Earlier this summer, a scientific journal stopped publication of a paper on the safety of the nation's milk supply at the government's request. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security were concerned that information in the paper could be useful to people plotting acts of terrorism. This week, the paper was finally published, after a more extensive review process. Bruce Alberts, President of the National Academy of Sciences, wrote that "we can detect no other information in this article important for a terrorist that is not already immediately available to anyone who has access to information from the World Wide Web." In this hour, Ira talks with one of the paper's authors about his findings, and about the dividing line between science and security.

Then, we'll turn our attention overseas, to Cadarache, France. This week, representatives of an international experimental fusion project announced that location, near Aix-en-Provence, France, would be the eventual site of the massive science project, building a working fusion reactor capable of producing 500 MW of fusion power. The organizers say the effort would be the experimental step between current studies of plasma physics and practical electricity-producing fusion power plants. The researchers hope to conduct their first fusion reactions in the facility in 2016. We'll talk with a representative from the US wing of the international collaboration.

Finally, we'll look back at the invention of the computer chip. This week, memorial services were held for Jack Kilby, a Nobel laureate credited with the invention of the integrated circuit, who recently died at the age of 81. We'll talk about the early days of Silicon Valley, and the pioneering work of inventors like Kilby and Robert Noyce, co-founder of Intel, who invented the process through which most practical integrated circuits are made. Call in with your questions and comments at 1-800-989-8255 (2-3 Eastern). Teachers, find more information about using Science Friday as a classroom resource in the Kids' Connection.

Guests:
Lawrence M. Wein
Paul E. Holden Professor of Management Science
Graduate School of Business
Stanford University
Stanford, CA

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Ned R. Sauthoff
Project Manager, U.S. ITER Project
DOE Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ

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Leslie Berlin
Author, "The Man Behind the Microchip: Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley" (Oxford University Press, 2005)
Project Historian for the Silicon Valley Archives
Visiting Scholar in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology
Stanford University
Stanford, CA

Books/Articles Discussed:

"Analyzing a bioterror attack on the food supply: The case of botulinum toxin in milk" by Lawrence M. Wein and Yifan Liu. PNAS, published June 28, 2005, 10.1073/pnas.0408526102

"The Man Behind the Microchip: Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley," by Leslie Berlin. Oxford University Press, 2005.

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This segment produced by Charles Bergquist