Friday, 23 April 1999 Washington, DC

1. HEADACHE: BAYER SCIENCE PROGRAM NEEDS A LITTLE WORK.
It seemed like a good idea.The aspirin maker took out a large ad in the New York Times on Tuesday to promote its volunteer employee program,"Making Science Make Sense," aimed at getting kids interested in Science. As an example, the ad suggested getting them to start thinking about "why lighter things fall faster than heavier things." That even started the WN staff thinking! If this program is going to work, it seemed to us, the place to start is with Galileo's "Dialogues." Here's the new version.

SALVIATI. Even without experiment it is possible to prove by clear and conclusive argument that Aristotle's assumption that a heavier body falls more rapidly than a lighter one is false. SIMPLICIO. Watch it Salviati, Aristotle's paper was peer reviewed. Are you claiming that lighter bodies fall more rapidly? SALVIATI. Of course, Simplicio,otherwise if you were to join a small stone to a larger stone, the heavier would be retarded. SIMPLICIO. I get a headache just thinking about it, Salviati, but be careful who you call retarded. So Aristotle was wrong - it's really light objects that fall faster? SALVIATI. You're slow Simplicio, but you've finally got it.

2. GREENING EARTH SOCIETY: SPREADING THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT CO2.
A full page ad in yesterday's Washington Post shows a chimpanzee covering his ears - refusing to listen to the good news: CO2 levels are going up! Pretty great huh? Plants thrive on CO2, the ad explains, making this a greener, more productive planet. It's one of Nature's building blocks. Without CO2 life on Earth would cease. So don't be a chimp, do your part to make this a better world: trade in your dinky little economy car and get an environmentally-responsible sports-utility gas guzzler, turn up the thermostat and burn those hydrocarbons. Support for the ad came from electric utilities and the Western Fuel Association.

3. SPY HYSTERIA: THE COX REPORT HAS STILL NOT BEEN MADE PUBLIC.
The Director of Central Intelligence issued a "Statement on Damage Assessment" this week. Although information on nuclear weapons obtained by China, "probably accelerated its program to develop future nuclear weapons," the statement acknowledges that, "We do not know whether any weapon design documentation or blueprints were acquired. We believe it is more likely that the Chinese used US design information to inform their own program than to replicate US weapons design." The White House and the Cox panel are reportedly near an agreement on how much of the Cox report will be made public (WN 2 Apr 99). Meanwhile, no charges have been filed against the person suspected of leaking the information. However, those at DOE responsible for leaving him in his sensitive position for more than a year after the FBI investigation was completed, may face the axe.



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.