• The Malthusian War Against DDT

21st CENTURYSCIENCE &TECHNOLOGYSPRING 2010 www.21stcenturysciencetech.com $5.00

The Cosmic Ray Project

News  8 IN MEMORIAM  Edwin E. Kintner (1920-2010)   A Champion of Fusion   and Fission StephenO.Dean SPECIALREPORT

40  The Overpopulation Fear   Behind the Ban on DDT  DonaldRobertsandRichardTren Excerptsfromtheirnewbook, TheExcellentPowder:DDT’s PoliticalandScientificHistory.47  ASTRONOMY Reconstructing the Magnifying    Mirror of Archimedes CharlesE.Hughes

  AMODERNARCHIMEDESMIRROR51  Italian Town Makes Good   Use of Solar Mirror RickSanders

Departments  2  EDITORIAL  The Nuclear Option Against   British Sabotage in Our Gulf LaurenceHecht  5  LETTERS  6  NEWS BRIEFS  BOOKS52  The Excellent Powder: DDT’s    Political and Scientific History byDonaldRobertsand RichardTren ReviewedbyMarjorieMazelHecht

59  Water: The Epic Struggle for    Wealth, Power, and Civilization byStevenSolomon ReviewedbyGlennMesaros

61  GLOBAL WARMING UPDATE CompiledbyGregoryMurphy

21st CENTURYSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Vol.23,No.1 Spring2010

Features

THECOSMICRAYPROJECT10  Kesha Rogers’s Victory Signals Rebirth  Of a Mars Colonization Policy! SkyShields

Whatwillcontinuous1-gaccelerationofmannedspacecraftto MarstellusofthehiddenlinkoflifeonEarthtothebroadercosmos?

20 Towards a New Periodic Table of Cosmic Radiation PeterMartinson

Trueknowledgecomesfromthehumanmind,notsenseperceptions, anditisthiscreativeprocessthatwillleadustoanunderstanding ofcosmicradiationandlifeprocesses.

ONWARDTOMARS

48  The Triumph of the Weak Forces OyangTeng MeetingthechallengesofamannedMoon-Marsmissionwillopen theentireelectronmagneticspectrumforhumanuse,redefining cognitivescienceforthenextcentury.

ON THE COVER: At 2,750 meters in the Celebes Sea: an odd transparent sea cucumber, Enypniastes, creeping forward on its many tentacles at about 2 cm per minute, while sweeping detritus-rich sediment into its mouth. Photo courtesy of Larry Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic institution; cover design by Alan Yue.

Laurence Hecht

Peter Martinson, one of the Basement team of the La-RoucheYouth Movement working on the Cosmic RayProject.Hisarticleappearsonp.18.

2 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

EDITORIALEDITORIAL STAFFEditor-in-Chief

LaurenceHecht

Managing Editor

MarjorieMazelHecht

Associate Editors

ElijahC.Boyd

DavidCherry

ChristineCraig

MarshaFreeman

ColinM.Lowry

GregoryB.Murphy

RichardSanders

CharlesB.Stevens

BooksDavidCherry

Art Director

AlanYue

Advertising Manager

MarshaFreeman

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD

FrancescoCelani,Ph.D.

HughW.Ellsaesser,Ph.D.

LyndonH.LaRouche,Jr.

WolfgangLillge,M.D.

RamtanuMaitra

ThomasE.Phipps,Jr.,Ph.D.

B.A.Soldano,Ph.D.

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June 13—It appears increasingly likelythatrecoursetouseofapeacefulnucle-arexplosive(PNE),maybecometheonlyavailableoptiontosealthedamagedBPwellintheGulfofMexico,41milesoffourcoast.

Such a measure can be carried outwithvirtuallyzerodangerofradioactiverelease,accordingtoexperts,includingMiloNordyke,aformerchiefscientistontheU.S.OperationPlowshareprogramforpeacefuluseofnuclearexplosives.

A 10- to 15-kiloton nuclear devicewouldbeplacedwithin20to30feetofthewell bore, at adepthbelow6,000feet,wherenodangerofwaveformationfromdeformationoftheseafloorcouldoccur.The explosionwouldproduceashockwavethatwouldpushrockhori-

zontallyagainstthewellbore,sealingitshut.Thatwouldclosethehole,wellbe-lowtheprobablecracksthatmayexistintheupper1,200-foot layerofmudandsoft rock. In a worst-case scenario inwhichthewellfailedtoseal,themini-malamountofradioactivematerialthatmightescapeup thewellwouldbesodiluteduponmixingwithseawaterastorenderitharmless.

Smaller nuclear devices, carried byprojectilesofaclassifiednaturewhichcouldbeinjecteddirectlydownthewellbore,arealsopossible.

Whetherornotitbecomesnecessaryto use such a device, it is urgent thatpreparationsbemadenowforsuchaneventuality.There is growing evidencethatthewellisreleasingoilatarateof

The Nuclear Option Against British Sabotage 

In Our Gulf

EDITORIAL

Petty Officer First Class John Masson/USCG

BlacksmokefromacontrolledburnoverDeepwaterHorizon,billowsintotheatmo-sphere,overtheGulfofMexico.Weneedtopreparenowforanuclearoptiontosealthewell.

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 3

90,000barrelsperdayorgreater,whilethe likelihood of success of the reliefwells has been called into question.Stratigraphicstudies,designandbuildingof the device, and preparations for de-ploymentall take time, timewhichhasbeenlostbytheAdministrationpolicyofdenial.ExpertiseinthesemattersresidesamongspecialistsattheLawrenceLiver-moreandLosAlamosnationallaborato-ries.

Such a program can be carried outonly under U.S. government authority.Theurgentneed forpreparing thenu-clear option thus provides one morereason why BP must be expropriatedundernationalsecurityemergencymea-sures,itsrecordsseized,anditstopex-ecutives jailed and held for trial oncrimes including the criminally negli-genthomicideinthedeathof11oilrigworkers.ThatwillrequiretheremovaloftheBritishtoolpresentlyoccupyingthemaster bedroom at 1600 PennsylvaniaAvenue.

Agreaterchallengemightarise,ifBPactuallydrilledto30,000feet,orbelow,andis tappingintoadeepformationatveryhighpressures—anotherreasonwhywemust takeover, andgaincontrolofthesituation.

The Other NuclearApartfromsuchimmediatelyrequired

measures,theunfoldingcrisisintheGulfbringstotheforeamorefar-reaching,yetmosturgentnecessity.

Theunderlyingcauseof theGulfOilCrisishasbeenourfailuretogonuclear.Supportingthepresentworldpopulationof6.8billionpersonsatadecentlyhu-man living standard cannot be accom-plished with the present mix of energyand raw-material-extraction technolo-gies.

The widespread introduction of highenergy-flux-densitypowersources,start-ingnowwithnuclearpower,andmovingon to controlled thermonuclear fusion,andlater,tomatter-antimatterreactions,isessentialtoensuringourfuturesurviv-al.

Fornow,nuclearpower is thekey toreplacingourpresentdependenceuponfossil-basedfuels.Theenergycontainedin1.86grams(0.07ounces)ofprocesseduraniumisequalto1,260gallonsofpe-troleumand6.15tonsofcoal.Compar-ing these ratios of energy output, perweightoffuel,providesanapproximate

sortofmeasurefortheconceptofenergyflux-density. By such measure, the ad-vantageofnuclearcomesto2.16millionto1,ascomparedtooil,and2.98millionto1,ascomparedtocoal.Masteryofthethermonuclearfusionreactionwillallowustoraisethoseratiosbyseveralordersofmagnitude,andmakemanned inter-planetaryspaceflightarealityforcom-inggenerations.

Thetemperatureandenergyflux-den-sity of the nuclear fission reaction per-mits the production of cheap electricalpower, and of industrial process heatneededforprocessingoreandthedesali-nationofseawater.

Nuclearpowercanalsoreplacefossilfuelsintransportation,eliminatingcom-pletely the dependence upon importedoilanddeepoffshoredrilling.The tem-peratureandhighenergy-fluxofanucle-ar reaction permits us to economicallyseparatewaterintoitsconstituentatoms.Thehydrogensoproducedcanbeburnedasafuel,eitherdirectly,orbyrecombi-nation in fuelcells.Synthetichydrocar-bonfuelsandvarioustypesofhydrogencarriers,suchasammonia,mayalsobeproducedtosupplyspecializedneedsforliquidfuels.Theabundantelectricitypro-ducedbynuclearpowerwillsupplybat-tery-poweredvehicles,andmoreimpor-tant,providethepowertoanationwide

gridofmagneticallylevitatedhigh-speedrail.

Tobringthepresentworldpopulationuptoacceptablestandardsoflivingwillrequiretheproductionofatleast6,000new nuclear power plants within thenextgeneration.Windandsolarenergyinstallations not only cannot meet thatneed,butcostmore, inactualphysicaleconomicmeasure,thantheycontributetoaneconomy.

A more precise definition of energy flux-densityistransformativepower.Be-yondthealreadycitedadvantages,anu-clearreactionproducesachangeinthestructureoftheatomicnucleussuchaswill never occur in a windmill, solarcell, or oil-, gas-, or coal-fired powerplant.Thenextphaseofoureconomicdevelopment, the isotope economy,willinvolvetheproductionofnewma-terials, including those of varied iso-topic composition, for use in industry,agriculture,medicine, and spacecolo-nization. We will get a start on thisthroughourgear-upformassserialpro-ductionofnuclearplants,includingnewdesigntypes,suchasthehigh-tempera-ture gas-cooled reactors, integral fast-fluxreactorswhichbreedmorenewfuelthantheyconsume,andsimilarprovendesigns.Withthedevelopmentof ther-monuclear fusion reactors,othercapa-

VideograbofabombbeingpositionednearaburningSovietgaswellin1966,tostopthefireandsealthesite.ThiswasthefirstuseofaPNEforthispurpose.Thevideocanbeseenhere:http://atomicnewsreview.org/2010/05/31/an-atomic-bomb-will-stop-the-gulf-oil-leak/

4 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

bilitiesbecomepossible.Masteryofthelow-energynuclearreactions(“coldfu-sion”)willalsocontributetotheisotopeeconomy, adding new dimensions toourunderstandingofnucleartransmuta-tions.

The intentional suppression of thatjust-describedeconomicfuturehasbeenthecentralfeatureofBritishimperialpol-icyoveratleastthepasthalfcentury.Thespecifically stated intention of leadingBritish figures, including Prince Philip,the late Lord Bertrand Russell, and for-merH.G.WellscollaboratorJulianHux-ley,hasbeentocarryoutadrasticreduc-tioninhumanpopulation,tofewerthan2billionpersons.

What Caused the Blowout?Lacking nuclear power, the push to

ever deeper drilling for oil and gas re-sources was inevitable. Whether the

blowoutoftheMacondowellwasduetothegreedandutterincompetenceofBPofficials,or,asalsoappearspossible, itwas a willful act of sabotage, such aneventwas,inanycase,inevitable,soon-erorlater.

Itmaybethattheblown-outBPwellisnotatthe18,000-footdepthcitedinthecompany’spublicrelationsefforts,butat30,000feet,orthatotherdeepwellsinthevicinityhavetappedintoformations,knownasoilmigrationchannels,atthisdepth.ThereisevidencethatthetheoryofRussiangeologistVladimirKutcherov,according towhichoil iscontinuouslyformeddeepwithintheEarth’scrust,atdepths of 30,000 feet or greater, mayhave been secretly adopted by the oilcartel,atthesametimethatthetheorywas publicly discredited and dis-missed.

Under this theory, drilling on thecracksbetweencontinentalplates,orinsuchformationsasarefoundinmuchoftheGulfofMexico,wouldtapintotheserichreserves.Sovietoilandgasproduc-tion may have already exploited suchdeepfaults,possiblybelow30,000feet.Kutcherov, incollaborationwithscien-tistsfromtheRussianofAcademyofSci-ences,experimentallydemonstratedtheproductionofmethane,andheavierhy-drocarbonsofthealkaneseries,fromamixtureofcalciumcarbonate,ironox-ide,andwater,maintainedatextremelyhigh pressures and temperatures, suchasarefounddeepwithintheEarth.Theoriginofdeepoilwould thusbeabio-genic,confirmingtheearlierhypothesesof Alexander von Humboldt, DmitriMendeleyev, and Marcelin Berthelot.Thebiologicalsignaturefoundinoilisa

Minerals Management Service

Therearenowmorethan4,000oilrigsintheGulfofMexico,plusoilandgaspipelinesandotherrelatedinfrastructure.Clickonthelinktothegetthefullmap,andtofindthesiteofBP’sDeepwaterHorizonwellonthegrid,No.252inMississippiCanyon.

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 5

resultofdissolvedorganicmatterintheabiogenic petroleum, according to theRussian-Ukrainiantheory.Theactionofdeep-dwelling life forms upon the al-readyproducedhydrocarbonsmayalsoplayapart.

TheSovietuseofpeacefulnuclearex-plosivesforoilandgasexplorationmayhave been operating on this view.Thiswasthesameprogramwhichpioneeredthe technique for sealing runaway gas-well fires, using small nuclear chargesplaced in slantwellswhich intersectedthe runawaywell several thousand feetdown.Thatprogramwassuccessfulinallitsattempts,closingfivewellsandreduc-ingpressureinasixth,accordingtoare-port, published in 2000, by Milo Nor-dyke of Lawrence Livermore NationalLaboratory.

There is some indication that ad-vancedthermalimagingtechniques,us-ingsatellites,mayhavebeencarriedoutbyU.S.governmentagencies,beginninginthe1980s,inanattempttomaptheseformations in the Gulf. It is possiblethatBPobtainedaccesstothatclassifieddataforuseinitsGulfexplorationcam-paign.

ThereisalsoindicationthatBPispre-senting to the public a Hollywood-likescenarioofitsoperationsontheseafloor.Engineering experts point out that theCameronBlowoutPreventer,thefive-sto-rytowerwhichsits,oroncesat,ontheseaflooratthewelloutlet,wasdesignedfor a maximum pressure of 15,000poundspersquare inch (psi),while theexplosionappearstotrainedobserverstohave produced pressures in excess of30,000psi.Inthatcase,theblowoutpre-venter would have been damaged be-yondfunctionality.Thedeviceweseeinthelivevideostreamsmaybeasecondblowoutpreventer,whichisgettingitsoilbypipingfromthemainwell,oranearbyproductionfacility.Themainwellmaybecompletelyopen,accordingtosomein-dustryinsiders.

Thus the Macondo blowout may betheresultofhavingstruckintoextremelyhigh-pressuremigrationchannelsofdeepoil.Or,theremaybeanelementofwill-fulsabotageincreatingthedisaster,di-rected by British interests against theUnitedStates.Ineithercase,thetimeforexpropriation,andpreparationofthenu-clearoption,isnow.

—Laurence Hecht

EDITORIAL

Another Radiation Scam: Expansion of RECA

To the Editor:CompanionbillsintheHouseandthe

SenatewouldexpandtheRadiationEx-posure Compensation Act (RECA) toIdaho,Montana,Colorado,NewMexi-co,andtoareas inUtah,Nevada,andArizonathatarenotnowcovered.Also,the bill would increase the paymentfrom$50,000to$150,000toanypersonexposedtofalloutfromatmosphericnu-cleartestsconductedattheNevadatestsite,whohasbeenorwillbeavictimofcancerscoveredbyRECA.

Forexample,myfather,whodiedofheart failureat theageof94,alsohadcolon cancer at the time of his death,and, therefore, his heirs would qualifyforthe$150,000payment.

Thenewbillislinkedtothe1997Na-tionalCancerInstitute(NCI)crudeesti-matesof theradioiodinedoses to indi-vidualsresidingin3,053U.S.counties.These estimates almost immediatelycaused politicians in Idaho and Mon-tana todemandexpansionofRECA totheirstates.[rex.nci.nih.gov/massmedia/statebystate/statelisting.html.]

TheNCIestimateswerebasedonhis-toricalmeasurementsoftheamountsofradioactivitydeposited,dailylocalrain-fall, and assumptions about patterns ofmilkconsumption.Thenumberofmoni-toringstationsacross theUnitedStatesvariedwithtime,butneverexceeded100.

Theradioiodinedoseaveragesofthe11countiesofNevada,the10countiesof Arizona, and all counties in NewMexiconotcurrentlycoveredare0.11rads,0.22rads,and1.5rads,respective-ly.Forperspective,estimatesforpartsofWashingtonCountyinUtahandseveralcountiesinIdahoandMontanaexceed10rads; IronCountyofUtahcurrentlycovered(1.6rads)andNewYorkCountynotcovered(2.3rads).

Iftheproposedbillbecomeslaw,what(Continued on p. 9)

6 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology NEWSBRIEFS

MILLIONS HAVE DIED BECAUSE OF DDT BAN, NEW BOOK DOCUMENTSDr.DonaldRoberts,theentomologistwhosemalariaresearchconfimedthatthe

pesticide DDT works chiefly by repelling mosquitoes, launched his long-awaitedbookinaWashington,D.C.pressconferenceApril21:The Excellent Powder: DDT’s Political and Scientific History.Heandco-authorRichardTren,aneconomistfromSouthAfricaandchairmanofAfricaFightingMalaria,summarizedthebook’smainpointsforanaudiencethatincludedseveraldistinguishedmalariaresearchers.

“Millionshavedied”andpoorpeoplehavesuffered“severeandgrievousharm”asa result of the anti-scientific attacks on DDT, Roberts said. He emphasized threepoints:wehavetoholdtheanti-DDTgroupsaccountableforthisharm;wehavetorescindtheWorldHealthOrganizationresolutionthatstoppedDDTusein1997;andwehavetoremoveauthorityoverpublichealthmalariadecisionsfromorganizationsthatprioritize“environmental”protectionoverprotectingthepublic’shealth.

Whenaskedby21st Century toelaborateonwhyenvironmentalistswentafterDDT,Robertsstressedthatthemotivationwaspopulationcontrol.“StudiesweredonethatshowedthatwhereDDTwasintroducedformalariacontrol,theeffectsweredra-maticasmalariadeathratesdeclined,andsurvivalwentup....TherewasgreatalarmthatthemalariacontrolprogramsusingDDTwerecontributingfartoomuchpopula-tiongrowth,andthatthiswasabadthing.”

AnexcerptfromThe Excellent Powderappearsonp.40,andabookreviewonp.52.

CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE INVENTORIES HARD-TO-SEE SPECIESMore than2,000scientists from80+nations have inventoriedandstudied the

hardest-to-seeseaspecies:tinymicrobes,zooplankton,larvae,andburrowersintheseabed.Thisisavastsurvey.TheCensusofMarineLifeinvolvesmicrobialcellsfrom1,200sitesworldwide,whichcollectivelyweightheequivalentof240billionAfricanelephants—that’s35elephantsofmarinemicrobesperperson.Marinemicrobesare50to90percentofalloceanbiomass,butuntilrecenttechnologicaltechniques,likehigh-throughputDNAsequencing,thisworldwaslargelyhiddenfromourview.

Moreinformation,andspectacularphotos(includingtheoneonthisissue’scover),canbefoundathttp://www.coml.org/embargo/hardtosee.

OBAMA COMMISSION INCLUDES EUTHANASIA ADVOCATESAmongthemembersappointedtothePresidentialCommissionfortheStudyof

BioethicalIssuesistheinfamousPeterSinger,thePrince-tonUniversityprofessor fromAustralia,whocalled forthemurderofinfantswhosedisabilitieswereaburdentotheir elders, and who in his animal-rights advocacy at-tackedthe“prejudice”ofplacinganyspecialvalueonhu-man life.Thechairof theCommission inAmyGutman,nowthepresidentoftheUniversityofPennsylvania,whohiredSingerwhenshewasatPrinceton,andwhocollabo-ratedwithhimonpublishingThe Lives of Animals.Moredetails can be found at http://www.larouchepac.com/node/14122.

VIETNAM PICKS RUSSIA FOR FIRST NUCLEAR PLANTVietnamAtomicEnergyInstituteDirectorVuongHuuTan

announcedthatRussiawaschosenastheforeignpartnerinVietnam’sfirstnuclearpowerplant.TansaidthatRussiahad

alsoagreedtohelpVietnamdealwiththenuclearwaste.Vietnamplanstwo1,000-megawattpressurizedwaterreactors,withthefirstplantstartingconstructionin2014,tocomeonlinein2020.

AnarticleandinterviewonVietnam’snuclearprogram,appearintheWinter2009-2010issueof21st Century.

NEWS BRIEFS

Marjorie Mazel Hecht

DonaldRoberts(atpodium)andRichardTren. The Excellent Powder demolishes the familiar scare stories about DDT: DDT did not wipe out robins, eagles, or peregrine falcons; it has never been shown to cause human harm; and it works even if mosquitoes are resistant to DDT.

VAEC

Vietnam’sDalatNuclearResearchCen-ter, which began operations in 1963.Vietnam has set the ambitious goal ofsupplying 15-20 percent of its powerfromnuclearby2030.

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 7NEWSBRIEFS

Immunofluorescentimageofmelaninnanoparticles.Top left shows the imageoftheparticleseenthroughthe light microscope; be-low left shows the imageofthesamemelaninparti-cle through a fluorescentmicroscope.Theredcoloron the right comes fromthemelanin-bindinganti-bodyattachedtoaredflu-orescent dye. Below, atunnelingelectronmicronmicrosope image of thenanoparticles.

MELANIN NANOPARTICLES CAN PROTECT PATIENTS IN RADIATION THERAPYThelaboratoriesofEkaterinaDadachovaandArturoCasadevallattheAlbert

Einstein School of Medicine in NewYork have used melanin-coated silicananoparticlesinjectedintomicetoobservetheprotectiveeffectsonbonemar-row(theusualdose-limitingtissueforradiationexposure),afterthemicehavebeentreatedwithexternalgammaradiationorinternalradioimmunotherapywithrhenium-188.Thisresearch,“Melanin-CoveredNanoparticlesforProtec-tionofBoneMarrowDuringRadiationTherapyofCancer,”waspublishedintheInternational Journal for Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics, April 26.

Melanin-coatednanoparticlesunder100nanometersdiametersuccessfullymadetheirwaytothebonemarrowat0.3percentofinjecteddosepergram,where,evenatthatlowuptake,theyhadaprotectiveeffect.Thiswasmeasuredbyamuchshallowerdipandafasterreboundinthenumbersofwhitebloodcellsandplateletsondays3-10,afteraradiationdosemuchhigherthanthera-peuticlimitsinhumans.Themelaninishypothesizedtointercepthigh-energyrecoilelectronsanddissipatetheirenergysoastominimizesecondaryioniza-tion events, which cause free radical generation.The melanin coat is alsothoughttoscavengefreeradicalsthatdoform.Withtheadditionofchemicalssuchaspluronicacid,knowntoincreasebonemarrowuptakeofnanoparticles,amuchgreatereffectmightbeexpected.Sparingbonemarrowcellscouldallowhigh-er-dose targetted treatments of such cancers as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, wherebonemarrowsuppressionnowlimitsthedosetosub-optimallevelsforcancereradi-cation.

ColoniesofmelanizedfungiareknowntoinhabitthewallsoftheChernobylreac-tor,andthriveincoolingpondsoffunctioningnuclearreactors,wherethemelaninintheircellwallsprotectsthefungifromionizingradiationthatwouldkillotherorgan-isms.Thisresearchexploreswhetherhumanscouldtapintothatprotectiveeffecttoallowmoreeffectivetreatmentofcancerortoallowhumanstobettersurvivecosmicrayexposureduringspacetravel.

FortheworkofDadachovaetal.ontargettedradioisotopetherapy,see“Radioiso-topes:TheMedicalLifesaversThatCongressisSupressing”intheWinter2009-2010issue.

IN MEMORIAM: GOV. WALTER HICKEL, CHAMPION OF ‘BIG PROJECTS’FormerAlaskagovernorWalterJ.“Wally”Hickeldiedatage90onMay7inAn-

chorage.Throughout his 70 years in business, military service, and public office,Hickelchampionedphysicaleconomicdevelopment,withwhathecametocallhis“Alaskaapproach,”withtheprinciplethat“thereisnolegitimatereasonforpovertyonthisEarth.”

HereareexcerptsfromtheobituaryissuedbyHickel’soffice:“Everabigthinker,HickelpredictedthattheArcticwouldbecomeanopportunity

fortheworld.Toadvancethatgoalin1992,hehelpedfoundTheNorthernForum,andin1995establishedtheInstituteoftheNorth,anAnchorage-basedthink-tankdedi-catedtoAlaskastrategicissues,includingcaringforandusingthe‘commons’—orcommonlyownedlandsandresources—tohelpthepeopleintheNorth....

“HickelsoughtatransportationcorridortolinktheEastandWestacrosstheNorth.HeworkedforyearstosupportRussianleaderswhofavoredopeningtheNorthernSeaRoutetoworldcommerce....

“Asabelieverthatbigprojectsareasymbolofacivilization,hepromotedatunnelbeneaththeBeringStraittoconnecttheUnitedStatesandRussiaandmakepossible‘arailroadaroundtheworld.’HisconceptforawaterpipelinetotransportAlaska’sabundantwaterresourcestoCaliforniareceivedbothattentionandridiculeinthe1960sand1990s,andheinsistedthatitwouldone-daybecomeareality.Asamem-berofanadvisorycommitteetoNASA,headvanced‘bigprojects’tosupportexplora-tionofMarsandsettlementoftheMoon.Hewasstilltalkingabouttheseprojectsasoflastmonth....”

FORUM International

The late Walter Hickel told a Moscow conference on the Bering Strait Tunnel Project in 2007: “I believe that if we bring Russia and America together it will change the world.” Hickel’s speech and a report on the conference can be found in the Spring-Summer 2007 21stCentury.

Courtesy of Ekaterina Dadachova

8 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology INMEMORIAM

EDWINE.KINTNER(1920-2010)

A Champion of Fusion and FissionbyStephenO.Dean

IN MEMORIAM

EdwinE.Kintner, formerheadoftheU.S. fusionenergyprogram,

diedonMay7inExeter,NewHamp-shire,shortlyafterreachinghis90thbirthday.Hehadalongandvariedcareerintheenergyfield.

EdreceivedaB.S.inElectricalEn-gineeringattheU.S.NavalAcademyin1942,andalsoreceivedmastersdegreesatMITinNavalArchitectureandMarineEngineering(1946)andin Nuclear Physics (1950). At thetime,hewasacareernavalofficer,havingservedaboardalightcruiserinWorldWarII.

Bytheearly1950s,EdhadjoinedAdmiralRickover’s team,whereheplayed a key role in the develop-ment, demonstration, and deploy-ment of the nuclear reactor thatpoweredtheUSS Nautilus, thefirstnuclearsubmarine.ThisexperienceprofoundlyinfluencedEd’smanage-ment philosophy. He recalled thatAdmiral Rickover rejected advice fromthe Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)labsthathecarryoutalengthyresearchanddevelopmentprogram,beforebuild-ingaconservativelydesignednuclear test reactor, and be-foreattemptingtodesignandbuildareactorthatcouldfitinasubmarine.

Instead,Rickoverissuedor-ders tohis team that the testreactor (“Mark I”) would bebuilt immediately and beidenticaltotheonethatwouldpower the submarine (“MarkII”). “Mark IequalsMark II,”was Rickover’s plan, accord-ingtoKintner.Itworked,andEdneverforgotit.

Ed later retired from theNavyand joined thenuclearfission reactor developmentprogramattheAEC.Therehewas a senior manager over-

seeing at first the development of ad-vanced light water reactors (which be-came the workhorse of today’scommercial nuclear power industry)

and, later, the development of fis-sionbreederreactors.

