Friday, 17 April 98 Washington, DC

1. DOE: WHITE HOUSE SILENT ON REPLACEMENT FOR SECRETARY PENA
Deputy Secretary Betsy Moler was figured to be the likely choice to follow Federico Pena, who announced he will depart June 30. Moler, who served previously as chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, is popular within the agency, but she was also expected to get the job last year. Clinton is under pressure to appoint another Hispanic. That would seem to favor Rep. Esteban Torres (D-CA), who is not running for reelection. There could be a cabinet shuffle: Bill Richardson, Ambassador to the UN and Dan Goldin, who has shown talent for liposuction of bloated bureaucracies, have both been mentioned. Madeleine Albright would like to see Richardson get the job, a lot of people in NASA would like to see it go to Goldin.

2. APS COUNCIL: CONCERN OVER GROWING INFLUENCE OF NONSENSE.
This morning, the elected Council of the American Physical Society, meeting in Columbus, OH, asked the Panel on Public Affairs to prepare a statement, written in language that can be readily understood by the general public, of what science is, and what distinguishes it from other human activities. It is to be shared with other scientific organizations developing a response to the alarming spread of nonsense calling itself science. The Council discussion made it clear how difficult it will be to agree on such a statement -- and how important. It is a debate that should involve everyone who loves science.

3. 1997 PIGASUS AWARDS: ANOTHER COVETED FLYING-PIG TROPHY.
Two weeks ago (WN 3 Apr 98), we reported winners in the first two categories. WN is pleased that the award in category #3, "for the media outlet that reported as fact the most outrageous supernatural, paranormal or occult claim," went to ABC-TV News, "for their unquestioning and enthusiastic endorsement of "cold fusion, ESP, psychokinesis, astrology, magnetic therapy, and all sorts of questionable alternative healing modalities." We at WN are proud to note that we informed our readers of each and every one of these ABC reports during the year.

4. RESEARCH INVESTMENT ACT: SENATOR DURBIN (D-IL) SIGNS ON.
Both Illinois Senators (Carol Mosely-Braun is the other) are now cosponsors of the bipartisan S.1305. The Lederman Op-Ed in the Chicago Tribune (WN 3 Apr 98), which has been widely quoted in Washington, may have prompted Senator Durbin.

5. COLD FUSION-7: VANCOUVER MEETING REPORTS MORE THAN HEAT.
The preferred term among believers is now "chemically-assisted nuclear reactions." Nowadays it seems to transmute gold into base metals, neutralizes radioactivity and works fine with ordinary water. We note that the probability of N miracles is equal to the probability of one miracle to the Nth power.



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.