Watching the World
Poison in the Air
The German Federal Office of Health examined 3,000 homes and reached an “alarming“ conclusion. “Whether in the living room, bathroom, or kitchen—there’s poison in the air!” reports the German newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt. Harmful substances lurk in dust, paint, wallpaper, radiators, floor coverings, cleaning agents, sprays, cosmetics, and chipboard furniture. Experts recommend good home ventilation, using less harmful building products, and reacting to the instincts of your nose as an ‘early-warning device—if it’s always tickling, beware!’
Survival Treatment
In an effort to save the millions of books contained in the British Library, researchers at the University of Surrey have developed “a way to treat books en masse to strengthen the paper and guard against future damage from acid” disintegration, reports The Independent of London. Called graft-polymerization, the process is a “method of bonding supple new plastic-like molecules to the brittle cellulose fibres that make up a sheet of paper.” Older methods of treatment have required that books be treated individually at a cost of £50. However, with this new method, researchers hope to treat up to 200,000 books each year at a cost of only £6 per book.
Stressed Youth
Over the past ten years, the number of children developing ulcers have been on the rise in Japan. According to the newspaper Mainichi Shimbun, the increase has been particularly noticeable among children under ten years of age. The reason? Akio Tsunoda, director of Kanagawa Child Medical Center, says that many of the ulcers are likely caused by stress. It was reported that a four-year-old boy developed an ulcer when he was forced to memorize 1,200 Chinese characters. A five-year-old girl’s stomach ulcer was cured when she quit piano lessons and cram-school classes. While such extracurricular activities, family problems, and “bullying at school” were cited as possible causes, researchers noted that some cases remained unexplained.
Drugs: Infants, Teens, and Crime
● Researchers now warn of “an epidemic of damaged infants, some of whom may be impaired for life because their mothers used cocaine even briefly during pregnancy,” reports The New York Times. Some of the worst effects occur when the drug is used during the first three months of pregnancy, often before the mother realizes she is pregnant. Even one cocaine hit can cause lasting damage to the fetus because a by-product of the drug, norcocaine, stays in the amniotic fluid and repeatedly batters the developing child. “Effects can include retarded growth, stiff limbs, hyper-irritability, tendency to stop breathing with higher risk of crib death, and, in extreme cases, malformed genital and urinary organs, a missing small intestine and strokes and seizures,” says the Times. A survey in 36 U.S. hospitals indicated that as many as 11 percent of pregnant women were exposing their unborn children to illegal drugs.
● A comprehensive eight-year study by two psychology professors at the University of California has confirmed that heavy use of drugs by teenagers leads directly to a host of problems when they become adults. “Young drug abusers divorce more quickly, suffer from greater job instability, commit more serious crimes and are generally more unhappy in their personal lives and relationships,” says Michael Newcomb, coauthor of the study. While there is no way to tell which youngster who starts experimenting with drugs will turn into a heavy user, “researchers say a family history of alcoholism and a lack of attachment between parent and child may be warning signs,” notes U.S.News & World Report magazine. “Parents should closely monitor their children’s behavior and send a consistent message to them by not abusing drugs or alcohol themselves.”
● “The link between drug use and crime rose sharply over a 12-year span ending in 1986,” says The New York Times, commenting on a report released by the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics. “About 35 percent of the inmates held in state prisons around the nation in 1986 were under the influence of an illegal drug when they committed the crimes that led to their incarceration.” Twelve years earlier, 25 percent had committed crimes while under drug influence. The survey also found that some 60 percent of those who regularly abused potent drugs did not do so until after the time of their first arrest. Additionally, 13 percent of the inmates committed crimes such as burglary, robbery, and theft primarily to support their drug addiction. In all, about 50 percent of those in prison for such offenses used an illegal drug daily.
‘Belonging to Jehovah’
The Israel Museum in Jerusalem has a new display: a thumb-sized ivory pomegranate said to be from King Solomon’s temple. “The one relic that surfaced in Jerusalem this week is the only surviving witness to Israel’s glorious temple,” claimed the museum last August. The cream-colored pomegranate is inscribed in ancient Hebrew with the words: “Belonging to the Temple of Jehovah, holy to the priests.”
Best Refuge
One unexpected outcome of dividing Korea into two has been the creating of a wildlife sanctuary in the DMZ (demilitarized zone). Although soldiers sometimes go into this two-and-a-half-mile-wide [4 km] ribbon of land that stretches across the country, hunting is strictly forbidden. “So tense is the atmosphere,” observes columnist S. Chang in Japan’s Daily Yomiuri, “that even a single shot fired at a stray animal or bird could touch off an eruption of gunfire from tens of thousands of troops deployed on both sides.” The result is a quiet no-man’s land where nature flourishes. In particular, wild boars, roe deer, badgers, and scores of varieties of birds and freshwater fish are increasing. Migratory birds flock here, and even endangered species have found a haven. With two strong armies keeping people out, these clever creatures have located what must at present be one of the safest homes in the world for wildlife.
Industrious Swiss
Although people in neighboring countries are working toward lowering the retirement age and reducing the length of the workweek, the Swiss have upheld their reputation of being a hardworking people. How? In a recent national referendum, they voted not to lower the retirement age from 65 to 62 for men and from 62 to 60 for women. In an earlier referendum, they had refused to reduce their workweek to 40 hours, even refusing the addition of a fifth week of paid vacation.