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cold fusion & other matters; fyi



From: SMTP%"whatsnew@aps.org" 29-AUG-1997 15:16:47.22
To: JLU
CC:
Subj: What's New for Aug 29, 1997

Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 19:57:20 GMT
From: whatsnew@aps.org (What's New)
Message-Id: <199708291957.TAA09705@aps.org>
To: jlu@hep.anl.gov
Subject: What's New for Aug 29, 1997

WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 29 Aug 97 Washington, DC

1. JOURNAL PRICING: FEDERAL COURT CLOBBERS GORDON & BREACH. In
1988, Henry Barschall, a retired University of Wisconsin physics
professor, compared the Acost-effectiveness@ of physics journals.
The differences were huge. The cost per character varied by a
factor of 80 among journals. When cost was divided by citation
frequency, the variation was a staggering 850 -- with journals
published by Gordon & Breach at the bottom. APS, whose journals
ranked at the top, printed Barschall's study in the Bulletin, AIP
put it in Physics Today, whereupon G&B sued Barshall, APS and AIP
in Germany, Switzerland, France and finally the US. Tuesday, a
federal Judge in New York rejected all claims by G&B, ruling that
Barschall's methodology reliably found that APS and AIP journals
"are substantially more cost effective than those published by
[G&B]." Despite the time and cost of defending against G&B's
global campaign, Barschall, APS and AIP refused to back down on a
clear issue of free speech. Henry Barschall, unfortunately, did
not survive to see the final vindication (WN 7 Feb 97).

2. INFINITE ENERGY: JAPAN THROWS COLD WATER ON COLD FUSION.
Timing, they say, is everything. Japan continued to buy cold-fusion lottery tickets long after the rest of the world had sworn
off. However, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry
(MITI) announced Monday that the odds no longer justify even a
small program. The announcement came just as Eugene Mallove, the
editor of Infinite Energy Magazine, was writing to reporters to
berate them for failing to cover the good news about cold fusion.
What good news, you ask? Why, the discovery that cold fusion
also neutralizes radioactivity (WN 13 Jun 97). I proudly note
that WN cannot be faulted for ignoring this story (WN 1 Aug 97).

3. DEEP SPACE: NASA BRACES FOR OPPOSITION TO CASSINI LAUNCH. If
the launch of the Cassini mission to Saturn is approved by the
White House, opponents of RTGs (radioisotope thermoelectric
generators) are expected to take last-minute legal steps to block
the Oct 6 launch. There is concern that demonstrators might even
attempt to physically interfere with the launch. A 1989 lawsuit
to block the Galileo mission failed. There is more at stake than
Cassini, which has dodged budgetary bullets for years. It could
set a precedent that would effectively end exploration of the
outer reaches of the solar system -- there simply is no practical
substitute for RTGs at this point. Two RTG powered missions are
currently planned: Europa Orbiter and Pluto Express. From Pluto,
the sun would appear as just a bright star, ruling out solar
arrays. A nuclear reactor, launched cold, is a possibility, but
it would mean much less reliability, a long delay and increased
cost. Pioneer 10 was powered by an RTG for 25 years until it was
abandoned more than six billion miles from Earth (WN 4 Apr 97).

THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY (Note: Opinions are the author's
and are not necessarily shared by the APS, but they should be.)