes the point that WN has made many times before: "Whether or not DSCOVR makes it to Lagrange-1, something similar surely must, and soon."

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.