Friday, 23 October 1992 Washington, DC
1. ACADEMIC SCIENTISTS OPPOSE STRONGER NSF LINKS WITH
INDUSTRY.
Responding to numerous inquiries, WHAT'S NEW has
conducted its own analysis of the responses to a request from the
Commission on the Future of NSF for comments. The majority (57%)
were from academic scientists: 51% of them flatly opposed
broadening NSF's mission to include stronger links to industry,
while another 14% said it should be done only if basic research
could be maintained or strengthened; only 12% said it was a good
idea; 13% said the Commission should be worrying about something
else, usually undergraduate education; the other 10% didn't hear
the question.
2. MOST UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATORS SAW THE PROBLEM
DIFFERENTLY. It was a lot harder to figure out where they
stood, but 33% seemed to think stronger links with industry would
be a good idea. 20% were flatly opposed, while another 24% said
it should only be done if basic research could be protected. 15%
wanted to talk about something else and 8% just wanted to know
where to apply for a grant. There were too few responses from
industry to be statistically significant. Six governors
responded, counting the governors of Puerto Rico and the Mariana
Islands; they didn't have a lot to say, except they can't wait to
hear the outcome.
3. OH NO! CANCER FROM POWER LINE FIELDS AND COLD FUSION ARE
BACK?
What a week for science! Researchers in four
laboratories report that cold fusion experiments work as well
with ordinary water as with heavy water. (That I can believe!)
At the third annual cold fusion seance in Nagoya this week, Hideo
Ikegami concluded that the excess heat he measures cannot be
coming from fusion. Where does it come from? From hydrogen atoms
dropping into states below the ground state, explains Randy
Mills, of Hydrocatalysis Power Corp. His explanation dealt a
crushing blow to physicists, who thought the hydrogen atom was
the one system they understood. In Stockholm, a new study
confirms an increased risk of leukemia for children living near
powerlines. On the positive side, the study found that
powerlines have suddenly stopped causing brain tumors.
4. BY CONTRAST, 17 KEV NEUTRINOS SEEM TO HAVE GONE AWAY FOR
GOOD.
Massive neutrinos had been invoked to explain an
energy deficit in beta decay measurements, launching a massive
search. But at the International High Energy Physics meeting in
August, massive evidence piled up against the heavy-weight
neutrinos. That led Andrew Hime of Los Alamos, who had previously
reported 17 keV neutrinos, to reexamine his experiment. Last
week in Santa Fe, at the APS Nuclear Physics Division meeting,
Hime reported that he had found the experimental artifact
responsible for the energy deficit: an electron baffle that
absorbed exactly 17 keV.
5. PHYSICS FINALLY CAME UP IN A PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE-
yesterday's third party debate! Physicist John Hagelin
said it would be a miracle if he won in 1992--and a miracle if he
lost in 1996.
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