From Fission to FusionIn the mid 1970s, Bob Hirsch,

then head of the U.S. fusion pro-gram,hiredEdashisdeputy,hopingto instill some Rickover spirit intothefusionprogram.In1976,whenthe Atomic Energy Commissionwas transformed into the EnergyResearchandDevelopmentAgen-cy (ERDA) and Hirsch was pro-moted toAssistantAdministrator,Kintner assumed the position ofhead of the U.S. fusion program.Hirschhadcommissionedtheprep-aration of a comprehensive fusiondevelopment plan that was com-pletedinJuly1976(postedathttp://fire.pppl.gov/us_fusion_plan_1976.pdf).

TheTokamakFusionTestReactor(TFTR)wasalreadyunderconstruc-tionatPrincetonandtheplancalled

forbuildingaseriesoftestfacilitiesinthe1980sand1990s,culminating inaFu-sionDemonstrationPowerPlantaroundtheyear2000.Kintnerbelievedtheplan

wassound.ERDAbecame theDepart-

mentofEnergyin1978,andKintnerremainedheadoffu-sion,thoughHirschdepartedtoExxon.Kintnerandotherstestified to a congressionalhearingchairedbyRep.MikeMcCormack that led to thepassage of the Magnetic Fu-sion Energy Engineering Actof 1980. President Cartersigned that Act into law onOctober 1980 (posted athttp://fire.pppl.gov/mfe_act_1980.pdf).

Carter lost the election toRonaldReaganthefollowingmonth.The newAdministra-tionopposedhavingthegov-

LANL

EdwinE.Kintnerin1981.

AEC

Edwin Kinter (center), at the Atomic Energy Commission in1953,examiningamodeloftheenginesectionoftheNautilus.

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 9INMEMORIAM

ernment build large energy “flagship”facilities or demonstration plants. Theprivatesectorwoulddevelopanyneed-ed new energy technologies was theirview. Still, Kintner spent thenext yeartryingtoconvincetheAdministrationtoimplementthefusionplan.Hebelievedthat construction of new test facilitieshad to be the “strategic backbone” ofanycommerciallysuccessful fusionef-fort.

It soon became clear that the planwouldnotbe implementedand,ayearlater,Edresigned.Inhisletterofresigna-tion he said he felt the Administrationwasmaking“anationalerrorforwhichapricefargreaterthanpresentsavingswillbepaidatsomefuturedate.”

He said, “There is little more that Icandoexcepttomakeclearbymyleav-ing that I am not a party to that deci-sion.”(SeeFusionPowerAssociatesEx-ecutive Newsletter, January 1982). Edfeltthatthe“strategicbackbone”ofthefusionprogramhadbeenremoved.Heoften reminded his staff of another ofAdmiral Rickover’s favorite mottoes:“Where there is no vision, the peopleperish.”

Back to FissionInApril1979,oneofthetwonuclear

fissionpowerplantsatThreeMileIslandin Pennsylvania had had a meltdown,and the cleanup was not going well.ShortlyafterEdlefttheDOE,theowners

of Three Mile Island, GPU Nuclear inNewJersey,hiredEdtobeexecutivevicepresidentandputhiminchargeoffinish-ingthecleanupatThreeMileIsland.Heheld that position until his retirementnineyearslater.

Ed,andhiswifeAlice,thenmovedtoabeautifulhouseonthesideofamountainattheborderofVermontandNewHamp-shire, overlooking the Dartmouth Uni-versitycampus.ForseveralyearsEdgaveseminarsatDartmouth.TheKintnerslat-er moved to The Ridge, a retirementhomeinExeter,N.H.

EdreceivedtheSecretaryoftheNavyCommendationMedal in1959, theFu-sionPowerAssociatesLeadershipAwardin1981,andwaselectedtotheNationalAcademy of Engineering in 1990. Healsoreceivedothercommendations,toonumeroustolist.

Edhadanoutgoingandfriendlyper-sonality that endeared him to all, evenwhen he was taking a hard line on atoughmanagementissue.Manywillmisshimgreatly.

Hiswife,Alice,threesons,Eric,Johnand Peter, a daughter, Mary, and fourgrandchildrensurvivehim.Condolencescan be sent to Alice at eandakintner@comcast.netandtoEricatEkintner@aol.comThere will be a memorial serviceJune12,inExeter.

Dr. Stephen Dean is the director of Fu-sion Power Associates.

istostopthe37otherstatesnotincludedin the proposed expansion but whichhavecountydoseaveragesgreater thanthoseofNewMexicotodemandcover-age? Illinois, forexample,hasacountydoseaverageof3.9rads.Thecombinedpopulation of these 37 states was over150millionin1960.Youcanbesurethatoncethese“downwinders”ortheirheirsbecomeawarethattheyaremoredeserv-ingthanevenNewMexicodownwind-ers,theywilldemandcoverage.

Ofthese150million,atleast30mil-lionhavehadorwillhavecancerscov-eredbyRECA.Multiplying$150,000percancervictimby30millionyieldsacosttothegovernmentof$4.5trillion—-that’ssixtimesthecostoftherecentlypassedHealthCarebill.

Itwilllikelycostbetween$100billionand$200billiontocoverthe7milliondownwindersinthesevenstatesinclud-edinthecurrentbill(onlyabout150,000downwinders are currently covered byRECA).

As is made clear in my book, The Phantom Fallout: Induced Cancer Epi-demic in Southwestern Utah [See 21st Century, Summer2009,forexcerpts]theoriginal RECA law was not warranted;thedownwinders’ cancer rates inUtahhavebeenmorethan30percentbelownationwiderates.TheoriginalRECAbillclearly had unintended consequencesthatcouldcostthetaxpapershundredsofbillionsofdollars.

Daniel W. MilesWashington, Utah

Lance Endersbee Would Be Proud

To the Editor:I thought21stCentury readerswould

liketoknowthatAustralia’shatedemis-sionstradingschemedidnotpass,and,infact, failed spectacularly in December2009. This was a resounding defeat towhichtherecentlydeceasedLanceEnder-sbee directly contributed. [An obituaryforengineerEndersbeeandexcerptsfroman interview with him appeared in theWinter2009/2010issueof21st Century.]

Robert Barwick Citizen’s Electoral Commission, 

Australia

Letters(Continued from p. 5)

Rebecca Harrington

Kintner(standingatright)testifyingataCongressionalhearingonfusion.

10 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

March11,2010

TheelectionvictoryofKeshaRogersMarch2intheTexas22ndCongressionalDistrictrepresentsaturningpointinworldhistory.Thevotershavedemonstratedtheirrefusal

toacceptthepolicyofphysical-economicausteritywhichPres-identObamaandhiscontrollershavesoughttoimposethrough

unconstitutionalbankbailouts,amurderoushealth-carepoli-cy,andgeneralinactiononthecrucialissuesoftheexistentialcrisiswhichnowfacestheAmericanpopulationandtheworld.Mostnotably,theyhaverefusedtoacceptObama’srecent,trea-sonousdecisiontoscrapthelastvestigesofournation’smannedpresenceinspace.Theyhavevoted,instead,forafuture—afu-

ture organized around the intensivephysical economic progress that canonlybebroughtaboutbythescientificadvancements connected with an ex-pansionofMan’spresenceinspace.

Rogers’svictoryprovidestheoppor-

Kesha Rogers’s Victory Signals Rebirth of a Mars Colonization Policy!bySkyShields

What will continuous 1-g acceleration of manned spacecraft to Mars tell us of the hidden link of life on Earth to the broader cosmos?

T H E C O S M I C R AY P R O J E C TAnartist’sdepictionofshowersofhighenergyparticles,whichoccurwhenenergeticcosmicraysstrikethetopoftheEarth’satmosphere.Un-derstanding thebiological roleof thiscosmicrayflowiscrucialfortheMoon-Marscoloniza-tionproject,andalsoforourabilitytograspthetrulyintergalacticnatureofthedevelopmentoflifeonEarth,aswellasitsfutureinMan’shands,beyondtheboundsofthatsameEarth.

LaRoucheDemocratKeshaRogerswontheDemocraticCongressionalprimaryMarch2inTexas(22nddis-trict) with the campaign slogan“Save NASA, Impeach Obama,VoteKesha.”Kesha,whoreceivedmore votes than both her oppo-nentscombined,campaignedonaplatformofreorganizingtheglobaleconomy to replace the currentgamblingcasinooffreetradewithapolicy of physical economic sci-ence,toensureafutureforourchil-drenandgrandchildren. Formoreonhercampaign,seehttp://kesha-forcongress.com/

Simon Swordy (University of Chicago)/NASA

EIRNS

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 11

tunitytoaddresstheurgentquestionofaccomplishingtheeco-nomicdevelopmentoftheSolarSystem:thefirststepsoflunarindustrialization,andtheundertakingofasuccessfulmannedmissiontoMars.Connectedwiththismission,isthetaskoffi-nallyestablishingaverydifferentconceptionoftheorganiza-tionoftheSolarSystemandbeyond.Specifically,theplannedpresenceofhumanbeingsinlocationsveryfarfromthesur-faceofourEarthwillrequirethedevelopmentofamuchmorein-depthunderstandingoftheactionofcosmicandotherformsofradiationonandwithinlivingsystems.Notonlywillthisex-pandedviewoftheroleofenergeticphenomenainlivingmat-termakeextendedstaysoff-planetpossible,italsopromisestorevolutionize medical technology here on Earth, as well asprovideadeeperunderstandingofthenatureoflivingprocess-es,evolution,andmorphogenesisthanwouldeverbepossibleundertheexistingpolicyofatomizationandunder-fundingofsuchscientificinvestigations.

Wewillnowhavetheopportunitytotacklethechallengeofproducingthetypesofartificialenvironmentrequiredforman-kindtoleaveits“womb”hereonEarth.What,fromtheBio-sphere,willweneedtocarrywithus?Whatwillbetheroleofelectromagneticphenomenaandcosmicradiationinthaten-vironment? It will perhaps be advisable to simulate Earth’sgravitationalenvironmentbyacceleratingshipsthroughinter-planetaryspaceat1Earthgravity(1g),butthiswillbethefirsttime that suchawillfulactofconstantaccelerationhasoc-curredanywhereintheuniverse.Itwillrepresentthefirstarti-ficialcreationofasustainedgravitationalfieldwhich,ifmain-tained for long periods, will quickly result in relativisticvelocities.Whatwillbe theeffectof this sortof travelonacrew?Whatwillbe itseffecton thephysicaluniversemoregenerally?Thesequestions leadus to furtherunexploredas-pects of the Biosphere immediately surrounding us, before

Wikpedia Commons

Bogiron:anexampleofVernadsky’sconceptofthebiogenicmigrationofatoms.BogironisproducedinseveralstagesbytheactionoftheBiosphere,culminatingwiththecreationofironoxidesbytheoxidizingactionofironbacteria.Inthisway,lifeintheuniverseactsasanorganizingforce:theBiosphere,whichisinturnorganizedtohigherandhigherdegreesbytheactionofMan,indevelopingtheNoösphere.

leading us deep into Man’s future in interstellarspace.

What Is Life?Lyndon LaRouche recently posed a provocative

questionforourresearchteam:Howdoyoudeter-minetowhichofV.I.Vernadsky’sthreephasespac-es—the non-living, the living, or the cognitive—agivenprocessbelongs?Theansweris:resonance.Noobjectexistsindependentlyasanobject.Allobjectsaredefinedbydynamics—by theprocess inwhichthey exist.Vernadsky states that therefore biology,quabiology,isanabstractscience,likegeometry,be-causeitartificiallyseekstoseparatethestudyoftheindividualorganismfromthestudyoftheentirepro-cessinwhichitparticipates.1Inreality,therearenodistinctorganisms;thereisonlytheorganisminitscontextintheentireBiosphere.Thisisevidencedbythepervasiveroleofsymbiosisineveryaspectofthefunctionandevolutionarydevelopmentof theBio-sphere.TheevolutionoftheBiosphereisanevolu-tion of relationships, not of individual organisms.Therefore, it is more advantageous to consider theBiosphere and its evolution as a single system, inwhichtheindividualorganismexistsasasingularity.Thisnatureoftheindividualorganismassingularity

andnotasobjectisdescribedinvividtermsbyVernadskyinhisconceptofthebiogenicmigrationofatoms.2

�. Vladimir I. Vernadsky, TheBiosphere (New York: Springer, �998).

2. Vernadsky, “Scientific Thought as a Planetary Phenomenon,” Nongovern-mental Ecological V.I. Vernadsky Foundation, �997.

Symbiosisinmotion:AscenefromavideoofElysiachlorotica, a sea slug, in a three-way symbiosis with a virus and an algae. The virus contains ma-terial that allows chloroplasts, stolen from digested algae, to continue working while inside the body of the slug, so that the slug has to eat only once in its lifetime. This is an illustration in the small of the evolution of entire systems, rather than individual organisms, with organic “particles,” such as viruses, playing a crucial role. The video, made by scientist M.E. Rumphro, is featured in NewScientist.

12 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

Specifically,organismsdonothavepermanentstructures,likemachines.Everyportionofalivingorganismisinacon-stant state of flux, which is expressed as a continuous ex-change of matter and energy, such that the distinction be-tween the organism and its outside environment is not amaterialone.Thesamematerialparticipatesinbothprocess-es,muchasthesamewaterflowsintoandoutofawhirlpool.Thedifferenceliesintheprocess,notinthematerial.Theobviousdifferenceinthetwocases,thelivingorganismandthewhirlpool,isthat,uponcompletingitsmigrationthroughtheprocessesdefinedastheorganism,theprocessedmatterproduced in the form of fossil material exists at a higherstateofphysicalorganizationthanbeforeitsparticipationintheorganism.

Thus,viewedasawhole,theenvelopeoflifeonEarth,theBiosphere,canbeviewedasaprocessofconstantorganiza-tionof the formerlyabioticphysical substrate tohigherandhigherstatesoforganization.Inthisway,weseethesteadyde-velopmentofconcentrationsofvarioustypesoforesandothermineraldepositsonEarth.Theserepresentamoreconcentrat-edformoforganizationthanthatwhichexistedintheprevi-ouslydispersedstateofmaterials,asinitiallyderivedfromstel-lar matter; a state which is still visible in the relativelyhomogenousdistributionofelementsas foundin,say, lunarregolith.

Thisbiogenicmigrationrepresentsacontinuousprocessex-tendingwelloutsideoftheatmosphereoftheEarthitself.Forinstance:ThebeginningofthemostimportantmaterialcycleswithintheBiosphereismarkedbytheactionofphotosynthe-sis. In thisprocess,dispersed, low-energy-flux-densityradia-tionfromtheSuniscapturedacross largelandareasbytheactionofphotosyntheticplants,andorganizedintothecarbo-hydrate-densestructureofthoseplants.Theyliterallycomposethemselves from the incident sunlight which reaches theEarth.

Theseenergy-densecarbohydratesarethenconsumedbymorecomplexanimallifeand,viatheprocessofdigestion,areincorporated into the structureof thesehigher organisms, ultimately passingback out into the environment in theformofresidualbiologicalfossilmateri-als suchas soils,mineraldeposits, andeven Earth’s atmosphere.3 These fossilmaterials are then again processed bythegeologicalforceofhumaneconomicactivity—becoming noetic fossils.4Thus,theBiosphereandNoöspherecanbeviewed,intermsofboththescaleofthe space occupied and the nature oftheiractivity,asasingularityinanother-wise continuous process, marking theshiftofmatterandenergytoqualitative-lyhigherstatesoforganizationandcon-centration.

This continuous process extends totheSun,intheformofsolarenergyab-sorbed by plants (and animals, in thecase of vitamin D synthesis), but also

muchfarther,asisevidencedbythesteadyflowofcosmic radiationintoandoutoftheBiosphere.Thisisasteadyflux,

�. Vernadsky, TheBiosphere, See note �.

�. Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., “The Astrophysics of Gurwitsch Radiation,” 21stCenturyScience&Technology (Fall �998); TheEconomicsoftheNoösphere, (Washington, D.C.: EIR News Service, 200�); “Vernadsky and Dirichlet’s Prin-ciple,” EIR, June, �, 2005; and Vernadsky, “Some Words About the Noösphere,” 21stCenturyScience&Technology, Spring 2005).

Fermi National Laboratory

VictorHess,thefatherofcosmicrayresearch,intheballoonin1912inwhichat5,000feet,hediscovered“pentratingradiation”comingfromspace,whatlaterbecameknownascosmicrays.

Ren Wicks/NASA

AnorientationtowardasuccessfulmissiontoMars,usinganindustrializedMoonasalaunchpad,willformthebasisforexitingthecurrentworldeconomiccrisis.Thisismankind’sexpansionofwhatVernadskycalledtheNoösphere—aidingtheUniverseinitscontinuinganti-entropicdevelopment.Here,anartist’sconceptofaMarslandingwiththeMartianmoonsofPhobosandDeimosvisibleinthetwilight.

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 13

muchliketheflowofsolarenergyintotheBiosphere,thoughitsroleinbiologicalprocessesislargelyunexplored.Under-standingthebiologicalroleofthissteadyflowofcosmicma-terialhasacrucialsignificanceforanexpandedMoon-Marscolonizationproject.

The Biogenic Migration of Cosmic RaysThisisacompletecycle,liketheotherbiogenic

migratorycyclessuchasfoodconsumptionandpho-tosynthesis.ThereisasteadyflowofionizedparticlesinandoutofEarthanditsatmosphere.Thoseamongthemofthehighestenergypassdirectlythroughallmatter, biological and otherwise, seemingly unaf-fectedbythatpassage.Butitisalsotheseparticles,capableofbypassingalltypesofshielding,whicharepotentially implicated in regulating the circadian

rhythmsofvariousorganismsmaintainedinotherwiseshieldedenvironments.5Other,lowerenergyparticlesareinvolvedincol-

5. Frank Brown, “Living Clocks,” Science, No. ��0 (�959).

a)AsinglecosmicraydetectorinaUtahfield.

b)AnaerialviewoftheCASAairshowerarray(composedofdetectorsliketheoneabove)inUtah.

c)AnimationofthedevelopmentanddetectionofanextensiveairshowerinthePierreAugerCosmicRayObservatoryEngi-neeringArray.Themovingrectangleisthe“showerplane”thatistangenttotheshowerfrontattheshoweraxis.Thegreendotsrepresentelectronsandpositrons.Reddotsrepresentmuons.Thelightdetectedinawatertankstationdependsonitsdis-tancefromtheshoweraxis.Thetankclosesttothecoregetsamuchstrongersignalthanthosethatarefarfromtheaxis.Thearrival direction is calculated from the shower front arrivaltimesatthedifferentwatertankdetectors.

Courtesy of Pierre Auger Observatory

(a)

(c)

(b)

14 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

lisionsatdifferentlevelsofthe Earth’s atmosphere,producingcascadesofsec-ondaryparticleswhichareinvolved in changing iso-tope ratios at the Earth’ssurface,andlikelyeffectingradical changes in Earth’sclimate.Itistheseparticles,for instance, which likelyplay the dominant role incyclesofglaciation,globalwarming, and thecyclicalpassagethroughiceages.6

This interaction of cos-mic rays with the atmo-sphere, creating cloudcover and shifting Earth’sclimate in and out of iceages,istobeconsideredaveryspecifictypeofinter-actionwiththeEarth’sBiosphere,because,asVernadskypointsout,7theEarth’satmosphereisentirelyacreationoflivingmatterontheplanet.Thus,thecascadesproducedbycosmicradiationuponenteringtheatmosphere,aswellasthehighlyenergeticactivityoccurringintheionosphere,interactingwiththesolarwind, andproducingphenomena suchas the aurora, are allproperlyrecognizedasproductsoftheBiosphere.Theroleofcosmicraysonanabioticenvironment,suchastheMoon,isen-tirelydifferent,asthepeculiarcompositionoflunarsoilattests.

Also,ontheleveloftheindividualorganism:Shieldinglivingcreaturesfromradiationproducesachangeinmetabolicratesimilartothechangesinmetabolismwhichresultfromremov-ingnutrients,warmth,oxygen(inthecaseoforganismspos-sessing mitochondria), or sunlight (in the case of organismspossessingchloroplasts).Thisisafurtherindicationthatcosmicraysplayacrucialrole in thebiogenicmigrationofmaterialthroughtheBiosphere.

The Role of Cosmic Radiation In Evolutionary Processes

What We Know from the Fossil Record.BritishsciencewriterNigelCalderandDanishscientistHenrikSvensmarkdescribeacreativeroleforcosmicraysintheearlydevelopmentoftheSo-larSystem,fuelingchemicalreactions,andpromotingthefor-mationofcomplexmolecules.8Theroleofcosmicraysintheevolutionofmatterdoesnotstopwithdevelopmentoftheabi-oticmaterialintheSolarSystem,however.Themosttellingex-ampleoftheroleofcosmicradiationinbiologicalprocessesisinlong-termevolutionarycycles.Theveryfactoftherolethey

�. Nir Shaviv, “Cosmic ray diffusion from the galactic spiral arms, iron meteor-ites, and a possible climactic connection,” Phys.Rev.Lett., Vol. 89 (2002); Hen-rik Svensmark, “Cosmoclimatology: A New Theory Emerges,” AstronomyandGeophysics, No. �8 (2007).

7. Vernadsky, TheBiosphere, see Note �.

8. Henrik Svensmark and Nigel Calder, TheChillingStars:ANewTheoryofClimateChange, (New York: Totem Books, 2008).

playinglobalwarmingandglaciationisenoughtohaveasig-nificanteffectonbiologicallifeonEarth,butthereismuchevi-denceforamuchmoredirectroleforcosmicrayradiationinevolutionaryprocesses.Mostofthisconnectionisrecognizedonlyintheformofobservedresonancesbetweenvariouscy-clesintheBiosphere,andrelatedcycleselsewhereininterstel-larspace.Causalconnections,andtheprocessesofmediationhavenotyetbeenestablished,althoughpotentialcandidateswillbehypothesizedbelow,startingfromtheworkoftheRus-sianbiologistAlexanderGurwitsch.

Outsideofwhatwewilldiscusshere,noattempthasyetbeenmadetoaccountfortheanti-entropic,creativenatureofthisen-tireprocess,whichlinkslifeonEarthtothebroadercosmos.Acomparisonof the cycles,which indicates a clear resonanceamongastronomical,biological,andgeologicalcycles,is,how-ever,ofgreatinterestforbeginningthecorrectinvestigation.

Clear cyclesof increaseanddecrease in fossil biodiversity(thenumberofdistinctspecieslivingontheplanetatanygivenmoment)havebeendiscovered,of62and140millionyears.9

9. Robert A. Rohde and Richard A. Muller, “Cycles in fossil diversity,” Nature, No. ��� (2005).

GlacialGroovesStateMemorialonanislandinLakeErieisasourceofhundredsoffossils.Insetisacloseupoffossilsunderexaminationbystudentsonafieldtrip.ThereareclearcyclesoffossilbiodiversitycorrespondingtovariationsincosmicrayinfluxastheEarthpassesthroughthespiralarmsofthegalaxy.

Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 15

The140-million-yearcyclecorrespondstothevariationsincos-mic ray influx predicted to occur from the Earth’s passagethroughourgalaxy’sspiralarms.Thispredicted,periodicchangeinincidentcosmicradiationhasalsobeenverifiedinexaminingthechangingpotassium40/41isotoperatiosobservedinironmeteorites,andthus,tothefrosty“snowballEarth”periods,whichcorrespondtothequantityofincidentcosmicradiation.10

Examiningtheageofdepositsofigneousrockshowsthatvol-canic activity is on the same, roughly 60-million-year cycle,showinganasyetunexplainedconnection togeological/tec-

�0. Shaviv, “Cosmic ray diffusion,” Note �; Svensmark, “Cosmoclimatology,” See Note 8.

tonicphenomena.11But,more toourpointhere,thiscycleisalsoofthesameperiodasthatpredictedfortheregularpassageofourSolarSysteminandoutoftheplaneofthegalaxy,ifwetakeintoaccountthelikelihoodthat the density of cosmic radiation differsfromonesideofthegalacticplanetotheoth-er.12Acomponentofthesea-levelfluctuationmeasuredbyExxonresearchersisconsistentinperiod andphasewith the shorter fossilbiodiversitycycle.Theratioofthestrontium87/86 isotopes, which is related to theamountofdrylandleftunexposedaswaterlevelschange,alsomatchestheperiodand(inverted)phaseofthe62-million-yearperi-od,13whichagainpointstoarelationshipbe-tween tectonic changes and astronomicalcycles(cf.thecycleinvolcanicactivityiden-tifiedbyRohdeandMullerinfootnote9).

Thus, ingeneral,weseemuchevidenceforasortofastrobiogeochemicalresonance,whichleadsustobegintoconceiveoftheideaoftheBiosphereasaparticipantinan

organized systemwhosescaleextendstothe farthest knownsourcesofcosmicradi-ation. The impressionthat astronomical pro-cessesareseparatedbyvast reaches of emptyspaceisshowntobein-correct; the Biosphereis connected function-ally to the farthestreachesof thephysicaluniversebyanincredi-bly active process, in-visibletothenakedeye.Spaceisfarfromempty,butratherfull,dynamic,andcomplex—organiz-able, like Earth itself,into the interactingphase-spaces of the

abiotic,theBiosphere,andtheNoösphere,wherethelastindi-catesthepotentialformankind’sactiveeconomicdevelopmentandreorganizationofthiscomplexsystem.Thisisthepropercontextinwhichtounderstanddiscussionsoflunarindustrial-ization,SolarSystemcolonization,andtheeconomicorgani-zationofinterplanetary,interstellar,andintergalacticspace.

Thisleadsustothemajorproblemwithallofthesecyclical

��. Rohde, See Note 9.

�2. Mikhail V. Medvedev and Adrian L. Melott, “Do Extragalactic Cosmic Rays Induce Cycles in Fossil Diversity?” TheAstrophysicalJournal, Vol. ��� (2007).

��. Medvedev and Melott, Note �2.

Wikpedia Commons

CharacteristicsandstonelayersinsideLowerAntelopeCanyon,themost-visitedcanyonintheAmericanSouthwest,locatedonNavajolandnearPage,Arizona.Thesandstonelayeringisformedbywaterflowanderosion.

John Charlton/Kansas Geological Survey

ChalkBadlandsintheSmokyHillsofwesternKansas,withoutcroppingsofseveraltypesofstone.Theregionismostlyrelativelyflat,makingthescatteredlocations,whereNiobraraChalkandDakotaSandstoneareexposed,moredramatic.

16 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

comparisons,butalsopotentiallythesourceofthegreatestpossiblenumberofnewlinesofre-search:thefactthattheactual“chart”ofevolu-tionary development, particularly after theemergenceofManandtheNoösphere,isnotcyclical. It is a continuous upward develop-menttoeverhigherlevelsoforganizationandenergy-flux-density, as measured and definedbythephysicaleconomistLaRouche.

SonowwereturntothequestionposedbyLaRoucheattheoutset:TowhichofVernadsky’sthreephasespacesdoesthisflowofcosmicraysbelong?Iftheyandthecycleswithwhichtheyresonate,arepartofthedevelopmentoftheBio-sphere, then,theBiosphere’santi-entropicde-velopmentmustbeacharacteroftheentiresys-temofmaterial-energeticflowswhichparticipateinthedevelopmentofthatBiosphere.Connect-edtothis,isthenecessityofdevelopingmeanstorecognizemorequalitative,andnotmerelyquantitativedifferences in cosmic ray interac-tionwiththeBiosphere.Life,aswewillseebe-lowfromtheworkofGurwitsch,issensitivetosuchqualitativedifferencesinelectromagneticand other radiation, as the above-mentionedstudieshavenotyettakenintoaccount.

