ISRAEL - AUSTRAILIA - GREECE - US - MADAGASCAR

Israel

Children “born with a defect that could have been detected during prenatal screening” can no longer sue medical authorities for “wrongful life,” reports Haaretz.com. Parents, however, can sue for “wrongful birth” in order to seek compensation for “the extra expenses of raising a disabled child and meeting [his] needs for the rest of his life.”

Australia

In Australia, 8 out of 10 couples live together before getting married.

Greece

Statistics released by the Greek Ministry of Health showed a 40 percent increase in suicides in Greece during the first five months of 2011, compared with the same period in 2010. The rise coincided with the onset of the latest financial crisis.

United States

Almost 40 percent of food nationwide is wasted, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. It is estimated, for example, that 7 percent of food crops are never harvested, that 17 percent of meals served in restaurants and cafeterias remain uneaten, and that families throw out some 25 percent of the food they purchase.

Madagascar

The world’s smallest chameleon was recently discovered in Madagascar. Growing to a length of 1.1 inches (29 mm), some of these tiny brown lizards can perch on a fingernail. Because of threats to its habitat, the animal may be at risk of extinction.
For more informative articles see AWAKE magazine at www.jw.org

CHILDBIRTH - HEALTH

                                  PRIMPING FOR CHILDBIRTH  

Social media are affecting how mothers announce that they have given birth. While their grandmothers sent telegrams, “new moms are sharing the happy news over the Internet,” says a report by the American TV channel ABC. The announcement often includes photographs of mother and child soon after childbirth. The new generation of appearance-conscious women are thus having prenatal beauty treatments, including facials, manicures, and pedicures. “Some will even arrange to have a hairdresser accompany them to the hospital,” says the report. Why? To look good for their delivery, explains Toni Golen, medical director of labor and delivery at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Stay Active, Stay Healthy

Prolonged physical inactivity at work, at school, or in front of the TV is linked to chronic disease, say researchers. “As you sit, the activity of lipoprotein lipase, the enzyme that allows muscles to draw fat circulating in the blood and burn it off, drops precipitously,” says the Vancouver Sun. According to that newspaper, “we need more than heart-pounding bouts” of cardiovascular exercise to stay healthy. “We need regular, constant light to moderate activity in order to keep the metabolism functioning.”

 

“Before computers, it was nearly impossible [for botanists] to exhaustively search the literature before naming a new species, so duplicates started to pile up.” It has now been determined that of the million or so names listed, at least 477,601 are synonyms.—SCIENCE, U.S.A.

“Only 6 percent of Chinese people see themselves as happy.” In a survey, some 39 percent of respondents believe that “the principal factor affecting happiness” is “wealth.”—CHINA DAILY, CHINA.

“A probe . . . into the authenticity of Russia’s crime statistics found‘mass falsification’ of figures across the country.” Law enforcement agencies stand accused of seeking to “embellish the real crime picture” and of presenting inflated resolution rates.—RIA NOVOSTI, RUSSIA.

“One in three university students in the German capital [Berlin] would consider sex work [which includes prostitution and erotic dancing] as a means to finance their education.”—REUTERS NEWS SERVICE, GERMANY.

For more see AWAKE magazine at www.jw.org

DISTRACTION--INTERPRETERS--GOLD

  “A staggering 60 per cent of the world’s population now [have] a cellphone subscription . . . It’s a massive change from just six years ago, when less than 15 per cent had cell access.”—MACLEAN’S, CANADA.

Over the last decade, 1,068 new species have been discovered in the greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia.—WORLD WILDLIFE FUND, UNITED STATES.

“America has less than 5% of the world’s people but almost 25% of its prisoners. It imprisons 756 people per 100,000 residents, a rate nearly five times the world average.”—THE ECONOMIST, BRITAIN.

“Distraction Overload”

Some forms of high-tech communication can hinder concentration on other tasks. Experts who study human-machine interactions—things like instant messaging, calendar reminders, e-mail alerts, and computer pop-ups—report that the wired world suffers from “distraction overload and continuous partial attention.” The result of a succession of interruptions may be that “you risk never focusing exclusively on any thought or perception for long and never being able to work straight through to completion on anything,” says Newsweek magazine. Among other things, such distractions can cause “memory loss” and “decreased memory accuracy” as well as potentially disastrous errors.

