Science news from Bob Park

From Bob Park's What's New?:

SCIENCE ADVICE: WHO IS ADVISING THE CANDIDATES ABOUT SPACE?

Recognizing that the only direction is up, WN has tried to stay clear of the nomination battle. It was a jolt, however, to read in the Washington Post today that the Democratic front runner supports key aspects of the Bush space plan, hereafter referred to as the Lunacy Program. It calls for a return to the Moon in the multibillion dollar Constellation spacecraft to prepare for a vastly more expensive human mission to Mars to do that which robots do better. Barack Obama would delay Constellation for five years to provide funds for education. We’re all in favor of education, but there are vital science programs in space that are getting squeezed out for this money sink. Let's consider climate change:

(Theater across the street from Joe's Grill, Geary & 18th)

CLIMATE CHANGE: A MAJOR GAP EXISTS IN QUANTIFYING THE CHANGE.

Solar radiation is partly absorbed by the Earth system and partly reflected back into space. The reflectivity is called the albedo. In addition, the planet radiates back into space in the infrared. Both the albedo and Earth radiation must be known to determine the energy balance. But as Francisco Valero at Scripps and Robert Charlson at U. of Washington have pointed out, comparisons of satellite radiometers from CERES (Cloud and Earth Radiant Energy System) and ISCCP (International Satellite Cloud Climatology Program) do not agree. Data from DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) would provide a calibration to resolve the matter - unfortunately DSCOVR, built and paid for, never got launched. There are those who would rather not know.

(Near the Cliff House)

BIODIVERSITY: WHO DECIDES WHAT WE SHOULD LET GO?

Rachel Carson’s 1962 book "Silent Spring" resulted in the environmental movement and a decade later the Endangered Species Act. As the biologist Paul Ehrlich argued, we don’t understand ecology well enough to know which genes are essential, so we tried to save them all. With the Earth facing crisis, an article by Emma Marris the 8 Nov 07 issue of Nature has the courage to finally ask out loud, "What to Let Go?".