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Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
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Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
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tie disease
A study of 42 doctors on staff at New York Hospital Medical Center, Queens, USA, found that almost half of them harboured potentially dangerous bacteria in their neckties, able to transmit such conditions as pneumonia and blood infections.
canine connector
Israeli prison guards are being trained to understand dog-speak, differentiating between barks and woofs. Scientific analysis of canine conversations show that dogs bark differently according to what they see happening, for example, a prisoner escaping or a stray cat in the yard. Using a three-coloured warning system of green (everything’s OK); yellow (suspicious activity, so go check it out) and red (we have an escapee), guards make their rounds.
overdose
A Yorkshire woman suffered a potentially fatal muscle failure after eating a large amount of liquorice. She had been eating up to 200 g of liquorice a day in an ill-conceived effort to overcome her constipation. Suffering low potassium levels and high-blood pressure, the woman was hospitalised for four days.
quack
Britain’s country ducks have distinct regional accents, in much the same manner as does the human population, British researchers have found. The London duck sounds “rougher” than those found elsewhere in Britain, assumedly so they can hear themselves above the city drone.
hip sunblocker
Hippo sweat—or a chemical clone—may soon be the next sunscreen. The reddish-brown substance secreted by hippos when hot has the properties of an SPF 30+ screen. The substance also acts as a natural antibiotic. Despite this, hippo sweat may never become a commercial product.
science for kids
British boffins have calculated the perfect sandcastle mix. After two days spent on the beach constructing various edifices, they came up with a formula for making the perfect sandcastle: 0.125 x S = OW, where S is the quantity of sand, and OW is the quantity of water.
British pop shots
A postal campaign to highlight the quantity of letters that go missing in the mail has been given the stamp of authority after none of the letters arrived at their intended destination. The Sunday Telegraph said letters sent by Postwatch, the postal services monitoring group, to 49 MPs urging them to report misdelivered or missing mail, disappeared without trace. Gillian Shephard, one of the intended recipients of the Stamp Out Misdelivered Mail campaign, said she’d written to the chairman of the Royal Mail to complain, but had received no reply. “I should have faxed him,” she said.
conservative spirit
The mayor of Niger’s capital has ordered “qualified” sorcerers to chase away an alleged evil spirit, which is reported to be making nightly appearances. Night-life lovers in Niamey have repeatedly complained of a woman who appears from nowhere, curses and threatens them, then vanishes. Young women in skimpy outfits have been particular targets for this evil spirit. Although local Muslim religious leaders dismissed the claims, the mayor is taking no risks and is resorting to the traditional customs of Niger.
e-nose
An electronic nose that can sniff out respiratory infections has been developed by US scientists. The device works by comparing “smell prints.” Unique gasses given off by bacteria and exhaled by a patient are used for infection identification. The scientists claim the proboscis gives a faster, easier and more accurate diagnosis than traditional methods, allowing doctors to prescribe appropriate medicine.
Magic Cow
Cambodian devotees wait their turn to touch a cow they believe holds magic powers. Villagers believe that the cow, called Preah Ang Kour, heals rheumatism and other ailments. The belief in the supernatural healing powers of animals, such as cows, snakes and turtles, is a relatively common phenomenon in Cambodia.—Reuters
“The modern nations of the world are seized with an Armageddon-complex,” heralded the March Signs in 1954, as the Korean conflict peace talks concluded. Whether literal or figurative combat, “Armageddon will be a global war with a difference,” the author stated.
Fifty years on, Signs revisits the topic of Armageddon, as a new conflict simmers in a Middle East awash with some of the world’s largest and most powerful armies. The name Armageddon symbolises the final destruction of earth.
Extract from Signs of the Times, September 2004.
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