> From: What's New <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: Akira Kawasaki <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: 1/3/2005 9:55:25 AM Subject: WHAT'S NEW Monday, January 03, 2005
WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 31 Dec 04 Washington, DC 1. DARWINIAN EVOLUTION: "MONKEY TRIAL" RECONVENES IN DOVER, PA. It's been 145 years since Darwin published Origin of Species, perhaps the world's greatest scientific discovery. No other idea has connected so many pieces of knowledge. It's now 80 years since the Scopes trial. If any doubts about evolution remain, you might suppose that DNA analysis would sweep them away. We can now measure how closely we are related to every creature on Earth. We share half our DNA with yeast. So genetically similar are bonobos to humans that, but for the inability of bonobos to talk, they might demand a seat in the UN. Yet, in Dover, PA, a town much like Dayton, TN, the school board voted to require that intelligent design be taught alongside evolution. The school board will lose in court, but we must ask ourselves why science has been so spectacularly unsuccessful in explaining such obvious truths to people. 2. THE EXPLORERS: SCIENCE MAGAZINE "BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR." A hundred-million miles or so from Dover, PA, two geologists are picking their way over the Martian surface. They've found what they were looking for: unmistakable evidence that in the distant past there were bodies of salty water on Mars that may have been nurseries of life. Science picked the exploration of Mars as the Breakthrough of the Year. It is now a year since Spirit bounced onto Mars, soon to be followed by Opportunity. Eating only sunlight, they survived the Martian winter, the intense radiation, and they're still going. The search for life to which we are not related is the most exciting quest in science. Spirit and Opportunity are wonderful instruments, but it's the scientists back on Earth who control the robots, having become virtual astronauts, who are the explorers. The real distance from Dover, PA can't be measured in miles. 3. DIET HARD: NASA ON THE ISS CREW, "LET THEM EAT CAKE." While scientists are exploring Mars, the big news from the ISS was that a robotic Russian cargo craft had safely docked with food and water. It was a month late. To make matters worse, the previous crew had raided the pantry, forcing the crew of two to eat mostly desserts and candy, sort of like Christmas on Earth. What a sad waste. Is there any use to be made the giant space turkey? Perhaps they could make an ISS sitcom. 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.aps.org/WN To subscribe, send a blank e-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
