-----Forwarded Message-----from Akira Kawasaki
>From: What's New <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Feb 23, 2007 4:30 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [BOBPARKS-WHATSNEW] What's New Friday February 23, 2007 WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 23 Feb 07 Washington, DC 1. OF PANDERING AND PEOPLE: WHO WILL CAPTURE THE CREATIONISTS? Even as these words are being turned into electrons, Senator John McCain is in Seattle delivering the keynote luncheon speech to the Discovery Institute. Eighteen months ago, just as the Dover School Board trial involving "intelligent design" was about to start, McCain came out in favor of teaching "all points of view," http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN05/wn090205.html . We have no idea what he is saying now, but it doesn't really matter; McCain is a master at the art of changing positions between breakfast and lunch. Apparently, however, he has decided, for the moment, to challenge Sam Brownback for the support of creationists. 2. POWER OF PRAYER: AUTHOR OF COLUMBIA STUDY COMMITS PLAGIARISM. More than five years ago WN called attention to a paper in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine in which researchers at Columbia claimed prayers doubled the success of in-vitro fertilization http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN01/wn100501.html . If total strangers on their knees halfway around the world could suspend the laws of nature, it would be the end of science. WN suggested we pray the study is wrong. Behold! Our prayers were answered: The lead author took his name off the paper and resigned as chair of gynecology; another author landed in prison on an unrelated fraud conviction. The editor of JRM still refused to retract the article. This week, the remaining author, a businessman who owns fertility clinics in Los Angeles and Seoul, was charged by the editor of Fertility and Sterility with plagiarizing the work of a student in Korea on a different paper. The avenging angel was Bruce Flamm, M.D., UC Irvine, who has hounded the authors, Columbia, and JRM relentlessly since the paper was published. 3. "BLIND FAITH: THE UNHOLY ALLIANCE OF RELIGION AND MEDICINE" Ironically, even as the fraudulent prayer study was going on in the Columbia medical school, a professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia, Richard Sloan, wrote an important book condemning those who pander to a superstitious public by claiming to show that religion is good for your health (St. Martin's Press, 2006). 4. MOONSHINE: IT GETS A BOOST FROM DR. W IN A WHITE LAB COAT. Newspapers today carried pictures of President Bush visiting a Novozymes laboratory in North Carolina, which is developing enzymes to make cellulosic ethanol. Squinting at a flask, the President exclaimed, "So this is like a distillery!" He seemed to acknowledge that ethanol from corn can never fill the need. 5. PASCAL'S WAGER: UK HIRED PSYCHICS TO FIND OSAMA BIN LADEN. The Daily Mail has obtained a 2002 Ministry of Defense report. Because of the "high value" of finding Bin Laden, MoD resorted to the use of "novices" when "known psychics" refused. 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
