> [Original Message] From: What's New <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: 11/26/2005 1:03:29 PM Subject: [BOBPARKS-WHATSNEW] What's New Friday November 25, 2005
WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 25 Nov 05 Washington, DC 1. NASA: "VISION FOR SPACE EXPLORATION" IS ALREADY IN TROUBLE. It was less than a year ago, that President Bush announced his bold plan to send people to reexplore the Moon and then explore Mars http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN04/wn011604.html The plan is not going well. First, we're told, the International Space Station must be finished as the US promised, even if it is just a Disney World ride for too-rich tourists. That means 18 more shuttle flights, which aren't happening due to new cracks in the foam. If the ISS is ever finished, it can be dropped in the ocean. NASA will then get on with a crew exploration vehicle to go to the moon, where we were 36 years ago. But that leaves a four year gap between the shuttle and the crew exploration vehicle with no Americans in space. Would anyone notice? 2. DARWIN: AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY OPENS NEW EXHIBIT. In 1987, Norman Newell, a paleontologist at the AMNH, shared the Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award of the AAAS for his early and persistent campaign to alert scientists to the threat posed by creationism to scientific education. At that time, the Louisiana "equal time" law was before the U.S. Supreme Court http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN87/wn021987.html . This week, with the Dover School Board ID case before a Federal Court in Pennsylvania, the AMNH opened an exhibit on the life of Charles Darwin, featuring a live specimen of the storied Galapagos tortoise. Corporate sponsors for such educational exhibits are usually easy to find, but the Darwin exhibit reportedly had to rely on individual donors and private charities for the $3M the exhibit cost. Although the ID controversy frightened off corporate donors, a Creationist Museum near Cincinatti, apparently had little trouble raising $7M for an exhibit featuring Adam and Eve. 3. SHAMIFLU: THE BUSH WHITE HOUSE AND THE WAR AGAINST BIRD FLU. President Bush went to Congress early this month to ask for $7B to prepare the nation for a possible outbreak of Asian bird flu http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN05/wn110405.html . The federal government has since become the world's biggest customer for Tamiflu, produced by the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, Roche. That was good news for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, who doesn't have bird flu. He doesn't have stock in Roche either, but he does have millions of dollars worth of stock in a company named Gilead Sciences, having been Gilead's Chairman prior to joining the Bush administration. Low-profile Gilead Sciences owns the rights to Tamiflu, which it outsources to Roche. There is little evidence that the antiviral drug would help much in a flu pandemic. 4. JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE: LAUNCH HAS BEEN DELAYED TWO YEARS. To cope with its budget problems, NASA will delay the launch of the infrared telescope. State Department permission is sought to launch JWST on the European Space Agency Ariane 5 rocket. THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND. Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the University of Maryland, but they should be. --- Archives of What's New can be found at http://www.bobpark.org What's New is moving to a different listserver and our subscription process has changed. To change your subscription status please visit this link: http://listserv.umd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=bobparks-whatsnew&A=1
