Friday, 9 February 1990 Washington,DC
1. CHINA WILL IMPOSE A NEW FIVE-YEAR WORK RULE ON STUDY ABROAD.
Administration opposition to the Emergency Chinese Immigration
Act was justified on the grounds that the law might lead to new
restrictions on student exchanges. Persuaded by this argument,
the Senate upheld the President's veto
(WN 25 Jan 90). China has
now responded by imposing new restrictions anyway. The new rules
require students to work five years before they become eligible
for overseas study. Experts point out, however, that previous
announcements of restrictions on study abroad were followed by an
increase in exit permits! They predict that the principal effect
of the new rules may be to allow students that were not accepted
earlier, and have since been working in the system, to compete
for study openings abroad. There are also the inevitable Chinese
loopholes: students whose families are able to reimburse the
state for the cost of their education--far beyond the ability of
most--will be allowed to leave, and children of high government
officials can also be expected to travel abroad for study.
2. ALLAN BROMLEY DEFENDED THE PRESIDENT'S SCIENCE BUDGET
before
the House Science, Space and Technology Committee on Wednesday in
a three-hour "posture" hearing. On Thursday, he was back on the
Hill explaining the Administration position on global warming to
a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee. Today he co-chaired a
day-long hearing on "Energy and Science" with Energy Secretary
James Watkins. Although some environmentalists are disappointed
that the Bush Administration is not proposing immediate curbs on
emission of greenhouse gases, funding for the US Global Change
Research Program would be increased 57% in FY 91 to $1.03B. About
two-thirds of that would go to NASA, including an earth observing
satellite program. It's a big program for such a little planet.
3. THE GALILEO SPACECRAFT WILL HOPEFULLY MISS VENUS TOMORROW
on
its roundabout trip to Jupiter. The unusual route to the giant
planet, which will involve two close encounters with Earth, is
the result of launch delays forced by the shuttle problems. With
respect to another shuttle problem, a NASA official commented
that the cost of delaying the Hubble space telescope launch
(WN 12 Jan 90) eats up the equivalent
of two research groups per day.
4. GYROSCOPE CLAIMS OF JAPANESE RESEARCHERS WERE TAKEN LIGHTLY by
most scientists (WN 5 Jan 90).
A recent report in Physical Review
Letters that counterclockwise rotating gyroscopes exhibit weight
loss generated considerable popular interest, but few physicists
rushed to repeat the experiment. Perhaps it was too soon after
cold fusion. A forthcoming issue of PRL, however, will carry a
report by a group in Boulder, CO, at the Joint Institute for
Laboratory Astrophysics, that repeated the experiment--and got a
null result. It's a relief. If hundreds tried the experiment,
as with cold fusion, a few would inevitably find screwy results
and somebody would be calling for an Antigravity Institute.
|