Possible Modes of Activity Within the Living Organism

What Are the Natural Processes of the Living Organism that Utilize These Types of Radia-tion?Regardingquantityversusqualityofra-diation,andthesensitivityoflifetothesequal-itativedifferences(wherethecurrentgenerationof measuring instruments lacks equal preci-sion;cf.theworkofGurwitsch),14life’sinter-action with, and usage of, coherent electro-magneticradiationisfarsuperiortothetypesofabioticphenomenawhicharefrequentlyat-tributedtoitintheoretical,ratherthanexperi-mental, considerations. Knowledge of thecomplexityof thisnormal functioningofdif-ferent typesof radiationwithin livingorgan-ismswillshedlightonwhateffectsaretobeexpected fromexposure to atypical formsofradiation.

Currently,lackofprecisioninourknowledgeoftheroleofdifferenttypesofradiationinliv-ingphenomenalimitsustodescribingthede-structiveeffectsof largeamountsof relativelydisorganized radiation, such as that which isutilizedwithvariedresultsinthetreatmentofvarioustypesofcancers.Whatsortofprecisemedicalapplicationsofradiationcouldwede-

��. M. Lipkind, “Alexander Gurwitsch and the Concept of the Biological Field,” Part �; 21stCenturyScience&Tech-nology (Summer �998); and Part 2, 21stCenturyScience&Technology (Fall �998).

Figure 2IMAGE OF SOLAR SYSTEM MOTION AROUND OUR GALAXY

Cosmicradiationismoreintenseaswepassthroughthebrightareasofthespiralarms,becausethematterwhichproducedthemisdenserthere.Thiscorrelatesto a140-million-yearcycleof “icehouse” eventson Earth, ascosmic radiationinteractswiththeEarth’satmospheretoincreasecloudcover. As theSolarSystemorbitsthegalaxy’scenter,however,italsobobsup and downonacycleofabout60millionyears(the green wavy line).By Medvedev’smodelofshock-front cosmic-ray production(seeFigure3), the intensity of cosmic-ray productionisgreaterononesideofthegalactic disk thanontheother.Source: Mikhail V. Medvedev and Adrian L. Melott, “Do Extragalactic Cosmic Rays Induce Cycles in Fossil Diversity?” TheAstrophysicalJournal, Vol. ��� (2007).

Figure 1THE MEDVEDEV MODEL OF SPECIES EXTINCTION

The near-perfect agreement between so-called “extinction strength”(blue,lowerline)andtheintensityofcosmicrays(red,upperline)aspredictedfromMedvedev’smodel.Extinctionstrengthheremeanstheamountofchangeinfossilbiodiversityduringeach62-million-yearcyleoftheSolarSysteminandoutofthegalacticplane.Thecosmicray(CR)strengthpredictedbyMedvedev’smodeldiffersateachbob,becauseoftheirregulardistributionofmatterthroughoutourgalaxy.Source: Mikhail V. Medvedev and Adrian L. Melott, “Do Extragalactic Cosmic Rays Induce Cycles in Fossil Diversity?” TheAstrophysicalJournal, Vol. ��� (2007).

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 17

velopwithamoredetailedknowledgeoftheroleofradiationinthenormalfunctioningoflivingprocesses?

Weknowofphotosynthesisasoneclearinteractionofliv-ingorganismswiththeelectromagneticspectrum.Likewise,in mammals, we have the sunlight-mediated synthesis ofcholecalciferol.Also,however,Gurwitschandhisfollowershavedemonstratedthatcoherentultravioletradiationplaysavery important regulatoryrole inprocessesofcellmitosis,themostimportantfunctioninthegestaltpropertiesoftheorganism:morphogenesisand regulation.15 Incorrect func-tioningofthisultraviolet“mitogenic” radiationhasbeenconnectedtothede-velopmentofcancers.Theradiationwhichoccursinthese organic processesdiffers qualitatively fromthatproducedbyartificialsources.Onenotablefac-torinthebiologicalcaseisitscoherence.

The work of Wood’sHole Marine BiologicalLaboratory comparativephysiologist FrankBrownimplies that cosmic raysmay play an importantrole in the regulation of

�5. See Note ��.

animal metabolisms:The metabolic functions of various or-ganismsarerelatedtovariousastronomicalcycleswhichtendtoberoughlyontheorderofadayormonth.Thesecyclesarereflectedin themetabolismof theorganism,evenwhentheorganismisremovedfromdirectvisualcuessuchastheSunandMoon.Brownhas shown that this regulationcontinueswhentheonlyinfluencesthathavenotbeenisolatedarecos-micrays,andthevariouspenetratingelectric,magnetic,andgravitationalfieldeffectsproducedby theEarth itself.ManyanimalsareknowntopossesstheabilitytoorienttotheEarth’s

Figure 3MEDVEDEV’S SHOCK 

FRONT MODELMedvedev’s illustrationof the shock front thatoughttobeproducedasa result of the face-onmotion of our galaxythrough the intergalacticmedium in thedirectionoftheVirgocluster.High-energy cosmic rays areproduced in the shockfront, heavily irradiatingonesideofthegalaxy.Source: Mikhail V. Medvedev and Adrian L. Melott, “Do Extragalactic Cosmic Rays Induce Cycles in Fossil Diversity?” The AstrophysicalJournal, Vol. ��� (2007).

AlexanderGurwitsch’s famousonionstemexperiment,where he demonstrated that processes of cell mitosis,whichgovernthegrowthandmorphogenesisoftheor-ganism, depend on low-intensity ultraviolet radiation,whichhecalledmitogeneticradiation.

AlexanderGavrilovichGurwitsch(1874-1954).

18 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

magneticfield.Birdshaverecentlybeendemonstratedtonavi-gatebyactuallyvisuallyperceivingthemagneticfieldoftheEarth.

As afinalpoint, connected to theworkofGurwitsch,weknowthatnucleicacidsareex-tremely sensitive to (resonantwith) ultraviolet radiation, tothe extent that certain virusesare “turned on/off” (enter andexittheirlyticorcancer-induc-ingphase),basedoninteractionwithultravioletradiationinlab-oratoryconditions.

What We Know About The Sources of These FluxesCrab Nebula, Pulsars, Super/

Hypernovae. Our first indica-tionofthefundamentallycre-ativenatureof even the “abi-otic”universe,istobefoundinourrecognitionofitscharacterasadynamic,developingsys-tem, constantly coming intocreation.Relevanttoourtopicofdiscussionhere,isthecon-stant creation of new sourcesofcosmicradiationintheformof supernovae, hypernovae,pulsarstars,andthelike.Whilemostofwhatisclaimedaboutthematpresentispurespecu-lation, simply extrapolatedfrom existing physical knowl-edge here on Earth, what isclearisthattheirconstantrateofcreationgivesusasenseofamoving, directed, rather thancyclical, process which moreclosely resembles that whichcharacterizesthedevelopmentoftheBiosphereandtheNoö-sphere,eachintheirrespectivedegree.Therefore,understand-

ingtheirresonancewithlifeonEarthwillgiveusmoreinsightinto their as-yet-unexploredcreativecharacteristics.

A1-gtriptoMarswillrepre-sentMan’screationofnewrel-ativistic phenomena. It is sig-nificantthattheknown,majorsources of cosmic radiationhere on Earth, such as theCrabNebula,areallconnect-edtophenomenawhichseemparadoxical from the stand-point of relativity theory.Thispoints to a type of causality

which liesoutsideof thesimple,kinematicchainsofcauseandeffect,andleadsustowardsamoregestalt-like,systemsapproachtocausality:dynamics.Amorecertainassessmentofthenatureoftheseprocessesdemandsacloserinspection,

X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/F.Seward; Optical: NASA/ESA/ASU/J. Hester and A. Loll; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Gehrz/University of Minnesota

TheCrabNebula:AcompositeimageusingdatafromthreeofNASA’sGreatObservatories.TheChandraX-rayimageisshowninblue,theHubbleSpaceTelescopeopticalimagesareinyel-lowandred,andtheSpitzerSpaceTelescope’sinfraredimageisinpurple.TheX-rayimageisthoughttobesmallerthantheothersbecauseextremelyenergeticelectronsemittingX-raysra-diateawaytheirenergymorequicklythanthelower-energyelectronsemittingopticalandin-fraredlight.

Chesapeake-Bay.org

Dr. Frank A. Brown’s research showedthatsomesortofexogenouscycle (cos-micrays,orelectric,magnetic,andgravi-tational field effects produced by theEarth) influenced the metabolism of or-ganisms. For example, oysters that hadbeentransportedbytraininalight-sealedboxfromNewHavenharbortoEvanston,Illinois,afteratwo-weekadjustmentpe-riod,begantoopenagainatthetimeof“high tide” over Evanston. They weremaintained in a pressure and tempera-ture-controlled aquarium, sealed fromanyvisualcuesfromtheSunorMoon.

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 19

andbegsthequestion:Whatphysical boundaries do webegintopush,atthemomentweinstitutetripsatanaccel-erationof1Earthgravityoverlongdistances?

Experimental ProposalsThefirstexperimentalinves-

tigationswillobviouslyrequirea more detailed study of theenvironment to be faced byour interplanetary travellers.Probescarryingseveraldiffer-ent types of instrumentationwillneedtobeacceleratedat1-gforanextendedperiodoftime, in order to gauge whatunexpected physical effectsmightresultfromthisprocess.

The economic questions

connectedtothisexpandedinvestiga-tionismorethanaquestionof“localjobs.”Whatthistypeofpoliticalorien-tationmeans,andwhatKeshaRogersandLaRoucherepresent,isanorienta-tion towards the futureof thehumanspeciesasawhole.Ensuringmankind’sfuture in this formis theonlyway toensure the existence of health care,meaningfulemployment,andacultur-alsenseofmissionnotonlyforthisna-tion,but for theworld.Realpatriots,policymakers, scientists, engineers,andaveragecitizenswillrallyaroundthevisionthatthismissionrepresents,defeat thefinancialcontrollersof thecurrent Obama Administration, andhelp make this policy a reality. In aworld desperate for real leadership,the future,andoursurvival, is inourhands.

Sky Shields is a member of the La-Rouche Youth Movement’s “base-ment” research team. sky.jason.shields@gmail.com

References ____________________________

Frank Brown, “An Exogenous Reference-Clock for Persistent, Temperature-Independent, La-bile, Biological Rhythms,” BiologicalBulletin, No. ��5 (�958).

Colin Lowry, “Gurwitsch’s Non-Reductionist Biology,” 21st Century Science & Technology (Fall �998).

Adrian L. Melott and Richard K. Bambach, “An ubiquitous �2 Myr periodic fluctuation superim-posed on general trends in fossil biodiversity,” Parts I and II (unpublished manuscript).

Alexander S. Presman, ElectromagneticFields and Life (New York: Plenum Press, �970).

Pat Rawlings/NASA

Artist’sdepictionofexploringfossilsonMars—andcontinuingtheexpansionofManandtheNoösphereintointerstellarspace.

Vernadsky on Cosmic RadiationRadiation from the cosmos throws an

eternallyandcontinuallypowerfulstreamofenergyontothefaceoftheEarth,con-ferringquiteapeculiarandnovelcharac-ter on the parts of the planet borderingcosmic space. Due to cosmic radiation,thebiosphereacquirescharacteristicsthatarenovel,unusual,andunfamiliartotheEarth’s matter—the face of the Earth re-flectedinitscosmicenvironmentshowsanewpictureof theEarth’ssurfaceasit istransformedbycosmicforces.

Asaresultoftheseradiationsthesub-stanceof thebiosphere ispenetratedbyenergy—itbecomesactive,itgathersanddistributestheenergyreceivedintheformofradiationandeventuallyturnsitinter-restrialorganisms into freeenergycapa-ble of performing work....The externalenvelopeoftheEarthformedfromthisliv-ingsubstancecanthereforenotberegardedasadomainofsheersubstance—itisthedomainofenergy,thesiteoftransformationoftheplanetbyexternalcos-micforces.

The faceof theEarth is transformedby these forcesand toagreat extentmoldedbythem.Notonlyisitareflectionofourplanet,afeaturecharacteristicofitssubstanceandenergy,butatthesametimeitisacreationoftheexternalforcesofthecosmos.Thehistoryofthebiosphereisthereforesharplydistin-guishedfromthatoftherestoftheplanet,andtheroleitplaysintheplanetarymechanismisquiteexceptional.Itisasmuch,orevenmore,thecreationoftheSunasitisamanifestationofterrestrialprocesses.

—from V.I. Vernadsky, GeochemistryandtheBiosphere,Ed.,FrankSalisbury(SantaFe,N.M.:SynergeticPress,2006)

VladimirIvanovichVernadsky(1863-1945)

20 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

MaxPlanckbeganhisseriesoflectureson thermodynamics in 1909 by as-sertingthatscienceisthesystematic

investigation of sense perceptions. Our con-ceptsofbasicprinciples,likeforce,comefromthosesenses.Thetaskofscience“consistsonlyintherelatingofsenseperceptions,inaccor-dancewithexperience, tofixed laws.”Thoselawswere,themselves,alwaysbroughtcloserandcloserintolinewithexperience.

But,thisdescriptionwasonlyatrapfortheunsuspecting,forPlanckthenmadeanabout-

face,andasserted,“Ladiesandgen-tlemen,thisviewhasnevercontrib-uted to any advance in physics.”Relating the sense perceptions tooneanotherwithmathematics,andpulling logical derivations out ofthoserelations,canbequiteinterest-ing,butthiscouldnever,initself,de-rive a new discovery of principle.The generation of new knowledgeabout the universe comes from aworld different from that of senseperception,butonetowhichthehu-manmindhasaccess.

Planck’s target in thesespeeches was the so-called“positivist”movement.Sincethetimehehypothesizedtheexistenceofthequantumofaction, these anti-reason“brownshirts” asserted thatall knowledge must comeonlyfromthatwhichismea-surable.Further,ifsomepro-cesswerenotproven tobemeasurable, then that pro-cess could not even exist.Therefore,thatworldPlanckreferenced,asthedomainofhumancreativity,couldnotexist.

Thedebateabouttheexis-tence of such principleswhich guide physical phe-nomena, and their know-ability, has raged until thepresentday,withthepositiv-ists seemingly gaining theupperhand.1However,thereisnowbrewingarevolutioninscience,ledbyLyndonH.LaRouche, Jr., which willsweep thismental infectionaway.

This revolution is classedunder the broad name ofCosmic Radiation, which is

the investigation of the relationship betweenwhat Russian Academician Vladimir I. Ver-nadskycalled“livingmatter,”andthatenergeticcosmic phenomenon today known under thebroadnameofcosmicradiation.Ifournationaltravesty, the British agent called PresidentObama,isremovedfromofficebeforeheand

�. For example, although the experiments that can now be performed with CERN’s Large Hadron Collider will produce extremely valuable data, the scientists analyzing it will be crippled if they assume a positivist viewpoint.

Towards a New Periodic Table Of Cosmic RadiationbyPeterMartinson

NOAA

NorthernlightsoverAlaska.TheauroraborealisresultsfromthecollisionandionizationofsolarwindparticlesastheyareacceleratedalongtheEarth’smagneticfieldlines.Theauroracolorsaredeterminedbywhetheroxygenornitrogenatomsareinvolved.

True knowledge comes from the human mind, not sense perceptions, and it is this creative process that will lead us to an understanding of cosmic radiation and life processes.

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 21

hiscontrollerscandismantleAmeri-ca’s last footholdon true, immortalscience,theAmericanmannedspaceprogram,wewillsoonbepresentedwiththechallengesofamannedmis-sion to Mars, embarking from thesurface of a soon-to-be-industrial-izedMoon.

As LaRouche has emphasized,along with others who know whatthey’re talking about, this requiresthe consideration of acceleratedpaths between these two bodies,withinSolarspace.Thesensesofthepositivists say that this interveningspaceisempty.Thetravellersonthatfusion-powered,acceleratingflotillawill say that that space is, indeed,anythingbutempty.Itisasemptyastheopenocean,uponwhichhumannavigators have mapped out ship-pingroutesoutsideofwhichitisei-therdangerous,orevenimpossible,totravel.Whatmakesupthisopenocean of interplanetary space, andhowwillitmanifestitselftoourac-celeratingdescendants?

Positivists,andkindredopponentsofreason,beware!Thestudyofcos-mic radiationwill soon renderyouanhistorickidneystone,passed,onhumanity’smissiontothestars!

Inthisbriefreport,Iwillde-finecosmic radiation in termsof the problems posed byPlanck,Einstein,andtheircol-laborators, and then describesome of the areas of clear re-searchopportunities,andsomepotentialexperimentstobecar-riedout.

A milestone reached in thisnew field of research, will betheenhancementandelabora-tionofanewperiodicsystemoftheuniverse.Inthesecondhalfof the 19th Century, DmitriMendeleyevappliedhisgeniustotheconstructionofaPeriod-icTable,whichallowedhimtoforecast the existence of thenundiscovered,butpotentialel-ements. Since his death, thattable has been expanded, buthas always remained valid. Inthe same way, Johann Sebas-tianBach’swell-temperedsys-tem of counterpoint has re-mained the standard, up

through the compositions of Jo-hannes Brahms and RobertSchumann,inawaythatopenedupawholeworldofpossiblemodesofcommunicationinmusic.InsteadofthrowingMendeleyev’sPeriodicTa-bleaway,itisnowtimetoseeitasbeingsubsumedbyalargersystem,called Cosmic Radiation, withwhich the present state of humanunderstandingispregnant.

What Is Cosmic Radiation?First,let’sgetasummaryofwhat

wemeanby“cosmicradiation.”Asastartingpoint,Vernadskydi-

videstheuniverseintomaterialphe-nomenaandenergeticphenomena.Energetic phenomena, themselves,aregenerallyinvisibletothesenses,althoughtheireffectsareverysen-sible. They include the variousfields—the electric, magnetic, andgravitationalfieldsfoundintheSo-larSystemandelsewhere—andalsotheelectromagneticradiations,cov-ering the entire spectrum of fre-quencies.Material phenomena in-cludewhathappenswhenyourunintoatree.Also,theelaborationofcrystalstructure,and thechemicalpropertiesof thegeneralphasesof

Pat Rawlings/NASA

AfirststopininterplanetarytravelwillbetheMoon,fromwherethefuturejourneystoMarswillbelaunched.ButbeforetheMarsmission,wemustlearnmoreaboutcosmicradiation.Here,anartist’sdrawingofaMooncolony,withalunarminingfacilitythatharvestsoxygenfromtheresource-richvolcanicsoiloftheeasternMareSerenitatis.

MaxPlanck(left)presentsAlbertEinsteinwiththeMax-Planckmedal,Berlin,in1929.Planckestab-lishedaprofessorshipforEinsteinin1914,whenPlanckwasdeanoftheUniversityofBerlin,andthetwoanti-positivistscientistsplayedmusicto-gether.

22 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

matter,constitutematerialphenom-ena.Thus, thecosmic raysdiscov-eredbyVictorHess,beingthehigh-velocitynucleiofall theatomsonthePeriodicTable,wouldbeclassedasmaterialphenomena.

Ourownbiological senseappa-ratus isdesigned tobesensitive totheinteractionbetweenthematerialandenergetic.Forexample,asyoureadthispage,whichisamaterialbody, light is reflecting off of thepage into your eyes.Your eyes donot,themselves,perceivelight,butperceiveapagewithwordswrittenon it. The light transmits a signalfromthepage,toreceptorsinyoureyes,whichthenconvertthesignalintoadifferentform,whichcanthenbetransportedtoyourbrain.There,yourmindhastheopportunitytoin-terpret the signal—which itselfprobablybearslittleopticalresem-blancetowhatyouthinkthispagelooks like! But, the energetic lightsignal,whichcannotitselfbeseen,

Vernadsky’s tomb at the NovodiévitchiCemeterynearMoscow,wheremanyfa-mousRussianfiguresareburied.

DmitriMendeleyevin1897.Hisgeniuscre-atedthePeriodicTableoftheElements,whichremainsvalidtoday.

FIGURE 1The Periodic Table of the Elements

EachcolumnofthismodernPeriodicTablecontainselementsthathavesimilarchemicalproperties.Thisamazinglyinsightfulconstructionwillbesubsumed,soon,byamorecomprehensivetable,whichwillincludethelivingandcognitivedomains.

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 23

registerstheexistenceofthematerialobjectbeforeyou,tothematerialobjectofyourbiologicalsenses.

Theconcepts“material”and“energetic”are thuswellde-fined.Materialisthestuffyoucansense,andenergeticiswhyyoucansenseit.Energeticphenomenaaregenerallycontinu-ous, while material phenomena are generally discrete.Whowouldmistakethelightemittedfromalightbulb,forthelightbulbitself?

But,arethesetwoconceptsreallysowelldefined?

Thefundamental,andmoststudied,oftheso-called energetic phenomena, is light.SuchscientistsasChristiaanHuygens,Thom-asYoung, andAugustin-JeanFresnel estab-lishedthatlightisnotcomposedofparticlesshooting in straight lines, but represents awavemotion.Thiswasprofoundlydemon-stratedinexperimentsontheinterferenceofthelightwaves(seebox,p.24).Thisconceptrequired(andstilldoes,inthisauthor’sopin-ion)amaterialsubstrateinwhichthewavescanbecomemanifest,inmuchthewaythatwaterwavesnecessitatetheexistenceofwa-ter.Withoutthewater,whatwouldbewav-ing?Hence, lightspreadsasaspace-fillingwave structure, and is thus continuous inspace,neverhavingaspecificlocation.Any“points”oflightrepresentaneventofcon-structiveinterferenceamongwaves.

But,whenMaxPlanckdecided toworkoutthelawsgoverningthetypesofradiationthatareemittedbyaheatedbody, thefre-quencyofwhichdependsuponitstempera-ture,hehadtogivethissupposedlycontinu-ous phenomenon of light a discrete form.

Heshowedthat,inthetransformationoftheactionofmaterialoscillationintothatofelectromagneticradiation,therewasasmallest amount of action that could be thus transformed,whichhecalledthequantum.Itisasif,whenyoupresstheac-celeratorofyourcar,youhavetopressdownuntilyou’regivingenoughgastogo1mileperhour,andyourcarinstantaneouslyachievesthatspeed,neverhavinggoneahalfmileperhour!Thesmallestamountofenergythatcouldbetransferredbythe

Courtesy of Victor Hess papers, Fordham University Library.

Thediscovererofcosmicradiation,VictorHess(center)demonstratinghiscosmicrayapparatustostudentsatFordhamUniversity,wherehewasaprofessorofphys-icsfrom1938tohisdeathin1964.

Portrait by Bernard Vaillant

ChristiaanHuygens(1629-1695)

Engraving by Ambroise Tardieu

Augustin-JeanFresnel(1788-1827)

Painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence

ThomasYoung(1773-1829)

Huygens,Young,andFresnelestablishedthatlightisnotcomposedofparticlesinstraightlines,butrepresentsawavemotion(seebox,p.24).

24 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

Two-Slit InterferenceWavephenomenaarecharacterizedbywhatiscalled“in-

terference.”Transversewaves, suchas thoseproducedonthe surface of water, are composed of both peaks andtroughs. If twowavescrosseachother, theheightsof thewaves“add” toeachother, insuchaway that twopeakscrossing will produce a wave whose height is enhanced,while a peak crossing a trough will produce one whoseheightisdiminished.Ifonewaveencountersabarrierwithtwoholes,eachholewillbecomethesourceofanewsetofwaves,andthustwowavesetswillpropagateontheothersideofthebarrier.Ifascreenissetupfartheronthatside,thewaveswillproduceaninterferencepattern.

Intheimageshownhere,drawnbyThomasYoung,twosetsofwaterwavesemanatefromtheslitsatAandB.Eachofthecirclesdrawnrepresentsapeakofacircularwave.Atthefarendisascreen.BetweenpointsDandEisthetallestwave,betweenC-DandE-Fareshortertallwaves,andsoforth.But,atpointsC, D, E,andF, thewavescompletelycanceleachother.

Abeamoflightpassedthroughtwothinslitswillalsopro-ducesuchapatternonascreen.Thus,itwashypothesizedthatthelightmusthavethesamewavecharacteristicsaswa-ter.Thisopenedupthequestion,though,astowhat,exactly,waswaving?

—Peter Martinson

ThomasYoung’ssketchofwaveinterference.Eachseriesofcurvesrepresentsawavepeak,andwherewavepeakscrossisahighpointofconstructiveinterference.

Constructive Destructive

radiation was proportional to its frequency. Hence, at verysmallscales,light,andallotherenergeticphenomena,hadthepropertiesofadiscretepart—thecontinuityof thissupposedwavephenomenonhadbrokendown.

AlthoughtherewasanattempttoignorePlanck’shypothesis,experimentsaroundtheworldbegantoresultinparadoxesofexactlytheformheforecast.Finally,Einsteinbrokethestand-offin1905,whenhedemonstratedthatthephotoelectriceffectcould be efficiently explained, if it were assumed that lighttransferedenergytotheejectedelectronsintheformofquan-tumpackets.Astheintensityofthelightwasincreased,noin-creaseinthekineticenergyof theejectedelectronswasob-served.Hence,eachelectronwasgivenaspecificamountof

kick, which coincided with an individual quantum transfer.Thatamountofkickwouldonlychangeifthefrequencyofthelightwerechanged.

So,herewasoneexampleofanenergeticphenomenon,act-ingasadiscreteobject.

Whataboutmatter?Asimilarcategoryofparadoxwaspop-pingupalloverthestudyofatomicphenomena,specificallyinthespectraoftheelementsandtheirisotopesandions.LouisdeBroglietookfromPlanckthehypothesisthattheuniverseishar-monicallyorganized,anddeterminedawavestructureforele-mentaryparticles,suchastheelectron.Heforecastthatabeamofelectronsfocussedonathincrystal—thedistancebetweenwhoseatom-pointswascomparabletothe“wavelength”ofthe

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 25

electronbeam—wouldproduceaninter-ferencepatternontheotherside,analo-goustolightinterference,andthenhecal-culatedthecharacteristicsofthatpattern.Theexperimentwasperformedwithsuchabeamofelectrons,andexactlytheresultforecastbydeBrogliewasobtained.Thus,all matter, including the lowly electron,has wave characteristics, just like lightandallotherenergeticphenomena.

If electrons, supposedly tiny particles,canbeinducedtoactlikenon-localizedwavephenomena,thenwhatexactlyarethey? Indeed, what is matter itself, andhowisitdifferentfromenergeticphenom-ena? Ifbothmaterialandenergeticphe-nomenahave thecharacteristicsofbothcorpuscles and space-filling wave func-tions, then how can it be said that thespace between planets, which is filledwithanenormousvarietyofradiation,isempty?Itisasemptyasyourtypicaluni-versityphysicsprofessor’shead!

The New Periodic TableThisconsiderationmusttaketheformofacentralthemein

theinvestigationofcosmicradiation,anditsinteractionwithlife.OrganismsonourEartharenotopportunistic,hyperactivecombinationsofdeadchemicals.Theyrepresenttheorganizedexpressionofauniversalphaseofphysicalspace-time,withinwhichmatter functionsdifferently than in theabioticphase.Doessuchlivingmatteralsohaveanopportunitytomanifestbothfieldandcorpuscularcharacteristics?Ormustlivingmat-tertakeabackseattothequantumparadoxesthathavetorturedthepositivistsforthepasthundredyears?IthinkthatwouldbeveryinsultingtoanentirephaseoftheCreator’suniverse!

