What's News -- Friday, July 02, 2004 by Bob Park
From: Sam Wormley (swormley1_at_mchsi.com)
Date: 07/02/04
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Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2004 20:13:26 GMT
Ref: http://www.aps.org/WN/WN04/wn070204.cfm
What's News -- Friday, July 02, 2004 by Bob Park
1. THE OTHER NASA: THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF SPACE EXPLORATION.
There were two NASA stories in the news this week: 1) Now almost a
billion miles from Earth on its incredible voyage of discovery,
Cassini deftly slipped through the gap between Saturn's F and G
rings, and fired its main rocket to slow down. In the next four
years Cassini is scheduled to orbit Saturn 76 times, using 18
instruments provided by 17 nations to study the planet and its
moons. On Christmas Eve, Cassini will deploy the Huygens probe,
which will parachute onto the moon Titan. 2) Meanwhile, about one
hundred miles from Earth, the entire International Space Station
crew (a Russian cosmonaut and an American astronaut in a borrowed
space suit) went outside to replace a gyroscope circuit board. Alas,
housekeeping chores leave little time for science. No matter, the
science planned for the ISS will never be missed.
2. SPINOFFS: WHAT'S NEW CREDITED WITH INVENTING THE FLUSH TOILET.
In an effort to defend $100 billion flushed down the toilet for
missile defense, the Pentagon claims in today's Washington Post that
its missile technology could lead to advances in breast cancer
detection. Exaggerated spinoff stories are a spinoff from NASA,
which admitted its spinoff claims were wildly exaggerated (WN 22 Jan
93) . Claims that breast cancer treatment technology could lead to
better missiles should also be disregarded, as should Saddam
Hussein's claims that the invasion of Kuwait inspired the invention
of the mouse-pad.
3. MEDICINE: WITH FRIENDS LIKE PRINCE CHARLES WHO NEEDS ENEMAS?
When the Prince of Wales can spare time from warning about the
dangers of "grey goo", (WN 09 May 03) , he promotes the use of
alternative medicine. He now recommends that cancer patients abandon
chemotherapy in favor of Gerson Therapy, a controversial alternative
treatment. In addition to vitamin injections and a fruit juice diet,
Gerson Therapy calls for "coffee enemas", but the American Cancer
Society warns that coffee enemas have been associated with
infections, constipation, colitis, and even death. Gerson therapists
claim it strips harmful bacteria and pollutants from the colon,
which suggests what Charles should do with this nonsense.
4. PRAYER THERAPY: UNRELENTING INQUIRY INTO A FRAUDULENT STUDY.
Time Magazine this week has a scathing account of a study by
researchers at Columbia published in a prestigious journal three
years ago. It claimed intercessory prayer helped infertile women
conceive (WN 04 Jun 04) . The case is a growing embarrassment for
Columbia, the Journal of Reproductive Medicine, the authors, one of
whom was chair of obstetrics and gynecology, and even media outlets
like ABC Good Morning America and the New York Times, who embraced
the story without checking. Time credits exposure of the fraud to
the persistence of Bruce Flamm, a clinical professor of obstetrics
at UC Irvine.
Paul Gresser contributed to this week's issue of What's New.
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.
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