According to a study of more than 2,500 toddlers published in the journal “Child Development”, spanking may be harmful to both behavior and mental development, having long-lasting effects. Toddlers don’t understand enough about right and wrong or punishment. One-year-olds who were spanked tended to behave more aggressively at age 2 and didn’t perform as well at age 3 on a test measuring thinking skills. Parents who spank are more likely to be younger, less educated, single, depressed and/or stressed. Parents who were spanked are most likely to spank. Unfortunately, it becomes do unto others as they did unto you.
According to Harvard research, few states require child-care providers to meet specific requirements for nutrition and physical activity necessary for fitness. This contributes to the fact that one-fifth of four-year-olds representing all demographics are obese. Because approximately three-fourths of children ages 2 to 5 spend at least part of their day in child care, that care has to change. As of January 2009 Delaware, Georgia, Alaska and Nevada had made the most changes in child-care licensing requirements. Idaho and Louisiana had made the least. The other 44 states fell somewhere in between – which is an unhealthy state for America’s preschoolers.
According to a first-of-its-kind study done at the University of Illinois, classmate putdowns make it harder for good students to learn and for not-so-good students to catch up. Using U.S. Department of Education data on more than 10,000 sophomores in more than 650 high schools, 20% said they were verbally putdown by other students. Although boys experience putdowns more than girls and African American students who consider themselves good students experience putdowns most, the problem exists in both public and private schools. One thing students shouldn’t have to learn in school is how to put up with putdowns.
According to 2 studies published in “Pediatrics”, teenagers with their own car or free use of a car are much likelier to crash than teenagers who share a car. Of more than 2,000 teenagers studied, teens who had to ask for keys, had specific driving rules and had their whereabouts monitored had half as many crashes. They were also 71% less likely to drive drunk and 30% less likely to use a cell phone while driving. Car crashes are the #1 cause of death for American teenagers, killing more than 5,000 every year. Seemingly, parental involvement is the key to safe teenage driving.
As times change, so do companies. In 1806 William Colgate founded a company to make soap, candles and starch. Colgate toothpaste wasn’t made until 1873. In 1837 John Deere was a frustrated blacksmith in Grand Detour, Illinois trying to make plows that cut through the area’s clay. When he started to make his plows with cast steel, he started the John Deere Equipment Company. In 1866 David McConnell sold books door-to-door. To appeal to women customers he offered free perfume. When the perfume became more popular than the books, McConnell founded the California Perfume Company – which became Avon. Change changes us.
By the end of 2011 the Coca-Cola Company plans a change – to put nutrition facts – what Coca-Cola calls “energy information” – on the front of almost all its packaging worldwide. This change is in response to the public wanting this information easily visible and to the American Heart Association adding sugar to its list of heart hazards. The AHA recommends women have no more than 100 calories from added sugar a day and that men limit those calories to 150. A 12-ounce can of Classic Coca-Cola contains 140 calories. Things might go better with Coke – just not so much.
A few years ago activist/entrepreneur, Jeff Berman, told farmers in Dove Creek, Colorado that he would build a plant to convert sunflower seeds to biodiesel if they would grow the sunflowers. Convinced there was more money per acre in sunflowers than in beans and wheat, farmers were growing thousands of acres by 2008 and the plant was under construction. That’s when federal subsidies for biofuels ended. Berman’s plans had to change. Instead of biofuel, the sunflower seeds make food-grade sunflower oil. Nevertheless, hulls and pieces of plant material are turned into gas to help power the plant. Both sunflowers and hope continue to grow.
Even Australia’s male southern brown tree frogs have had to change. The increase in urban traffic noise is drowning out their mating calls, causing a sharp decline in their population. In some areas the distance a mating call can be heard has dropped from hundreds of meters to 20-50 meters. To increase the distance they can be heard, the males have learned to change their calls to a higher pitch. Unfortunately, female frogs associate a higher pitch with a smaller or younger, less experienced frog. What’s needed is female frogs willing to take a leap of faith.