Atthesametime,theprocessofphotosynthesisisonlyone,albeitaveryimportantone,ofmanyaspectsoftheinteractionbetween living matter and cosmicradiation.Areasofinvestigationwillbedescribedbelow,whichdemon-stratethatthisinteractionisperhapsthe dominant expression of life intheuniverse.Indeed,itmayturnouttobeincorrecttodiscuss“theinter-actionoflifeandcosmicradiation,”insteadof,simply,“cosmiclifepro-cesses.”InsteadofviewingtheBio-sphere as some separate entitywhich interacts with cosmic phe-nomena,itverywellmightbemoreaccurate toviewcosmicradiation,generallyanduniversally,asanas-pectoflifeintheuniverse,andthuslife on Earth is itself inseparablefromtheseradiations.Asoneofmycollaboratorsrecentlyexpressedit,investigating life by shielding itfrom various radiations, could be

likeinvestigatingawhirlpoolbyshield-ingitfromwater.

Cosmicradiationcanbedividedintocategories, such as the various fields(electric, magnetic, gravitational, mor-phogenetic, etc.), the domains of theelectromagneticspectrum(radio,micro-wave,infrared,visible,ultraviolet,X-ray,gammaray,etc.),andso-calledenergeticparticles(cosmicrays,radioactivedecayproducts,etc.).Itisalsonecessarytosub-sumeeachofthesecategoriesbythedo-main of action, in terms ofVernadsky’sthreephasespaces:theabiotic,theBio-sphere,andtheNoösphere.Forexample,ultravioletlight(UV)isactiveonapurelychemicalbasis,inthebreakingofchemi-calbonds;but it isalsoactive in livingprocesses,suchasinthevisionofmanyinsects;anditisalsousedbymaninhisstudy of various organic systems, likechlorophyll, through UV fluorescenceexperiments.Thesethreetypesofeventsmustbeclassedasdifferentphases, al-thoughofthesamewavelengthranges.

Starting from here, we can begin to build up harmoniesamongsetsofelements.InthetraditionofMendeleyev’snote-cardmethod,wecanbeginamassingpropertiesofthecata-logof radiations, including their relations toboth livingandcognitivephasesofspace-time.Mendeleyevcreatedata-bleofelements,arrangingtheirascendingmassesaccordingtothecharacteristicpropertiestheyexhibitinchemistry.

His table was incomplete, as Mendeleyev himself wouldreadilypointoutwerehealivetoday.Forexample,thereisnoconvenientwaytorepresenttheexpandingarmadaofisotopesinthistable;muchlessisthereawayofshowinghoweachele-mentorisotopecameintobeing.TheAmericanphysicalchem-istWilliamDraperHarkinstookissuewiththisin1917,bynot-

Louis de Broglie (1892-1987) tookPlanck’s hypothesis that the universe isharmonicallyorganized,anddeterminedawavestructureforelementaryparticles.

FIGURE 2The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Liferespondstoallwavelengthsoftheelectromagneticspectrum.

19

3 33 35 37 39 311 313 3150

17 15 13 1 1–1 1–3 1–5

VISIBLE

wavelength (meters)

frequency (hertz)

26 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

ing that the cosmic abundances of theelementsvaryinsuchawaythattheeven-numberedelementsarefarmoreabundantthantheodd.Heconcluded,rightly,thattheabundancesarenotdeterminedbymass,butby“factorsin-volvedintheformationanddisintegrationoftheatoms.”Thus,thereisnorepresentationinMendeleyev’stableyet,oftheevo-lutionofisotopes,throughthestagesofsundryradioactivede-cayseries.

Mendeleyev’sstudent,Vernadsky,hypothesized thatanewsystemoforganizingtheelementscouldbedeveloped,ifthedistributionofmineralsintheEarth’scrustbylivingprocessesweretakenasacrucialproperty.VernadskycriticizedAmericangeochemist FrankWigglesworth Clarke’s wonderful tables ofgeochemistryforexactlythisomission,andforassumingthatthedistributionsweremerelygeochemical,insteadofbiogeo-chemical.2ThisstrategywasenhancedbytherecognitionthatorganismsintheBiosphereactivelyselectspecificisotopesoftheelements,whichimpliestheabilityoflifetoselectonthebasisofsomecriteriaotherthansimplychemical.Anewtablemustthusreflectthedominantrolethatlivingprocessesplayinthemotionsandtransformationsofallmatter.

Wegoastepfurther.Alllivingprocessesdepend,fundamen-tally,onthecatalogofcosmicradiation,asdemonstratedpro-foundlybyphotosynthesis.Therefore,thePeriodicTableitselfcanandwillbereorganizedintoanewsystem,whichtakesascrucialelementsthoseeffectsofthetransformationofcosmicradiationwithin the threephase spacesof theuniverse—the

2. Vernadsky also hypothesized that the granite bedrock of continents, which floats atop the denser basalt layers forming ocean bedrock, was generated by living processes. A manned mission to Mars, beginning with industrialization of the Moon, will be necessary to determine whether or not granite even exists on other planetary bodies. As yet, none has been found. See, for example, Rosing, et al. (200�).

abiotic,living,andwillfulcognition.Mendeleyev’sworkwasextremelyimportant,butwasnecessarilyboundedbythecon-temporarystateofexperimentalwork.Morethanonecenturylater,wearenowpoisedtoincludewhatseemsliketherestoftheuniverse.Inthisway,asLaRouchehasdescribedit,wecannowbegintogetthisuniverseorganized.

The Shape of LifeToconclude,letuslookatoneexampleof“CosmicLifePro-

cesses,”withthepromisethattherewillbealotmoretocomeintheadvancingweeksandmonths.

Russian molecular biologistAlexander Gurwitsch demon-stratedthatmitosisincells,duringthedevelopmentalstageoftheorganism,canbeinducedthroughinteractionwithothercellsinactivemitosisphases.Hediscoveredthatthiseffectiscausedbytheemissionofradiationfromonecelltoanother,thewavelengthofwhichhefoundtobethatofultravioletlight.Henamedthisphenomenonmitogeneticradiation(“M-rays”).Later,hewentontodemonstratethatthemitosisofcellswasaffected,spatially,bytheothermitosingcellsintheenviron-ment.Hecarriedouttheseexperimentsunderthehypothesisthatthereexistedamorphogeneticfield,whichwasanalogoustothefieldsfoundinphysics,butwasnotanyoneofthem.Heproposedthatthestudyofthisfield,whichwasuniquelybio-logical,wouldenlargeourunderstandingoffieldsingeneral.

Gurwitsch’sM-raysareboundtoveryspecificwavelengths.Outsidethatrange,thereisclearevidenceofamore-or-lessbehavioralinfluenceonlivingorganismsfromothercategoriesof cosmic radiation, under the topic of Circadian Rhythms.AmericanbiologistFrankBrown’sexperimentsdidnotneces-

William Draper Harkins (1873-1951), aphysicalchemistattheUniversityofChi-cago,notedthatthecosmicabundancesof theelementsvarysuchthat theeven-numbered elements are far more abun-dantthantheodd-numberedones.

AVERAGE COMPOSITION OF THE LITHOSPHERE

Source: Source: Frank Wigglesworth Clarke, TheDataofGeochemistry, (Washington, D.C.: The U.S. Geological Survey, �9��), p. �2.

OneofFrankWigglesworthClarke’stablesofgeochemistry.

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 27

sarily revealmorphologicalchanges,but these rhythms

apparently registered all energetic phenomena, includingelectricandmagneticfields,cosmicrays,andextremesintheelectromagneticspectrum(suchasgammarays).Besidessim-plebehavioraleffects,reproductivecyclesarealsodrivenbylunar,annual,andothercosmiccycles.

Oneclearhintatamodeofdirectactioncomesfromade-scriptionbyRussianbiologistVladimirVoeikovofA.A.Ko-zlov’swork,whichdemonstratedthationizingradiationcouldbenecessaryforthedivisionofcells.Gurwitsch’sM-raysareintheultravioletrange,betweenabout3electronvoltsand100electronvolts.Kozlovpointedoutthat,ifabetaparticleexceeds263,000eVinwater,itwillproduceCerenkovradia-tion,whichisabout4-5eV—rightatthelowend,andthusthesweetspot,ofmitosis-drivingM-rays.Hence,ifagammaraycouldenterthecellandtriggerabetadecayfromoneoftheatomsthere,thiswouldgeneratepotentialM-rays,andthusdriveamitosis.Theexperimenthasnotyetbeencarriedout, tomyknowledge,but itpresentsaclearavenuedownwhich the development of the Biosphere could be driven,weretheCreatoroftheuniversesoinclined.

TheseM-rayscouldbeinducedinanotherway—bycosmicrays.ThePierreAugerObservatoryinArgentinadetectstheairshowerscausedbycosmicraysintwoways.First,barrelsofwaterprovideanenvironmentinwhichthesecondaryparti-clesoftheairshowercanmovefasterthanlight,whichpro-duces Cerenkov radiation.There is every reason to assumethat, inside a cell, these secondaries produce a Cerenkovevent,andthusM-rays.Second,theprimariescausenitrogenintheatmospheretoproducesub-ozonelayerultravioletra-diation,whichcan reachup to4wattson theground.ThiscouldalsobeapotentialsourceofM-rays.3

�. This process, specifically, draws again into consideration the importance of the creation and maintenance of the Earth’s atmosphere, which has the ability to convert high-energy cosmic rays into forms that are usable by organisms in morphogenesis.

While this is not proof that mor-phogenesis is driven from outerspace, it provides a very importantmode of connection between theprocessesindistantsystems,suchasthe Crab Nebula, with life here onEarth.HerewehavearichterritoryofexperimenttofilloutpartofournewPeriodicTable,underthecategoryofUltraviolet Radiation in the Bio-sphere.

A New Understanding of Our Universe

Humancivilizationisonthebrinkof a new understanding of its uni-verse.Theeffectsofcosmicradiationwillsoonberecognizedtoimpactvir-tually all aspects of scientific work.But, the recognition of this truth re-quirestheoverthrowofthenow-dom-

inantpositionthatthepositivistoutlookhasheldoverscience.WemustreturntoPlanck’spolemicagainstthepositivists,thathumanreasondoesnotlieintheworldofsenseperceptions,butinahigher,unsensedworld.

ThisconcepttodayseesitsmostdevelopedstateintheideasofLyndonLaRouche,whohasassertedtheprimacyofascienceof

Alexander Gurwitsch (1874-1954),aRussianmolecularbi-ologist,demonstratedthatplantcellsinmitosisareaffectedbyothercells in theenvironmentthatareundergoingmitosis,anexpressionofaphenomenonhecalledmitogeneticradiation.

ORNL

Amicrographshowingcondensedchromosomesinblue and the mitotic spindle in green during pro-metaphaseofmitosis.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

RussianbiologistVladimirVoeikov,whotranslatedGurwitsch’sworkandcontinuedhisresearch,reportsontheworkofA.A.Kozlov and mitogenetic radiation. Kozlov’s research demon-strates thatCerenkov radiation, theblue lightproducedbyabetaparticleexceeding263,000eVinwater,possesesjustaboutthesameenergyinelectronvoltsasmitogeneticradiation,sug-gestingthatbetadecayfromagammarayhittingacellcoulddrivemitosis.Here,Cerenkovradiationinaresearchreactor.

28 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

physicaleconomy,overallotherphysicalsciences.Itisinthedomainofthatscience,thatthepropertiesofhumancognitionare studiedasawillful,causal representationofwhatcanbecalledcosmiccreation.Acoreofthebuddingphysicalecono-mist’scurriculum,isthestudyofthecreativeprocessesofahu-manmind,asrepresentedinspecificcasesofscientificdiscov-ery.Itisthoseprocesses,whichthephysicaleconomistmustseektoprovoke,promote,anddefendinthedesignofpublicpolicy.

Assuch,theearliestlessoninacourseofphysicaleconom-ics,isthatabsolutelynoknowledgeisderivedfromsenseper-ceptions,butthoseperceptionsmustratherbeassumedtobefraudulent—inaverylawfulway.Trueknowledgecomesfromthehumanmind,whichusesthosesensesaswhatLaRoucheterms“instrumentation,”theparadoxicaljuxtapositionofwhichmustbedecipheredbythecreativemind.Inthesameway,askillfullawyerwillpittwoobviouslylyingwitnessesintoargu-mentagainsteachother,inordertomakeobviouswherethetruthdoesn’treside.But,thoselyingsenseperceptions,takenbythemselves,canneverbeusedtomathematicallypredictanas-yet-unknown, causal phenomenon. Only an hypothesis,generatedbythecreativeindividualworker,informedthroughtheerrorsinherentinseveralsenseperceptions,hasthatpredic-tivequality.

This is thewayall future scientistsmust think, inorder tomakesenseofourgrowinguniverse.

Peter Martinson is a member of the LaRouche Youth Move-

ment’s “basement” team. peter.j.martison@gmail.comReferences ____________________________________F. Brown, “Living Clocks,” Science, Vol. ��0 (�959).Alexander Gurwitsch and Lydia Gurwitsch, “Twenty Years of Mitogenetic Radiation: Emergence, Development, and Per-spectives,” translated by Vladimir Voeikov and Lev Belouss-ov, 21stCenturyScience&Technology, Fall �999, p. ��.William Draper Harkins, “The Structure of Atoms,” Science, Vol. ��, No. ��92, p. ��9, (�9�7).————, “The Structure of Atoms II,” Science, Vol. ��, No. ��9�, p. ���, (�9�7).Lyndon LaRouche, “The Escape from Hilbert’s ‘Zeta’ ‘X’: Mapping the Cosmos,” EIR, March �9, 20�0Max Planck, EightLecturesonTheoreticalPhysics, trans-lated by A.P. Wills (New York: Columbia University Press, �9�5).M. Rosing, D. Bird, N. Sleep, W. Glassley, F. Albarede, “The Rise of Continents—an Essay on the Geological Conse-quences of Photosynthesis,” Palaeogeography,Palaeocli-matology,Palaeoecology; Vol. 2�2, p. 99 (200�).Vladimir Vernadsky, “On Some Fundamental Problems of Biogeochemistry,” 21st Century Science & Technology, Winter 2005-200�, p. �9. http://www.2�stcenturysciencetech.com/200�_articles/Biogeochemistry.pdf________, “Problems of Biogeochemistry II: On the Funda-mental Material-Energetic Distinction Between Living and Nonliving Natural Bodies of the Biosphere,” 21stCenturyScience&Technology, Winter 2000-0�, p. 20. http://www.2�stcenturysciencetech.com/translations/ProblemsBiogeo chemistry.pdf________, “On the States of Physical Space,” 21stCenturyScience&Technology, Winter 2007-08, p. �0. http://www.2�stcenturysciencetech.com/Articles%202008/States_of_Space.pdfInterview with Prof. Vladimir Voeikov, 21stCenturyScience&Technology, Spring 2000, p. 58.On the Fight Around the Quantum:Guido Bacciagaluppi, and Antony Valentini, QuantumThe-oryattheCrossroads:Reconsideringthe1927SolvayCon-ference (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009).

Louis de Broglie, “Wave Nature of the Electron,” Nobel Prize Lecture, �929 http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/�929/index.html

Albert Einstein, “On a Heuristic Point of View about the Creation and Conversion of Light,” AnnalenderPhysik, Vol. �7, p. ��2 (�905).

Max Planck, “On the Law of Distribution of Energy in the Normal Spectrum,” An-nalen der Physik, Vol. �, p. 55� (�90�).

Pierre Auger Observatory

Gurwitsch’smitogeneticradiationcouldalsobeinducedbycosmicrays.ThePierreAugerObservatorydetectscosmicraysbyusingsensitivelightsensorstoobservethefaintfluorescencecausedbycollisionsofcosmicrayshowerswithairmoleculesintheatmosphere,asshownintheillustration.TheObser-vatoryhas1,600particledetectorsspaceduniformlyover3,000squarekilo-meterstorecordcosmicrayshowers.

LyndonLaRouche,whoinitatedtheCosmicRayProject,putshumancreativityatthecenterofphysicaleconomy.Here,aseminarwithLaRoucheYouthMovementmembersinEurope.

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 29

Becauseofthelimitationsofoursenseorgans,wearecon-scious only of a narrow sliver of the electromagneticspectrum,mostlyintherangeofvisiblelightandinfrared

radiation.Whileotherorganismsareadaptedtosensedifferentregionsof thespectrum,werelyontheuseofourextended“technologicalsenseorgans”togainaccesstothefullrangeofradiationpenetratingtheterrestrialenvironmentfromtheSunandmoredistantcosmicsources,aswellastheirinteractionwiththeatmosphereandelectromagneticfieldsoftheEarth.

With this expanded sense apparatus providedby instrumentation,wecan thus seenotmerelydiscreteobjectsexistinginemptyspace,butanac-tivecontinuumextendingwithinandbetweenallsuch seemingly separate objects, composed ofboththepresumedparticlesofcosmicrays,aswellasthevarious,intersectingelectromagneticwave-phenomena.

Inthisway,wecontinuallyovercometheveryreallimitationsofourphysiology,althoughweremainsuscep-tibletoartificiallimitationsinourthinking—particularlywhenweallowanaiveinterpretationofourbasicsenseperceptionstodominateourpictureofthephysicalworld,whosecharacter-isticsintheverylargeandtheverysmallarerevealedbythegeneralphenomenaofcosmicradiation.

TheRussianbiogeochemistVladimirVernadskybelievedthat

thepervasiveactionofthecontinualrangeoftheunseencos-micradiationspermeatingallofspacewassosignificant,thatnotonlythebiosphere—includingitstransformationbyhumanactionintothenoösphere—buteventhedistributionandchar-acterofthechemicalelementsinthecrust,couldonlybeun-derstood as manifestations of cosmic processes. In The Bio-sphere,hewrotethatlivingorganismsare“thefruitofextended,complexprocesses,andareanessentialpartofaharmoniouscosmicmechanism,inwhichitisknownthatfixedlawsapply

andchancedoesnotexist.”LikePoe’spurloinedletter,theevidenceforthe“harmonious

cosmic mechanism” is all around us.The vast experimentaldataoncosmicradiationanditsconnectiontocyclesofcli-mate,biodiversity,andmassextinctionsaresubstantial,albeitpreliminary,hintsat theeffectsofbiologicalregulationatan

The Triumph of The Weak ForcesbyOyangTeng

Meeting the challenges of a manned Moon-Mars mission will open the entire electronmagnetic spectrum for human use, redefining cognitive

science for the next century.

ONWARD TO MARS

Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio/NASA

ChargedparticlesflowingoutwardfromtheSunandhittingtheEarth’smagneticfield,emitlightwhentheycollidewithatmosphericmolecules.ThisvisualizationoftheauroraovertheNorthPolewastakenbytheultravioletVISEarthCam-eraonthePOLARspacecraft,onApril17,1999.

30 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

astrophysicalscale.1Arichmaterial-energeticconnectionbindstheEarthwiththeSolarSystemandtheentiregalaxy.

Justasimportantasthisconnection,isthematerial-energeticdistinctionmanifestedamongnon-living,living,andcognitiveprocesses.Asthehighestexpressionofmaterial-energetictrans-formation,boththebiosphereasawhole,aswellasindividualorganisms(thespecificexpressionofwhatVernadskycalledliv-ingmatter)providenatural instrumentsof themostexquisitesensitivityforregisteringthefundamentalpropertiesofmaterialandenergeticphenomena.Ratherthanattemptingtobuildtheuniverse up from its presumedsmallest,inorganicparts,wemustbuild downwards from cognitiveand living processes. This ap-proach will necessarily lead to,amongotherthings,anexpansionof the Periodic Table of the Ele-ments.2

Unfortunately, themuch-hypedhistorical division between themechanisticandvitalisticoutlook,hasingrainedafalsedichotomyincontemporarythought.Forexam-ple,althoughthemechanistreduc-esallprocesses,includingbiologi-calones,tomovementsofdiscreteparticlesofmatter,andthevitalistlocates causality in some agencyactingoutsidethosematerialparts,typically in someunique formof“energy,” both accept the samefundamental assumption regard-ingtheexistenceofdiscreteparti-clesofmatterassuch.Despitethefact that fewpeople todaywouldclaimtobeeithertruemechanistsortruevitalists,modernscienceisstillshackledbyacrudema-terialism,continued,forexample,intheformofthecompro-miseknownasthewave-particleduality.

How does scientific thought distinguish the efficient exis-tenceofdiscrete,wholeprocessesfromthephysicalcontinuainwhichtheyparticipate?Forexample,theEarth’sbiosphereasawholerepresentsasingularitywithintheconstantbiogenicmigrationofatomsthroughoutthegalaxy,justasindividualor-ganismsrepresentsingularitieswithintheprocessofbiogenicmigrationthroughthebiosphere.3Dothesesingularitiesrepre-sentuniquemanifestationsofphysicalspace-time,asVernadskyhypothesized?

Ifso,itmakescleartherevolutionaryimplicationsofinter-planetaryspaceflightataccelerationssufficienttoproduceanartificialgravitationalfield,ascontainedintheMoon-Marscol-onizationproposalofLyndonLaRouche.Theconsiderationof

�. Sky Shields, “Kesha Rogers Victory Launches the Rebirth of a Mars Coloni-zation Policy!,” this issue, p. 8.

2. Peter Martinson, “Towards a New Periodic Table of Cosmic Radiation,” this issue, p. �8.

�. Shields, see Note �.

livingprocesseswithinacceleratedreferenceframesamidstthedenseradiationfieldsofcosmicspacegoestotheheartofthefundamentalquestionsattherootofatrue,UnifiedFieldTheo-ry.4Althoughthetheoreticalquestionsinvolvedarefascinatinginthemselves,humanprogressdependsontheiranswerbydi-rect experiment—which a rapid development of helium-3-poweredfusionrocketscouldeasilymakepossiblewithinthiscentury,andperhapsevenwithindecades.

However,therealreadyexistsavastrecordofexperimentalevidencepointingtotheuniquephysicalspace-timeattributes

of living organisms, including the biological significance ofelectromagneticradiation.

Asidefrommoreenergeticbiochemicalreactions,organismsarehighlysensitivetoforcesoperatingatapparentlymuchlow-erordersofmagnitude.Suchweakforcesprominentlyincludelow-intensity electromagnetic radiation, producing so-called“non-thermal”effects;thatis,operatingbelowthoseintensitiescapableofheatingornoticeablydisruptinglivingtissue.Theseeffectshavebeenextensivelydocumented,despitehistoricalopposition to theorthodoxviewof theorganismasnothingmorethanabiochemicalmachinegovernedbypoint-to-pointinteractionsinthesmall.Typicalofsuchprejudice,istheLinearNo-Thresholdtheory,whichdeclaresanyamountofionizingradiationasbiologicallydamaging,despitetheoverwhelmingevidenceforthebenefitsoflow-doseradiation.

Vernadsky’sdefinitionofanindividualorganismasinsepa-rableinprinciplefromtheentirebiosphere,and,byextension,

�. Sky Shields, “The Significance of Biological Research in Space for the De-velopment of a Unified Field Theory,” Submission to the National Research Council’s Decadal Survey for Biological and Physical Sciences in Space, Octo-ber 2009. http://www8.nationalacademies.org/SSBSurvey/DetailFileDisplay.aspx?id=�99.

NASAArtist’sdepictionofafusion-propelledspacecraftonaninterplanetarymission.Meet-ingthechallengeofhowtoenablehumanbeingstowithstandthedenseradiationfieldsofcosmicspacewillhaverevolutionaryimplicationsforourunderstandingofthebiosphere.

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 31

fromthecosmicprocesseswhichproducedit,demandsanewunderstandingoftheorganismas,essentially,auniquelyorga-nizedelectromagneticprocess.However,thisshouldnotimplytheNewAgevitalismof“lifeenergies”orsimilarmysticism.Similarly,someinvestigators in thefieldofbioelectromagne-tism,professingtorejectthelimitationsofatraditionalmecha-nisticview,havereliedinsteadonacyberneticinterpretationofself-organizingphenomenainlife,despitethefactthattheliv-ingprocessestheystudyarein principleirreducibletocyber-neticconceptssuchasfeedbackloopsandinformationtheory,derivedentirelyfromtheoperationofmachines.

The Body ElectricAs we shall see, confronting the challenges of a manned

Mars mission today offers the most lawfulmeansfordeepeningourunderstandingofthe

LuigiGalvani(1737-1798)wasexperimentingwithstaticelectricityandadissectedfrog,whenametaltooltouchedanexposedfrognerve,causingthedeadfrog’slegtokick,thusinitiatingastudyofelectromagnetismandlife.

Thisseastarisgrowingnewlegs.

Theplanarian,aprimitiveflatworm,canregen-eratethewholeorganismfromalmostanypieceofitselfthatiscutoff.Internalelectromagneticcurrentsdeterminepositioning.

relationshipofelectromagnetismtolife,asubjectofinvestiga-tionwhichgoesatleastasfarbackasthefamous18thCenturyexperimentsbyLuigiGalvaniontheelectricalstimulationoffroglegs.Thefieldofstudynowincludeseverythingfromthebioelectricorgansusedbysharkstohunttheirprey,tothena-tureofelectrical regulationof thehumanbrainandnervoussystem,totheinternalmagneticcompassesofbirdsandfish.Oneof themost dramaticmanifestationsof electromagneticregulationinorganismsisthephenomenonofregeneration,there-creationoffullyfunctionalbodypartswhicharelostbecauseofinjury,thestudyofwhichledscientistslikeRobertBecker5to

5. Robert O. Becker and Gary Seldon, TheBodyElectric:ElectromagnetismandtheFoundationofLife (New York: William Morrow and Company, �985).

32 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

beginthesystematicinvestigationoftherelationshipbetweenelectromagnetismandlivingsystems.

Measurementsmadeinthe1830sfirstestablishedthatsmallelectricalcurrentsareproducedaroundinjuredtissueinani-mals.Wheredoesthiselectricitycomefrom?Thediscoveryofthenerveactionpotentialnotlongafterwardsseemedtosolvethemystery,byattributingbioelectricalpotentialstothediffer-encesinionconcentrationsacrosscellmembranes.However,laterexperimentsdemonstratedthat,althoughtheemergenceofdirectelectricalcurrentsdependedonthepresenceofpe-ripheralnervetissue,theywerenotmerelysecondaryeffectsoftheactionpotential.Thesedirectcurrentsexhibitverydis-tinctbehaviorduringregeneration,acapacitywhichbecomesmoreprevalentinorganismsthelowerdowntheevolutionaryladderonegoes.Forexample,theplanarian,aspeciesofflat-wormwithaprimitivenervoussystem,canregeneratewholeorganismsfromalmostanypieceofitselfthatiscutoff!Ex-perimentsshowedthatthehead-tailaxisoftheplanarianwasdeterminedbyelectricpolesestablishedbyinternalcurrents,and that artificially reversing the direction of current couldproduceaheadwhereatailwouldnormallybefound,andviceversa.

However,itwasthestudyofsalamanderswhichfirstrevealedthehighlyspecificbehaviorofthecurrentsofregeneration.Inamputatedsalamanderlimbs,theinjurycurrentwasfoundtoreversedirectionashorttimeafterinjury,goingfrompositivetohighlynegative.Thisreversalinpolarity,combinedwithanin-creaseinitsmagnitude,isaccompaniedbytheformationofamassofcellsatthestumptip,calledtheblastema,fromwhichthenewlimbeventuallyforms.Asregenerationproceeds,themagnitudeofthepolarityslowlydiminishes,eventuallyreturn-ing tozero. Innon-regeneratinganimals like frogsandevenrats,partialregenerationcanbeinducedbymimickingthesehighlyspecificpolarityandmagnitudechangeswithappliedelectriccurrent.

Theblastemaitselfturnsouttobeadultcellsthathavede-differentiatedintoatotipotentstate,capableofre-differentiat-ingintotheneedednewtypesofcellsrequiredbytheregener-atinglimb.So,inadditiontothequestionoftheoriginoftheelectricalcurrents,wemustask:Howisitthatsuchcurrentsarecapableofinitiatingtheprocessofblastemaformationbyin-ducingspecificcellstode-differentiate,andhowdotheyhelptodeterminetheformoftheregeneratedbodypart?“Alltheex-perimentsledtooneunifyingconclusion:Theoverallstructure,theshape,thepattern,ofanyanimalisasrealapartofitsbodyasareitscells,heart,limbs,orteeth.”6

Whatroledoeselectricityplayin“remembering”thewholeorganism,evenwhenthephysicalpartsdisappear?

