forward by [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Akira Kawasaki) > [Original Message] > From: What's New <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: 7/7/2006 2:01:55 PM Subject: [BOBPARKS-WHATSNEW] What's New Friday July 7, 2006
WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 7 Jul 06 Washington, DC 1. MISSILES: WHITE HOUSE SEEKS "PEACEFUL DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION." On Wednesday, North Korea launched a barrage of six missiles, ranging from "bottle rockets" to the fearsome Taepodong 2, which was to be capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. It plopped into the Sea of Japan, after traveling about one thousandth of the way to our mainland. In a televised news conference, President Bush, said this is an example of why "we need a ballistic missile [defense] system." Others might say it shows that our current missile defense system is perfectly matched to the threat. 2. ROCKETS RED GLARE: ALL SORTS OF FIREWORKS WERE GOING OFF. Tuesday, the shuttle Discovery was launched to the ISS, which is about one thousandth of the way to the moon. Still earlier, on Monday, a half-mile wide asteroid, 2004 XP14, missed Earth by only 269,000 miles, passing outside the moon's orbit. The only casualties of the week were 528 children admitted to emergency rooms for burns on their bare soles from stepping on burned out sparklers dropped in the grass (my figure is as reliable as the shuttle). 3. SCIENCE v. RELIGION: EXCOMMUNICATING STEM CELL RESEARCHERS? Destroying an embryo is equivalent to an abortion, according to Cardinal Trujillo who heads the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family. Pope Benedict XVI has not commented. As quoted in [EMAIL PROTECTED] , Cesare Galli of the Laboratory of Reproductive Technologies in Cremona, Italy, the first scientist to clone a horse, said: "I don't think scientists involved with embryonic stem-cell research would care if they are excommunicated or not." He may be right, but the question of when life begins has serious legal implications. Conservative Christians believe that the instant the male and female gametes fuse to form a single zygote cell a soul is assigned. Presto! Evidence of the soul is lacking, but a soul is said to be the essence of a person that survives the body. Our DNA can survive the body, but a person is more than their DNA. We are defined by memes as well as genes. Scientists argue that without a central nervous system to register pain and record memories, an embryo is not a person. 4. MARS: NAS REPORTS ON NASA'S PLANS FOR EXPLORATION OF MARS. The most compelling question in science is whether there is life to which we are not related. From the beginning of the space age the search has focused on Mars. It's been 30 years since Viking 1 & 2 landed to search for life. NASA's Mars Exploration Program in 2006 is, as it was in 1976, to understand whether Mars was, is, or can be, an abode of life. What is missing, and has been missing for three decades, is a sample return mission. What the NAS didn't say is that the most exciting discovery in the past decade is the abundance of extra-solar planets. What is needed to study those planets are space optical occulters. 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
