Friday, January 21, 2011

1. WIRELESS: BUSINESS IS THRIVING ON ALL SIDES OF THE ISSUE.

There are today 7 billion humans living on this tiny planet. According to recent figures, 5 billion of them have a cell phone (a mobile outside the US). Few of them have any idea how these incredibly complex devices work, making this the most attractive market on Earth. There are several ways to tap this incredible market without selling cell phones. You might, for example, sell books warning about the dangers of cell phones. More than a dozen books have been published in the last few years warning that the population problem might be solved the hard way, as cell phone users begin to succumb to cancer. When will this be? Cell phones have been in widespread use for about 10 years. According to Devra Davis, author of "Disconnect," the latency period for cell-phone cancer can be decades. This has revived the EMF paranoia that was set off two decades ago when the New Yorker ran a scientifically illiterate series by writer Paul Brodeur linking power-line fields to childhood leukemia. Although books linking cell phones to cancer enjoy brisk sales it does not seem to have dampened public infatuation with the cell phone. People can't imagine giving them up. It has, however, created a new industry: cell phone protection technology, such as the Q-Link Diode For Cell Phone & EMF Protection. This is too depressing to continue.

2. DEFORESTATION: SOMALIA IS GOING UP IN SMOKE.

Despite a ban, the charcoal trade in Somalia is booming. One Somali parliamentarian declared that deforestation in Somalia for charcoal is more dangerous for the country than piracy. In nearby Northern Kenya, the numbers on the verge of starvation, some 5 million people, now far exceeds the population of the whole country less than a century ago. What brought this about? Earth cannot sustain an advanced population of 7 billion without severe degradation of the environment. The signs are everywhere: global warming, peak oil, ocean garbage patches, and deforestation.

3. LAKE VOSTOK: A TIME CAPSULE SEALED OFF FOR 15 MILLION YEARS.

The most exciting scientific treasure on Earth is about to be revealed. A Russian drilling team is on the verge of reaching the surface of the lake, 1300 km from the South Pole, according to a story in yesterday's Nature. It is the last uncharted environment on Earth. Drilling began 20 years ago, and they must reach the liquid water by February 6 or wait until next December. They must proceed carefully to avoid contamination of the untouched environment.

4.TEVATRON: HOW FAR BEYOND ITS REACH WAS THE HIGGS?

The Department of Energy announced on 10 Jan 2011 that the United States will close its only particle collider, the Tevatron, located at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois. The decision was contrary to the recommendations of the US particle-physics communitys scientific advisory group, which believes that the machine still has work to do. There is, of course always more that can be done, but resources are finite. The Tevatron learned the things it was built to learn and more; its closure should be seen as a measure of scientific progress.

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.