Watching the World
RARE STRAIN OF AIDS VIRUS
A second strain of AIDS virus found mainly in western Africa has appeared in several blood samples in New York City. Standard AIDS tests used in the United States fail to detect consistently the antibodies of the new strain, HIV-2. This causes uncertainty for two groups of people: those who show no infection by the standard AIDS test and those who operate blood banks, since they cannot be sure that donated blood is safe. Experts also believe that the new strain may remain “silent” in the body for a longer period before symptoms are noticed and may have the same epidemic potential as the first AIDS virus, HIV-1. According to The New York Times, HIV-1 “is estimated to have infected a million or more Americans, with 97,193 AIDS cases reported as of May 31, [1989,] of which 56,468 had died.”
COMPUTER CRIMES
More professional criminals are now relying on computers to carry out crimes like embezzlement and credit-card fraud. Security specialists report that in the United States some $555 million is lost each year to computer crime. Even law-enforcement employees and military personnel are included in the list of offenders. According to the National Center for Computer Crime Data in Los Angeles, reported crimes ranged from an attempt to steal $15 million to the theft of $10. However, money is not the only target of computer crime. With the help of computers, some have successfully stolen information and computer services and have maliciously altered computer data.
STREET CHILDREN
There are reportedly some one hundred million children living on the streets of the world. They eke out a meager living as street vendors, thieves, and beggars. According to Peter Tacon, executive director of a group set up to help these children around the world, many of them fall victim to the thriving child-sex trade and are exploited by organizations that cater to pedophiles. Tacon reckons that every day, some 5,000 new “candidates for the street” are born.
BURMA NOW NAMED MYANMAR
Myanmar is the new official name for the Southeast Asian country formerly known as Burma. In addition, the name of the country’s capital and largest city was changed from Rangoon to Yangon. These versions now match present usage in the Burmese language. The country’s new name was adopted by the United Nations on June 22, 1989.
SPAIN’S GAMBLING ADDICTION
Spanish officials are disturbed. Even though the country’s 22 casinos were built to cater to foreigners, officials found that only 10 percent of the money gambled in the casinos is from tourists. The remaining 90 percent now comes from the local population, which, according to a Gamblers Anonymous spokesman, may include 600,000 compulsive gamblers. The total cost of Spain’s gambling boom is around $24,000,000,000 annually, five times more than the country spends on education, reports The Financial Times of London. The technical secretary for Spain’s Gaming Commission, Santiago Mendioroz, stated: “There are still people out there who don’t realise that the gambler always loses.”
SEX EDUCATION FAILS
Have classroom sex-education programs succeeded in reducing teenage sexual activity and its resultant problems? To find out, five studies were conducted from 1980 to 1987 on the effect of such programs on high-school teenagers from various areas and backgrounds. “The sex-ed programs had no measurable impact on pregnancy rates, negligible effect on the use of birth-control methods and insignificant influence on teen-agers’ decisions about when to engage in their first sexual intercourse,” reports The New Jersey Herald. According to the researchers, “existing data suggest that a classroom course alone cannot be expected to change sexual behavior in a direction that is in opposition to the adolescent’s sexual world as it is molded by the television, motion picture, music and advertising industries, as well as peer group and adult role models.”
NO TATTOO, NO SCAR!
For centuries, technology for the satisfactory removal of tattoos has eluded researchers. In an attempt to remove an embarrassing tattoo, some have tried sandpapering, freezing, burning, and even rubbing salt into the tattoo to wear the skin away. Now The New York Times reports on a new laser treatment that can remove tattoos without leaving a scar. The treatment uses deep-red laser pulses that last 40,000 millionths of a second with a power level of 100 million watts. In most cases the procedure is performed without the use of local anesthesia. Patients claim the laser flashes cause no more pain than that produced by the snap of an elastic band.
BONES FROM THE SEA
The replacement of missing, damaged, or diseased facial bones often involves the use of grafts from other bones in the body. The procedure requires complicated surgery, with patients having to endure much pain and a prolonged healing period. What is more, the success of this method over the long term has often proved disappointing. However, Harvey Rosen, chief of plastic surgery at Pennsylvania Hospital, has apparently solved the problem by using sea coral instead of bone grafts. The mineral content of the chemically treated coral is almost the same as that of human bone. The Canadian magazine Equinox reports that biopsies taken a year after surgery have shown human bone and blood vessels actually living within the pores of the coral, making the implants resistant to infection.
TV LINKED WITH MURDER
Has television viewing contributed to the violence of society? A study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology analyzed three countries and concluded that it has. The study notes that 10 or 15 years after television was introduced in each of the countries, the rate of murders soared. Where television was introduced later, the violence rose later. “While television clearly is not the sole cause of violence in our society,” the author of the study observes about the United States, “hypothetically if television did not exist, there would be 10,000 fewer homicides a year.”
GROWING STEROID ABUSE
Stripping an athlete of his Olympic gold medal seems to have done little to deter anabolic steroid abuse in sports. In fact, steroid abuse has shown a “marked increase,” according to Gert Potgieter of the Sport Research Institute at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Being a sportsman himself and a gym owner, he sees constant use of steroids by athletes who hope to improve their appearance or athletic performance. Often the supplies are being dispensed without a murmur by doctors and pharmacists, he states. “Sport is no longer a physical achievement,” concludes Potgieter. “It has become a chemical achievement.”
RENT-A-GUEST
In addition to professional housecleaning and delivery services, a company in Japan also provides guests for a fee. The Wall Street Journal reported that these guests-for-rent are available as stand-ins for anything from weddings to funerals. In weddings, they can pose as the bride’s or the groom’s childhood classmate, an executive from their job, a relative from far away, or even as one of the parents. Reportedly, the company’s biggest job so far was a wedding for which it provided 60 of the bride’s 80 guests. The service costs between 15,000 and 25,000 yen per person (between $110 and $180, U.S.).
TORONTO’S NEW SKYDOME
“An enormous engineering marvel!” is the description being used for the new 500-million-dollar, air-conditioned stadium named SkyDome that recently opened in downtown Toronto, Canada. It has a seating capacity of 60,000 for sports events, concerts, and conventions. A retractable, four-section roof, 310 feet [94 m] above the playing field, is the latest wonder of modern technology. The largest section of the roof weighs 1,906 tons, yet the huge roof can open or close over an area of some eight acres [3.2 ha] in about 20 minutes. The SkyDome boasts the world’s largest video-display scoreboard, with a television screen 35 feet high [11 m] and 115 feet long [35 m]. The project involved some 5,000 workers and was completed in 32 months. The SkyDome is situated beside the CN Tower, the world’s tallest freestanding structure.