Veterinarians are reporting dogs and cats are living longer – some for more than 15 years. Dogs’ longevity is directly related to breed size. Toy breeds live longest (12-14 years). Giant breeds live the shortest time (6-8 years). However, mixed breeds tend to live longer than pure breeds. In estimating a dog’s age 1 dog year equals 12 people years, 2 dog years equal 24 people years and every dog year after that equals 4 people years. Thus a 12-year-old dog would be 64 people years. As for cats, any well-cared-for, indoor cat is likely to reach the late teens or early twenties – counting all 9 lives.
Unfortunately, veterinarians are also reporting they are treating an increasing number of dogs that have eaten xylitol. Xylitol is in the fibers of many fruits and vegetables – including various berries, corn husks, mushrooms and oats. It’s a natural sugar alcohol used as a sugar substitute, especially in gum. Supposedly it’s good for teeth, diabetes, osteoporosis and infection – but it’s not good for pets. For pets it has a life-threatening toxicity that can cause liver failure. Symptoms of xylitol poisoning include vomiting and a weak, wobbly appearance, requiring immediate treatment. Obviously, pet owners should treat xylitol-containing products with dogged attention to avoid cat-astrophes.
To get the attention of pet owners a campaign by the Los Angeles County District attorney featured a picture of a dog in an oven. It’s a reminder that it’s against the law to leave animals in hot cars. A car’s interior can reach 100 degrees when it’s 72 degrees outside. Dogs have body temperatures of 101-102.5 degrees. Body temperatures of 107-108 degrees can cause brain damage and death. Leaving a pet in a hot car is a misdemeanor with up to 6 months in jail. If the pet dies, it’s a felony with up to 3 years in state prison. This should be dogma.
And then there’s Scarlett’s Magic. She holds the Guinness Record as the world’s tallest pet cat – 17.1 inches. SM, however, isn’t an ordinary housecat. She’s a F1 Savannah – a cross between a domesticated breed and an African Serval – a medium-sized wild cat sharing common traits with cheetahs. Although F1 Savannahs are the closest thing to wild cats allowed as pets in most states, SM’s owners say she has the “charm of a domesticated cat”. Because cubs cost $5,000-$50,000, F1 Savannah cats might not catapult to popularity immediately.
Edna St. Vincent Millay, the poet, and Margaret Mead, the anthropologist, both were previous owners of the house at 75 ½ Bedford Street in Greenwich Village, New York. The 3-story, red brick building was built in 1873 and supposedly has plenty of light supplied by large windows in front and back, as well as a skylight. The current owner bought the house in 2000 for $1.6 million. In 2009 it was for sale for $2.7 million. Because the house is only 9.5 feet wide and 42 feet long, like its previous owners, you can’t be small-minded if you live there.
Joey Chestnut was the winner of 2009’s Fried Dumpling Eating Contest, part of the annual Japanese Festival in Los Angeles. The object of the contest is to eat as many dumplings as possible in 10 minutes. Chestnut ate 181. This was his third, consecutive win at this event, beating his 2008 score by 41 dumplings. Chestnut is a professional competitive eater. He’s rated #1 by the International Federation of Competitive Eating. Chestnut also won Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2009. Joey “Jaws” Chestnut doesn’t bite off more than he can chew.
John Schnatter sold his prized gold-and-black 1971 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 for $2800 in 1983. Part of the money helped save his father’s tavern. Schnatter used the rest to start the Papa John’s pizza chain. Always regretting having sold his muscle car, Schnatter offered a $250,000 reward for it. The original buyers found out about the search when Schnatter was interviewed on national television and they helped find the man they had sold it to for $4,000 five years before. That man got the $250,000, the original buyers got $25,000 for their help and in 2009 Schnatter got the symbol of his “drive to success”.
Antonio Cristofaro is a reputed Italian mafia boss. When the police searched his home outside Naples for weapons, they found a crocodile on the terrace. The 5.5 foot, 88 pound crocodile was identified as a caiman, found in Latin America and protected under the Washington Convention, which regulates trade of endangered animals. Because caimans can easily bite off a leg, they are considered too dangerous to be pets; but Cristofaro was using his to extort money. Cristofaro was charged with illegal possession of an animal and the crocodile was moved to an animal center, as the police took a bite out of crime.
