-Caveat Lector-
SkeptiNews 990205c - - - - - - - - - - - All The News That's Fit To Question
: Passages starting with : are editorial comments to provoke discussion.
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*** Nations review population strategy. AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - With
the world's population projected to hit 6 billion this year, a weeklong U.N.
population forum has taken on a new sense of urgency. Delegates from 180
countries are gathering in The Hague to take a hard look at futures. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558329965-8ef
: How many people are enough? How many are too many? Will overpopulation be
the impetus for global colonization, or just a smothering blanket? Can we
survive ourselves? Will we feed on ourselves? What have you done here?
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*** Iran carnival features U.S. touch. TEHRAN (AP) A fair celebrating the
Iranian Islamic revolution for the first time featured U.S. cartoon char-
acters, dancing and music - a sign of how much the gov't has relaxed limits
on music and dance. Actors dressed as Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny and a variety
of animals sang and danced in a procession of more than a dozen floats that
circled Enghelab (Revolution) Square, entertaining a crowd of more than 5000
people. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558332000-7f4
: Does your religion sanction foreign cartoon characters? Are you flexible?
Was that an embarrassingly small crowd for a national independence festival?
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# Students Find Science Behind Folk Medicine. Field studies in the Amazon
rain forest by chemical ecology students and published in the first issue
of the first journal of its kind are beginning to answer some long-standing
questions: Will lichen tea cure urinary tract infection or even gonorrhea?
Can a bird's choice of nest-building materials boost its immune system? Why
do some Indians prefer the honey of stingless bees over honey from killer
bees? http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/01/990129073825.htm
: Should/can all folk medicines be analyzed for efficacy? What doesn't work?
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# From The Mind Of Monkeys: New Clues To The Evolution Of The Human Brain.
A researcher has found the place in the brain where we stockpile short-term
data on spatial relationships. It's not where everyone thought it would be,
providing new evidence about the evolution of the brain from primates to
humans. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/01/990127102338.htm
: Has your brain evolved from its prosimian beginnings? Is that a bother?
Would you rather think like a human, an ape, an alien, a robot, a spirit?
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# Geologist Decries Using Engineering Models To Predict Natural Phenomena.
Using mathematical models to predict natural processes - such as how well a
sandy beach can weather randomly occurring storm buffeting - is a common-
place but wrongheaded engineering practice that can cause real harm, says
a Duke University geologist who studies such coastal dynamics. Insufficient
accuracy - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/01/990127081231.htm
: Should we throw away models or build better ones or depend on Reptilioids?
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# Technology Historian Takes Students To "Eighth Wonder Of The World:" Las
Vegas. A historian of technology who has studied the automobile, Silicon
Valley and the military-industrial complex has now turned his attention to
what he calls the "Eighth Wonder of the Modern World:" Las Vegas. And he's
scheduled a field trip for his students. Students of probability can come
too - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/01/990126143717.htm
: How many Wonders Of The World have you visited? Is Vegas the best? Which
laserlight show do you like most? Where is the world's best architecture?
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*** Can Stopping AIDS Treatment Work? CHICAGO (AP) The tentative results of
a small human experiment offer a glimmer of possibility that the body's own
defense system can be trained to suppress the AIDS virus. Drug-free regimen,
see http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558329758-763 ***
: What diseases are best treated with no treatment? What do survivors say?
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WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 5 Feb 99 Washington, DC
2. SPACE STATION? "TECHNICAL PROBLEMS" WITH RUSSIAN MODULE.
It's barely February and WN's bold prediction of further delays
in the ISS can already be scored as a hit (WN 1 Jan 99). Launch
of the much delayed service module, which until now has suffered
mostly from money problems (WN 9 Oct 98), is now postponed until
at least September. That will take it perilously close the time
when the first two modules will need a re-boost (WN 9 Oct 99).
Rep. James Sensenbrenner launched a rocket of his own at NASA for
ignoring the recommendation of the Chabrow Task Force that the
U.S. must sever dependence on Russia's failing space program to
keep the ISS on schedule (WN 1 May 98). Sensenbrenner quotes the
State Department as saying that removing Russia from the critical
path "would not be in the overall interests of U.S. foreign
policy." Although this latest delay is attributed to technical
problems, Russia's money woes are still worsening. The State
Statistics Committee yesterday reported a 4.6% drop in the Gross
Domestic Product. It was the worst drop in the GDP in four years.
3. MIR? SPACE MIRROR EXPERIMENT IS ABANDONED -- MIR IS NOT! Now
here's a news item: They had problems with a Mir experiment. The
idea was to have a 23 meter mirror, folded up on the cargo ship,
unfurl like the petals of a flower. Reflected sunlight could be
used to illuminate some dark region of Earth. (I personally have
a list of places that need illuminating.) This was to be the
prototype for 200 meter mirrors that would light up cities in
Siberia in the winter. Alas, with the world waiting in suspense,
the flower failed to bloom. A spokesman for the project lamented
that "We have forgotten the old principle of Russian space
programs -- to do something first and boast about only after."
There are no plans to repeat the experiment. Just last week, the
Russian Government approved a plan to extend the life of Mir if
private investment can be found. Hey, if BlackLight Power can
get backing...(WN 22 Jan 99). The U.S. has been pressuring Russia
to dismantle Mir and concentrate their efforts on the ISS.
: Will Russia ever have planetary colonies? Will colonies be national or
corporate or what? Without competition, will space development continue?
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HotLinks:
# New eruption at Mt. Etna: http://www.geo.mtu.edu/~boris/STROMBOLI.html
# Hackers & Cyber Crime updates: http://nt.excite.com/162/32642
# Space Station updates: http://nt.excite.com/162/15682
# NASA's Space Missions updates: http://nt.excite.com/162/32762
@ Emergency Prep: http://www.millennium-ark.net/News_Files/Hollys.html
@ The Hamster Dance: http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~lotze/hampster/dance.html
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"As the sun sank slowly in the west, so did Penelope as she soaked
up those last remaining rays from her towel hastily thrown over some
quicksand." --Stephen D. Bock
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] * http://www.sonic.net/~ric * ICQ# 19633976 *
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