Friday, 2 June 95 Washington,DC

1. WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT "THE FLIGHT FROM SCIENCE AND REASON"?
The embrace of irrationalism in academic disciplines ranging from literature and history to anthropology has been explored for the past three days at a conference sponsored by the New York Academy of Sciences. The postmodern view is that there is no such thing as objective truth: Science is a product of the power structure it serves, and scientific "laws" would come out differently in a different culture. A platoon of distinguished academics lamented the spread of this corrosive notion and recounted examples of the foolishness it engenders, but there were few proposals for how to deal with the problem. How can you debate someone who denies the existence of objective reality? In contrast to the gray-haired speakers, there was a significant representation of under-thirty social scientists in the audience. It seemed clear that not one of them believed a single word of what was being said.

2. THE FLIGHT FROM SCIENCE AND REASON LANDED IN ALEXANDRIA, VA.
, where the First International Conference on Alternative Medicine was held last week. There were sessions on everything from shark cartilage to shamanic healing. Therapeutic touch is my favorite; it may sound kinky, but the only thing the therapist touches is your aura. I've never seen one, but apparently auras stick out. A man is reportedly suing a midwestern hospital after a careless biofield therapist, working on a patient in the next bed, scooped some of the negative energy from that patient's aura onto him.

3. ASTEROID PROTECTION IS EXPENSIVE, NO MATTER HOW YOU SLICE IT!
A giant Veg-A-Matic, launched on a Russian Energia, is the latest Wood-Teller idea for chopping up asteroids. Someone else at last week's Planetary Defense Workshop proposed huge solar sails to drag asteroids off course. But nukes remain the weapon of choice, as they were at the 1992 workshop (WN 6 Mar 92). Edward Teller, again the featured speaker, declared that nuclear methods would have a 70% chance of success. He was given a standing ovation. Of course, it might be a good idea to check to see if anything is coming our way before we build a defense. The only casualty from a meteorite in recorded history was a Chevrolet. According to the Tri Valley Herald, the lab considered holding the meeting in secret to avoid the image of bomb builders looking for work.

4. PRESIDENT OF AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CELL BIOLOGISTS COMMENTS
on congressional support for science. In a reference to WN's report on passage of the Hatfield Amendment (WN 26 May 95), Ursula Goodenough endorsed the sentiment that "Every inflamed prostate gland is a vote for health research" even, she observes, "as for many decades every inflamed anti-communist in Congress was a vote for physics research. We'll only be where we want to be when Congress funds scientific research because its members realize that what we're learning is so fascinating." We completely agree.

THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY (Note: Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the APS, but they should be.)


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.