Gamma Rays

You can skip this column. I'm sure you have more important things to do. You don't need to waste your valuable time reading about how MILLIONS OF PEOPLE, POSSIBLY INCLUDING YOU, RECENTLY WERE ALMOST KILLED BY A GIANT SPACE ROCK AND THERE ARE MORE COMING AND NOBODY IS DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT. Excuse me for going into CAPS LOCK mode, but I am a little upset here. In case you didn't hear about it, which you probably didn't: On Jan. 7, an asteroid 1,000 feet across -- nearly three times the current diameter of Marlon Brando -- barely missed the Earth, which is most likely your planet of residence.

As part of a major effort to protect U.S. ports from terrorists, Maryland terminals were awarded $5.5 million yesterday to make improvements, from installing a fingerprint identity system to more secure fencing. The federal government has ordered public and private terminals at the nation's 360 ports to take extensive measures to shore up all entry points and to more closely monitor workers, cargo and vessels. The Coast Guard has estimated the cost of doing that at more than $7 billion.

Astronomers around the world are pointing their telescopes toward the expected appearance of a new supernova - the explosion of a massive and very distant star. The excitement follows the detection Feb.17 of an unprecedented blast of high-energy radiation, called a gamma ray burst, from a galaxy 440 million light-years from Earth. Gamma ray bursts, or GRBs, are observed about once a day. But astronomers trace almost all of them to the extreme depths of the universe, billions of light years away.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Two high-profile E. coli outbreaks this year have some in the food business wondering - once again - if it's time to go nuclear. For decades, many food safety experts have argued that irradiation - zapping food with high-energy rays to kill microorganisms - could avert hundreds of deaths and perhaps millions of illnesses each year. But for just as long, federal regulators and food retailers have been leery of bringing the technology to market. Despite exhaustive reviews by federal scientists and endorsements by public health and medical groups around the world, irradiation by its very name conjures up images that are anything but wholesome: nuclear fallout, for one. That imagery, combined with some lingering uncertainties about irradiation's effects on food, has helped grass-roots activists make a potent case against it. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved irradiation as a disinfectant for a limited range of foods, including spices and ground beef.

Too little parking downtown at too great a costThere is a lot of talk about saving the downtown business district. Perhaps the city of Baltimore should take a hint from Santa Monica, Calif., where abundant parking is readily available and you can shop downtown for three hours and pay only about $2 to park.I can't run a 10-minute errand in downtown Baltimore without paying between $2 and $5, and if I want to shop, sightsee or go to a movie it will be $10 for sure. Downtown needs to be accessible if it is to survive and thrive.

Assignment Discovery Friday, 9 a.m. Discovery "Biomes: The Threat of the Sea." The threat of global warming makes the Arctic particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels. Trail scientists who are studying the effects of rising waters, and learn from the residents who are struggling to save their land. Raging Planet Saturday, 2 p.m., 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Discovery "Tidal Wave." Emerging from deep water at only one or two feet high, tidal waves can stretch 600 miles from crest to crest and can climb to a height of 500 feet by the time they reach land.

THIRTY YEARS AGO this month, a man from Ohio took a walk on the moon. When Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, the eyes and ears of the folks back home on Earth followed his every bouncy step and static-laced word. On that night of triumph for imagination, bravery and technological skill, we could thrill to the idea that humankind was beginning a grand new adventure.By contrast, today's manned spaceflight program seems boringly routine. Few Americans notice the many launches that occur each year.

CD release party Landspeedrecord! celebrates the release of its new CD tomorrow at the Ottobar. The amBiguousCITY! Records act will party down after Bobby Colorado and the Ultimate Late-Night Partiers, Whiskey at the Wake, the Medications and the No Class Heroes whoop it up. Doors open at 9 p.m. The Ottobar is at 2549 N. Howard St. Call 410-662-0069 or visit www.theottobar.com. Jam master Jam master Steve Kimock and his band will play tomorrow at the Funk Box. The guitarist and Pennsylvania native will rip it up around 10 p.m. Doors open at 9 p.m. Tickets are $21. The Funk Box is at 10 E. Cross St. Call 410-625-2000 or visit www.thefunkbox.

Don't expect much in the way of simpler cinematic pleasures over the next few months: Summer 2003 is shaping up as a pulse-pounding, heart-stopping, slam-bang action-thriller kind of season, with superheroes, super villains and even a super horse vying for their share of the megaplex dollar. Fans of more restrained fare may want to keep an eye on the Charles and Rotunda Cinematheque theaters, whose fluid schedules make most anything possible. For the rest of you, here are 10 films to watch for this summer, listed by release date: 1. Finding Nemo (Friday)

Astronomers who chose their profession for the romance of cold, starry nights under an observatory dome may soon find they're making even more of their discoveries seated at their office computers. The National Science Foundation has launched a five-year, $10 million project to develop a National Virtual Observatory that will enable scientists, teachers and students to study the stars and galaxies at warp speed, by gazing into the vast data archives of the world's top observatories. "The same work could be done now, but it might take a scientist 10 years to reach a certain result," said Eileen Friel, who heads the science foundation's astronomy division.