Watching the World

Plastic Ducks Ply the Waves

In January 1992 a ship sailing from Hong Kong to the United States encountered a heavy storm and lost a shipment of 29,000 plastic ducks, explains Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The first ducks to make landfall arrived on Baranof Island, Alaska, in November 1992. Others were found two years after the storm “in sea ice north of the Bering Strait.” It is expected that these remarkably robust toys will also turn up on the New England coast of North America. Interestingly, the mishap has been a help to scientists, verifying their theory that seawater flows “from the Pacific right through to the Arctic Ocean and into the Atlantic,” says the paper.

 Beetles to the Rescue!

“Two species of beetle are credited with saving the economy of Benin in West Africa $260 million over 20 years,” says New Scientist magazine. “Between them, they have overpowered an aquatic superweed [water hyacinth] that kills fish, interferes with boats and changes the ecology of lakes.” The report adds that “floating mats of the weed can double in size in less than two weeks, with the sheer density of its foliage making fishing and boating all but impossible.” The plant removes oxygen from the water, raises its acidity, and slows down its flow, increasing silt deposits. The weed also provides cover for crocodiles, and this poses a danger for people collecting water. The saviors​—two species of weevil that eat water hyacinth and nothing else—​have succeeded where machinery has failed and where chemicals would pollute the water and kill other plants, explains New Scientist.

Gambling Housewives

In Britain “housewives in growing numbers are becoming hooked on internet gambling sites, spending hours every day running up thousands of pounds in debt,” reports London’s Sunday Telegraph. Women who would hesitate to enter a betting shop find the Internet far less intimidating. What is more, they can fit gambling into their daily routine at home. Many are becoming addicted, but because of the stigma usually attached to female gambling, often they do not admit to having a problem. According to the paper, Professor Mark Griffiths, of the University of Nottingham, said that the trend reflects a “mass cultural shift that is taking gambling out of the casino and into the home or workplace.” He also observed: “If you are a problem gambler, . . . the chances are that you will get barred from casinos or betting shops. With the internet, there is no gatekeeper.”

More Youths Living on the Streets

“The number of teens living on the streets of Madrid is on the rise,” reports the English edition of El País, a Spanish daily newspaper. According to a university study, “approximately 1,250 of Madrid’s 5,000 homeless people were under the age of 20 when they found themselves without a place to call home.” Research revealed that “the vast majority of the homeless youth come from broken homes and their lives are clearly marked by trauma.” In fact, “two of every three of the youth are children of alcoholics or drug abusers and a similar number suffered abuse in the home.” Manuel Muñoz, an author of the report, said that “the traditional family ties typical to Mediterranean cultures are beginning to fail.”

Gonorrhea Rising in Canada

“After 20 years of constant decline, gonorrhea rates have jumped more than 40 per cent over the past five years,” says Canada’s Vancouver Sun. Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease that can cause infertility and “can spread through the blood stream into the joints, causing inflammation and swelling, or ‘gonococcal arthritis.’” What is more, the bacterium that causes gonorrhea is becoming resistant “to whatever drug it encounters,” says the Sun. Another fear is that “the increase in gonorrhea could lead to more cases of HIV, because having any sexually transmitted infection increases the risk of acquiring, or spreading, the virus linked to AIDS.” In fact, doctors attribute the rise in gonorrhea to a diminishing fear of HIV. “People are becoming less cautious about who they sleep with, and how many people they sleep with,” says Dr. David Fisman, an expert in sexually transmitted infections.

Rent-a-Grandparent

“More than 1,000 single mothers and fathers with children up to ten years of age have been able to choose grandparents for their children,” reports Germany’s newspaper Nassauische Neue Presse. “My real grandparents live a long way from Berlin,” says seven-year-old Melanie. “Granny Klara lives just round the corner. She picks me up from school and goes with me to the zoo, to the playground, and to the swimming baths. She cooks, too, and eats with me and my mum at home.” Granny Klara was sent by a “grandparent” service that makes senior citizens available to single parents for an hourly fee ranging from $3 to $5. “The project is just the right solution for single parents on a tight budget,” says the report.

A Beach for “Chubbies”

In Mexico a hotel has set aside an area for those who are embarrassed to step onto a beach that is packed with slender people, reports El Economista newspaper. The beach hotel in Cancún has adopted the slogan “Be Fat and Be Happy.” The hotel aims “to attract those individuals who are afraid of going to the sand in their bathing suits because of their excessive weight.” The hotel staff, which includes people of all weight levels, is trained to treat hefty vacationers without discrimination, says the report, “since they are already extremely discriminated against in their daily routine of life.”

Mediterranean Sea Warming Up

“For ten years we have been registering . . . the tropicalization of the Mediterranean,” says Maurizio Wurtz, marine biologist at Genoa University in Italy. The report, contained in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, says that the warmer waters are attracting new aquatic plants and animals. “Numerous species,” says Wurtz, “are moving from the African coast to the north of the Mediterranean.” The immigrants include parrot fish, originally from tropical waters; damselfish from tropical latitudes of the Atlantic; triggerfish, which normally live in the Indian and Pacific oceans; and an alga that has made its way into the Mediterranean by way of the Suez Canal.