Watching the World
No Medical “Fountain of Youth”
According to geriatrician Andréa Prates, taking fad medicines to preserve youth, such as certain hormones, may “bring one benefit or another but may also do much damage to your health.” In the battle against aging, “new habits are more efficient than new medicine,” advises Dr. Prates. Good habits that may increase longevity, notes Brazil’s Superinteressante magazine, include getting adequate sleep, maintaining a calm disposition, stretching and doing moderate exercise, exerting oneself mentally, and avoiding fats. It is also important to take in vitamins and minerals, which are found in fruits and vegetables. Aging involves all the cells in the body, and a single substance cannot simultaneously benefit all the body’s diverse organs.
First Clone of an Adult Mammal
Researchers in Scotland startled the world in late February with the announcement that they had produced a cloned lamb from the DNA of an adult sheep. Though the cloning of embryonic cells has been done for years, until now the producing of a genetic twin of an adult mammal was thought by many scientists to be impossible. The researchers said that, in theory, the same technique could be applied to humans also—that the DNA of a cell taken from an adult could be used to produce a genetically identical, though younger, twin. However, according to the International Herald Tribune, Ian Wilmut, the scientist who led the project, considers the idea ethically unacceptable. The World Health Organization concurs, opposing human cloning as being an ‘extreme form of experimentation,’ reports The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Watch That Stress!
“Millions of Brazilians spend their days fighting with stress,” reports Veja magazine. Many of these may believe that working for long periods at peak performance is a measure of their efficiency, but this attitude can be unhealthy. “A worker performs well when he is subjected to reasonable stress, but he achieves his maximum productivity when he, without knowing it, has already passed the limit,” explains Dr. Marilda Lipp of the Pontifical Catholic University. “Under heavy tension, the human being performs wonderfully for a while. Then, he just collapses.” Those who find it difficult to delegate responsibility suffer greater strain, says the report. The greatest stress falls upon those who, in Dr. Lipp’s words, “have difficulty in expressing their feelings, who tend to explode in moments of tension and then make an effort to be gentle and well mannered.”
Electronic Chicks
Electronic chicks became a national fad in Japan, reported Asahi Evening News earlier this year. The egg-shaped toy has a screen that displays images of a chick at various stages of growth. Push a button, and after five minutes a baby chick breaks out of its shell. The “chick” then beeps to get the owner to “feed” it and care for its other needs by pressing various buttons. It may beep at any time, even during the night. Failure to respond can lead to the chick’s early “death.” In any case, after a week or so, the chick dies. The toy can then be reprogrammed so that a new chick, with a different personality, is “born.” Some reportedly feel as attached to their digital chick as they would to a child. One doctor even said about his chick: “I was sadder when it died than when one of my patients died.”
Child Exploitation
“About two million children world-wide are believed to be victims of the sex trade,” says the ENI Bulletin. Such organized child abuse, already widespread in parts of Asia, is now on the increase in the Americas. Rodrigo Quintana, a specialist with the Inter-American Institute of the Child, stated that the past decade has seen this problem grow phenomenally in Latin America. Statistics cited by Quintana indicate that tens of thousands of minors in countries throughout Latin America are now employed as prostitutes.
Plume of Antimatter Discovered
Astrophysicists recently discovered what appears to be a 3,500-light-year-long plume of antimatter streaming out of the core of our galaxy, the Milky Way, reports The New York Times. Antimatter consists of atomic particles that are exactly like normal matter except that they have opposite electrical charges. Contact with particles of ordinary matter results in mutual annihilation and releases powerful gamma rays having a specific energy. Scientists identified the plume as antimatter by tuning the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory satellite to that energy level. As for the effect of the plume, “the astrophysicists said it did not threaten Earth, just their image of the galaxy.”
Elephant Repellent
“In Asia, elephants destroy thousands of dollars’ worth of crops each year,” says Cambridge University zoologist Loki Osborn. As reported in New Scientist magazine, elephants in Africa are also increasingly drawn to this source of food. Traditionally, farmers have tried to scare the animals away by beating drums or throwing stones. Many invading elephants have also been shot, says Osborn, “but this does little to reduce crop damage.” Osborn and an inventor believe that they have found a better tool: a spray can containing about two pounds [1 kg] of chili pepper and oil that can be shot into the area near the elephant by a compressed-air launcher. He notes that an elephant’s long nose is one of the most sensitive in the animal kingdom. During tests in Zimbabwe, “the elephants would first freeze, then blow their noses before leaving quickly.” The chili causes no permanent harm, the report says.
Secondhand Smoke Is Deadly
“More than 50,000 deaths per year from heart and artery disease are brought on by exposure to secondhand smoke,” the smoke from other people’s tobacco use, says a report in the U.S. magazine Good Housekeeping. In addition, nonsmokers who regularly spend time in a smoking environment run a particularly high risk of developing bronchitis and pneumonia and run an increased risk of various types of cancer. The unpleasant smell that lingers in a room for days after someone has smoked there is not considered dangerous. However, “smoke-filled rooms can have up to six times more air pollution than a busy highway,” the article stated. It also said that “one of every eight deaths caused by smoking tobacco is a result of exposure to secondhand smoke.”
The Plant of the Future?
Bamboo was bountiful all around the equator before colonizers cut it down to make way for farmland, says The UNESCO Courier. In Africa alone, there are 1,500 varieties of bamboo. The plant has many and varied uses. Possessing a higher tensile strength than steel, it is an excellent construction material. Some three-story bamboo buildings in Colombia are over a hundred years old and are still in use. Bamboo is also useful for piping, for fuel, and for many other applications. Bamboo shoots even find their way into Chinese and Japanese cooking. Bamboo’s remarkable virtues may have been underestimated in the past. But its useful qualities and rapid growth—it reaches maturity in only five years—are moving some to view it in a new light, as “the renewable plant of the future.”
Roaches Linked to Childhood Asthma
A five-year study for the U.S. National Institutes of Health is blaming cockroaches for the soaring incidence of asthma among inner-city children, reports the New York Daily News. Of 1,528 asthmatic children who were studied in seven cities, 37 percent were strongly allergic to the roaches. Those who had the allergy and were exposed to high roach levels in their bedrooms were three times as likely to need hospitalization as other asthmatic children. Dr. David Rosenstreich, head of the study, encouraged fighting the roaches with roach traps, insecticides, boric acid, and thorough cleaning. Vacuuming the entire home helps to eliminate roach droppings contained in dust, he said. “You have to remove any sources of food and water,” adds Dr. Rosenstreich, “especially water leaks or drips. Roaches must drink to survive.”