Watching the World
Marriage or Cohabitation?
It is becoming more and more common in some lands for couples to live together before or instead of marriage. So much so, warns the New Zealand Herald, that “marriage could become irrelevant in Europe.” In Sweden and Denmark, the paper reports, statistics suggest that only half of the women will get married. In the rest of Europe, about one third are now projected to remain unmarried. Yet, studies have shown that cohabitation prior to marriage does not ensure a quality marriage, as was once thought. A recent report in the Journal of Marriage and the Family found that “couples who cohabited before marriage reported lower quality marriages, lower commitment to the institution of marriage, . . . and greater likelihood of divorce than couples who did not cohabit.”
Scientists Suspect Their Peers
How prevalent is scientific fraud? The world’s largest general scientific society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, recently sent surveys on this subject to 1,500 members. Of the 469 scientists who responded, 27 percent “believe they have encountered or witnessed fabricated, falsified, or plagiarized research over the past 10 years,” according to Science magazine. Only 2 percent believe that fraud is on the decline; 37 percent feel that it is on the rise. Of those who had encountered fraud, 27 percent said they had done nothing about it, and only 2 percent had publicly challenged the data they suspected as phony. As to the causes of all the fraud, the scientists listed many, such as the fierce competition to publish findings first and obtain government grants and public recognition.
Shark Shock!
An effective shark repellent has long been sought. Shark nets, apart from being ecologically damaging to endangered sea creatures such as dolphins and turtles, require maintenance, especially following severe storms. However, it appears that a breakthrough has been made in the form of an electromagnetic shark repellent. Norman Wynne of the Natal Sharks Board in South Africa explains: “We found that [sharks] were extremely sensitive to an electromagnetic field of a particular frequency.” Tests involving 250 contacts with sharks showed that in each case sharks were repelled by the new deterrent. It appears that the device is harmless to other forms of sea life. The product, which will shortly be marketed, is small enough to be worn on a belt or fitted onto a surfboard.
Useful Tobacco?
Considering all the deaths that come from its misuse, does tobacco have a beneficial use? According to an article published in the South African journal Endangered Wildlife, it might. Tobacco can be used as a natural pesticide. A boiled solution of ground tobacco and soap sprayed on crops kills caterpillars, flies, and mites. Brushed on the hides of sheep, cattle, and goats, the solution effectively eliminates ticks. The article does, however, present this sobering warning: “This tobacco solution is a strong natural poison. On no account should people or animals drink it. Do not keep quantities around the house. Crops sprayed with it should not be harvested for at least 4 days after spraying and should be washed thoroughly with clean water before eating.”
Breast-feeding Benefits
Premature weaning is a main cause of infant mortality in the developing world, according to the Brazilian magazine Superinteressante. Half of Brazil’s mothers stop breast-feeding in the second month rather than continuing at least until the sixth month. The magazine adds: “Without an immunological inheritance and subjected to precarious sanitary conditions, children die of diseases that they would have been able to overcome if they had been breast-fed.” Pediatrician José Martins Filho claims: “Only five out of a hundred women are unable to breast-feed because of physical problems.”
Doctors’ Favorite Patients
Doctors in Toyama, Japan, have drawn up a list of the types of patients they find hard to treat. They dislike patients who leave all the talking to whoever accompanies them, those who needlessly ask for help outside of office hours, those who disobey instructions, those of prominent social standing who are arrogant and hostile, those who think they know as much or more than doctors, and those who go from one doctor to another without trusting any. The Daily Yomiuri quoted Dr. Kaoru Oyama of Toyama’s Saino Hospital as saying: “Doctors are not gods. Our best patients are those who motivate us to do our best work on them, by being open and communicating with us, and by following our directions and instructions.”
Cambodian Malaria Threat
Twenty years of war have left the Cambodian countryside strewed with millions of land mines. An even greater threat, though, comes from a new strain of malaria that is resistant to the usual drugs. According to the Cambodian health ministry, malaria is killing an estimated 15 to 25 people a day—ten times the number of land-mine victims. The World Health Organization fears that the disease may spread not only through tropical Southeast Asia but also around the world. About 16,000 UN peacekeeping troops are assigned to the area, and it is feared that when they return home, some will be carrying the new parasite in their blood, which will then be transmitted by mosquitoes to more victims. Also threatened are the 360,000 Cambodian refugees who will return home from camps in Thailand. Most effective against the new strain are quinine and tetracycline. But both drugs, along with trained staff and transport, are in short supply in Cambodia, and people are dying for lack of proper treatment.
Injured Instead of Cured
About 6,000 religious pilgrims flocked to a Roman Catholic shrine near Denver, Colorado, U.S.A., last December after a woman reported that the Virgin Mary had appeared to her there. Some of the pilgrims stared directly into the sun in hopes of glimpsing the Virgin. Dozens suffered eye damage, and ophthalmologists report that in a number of cases, the damage is severe and permanent. Said one woman affected: “Did you ever hear of people going to Jesus for a miracle and coming away crippled?” Denver’s Archbishop J. Francis Stafford urged the “Christian faithful” not to participate in future gatherings associated with private revelations. He warned against “superficial sentiment and vain credulity.”
French Bishops Compromised?
A report accusing the “hierarchy of France’s Roman Catholic Church of fully supporting the pro-Nazi government of Vichy France” has been made public after 48 years, says the International Herald Tribune of Paris. The report is said to have been written in 1944 by a Jesuit theologian who later became a cardinal. It calls the compromises made by the majority of the French bishops during the Nazi occupation of France “a scandal.” The report says in part: “The church seemed satisfied, despite justice being violated everywhere, consciences tortured and Christian values swept away. . . . The Church in France appeared in the eyes of everyone to profit odiously from an odious situation.” The Tribune concludes: “Nearly 50 years after the war, France is only beginning to deal with the behavior of the Church during the German occupation.”
Out-of-Wedlock Children
The percentage of children born to unwed parents has more than doubled in France since 1981, says a report by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. Today, every third child there is born out of wedlock. This, according to the Paris daily Le Monde, gives France the second-highest percentage of illegitimate births in the European Community. First is Denmark, where half of all children are born out of wedlock. However, unlike in years past, more and more illegitimate births in France are apparently the result of planned rather than unplanned pregnancies. Brigitte Rabin, author of the report, feels that this trend indicates that having out-of-wedlock children has become socially acceptable for many. Thus, with the stigma removed, more and more women are remaining single—yet choosing to raise a family.
A Worldwide Supergovernment
Some environmental disasters, such as the poisonous radioactive cloud released by the Chernobyl reactor accident, frustrate governments because they spread across national borders, making them impossible for any one government to control. Thus, according to the Italian daily Il Sole-24 ore, the Italian minister for the environment suggested: “A world government for the environment is no utopia, especially if specific responsibilities . . . are assigned to it.”
Age and Memory Loss
Is old age synonymous with forgetfulness? Many people think that it is. This idea is now challenged by research conducted in Italy and summarized in Corriere Salute. The tests involved about a thousand subjects between the ages of 20 and 70. The results showed that the reason for the apparent decline of memory may be loss of self-confidence by the elderly. For example, if a youth forgets, no attention is paid to age. However, if an elderly person forgets, then age becomes the culprit. Thus, forgetfulness may be wrongly associated with aging. In other words, often “our estimate of our own memory is closely related to our anxieties, and in the end, all that we really need is just to be reassured.” The survey also concluded that even though an elderly person does not learn as fast as a youngster, age is no handicap in recalling subjects studied in the past.