Inhumans,theclosestanaloguetoregeneration(asdistinctfromwoundhealing)istherepairofbonefractures,whichisaccompaniedbytheformationofablastemaandthecharac-teristicpolarityandmagnitudereversalsoftheinjurycurrentinregeneratinglimbs,andwhichhasbeenfoundtobeacceler-atedthroughtheapplicationofpulsedelectromagneticfields.Theelectromagneticcontrolsystemfor thebodyasawholeextends from the brain throughout the nervous system and,amongotherthings,regulatestheoverallactivityandsensitiv-ityofthebrain’sneurons—althoughtheseeminglyunlimitedcapacity for the brain to reorganize itself, generally termed

�. Becker and Seldon, see Note 5.

National Toxicology Program, Department of Health and Human Services

Imageofblastemacells,amassofcellsatthestumptipfromwhichthenewlimbeventuallyforms.Surroundingtheblastemaareclearcys-ticspaces.

Positive electrode

Indwelling stimulator

Negative electrode

Current treated

Sham treated

Figure 1ELECTRICAL 

STIMULATION OF FORELIMB 

REGENERATION IN ADULT FROGS

The negative electrode isrouted into the limb stumptip, and the positive elec-trode under the skin of theback, as depicted in thedrawingofthefrog(top).Thephotographs below thedrawing show actual re-sponses of current-treatedandsham-treatedlimbs.Thearrowspointtotheplaneofamputationinthelimbs.Source: R. Borgens, J.Exp.Zool., Vol. 200, pp. �0�-���. Reprinted by permission of Wiley-Liss, Inc.

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 33

neuroplasticity, seems to defy any simply biological or bio-electricexplanation.

Thenagain,explanationsformanyofthemostbasicprocess-esofbiologyhaveprovedelusive.Forexample,theformation

Imageofneuronsinthebrain.Inthehuman,theelectromag-neticcontrolsystemregulates thewholebody, including theactivityandsensitivityofthebrain’sneurons.

function is not limited to gov-erninglocalcellmigrations,butratherinhelpingtodirectdiffer-entiationthroughout theentireembryo.Thepioneeringexperi-ments of Hans Driesch at theendofthe19thCenturyhadal-readyestablished thatan indi-vidual cell’s fate is dependentonitsrelationshiptoeveryoth-er cell in the developing em-bryo, a seeming total depen-dence of the part on somepre-existing whole. AlexanderSpemann’sworknotlongafter-wardsshowedthattheinterplaybetween part and whole wasmore complex, as certaingroups of embryonic cells,which he called “organizers,”could determine the fate ofneighboringcells.

Whatmeansdocellspossesstointerprettheirpositionwithinthewhole,soimportantfordifferentiation? Northwestern University researcher GünterAlbrecht-Bühlerhasshownthatcellscanemitanddetectlightpulsesinthenearinfraredrange,akindofcellularsightwhich

GermanbiologistHansDri-esch(1867-1941)pioneeredexperiments showing thateach individual cell is de-pendent on its relationshiptoeveryothercellinthede-velopingembryo.

Figure 2CELLS RESPONDING TO NEAR INFRARED LIGHT

GünterAlbrecht-Bühler’sworkshowsthatcellsusecentriolesto“see”allobjectsaroundthemthatemitorscatternearinfraredlight.Thisisfrom Albrecht-Bühler’s website on “cell intelligence.” www.basic.northwestern.edu/g-buehler/FRAME.HTM

Source: Courtesy of Günter Albrecht-Bühler

oftheblastemainregenerationisstrikinglysimilartoembryogenesis,theintricateandhighlycoordi-natedprocessesgoverningtheactionbywhichafull organism devel-opsfromasingle,un-differentiated germcell.7

It is now knownthat weak electricalcurrentsplayasignifi-cant role in the for-mationoftheembryo,and just as in regen-eration,exhibithighlyspecific forms of be-havior.8 Experimentson chick embryosshowedthatartificial-ly manipulating thecurrentinonepartofthe embryo leads to significant changes in thewhole, indicatingthat theelectricfield’sprimary

7. There also appears to be an interesting relationship between regeneration and cancer. Becker reports on the work of Meryl Rose, who demonstrated in �9�8 that salamanders infected with cancerous growths could be cured by amputating a limb and inducing regeneration, implying that regeneration’s guid-ance system could control cancer, and underscoring that the state of the entire nervous system can affect cancer.

8. Colin Lowry, “The Electric Embryo: How Electric Fields Mold the Embyo’s Growth Pattern and Shape,” 21stCentury, Spring �999, pp. 5�-70.

NorthwesternUniversityProf. Günter Albrecht-Bühler.

34 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

causesdifferenttypesofcellstorespondindifferentwaystothesamesignal.Otherexperimentsestablished that different celltypesalsorespondindistinctivewaystoanelectricfield.Com-bined with Alexander Gur-witsch’s1920sdiscoveryofmi-togenetic radiation in theultravioletrange,abiophotoniccommunication process gov-erningmitosis,thereappearstobeahighlydifferentiatedelec-tromagnetic communicationandcontrolsystemalreadyevi-dentintheearlieststagesofanorganism’slife.

In the chick embryo experi-ments noted above, different,asymmetricelectricfieldswereproduced by different parts ofthe developing embryo.Whentheinternalfieldofone,butnotthe other, was artificially dis-rupted,apseudoembryodeveloped,possessingthecorrect,ba-sicexternalbodilyform,butwhoseinternaltissuewasanundif-ferentiated mess. An analogous situation occurred in theformationofpseudolimbsinexperimentsonartificialregenera-tion.Inthesecases,theexternalformoftheorganismwasnotsimply the end result of internal tissue differentiation, butseemedtohavean independentexistence,closelyrelated totheactionoftheelectricalfields.Again,howarethesefieldsgenerated?Andhowdotheyhelpanygivencellknowhow,orif,todifferentiate?

The Biological FieldThefactthatorganismscangenerateuniquefieldsthatplay

suchasignificantroleinmorphology,asduringembryogenesisandregeneration,lendsstrongsupport tothebiologicalfieldtheoryofGurwitsch,whodevelopedtheideainconjunctionwithstudiesoftheevenweakermitogeneticradiationdetectedduringcellmitosis.Whilerecognizingthenecessityforan“in-variant law”todescribethecoordinatedactionof individualcellswithinthewholeorganism,hewascarefulnottolimitthebiologicalfieldtoanyparticularenergeticmanifestation,buttoleaveopenthepossibilitythatitcouldbeexpressedbyanyofthe known physical field phenomena, or yet undiscoveredphysicalprocesses.

Howmightthedirectbioelectricalcurrentsbeamanifesta-tionofthisbiologicalfield?BeckerdrewontheworkofAlbertSzent-Gyorgyitohypothesizethatthesecurrentsoperatedbyaprocessanalogoustosemiconductioninsolid-statematerials.Thehighlyorderedinternalstructurewithinandbetweencellscouldfaciliatethemovementoffreeelectrons.Gurwitschsimi-larlyproposedthattheprimaryworkofmetabolicenergyin-volved themaintainenceofhighlyordered“non-equilibriummolecularconstellations”withintheprotoplasm-proteincom-plexofcells,andthatsomeofthemitogeneticradiationwasconnectedwiththesestructures.Thismayindicateonepossible

linkbetweenthehighlyquantizedeffectsofmitogeneticradia-tion, and thedirect current systemoperating throughout thewholeorganism.

UnlikeGurwitsch,otherssawinthefieldconceptawaytoreducebiologicalprocessestostrictlyphysicalones,thattheonly difference between the living and non-living “is to befoundinallprobabilityinmorecomplexfieldsandmorecom-plexmolecularstructure,”9ratherthanintheunbridgeabledis-tinctionofseparate,butinteracting,phasespaces.Inthissense,theconceptoffielditselfhasbeenreducedtosupposedly“real”particlesofinorganicmattersurroundedbyfields,

aremnantofoldmaterialisticconceptions.Asamatteroffact,insofaras“particles”areknowntobefieldsandfield-structurestheyfillthevolumeofamacroscopicobjectcompletely,andtothisextenttheobjectisacontinuum.Itisonlyasafield-continuumthatitco-heres.10

WolfgangKöhler,oneofthefoundersofgestaltpsychology,recognizedthattheveryconceptofdiscreteparticlesofmatterwasnothingmorethananartifactofanaiveinterpretationofvision.Asa result, thepreceptsofbothbiologyandphysicswerelimitedbytheirinabilitytodealwiththeontologicalreal-ityoffunctional,self-organizingwholes—thegestaltphenom-enaofhumanmentalactivity.

Inbiologythecontroversyhascenteredontheproblemofwhetherlifeprocessescanbeexplainedphysico-chem-icallyorwhethervitalforcesmustbepostulated.Indeed,

9. H.S. Burr and F.S.C. Northrop, “The Electro-Dynamic Theory of Life,” TheQuarterlyReviewofBiology, Vol. �0, No. � (Sept. �9�5), pp. �22-���.

�0. Wolfgang Köhler, ThePlaceofValueinaWorldofFacts (New York: Liver-ight, �9�8).

AlexanderGavrilovichGurwitsch(1874-1950)

National Library of Medicine, Prints and Photographs Collection

AlbertSzent-Györgyi(1893-1986),picturedherein1955,wasawardedtheNobelPrizein1937forhisworkoncellularrespiration.

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 35

thepropertiesoflifeprocesseswithwhichbiologyisconcernedarenotunlikethepsychicalphenomenaresponsiblefortheGestaltprobleminpsychology.Thisdoesnotmean,however,thatthevitalists’doctrineinbiologyrecommendsitselfasparticularlyfruitful,forthevitalists’answerprecludesthepossibilityofsuccessinasearchforphysicalGestalten.Thebiologistshaveofcoursemadesomeattemptsatdiscoveringanalogiesinphysics,butthusfarlittlemorethanvaguecomparisonswithcrystalformationshavebeenachieved....Theclosestapproachbetweengeneralbiologyandpsychol-ogyoccursinthetheoryofnervousfunctions,particularlyinthedoctrineofthephysicalbasisofconsciousness.HerewehaveanimmediatecorrespondencebetweenmentalandphysicalprocessesandthedemandseemsinescapablethatatthispointorganicfunctionsbethoughtofasparticipatinginandexhibitingessentiallyGestaltcharacteristics.11

Becausethethoughtandlanguageofphysics,consequentlycarriedoverintobiology,hadbeenbasedonmachanisticas-sumptions, a new conceptual foundation for these scienceswouldhavetobebuiltupfromthelanguagegoverningcogni-tiveprocesses—anapproachconsistentwithVernadsky’sdis-coveryofthesubsumingcharacteristicofthenoösphereoverboththebioticandabiotic.

Accordingtothemachineconceptions,orderinnaturecanonlybeimposedbycertainfixedconstraints,anecessarycorol-larytotheideaattherootofthesecondlawofstatisticalther-modynamics:thatnaturalprocessesinherentlytendtowarddis-order.Itistruethatwithinanygivenboundaryconditionsforagivensystem,thereisadefinitetendencytowardanequilibri-umstatedescribablebythesecondlaw.However,theprincipleofdirectioninthatsystemcanalsobeattributedtostrictlyphys-ical(whatMaxPlanckcalled“dynamical”),ratherthanstatisti-

��. Wolfgang Köhler, “Physical Gestalten,” in Willis D. Ellis, ed., ASourceBookofGestaltPsychology (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co., �9�8).

cal,principles,suchas thesystem’s tendencytore-duce its total potential.12 The machine conceptionfailsevenasabeginningpointinreasoning.Withincertainboundaryconditions,whichthemselvescan-notbedefinedbythesecondlaw,eveninorganicsys-temshavethecapacityforregulationpurelythroughtheinteractionofthephysicalforcesinherentinthesystem.

Thearrayofthesephysicalforcesactiveinbiologi-calprocessesisnotasubsetof,butrathersubsumesthosefoundininorganicsystems,andappearstoin-cludenotonlychemicalandelectrodynamicphenom-ena, but everything from laser-like biophoton emis-sions,tonucleartransmutationandsuperconductivity,processes whose abiotic expression may representmerely “limitingconditions”of theirmoreuniversalmanifestation in life.Theseprocessesact to reshapethe topological boundary conditions representedbyanygivenphysicalstateofanorganism,asinthecaseoftheelectricfieldsgoverninglimbregeneration.

Inamachine,thedistinctionbetweenprocessandstructureisunambiguous;forexample,hotgasesare

conductedthroughtherigidchamberwallsofacarengine.Inanorganism,theenergeticflowrequiredformetabolismliter-allybuilds,andconstantlymaintains,thestructureoftheorgan-ism.Moreover,thisenergeticflowispartofacontinuouspro-cess extending from terrestrial, to solar, to cosmic space,beggingthequestion:Arethereanystrictlyinorganicsystemsforwhichthesecondlawhasuniversalsignificance?

Leaving the WombTheexistenceofcontinual,periodicallyvarying,andinter-

penetratingelectromagneticfieldsformaninvisiblepartoftheterrestrialenvironmentthatisasrealastheoceans,mountains,andatmosphere,althoughwemayforgetaboutsuchradiationsinthesamewayadeepseafishforgetsaboutwater.SourcesofthisradiationincludetheEarth’smagneticandelectricfields,eachofwhichexhibitsdiurnalandperiodicvariationsincon-junctionwiththeactivityoftheSunaswellaslargerastronom-icalcycles;naturalchangesintheatmosphere,suchasthun-derstorms; cosmic background radiation such as radio andgammarays;andman-madesources.

Inmanyways,theevolutionoflifeonEarthhasbeenboundupwiththeevolutionoftheelectromagneticfieldsoftheplan-et,asthroughthecreationoftheatmospherebywhichtheelec-tricfieldsof theplanetaremaintained,or themoreextremecaseofmagneticfieldreversals,whosecauseremainsamys-tery,butwhichhavehistoricallycoincidedwithmassextinc-tions.Moreinterestingis apossibilitythatthemagneticfielditselfiseitheraproductof,oratleastconditionedinsomeway,bytheactionoflivingprocesses,possiblythroughthemotionofconductingcurrentsintheoceans.13

Avastbodyofexperimentalworkhasdocumentedwidelyvaryinginfluencesofenvironmentalelectromagneticfieldson

�2. Wolfgang Köhler, “On the Problem of Regulation,” in Mary Henle, ed., TheSelectedPapersofWolfgangKöhler (New York: Liveright, �97�)

��. Gregory Ryskin, “Secular Variations of the Earth’s Magnetic Field: Induced by the Ocean Flow?,” NewJournalofPhysics, June 2009.

Wolfgang Köhler, a founder of gestalt psychology, advocated an ap-proachtobiologythatstartedfromcognitiveprocesses.

36 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

thebehaviorandinternalvitalactivityoforganisms,includingall the known plant, animal, and human biorhythms. Suchfieldsactinconjunctionwiththoseproducedbytheorganismitself.However,theverybroadmeasurableparametersofelec-tromagnetic radiation, including its frequency spectrum andmodulation,intensity,andorientation,andthefactthatorgan-ismscanbesensitivetoextremelyslightvariationsinanyoneofthese, make the correlation of specific effects with specificformsandqualitiesofradiationdifficulttodetermine.Addtothat the corpuscular cosmic rays and their secondary atmo-sphericby-products,andthepotentialfunctionalrelationshipsofvariousradiationsandlifeappearalmostinfinitelycomplex.

Ultimately, determining the specific forms of “resonance”betweenorganismsandtheenergeticphenomenaoftheirenvi-ronmentwilldependonlearningmoreaboutthewayorgan-ismsexhibitsuchhighdegreesofselectivity,oneoftheclearestexpressionsoftheuniquephysicalspace-timeoflivingmatter.Atthenuclearscale,thisincludesnotonlywhatspecificchem-icalelementsanorganismwillutilize,butalsowhichisotopes.Atthemolecularscale,thisincludesnotonlytheelementalandisotopiccompositionofmolecules,butalsotheirstructure,dis-coveredbyLouisPasteurasthepresenceofaprincipleofdis-symmetry,reflectedintheabilityofleft-orright-handedmole-cules to rotate polarized light (electromagnetic radiation).14

��. A recent experiment detected a similar effect for a beam of electrons, with interesting implications for our discussion here. See “Chiral Asymmetry: The Quantum Physics of Handedness,” in Mark P. Silverman, ed.,QuantumSuper-position:CounterintuitveConsequencesCoherence,Entanglement,andInter-ference (Berlin: Springer, 2008).

BioenergeticphenomenaingeneralshouldbeconsideredinlightofPasteurandPierreCurie’sworkon theprincipleofdissymmetry, which Vernadsky believed was one of themost important avenues for scientific exploration into thephysicalspace-timemanifestationofdirectionalityinlivingprocesses.

Ingeneral,thecyclicalcharacteroftherelationshipoforgan-ismstoenergeticphenomenamustreflectthatoforganismstomatter:Theyareutilizedandtransformedbytheorganismaspartofthecontinualprocessofthebiogenicmigrationofmat-ter-energythroughthebiosphereinitsevolutiontohigherstatesofdevelopment.Definingthisselectivitywithrespecttoelec-tromagneticradiationmayhelptoactuallyredefinetheelectro-magneticspectrumitself,withwhich“livingsystemsmaybeplayinganunimaginablyhugeconcert...creatingacomplete-lynewcategoryofphenomenaoutsideofclassicalelectrody-namics.”15

Perhapswewon’tfullyappreciatethesubtle,butcrucial,na-ture of our dependence on an appropriate electromagnetic“diet,”untilweareforcedtocreateitourselvesfromscratch—beginningwiththefirstlunarbases,andthenenroutetoandonthesurfaceofMars.

Oneexample,relatedtotheoverallbioelectromagneticcon-trol systemfirst revealedby regeneration,suffices todemon-stratethatfrontierresearchinspaceisnoluxury,butrather,anabsolutenecessity.

�5. Fritz-Albert Popp, “Electromagnetism and Living Systems,” in Mae Wan-Ho, Fritz-Albert Popp, Ulrich Warnke, BioelectrodynamicsandBiocommunica-tion (Singapore: World Scientific, �99�).

Figure 3MAJOR OCEAN SURFACE CURRENTS

ItispossiblethatthemagneticfieldoftheEarthisconditionedinsomewaybythemotionofconductingcurrentsintheocean.

NOAA

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 37

Bonelossinastronautsinspacehaslongbeenrecognizedasamajorproblem,anditisonethatappearscloselyrelatedtoosteoporosisonEarth.However,itcannotbefullyaccountedforbythemechanical“unloading”ofbonestresscausedbymi-crogravity,andundoubtedlyinvolvesanelectromagneticcom-ponent.RobertBeckerproposedonepossiblemeansbywhichbone might respond to external electromagnetic fields inspace.

Bonesareabletoreshapethemselvesaccordingtomechan-ical stress, creating more growth in areas that bear greatercompression loads, and compensating by eliminating bonematerialinotherareas.Thisself-regulatingsystemofgrowthandlossisgovernedbyelectricalsig-nals,andthepiezoelectricpropertyofbonemayallowittogeneratethenec-essaryelectricalcurrentsbymechani-calstress.Humanboneisanintricatestructurecomposedofamatrixthatin-cludestinyapatitemineralsofcalciumphosphateboundtointerwovencolla-gen fibers, as well as trace elementslike copper. Becker found that thetraceatomsofcoppermightactasakindofelectromagnetic“peg”holdingthe collagen and apatite together,which could be loosened through adisruptionofthebody’sinternalelec-tricfields.

Spaceosteoporosismayresultfromunnaturalcurrentsinducedinbonebyaspaceraft’srapidmotionthroughtheEarth’smagneticfield,withapolarityreversaleveryhalforbit,oritmaybeadirecteffectofthefieldreversal.Thisabnormality,whichmaychangetheactivityofbonecellsdirectly,wouldbesuperimposedonabnormal

responsesofbone’snaturalelectricalsystem,whichisalmostcertainlyaffectedbyweightlessness.Theunfamil-iarexternalfieldreversalscouldalsoweakenthecopperpegs,atthesametimethatthebonesareinaconstantstateof“rebound”fromtheirearthlyweight-inducedpotentials,producingasignalthatsays,“Noweight,nobonesneeded.”Weknowthatthemoreevendistributionofbloodcausedbyweightlessnessregistersintheheartasanexcess;asaresult,fluidandions,includingcalcium,arewithdrawnfromtheblood.However,theeffectprobablyisn’tcausedbyweightlessnessalone,fortheSkylabastronautsdidrigorousexercise,whichwould

Pierre Curie (1859-1906) workedwithPasteurexperimentingwithdis-symmetry.

NASA

STS-119MissionSpecialistJosephAcaba,worksoutinMarch2009ontheSpaceShut-tleDiscovery’sbike,calledanergometer.Bonelossinastronautsinspaceisamajorproblem,andNASAhasspaceexerciseregimenstocounterthelackofstressonbonesinzero-gravity.Butresearchisneededonthepossiblespaceelectromagneticeffectsonboneandothertissue.

Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) discoveredthe principle of dissymmetry in mole-cules—theabilityofleft-orright-handedmolecules (above) to rotate polarizedlight.

38 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

havesuppliedplentifulstressestotheirbones.Theyworkedoutsohardthattheirmusclesgrew,butdecalcifi-cationstillreached6.8percentonthetwelve-weekmission.16

Suchpossibleeffects,whichpoint tothemoregeneralelectromagneticprop-ertiesofbiologicalregulation,canonlybetestedbyexperimentingwithartificialelectromagnetic fields on astronauts inorbit.Inaddition,currentspacebiomed-icalresearchindicatesthatbonefracturehealing is impeded in reduced gravityconditions.Therelationshipof ionizingradiation,whichismoreabundantout-side the protection of Earth’s magneticfield,totherateofbothfracturehealingandbone loss in reducedgravity envi-ronments is being studied as well, al-thoughprimarilyinEarth-boundlabora-toryconditions.

Again, these relationships can onlyproperly be investigated outside of thepervasive electromagnetic and gravita-tionalfieldsoftheEarth.Farbeyondthespecificeffectsonboneandotherorgan-ic tissue, such studies could lead to anewunderstandingofthebroaderrela-tionship between ionizing radiation,electromagnetism,andgravitation.

Indeed, radioactive decay itself, apropertyoftheinnerstructureofatomsoncethoughtimmutable,andwhichisasource of ionizing radiation, has beenshown in somecases to correlatewithastrophysical cycles.17 This further un-derscores that the fundamental proper-tiesofeveninorganicmattercannotbestudiedastheisolatedphenomenaof“particlephysics,”andcallstomindVernadsky’semphasisontheroleofcosmicpro-cessesinshapingtheinherentcharacterofallmatter.Hereliesthetruevalueofarealscience-driverprogramforspaceexplo-ration, in forcing the combination of fusion and nuclear re-search,withastrophysics,biology,andphysicalchemistry, toallowseeminglyparadoxicalobservationstobecomparedandanalyzedacrossawiderangeofexperimentaldomains.Thisbecomescrucialasweconfronttheprospectofsupportinghu-manlifeoutsidethe“womb”oftheEarth.

A New CausalityInasense,wearefacedtodaywithsamecomplexofpara-

doxesthatarosewiththesimultaneousemergenceofatomicscience,relativity,andquantumphysicsinthefirstdecades

��. Becker and Seldon, see Note 5.

�7. Jere H. Jenkins, Ephraim Fischbach, et al., “Evidence for Correlations Be-tween Nuclear Decay Rates and Earth-Sun distance,” Astroparticle Physics, Vol. �2, No. �, August 2009.

ofthe20thCentury.Seeminglycontinuousprocesses,suchasenergeticphenomena,appeared tobeorganized in theverysmallasdiscreteprocesses.Likewise,discretephenom-ena, such asmatter, couldbe representedby continuousprocesses.

MaxPlanckandAlbertEinsteincalledforthedevelopmentofanewconceptofcausality,ratherthanthestatisticalinde-terminacy imposed by the quantum mechanists. In this re-spect, it is worth recalling the words of Planck’s student,Köhler,that“MaxPlanckoncetoldmethatheexpectedourapproach [in gestalt psychology] to clarify a difficult issuewhichhadjustariseninquantumphysics,ifnottheconceptofthequantumitself.”18

Vernadskyatthesametimerecognizedthatforthetruthsofsciencetobeuniversal,thestandpointofthenaturalisthadtobeadoptedinordertostudythefullscopeofphysicalphe-

�8. Wolfgang Köhler, “Gestalt Psychology Today,” Address of the President at the �7th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Cin-cinnati, Ohio, Sept. �, �959. http://psychclassics.asu.edu/Kohler/today.htm#�

Figure 4COSMIC RADIATION ESTIMATES FOR MARS

ThisglobalmapofMarsshowsestimatesforamountsofhigh-energy-particlecosmicradiationreachingthesurface,whichwillbeaserioushealthconcernforexplorersandcolonizersoftheplanet.Theestimatesarebasedoncosmic-radiationmeasurementsmadeonthewaytoMarsbytheMarsradiationenvi-ronmentexperiment,aninstrumentonNASA’s2001MarsOdysseyspacecraft,plusinformationaboutsurfaceelevationsonMarsfromthelaseraltimeterin-strumentonNASA’sMarsGlobalSurveyor.

AsonEarth(whichhasamuchthickeratmosphere),theareaswiththehigh-estelevationhavemoreradiation,becausethereislessatmospheretoblockoutsomeoftheradiation.Colorsinthemaprefertotheestimatedaveragenumberoftimesperyeareachcellnucleusinahumantherewouldbehitbyahigh-energycosmicrayparticle.Therangeisgenerallyfromtwohits(color-codedgreen),amoderate-risklevel,toeighthits(codedred),ahigh-risklevel.

Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/JSC/NASA

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 39

nomenaandtheirexpressioninallthreeuniversalexperimen-taldomainsoftheabiotic,biotic,andnoetic.

Thebasisforthisnewscienceofdynamics,asLaRouchehascalledit,willrestonamobilizationofthescientificandeco-nomicmeansnecessarytosecureaninterplanetaryfutureformankind,includingafullmasteryoftheentireelectromagneticspectrumanditsusetosustainhumanlifethroughouttheSolarSystem.Thisapproachwilldefinethemeaningofscienceforthenextcentury,ifwehavethewisdomtoletthatknowledgeguideouractionsinthepresent.

Oyang Teng is a member of the LaRouche Youth Movement’s “Basement” research team. He can be reached at oyangt@gmail.com .Additional References ____________________________________________Frank S. Barnes and Ben Greenebaum, BioengineeringandBiophysicalAs-

pectsofElectromagneticFields (Boca Raton: CRC, 2007).Robert O. Becker and Andrew A. Marino, ElectromagnetismandLife (Albany:

State University of New York, �982). http://www.rebprotocol.net/Novem-ber2007/Robert%20O.%20 Becker%20and%20Andrew%20A.%20Marino%20�982%20Electromagnetism%20and%20life%20�5�pp.pdf

Phillip S. Callahan, “Insects and the Battle of the Beams,” Fusion, September-October �985, pp. 27-�7.

Lyndon LaRouche, “Project Genesis,” ExecutiveIntelligenceReview, April �8, 2008, pp.��-5�. http://www.larouchepub.com/eiw/public/2008/2008_�0-�9/2008 -�5/pdf/��-5�_�5�5.pdf

LaRouche Youth Movement, “The Matter of Mind,” LPACTV Video, November 2008. http://www.larouchepac.com/news/2008/�2/�5/lpactv-matter-mind.html

Michael Lipkind, “Alexander Gurwitsch and the Concept of the Biological Field,” Part I, 21stCentury, Summer �998, pp. ��-5�.

