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Watching the World

Hunger Woes

United Nations officials have rated Mozambique the third most hungry country in Africa. Local production of grains in 1986 were estimated to be less than 10 percent of what is needed to feed the nation’s 13 million inhabitants. A drought, which has persisted for the past four years, has been cited as a major factor contributing to the problem. However, the main cause for hunger in Mozambique is the civil war that has been ravaging the country for the past ten years, disrupting transport and even water supplies. Officials claim that five million inhabitants of the country are “in immediate danger of starvation.”

Australia’s “Superpig”

Australian scientists have produced “superpigs” by implanting into pig embryos DNA genetic material that actually controls how they grow. Though normal in size, the pigs will grow at least 20 percent faster and produce more meat with less fat. The scientists claim that this genetic breakthrough will give characteristics to livestock that farmers have been trying to breed into them for centuries, notes The Weekend Australian. The advantage over natural breeding, they point out, is that this enables them to introduce desirable characteristics into an animal without “unknown junk genes” being transferred to offspring. Their success with pigs through genetic breeding has prompted future hopes of disease-resistant livestock, cows producing more milk, and sheep that have quick-growing wool. Scientists believe the possibilities are endless.

Camels for Morocco

Recent droughts in Morocco have almost decimated the stock of camels, forcing the government to replenish their dwindling stock. Surprisingly, a plentiful supply awaits them in the Australian outback. Why Australia? In the 1860’s, camels were brought to South Australia from India because they were suitably adapted to the climate and soil of the country. Though highly useful during the early development of the harsh Australian interior, these “ships of the desert” were abandoned with the development of motor transport. Eventually many were set free in the inland areas and have multiplied into the thousands in the ideal arid conditions of central Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald Magazine says the Moroccan government has plans to purchase 2,000 camels per year for the next five years. The sale of the camels will provide a source of revenue to the Aboriginal community that, at present, is almost totally dependent on the Australian government.

Natural Fertilizer

Lightning-produced nitric acid helps yield more produce than regular fertilizers, conclude scientists at the Institute of Geology, Geophysics, and Mineral Raw Materials in Novosibirsk, U.S.S.R. In one test, researchers grew two plots of tomatoes, one fertilized in the normal way and the other watered with a weak nitric-acid solution equivalent to the amount found in thunderstorm rain. On comparing the yields, what did they find? Up to 50 percent more tomatoes from the plot of ground treated with nitric acid. Growing oats, wheat, and cucumbers in this way met with similar success. “The best yields,” reports The Times of London, “were from soils that had never been fertilized.”

Seaweed First Aid

For hundreds of years, seafarers have used seaweed for dressing wounds. Its healing properties have proved so effective that many have termed it the “sailor’s cure.” According to The Weekend Australian, scientists have now developed a means to convert brown seaweed into fibers that can be used as a dressing for cuts and other wounds. They claim many advantages for this dressing. It forms a protective gel that keeps the wound moist during healing. The dressing can be left undisturbed for a long time. In fact, in most cases it needs to be removed only when the scab that forms over the wound is ready to come off. If frequent dressing changes are required, the protective gel prevents any damage to the healing tissue. Seaweed also acts quickly to control bleeding and could be a welcome addition for hospitals when emergency treatment is given.

Unknown Species

A previously unidentified species of parrot living in a mountain forest in Ecuador has recently been discovered by an ornithologist from the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, reports The New York Times. This small, newly discovered bird is predominately green in color, with red and blue patches on its wings. It is capped with a distinctive red crown and has a maroon tail. Until this find, most ornithologists had believed that all parrot species in the Americas had been discovered and classified. The last discovery of an unknown species of parrot was in 1914, claim museum officials. No name, as yet, has been given the nontalking parrot.

