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Watching the World

AIDS and Breast Milk

It is acknowledged that the AIDS virus can be passed to an infant through its mother’s breast milk. Knowing this raises some concerns for a group of mothers who do not themselves have AIDS. Why? Because many hospitals have milk banks that accept breast-milk donations. This milk is then supplied to mothers who have an inadequate supply of their own milk or who for any other reason are unable to feed their baby themselves. Additionally, such donated milk is often used in hospitals to feed premature babies. However, since it does not appear that any testing is done to determine whether donated breast milk may contain the AIDS virus, mothers could inadvertently expose their infant to the AIDS virus in the event the milk obtained is from an infected donor.

Biodegradable Plastic Film

Plastics pollute our seas, forests, and cities. However, chemists Felix H. Otey and Richard F. Westhoff have recently succeeded in producing a plastic film that is biodegradable. Working in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s laboratory in Peoria, Illinois, these scientists have combined cornstarch molecules with plastic molecules for strength to make a sturdy plastic film. They claim that exposure to the dampness and warmth of soil will decompose the starch in the film, and as a result, the small fragments of plastic left will eventually be digested by bacteria in the soil.

Toad Tunnel

The festivities marked the opening of Britain’s newest tunnel. As photographers and the press covered the occasion, some words of the English author Kipling were read, and a ribbon across the opening was ceremoniously cut by Lord Skelmersdale, the Government’s Under Secretary of the Environment. He had to kneel down to do so, since the mouth of the tunnel was only six inches wide. It was built so toads could cross under the Henley roadway. Each year, during the mating season, some 20 tons of them are killed by British drivers as the toads cross roads to reach their spring breeding ponds. So successful was the tunnel that others have sought information for their particular animal road-crossing problems.

Homicidal Robot

A robot suddenly activated a lathe and killed a factory worker in Japan. The cause? An electromagnetic wave that originated from an electric spark from a crane. This 1982 incident was disclosed in a recent study by a Japanese Posts and Telecommunications Ministry council on “electronic smog.” Sources of “electronic smog,” or unwanted electromagnetic waves, are everywhere: personal computers, TV game machines, and boosters for TV antennas, to name just a few. However, such unwanted electromagnetic waves are said to cause malfunctions by interfering with integrated circuits in high-tech control systems. Robots in Japan have killed ten persons in the last eight years. It is suspected that in six of those cases electromagnetic waves were involved.

Bread, Wine, or . . .

This year, some East Germans attending the Eucharist (Communion) at Easter were surprised. Next to the traditional bread and wine provided on this occasion, some of the Lutheran and United Churches now also offered an alternative drink: grape juice. Why the juice? “To accommodate alcoholics and others not wishing to drink alcohol,” comments the Geneva-based Ecumenical Press Service.

A Scientist Speaks Out

“I get more intellectual satisfaction in accepting there is a God than merely accepting that it (we) happened by chance,” stated Dr. Louw Alberts, according to the Cape Times, a newspaper of South Africa. Alberts, a physicist who discovered giant magnetostriction (changes in dimensions because of magnetism) in rare earth metals, also expressed his view of the Bible. “The Bible is the written word of God, science is the reading of the created work. Both have the same author​—God.”

Fibrocystic Cure?

Up to 80 percent of today’s women are afflicted with fibrocystic breast disease, reports Dimensions, a Canadian magazine. The disorder thickens milk duct linings and forms painful cysts. However, since 1971 Dr. William Ghent of Queens University in Ontario, in collaboration with Dr. Bernard Eskin of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has been experimenting with elemental iodine to treat the disease, with a considerable measure of success. Their results showed that of the 315 fibrocystic women treated, 75 percent of the sufferers returned to normal and only 2 percent of the total did not improve. Some relatively minor side effects, however, were noted among a small percentage of the women treated. The good news, according to Dr. Ghent, is that many women would not need this therapy if they included more iodine in their regular diet. Supporting this is the fact that New York City reports twice as much fibrocystic breast disease among women as does Tokyo, where women eat more iodine-rich foods.

Plane Collides With Fish

Shortly after it took off from Alaska’s Juneau Airport, a Boeing 737 jetliner with 40 passengers aboard collided with a salmon in midair. According to the flight crew, the fish was being carried aloft by a bald eagle. When startled by the plane, the eagle dropped the fish, which struck a window at the top of the cockpit. The plane was delayed for an hour at its next stop so that it could be inspected for damage. “We’ve hit moose (on runways); we’ve hit deer, and we’ve hit various and sundry things,” says Jerry Kvasnikoff, customer service manager for Alaska Airlines, “but we’ve never hit a fish before.”

Energy From Ocean Waves

Could ocean waves be an important energy source of the future? Australia’s Minister for Minerals and Energy, Mr. Parker, thinks so and has authorized Wave Power International, a newly formed company, to construct a power station at Esperance in Western Australia, to generate electricity by waves. The large generator will rise above sea level by about 23 feet and will measure approximately 66 feet in diameter. The operation of the generator, as explained in the newspaper The West Australian, requires good ocean waves year round. A float inside a concrete structure that uses air pressure to control the seawater level is lifted to create a pumping force. Water is then drawn to the top of the tower and generates power when it falls. It is estimated that about 20 percent of the power needs for Esperance and the surrounding district will be met by this pollution-free method of generating electricity.

“Paper Food”

“Our aim was to produce highly nourishing, easy-to-carry, easy-to-eat food,” declared Eiji Miyazaki, a Japanese industrialist, when introducing his edible card to which he has given a French name. According to the French weekly L’Express, this food specialist has succeeded in cramming into a half-ounce bar, about the size of a credit card, the same amount of calories as in a complete meal. This discovery is of interest to such people as mountaineers wishing to “transport a maximum of calories in a minimum of space” or to truck drivers wishing to save the time needed to eat at roadside diners. L’Express does not expect this to be a big hit in France. The reason? Although there are 14 flavors, the French magazine finds they taste a little too much like the French name given to the product​—“Papier”!