________, “Alexander Gurwitsch and the Concept of the Biological Field,” Part II, 21stCentury, Fall �998, pp. ��-5�.

Max Planck, TheUniverseInLightofModernPhysics (London: George Allen and Unwin, �9��).

Alexander Presman, Electromagnetic Fields and Life (New York: Plenum, �970).

S. Rowlands, “Some Physics Aspects for 2�st Century Biologists,” JournalofBiologicalPhysics, Vol. �� (�98�), pp. ��7-�22.

Sky Shields. “Human Creative Reason as a Fundamental Principle in Physics,” October 2008. http://www.larouchepac.com/news/2008/�0/��/report-basement-human-creative-reason-fundamental-principle-.html

Vladimir Vernadsky, TheBiosphere (New York: Springer, �997).________, “Problems of Biogeochemistry II: On the Fundamental Material-Ener-

getic Distinction Between Living and Nonliving Natural Bodies of the Bio-sphere,” 21stCentury, Winter 2000-200�, pp. 20-�9. http://www.2�stcenturysciencetech.com/translations/ ProblemsBiogeochemistry.pdf

Philippe Moussette/NASA

NorthernlightsinCanadatakenwithafish-eyelens.WeneedtodevelopafullmasteryoftheentireelectromagneticspectrumanditsroleinsustaininghumanlifeintheSolarSystem.

Laurence Hecht

SkyShields(left)andOyangTeng,workingontheCosmicRayProject.

40 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

At some point in the 1960s, DavidBrower,whowas the executivedi-

rectoroftheSierraClub,1andwho,inaninterviewwiththeSan Francisco Chroni-cle in 1998,wasquoted as saying that“overpopulation is perhaps the biggestproblem facing us,”2 encouraged PaulEhrlichtowriteabookontheproblemsof human population growth. Ehrlichpublishedhisbestseller,The Population Bomb, in1968.Themain themeofhisbookwasthathumanpopulationgrowthwas the root causeof society’smodernenvironmental problems.3 Ehrlich con-

�. While the Sierra Club was formed in �892, and so predates most environmental activist organiza-tions, it definitely advanced as part of the environ-mental movement that came to life in the �9�0s.

2. NewYorkTimes, “Environmental leader quits Si-erra board, May 20, 2000, http://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/20/us/environmental- leader-quits-sierra-board.html (accessed April ��, 2009).

�. Paul Ehrlich, ThePopulationBomb, �97�.

The Overpopulation FearBehind the Ban on DDTbyDonaldRobertsandRichardTren

SPECIAL REPORT: TheExcellentPowder

EDITOR’S NOTEWe are pleased to present this short excerpt from the new book TheExcellentPow-

der:DDT’sPoliticalandScientificHistory, by Donald Roberts and Richard Tren, (with Roger Bate and Jennifer Zambone). The 432-page book, launched at a Washington, D.C. press conference on April 21, 2010, is available from booksellers at $25.00.

Dr. Roberts is a medical entomologist and researcher and Professor Emeritus of Tropical Public Health at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Services in Bethesda, Md. He was formerly chief of the Department of Entomology at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington, D.C. Roberts has worked on DDT and malaria research since 1970, and he pioneered work on DDT’s primary effectiveness as a spatial repellent and irritant.

Richard Tren is an economist and co-founder and chairman of Africa Fighting Ma-laria, a malaria policy and advocacy group with offices in South Africa and Washing-ton, D.C. He co-founded AFM during the negotiations of the Stockholm Convention, and, by working with malaria scientists from around the world, helped to secure an ex-ception for DDT’s continued use in malaria control.

We have slightly edited this excerpt, adding some notes as indicated,and photos and captions. A review of TheExcellentPowder appears on p. 52 of this issue.

WHO/Thomas Moran

DDTcameunderattackbecauseitallowedchildreninthedevelopingsectortosur-viveandnotdieofmalaria.Here,Indonesianschoolchildren.

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21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 41SPECIALREPORT

jured public fear by predicting dire scenarios of worldwidefaminesbetween1970and1985 (noneofwhichcame truethen or since).4 Perhaps overlooked by many who read the

�. Michigan State University, “Founder of Zero Population Growth to speak at Michigan State’s advanced degree ceremony,” MSU press release, Jan. ��, 2007, http://newsroom.msu.edu/site/indexer/27��/content.htm (accessed April ��, 2009).

book, Ehrlich also picked up RachelCarson’s anti-DDT theme. In a May1970 issue of Audubon, Ehrlich evenwarnedthatDDTandotherchlorinatedhydrocarbons may have substantiallyreduced the life expectancyofpeoplebornsince1945.5Feartacticsprovedtobe justas important in scaringpeopleaboutpopulationgrowthas theywerein the war on pesticides. Ultimately,The Population Bomb promoted con-cerns that DDT caused rapid popula-tiongrowthasitreducedtheburdensofmalaria.

EhrlichandDavidBrowerwerenotalone in working against populationgrowthandDDT.AttorneyDickBower,Ehrlich,andCharlesRemingtonformedtheZeroPopulationGrowth(ZPG)or-ganization in1968.6 InMichigan,Dr.LewisBatts,amedicaldoctorandbird-lover worked to achieve a DDT ban.LikeCharlesWurster,BattswasoneofthefoundersoftheEnvironmentalDe-fenseFund(EDF).Hewasalsoamem-berofZPG.7Battspledged$10,000to

5. R. Bailey, “Earth Day, then and now,” Reason, May 2000, http://reason.com/news/show/27702.html (accessed April ��, 2009).

�. B. Ryerson, “Visionary co-founder of population connection dies,” TheRe-porter, Vol. �9, No. 2, Fall 2007.

7. Zero Population Growth was an organization dedicated to reducing the rate of growth in human populations to zero. In other words, the rate of human births

Stuart Lewis/EIRNS

“Instant death control” is Malthusian Paul Ehrlich’s view of the role of DDT in saving lives from malaria, as presented in his 1968 alarmist book,ThePopulationBomb.

TheEnvironmentalDefenseFundmadeitsname(anditsfunding)litigatingtostopDDT.

ZeroPopulationGrowth,whichwasco-foundedbyPaulEhrlich,changeditsnametoPopulationConnection,butasthisre-centcoverofitsmagazineshows,itsmes-sageisstillthatofoverpopulation.

WisconsinSenatorGaylordNelson

(1916-2005),thefounderofEarthDayin1970,helpedwin

thebanonDDTinWisconsin.

42 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

supportlegalactionagainstDDTandanotherchlorinatedhy-drocarbon,dieldrin.

When theMichiganDepartmentofAgriculturedecided tospraydieldrinagainsttheJapanesebeetle,ahighlydestructiveplantpest,DDTopponents,includingtheEDF,usedtheocca-sionasapretensetocarryoutlegalactionagainstDDT.TheyachievedastatewidebanagainstmostusesofDDT inApril1969.8

In Wisconsin, the court battle over DDT started Dec. 2,1968.SenatorGaylordNelsonwastheopeningspeakeragainsttheuseofDDT.AccordingtoHughIltis,aprofessorofbiologyandlong-timesupporterofNelson,thehearings“draggedonforayearand[ledto]theeventualbanningofDDTinWiscon-sinandfouryearslatertovictoryinthebanningofDDTna-tionwide.”9SenatorNelsonwentontoberecognizedasfound-erofEarthDay,10aneventfirstheldonApril22,1970.Hewasalsoanavidbelieverthatthemajorproblemfacingtheworldwasuncontrolledgrowth inhumanpopulations. Inhisownwords,

Thesamepowerfulforceswhichcreatethecrisisofairpollutionalsoarethreateningourfreshwaterresources,ourwoods,ourwildlife,andthescenicbeautyofthenation.Theseforcesarethe rapid increase in population,

would be equal to the rate of human deaths.

8. Michigan Environmental Council. “Lew Batts: Key player in Michigan’s envi-ronmental turnaround,” http://www.mecprotects.org/lewbatts.html (accessed April ��, 2009).

9. H.H. Iltis, “Gaylord Nelson: Fighter for the environment, defender of the Wild Ones, visionary of living within limits,” http://www.for-wild.org/wchf/htm/Gay-lordNelsonIltis.htm (accessed April ��, 2009).

�0. D.J. Webber, “Senator Gaylord Nelson, Founder of Earth Day,” University of Missouri, �99�, http://web.missouri.edu/~polidjw/Nelson.html (accessed April ��, 2009).

industrialization,urbanizationandscientific technology[emphasisadded].11

Inthisstatement,Nelsonenunciatessomeofthemainthemesofenvironmentalism.Oneistoreducepopulationgrowth,andanotherisoppositiontotechnology.GivenDDTsassociationwith bothpopulation growth and technology, it seems clearwhy the environmental movement would dedicate itself toDDTelimination.Thoughmany environmentalistsmayhavedonealotofgoodinexposingseriousproblemsofpollutionandendangeredwildlife,thereweresomehighlyinfluentialin-dividualswithinthemovementthatusedtheirpowerandinflu-encetocampaignonpopulationgrowthandspecificallyagainstDDTonthosegrounds.

The issueofwithdrawingsprayprogramsasameansofpopulation control was broadly discussed and debated.Garrett Hardin, a leader in population control, believedthat“everylifesavedthisyearinapoorcountrydiminishesthequalityoflifeforsubsequentgenerations.”12Likewise,inthe prologue of The Population Bomb, Ehrlich announcedwithgreatauthority: “In the1970sand1980shundredsofmillionsofpeoplewillstarvetodeathinspiteofanycrashprogramsembarkeduponnow.Atthislatedatenothingcanpreventasubstantialincreaseintheworlddeathrate.”13Wearenowmore than fortyyearspast thepublicationdateofEhrlich’sbook.HundredsofmillionsofpeopledidnotstarvetodeathasEhrlichpredicted.Today,withaglobalpopula-tion approaching seven billion, enough food is still beingproduced (although there are problems and inequities in

��. H.H. Iltis, “Population prophet,” FightingBob.com, Dec. �, 2005, http://fightingbob.com/article.cfm?articleID=��2 (accessed April �5, 2009).

�2. G. Hardin, “Stalking the wild taboo.”

��. Ehrlich, ThePopulationBomb, p. xi.

GarrettHardin(1915-2003)wasagainstsendingfoodtoEthiopiaduring the 1974 famine, be-causeitwouldencouragepopu-lationgrowth.

Santa Clara University

Sierra Club executive director David Brower (1912-2000) encouraged Paul Ehrlich to write ThePopulationBomb.

Anti-population extremist George Woodwell admitted under oath that he had overestimated the amount of DDT in the soil, but he refused to correct his Science article.

Too Many Malthusians!

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21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 43SPECIALREPORT

foodproduction,distribution,andsales).14

Attheendofhischapteron“theproblem,”Ehrlichconcludesthat

thereareonlytwokindsofsolutionstothepopulationproblem.Oneisa“birthratesolution,”inwhichwefindwaystolowerthebirthrate.Theotherisa“deathratesolution,”inwhichwaystoraisethedeathrate—war,famine,pestilence—findus.Theproblemcouldhavebeenavoidedbypopulationcontrol,inwhichmankindcon-sciouslyadjustedthebirthratesothata“deathratesolution”didnothavetooccur.15

Thelastsentenceiswritteninthepasttense,asifthereisnolongerasolutionotherthana“death rate solution.”Asbackground to thisconclusion,Ehrlicharguesthatuseofmedicalscienceinreducingdeathratesindevelopingcountriescontributestotheproblemofpopu-lationgrowth,statingthat

Thedevelopmentofmedicalsciencewasthestrawthatbrokethecamel’sback.WhileloweringdeathratesintheODCs[overdevelopedcountries]wasdueinparttootherfactors,thereisnoquestionthat“instantdeathcontrol,”exportedbytheODCs,hasbeenresponsibleforthedrasticloweringofdeathratesintheUDCs[underdevelopedcountries].

AsEhrlichgoesontoexplain,theexportofdeath control that he refers to is the use ofDDTformalariacontrol.

TheintroductionofDDTin1946broughtrapidcontroloverthemosquitoeswhichcarrymalaria.Asaresult,thedeathrateontheisland[Ceylon]washalvedinlessthanadecade.ThedeathrateinCeylonin1945was22[per1000].Itdropped34%between1946and1947andmoveddowntotenin1954.Sincethesharppostwardropithascontinuedtodeclineandnowstandsateight.Althoughpartofthedropisdoubtlessduetothekillingofotherinsectswhichcarrydiseaseandtootherpublichealthmeasures,mostofitcanbeaccountedforbythecontrolofmalaria.16

Mostpeoplewouldconsidersuchadramaticreductioninacountry’sdeathratetobeamarvelousoutcomeofaneffortto

��. S. Leahy, “Population: Global food supply near the breaking point,” Internet Press Service News Agency, Feb. �, 2007, http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=��2�8.

�5. Ehrlich, ThePopulationBomb, p. �7.

��. Ibid., p. ��.

reducethediseaseandsufferingofpoorpeople.Mostpeoplecouldrecognizethatanypopulation-growthproblemisasepa-rateproblem,whichshouldbedealtwithseparatelyfromwork-ingagainsttheuseofDDTforcontrolofmalaria.ThatdoesnotappeartobeEhrlich’spointofview.HeshedsmorelightonhisperspectiveincommentsaboutmalariaandpopulationcontrolintheSouthAmericancountryofColombia.

Deathcontrol[DDTuse]didnotreachColombiauntilafterWorldWarII.Beforeitarrived,awomancouldexpecttohavetwoorthreechildrensurvivetorepro-ductiveageifshewentthroughtenpregnancies.Now,inspiteofmalnutrition,medicaltechnologykeepssevenoreightalive.Eachchildaddstotheimpossiblefinancialburdenofthefamilyandtothedespairofthemother.17

Ehrlichshowsnoinsightintothedespairofamotherorfa-therfromthelossofachild.Perhapshehasneverknownofawomanwhohaswatchedasallherchildrenandhusbanddie

�7. Ibid., p. 22.

Benoist Carpentier/WHO

TherealityofPaulEhrlich’s“deathratesolution”topopulationcontrol:AyounggirlsufferingfromcerebralmalariainaBeninhospital.

44 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

from malaria. Regardless, it wasagainstthisbackgroundofhystericalconcernaboutgrowthinhumanpop-ulations that the environmentalmovement carried out its litigationandpublicitywarsagainstanyandallusesofDDT.

BothSilent SpringandThe Popula-tion BombcriticizedtheuseofDDT.Carsonclaimed that the justificationfor public-health use of DDT didn’tmake sense, that DDT quickly be-cameineffectiveandonlymadeprob-lemsworse.Herbasicthesiswasanyuseofinsecticidewouldselectforre-sistance and the insecticide wouldloseitseffectiveness.Sheclaimedthatit would select for “tough, resistantstrains,”18 so that more chemicalwould be required to get the samelevelofkillorelseamorepoisonouschemical would need to be devel-oped. Carson was wrong on bothclaims.Resistanceisnotdealtwithbyusingmoreofapublichealthinsecti-cide.Furthermore,resistancesignalsaneedforanothermodeofchemicalaction,notamoretoxicchemical. Ehrlich, on the other hand, claimed that public-healthuseofDDTwassoeffectivethatitwasanunacceptablecontributiontolimitingdeath,whichinturncontributedtorap-id population growth. Remarkably, the anti-DDT movementhasbeenlargelybasedontwoentirelycontradictorystatementsbyCarsonandEhrlich.Butcontradictionsaside,bothbooksfig-ureprominentlyinthecreationofthemodernenvironmentalmovementand,tothisday,thetwobooksstandaspillarsofen-vironmentaltheology.

[Editor’snote:Elsehere,theauthorsstressthatDDT’seffec-tivenessinmalariacontrolisnotbecauseitkillsmosquitoes,butbecauseitrepelsorirritatesthem,drivingthemawayfromsprayedhouses.Thisholdsforallmosquitoes,includingthosethatareresistanttoDDT.Also,withoutthekillingofmosqui-toes,specificresistancetoDDTinthemosquitopopulationwillnotdevelop.]

IfU.S.activismagainstDDThadstoppedatU.S.borders,wemightbeinclinedtoassumethatenvironmentalistmotivationswere directed at improving environmental conditions in theUnitedStatesalone.However,aswewillshowlater,andasex-emplified in the international negotiations at the StockholmConventiononPersistentOrganicPollutants,theenvironmen-talmovementwashell-bentoneliminatingDDTfrommalaria-controlprogramsworldwide.

Anti-DDT LitigationThe 1960s legal actions against DDT by environmental

groupsinNewYork,Wisconsin,Michigan,andelsewherecul-

�8. R. Carson, SilentSpring, �972, p. 2�7

minatedinthe1972EPArulingbanningDDT(seeAppendix5formoredetailedaccountsofthelegalactionsagainstDDT).Theseattemptstogainthroughthecourtswhatcouldnotbeachieved through sciencewereanexercise in emotive feartactics and environmental politics. The most significant ofthese, the EPA’s consolidated hearing, started in 1971 andcontinueduntilApril 1972.Analysesof hearing recordsbyRobertAckerly,thechieftrialcounselfromtheDDTindustry,andDr. J.GordonEdwards,ahighly respectedprofessorofentomologyatSanJoseStateUniversity,showthatkeywit-nessesfortheEPAandtheEDFdidnotpresentcredibletesti-mony.Asaresultofthattestimony,HearingExaminerEdmundSweeneyfiledhisopinion,recommendingthatDDTnotbebanned:

DDTisnotacarcinogenichazardtoman.DDTisnotamutagenicorteratogenichazardtoman.TheusesofDDTundertheregistrationinvolvedheredonothaveadeleteriouseffectonfreshwaterfish,estuarineorganisms,wildbirdsorotherwildlife.TheadverseeffectonbeneficialanimalsfromtheuseofDDTundertheregistrationsinvolvedhereisnotunreasonableonbalancewithitsbenefit.TheuseofDDTintheUnitedStateshasdeclinedrapidlysince1959.ThePetitionershavemetfullytheirburdenofproof.ThereisapresentneedforthecontinueduseofDDTfortheessentialusesdefinedinthiscase.19

�9. E.M. Sweeney, “EPA hearing examiners recommendations and findings concerning DDT hearings,” April 25, �972, �0 CFR ���.�2. [Ed. note: A photo-copy of excerpts from this can also be found at http://www.2�stcenturysciencetech.com/Articles%202007/ ddt_hearing.pdf]

PresidentNixon(left)andChiefJusticeWarrenBurger(right)attheswearinginceremonyforWilliamRuckelshausasadministratoroftheEnvironmentalProtectionAgency.Twoyearslater,Ruckelshaus,amemberoftheEDF,bannedDDTintheUnitedStates,withoutregardtothescientificevidence.

SPECIALREPORT

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 45SPECIALREPORT

Thehearing examiner offeredhis opinionon the valueofcross-examination:

Ithinktherightofcross-examinationspurredagenuinelysoberassessmentofthefactsavailable,particularlyonthequestionofthebenefitsandrisksofDDT;anditexposedthosefewinstanceswherethepurposewastogeneratemoreheatthanlightonthesubject.20

The judge also offered his opinion on the chemicals thatmight be considered as DDT replacements if DDT werebanned:

Althoughitwasnotinissuehere,therewasampleevidencetoindicatethatDDTisnotthesoleoffenderinthefamilyofpesticides;andthatnecessaryreplacementswouldinmanycaseshavemoredeleteriouseffectsthantheharmallegedlycausedbyDDT.21

Thejudgealsocommentedonthecredibilityofthewitness-es,notingthat“thereweresomeappallinginstancesofincred-ible inactions such as thepublicationof a paper containingfaultyinformationwhich,afterdiscovery,wasnevercorrectedand,apparently,isstillbeingreliedupon.22Thisappallingin-stancewasapaperbyGeorgeWoodwellpublishedinSciencemagazinein1967.23

JudgeSweeneypresentedhisopinion inApril1972aftereightmonthsoftrial,“duringwhichtimetheExaminercalled125witnesses,entered365exhibitsintotherecordandpre-sided over a proceeding that produced a 9,312-page tran-script.This was an extraordinarily thorough hearing.”24Yet,twomonths later, on June2, 1972, the EPAs administrator,WilliamD.Ruckelshaus,issuedhisopinion,25ignoringthere-sultsof thehearingandcancelingallusesofDDTforcropproduction and non-health purposes in the United States,stronglyimplyinginhisopinionthatDDTwasalmostassur-edly toxic to humans.26While the EPA reserved the use of

20. R.L. Ackerly, “DDT: A re-evaluation. Part II,” ChemicalTimesandTrends, �98�, p. 52.

2�. Ibid.

22. Ibid.

2�. Ibid.

2�. Edmund Sweeney, “Introduction to the Examiner’s Report” (�972). Swee-ney said: ”[N]o Hearing Examiner will ever enjoy the privilege that I had in listen-ing to so many leaders in the field of scientific and medical achievement . . . No restrictions were placed on the number of witnesses they could present, other than the necessary exhortations concerning relevance and materiality. The pros and cons of DDT have been well aired. I think the right of cross-examina-tion spurred a genuinely sober assessment of the facts available, particularly on the question of the benefits and risks of DDT.” EPA, “Consolidated DDT Hearing, Hearing Examiner’s Recommended Findings, Conclusions, and Or-ders” (�0 CFR ���.�2) April 25, �972, p. ��.

25. Consolidated DDT Hearings. I.F. & R. Docket Nos. ��, et al. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Appeals Board. In The Matter of Stevens Industries, Inc., et al. Before the Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Opinion by William D. Ruckelshaus. June 2, �972.

2�. �7 Fed. Reg. ����9 (July 7, �97�). Nixon was apparently furious about the decision to ban DDT. “I completely disagree with this decision,” he wrote, and

DDT for emergencies, particularly public-health emergen-cies,thisbaneffectivelyendedtheuseofDDTintheUnitedStatesandcompromiseditsuseintherestoftheworld.27

Dr. J. Gordon Edwards described the administrator’slack of attention to the administrative hearing and the

declared that he wanted “plenty of effort to get it reversed.” J. Brooks Flippen, Nixonand theEnvironment (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2000), p. �72.

Nixon clearly gets no points for consistency, having initially supported the moves to ban DDT.

WHO proved prescient in its fear that the U.S. actions on DDT would affect world use. The EPA didnt think it would be a problem. Ruckelshaus’s attitude concerning use of DDT and global public health was formed even before the consolidated hearings on DDT conducted by Edmund Sweeney and is revealed in a �97� EPA document: “nonetheless, this Agency will not permit the triumphs of public health achieved in the past to be a continuing justification for use of a particular substance in future. To this extent, the requirements for use of eco-nomic poisons in a relatively developed country such as the United States may force a divergence from what is permitted in the developing countries where the public health impetus for control of such disease as malaria may require con-tinuing use of pesticides whose side effects would no longer be tolerable here.” Environmental Protection Agency, “Reasons underlying the registration deci-sions concerning products containing DDT, 2,�,5-T, Aldrin, and Dieldrin.” March �8, �97�, EPA, Washington D.C., p. 8.

27. Other governments, especially European ones, had already banned the use of DDT.

Entomologist J. Gordon Edwards (1919-2004), championed the use of DDT to save lives, and fought the lies promoted by the Malthusians. This photo, from the September 1971 issue of Es-quire magazine, shows Edwards eating a spoonful of DDT,whichheregularlydidtodemonstrateitsnon-toxicity.

46 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

trialtranscript:

EPAAdministratorWilliamRuckelshausdidnotattendasingledayofthesevenmonthsofEPAhearingsonDDT,andaidesreportedthathedidnotevenreadthetranscript(Santa Ana Register,23July1972).28

Ruckelshaus’sopinionwasentirelycontradictorytothesci-entific findings of seven months of testimony. For example,Ruckelshaus found that DDT presents a carcinogenic risk.29Basedonanimal-testdata,heconcludedthatDDT“shouldbeconsidered a potential carcinogen.”30 In contrast, SweeneyconcludedthatDDTisnotacarcinogenichazardtoman.31Onthesubjectofpossiblereplacements forDDT,Sweeneycon-cludedthatleadingreplacementchemicalsweremoredanger-ousthanDDT.Ruckelshaus’sopinionaddressedtheissueofareplacementchemicaldifferently.Herecognizedmethylpara-thionasthechemicalthatwouldbetheprimaryDDTreplace-ment,andheacknowledgedthatdeathshadresultedfromop-erationaluseofmethylparathion.(Incomparison,nohumandeathsorevenillnesseshadresultedfromtheoperationaluseofDDT.)

Toallowfortheincreaseintoxicriskfromtheuseofmethylparathion,theEPAallowedasix-monthwaitingperiodbeforethefullweightoftheopinionwouldcomeintoeffect,meaningtheorderwouldnotbeeffectiveuntilDecember31,1972.ThiswaitingperiodwasmeanttoallowtimefortheUSDAandtheEPAtoprovidetrainingforoperatorsofsprayingequipmentandotherstouseamuchmoredangerousinsecticide.32Thispartofthe ruling,more than anyother aspect, showshow the EPAopinionwasdesignedtohandapoliticalvictorytotheenviron-mentalactivists.At the timeof theRuckelshausopinion, theEPAknew,fromalmosttwenty-sevenyearsofwidespreadDDTusage,thatDDTwasnotknowntocausehumandeathsorevenhumanillness.In1972,theEPAalsoknew,andopenlyadmit-ted,thatmethylparathionwasadocumentedcauseofhumandeaths.

In1975,theEPAsubmittedanassessmenttotheU.S.HouseofRepresentativesofthescientificandeconomicaspectsofitsdecisiontodelistDDTforuseinagriculture.Initsassessmentofpoisoningsassociatedwithaccidentalexposurestoparathi-onandmethylparathion,theyfoundthat

parathionandmethylparathionarethepesticidesmostfrequentlycitedinincidentsinvolvingaccidentalexposuretopesticides.PreliminarydatafromtheEPAPesticideAccidentSurveillanceSystem(PASS)showsthatparathionisthethirdandmethylparathionisthefifthmostfrequentlycitedpesticidein1973.Basedon

28. J. Gordon Edwards, “Pesticides in medicine and politics,” Prepared for ad-dress to Doctors for Disaster Preparedness, San Diego, Calif., �� June �997. Copy on file with authors, p. ��.

29. R.I. Ackerly, “DDT: A re-evaluation,” p. 5�.

�0. T.R. Dunlap, DDT:Scientists,citizens,andpublicpolicy (Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, �98�), p. 2��.

��. Ackerly, “DDT: A re-evaluation,” p. 5�.

�2. Consolidated DDT Hearings, �972.

ananalysisofPASSdata,Osmun(1974)statedthatfor1972and1973,parathionand/ormethylparathionwereconnectedwith78%ofthereportedepisodesrelatingtoagriculturaljobs,particularlythoseinvolvingfieldssprayedwithpesticidesforwhichsafereentrytimesforworkershadbeenset.33

Notuntil twenty-sevenyearsafterpromotingmethylpara-thionasasubstituteforDDTdidtheEPAfinallycometotermswiththerisksofmethylparathion.TheAgencyacceptedvolun-tarycancellationofmanyregisteredusesofmethylparathionin1999withanassessmentthat

methylparathionishazardoustoworkers—peoplewhohandleorapplythepesticideaspartoftheiroccupation,andpeoplewhoworkinfieldstoharvesttreatedcrops.Protective clothing and equipment are not sufficient to reduce the risks to workers to acceptable levels [emphasis added].34

So,twenty-sevenyearsafterbeingforcedtousemethylpara-thion,historyhasproventhatSweeneywasright—DDTisnotahumancarcinogen,and theprimary replacement insecticidewas truly more dangerous than DDT.The EPAs tradeoff wasclear:riskofpoisoninganddeathforinnocentAmericansinex-changeforavictoryofenvironmentalactivism.

