May 23, 2003

Scientist Proposes a Journey to the Earth's Core; Stanford Professor Objects to Self-Censorship

By RICHARD MONTASTERSKY

GETTING UNDER EARTH'S SKIN: Scientists reading the May 15 Nature might wonder if they picked up the movie listings by mistake. In the journal, David J. Stevenson, a professor of planetary science at the California Institute of Technology, proposes that billions of dollars be spent to send a probe into the earth's core by blasting open a hole with a few megatons of explosives -- a scenario that reads like a spinoff of the recent adventure movie The Core.

Mr. Stevenson titles his