Need for Interpreters

Courts, law-enforcement agencies, hospitals, and other service providers in the United States are often in need of help to understand what people are saying. On-demand interpreting services are filling the need to communicate in what a Reuters news report calls “an increasingly polyglot world.” One California-based company employs 5,200 interpreters who speak 176 languages—from the relatively common, such as Chinese, Russian, and Spanish, to the more obscure, such as languages spoken in parts of Africa and Mexico. In less than a minute, such companies can “evaluate what language the individual speaks” and put an interpreter on the line to help clients “get people talking,” says the report.

Unexpected Source of Gold

Nagano Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, has “discovered a new source of mineral wealth—sewage,” says a Reuters news report from Japan. Analysis revealed that the ash from incinerated sewage sludge processed at the Suwa treatment plant contained a percentage of gold much higher than the ore extracted from Japan’s richest gold mines. The prefecture expects to receive 15 million yen, over $167,000, for the gold in just one fiscal year. It is thought that the high concentrations of gold in the sewage are “due to the large number of precision equipment manufacturers in the vicinity that use the yellow metal,” says the report.

For more please see AWAKE magazine at www.jw.org

ERADICATING HUNGER--BRITAIN & US --ARGENTINA-SOUTH KOREA-CHINA

World

Eradicating hunger is more than a question of food production. It is estimated that farmers now produce sufficient food to feed 12 billion people—5 billion more than the current population of our planet. The issues are mainly problems related to economics, distribution, and waste.

 Britain and the United States

Almost a quarter (24 percent) of respondents among professionals who work in finance believe that they “may need to engage in unethical or illegal conduct in order to be successful.” Sixteen percent admitted that they would commit a crime “if they could get away with it.”

 Argentina

In Argentina, 3 out of 5 teachers ask for time off work because of stress or violence in their workplace.

South Korea

Individuals living alone are soon to make up the most common type of household in South Korea.
 

China

It is thought that two thirds of Chinese cities will fail to meet the new government standards for air quality that will go into effect in 2016. In addition, the quality of water obtained from most underground sources is classified as “bad or extremely bad.”

For more please see AWAKE at www.jw.org

ANTIBODIES --QUESTIONS FOR GOD--PHYSICAL DISABILITY

“The Christian God is not dead in American life, but he is less of a force in our politics and culture than at any other time in recent memory.”—NEWSWEEK, U.S.A.

“The recession and economic turmoil is creating a new class of casualties: Married couples who can’t afford to get divorced. In these tough times many people are finding it’s cheaper to stay together, even when they can’t stand each other.”—THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, U.S.A.

One mother out of every 3 polled in Germany learns from her daughter—regarding fashion, friendships, being more easygoing, or having greater self-esteem.—BERLINER MORGENPOST, GERMANY.

Antibodies Still Roaming

“Nine decades after history’s most lethal flu faded away, survivors’ bloodstreams still carry highly potent protection against the 1918 virus, demonstrating the remarkable durability of the human immune system,” states the International Herald Tribune. On examining blood from elderly Spanish-flu survivors, scientists found “antibodies that still roam the body looking to strangle the old flu strain.” With these antibodies, researchers made a vaccine capable of curing mice that had been injected with the killer flu. The immune system’s memory amazed researchers. “The Lord has blessed us with antibodies our whole lifetime!” one researcher exclaimed. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

Questions for God

“Why is there suffering if you are good?” This was one of the first questions that Swedish college students would ask God if they had the chance to do so, says the Swedish daily Dagen. A survey found that other common queries were: “What is the purpose of life?” and “What will happen after death?” Sweden is known as a highly secularized country. Even so, “these questions are alive,” said a representative of the Christian student organization that conducted the survey. “Young people ponder over questions of this kind.”

Physical Disability Enhances Marital Happiness

“Both men and women—regardless of age—reported being happier in their marriage after they themselves became physically disabled,” say researchers. Loss of ability to perform everyday activities can be stressful, but it can also unite spouses. Older men in particular report having more quality time with their mates. “Taking on care roles and responsibilities that may be new or more focused than in previous times in their marriage provided the men an opportunity to support and spend more time with their wives and ultimately enhanced their appreciation of their relationship,” says Karen Roberto, director of the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Tech, U.S.A.