Nike and several other shoe companies are making shoes that look like gloves for feet with a pocket for each toe. This new trend in running shoes is designed for wannabe barefoot runners, runners who are “efficient and biomechanically gifted runners” that want to protect the soles of their feet. Those are runners who don’t need features for stability and motion control that are built into more traditional running shoes. Running shoes were invented in the 70’s by then Oregon University track coach Bill Bowerman, who poured rubber compounds into his wife’s waffle iron. Bowerman later became co-founder of Nike and a “shoeper” success.
Scientists at Missouri University have developed a blast-resistant glass that’s both thinner and lighter and can withstand hand-grenade-strength explosions. Because it is less than ½ inch thick, it’s less expensive to manufacture. Because there is a composite of glass fibers embedded in plastic between two sheets of laminated glass – instead of a strong layer of plastic - the composite layer doesn’t puncture even if the glass cracks. This new glass could be used to protect federal buildings from terrorist attacks, as well as protect homes from hurricanes and earthquakes. This glass is a breakthrough that doesn’t break.
Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, has invented the "Slingshot" – a portable water purifier for use in remote villages. The machine boils, distills and vaporizes contaminated liquid in one tank, delivering pure water to another tank. Using less electricity than a hair dryer, it’s turned river and ocean water, as well as raw sewage, into pure drinking water. One machine can supply 250 gallons a day – enough for 100 people. Presently a Slingshot costs several hundred thousand dollars, but further engineering could reduce the price of this mini water purifier to $2000 – which would be much easier to swallow.
Missouri’s James River Power Station is one of hundreds of U.S. coal-burning power plants. However, in 2009 the plant experimented with burning torrefied wood – roasted wood chips that look like dark sawdust. Some think torrefied wood is a cleaner alternative to coal – which is responsible for more than one-third of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. Both give off carbon dioxide when burned, but burning wood basically returns previously absorbed carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Although the wood that’s used will supposedly be only cleared wood, the fuel will still be 90% coal; and torrefaction will still be a dirty word.
Carol Buckley trained her own elephant and traveled with circuses until realizing captivity is cruel to elephants. In 1995 she co-founded the Elephant Sanctuary - 112 acres in rural Tennessee. Operating on private donations and corporate sponsorships, it’s now 2,700 acres – the largest natural refuge of its kind in the U.S. It’s home to Tara, who lived in the back of a truck at a tire store; Shirley, who performed in a circus until a broken leg put her in the freak show; and 13 other rescue elephants. The Elephant Sanctuary doesn’t allow visitors – hoping these elephants can forget.
Jose Hernandez, 47, worked with his family every summer in the California fields. In the 1960’s and 1970’s he picked beets, cucumbers and tomatoes 7 days a week. At the end of the day his father would tell him to remember how he felt because if he didn’t do well in school, that was his future. Although Hernandez didn’t learn English until age 12, he went on to get a master’s degree in electrical engineering. However, as an astronaut aboard the space shuttle Discovery on its 2009 STS-128 mission, ex-migrant worker Jose Hernandez surpassed his parents’ highest expectations.
Faith Coleman, nurse practitioner and mother of 6, was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2003. Because she didn’t have health insurance, she had to mortgage her house to pay $35,000 in medical bills. After recovering in 2004 she partnered with a doctor treating the indigent and established Flagler County Free Clinic – Flagler County having the highest unemployment rate in Florida. The clinic opened in 2005. By 2009 more than 6,700 patients had been treated. Contributions help fund the clinic. Doctors donate their building to the clinic on weekends and volunteer to see patients. For the uninsured to be treated it helps to have “Faith”.
Joe Hunter became a trucker 4 days after he returned from serving in Vietnam. Frustrated by not finding churches where he could park an 18-wheeler when on the road, he decided to take church to the truckers. Inside a white trailer with a red neon cross on top, there’s prayer, hymns and a short sermon – no collection plate. Rev. Hunter has been a truck stop chaplain since 1981 and now has offices at 74 truck stops in 29 states with about 500 chaplains working with him – many who are volunteers from local churches. For truckers Hunter is a godsend.
