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Fusion Controversy Heats Up ... Again
ScienceNOW Daily News ^ | 22 March 2007 | Robert F. Service

Posted on 03/23/2007 12:29:59 AM PDT by neverdem

Picture of Brad Miller

Questions remain.
Representative Brad Miller (D-NC) is seeking answers about Purdue's investigation.

Fusion Controversy Heats Up ... Again

By Robert F. Service
ScienceNOW Daily News
22 March 2007

A Congressional subcommittee has stoked the flames under the cauldron of controversy that is bubble fusion. Those flames all but died out last month after an internal investigation at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, absolved nuclear engineer Rusi Taleyarkhan of any scientific misconduct surrounding his research on producing nuclear fusion in collapsing bubbles (ScienceNOW, 7 February). But yesterday, Representative Brad Miller (D-NC), who heads the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science and Technology sent a letter to Purdue's President Martin Jischke requesting a copy of the university's internal reports on their inquiry.

Miller says he'd like to know whether or not to believe Taleyarkhan's controversial claims that he's seen evidence for fusion in collapsing bubbles. But he's more interested in Purdue's investigation. "I think it's more of a concern about the procedures at Purdue to make sure they are assuring ethical conduct in research," Miller says. He adds that because the federal government spends billions of dollars on research at universities each year, it's essential that Congress ensure that misconduct investigations operate as intended.

Miller says it's not clear that happened in this case. "Despite the University's statement that no misconduct had occurred, many disturbing questions remain about the scope and adequacy of the investigation," says Miller's letter to Jischke. Among those questions: Why Purdue officials seem to have stopped one investigation in September only to launch another, and whether they looked into the full array of complaints against Taleyarkhan, including an alleged manipulation of scientific data.

In the past, Purdue officials have declined to make reports of their investigation public in order to comply with university rules on confidentiality. But in a statement issued late today, Purdue officials said they plan to comply with the committee’s request. Just what will happen after that depends on what the reports show, says Miller. But chances are the bubble fusion controversy will keep boiling for months to come.

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TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bubblefusion; coldfusion; energy; fusion; sonofusion; sonoluminescence

1 posted on 03/23/2007 12:30:04 AM PDT by neverdem
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To: El Gato; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Robert A. Cook, PE; lepton; LadyDoc; jb6; tiamat; PGalt; Dianna; ...
The Congressman's letter opened, but I didn't read it. Maybe I should have. Let me know. It strikes me that the dems in Congress are feeling their oats.

Food fight: Cheese bacteria fight off viral attacks

Astronomers Explode a Virtual Star

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FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.

2 posted on 03/23/2007 1:15:40 AM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: neverdem
I find it odd that a government that would fund such artful expressions as feces painting and other such gutter trash in the field of liberal arts would come down so hard on someone who, at least at first appearance, has sweater blood and felt the pain of at least getting a real man's degree in either engineering or the science.

Then to look at the scumbags in DC idolizing the fabrication of global warming and their savior Al Whore is utterly disgusting. These people who took high school science and even boiled water would have to climb a thousand foot ladder to kiss the butt of anyone who goes into the retched field of engineering or science

Believe me, the current state of funding and the manner in which these people are treated will be looked upon in the future as the down fall of American competitiveness - then these nincompoops can pay the Chinese to boil water for them.
3 posted on 03/23/2007 1:36:15 AM PDT by Herakles (Diversity is code word for anti-white racism)
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To: neverdem

It's all about tearing down Purdue, bring it down to most other colleges level. Which is stink.


4 posted on 03/23/2007 3:37:23 AM PDT by Waco
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To: Waco

My opinion is that the congressman has gotten his marching orders from either the hot fusion crowd or enemies of Taleyharkin in his area of research (he has several in the fiels of cold fusion research). Frankly I don't know if there is anything to his research but it looks like it is being halted by accusations and investigations.


5 posted on 03/23/2007 4:18:12 AM PDT by saganite (Billions and billions and billions----and that's just the NASA budget!)
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To: neverdem

Why is it the federal government's job to make sure a university appropriately investigated a citizen who reported on research?

I suppose because the government gave them money for research -- but that begs the question, why is it the federal government's right to take my money and give it to a university for research?


6 posted on 03/23/2007 7:24:32 AM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: neverdem

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1800912/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=prius


7 posted on 03/23/2007 10:25:34 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (I last updated my profile on Sunday, March 11, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=coldfusion

New Evidence Supports Claim of Bubble Fusion (It's baaaack)
New Energy Times | Sep 10, '06 | Steven Krivit
Posted on 09/12/2006 4:05:40 PM EDT by saganite
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1700210/posts

"Eugenie Samuel Reich published a series of four articles in Nature which came as close as possible to accusing Purdue physicist Rusi Taleyarkhan of committing fraud without actually saying so... Reich's series of four stories in Nature was replete with innuendo and groundless speculation, building a house of cards on which to base the thesis that her journalistic investigation would lead to 'the end of bubble fusion.' The core of the Reich/Nature allegation was based on speculations made by physicist Seth Putterman and his associate Brian Naranjo at UCLA that an on-hand source of Californium-252 was responsible for the novel results claimed by Taleyarkhan... Taleyarkhan is far too experienced a scientist to make such a careless mistake: allowing contamination from on-hand source of Californium-252 to interfere with the results. The very clear implication was that Taleyarkhan had spiked his experiment intentionally."


8 posted on 03/23/2007 10:30:35 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (I last updated my profile on Sunday, March 11, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: neverdem

Whoops.


9 posted on 03/23/2007 10:31:20 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (I last updated my profile on Sunday, March 11, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv

Thanks for the links, especially the the info on the Prius.


10 posted on 03/23/2007 11:25:18 AM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: saganite

The movie is CHAIN REACTION. Obviously big oil/vested interests yanking on the Perdue chain. Sonofusion predates Taleyharkin and the ITER crowd is trying to smother the whole field of LENR in the cradle, although it's 18 years old now. Once it was blimps vs fixed wing planes, now it's CTNF vs LENR. History goes in cycles, yes?


11 posted on 03/23/2007 9:42:26 PM PDT by timer (n/0=n=nx0)
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To: neverdem

Heh... I zigged when I should have zagged, and plastered that into the wrong "posting comment" window.


12 posted on 03/23/2007 10:07:42 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (I last updated my profile on Sunday, March 11, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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