Watching the World

Text-Message Bullying

“One in every four teenagers has been a victim of bullying via a computer or mobile phone,” says The Guardian of London. A report by the British charity National Children’s Home (NCH) revealed that 16 percent of young people between the ages of 11 and 19 “received threatening text messages on their mobiles,” while a further 11 percent had been harassed either through Internet chat rooms or via E-mail. The NCH says that the children “are either not telling anyone and suffering in silence, or confiding in people who themselves don’t know how to deal with it effectively.” It advises young people not to put up with the bullying but to tell a responsible, trustworthy person what is happening; to be very careful about giving out phone numbers and E-mail addresses; and to change these if necessary. The NCH advises that “if you receive messages that upset you, make a record of the times and dates and report them to police,” says The Guardian.

 “Talking” Plants

Researchers at the Institute for Applied Physics at the University of Bonn, Germany, have developed laser-driven microphones that can “listen” to plants. The microphones pick up sound waves produced by ethylene gas, which is given off by plants when they are under stress. Bonn University scientist Dr. Frank Kühnemann says: “The more a plant is subjected to stress, the louder the signal we get on our microphone.” In one case an apparently healthy cucumber “was virtually shouting,” according to readings. “A closer study showed that it had developed mildew, yet the symptoms were not visible.” In fact, mildew takes eight or nine days to form visible spots, and only then can farmers detect the problem. “By eavesdropping on plants,” says The Times of London, “it should be possible to develop an early-warning system to detect pests and disease. Knowing the stress level of fruit and vegetables can also be an aid in efficient storing and transporting.”

Nicotine and SIDS

Researchers in France and Sweden may have discovered why smoking increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), reports the French daily Le Figaro. Animal studies have revealed that exposure to nicotine can interfere with respiratory reflexes during sleep. “A lack of oxygen (hypoxia) during sleep, which can happen spontaneously during brief pauses in respiration (apnea), ordinarily sets off a powerful cardiorespiratory excitation, as well as arousal. But if this protective response is altered, apnea and hypoxia are exacerbated and can lead to respiratory failure,” says the report. The researchers propose that in humans this protective response can be impaired by a continual exposure to nicotine transmitted in a smoking mother’s blood to the fetus during pregnancy. The result might be “a decrease in the efficiency of respiratory and arousal reflexes in response to sleep apneas, and thus an increase in the risk of sudden infant death.” SIDS, says Le Figaro, “remains the primary cause of mortality in France in the first year of life.”

“Erotic” Pop Culture

Through fashion, advertising, media, and show business, “contemporary pop culture is aggressively taking advantage of human fascination with sex,” says the Polish weekly Polityka. According to designers, “fashion fuels eroticism, and eroticism fuels fashion.” The underlying premise is, ‘The more you expose, the sooner you will be noticed.’ Likewise, sex and eroticism in advertising “make a commercial more memorable,” thus promoting sales, says Dr. Ewa Szczęsna, a University of Warsaw expert on culture semiotics (signs and symbols). “The boundaries of what is considered to be erotically stimulating have been significantly redefined,” she adds. According to Polityka, experience has shown that advertisers would cross any boundary for money.

Media Growth in India

Newspaper readers in India have increased from 131 million to 155 million in the three-year period from 1999 to 2002, according to a survey conducted by the National Readership Studies Council. The country’s readers of print media​—combining the readership of newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals—​total 180 million. However, with more than 65 percent of India’s population of over one billion being literate, there is much room for readership expansion. Television viewers number 383.6 million, while radio reaches 680.6 million listeners. Just over 6 million people now access the Internet compared with 1.4 million in 1999. About half of all the homes in India having television now have cable and satellite subscriptions, an increase of 31 percent in three years.

Increase in Kidnapping

“Fifteen years ago, kidnapping barely existed [in Mexico],” reports The News of Mexico City. “But crime began increasing in the 1980s, and an economic crash in 1994-95 seemed to make fundamental changes in Mexico, turning kidnapping​—and crime generally—​into a growth industry.” It appears that no one is immune from being kidnapped. “Maids are held for 500 dollars in ransom; a Tijuana girl, 12, was kidnapped . . . by college students trying to raise money for school; and some people have gone so far as to fake their own kidnappings to collect from their families or businesses,” says The News. “[Kidnapping has] become part of the fabric of life. Mexico has developed a culture in which ransoms are quickly paid and the police are rarely notified.” In fact, according to victims, security specialists, and even court records, “police are often involved in kidnappings, and a weak and corrupt judicial system often means they won’t be caught.”

Language Skills Declining

“About 20 percent of primary, middle and high school students rarely read books for fun and about 80 percent of middle and high school teachers feel that the Japanese-language proficiency of students has deteriorated,” says The Yomiuri Shimbun, a Japanese daily. Researchers at the National Institute for Educational Policy Research surveyed “2,120 students from the fourth year in primary school to the second year in high school, and 259 teachers at primary, middle and high schools,” says the report. They found that “reading less has worsened [the students’] reading comprehension, vocabulary and writing skills.” Many of the teachers surveyed blamed the trend on the reduced reading habits of the adults, including teachers, with whom students associated. They also “pointed to the adverse effects of video games.”

Air Pollution Deaths Now Exceed Road Fatalities

“The World Health Organization reports that 3 million people now die each year from the effects of air pollution. This is three times the 1 million who die each year in automobile accidents,” says a report published by the Earth Policy Institute. Governments work hard to reduce road fatalities, but “they pay much less attention to the deaths people cause by simply driving the cars. While deaths from heart disease and respiratory illness from breathing polluted air may lack the drama of deaths from an automobile crash, with flashing lights and sirens, they are no less real,” says the report. “Air pollutants include carbon monoxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulates”​—all of which stem from the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal and gasoline.