Untilveryrecently,U.S.developmentpolicycompletelyig-noredthisrisk-riskconsideration,arguingthattheUnitedStatescan’tsupporttheuseabroadofanysubstancethatitdoesn’tuseathome,eveniftherisksarecompletelydifferent,andevenifthesubstanceismuchsafertousethanpeoplethink.“Forustobebuyingandusinginanothercountrysomethingwedon’tal-lowinourowncountryraisesthespecterofpreferentialtreat-ment,”saidE.AnnePeterson,AssistantAdministratorforGlobalHealth at USAID. “We certainly have to think about ‘WhatwouldtheAmericanpeoplethinkandwant?’and‘WhatwouldAfricansthink,ifweregoingtodotothemwhatwewouldn’tdotoourownpeople?’”35

ManyyearsafterhisdecisiontobanDDT,Ruckelshaus,inaninterviewwiththeNewYorkTimes,reportedtobemystifiedbythisposition:

ButifIwereadecisionmakerinSriLanka,wherethebenefitsfromuseoutweightherisks,Iwoulddecidedifferently.It’snotuptoustobalancerisksandbenefitsforotherpeople.There’sarroganceintheideathateverybody’sgoingtodowhatwedo.Werenotmakingthesedecisionsfortherestoftheworld,arewe?36

��. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “DDT, A review of scientific and economic aspects of the decision to ban its use as a pesticide.” Prepared for: Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives. Washington, D.C., July �975.

��. EPA, “Methyl parathion risk management decision,” Aug. 2, �999, http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/chemicals/mpfactsheet.htm (accessed April ��, 2009).

�5. T. Rosenberg, “What the World Needs Now Is DDT.”

��. Ibid.

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 47ASTRONOMYREPORT

About two years ago, afterreading references to de-

scriptionsbyclassicalwritersofGreece and Rome, who wroteduringthe1stand2ndcenturiesB.C., I wondered if a telescopeusingamagnifyingmirrorcouldhavebeenproducedandutilizedinthatancienttimeperiod.

You have probably heard thestory about Archimedes, theGreekscientistfromthecity-stateofSyracuse,inwhatisnowSici-ly,Italy.Itissaidthatheinventedadevicetofocussolarraysuponinvading Roman ships to causethem to burn up. Archimedeslivedfrom287B.C.to212B.C.,andmadeimportantdiscoveriesinphysicsandgeometry,suchastheprincipleofspecificgravity.Isurmisedthathisburningdevicewasalargeconcavemirror,prob-ablymadeofbronze.

Later, I found somemorede-tailsontheArchimedes“burningmirror,”inabookbyRobertTempleentitledThe Crystal Sun,1aboutopticsintheancientworld.Templereportedthatmirrorsandlensesofglassandrockcrystalhavebeenfound in archaeological excavations inGreece and Rome, and even back toEgyptandBabylon.More than400ex-amplesofmagnifyinglensesexistinmu-seumstodayfromGreeceandRome,al-though these are usually labelled asjewelry!

AsforArchimedesburningupRomanships, Temple says this is how it wasdone:Asinglegiantmirrorwouldbeuse-less, as its focal length would be fixedandashipcouldsimplysailoutofrange.Instead, about70menwereplacedontherampartsofSyracuse,facingtheships.Eachmanhadalargemirror,whichTem-ple says was a bronze shield, flat andhighlypolished.Themenwerearrangedinasemi-circlewiththeopenpartfacing

the target,all focussing their reflectionsononepartoftheship.Theresultwouldbe the sameas thatof a largeconcavemirror which had an adjustable focallength. Opening the semicircle a bitwouldlengthenthefocus;closingupthearraywouldshortenthefocus.Thiswascoordinated carfully to keep all of the

mirrorsfocussedontheship.TemplereportsthattheItalians

demonstrated this method in1989 using Navy sailors and alarge glass mirror, focussed byeachsailor,tosetonfireasmallwooden boat. They wanted toprove that Archimedes had ac-complished this, sinceArchime-des’featwasaproudtraditionofItaly,andItalianhistory.Howev-er,thisshedslittlelightonancientmagnifyingmirrors.

I found more descriptions ofancient mirrors in The Electric Mirror on the Pharos LighthousebyLarryRadka.2Onesuchmirrorwaslocatedinthetowerofthefa-mouslighthouseinAlexandriainthe 2nd Century B.C. Radkaclaimsthatthismirrorwasusedatnighttoprojectabeamouttoseato guide ships into the Egyptianport. In daytime, it served as atelescope to spot approachingships. Radka says that the light-

houseusedacarbonarcdeviceasalightsource,andthatthemirrorusershadin-ventedwetcellbatteries toproduceanelectriccurrenttorunacarbonarc.

Perhapsthisisso,butIdon’twishtodwell on that aspect of the lighthouse,whichisoneofthesevenwondersoftheancientworld;Iwanttofocusonpossi-bletelescopicmirrors.Radkagivesrefer-ences to ancient writings by Polybius,PlinyandPlutarchamongothers inhisbook.

Building a Magnifying MirrorIdecidedtoreplicateamirrorsimilar

totheabovedescriptions,althoughthesereportswereinadequateandIhadtofig-ureoutformyselfthepossibleformandcharacteristicsofsuchadevice.

If the ancients had magnifying mir-rors,didtheyusethemontheMoonandplanetsandperhapsdiscoverthingsonlylater discovered in the 15th CenturyaboutthenatureoftheSolarSystem?For

Reconstructing the Magnifying Mirror of ArchimedesbyCharlesE.Hughes

ASTRONOMY REPORT

William Curran

Theauthorwithhis34-inchmirror.Ancientobserverscouldhavemadeasimilarmirrortoproduceamagnifi-cationpowerof40.

Archimedes in thought, depicted in a1620paintingbyDomenicoFetti,whichisnowinthemuseumStaatlicheKunst-sammlungeninDresden,Germany.

48 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

example,didtheplanetslikeJupiterhavea round shape,didVenushavephases,did Saturn have rings, and the like? Alargemirrorofbronze,polishedstone,orglass of about 40 power could revealthat.

Ihappenedtoownabigglasstabletop,34 inches in diameter, almost a meterwideandhalfaninchthick.Myplanwastomakethisintoaconcavemirrorwitha400-inch focal length, about 35 feet.This,Icalculated,wouldyieldamagnify-ingpowerof40.Theglass,ifnotcoatedwithmetal,asmoderntelescopemirrorsaretreated,wouldreflectabout20per-centoftheincidentlightasametalizedglassmirror.Thiswouldbeenoughtoseethemoonclearly.

Iftheancientshadmadeasimilarmir-rorofbronze,themetalofchoicein200B.C. for large castings, the reflectingpower would have been about 65 per-cent, much better than uncoated glass.ButIhadtouseglassbecauseIownedaglass disk. A disk of bronze that largewould have cost thousands of dollars,andwouldneedtobecustomcastinafoundry.

So, I tookmy34-inchdiameterdisk,boughtabout20poundsoftungstencar-bideabrasive,andgotasecondpieceofround glass, 14 inches in diameter, toserve as a grinding tool. The tool waswoodwithaglassface(whichwaslessexpensivethatmakingitallglass).Itwas

madeupof six14-inchplywooddisks,3/4-inch thick. A 1/2-inch thick glasscoasterwasgluedwithsiliconrubbertotheplywoodtodothegrinding.Ithenputtheglasstableontopofa36-inchgrind-ingtablemadeupofmanypicesof36-inchplywoodspoolfaces,donatedbyaneighboringelectrical supplycompany.Thetablehadtobethickenoughtokeepthetabletopglassslababsolutelyflatdur-ing thegrindingofaconcave face intoit.

Standard Techniques I was using standard mirror-making

techniques scaled up, as described inScientific American’sbookontelescopemirror-makingAmateur Telescope Mak-ing—Book One.Itriedseveralwaystodothemirror;forexample,placingthetoolontopofthemirrorblank,myglassta-bletop.Thetoolwasabouthalfthesizeofthe mirror. I expected trouble trying toevenlygrindtheconcaveshape,becausethemirrorwasonly1/2-inchthick,abitonthethinside.Ideally,mymirrorshouldhavebeenatleast1inchthick,soIwaspushingtheenvelopedangerously!

I placed a 36-inch rug section, cutroundlikethemirrorunderit,sothatthemirrorwouldgrindevenlyovertheentiresurface,avoidingmultiplefocalcenters,

orastigmation.The grinding was begun on Feb. 17,

2008andcompletedonAug.28,2008.Thegrindingwentthroughanumberofgrainsizesoftungstencarbideabrasive,whichisashardasdiamondbutcheaper;Iwentfromlargegrainsizesdowntoafine powder to smooth the mirror sur-face.Then I used a special tool coatedwithpapersquaresandceriumoxideasthepolishingagent.Allthegindingandpolishingwasdonewithwater;nodustwasproduced.

I judged theprogressof theworkbyputtingametalruleracrossthediameterof the mirror and measuring the spaceunderit,atthecenterofthemirror,witha leaf gauge.This value in inches wasusedinamathformulatocalculatethefocallength.Thedistanceundertheruleriscalledthesagitta,andisinverselyre-lated to the focal length, the distancefrom themirror to thepoint of conver-genceofthereflectedlightrays.Thesa-gittaneededtobeabitlessthanaquar-ter-inchorabout0.230inchtogivemea40-powermirror.

Assuming that the ancients did notknowhowtomakeatelescopeocularorthemagnifyinglensneartheeye,themir-ror would have to be 40 power, using

ASTRONOMYREPORT

A17thCenturyengravingshowingthesiegeofSyr-acusewithArchimedeanmirrorsfocussedontheattackingRomanships. AnengravingoftheLighthouseofAlexandriabyMagdalenavandePasee

dated1614,whichisnowintheMuseumofArt,RhodeIslandSchoolofDe-sign.TheancientPharoslighthousewas300feettallandconsideredtobeoneof theSevenWondersof theWorld. Itwasdestroyedby twoearth-quakes,in642A.D.,and1303A.D.

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 49

onlythenakedeye.Thisrequiredthatmymirrorhaveafocusabout10timesgreat-erthanamoderntelescopemirror,whichneedsafocusofonly3.5feet,insteadof35feet.

Ididnotcarryout thepolishing toaperfect finish, but stopped when therewere still pits on the surface from thegrindingoperation,butthemirrorwasre-flectiveenoughtotestontheMoonandterrestrialobjects.

The Accident and Take #2InSeptember2008duringtesting,the

mirrorfellfromtheteststandontoanear-bytoolbox,andbrokeintoseveralpiec-es!Iwasdeterminedtosucceedwiththismirror, however, so I gathered up thefragments,keepingthelargesttoexperi-mentwith,toseeiftheshatteringhadru-inedtheopticalproperties.Ithadnot;thefragment approximately 20-inchessquareworkednormally,althoughitwasofirregularshape.

Iorderedanotherpieceofglass fromAmerican Glass Company in Hacken-sack,N.J.for$150;madeanewtool;andstarted the process all over again. Thenewmirror,whichIcalledArchimedes2,or Archie-2, was completed by August2009.

Next,Istartedtobuildamountingforthemirror.Myideawastomakeanoc-tagonalboxwithsidetrunions,only12inches deep and mounted on a squarecartwhichwouldbemovableoncaster

wheels(seephoto,p.47).Themirrorismountedinacellattherearoftheoc-tagonalbox.Itisfreetomovefromverti-caltohorizontalandtorotateacompletecircle.

The whole apparatus was painted abrightredandmovedtothebasementofmyworkplaceinSeptember2009tobetested. I determined the focal lengthofthemirrorbyholdingaflashlightinfrontofthemirror,andbackingaway,movingthelightfromsidetosideuntilthelightfilledthemirror,andnomotioncouldbedetectedintheflashlightreflection.Thiswas found to be 405 inches, about 35feet,whichwasthelengthoffocusIhadplannedupon.

The35-footfocuswouldgivethemirrorapowerofenlargementof40,usingthenakedeye alone. I tested themirror ondistantterrestrialobjectsoutdoors,anditmagnifiedthem40times.Themirrorwasemployedbypointingitatthetargetandinterposingtheobserverfacingthemirror,35 feet fromthe front,at the focus.Themagnifiedobjectseemedtoappearin,orslightlyinfrontof,themirror.

OnJan.29,2010,afullMoonabout10degreesabovethenortheasternhori-zonwas imaged. I couldmakeout the“seas” on the disk, which was round,sharp,andfairlybrightinthemirror.Twoother persons present confirmed thesightingand tookaphotoof the imagewithanelectroniccamera.Thephotode-

tailswere lesssharp thanwhatwesawwiththenakedeye.

Unlikeaconventional telescope im-age,whereaneyepieceisusedtoenlargetheimageandisonlyinclearfocusoveraninchortwo,theArchie2imagestaysinfocusthroughouttheentiredistanceofthefocallength;itgetslargeruntilmaxi-mummagnificationisreachedat35feet.

TheArchie2observationsshowthataconcavemirrorof extreme focal lengthcanserveasatelescope,usingonlythemirrorandthehumaneye.Itislikelytheancientobserverscouldhavedone justthat.Footnotes ________________________________�. London: Century Books, 2000.2. Parkersburg, W. Va.: The Einhorn Press, 200�.

ASTRONOMYREPORT

Courtesy of Springfield (Vermont) Telescope Makers, Inc.

Grinding telescope lenses at a Stellafane telescope-makingcourse.Tocutasphericalconcavesurfaceintoa mirror blank, a full-size tool is rubbed against theblank,withawetgritmixture,toabradetheglass.(Italsoabradesthetool,whichbecomesconvex.)Themir-rorblankM is sitting to the side on plywood turntable A, while mirror maker K is sprinkling silicon carbide grit (black particles) onto tile tool T from a plastic salt shak-er in his hand (attached cap hides the holes). Mirror maker S chooses to apply grit from a yoghurt cup Y with a plastic spoon. The grit is kept wet with water (to lubri-cate the grit and trap glass dust) from a spray bottleW.

Mirror maker S is grinding with one hand, mirror on top, with a solid glass toolGonthebottom;hewillrotatethemirrorandtoolinoppositedirections,fre-quently and at random angles to insure grindingstrokeswillcurvetheentiresurfaceofthemirrorandtool.Onechargeofgritandwater,calledawet,lastsabout10minutesinroughgrinding.Roughgrindingwilltake4to6hoursintotalforamirrorthissize.

Formorephotosanddescriptionsofgrinding,seehttp://stellafane.org/tm/mc/index.html

More Articles by Charles Hughes On Telescope MakingMaking Your Own Telescope21st Century, Spring 2004

“Constructing a Very Large, Short Focus Telescope”21st Century, Fall 2005

“John Dobson Debunks the Big Bang”21st Century, Spring-Summer 2006

50 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

InthetraditionofArchimedes,theMay-orofViganella,atownwithapopula-

tionof200intheItalianAlps,decidedtousealargemirrortocreatesomesunlightin thetownsquareorpiazza.Viganellalies inavalley so steep thateachyear,fromNov.11toFeb.2,itreceivesvirtu-ally no sunlight!The mayor, PierfrancoMidali,notedthatpeoplehappilysocial-izeinthepiazzaintheSummer,andthatthedeprivationofsunlightfor84daysinarow,wastakingatollonthetownspirit.So,hedecidedtodosomethingaboutit.

Itallbeganin1999,whenthemayorcommissioned the architectural firm ofGiacomoBonzanitoconstructasundial

onthechurchwall,verymuchofatradi-tion in Italy. However, the mayor toldBonzaninottobotherpaintingthelinesfor theWinterpartof thedial,becausetheSunnevershonethere.

Thenandthere,thetwomendecidedtotrytoraisethemoneytobringtheSunintothepiazzainWinter.Bonzanidrewsomequicksketchesandtalkedtosomeofhisengineeringfriends.Otherpeoplealso got involved and they found three

ASTRONOMYREPORT

AMODERNARCHIMEDESMIRROR

Italian Town Makes Good Use of Solar Mirror

Daniele Miazza

Giacomo Bonanzi

Giacomo Bonanzi

Loweringthemirrorinplace,3,500feetupthemountain.

MayorPierfrancoMidali(left)and

architectGiacomoBonzaniintheViganellatown

square.

ViganellainWinterdarkness,beforethemirrorinstallation.

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 51

sourcesoffunding.Thentheylocatedafirmwhichmakesmirrorstoseearoundcorners for safety reasons on windingmountainroads,andtolighttheentranc-es of the tunnels in the Alps betweenSavonaandTurin.

The work was launched, and a me-chanicallypolishedstainlesssteelmirrorordered.

OnDec.19,2006, the26X16 footmirror was lifted by helicopter up thenorthernfaceofthemountainabovethetown,toaheightof3,500feet.Itiscon-trolled by computer to follow the Sunandkeepthelightonthepiazza.Itcanalsoberadio-controlledfromthetown.The cost was a mere 100,000 euros,

whichworksouttoabout6cents/daypercapitaovertheexpected30-yearlifetimeofthemirror.

Now thecity square, theentranceofthe church, and the city hall can bebathed in sunlight throughout the FallandWinter,forthefirsttimeinthetown’s800-yearexistence!

Archimedeswouldbepleased.—Rick Sanders

ASTRONOMYREPORT

Giacomo Bonanzi

Themirrorviewedfromtherear.

Giacomo Bonanzi

Theengineeringplanforthemirror.

Giacomo Bonanzi

Sunlight!

Giacomo Bonanzi

Themirrorcapturingsunlight.

52 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

The Excellent Powder: DDT’s Political and Scientific HistoryDonald Roberts and Richard Tren (with Roger Bate and Jennifer Zambone)Indianapolis, Ind.: DogEar Publishing, 20�0Paperback, ��2 pp., $25.00(available at http://www.theexcellentpowder.org/)

The Excellent Powder is a myth-destroyingbookthatneedstobewidelyread,andtobeputineverylibrary,espe-cially school libraries, as a referencework.Infact,thispoliticalandscientifichistoryofDDTshouldberequiredread-inginenvironmentalsciencecourses,tomake sure that new green recruitsknowtheextentofthedeathtollthatwillresultfromthecontinuinghys-teriaagainstDDT.

Readers of 21st Century will befamiliar with much of the historythatauthorsRobertsandTrencoverin the book’s 432 pages and 800footnotes.Butthereismuchthatwillbenew,eventolongtimesupportersoftheuseofDDTformalariacon-trol.HereIwillreviewjustafewofthehighlights:

The most surprising myth is thepersistent assumption that DDTworkssoeffectivelybecauseitkillsmosquitoes;eventheWorldHealthOrganization continues in this be-lief.Therealityisthatyes,DDTkillsmosquitoesoncontact,iftheinsectsrestonasprayedsurfaceforasufficienttime.But the effectiveness of DDT, as docu-mentedinstudiesfromaroundtheworldsincethe1940s,isbasedonitscharac-teristicasaspatial repellent and irritant.Mosquitoeswillavoidahousewhosein-sidewallshavebeensprayedwithDDT,andeventhosemosquitoesthatventureinsideasprayedhouse,willbeirritatedbythesprayandleavethearea.

ThischaracteristicofDDT,whichau-

thorRobertshimselfdocumentedinfieldstudies on malaria prevention in SouthAmerica starting in the 1970s, is whatmakesDDTuniquelyeffective.Nootherpesticideactsasaspatialrepellent(andnootherpesticidecontinuestoworkforsixtotwelvemonthsafteronelightappli-cation).Butfromthestart,asRobertsandTrendocument,thisqualityofDDTasarepellent has been misunderstood andignored.

The result of this misunderstandingcontinuestobecatastrophicformalariacontrol. Traditional malaria control as-sumed,basedonamathematicalmodel,that DDT worked to stop the transmis-

sion of malaria by killing mosquitoes,thuspreventingfemalemosquitoesfromtransmitting themalariaparasitebybit-inghumans.

So, when DDT-resistant mosquitoesbegantoappearafterthewidespreaduseof DDT in agriculture, it was assumedthatDDTwouldno longerbeeffectiveformalariacontrol,becauseitwouldnolonger kill mosquitoes. Malaria pro-grams, including those of WHO, thenstopped theuseofDDT,basedonpre-

sumedmosquitoresistance(andinaddi-tiontothemountinganti-pesticidecam-paign). Roberts and Tren providevoluminous documentation on all as-pectsofthisissue.

Thistransmissionquestioniskey:Iftheincidence of malaria is decreased byhousespraying, therewillbe fewerhu-manswiththeparasitetotransmittobit-ingmosquitoes.Thus,whenhousesare

sprayed, the incidence of malariadramaticallyandrapidlydeclines.Iftherearenohumancarriersofma-laria,thenmosquitoescannottrans-mitthedisease,ashumanbeingsaretheonlyspeciesthathosts thema-lariaparasite.

Global Malaria EradicationGiventhespectacularsuccessof

DDT duringWorldWar II in stop-pingthespreadofinsect-bornekill-erdiseasesliketyphusandmalaria,it was assumed after the war thatDDTwouldbeabletoeradicatema-lariaworldwide.By1952,DDTusehaderadicatedmalariaandotherin-sect-borne diseases in the UnitedStates.(Notethatthesediseaseshadbeenkillersinthenorthernstates,as

wellasintheSouth.)OthercountriesalsobegantouseDDT

successfully, and theWorld HealthAs-semblydirectedtheWorldHealthOrga-nizationtobeginaglobalmalariaeradi-cationprogramin1955,primarilyusingDDT for house-spraying. The programwas remarkably successful, as RobertsandTrendocument.Butbeforethepro-gramcouldcompletethejobof freeingtheworldfrommalaria,theuglyhandofMalthusianism intervened to sabotage

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A. Otiato/USAID/Angola

AchildsufferingfromcerebralmalariainanAngo-lanhospital.Today,onechildinAfricadiesofma-lariaevery30seconds.

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MURDERBYMALARIA

The Malthusian War Against DDTbyMarjorieMazelHecht

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 53

the goal of eradication and the use ofDDTandpesticidesingeneral.By1969,theword “eradication”was eradicated,replacedbytheterm“malariacontrol.”

ThesuccessofDDTandthesabotagearebothdiscussedindetailinThe Excel-lent Powder. In particular, the authorspresentnewrecords thatdocument theMalthusian takeover of malaria controlandinternationalpolicyingeneral.Thatpopulationcontrolbecameapolicyaimis not just an assertion; it is rigorouslydocumented.

‘Population Control’ PrevailsDDT’seffectonmalaria,oneof

thetopkillerdiseasesworldwide,was to spur population growth.When parents stopped dyingyoung, when babies could growup to maturity, populations grewandbegantoprosper.Thissetoffalarms among the Malthusians,whobeganafar-reachingpopula-tion control offensive, which in-cluded funding for “environmen-talism” and “family planning,” atthe same time removing fundsfrommalariaeradication.

(TheU.S.sideofthisstoryistoldintheexcerptsfromThe Excellent Powder,whichappearonp.38ofthisissue.)

SirJulianHuxley,thefirstdirec-tor of the United Nations Educa-tion,Social,andCulturalOrgani-zation(UNESCO)andafounderof

theWorldWildlifeFoundation,isakeyplayerinthismurdercampaign.Robertsand Tren document some of this, butthereismoretothestory.HuxleywasaprominentmemberoftheBritishEugen-icsSociety,servingas itsvicepresidentandthenpresident,butafterHitlergaveeugenics a bad name, Huxley adopted“environmentalism”asamorepalatablebannerunderwhichtocarryoutthecull-ingofmankind.

Huxley wrote: “Even though ... any

radicaleugenicpolicywillbeformanyyearspoliticallyandpsychologicallyim-possible,itwillbeimportantforUNES-COtoseethattheeugenicproblemisex-aminedwith thegreatestcare,andthatthepublicmindisinformedoftheissuesatstakesothatmuchthatnowisunthink-ablemayatleastbecomethinkable.”

Roberts and Tren note that Huxleyfounded the World Wildlife Fund “be-causeofhisconcernthatgrowthofhu-manpopulationsinAfricawasendanger-

ingAfricanwildlife.”Leftoutofthispartofthestoryis

theroleoftoday’smostrabidMal-thusian,PrincePhilip,andhisnowdeceasedfellowroyal,PrinceBer-nhardof theNetherlands, in pro-moting WWF enviromentalism tostoppopulationgrowth.TheseMal-thusiansfoundedtheWorldWild-lifeFundtoraisemoneyfortheex-pansionoftheInternationalUnionfortheConservationofNature.TheIUCN,inturn,hadbeensetupin1948 for thepurposeof reducingworldpopulation,especiallyinthedevelopingsector,and,inthenameof“conservation,”securingaholdontheworld’srawmaterials.

DecentralizationStarting in the 1960s, UNICEF

(the United Nations Children’sFund) and other United Nationsprograms, along with the U.S.AgencyforInternationalDevelop-

U.S. Army

DuringWorldWarII,DDTwasroutinelysprayedinbarracksanddustedontosoldiersandcivilianstostopthespreadofin-sect-bornediseases.Afterthewar,DDTsprayingcontinuedtoprotectpopulations.

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WHO

In2006, theWorldHealthOrganizationreversedits30-yearbanonDDTandpermitteditsuseforindoorhousespraying(knownas IRS for indoor residual spraying).Underpressure,threeyearslater,theWHOhasbackedthephase-outofDDTby2020orearlier.

The eugenicist Sir Julian Huxley, a founder of theWorldWildlifeFundandofUNESCO,preferredpre-servingwildlifetosavinghumanlives.Here,HuxleyaddressesaUNESCOmeetingin1965.

54 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

ment (USAID), rapidly switched fromfundingdiseasecontroltofundingfamilyplanning,asRobertsandTrendocument.UNICEF and USAID pulled completelyout of funding the malaria eradicationprogram.Instead,theseagenciesdecid-edthatmalariacontrolshouldbedecen-tralizedand run through localcommu-nityhealthprograms,whichalsoweretocarryoutfamilyplanning.

Thecentrallymanagedmalariaeradi-cation program ceased to exist by theearly1970s.AsRobertsandTrenreport,theformerchiefofepidemiologyintheWorldHealthOrganization’smalariadi-vision,Dr.MohyeddinA.Farid,saidthattheperiodfrom1969to1980wasoneof“de-eradication and anarchy”—and asurge in malaria incidence. Farid alsonotedtheironythatthehighchildmor-tality of disease-ridden nations wouldworkagainstanybirthcontrolprogram,asparentswouldwanttohavemorechil-drentomakeupforthosekilledbydis-ease.

Thedecadesfrom1980to2000,Faridstated, were characterized by malariacover-upsandresignation.Epidemicsta-tisticswerecoveredup,anddrugdistri-butionand treatmentbecame themainweaponsusedagainstmalaria.AsFaridnoted, this approach ignored the prob-lemofdrugresistancethatwoulddevel-opinthemalariaparasite.

Alookatthegraphintheaccompany-ingfiguredramatically showshowma-

laria incidence soars as house-sprayingdeclines.

RobertsandTrenprovideagoodpic-tureandmanyreferencesforthedemon-ization of DDT internationally and thebuilding pressure on theWorld HealthOrganization against DDT and housespraying,culminatingin1997inthede-cision by the World Health Assembly(whichmakespolicyfortheWHO)tore-

ducerelianceoninsecticidesandinsteadpromote “integrated pest management”andalternativemethodsofdiseasevectorcontrol.Whatthisamountedtoismore

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Sander Lamme

Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands(1911-2004), co-founded the WorldWildlifeFundandwasitsfirstpresident.BernhardhadtoresignfromtheNaziPar-tyinordertomarryPrincessJuliana,wholaterbecameQueenoftheNetherlands.

