Watching the World

Clouds and Elephants

How much does a cloud weigh? One cumulus cloud can contain about 550 tons of water, reports ABC News. “Or if you want to convert it to something that might be a little more meaningful . . . , think of elephants,” says meteorologist Peggy LeMone. If we assume that an elephant weighs about six tons, then the water in just one typical cumulus cloud would weigh as much as 100 elephants. All that water is suspended as tiny droplets that float on the warmer air rising from below. In contrast to a puffy cumulus cloud, a large storm cloud may hold water weighing as much as 200,000 elephants. What about a hurricane? LeMone estimated the weight of the water in one cubic meter of a hurricane cloud and multiplied that figure by the total volume of the hurricane. The result? A weight equivalent to forty million elephants. “That means the water in one hurricane weighs more than all the elephants on the planet,” says the report, “perhaps even more than all the elephants that have ever lived.”

 When to Brush Your Teeth

Brushing your teeth immediately after drinking acid beverages or eating acid food can harm the enamel, says the Milenio newspaper of Mexico City. Reporting on a study done at the German University of Göttingen, the newspaper warns that acid foods “temporarily weaken tooth enamel.” Therefore, brushing one’s teeth immediately after lunch can be detrimental. Instead, “it is advisable to wait a few minutes so that the teeth recover their strength.”

New Species Found After Habitat Was Lost

When uninhabited Carrizal Island in Venezuela’s Caroní River was cleared of forest to make way for a new dam, a previously unknown bird was discovered, reports the Daily Journal of Caracas. Bird specimens taken before the foliage was removed were later discovered to include a small, blue-flecked finch that dwelt in the islet’s impenetrable bamboo thickets. Naturalists hope to find more members of the newly recognized species in other nearby habitats. Meantime, says researcher Robin Restall, “the discovery of the Carrizal Seedeater . . . is tempered with the knowledge that we have now destroyed the place where it hid from us for so long.”

Keep Your Cutting Board Clean!

Which is safer​—a wooden cutting board or a plastic one? “Either kind of board is okay so long as you keep it very clean,” says the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter. “Whether you use wood or plastic for cutting raw meat and poultry, scrub the board well afterward with hot soapy water.” If the board is deeply scarred or has fat on it, take extra care to get it completely clean. “You can also sanitize a board by rinsing it with a diluted bleach solution (1 teaspoon bleach in 1 quart of water),” states the Wellness Letter. Hands and knives should likewise be thoroughly cleaned and dried.

Preschoolers and Computers

Some researchers say that “prolonged use of computers in place of old-fashioned play” offers preschool children little benefit and “can lead to social withdrawal, attention problems, loss of creativity and even depression and anxiety,” reports the Vancouver Sun newspaper. Computers transform a child’s world “from one that is three-dimensional and experiential to one that is dominated by two-dimensional virtual reality,” states psychologist Sharna Olfman. Researchers stress the importance of “parent-guided make-believing” with children to teach “vocabulary, colours, shapes, numbers, manners and knowledge about everyday events.” Psychologist Jane Healy says that old-fashioned play is especially important from birth to seven years of age. Such play can help teach children to pay attention, while computer-generated stimuli can have the opposite effect.

Television​—A “Hard Drug”

“Children who watch TV for more than two hours a day achieve less at school,” reports the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia. Though he believes that TV can be a powerful educational tool, pediatrician Francisco Muñoz points out the bad effects of such TV use. Muñoz believes that the poorer performance levels of heavy TV watchers is a consequence of “a delay in reaching maturity and a reduced capacity for abstract thought.” He also notes: “There exists a clear correlation between watching certain programs, advertisements, and music videos and the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs among adolescents.” While acknowledging that not all youngsters will act out the bad conduct they see on TV, child psychiatrist Paulino Castells has called television a “hard drug” because of “the destructive effect it has on the most fragile minds.”

Noisy Classrooms

Echoes and background noise in classrooms make it difficult for students to hear in class, reports the German magazine Der Spiegel. “The more difficult it is for children to understand, the less able they are to retain anything,” says psychologist Maria Klatte. In some schools in Germany, researchers measured sound levels ranging between 70 and 90 decibels (dB). “In workplaces where a lot of brain work goes on the limit is 55 dB,” explains noise researcher Gerhart Tiesler. “In industry, hearing protection is recommended at levels over 85 dB.” Moreover, the longer that sounds reverberate in a room​—whether speech, chair movement, or coughs—​the harder it is to concentrate. Acoustic ceilings help to reduce noise and reverberation, sparing the nerves and voices of teachers and students, but many schools cannot afford to install them.

Supermarkets Displace Traditional Shops

“The proliferation of supermarkets across eastern and southern Africa is threatening local markets and, as a result, the livelihood of farmers in rural areas,” notes the German science newsletter wissenschaft-online. Already 200 supermarkets and 10 hypermarkets account for 30 percent of retail food sales in Kenya​—equivalent to that of 90,000 small shops. According to Kostas Stamoulis of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, rapid urbanization and globalization “mean that Africa will see far more dramatic changes in its food supply system than we have seen in developed countries.” Experts hope that to avoid catastrophe, cooperatives can be set up to provide a market for local produce and that training can be provided to help farmers make the transition.