Friday, October 31, 2008

1. OCTOBER SURPRISE? THERE'S STILL TIME IF YOU HURRY.

One of the least attractive traditions in American politics is the planting of scurrilous news stories when there is too little time before the election to adequately refute them. Scientists would prefer to examine the evidence. Science, after all, is conditional, always subject to change. An attempt to hold a presidential debate on science issues was doomed; there is not much science in either candidate's background. It wouldn't have helped much anyway, even though it might have been more interesting than some of the debates we heard. The President, however, can call on the best scientific minds in the country to advise him. But will he? And when will he do it? That's what we need to know.

2. ENDORSEMENTS: NOT EVERYONE WAS PLEASED LAST WEEK.

Several readers complained about WN joining the New York Times in its endorsement of Obama. This week it was the journal Nature, published in the UK. As you might expect, Nature was more diffident: "This journal does not have a vote, and does not claim any particular standing from which to instruct those who do. But if it did, it would cast its vote for Barack Obama."

3. HUBBLE: THE SPACE TELESCOPE EMERGES FROM COMA.

Side B, the spare data relay channel, is now working perfectly after being off for 18 years. So much for the good news, the bad news is that the mission to repair Hubble's formatter problems will not take place earlier than May. It would not take place then had NASA not been pressured by Congress, which was responding to a public outcry in support of Hubble.

4. HYDRINOS: BLACKLIGHT POWER ANNOUNCES CONFIRMATION.

No, no, not confirmation of hydrinos, of a new 50 kilowatt reactor. What, you might ask, does it react? Good question. It all began on April 25, 1991 when Randy Mills M.D. held a press conference in Lancaster, PA to announce that "cold fusion" isn't fusion at all. "It's hydrogen atoms decaying into a state below the ground state." He called the new state "the hydrino", (WN 26 Apr 91) , and formed a company, HydroCatalysis Inc., to exploit its wonderful properties. Somehow, the name lacked zing, so he changed it to BlackLight Power. Perfect! Soon, investors with deep pockets were begging him to take their money, which he did; reportedly to the tune of about $60 million. Sales, however, have been slow; reportedly about $0. The solution to that, Mills says, is BlackLight's new 50 kilowatt energy generator. An engineering team from Rowan University in New Jersey, headed by Peter Jansson, reports that, following BlackLight's procedures using material supplied by Blacklight, it has confirmed the energy production. But they are silent on the hydrino explanation.

5. PUBLICATION: OLDER SCIENTISTS PUBLISH MORE PAPERS.

According to yesterday's Nature a team led by science historian Yves Gingras at the University of Quebec in Montreal found that publication data for 13,680 scientists shows productivity remaining high through their 60s. Regrettably, the study did not follow them through their 70s.

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.