Close Calls

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has cited a record 777 cases when aircraft almost collided in midair last year. This was 31.9 percent more than the incidents reported in 1984. An additional 24 near-collisions occurred on the ground. Part of the rise was due to a new and more accurate reporting system, the agency said. Near-collisions are defined as incidents in which a hazard exists between aircraft because of being less than 500 feet (150 m) apart or when reported as such by a pilot. The largest portion, 518 cases, involved military aircraft or private planes. There were 35 cases involving two scheduled passenger airlines, 205 cases involving a passenger airline and private or military aircraft, and 19 undefined incidents.

Astounding Flight

The short-tailed shearwaters, or mutton birds, are profound travelers. In 1949 some of these birds were selected and banded. One bird rebanded in November 1985 was first banded in 1950, indicating it was now over 35 years old! The little bird was still laying eggs and still flying its annual migratory passage. The yearly migration route is from Tasmania off Australia’s southeastern tip to the Bering Sea, north of Japan. The bird’s 35 migratory round-trips total over 650,000 miles (1,050,000 km). Comparing this to a maximum round-trip to the moon of 505,400 miles (813,400 km), our feathered friend has apparently outflown the astronauts!

AIDS Raids

Two Australian men, each in a separate incident, were involved in similar holdups using a syringe as their weapon. Claiming to have AIDS, these men apparently threatened to inject their victims with the deadly virus-carrying blood if the money they demanded was not handed over. Alarmed over the possibility of a rash of future AIDS holdups, one police spokesman explained: “In many ways it is more effective than using a gun as people are scared by the slow form of death caused by the AIDS virus.” He then added: “It is a sick way of cashing in on a deadly disease.”

Public Recognition

“Patrick Joseph Burke eluded Federal marshals for five years after he disappeared in 1981, when he was on probation for distributing cocaine,” says The New York Times. “Then he took a bit part in a nationally televised miniseries.” Rosetta Anderle, a county sheriff, noted his face on her TV screen and matched it with a “Wanted” poster that had been sent to all Colorado sheriffs. Mr. Burke was located at work and arrested on the main street of the town where the film had been made.

Catholics Show Decline

The Catholic Church showed a 7.7-percent decline in the number of U.S. converts from 1983 to 1985, according to the Official Catholic Directory. Citing statistics, Alvin Illig, the director of the Paulist National Catholic Evangelization Association, noted that the number of converts nation wide went from 95,346 in 1983 to 87,996 in 1985. He explains: “Obviously those of us in leadership positions in primary evangelization in the United States have failed . . . to raise practical interest among our Catholic people in the evangelization of the 80 million unchurched Americans.” For this, he adds, U.S. Catholics “should be ashamed.”

Updated Figures

Our Galaxy is 25 percent smaller than we thought previously, scientists say. Using a new technique that involves advanced geometry, the international team of astronomers has determined that the diameter of the Milky Way’s 200 billion stars is some 70,000 light-years. Our sun and its planets are now placed 23,000 light-years from the center of the galaxy​—much closer than previously thought.

Also, the speed of sound in air is almost a half mile per hour slower than previously measured. It was set at 741.5 miles per hour, or 331.45 meters per second, after the sound barrier was smashed in 1947. But in an effort to calibrate microphones accurately, senior research officer George S. K. Wong, of the National Research Council of Canada, uncovered a calculation error made in 1942 that crept through scientific literature unchallenged. The new figure given is 741.1 miles per hour, or 331.29 meters per second.

Tree-Moving

“Don’t fell trees, transplant them!” is the slogan of a German company that specializes in transplanting fully grown trees. It points out that trees provide many benefits: They purify the air, their leaves trap dust and soot, and a fully grown tree can provide the oxygen requirements of 64 people. Additionally, they absorb noise, provide shade, and regulate temperature. The company has developed machinery and techniques to move trees from one location to another​—even while the trees are in full leaf in midsummer—​with a claimed 95-percent success rate. “Trees up to a century old, with trunks one to two metres [3.3 to 6.6 ft] in [circumference] and weighing up to 30 tonnes, can be transplanted,” says The German Tribune. However, some types of trees fare better than others, and suitable locations, aftercare, and trimming must be provided to ensure survival.