Organization: Penn State University
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 10:32:50 EDT
From: <WTU@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: sci.physics
Subject: "What's New" Sep-04-1992

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Date:      Fri,  4 Sep 92 13:10:17 PDT
To:        wtu@psuvm.bitnet
From:      "Janice Smith" <VP.APS@STANFORD.BITNET>
Subject:   What's New for 09-04-92

WHAT'S NEW, Friday, 4 September 1992               Washington, DC

1. THE NATIONAL SCIENCE BOARD COMMISSION ON THE FUTURE OF THE NSF
(WN 28 Aug 92) will hold public meetings on Sept 17, Oct 16 and
Nov 7. Written public comments are invited on how NSF can advance
the health of academic physics and do more to link academia and
industry.  Comments should reach the Commission by 15 Oct 92.
The Executive Secretary of the Commission is Charles Brownstein,
Director, NSF Office of Planning and Assessment, Room 546,
National Science Foundation, Washington, DC 20550. (202) 357-1201
The 15 member Commission will be announced Tuesday, September 9.

2. UNITED STATES AGREES TO BUY WEAPONS-GRADE URANIUM FROM RUSSIA.
The highly-enriched uranium will be blended with either depleted
or natural uranium in the U.S. to produce fuel for power plants.
At least 10 metric tons is to be imported each year for the first
five years, and 30 tons per year thereafter.  Even so, it will
take a long time to put a serious dent in the Russian inventory
of bomb-grade uranium, which is estimated to be over 1,000 tons.
Moreover, the agreement does not deal with plutonium, which would
be more expensive to process into fuel, nor does it prevent the
Russians from continuing to make enriched uranium and plutonium.
Burning fissile material in power plants is the safest means of
disposal.  There is concern about transporting large amounts of
fissile material around the world, but the risk of diversion if
it were processed into fuel in Russia might be even greater.

3. PHYSICISTS IN THE NEWS! From MIT to MIU, physicists are making
news.  At Maharishi International University, the chair of the
Physics Department, John Hagelin, is running for President on the
Natural Law ticket, and expects to be on the ballot in 40 states
by November.  The Harvard trained physicist wants to create a
meditation corps of 7,000 military volunteers; that is the square
root of 1% of the world population--the number needed to generate
super radiance for global scale effects.  In Washington, a press
conference featuring nuclear physicist Stanton Friedman, author
of Crash at Corona, revealed newly unearthed information about
the government cover-up of a 1947 crash of a flying saucer in New
Mexico.  One alien, a humanoid with suction cups on the ends of
its fingers, survived.  At MIT, there was a conference on alien
abductions organized by David Pritchard, an APS Fellow.  Although
the conference was confidential, a report should be out by the
end of the year. According to Pritchard, 1% of the population has
abduction experiences--the square of the number needed for super
radiance.  The physical evidence is not conclusive, but abductees
do exhibit spots on MRI scans corresponding to the location of
brain implants inserted through their nostrils by the aliens.

4. TAIWAN IS EXPECTED TO BE THE NEXT FOREIGN PARTNER IN THE SSC.
According to generally reliable sources, Taiwan is prepared to
contribute $40M. Combined with $50M committed by India, that ups
foreign participation to 1% (or is it the square root of 1%?).



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