Friday, July 16, 2010

1. POPULATION: RE-EMERGENCE OF THE POPULATION ISSUE IN THE UK.

The world slept through two decades as if forbidden to utter the word "population." No American politician would dare speak the dangerous word even now. Its being voiced once again in the UK, however, not only by such high-profile intellectuals as Sir David Attenborough, but also by Fred Pearce, a prominent science writer, who tells us, presumably with a straight face, that "the problem is not population but consumption." Dominic Lawson, also with a straight face, writes in the Independent that, "Affluence is the answer." The rich, he notes, have fewer offspring; all we have to do is make everybody rich. Between Pearce and Lawson, a bunch off basic conservation laws must get mangled. Not a moment too soon, the UK's Royal Society is launching a comprehensive review of the evidence, led by Sir John Sulston, who was awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology for his contributions to the Human Genome Project. Just the person.

2. WARMING: ITS HOTTER THAN THE ARM PIT OF FAHRENHEITS MISSUS.

Only the US and Belize still use this archaic Fahrenheit temperature scale, but Washington, DC just hit 100 F (about 38 C). Not to worry. I have an ad torn from Parade magazine. Parade has the highest circulation of any print news. The ad, configured to look like a news story, is about a "miracle air cooler." It's on wheels and you can roll it around anyplace you want cool air. If you buy one quick you might get another one free. But heck, they're "a real steal at just $298 and shipping." So if it doesn't have to be in a window, where does the heat go? They come equipped with two reusable ice blocks. Just fill em up and plug em in. This is what we did back in the 30s. On unbearably hot days you put a block of ice in front of a table fan. Taking into account the energy required to make ice, it's much less efficient than your air conditioner.

3. NASA: SENATE AUTHORIZATION CANCELS THE RETURN TO THE MOON.

The Senate Committee on Commerce Science and Transportation yesterday agreed unanimously on a blueprint for NASA that is devoid of any new science. The bill does get rid of the pathetic return-to-the-moon program, but it is otherwise just a plan to avoid adding to unemployment in the space industry. It calls for development of a spacecraft capable of carrying a crew beyond low Earth orbit, but there's no place to go

4. NUCLEAR WEAPONS: WHAT SHOULD WE DO WITH THE STOCKPILE?

Under the Obama administration's 20-year plan the US nuclear arsenal would reduce the 5000 deployed and stored warheads by about 40%. The US has no conceivable need for the remaining 3000 nuclear warheads. Additional cuts however would be too expensive. As Lisbeth Gronlund of the Union of Concerned Scientists is quoted in today's Washington Post, "nuclear weapons are now a liability not an asset." We can't get rid of them fast enough.

5. CELL PHONES: PROXIMITY TO TOWERS DOESNT RAISE CANCER RISK.

Of course it doesn't, for the same reason that the phones don't cause cancer: the frequency of microwave radiation is far, far below the photoelectron threshold.

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.