Tuesday, June 24, 2003

The Power of an Illusion What if people suddenly discovered that their most basic assumption about race — that the world’s people can be divided biologically along racial lines — was false? And if race is a biological “myth,” where did the idea come from? How do established institutions give race social meaning and power? (06/24/03) The Conformity Police Howard Bloom writes: Why call the first principle of a complex adaptive system "the conformity enforcer," objected a well-meaning colleague. "Doesn't the notion smack of a police state?" Yes. The conformity enforcers pressing perception, behavior and appearance into a common mold can be far more brutal than we might like to think. And they begin their work at a disturbingly early age. Jesus Christ, William Wordsworth, and the current New Age Touch The Future Movement in California have portrayed children as avatars of innocence. If so, then innocence is barb-wired with ferocity. In the early 1960s, Eibl-Eibesfeldt found "toddlers...hitting, kicking, biting and spitting at one another" no matter what culture he studied. It is unlikely that these newcomers to our world had learned their harshness from parents or from violent movies on tv. In many of the societies Eibl-Eibesfeldt scrutinized, television was at best a distant dream. In others parents worked like hell to stop the hailstorms of savagery. If anything the behavioral circuitry of sadism seems a curse genetically pre-stamped into us. ... But coordinated viciousness serves a function within the group as well. It builds the backbone of a social structure, polices it, and then compels conformity. (06/24/03) US Government Pushes GM Grains BBC Politics -- An international conference on technology in agriculture has opened in the Californian capital, Sacramento. Organised by the US Government, it brings scientists and the biotechnology industry together with ministers from around 75 countries, mainly from the developing world. Protests have already begun from groups who believe the conference is aimed at persuading developing nations to accept genetically-modified food. The Bush administration argues vehemently that technologies like genetic engineering are key to providing food for the billion or so people who currently live below acceptable levels of nutrition. It says opposition to GM, notably from the European Union, is keeping much needed food from hungry mouths. US Under-Secretary of State for Agriculture, JB Penn, says this conference aims to show developing countries the benefits of many technologies, including GM. "It's not about trying to convince the developing countries that they should adopt biotech. This is a conference about all agricultural technologies - ways in which developing countries can improve the lives of their people." The biotech industry is expected to turn out at the conference in force, with major companies like Monsanto among the exhibitors and sponsors. (06/24/03) Ancient Agriculture in South Pacific Science News -- Situated in the South Pacific islands, remote New Guinea seems an unlikely place for the invention of agriculture. Yet that's precisely what happened there nearly 7,000 years ago, according to a new investigation. Inhabitants of this tropical outpost cultivated large quantities of bananas about 3 millennia before the arrival of Southeast Asian seafarers, say archaeologist Tim P. Denham of Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, and his colleagues. Agriculture thus arose independently in New Guinea, the scientists conclude in an upcoming Science. Until now, convincing evidence for ancient agriculture came only from the Middle East, China, the eastern United States, South America, and a region encompassing parts of Mexico and Central America. ... Denham's team identified three early phases of land use. Limited planting of bananas and digging of starchy taro roots in a plot abutting a drainage ditch occurred between 10,220 and 9,910 years ago. The researchers unearthed microscopic crystals from bananas and found starch grains from taro on the edges of stone tools. From 6,950 to 6,440 years ago, cultivation expanded, say the researchers. The region's inhabitants built large mounds of soil on which they planted bananas, including a wild species from which the world's largest group of domesticated bananas later arose. Recent genetic research suggests that bananas were initially domesticated in New Guinea and subsequently spread to Southeast Asia, the scientists note. Crop growing on New Guinea was further refined between 4,350 and 3,980 years ago. Networks of ditches connected to major drainage channels improved banana cultivation in the waterlogged setting. (06/24/03) Hong Kong Free of SARS CNN World -- The World Health Organization has removed Hong Kong from its blacklist of SARS-affected areas, signaling an end to one of the worst crises the territory has ever faced. The spread of the virus, infecting 1,755 people and killing 296, had made Hong Kong a virtual no-go zone since it first hit the territory four months ago. With Monday's SARS-free declaration school children across Hong Kong symbolically tossed away the face masks they had been required to wear as officials marked what they hoped would be the last chapter in the epidemic's grim history. "Every time I think about those who have passed away as a result of SARS or who have sacrificed themselves as a result of SARS, I, like all of us, feel really a great deal of sorrow," Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa told a gathering at Amoy Gardens, a housing estate where more than 300 people fell sick with SARS. Late last month, the WHO lifted its travel advisory off the territory, but Sunday marked the twentieth day in a row Hong Kong has not reported a new SARS case -- the benchmark for a clean bill of health from the WHO. (06/24/03) Failure to Protect CNN National -- A new study finds roadways -- not driver error or faulty vehicles -- to be a significant factor in crashes that claimed more than 24,000 lives between 1998 and 2001. The analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash data by Reader's Digest Magazine found more than one-third of the deaths occurred at intersections, where confusing lanes, blind spots and inadequate signage can be frequent problems. The American Automobile Association (AAA) says most vulnerable when driving on low-lit roads and busy intersections are older drivers, because of their diminished vision and slower reaction time. ... Some state and local officials argue local governments don't always have the money to change signs, lighting and road markings at dangerous intersections. "What it comes down to is dollars," says Karen Miller, incoming president of the National Association of Counties, "and the fact that many local governments don't have the capacity to raise the funds needed for these capital improvements." But experts argue that the improvements can save millions in hospital costs, property damage and insurance rates by preventing accidents and deaths. (06/24/03)  Arizona Wildfire Grows CNN News -- A growing wildfire may keep Arizona homeowners and shopkeepers at bay for more than a week before they can return to their property and assess their losses. The fire grew by about a third Sunday as low humidity, high winds and scorching temperatures fed combustible conditions. Monday's forecast held little promise. Temperatures are expected to settle around 100 degrees, with relative humidity in the teens. "We'd like to be optimistic, but ... it's going to warm up," said Roy Hall, operations section chief for the Southwest Incident Management Team. "We might get a slight decrease in the winds." The fire had swollen to 11,400 acres by late Sunday and continued a steady march north, while challenging firefighters on the southern slopes of Mount Lemmon northeast of Tucson. Firefighters have contained about 5 percent of the blaze. "This is an extremely difficult area," Hall said. "It's rugged. It's rough. The key that we have been stressing with our firefighters is patience." (06/24/03) Repairing Celiac Disease Science News -- Although celiac disease was considered rare in the United States a decade ago, recent tallies indicate that it may affect as many as 1 in 150 people, or 2 million in all. Many people with the condition aren't properly diagnosed and suffer unexplained symptoms and potentially grave complications. Before an astute pediatrician diagnosed celiac disease in Khosla's son, the researcher had never heard of the disease. Neither had his wife, although she'd had gastrointestinal and skin problems for years. "She was one of the hundreds of thousands of misdiagnosed [people] out there," Khosla says. People in whom the disease is recognized must give up not only most grain-based foods but also soups, sauces, canned foods, and hundreds of other items. Manufacturers frequently add gluten to those processed foods, and they charge hefty premiums for products prepared instead with rice proteins or other innocuous additives. ... Khosla and other scientists have turned their attention to therapeutic alternatives that could short-circuit the disease's development. The right drug might block the degeneration of the intestinal lining—the hallmark of celiac disease. (06/24/03) 5:59:11 AM

© TrustMark 2003 Timothy Wilken. Last update: 7/1/2003; 5:51:10 AM. This theme is based on the SoundWaves (blue) Manila theme.