According to 2 studies published in the journal “Pediatrics”, Americans don’t get enough vitamin D; and that deficiency could cause cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain cancers. One study looked at federal health statistics for children 1 to 21 and found nearly 8 million children deficient and 50.8 million insufficient in vitamin D, increasing their risk of osteoporosis. The second study found teenagers with the lowest levels of vitamin D had 2 times the risk of high blood pressure and hypoglycemia and 4 times the risk of cardiovascular disease. Doctors recommend children eat vitamin-D-fortified cereals, milk and orange juice because there’s and even higher risk they won’t eat vitamin-D-rich sardines.
According to dentists, however, we shouldn’t drink citric fruit juices – including orange juice –or sports drinks, carbonated beverages and teas because they erode teeth. The acid in these drinks strips teeth of enamel, causing hypersensitivity, discoloration and cracks. Sports drinks are the worst, especially if citric acid has been added. Soft drinks are second worst because of carbonation and fruit juices are third. Teas cause the least erosion. Teeth soaked in black tea didn’t completely erode for 16 weeks. It’s true saliva reduces acid’s effects, but it is not the spitting image of a cure.
According to a Swedish study, girls in more educated families are at higher risk for eating disorders. The study followed more than 13,000 females born between 1952 and 1989, tracking their hospitalizations for eating disorders through 2002. Overall, girls whose parents went to college had about twice the risk as those whose parents had elementary-school educations. The risk was 6 times greater if the maternal grandmother went to college. Similarly, girls with the highest grades at age 15 had twice the risk as girls with the lowest grades. It seems anorexia and bulimia are educated mistakes.
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, tanning beds have a high risk for cancer. Most tanning bed lights primarily give off ultraviolet radiation – causing both skin and eye cancer. A new analysis of approximately 20 studies concludes that the risk of skin cancer jumps 75% when used by people under age 30. When younger people use tanning beds regularly, they are 8 times more likely to develop melanoma, which is the deadliest skin cancer. In Britain melanoma is the most common cancer diagnosed in women in their twenties. When will we learn beauty isn’t just skin deep?
A “Bikestation” for 130 bikes, lockers and a small repair shop opened outside Washington, D.C. in October 2009. It is conveniently located next to the Metro subway exit at Union Station for use by commuters who want to cycle in the city. For an annual membership or a daily usage fee, the system provides secure storage for bicycles, reduces traffic and encourages exercise. An annual survey of Bikestation users in California showed that 30% previously commuted by car. Comparable facilities in Germany and Japan handle 3,000-4,000 bicycles. Obviously, the idea of Bikestations has been “peddled” better outside the U.S.
Not every good idea, however, involves new technology. California winemakers have tried a variety of ways to scare off grape-loving starlings at harvest time. Because shotguns and propane cannons scared the birds away only temporarily and netting rows of grapes is expensive, winemakers are turning to falconry. Falcons can spot starlings half a mile away and can fly 150 mph in pursuit of their prey. Many prominent vineyards – including E&J Gallo – have hired falconers. Releasing 1 falcon twice a day keeps the starlings away from the grapes. Solving this problem just needed a bird’s-eye view.
Many states are looking for ideas to prevent prison inmates from using cell phones to participate in illegal activities. A maximum sentence of 5 years and a $15,000 fine isn’t enough to stop them and under current law the FCC allows only federal agencies to jam cell phone signals. As a result, New Jersey and Virginia are using specially trained dogs to sniff out phones. Phones have been found in light fixtures, Bibles and body cavities. Some phones have been hidden in jars of peanut butter to fool the dogs, but these dogs have a nose for their job.
Nutrition and economic experts are promoting the idea of a 1 cent tax on every ounce of sweetened beverages. This “soda tax” would discourage people from consuming extra calories while generating needed revenue. Thirty-three states tax soft drinks, but the average tax is 5.2% - only 5 cents on a 12 ounce can costing $1. The proposed soda tax would be 12 cents. A national soda tax would generate almost $15 billion its first year and an average 2-pound weight loss for soda drinkers. Because many people aren’t aware that sugared beverages are a major cause of weight problems, the soda tax would help them “pay” attention.
