Here’s an amazing demonstration of the cluelessness and credulity of reporters, particularly when it comes to NASA and space:

With the cost of gas hovering between $2 and $3 a gallon and the oil supply declining, scientists at NASA have discovered a potential new energy source — helium-3.

When combined with water, the element creates energy.

Just add water? What a breakthrough! Guess we don’t have to figure out how to do that complicated fusion thing.

Grigsby said he also plans to discuss NASA’s other creations, including the ion motor. It’s an engine that accelerates so quickly in space, picking up speed as it moves, that it creates artificial gravity.

A high-acceleration ion drive? Another breakthrough!

And of course, we get the usual spinoff argument.

Grigsby said most Americans don’t understand the importance of NASA. It’s more than space travel, he said.

“The problems we solve in space have a direct spinoff on people,” he said.

Well, actually, maybe not that usual:

Even tennis shoes, with their rubber soles, are partly a NASA creation. Before the 1960s, shoes were all leather and, often, not comfortable.

Wow. Tang, teflon and tennis shoes! Who knew?

Guess those old Converses I wore before we got to the moon were a figment of my imagination. Or maybe I just forgot about the leather soles–it’s been so long, after all.