For more articles see AWAKE magazine at www.jw.org

SELF CONTROL - BAD DRIVERS

In the Republic of Georgia in southeast Europe, “the number of divorces has nearly doubled in the last ten years.” Most of those getting divorced are under 20 years of age.—FINANCIAL, GEORGIA.

In Ireland, 17 percent of 11- to 16-year-olds “have given their full name to someone online whom they had never met.” Ten percent also gave their “email address, mobile number or photo.”—THE IRISH SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO CHILDREN.

Only about 4 percent of forest fires worldwide have natural causes. In all other cases, the fires are started by man—either negligently or willfully.—PRESSEPORTAL, GERMANY.

“Nearly one in 10 Americans [aged 12 or over] report regularly using illegal drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants or prescription drugs used recreationally.”—USA TODAY, U.S.A.

Self-Control Is a Key to Stability

“Research suggests that a lack of self-control during youth may predict health problems, less financial stability and a criminal record by adulthood,” says Time. Over 1,000 people were studied from birth to age 32. By adulthood, “those who [as children] were more impulsive and easily frustrated and had the most trouble with delaying gratification or waiting their turn” were about three times as likely to report that they had poor health, had low incomes, were single parents, or had committed a crime. Yet, “self-control can be learned,” says the magazine, adding: “School and family interventions that teach kids to self-regulate early on may lead to healthier and more stable adults.”

Teaching Bad Drivers a Lesson

Authorities in India are trying new ways to deal with the worst traffic offenders by making them work as traffic police. The goal is to help drivers grasp what it means to manage the kind of chaos they cause. Now, instead of just pulling over offenders and fining them, police in Gurgaon, northwestern India, are also requiring drivers to join the constables in directing traffic for a half hour or more. Some drivers admit that the lesson has changed their attitude. “We issue a thousand [fines] for traffic offences in Gurgaon every day,” says Bharti Arora, the local deputy commissioner of police. “We could have 1000 extra ‘constables’ every day.”

For more informative articles please go to www.jw.org

SUPERBUGS - MALARIA--FLYING SQUID

 

A poll conducted by the British Broadcasting Corporation among 13,000 people in 26 countries suggested that “corruption is the world’s most talked about problem.” However, poverty was considered the world’s most important problem.—BBC NEWS, BRITAIN.

“Churches throughout the U.S. are attaching GPS tracking devices to their nativity statues of the baby Jesus. In recent years, there’s been a nationwide spate of thefts of nativity statues.”—THE WEEK, U.S.A.

“An advisory committee to the [U.S.] Food and Drug Administration is recommending that people with chronic fatigue syndrome be barred from donating blood, amid concerns a retrovirus may be linked to the disease.”—THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, U.S.A.

Light Kills Superbugs

A novel technology, which uses high-intensity light to eliminate stubborn bacteria from hospitals, has been developed at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland. The new decontamination technique is significantly more efficient in reducing pathogens than cleaning and disinfecting alone. It “works by using a narrow spectrum of visible-light wavelengths to excite molecules contained within bacteria,” explains microbiologist Professor John Anderson.

Forest Clearing and Malaria

The clearing of tropical forests is linked to an almost 50 percent increase in cases of malaria. So say researchers who have studied data from 54 of Brazil’s health districts along with satellite images that document logging operations. The main carrier of malaria in the region studied is a mosquito known as Anopheles darlingi. “The deforested landscape, with more open spaces and partially sunlit pools of water, appears to provide ideal habitat for this mosquito,” says Sarah Olson, lead author of the report. Malaria hot spots were found to correspond to areas in which there is the greatest destruction of the forest.

Flying Squid

Photographic evidence has recently confirmed that some species of squid fly using jet propulsion. Marine biologists observed that “squid as small as 20 centimeters [8 inches] could launch themselves as high as two meters [6.6 feet] above the water and propel themselves, actively flapping their fins and spiraling their tentacles, for a distance as great as 10 meters [33 feet],” says Scientific American. By taking in water and then forcing it out in a jet, the mollusks generate enough thrust to leap right out of the sea. Photos seem to indicate that in flight they use their fins as wings.

For more informative articles please go to www.jw.org