Paul E. Alers/NASA

PrincePhilipwants to reduce theworldpopulationto2billionandhasoftenstat-edhisdesiretobereincarnatedasanAIDSvirustohelpthedepopulationprocess.

CUMULATIVE NUMBERS OF EXCESS MALARIA CASES OVER  AVERAGE NUMBERS PER YEAR (1965-1979) 

FOR BRAZIL, COLOMBIA, PERU, ECUADOR, AND VENEZUELA

*First year excess cases grew by more than � million cases/annum.Data adjusted to a standardized ABER.Source: TheExcellentPowder, p. 99.

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 55BOOKS

malaria.As the authors explain, vectorcontrol(killingmosquitoes)isn’tthesameasdiseasecontrol,which“isdesignedtolimit disease transmission by breakingvector-human contact and preventingbiting.”

Roberts andTren also point out thatmalaria ismainlyadiseaseof the ruralpoor,andtoapplyintegratedpestman-agement, forexample,bymanipulatingtheaquatichabitsofmosquitobreedingoverlargeareas,wouldcostmoreandbeenvironmentallydestructive,asopposedtohousesprayingwithminutequantitiesofinsecticide.

As the incidenceofmalariaandma-laria deaths climbed over the past twodecades,thehealthestablishmentadopt-edanothernice-soundingbutweakanti-malaria method to champion: insecti-cide-treated bed nets.1 This was themethodofchoiceof theRollBackMa-laria program, initiated in 1998 by theWorldBank,theWorldHealthOrganiza-tion,andotherdonors.Atthattime,the

�. Bednets as a method of disease-control are largely ineffective unless combined with DDT house-spraying. The reason is that nets require user compliance, whereas once house walls are sprayed, it will deter mosquitoes for several months, no user compliance required.

World Health Organization estimatedthat there were between 300 and 500millioncasesofmalariaeveryyear,andbetween 1 and 2 milliondeaths. Eleven years (andmanymillionsofRollBackMalariadollars) later, those

figureswerestillthesame.Incontrast,asRobertsandTrenpoint

out,theearliermalariaeradicationpro-gramwasaresoundingsuccessinlow-eringdiseaseanddeath rates incoun-trieswhereitwaspracticed.

By2006,themalariasituationwassodire, that the new head of the WorldHealth Organization’s Global MalariaProgram,Dr.ArataKochi,announcedtotheworldtheobvious.Presentmethodsofmalariacontrolweren’tworking,andthe World Health Organization wouldrollbackits30-yearvirtualbanonDDTandbringbackDDTforhousesprayingasaneffectiveweaponagainstmalaria.Thispolicychangemetwithastormofcriticism from the environmentalistmovement, and evenwithin theWorldHealthOrganization.Theanti-pesticidelobbythensuccessfullylobbiedtohavetheWHO adopt a goal of phasing outDDTentirelyby2020,withoutthepres-entexceptionforpublichealthemergen-cies.

It should be noted that there is notnow,andneverhasbeen,acrashpro-gramtodevelopaneffectivealternativeto DDT for house spraying. The anti-DDTlobbyhasnotsupportedthiskindofaneffort,justvaguetalkaboutalter-

natives.Thecurrentalterna-tivepesticidesarenotspa-tialrepellents,requiremorefrequent application, are

WHO/National Library of Medicine

Vectorcontrolworkedaspartofacentralizedmalariaeradicationplanthatincludedhousespraying.Here,scientistsconductmosquitolarvaecountsinTogo.

John Haskew/IFRC/WHO

RollBackMalariahaschampionedthebednet,agoodthingtouse,butbednetsarenotabletobringdownmalariaincidencewithouthousespraying.

56 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology

more highly toxic to insects, and costmore.

Birds and BiasChief among the other DDT myths

knockedoutbyThe Excellent PowderisthatDDTusekilledoffU.S.birds,espe-ciallythatAmericanicon,thebaldeagle.Noliteratepersoncanavoidseeingthismythpopupalmostdailyinthelocalandnationalpress,usuallyintheformof“the____birdpopulationisnowontherisesince the days of DDT usewipedthemout.”

Roberts and Tren docu-mentthefalsityofthispopu-lar myth at length. Briefly,the facts show that eagles,peregrine falcons, and oth-ers had precipitously de-clinedinnumbers(becauseof hunting and land devel-opment)longbeforethein-troduction of DDT in thepost-waryears.

As for robins, the tear-jerking subject of RachelCarson’sSilent Spring,Therewere some robin deathswhenDDTwassprayeddi-rectlyonbirds.Carsonbe-wailedtherobindeathsonthe University of MichiganEastLansingcampus,whichused DDT in an effort tosavethelargeelmtreesfromDutch elm disease, a de-

structivefungusspreadbytheelmbarkbeetle. The tree protection effort didinitiallykill a fewsprayed robins.Butaside from these initially killed birds,the remaining DDT did not harm therobin populations on the campus—ornationally.Infact,robinshadapopu-lationboomin theyearsofDDTuse,not the extinction Carson’s book im-plied.

Allegedly disappearing birds, espe-

ciallyraptors,wereamainfocusoftheanti-DDT campaign, beginning in thelate 1960s, leading to the U.S. ban onDDT in 1972. Roberts and Tren showhowthiscampaignwasbasedonlies.

The Myth of Human HarmAnothermajormyththatRobertsand

TrenoverturnisthatDDTharmshumanbeings.Infact,notonesingledeathorill-nesscanbeattributedtoDDTinalltheyearsofitssprayingandmanufacturing.In more than 65 years of research onDDT,theanti-DDTscientistshavecon-tinued to turnout studiesclaiming thatDDTpromotesprematurebirths,retardsbabydevelopment,makebabiesbecomeobeseasadults,effeminizesmalebabies,andcausesalltypesofcancer.(Notethatthesearemycharacterizationsofstudies;RobertsandTrencriticizesuchstudiesinscientific terms.Theycarefullynote thecriteriathatmustbemetinanyepidemi-ologicalstudy,chieflythatofcauseandeffect.)2

Theresearcherstendentiouslypromot-ingtheallegedharmofDDTgosofarastounashamedlyclaimthattheriskofus-ingDDToutweighsanyharmfromma-laria;this,whileonechildinAfricadiesevery 30 seconds from malaria! TheirscarestoriescontinuetocirculateinAfri-can countries, to stir up opposition togovernment programs that use DDT inhousespraying.

What kind of twisted morality gripssuch researchers to persist in attacking

2. Don Roberts has an excellent summary of how to evaluate a scientific study, in an article that appeared in OutlooksonPestManagement, February 20�0, “Impact of Anti-DDT Campaigns on Malaria Control.” As he demonstrates there, “those who campaign against DDT have failed to show, through replicated and confirmatory stud-ies, that a specific type of public health harm from DDT was:“• Consistent with current biological or theoretical knowledge of the type of harm and its known risk factors,“• More common with higher DDT exposure and less common with lower exposure,“• Less common prior to DDT exposure and ap-peared or increased in frequency with onset of DDT exposure, and“• More common with DDT exposure and less com-mon once DDT use was stopped.”As he points out, years of broad and heavy DDT us-age were not accompanied by reports of disease or birth defects in the medical and statistical records for that time. “The lack of proof that DDT caused harm to human health back in those days of intense exposures goes far in explaining why, to this day, there is no evidence human health has been im-proved in any way by stopping public health use of DDT” (p. 5).

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USDA APHIS Pest Survey Detection and Exclusion Laboratory

DDTsprayingwaswidelyusedintheUnitedStatestocontroldestructivepestslikethegypsymothandthebeetlethatcausedDutchelmdisease.

American robinswere increasing innumber, at thesametimethatRachelCarsonpronouncedrobinstobeonthevergeofextinction.

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 57BOOKS

DDT,andtoblatantlylieaboutit?TherearemanysuchliesexposedinThe Excel-lent Powder.Dr.GeorgeWoodwell, forexample,publishedanarticleinSciencemagazineclaimingthathehadmeasured13poundsperacreofDDTresiduesinmarshsediment.Yet,underoath,Wood-well admitted that he had knowinglymeasured the DDT levels at the sitewhere the DDT spray trucks washeddown, although he neglected to reportthisfact.Theactualmeasurement,heac-knowledgedwouldbe1poundperacre.Neitherhe,norSciencemagazinepub-lishedaretraction.

Woodwell, it should be noted, is aclosefriendandcollaboratorofPaulEh-rlich, and if anything is a more radicalMalthusian,whoviewshumanbeingsasadiseaseontheplanet.

Woodwell knowingly promoted liesaboutDDT.Otherscientistsandsciencewriters seem to be more blindly led totheirresearchconclusionsbythepopularmyththatDDTisdangerous.SomeclaimthattheyopposeDDTbecauseitisbadforanimals,butwouldpermititslimiteduseforhousespraying.

CharlesWurster,a foundingmemberoftheEnvironmentalDefenseFundandaleaderinthefighttobanDDT,recentlytoldmethatheandEDFneverintendedanypopulationcontrol.“Wewerejust concerned with protectingwildlife.”Baloney,Isay,afterread-ing the documentation presentedby Roberts and Tren. At leastWurster’sgoodfriendPaulEhrlich,is truthful enough to say in printthatDDTneededtobebannedasa“deathratesolution”forhumanbeings.

Roberts and Tren discuss indepth the biased anti-populationviews of the anti-DDT scientistsandsciencewritersandeditors. Iwould go a step further and callsome of the anti-DDT scientistsgenocidalmaniacs.

The Ideological ParasiteHarm from DDT is a defining

culturalmythofthe20thCentury,as The Excellent Powder amplydocuments.Itfunctionsasamen-tal parasite, seemingly unable tobecontrolledbyrationalargumentandscientificevidence.Howdidapostwar world, in which millionshadjustlosttheirlives,givebirthto

anewgenerationthatviewsoverpopula-tionas aproblem?Theanswer is com-plex,andonlypartiallycoveredbyRob-ertsandTren.

Fromthetop,populationcontrol isaprojectoftheoligarchicalelite,typifiedby Britain’s Prince Philip, whose inten-tionistokeepthemassesdumb,andthusmanipulable.Theyandtheirwillingser-vants,likePaulEhrlich,intendtoreduceworldpopulation to2billion,eliminat-ingtheother4.7billion.

This is not hyperbole; these Malthu-siansopenlydiscusstheiraim.LordBer-trand Russell, for example, candidlycalledforcullingthepopulationbywar,disease,andfamine.InhisProspects of Industrial Civilization, Russell wrote in1923: ”[T]he white population of theworldwill sooncease to increase.TheAsiaticraceswillbelonger,andtheNe-groesstill longer,beforetheirbirthratefalls sufficiently tomake theirnumbersstable without help of war and pesti-lence....Until thathappens, thebene-fits aimed at by socialism can only bepartially realized, and the less prolificraces will have to defend themselvesagainst the more prolific by methodswhich are disgusting even if they arenecessary.”

Inhis 1951 Impact of Science Upon

Society,Russellwroteaboutthegoalofpopulation reduction that “War ... hashitherto been disappointing in this re-spect...butperhapsbacteriologicalwarmay prove more effective. If a BlackDeathcouldspreadthroughouttheworldonceineverygeneration,survivorscouldprocreate freely without making theworldtoofull....Thestateofaffairsmightbesomewhatunpleasant,butwhatofit?Reallyhigh-mindedpeopleare indiffer-ent to happiness, especially other peo-ples’....”

(For thosewhostubbornlyrefuse tobelieve this of the lauded peacenikphilosopher Russell, these and simi-larpronouncementsareallonthere-cord,asarethehatefulviewsofPrincePhilip.)

 Name the Enemy!IfIhaveonecriticismofthisexcellent

book,itisthatRobertsandTrendon’tgofar enough in naming the enemy: theBritishEmpireanditsfinancialoligarchy.ThatiswhatwearefightingagainstinthecaseofDDTsuppression,andintheper-sistingcolonialmentalitythatstiflesde-velopmentingeneral.Historically,andatpresent, the Empire views mankind asmere cattle to be herded and culledwherenecessary.EnvironmentalismanditsMalthusianscientificpromotersserve

thisEmpire.ThebattleforDDT,forcontinu-

ingitsuseforhouse-spraying,hastobefoughtinthiscontext,againstthisrealenemy.

In the historical record, overmillennia, advanced science andtechnology have been the mea-sure of progress, liberating menandwomenfromheavylabor,sothat they were free to use theirminds. Advanced science andtechnology were also the meansforkeepingtheenvironmentclean,asincreasedenergyfluxdensitiesproducedbetterqualityandclean-erpower.AsRoosevelt’sTennesseeValley Authority showed, man’smanagementofnaturecangiveusabeautifulworld.

The Excellent Powderprovidesexcellent information for us towin this fight. It deserves to beread,tobeplacedinlibrariesandin school curricula, and to be abibleinthewaragainstmurderbymalaria.

LordBertrandRusselladvocatedwar,famine,anddis-easeas“disgusting”but“necessary”methodstokeeppopulationdown.

The Excellent Powder:DDT’s Political and Scientific Historyby Donald Roberts, medical entomologist, and

Richard Tren, economist and director of Africa Fighting Malaria

The real story of DDT:•   How it works to stop the spread of malaria, and 

why other methods don’t work as well

•   How the facts show that DDT did not kill off bird populations

•   How there is no human harm from house-spraying with DDT

•   Who wants to stop DDT use, and why

And much more

Released April 21, 2010

Paperback, 432 pp., $25.00

Available from booksellers or http://www.theexcellentpowder.org/

Reviews“Truly excellent . . . debunks many of the unfounded beliefs about DDT that persist in spite of broad underlying evidence . . . .”

—Veronique de Rugy, nationalreviewonline

“I’ve followed the DDT debate for over a decade, and this book should be an argument ender.”—Nick Schulz, The American

“The Excellent Powder . . . will provide insight into how science can be destroyed by politics. Highly recommended.”

—Michael Shaw, Contributing Columnist, HealthNewsDigest.com

“. . . a myth-destroying book that needs to be widely read, and to be put in every library. . . .” —Marjorie Mazel Hecht, Managing Editor, 21st Century Science & Technology

“Donald Roberts and Richard Tren do more than merely defend the banned and much-maligned insecticide. . . . [T]hey boldly call the widespread withdrawal of DDT a public health disaster.”

—Barbara Hollingsworth, Local Opinion Editor, San Francisco Examiner

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 59

Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and CivilizationSteven SolomonNew York: Harpers Collins, 20�0Hardcover, 59� pp., $27.99

This book is one of epic pessimismaboutman’sabilitytocreatenewre-

sources,suchasfreshwater.Here’soneexamplefromauthorStevenSolomon:

“TheWorldCommissiononDamsRe-portwasaresoundingturningpoint:TheGlobaleraofunbridledgiantdambuild-ingwasover.”

Andanother:“...[D]esalinizationcan-notbe thepanacea technology to solvetheworld’swatercrisisintheshortterm....Evenifcostsplunged,thereareunsolvedenvironmental problems about how todisposeofthebrinywaste;inlandregionscannot be reached without expensivepumpingandbuildinglongacqueducts.”

ContrastthiswiththeapproachofRep.

JimWright,theTexasDemocrat,whoinhis1966bookThe Coming Water Fam-ine, described the problem, and pro-posedtosolveitwithaGreatProjecttoprovidethenationwithafuturefreshwa-tersupply.

Wright, who spent 34 years in theHouse of Representatives, and wasSpeakeroftheHousefrom1987to1989,wasanoriginalpro-growthFDRDemo-crat(afarcryfromtoday’senvironmen-talistPelosi-ledanti-capitalistlemmings,whoaremarchingoverthecliffsofobliv-ionintothe“nevernever”landofcarbontaxcreditsandbanningharmlessCO2).

Wrightwroteaboutrealpollutionprob-lemsinAmericanriversandstreams,backin1966,andadvocatedthe Clean Water Act,which spent hundredsof billions of dollars tocleanupthemess.Now,every day, I walk overthe Mississippi River inMinnesota, which isclean enough to drink,andfullofwildlife,rightinmetropolitanMinne-apolis.

The aim of Wright’sbookabouta “comingwater famine” was toprovide an infrastruc-ture solution for futuregenerations. He advo-catedabold,visionaryplantodivertwa-terfromtheYukonRiverinAlaska,south-wards through the Natural RockyMountainTrenchinCanada,andthenceto the arid Southwest, California, andMexico.

This“dreamis,admittedly,bothgran-dioseandvisionary,”hesaid.“However,thenationwasbuiltbyvisionaries.Therehavebeensomedisturbingindicationsinrecentyearsthatwemayhavelostsomeofourcapacityfordreamingandactingin those areas concerning our survivaluponthisearth.Wemustrecapturethatcapabilityifwearetosurvive....”

WrightcalledtheAlaskawaterwaythe“NorthAmericanPowerandWaterAlli-ance,”knownasNAWAPA,andsaidthatit “has almost limitless potential if we

possessthecourageandtheforesighttograspit.”

The Cultural ShiftButjustintheperiodwhenWrightwas

proposingNAWAPA,aculturalshiftwasimposedontheUnitedStates,replacingscientificoptimismwithitsopposite.

Steven Solomon represents the “longdescentofman”startedby the Baby Boomergeneration in 1968,whichplaguestheintel-lectuallifeofthetrans-Atlantic world fromWashington, D.C., toBerlin. Although Solo-mon has some goodchaptersonthepastus-age of water, from theGrand Canal in China,totheNileRiverinAfri-ca,totheErieCanalinNorth America, in thedevelopment of indus-trialsocieties,heviewsthese developments as

apparentlyallovernowinthe21stCentury:“Nonewinnovativebreakthroughca-

pableofexpandingusablewatersupplyonalargeenoughscaletomeetthede-mand isanywhereevidenton thehori-zon...”hewrites.

And:“Theageofwaterscarcityconse-quentlyheraldsthepotentialstartofamo-mentoustransitioninthetrajectoryofwa-terandworldhistory:fromthetransitionalparadigmbasedoncentralized,massscaleinfrastructure...toanewefficiencypara-digmbuiltmoreuponmoredecentralized,scaled to task,andenvironmentallyhar-monious solutions that make more pro-ductiveuseofexistingsupplies.”

Small is BeautifulSolomon’sparadiseoffuturewaterus-

agecanbefoundin“ruralpartsofIndia

BOOKS

An Epic Without VisionbyGlennMesaros

JimWright:Anepicthinkerwithvision.

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andCentralAsiawhereBritishcolonial-ismdidnotpenetratewithitscentralized,modernwatertechniques.”Forexample,he says, ”[V]illage built and managedwater tanks in India offer small, local,partial, but helpful solutions to the na-tion’sgreatwaterstorageshortages.”

“Several promising principles havebeenenunciated.Theseincludestrikingabalancebetween the ‘3E’s’:environ-mentallysustainableuseofwater;equi-tableaccessbytheworld’spoor...effi-cientuseofexistingresources....”

Solomonpaystheusualdrivelofhom-

age to Rachel Carson for starting thismovement in 1962 with her Silent Spring, describing a world where thebirds do not chirp any more becauseDDTkilledthem.Thisfrauddidnotsaveanybirds,butkilledmillionsofpeopleof color, who died from malaria thatDDTcouldhaveprevented.Today,eventheWorldHealthOrganizationrecom-mends indoor spraying with DDT tocombatmalaria.

SolomonalsorecallsEarthDay,1970,where “20millionAmericans rallied tosupportanenvironmentallyhealthplan-

et.” I remember this “dayof infamy”atRutger’sUniversityinNewJersey,wherethe local SocialistWorkersParty leaderworeabadgewhichportrayedbelchingsmokestacks,andproclaimed,“Capital-ismfoulsthingsup.”HeendedupdrunkasaskunkonRippleWinethatday.

 Trans-Pacific RegionFortunately,forthefutureofmankind,

the trans-Pacific region of Russia/India/Chinahasrejectedthe“smallisbeauti-ful”mantraofthenowdiscredited“glob-alwarming,”Britishdominated,environ-mentalcartel.

‘NAWAPA-PLUS’The great North American water

project,theNorthAmericanWaterandPowerAllianceorNAWAPA,wasde-signedbytheParsonsEngineeringfirminthe1960stoharnessabout17per-centofunusedrunofffromAlaskaandnorthern Canada and bring it south-ward.Mostofthat1,000cubickilome-tersofrunoffwaternowflowsunusedintotheArcticOcean.

NAWAPA-Plus,asconceivedbyEx-ecutive Intelligence Review,wouldex-tend the original NAWAPA design tolinkupinMexicowithboththePLHI-NOandthePLHIGONwaterprojects,asshown,creatingasingle,integratedNorthAmericanwaterproject.

In theoriginalNAWAPAdesignbyParsons, the water would be chan-nelledintotheRockyMountainTrench,a natural reservoir about 800 km inlength,whichrunsfromthecenterofCanadadownintothenorthernUnitedStates.Itisabout15kmwideand100meters deep, on average, and couldstoresome400 tp500cubickilome-tersofwater,ataheightofabout900metersabovesealevel.

At thenorthern tipof theTrench,anavigablewaterwaywouldbebuiltinCanada,fromVancouverintheWesttoLake Superior and the St. LawrenceSeawayintheEast—agreatwaterwaythatwouldconnectthePacificwiththeAtlantic.

FormoreonNAWAPA-Plus,seetheSpecial Report, “Plhino: Water to

GreenMexico’sFarmland,”21st Cen-tury, Spring 2009. Also, see the La-Rouche video report on the project,

“NAWAPA-PLHINO:TheFutureoftheAmericas,” http://www.larouchepac.com/node/9257.

RioG

rande

Colorado River

Yaqui River

Rocky Mountain Trench

Montana Pump Lift

Sources: Parsons Company, North American Water and Power Alliance Conceptual Study, Dec. 7, 1964; Hal Cooper; Manuel Frías Alcaraz; EIR.

PLHINO PLHIGON

OgallalaAquifer

NAWAPA

21st Century Science & Technology Spring2010 61

China completed the world’s largestdam, theThree Gorges Dam, in 2006,rightinthemiddleofthe“nonewdams”eraonthefloodproneYangtzeRiver,de-spiteoppositionfromtheU.S.Export-Im-portBank.Itstands600feethigh,andamile and one half across, with “multi-tieredshiplocksandanearly400milelongreservoir.”

AsSolomonwrites,“Chinaistheun-apologetic, leading state representativeofthehardpath.”

“In 2001, Chinese leaders launchedthetransnationalcivilengineeringwatertransfer scheme ... to redirect riversofwater—twoandahalftothreetimesthevolumeoftheColoradoRiveror25timesmore than Libya’s subterranean Man-madeRiver—northward from theYang-tzebasin.Threeseparatechannels,total-ling2,200milesinlength,weredesignedto carry the water across mountains,canyons,waterways,railways...tode-liverparchednorthChina from itsdirethirst.”

In effect, China is doing what theUnited States could have done withNAWAPAindivertingtheYukonRiverinAlaskaall theway toMexicobetween1965and1995.As JimWright said in1966, “our water problems will besolvedonlybymovingwaterfromareasof comparative abundance to sectionsofcriticalscarcity.”

CongressmanWrightforecasttheben-efits of NAWAPA to the United States,Canada, and Mexico: millions of acrefeetofwater,kilowattsofenergy,irrigat-edland,andincreaseddomesticnationalproductbyuntoldbillionsofdollars.To-day, we can add the realistic plans tobuild a tunnel under the Bering Strait,thuslinkingAlaska,andNorthAmerica,toRussia,andAsiawithahighspeedraillin, which would revolutionize theworld’seconomy.

Again, in contrast, Solomon’s lackofwisdom does not even mention that ahugeincreaseinnuclearpowerdevelop-mentcouldsolvethefinalcostcontain-mentofdesalinationofsaltwater.

One has to ask, what, really, is thepoint,ofthese“Epic”bookson“natural”resourcesbyWesternpublishers?Tokeepyou,dearreader,inacontrolledculturalandmental enviroment, away from thelimitless potential of the universe thatcanbeharnessedbyeachnewgenera-tionofcreativehumanbeings.

GLOBALWARMINGUPDATE

Save the Whales So Their Dung Saves UsAnewreportfromtheresearchers

of theAustralianAntarcticDivision(http://www.aad.gov.au/default.asp?casid=37724)claimsthatincreasedwhale excrement in our oceanscouldhelpfightglobalwarmingbyencouraging thegrowthof carbon-dioxide-consumingalgae.Theiron-rich droppings would feed bloomsof phytoplankton, which, in turn,helpregulatetheabilityoftheoceantostorecarbon.

Researcher Steve Nicol claimsthat a larger population of baleenwhalesintheSouthernOceanwouldwork,butdoesnotknowhowmuchwhaledungitwouldtaketomakeadifference.

The Insanity of Green Power

Yet another scam in solar powerhas been exposed in Spain, wheresolarpowerplantswerecaughtus-ing conventionally fueled arc lights toshineonthesolarpanelsatnighttoin-crease the output of their solar plant.Why? Because solar power commandshigherpricesintheelectricitymarket.

During plant inspections, it came tolightthatseveralsolarpowerplantsweregeneratingcurrentandfeedingitintothenetatnight.Tosimulatealargerinstalla-tion capacity, the plant operators also

madeuseofdieselgenerators.Thescamoperatorsapparentlyfailed

torealizethatsomeonewouldeventu-allynoticethatsolarplantsarenotlike-lytoproducecurrentinthedark.Hadtheplantoperatorsconnectedthecon-ventional electricity generators duringthedaytime,toaddtotheirsolarpower,the swindle might not have been no-ticed.

Formoreonthestory,seehttp://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/04/13/the-insanity-of-greenery/

New Fashion Accessory For Global WarmersThere’sanewfacemaskthatwe

leave to readers to evaluate: The“GreenScreen”bydesignerRobertOrtega,agraduate studentatCo-lumbiaUniversityGraduateSchoolofArchitecture,isananti-bacterialand reusable face mask that “se-questers the CO2 from every ex-hale.”

GLOBAL WARMING UPDATE

Compiled by Gregory Murphy

Mike Double/©Commonwealth of Australia

Dung ho:Whale droppings being collectedfromanet.

Courtesy of Anthony Watts

The SARCLIGHT®: The soon-to-be patented“solarpoweratnight”arclightsystem.

62 Spring2010 21st Century Science & Technology GLOBALWARMINGUPDATE

Themaskismadefrompulpandem-beddedwithseedsthatactuallysprout.Itdoesdoubleduty,protectingyourlungsand protecting the environment fromyour negligible carbon-dioxide emis-sions.And,it’srecyclable—inyourcom-postpile.

Youcansee thecreationhere:http://inhabitat.com/2010/04/25/green-screen-a-living-carbon-capturing-face-mask-that-filters-bacteria/

The American Power Act: A Fascist Climate Dud

OnMay12,Senators JohnKerry(D-Mass.),chairmanoftheSenateForeignRelations Committee, and Joseph Li-eberman (I,Conn.), unveiled their capand trade bill, entitled The AmericanPower Act. This bill proposes to cutgreenhousegasemissionsby17percentby2020and83percentby2050.Thebillmentionsnuclearpower,butitisnotserious.

ChipKnappenberg,assistant toUni-versity ofVirginia climatologist PatrickMichaels, analyzed the bill, andfound that theglobal temperature sav-ings of the Kerry-Lieberman bill is as-toundingly small—0.043°C (0.077°F)by 2050 and 0.111°C (0.200°F) by2100.

Inotherwords,bycentury’send,re-ducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissionsby83percentwillonlyresultinglobaltemperaturesbeingone-fifthof1°Flessthan they would otherwise be.This isscientificallymeaningless,althoughthegenocidal effects of the bill are veryreal.

For more news on

see 21st Century’swebsite

www.21stcenturysciencetech.com

GLOBAL WARMING