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Watching the World

“Fantasies of Wealth”

Aggressive advertising has misled many poor people into believing that they will escape poverty by gambling, although the chances of winning any meaningful amount are actually very small, reports the Times of Zambia. According to the article, “lottery advertising stimulates fantasies of wealth, luxury and an instantly problem-free life,” while “the tiny odds of winning are rarely mentioned.” The paper concludes: “No matter what argument one gives, gambling is daylight theft and should be outlawed in any morally upright society.”

Afraid of the Dark

“Children are more frightened of the dark than their parents were because increasing exposure to artificial light means they rarely experience total blackness,” according to a report in The Times of London. Psychologist and author Aric Sigman analyzed research showing that nearly two thirds of children under ten insist on sleeping with a night-light. He claims that youngsters’ imagination is being stifled by lack of exposure to darkness—even in bed at night. “Children’s imaginations need to be given space to develop,” notes the report. “It can be very stimulating for them to play and entertain themselves in the dark, because all the images they produce will be unique.” But today, “ready-made images imprinted on children’s minds from television, cinema and computer games” frighten them. Dr. Sigman comments: “It sounds like old-fashioned advice to say read more and watch television less, but it needs repeating.”

Antarctic Ice Shelf Breaks Up

During a period of just 35 days beginning at the end of January, 2002, a 1,200-square-mile [3,250 sq km] section of the Larsen B ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula’s eastern side disintegrated into thousands of drifting icebergs, reports the University of Colorado’s National Snow and Ice Data Center. Much of Antarctica is rimmed by thick, glacier-fed plates of ice, but those on the peninsula have been receding as a result of a climatic warming trend there since the late 1940’s. Because the ice shelf is floating, the breakup will not raise the sea level significantly. However, “ice shelves act as a buttress, or braking system, for glaciers,” states the report. “Once their ice shelves are removed, the glaciers . . . may begin to dump more ice into the ocean than they gather as snow.” The reasons for the warming are not yet clear, and the data can be confusing. Beyond the peninsula, “the rest of Antarctica shows no signs of widespread warming,” notes The New York Times. In fact, some research indicates that the continent as a whole may have cooled during the past 35 years.

China’s Space Program

On April 1, 2002, China’s Shenzhou III unmanned spacecraft landed successfully in Inner Mongolia after a one-week mission, reports BBC News. The craft carried an “artificial human”—a dummy outfitted with sensors for monitoring oxygen levels and temperature as a test of life-support systems that could be used on a future manned flight. Chinese space officials have announced plans to put a man in space no later than 2005. “The longer-term goal which the Chinese space agency has set itself is to put humans on the Moon by 2010,” states the report.

For Budgies, Bright Is Beautiful

How do budgerigars (budgies), or shell parakeets, select a mate? The answer may lie in how brightly the birds’ feathers glow. Budgies’ feathers contain a chemical that absorbs ultraviolet light and reemits it at a longer wavelength, causing the feathers to glow a fluorescent yellow-red. Dr. Justin Marshall of the University of Queensland, Australia, along with his colleagues, applied sunscreen to the feathers of wild budgies to dull this fluorescent effect. “The dull birds were much less attractive to members of the opposite sex,” reports The Sydney Morning Herald. Marshall said that a good glow probably indicates a high-quality bird. Though the bodies of certain other creatures may contain fluorescent chemicals, Marshall noted that this is the “first demonstrated use of fluorescence in the animal kingdom,” states the Herald.

Endangered Lions

“Lions may soon become extinct in large parts of Africa,” reports New Scientist magazine. It takes a population of 500 to 1,000 lions to provide about 100 breeding pairs—sufficient to avoid inbreeding. According to the World Conservation Union, lion populations in West and Central Africa fall far short of such numbers. “It’s a serious situation,” says Hans Bauer of Leiden University in the Netherlands. “There’s not one population that we can be sure will continue to be there.” The main reason for the decline is man’s encroachment on the animals’ habitat. Lions need very large hunting areas—as much as 75 square miles [200 sq km] for a single male. “The lion is a keystone species,” Bauer warns. “It’s a signal—the fact that lions are threatened now could mean that other species might be threatened in 20 to 30 years time.”

Sunbed Dangers

“Sunbed users are more than twice as likely to develop skin cancer, and the young are at extra risk,” reports The Guardian of London. Professor Margaret Karagas, of Dartmouth Medical School, New Hampshire, U.S.A., interviewed 1,500 people aged 25 to 74, more than half of whom were newly diagnosed skin-cancer patients. The chances of developing cancer increased “by up to 20 per cent for each decade of sunbed use before the age of 50,” states The Times of London. Professor Karagas says: “Tanning lamps mimic sunlight [with] an intense, concentrated dose of ultraviolet radiation.” There are now three times as many deaths from skin cancer in Britain as there were in the 1960’s, and in Scotland there are four times as many as there were then. Experts blame the deaths on increased exposure to ultraviolet radiation through sunbathing and the use of tanning lamps. “There is no such thing as a safe tan,” said a Cancer Research UK spokesperson. “A tan is actually the body’s response to DNA damage.”

“Water Towers” in Peril

Half the world’s population relies on fresh water from mountain ecosystems, notes The Toronto Star of Canada. These mountain ranges, termed the “water towers of the world” in a United Nations report marking the UN Year of Mountains, are seriously threatened. According to the Star, the damage is caused by “climate change, pollution, armed conflict, population growth, deforestation and exploitation by the agricultural, mining and tourism industries.” The report warns that “this degradation will lead to more floods, landslides and famine,” the paper says.

Addiction to Alcohol

One out of every 13 people in Britain is now alcohol-dependent, reports The Independent of London, making addiction to alcohol “twice as common as addiction to illegal or prescription drugs.” From 1994 to 1999, deaths directly attributable to alcohol abuse—including those from heart disease, cirrhosis of the liver, and alcohol poisoning—increased nearly 43 percent. Drunk-driving accidents rose from 10,100 in 1998 to 11,780 in 2000 and were responsible for 1 in 7 deaths on the road. Sixty percent of employers have problems with employees who drink too much, and 40 percent of those who commit violent crime do so under the influence of alcohol. Eric Appleby, director of the British charity Alcohol Concern, said: “The sheer breadth and scale of the problems in terms of their impact on people’s health, relationships and pockets, not to mention on public services, . . . reinforces the need for urgent, joined-up action.”