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History and Culture 14
How the Moon May Have Sunk the Titanic
The Titanic disaster may have occurred because the sun, moon, and Earth were lined up, raising tides and thereby increasing the number of icebergs.
The sinking of the Titanic on April 14, 1912 was the world’s most famous maritime disaster, with over 1,500 fatalities. The hull of the Titanic had been breached by an iceberg. Icebergs often hamper ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean in spring. However, the spring of 1912 saw an unusual number of them cluttering shipping lanes, which has always been a riddle to historians.
Astronomer Donald Olson of Texas State University believes he has the answer. A rare alignment of the sun, the full moon and Earth, plus the closest lunar approach to Earth since AD 796, caused extremely high tides on January 4, 1912. The full moon and its proximity to Earth created a "supermoon." Olson believes the high tide refloated a horde of icebergs that had run aground in the shallow seas just offshore from Canada's eastern seaboard and sent them in the path of the Titanic. The icebergs reached the area of the Titanic three months later, sealing its fate. Olson's theory is supported by reports of record high tides around the world in January 1912.
The timing of the moon's changes in 1912 was anything but propitious. The disaster happened on a moonless night, when the iceberg was inconspicuous - and the moon set a series of events in motion three months earlier that led to the passenger ship's wreck.
Medicine and Technology 14
A New Cure with Old Roots
Since various bacteria species have gained increased immunity to antibiotics, some researchers suggest using phage viruses, which may be an effective alternative.
Antibiotics are often overprescribed and misused. Moreover, pharmaceutical companies have turned away from the development of effective new antibiotics towards more lucrative concerns. As a result, strains of vicious new bacteria called "superbugs" have materialized which are impervious to antibiotics and other commonly used medical interventions.
Since antibiotics have become a dead end for many patients, some medical experts are banking on an alternative treatment for infections, once offered in the US in the 1940s. The treatment utilizes phage viruses, which attack harmful bacteria. The viruses are parasites that attach themselves to the walls of bacteria and inject their DNA inside. The injected DNA particles act as stealth reproductive agents, for they hijack the bacteria's reproductive system and use it to create more phage viruses. The viruses then break out of the bacteria's cell and attack other bacteria. The viruses stem the increase of bacteria, giving the human body a way to fend off superbugs. While many physicians are receptive to the treatment, other are not. Viruses mingle their DNA with the host bacteria's. This sometimes creates new hybrids, including such deadly pathogens as E.coli O157.
Treatment with phage viruses can also be time-consuming. Unlike antibiotics, which are effective against a variety of bacteria, each type of phage virus attacks limited types. This means microbiologists must spend up to weeks identifying the infecting bacteria and then selecting and incubating the appropriate phage viruses to eradicate them.
Politics and Economy 14
Global Poverty
The number of people living in extreme poverty declined greatly in the early twenty-first century, thanks in large part to economic growth in China and various African nations.
During the Great Recession of 2007-2009, many developed countries experienced a resurgence of poverty. One would expect impoverished citizens of developing countries to have fared disproportionately worse. yet during the economic crisis, data showed that the number of people subsisting on under $1.25 per day, then the benchmark for absolute poverty, had not shot up. In fact, statistics indicated that global poverty was only 50 percent of the level in 1990.
Half of the subsistence level poverty was attributable to a single country -- China, which had the world's highest incidence of poverty in the early 1980s, with 77 percent of its population bringing in less than $1.25 a day. Roughly 660 million Chinese had climbed out of poverty thanks to comprehensive economic and social reforms, a remarkable feat in such a short time frame. Africa was another remarkable story. The number of destitute individuals shot up between 1981 and 2005, but then dropped by 12 million in 2008 and, for the first time, less than half the continent's population was living below the poverty line. This turnaround, too, was due to economic expansion and subventions for beefed-up social programs.
Unfortunately, however, in recent years, climate change, armed conflict, and the outbreak of COVID-19 have threatened to reverse some of the hard-won gains made previously.
Politics and Economy 14
Global Poverty
The number of people living in extreme poverty declined greatly in the early twenty-first century, thanks in large part to economic growth in China and various African nations.
During the Great Recession of 2007-2009, many developed countries experienced a resurgence of poverty. One would expect impoverished citizens of developing countries to have fared disproportionately worse. yet during the economic crisis, data showed that the number of people subsisting on under $1.25 per day, then the benchmark for absolute poverty, had not shot up. In fact, statistics indicated that global poverty was only 50 percent of the level in 1990.
Half of the subsistence level poverty was attributable to a single country -- China, which had the world's highest incidence of poverty in the early 1980s, with 77 percent of its population bringing in less than $1.25 a day. Roughly 660 million Chinese had climbed out of poverty thanks to comprehensive economic and social reforms, a remarkable feat in such a short time frame. Africa was another remarkable story. The number of destitute individuals shot up between 1981 and 2005, but then dropped by 12 million in 2008 and, for the first time, less than half the continent's population was living below the poverty line. This turnaround, too, was due to economic expansion and subventions for beefed-up social programs.
Unfortunately, however, in recent years, climate change, armed conflict, and the outbreak of COVID-19 have threatened to reverse some of the hard-won gains made previously.
Nature and Environment 14
A Sheep Survival Strategy
A recent experiment has supported the "selfish herd" theory, which says that sheep will selfishly try to move to the center of their flock when danger approaches.
Sheep have a reputation for blindly following each other, regardless of the situation. Now, researchers are finding out that their flocking tendencies are far from outrageous and haphazard. Instead, their movements are as coherent as they are deliberate. When approached by predators, sheep will scurry towards the center of their flock, maneuvering for optimum safety at the expense of those left at the periphery, who are exposed to the predators.
This "selfish herd" theory was the first postulated in 1973 by W. D. Hamilton, a British evolutionary biologist. The theory was recently verified thanks to an ingenious experiment undertaken by researchers at the University of London and the University of Cambridge, which entailed attaching GPS tracking devices to 46 sheep and a sheepdog. Researchers reasoned the sheepdog would elicit a flocking response similar to that of a predator. When the sheepdog approached, the sheep went into a swirling frenzy. Detailed analyses of their movements showed that, instead of a disorderly flight, the sheep were adhering to a proven survival strategy.
Andrew King of the University of London Royal Veterinary College asserted that the findings have broad implications. He thinks that understanding how these rules work can hint at similar systems and common principles across species.
Education, psychology and society 3
The Bobo Doll Experiment
In a famous experiment, researchers showed that children tended toplay more aggressively after watching adults acting violently toward a doll.
The question of whether watching violent movies or TV programs can prompt aggression in the real world is a contentious one. One piece of evidence that is frequently cited by those who believe observing violence can be detrimental, though, is the 1961 Bobo doll experiment.
Researchers divided preschool-age subjects into groups. One set of children observed an adult playing peacefully with a building set, while another group saw an adult pummeling an inflatable clown named Bobo and striking it with a mallet, as well as being verbally aggressive. After a brief interval, the children were provided with a selection of toys, some of which invited aggression, such as a mallet, a dart gun, and a Bobo doll, as well as more sedate toys, like crayons and plastic animals.
Children who had been exposed to violence exhibited a strong tendency to imitate what they had observed. This contradicted the then- prevailing theory that behaviors were learned exclusively through punishment or reward rather than observation. Furthermore, since children appeared inclined to emulate aggression modeled by adults, the experiment suggested that disciplining children using corporal punishment may actually increase children's aggressive tendencies.