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Watching the World

Children at Risk

Parents who value the mental and emotional health of their children should protect them from damaging TV programs, warns Dr. Gerard Lesser, a world authority on child psychology. According to Lesser, immature young minds cannot filter out fiction from reality in what they see on TV. The report in the Evening Herald of Dublin notes: “Comic violence and hard-sell techniques linked to TV adverts and children’s programmes like space cartoons are an equal outrage to the soft-spoken expert.” He warned that a daily diet of television violence and killing can be like taking the children for a walk through the streets of Belfast or Beirut.

Magnetic Fluctuations

The earth’s magnetic field is constantly subject to disturbances by the sun’s radiation. Solar flares and magnetic storms caused by sunspots can give rise to compass errors of several degrees. Thus, daily monitoring of magnetic headings could provide a warning of any serious deviations for air and sea navigation. Forecasts of magnetic activity are being prepared by geophysicists at the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh, Scotland, for potential industrial, commercial, and military applications. The Times of London quotes Dr. David Kerridge, a member of the Edinburgh research group, as saying that “electrical currents induced by magnetic field variations could cause damage or interference to telephone lines, television cables, electronic devices, power lines and automatic railway signals.”

Diagnosed Too Late

The “ancient Egyptians were subject to most of the same diseases and injuries that plague modern man,” says The Wall Street Journal. How is this known? “By using CT (computed tomography) scanners. The scanners take cross-sectional views [of wrapped mummies] like slices from a loaf of bread, which computers reconstruct as a three-dimensional image of the mummy inside.” Unwrapping the mummies and doing autopsies meant destruction for them. And X rays, while working well for bones, did not project sharp images of softer body tissues. By means of the scan, the doctors have diagnosed tumors, gallstones, diabetes, hardening of the arteries, parasites, bone fractures, and other ailments. But “for these patients,” says the Journal, “diagnoses are made 3,000 years too late.”

Bigger Waves

Waves in the northeast Atlantic are getting bigger. Over 25 years of wave measurements off England’s southwestern tip reveal an average increased height of some 25 percent, reports the science journal Nature. Scientists, however, are at a loss to know why. After discounting faulty measurements and changes in the weather, one researcher concedes: “There is no obvious explanation.” The effects, though, are plain. While surfers along England’s Cornish coast may welcome the boost from higher waves, the oil and gas industry envisages greater costs as higher and stronger offshore drilling rigs and platforms are needed to withstand the battering of bigger waves.

Italy’s Heavy Drinkers

Referring to alcoholic beverages, Il Corriere della Sera, a Milan newspaper, reports that “more than five million Italians drink double the quantity considered moderate.” According to WHO (World Health Organization), the daily alcohol intake for men should not exceed two ounces [60 g] (contained in about four glasses of wine or in one and a half liters of beer), and one ounce [30 g] for women. Many experts recommend that women abstain completely from alcohol during pregnancy. However, it is estimated that in Italy 9.2 percent of the population consumes more than four ounces [120 g] of alcohol daily! Such estimates place Italy in the number two position in Europe and eighth in the world for alcohol consumption. Such overindulgence is said to be responsible for 30 percent of hospital admissions in Italy. In addition, WHO states that alcohol abuse is implicated in 40 percent of road accidents, 50 percent of homicides, 25 percent of suicides, and 20 percent of work- and home-related accidents.

Baby Stress

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin in the United States have linked stressful events like separation from parents in early childhood to illnesses such as asthma, arthritis, and leukemia. According to the report in American Health magazine, psychologist Christopher Coe “speculates that separations from parents could have particularly negative consequences for very young children” and “might cause immune suppression.” He suggests that “even day care for infants under six months old could be a risk.” Dr. Coe concludes that “to maximize health, we should attempt to foster emotional stability in our children.”

Lovers or Keepers?

In Britain dogfighting is increasing in popularity even though it has been outlawed for a hundred years, claims the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). With at least one organized fight every weekend, often involving American pit bulls or Staffordshire bullterriers, Britain is fast losing its claim to be a nation of animal lovers. Instead, “we are a nation of animal keepers,” asserts RSPCA inspector Charles Marshall, adding that the trend toward greater animal cruelty is a “sign of the cruel times in which we live. Cruel videos, cruel times.”

Go to the Ant

People are going to the ant these days for more than just wisdom​—also to get healthy and rich. Prospectors have “found that white ants, or termites, could lead them to precious metals lying underground,” says The Daily Yomiuri of Tokyo. How so? As the insects dig deep in search of water, they bring soil to the surface. Analyzing the resulting anthills has led prospectors to the minerals lying below. One farmer in South Africa reportedly noticed small twinkles of light reflecting from an anthill. Inspection showed their source to be tiny rubies, which led him to a fortune in diamonds buried below. In China, though, interest is in the insects themselves. “Chinese health experts,” notes Asiaweek, “claim that powder made from the hard-working insects can cure rheumatoid arthritis and many other diseases.” The pulverized creatures are said to be high in protein and zinc. Additionally, “wineries in Peking and Jiangsu Province have been producing ant tonics for years,” says the report.

Nothing but the Truth?

In British courts nine out of ten defendants lie, claims John Hosking, chairman of the British Magistrates’ Association. Yet, all swear to tell the truth with either a religious or a secular oath. Advocates and opponents of oaths sworn on the Bible or other sacred books admit that such swearing fails to prevent lying. According to The Independent of London, even those who favor retaining religious oaths believe that they merely offer swearers the “chance to stop and think about the solemnity of what they are doing.” Why such lack of honesty? According to Hosking, “there was a time when people had a fear of God and thought they were in for it if they lied. But that is now diminishing.”

Cats’ Lives

Ninety percent of cats treated in New York City for “high rise syndrome,” falling several stories onto concrete, survived. According to the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, vets released one feline acrobat 48 hours after a fall of nearly 500 feet [155 m] (some 32 floors) that resulted in only minor injuries. What accounts for such an outstanding feat? Medical experts cite the cat’s ability to relax its muscles so that its legs stretch out horizontally. Then, in parachute fashion, the animal descends with a maximum spread of its body, which acts as an air brake and minimizes the effects of impact. A gyroscopic reflex helps the animal land on all fours.