Watching the World

Antishark Device

The thought of coming face-to-face with a shark keeps many would-be bathers out of the ocean. However, South Africa’s Natal Sharks Board has come up with an antishark device. The board “found that a specific electric waveform impacts on sensitive receptors situated in the snouts of sharks,” reports the KwaZulu-Natal Weekend Witness. The board designed a transmitter, called a Protective Oceanic Device, that causes a shark to feel increasing discomfort as it approaches the device. When the discomfort becomes unbearable, “the shark then veers away and leaves the immediate area.” An Australian firm makes such a transmitter for swimmers and surfers. Attached to the lower leg, it creates a “personal shark exclusion zone” around the wearer. Still, the manufacturer warns: “It is simply impossible to guarantee that all sharks will be deterred under all circumstances.”

 Adults More Likely to Be Poisoned

“When people think of poison prevention, they tend to think of little kids,” says Debra Kent of the British Columbia Drug and Poison Information Centre. Yet, Kent continues, “most of the deaths from poisoning are in adolescents and adults.” According to The Vancouver Sun, the majority of accidental poisonings among adults “resulted from someone placing a poisonous substance in another unmarked container​—a plastic water bottle, for example.” Other incidents could have been avoided if people had simply turned on the light and read the label before using a product. According to the Sun, “poisoning ranks fourth among the top 10 causes of death from injury in adults.”

Television Harmful for Toddlers?

“Very young children who watch television face an increased risk of attention deficit problems by school age,” reported The Herald of Mexico City. The report cites a study published in the medical journal Pediatrics involving two groups totaling 1,345 children​—one group of one-year-olds and the other of three-year-olds. According to the study, every hour of television the children watched per day increased by 10 percent their risk of suffering attention problems at age seven. The researchers believe that the “unrealistically fast-paced visual images typical of most TV programming may alter normal brain development” in toddlers. “The truth is there are lots of reasons for children not to watch television,” said Dr. Dimitri Christakis, author of the study. “Other studies have shown [TV viewing] to be associated with obesity and aggressiveness.”

Laughter Is Good Medicine

“Neurologists at Stanford University have discovered another reason why laughter makes us feel good,” reports the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter. “They monitored the brain activity of people reading funny cartoons and found that humor and laughter triggered the brain’s ‘reward centers,’” the same areas affected by stimulant drugs. “Laughter reduces tension, clears the mind, and lifts the spirits,” says the Wellness Letter. Laughter also increases our hormone production and heart rate, and it contributes to better circulation and muscle tone. “Indeed, a good laugh is a kind of workout,” notes the Wellness Letter. “It’s not exactly a major calorie burner, however​—you can laugh yourself silly, but not thin.”

Plant Detects Land Mines

“A Danish bioengineering company has produced a plant whose leaves turn red when it grows over buried explosives,” reports the Spanish newspaper El País. The herbal mine detector, Arabidopsis thaliana, changes color when exposed to nitrogen dioxide, as the gas leaks from buried land mines. “When its roots soak up this substance,” explains the newspaper, “a biochemical chain reaction starts that triggers the production of a natural pigment​—anthocyanin.” Simon Oostergaard, president of a biotech company, says that the idea is to “take the seeds to the affected areas, scatter them in the fields, wait five weeks, and then defuse the mines.” The widespread application of the herbal mine detector could save thousands of lives every year, says Oostergaard. Wars fought during the 20th century left some 100 million land mines hidden in the soil of 75 countries.

Swifts’ Navigational Skills

Swifts “migrate more than 4,000 miles [6,000 km] from Africa to England in late April,” states The Sunday Telegraph of London. Though they have “no global positioning satellite, no air traffic controls and no pilots,” they routinely fly at an altitude of 10,000 feet [3,000 m] at night, using navigational skills more sophisticated than modern aircraft. The birds adjust their flight to avoid being blown off course, judging their position in relation to the wind rather than to landmarks on the ground, as was previously thought. Dr. Johan Bäckman of Lund University, in Sweden, who used radar to track 225 birds, says that “even the most advanced planes, with very good navigational instruments would probably be unable to judge the wind drift like this.” Remarkably, some studies have shown that the birds shut down half their brain during nighttime flight. But questions remain, says Graham Madge of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. For instance, “What on earth are they eating up there?”

Uninviting Lavatories

“Wet floors, icy tap water, no soap,” and a lack of privacy resulting from “faulty locks” and “small partition walls” cause many French pupils to avoid using school lavatories, says the French weekly L’Express. A study directed by the Fédération des conseils de parents d’élèves (Federation of Pupils’ Parents Councils) revealed that “more than 48 percent of the pupils do not regularly use the toilets of their school.” This is not without health consequences for the children. According to the study, “a quarter of them suffer from intestinal or urinary problems.” Pediatric urologist Michel Avérous states: “Children should go to the toilet five or six times a day. A bladder that is not emptied as often as needed may develop disabling infections.”