In 1994 MIT researchers built their first robotic fish. However, the 2009 version is a new species. It’s made of a single, soft polymer and modeled after both bass and trout. At 5 to 18 inches long, the new robofish is much smaller, with only 10 moving parts instead of thousands. It’s able to mimic the motions of real fish, be released in oceans and costs only a few hundred dollars. Plans for these fish include mapping the ocean floor, detecting pollution, surveying submerged pipelines and surveillance. When used in groups, robofish provide a new school of thought.
In 2009 Florida researchers are still using doughnuts to bait traps for black bears. However, after the bears are caught and tranquilized, they are fitted with GPS collars that use cell phone technology to text messages regarding their location every 15 minutes. To stay healthy bears need to travel to different locations and to different bear populations. As development has increased, the bears’ habitat has decreased and become fragmented by roads. The isolation causes inbreeding, which causes unhealthy bears. The GPS collars allow the researchers to know what habitat needs protecting and then land conservation decisions can be made using those “bearings”.
In 2009 the federal Cash for Clunkers program took 690,000 gas-guzzling cars off the road. Because only their engines had to be destroyed, everything else was available for recycling. Functioning car parts are stripped and reused in other cars. What's left of the car becomes reincarnated into different things. For example, tires become asphalt, mud flaps or fuel. Windshields become drinking glasses, lamps or counter tops. Oil filters become cans, refrigerators or structural beams. The remaining scrap metal is melted down and could become part of another car in 30 days. It seems that recycling devours almost 100% of the “car-cus”.
In 2011 NASA’s new office building, “Sustainability Base”, is expected to be finished. It will be the federal government’s greenest building. Costing $20.6 million, it will utilize solar panels, fuel cells and water recycling systems to power itself. A computer based on spacecraft technology will connect to local weather forecasts for environment control. It will access employees’ electronic calendars to adjust heating and cooling appropriately. Instead of air conditioning, water from geothermal wells will be piped to the building’s cooling panels. The computer will also control windows to take advantage of cool nighttime breezes. Obviously, this is cool technology.
Scientists have discovered that nitrous oxide, produced mainly in agriculture, is harming the ozone layer more than synthetic chemicals are. Synthetic chemicals are being phased out by the Montreal Protocol treaty, but nitrous oxide is a natural part of the atmosphere. It is produced by microbes in soil; and when fed nitrogen fertilizer, the microbes produce even more of it. Although it’s estimated that nitrous oxide will reduce the stratosphere’s ozone 4% by the end of the century, nitrogen is an essential part of protein and a source of our food. Nitrous oxide can’t be phased out – unless we phase out eating too.
However, the World Agroforestry Center in Nairobi wants to phase in Faidherbia trees. These trees capture nitrogen from the air through their roots and incorporate it into their leaves. Because these trees grow during the dry season, they drop their leaves in the rainy season, when nitrogen-needing plants start to grow. When a crop of corn was grown under Faidherbia trees, the yield was 3-4 times larger. These trees could help poor farmers throughout Africa, South America and much of south and Southeast Asia by providing free, organic fertilizer as a renewable “treetment” for soil.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, 163 new species were discovered in the Mekong River region of Southeast Asia in 2008. Among the 100 plants, 28 fish, 18 reptiles, 14 amphibians, 2 mammals and 1 bird was the Limnonectes megastomias, a fanged frog that eats birds and the Nonggang babbler, a bird that prefers walking to flying. The good news is that these new species were found in regions no longer involved in decades of war and political unrest. The bad news is that their diverse habitats are threatened by droughts and floods caused by climate change – which must change.
According to an editorial in the highly esteemed British medical journal “Lancet”, making contraceptives available in developing countries could help fight climate change by reducing population growth. More than 200 million women worldwide do not have access to contraceptives and that results in approximately 76 million unintended pregnancies a year. The world population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050 – with more than 90% of the increase coming from developing countries. Increased need for food and shelter will increase carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. It’s hard to believe that there was a time when climate change just meant a vacation.
