Friday, 5 March 1999 Washington, DC

1. CTBT: RATIFICATION THIS YEAR IS A CLINTON PRIORITY AGAIN.
Speaking to the National Press Club, Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson declared that CTBT is "an issue where the whole cabinet is going to be deployed." Does this sounds vaguely familiar? There was talk all last year of a "big push," which never came. Richardson predicted that the bill would pass "if it is allowed on the floor of the Senate." Big "if." Senator Helms (R-NC) still refuses to let the bill out of committee as long as the ABM treaty lives. Meanwhile, China has joined the list of nations that "plan to ratify" the treaty, according to Japanese Foreign Ministry officials. The treaty must be ratified by 44 countries, including the five declared nuclear states, to go into effect. India and Pakistan, which are nuclear power wannabes, have indicated a willingness to sign the treaty.

2. CP VIOLATION: HOW MANY SIGMA MAKES IT A DISCOVERY?
Monday's stunning announcement by the KTeV collaboration at Fermi Lab that they had directly measured CP violation in the decay of K mesons is the first result beyond the indirect discovery by Fitch and Cronin 35 years ago. According to a story in The Chronicle of Higher Education, however, scientists at CERN insist the result merely confirms their 1988 finding. A spokesman for KTeV responded that the CERN result was only 3 sigma not enough to establish a real effect. The KTeV result is 7 sigma going on 10.

3. BUDGET: SCIENCE COMMITTEE CALLS FOR A THREE PERCENT MINIMUM.
Yesterday, the Committee issued its Views and Estimates, calling for a minimum increase of 3% this year, and expressing concern over the level of commitment for Space Station research. More than a month ago, James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) scolded the White House for an out-year budget which, he said, fell below inflation. He has yet to reveal his own plan for the out years.

4. FREE ENERGY: STATE DEPARTMENT OPENS ITS DOORS TO NEW AGERS.
Something called the Integrity Research Institute has announced the First International Conference on Free Energy (CoFE), April 29-30. IRI markets books and videos with such titles as The Race to Zero Point Energy, Anti-Gravity: The Dream Made Reality, and Holistic Physics and Consciousness. It is headed by a US Patent Examiner named Tom Valone, who has been recruiting other open- minded people to become Patent Examiners (WN 20 Nov 98). The speakers list for CoFE is certainly open minded; topics include: assisted nuclear reactions (a.k.a. cold fusion), sonoluminesence (a.k.a. cold fusion), hydrogen technologies (a.k.a. cold fusion), tabletop nuclear transformations (a.k.a. cold fusion), as well as zero point energy generation, negative resistance and...well, you get the idea. Where would you hold such a uh, um open-minded conference? The notice says CoFE will be "under the auspices of the U.S. State Department in the Dean Acheson Auditorium."



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.