印度洋海啸再一次引起了大家对环境问题的广泛关注. 本期特别选取一些相关故事, 以飨读者. 臭氧层遭到破坏, 对人们的日常生活有何影响? 美国国家航空和宇宙航行局预测太阳系的一颗小行星极有可能偏离运行轨道, 这对地球又将产生何种影响呢? 希望这些资讯能唤醒广大读者的环保意识, 更加爱护我们惟一的家园--地球.

 

Ignoring the hole
Edited by Kent Hill



Does anyone remember that big hole in the sky over the south pole that everyone was talking about back in the 80's? Well, it's still there and one town at the very bottom of South America is already living with the negative effects of having this hole in the atmosphere.

The people of wind-blown Punta Arenas, just like the local pine trees that are permanently bent eastward from strong gusts of wind, are adjusting to the intense UV radiation that pours each year through the gap in the ozone layer of the atmosphere. At least that's what some say.

Some local doctors claim that residents of the city are better informed nowadays about the radiation and that they are buying more sun-block lotion and wearing sunglasses to protect their eyes. Also, some residents of the city say they have gotten used to it.

But actually, on a "red alert" day, when UV rays could damage eyes, you see many citizens walking around town with no protection for their eyes at all or even holding their sunglasses instead of using them. Wait a minute. If there are such high levels of UV radiation pouring over this city then why don't people protect themselves? The reason is simple: It's cool there.

"When it's 30℃ somewhere, people don't go out into the sun. Here, with 13℃, they go outside," A chief local doctor said. You see, you can't feel the radiation because it isn't accompanied by heat. So people walk around town without protection because it feels like they don't need any.

It's probably not a good idea to ignore the dangerous effects of UV radiation even if you can't feel that it's harming your body. Well, luckily for the residents of the rest of the world, the size of the hole above Antarctica has been getting smaller for the past two years and hopefully will continue to do so.

 

 

Rock may fall

Recently astronomers have observed an asteroid orbiting the sun that is surprisingly close to the earth's orbit. A NASA scientist said that as of now there is a 1 and 300 chance that the asteroid will hit our planet in 2029.

The asteroid has only been spotted by scientists a few times, which so far leaves it with the rating of 2 on the 10-point Torino Impact Hazard Scale used by astronomers to predict asteroid or comet impacts. No previously observed asteroid has been graded higher than 1.

So far the date of possible impact has been calculated as Friday, April 13, 2029. "But the impact probability, as we call it, is 300-to-1 against an impact." said Donald Yeomans, manager of the Near Earth Object Program at NASA.

"This is not a problem for anyone and it shouldn't be a concern to anyone, but whenever we post one of these things and ... somebody gets a hold of it, it just gets crazy," he said, adding, "In the unlikely event that it did hit, it would be quite serious. We're talking either a tsunami if it hit in the ocean, which would be likely, or significant ground damage," Yeomans said. Its size has been estimated by measuring its brightness and comparing it to other asteroids that have also come close to the earth. This measurement leaves it measuring over 300 meters long.

Asteroid 2004 MN4, as it is called, takes less than a year to go all the way around the sun and on each orbit it passes by earth's orbit twice. The asteroid will be visible for the next several months and various astrological observatories are going to have their eyes in the sky to catch a glimpse while they can.

 

 

Video games help relax



Child playing a hand-held video game to help relax during preparation for surgery.

Doctors in New Jersey, USA, have just discovered that letting children play hand-held video games before surgery helps them relax while going under anesthesia. It would seem that the video games work better than other toys and even help them relax more than tranquilizer medication. The benefits from this practice, if the results prove consistent, will affect hospital staff as well as the patients' families.

Normally, when a child is being anesthetized they have a lot of anxiety and may even have a panic attack. Sometimes a tranquilizer drug is given to the child beforehand to prevent these negative experiences but many times the parent doesn't want their children to take such strong medication. A recent study done in one hospital shows some pretty remarkable results.

One Dr. Anu Patel used 26 different children aged 4-12 to conduct a study on pre-operation anxiety. He broke the children into three groups; one group of children accompanied by their parents only, one group had a tranquilizer administered and their parents were there, and one group with their parents and a hand-held video game. Surprisingly, the group of children with the video game had no raise in anxiety levels before surgery compared even to the tranquilizer group, which had half the anxiety jump of the parent only group.

 

 

Leaving flat-space



A new type of scanner has been developed recently at the University of Tokyo that is flexible and capable of accurately scanning surfaces which normal flat scanners are unable to accomplish. The credit card sized device, named the Organic Sheet-Image Scanner, is made of a transparent organic plastic. Although it is still under further development the idea behind it is to make the scanner compatible with a mobile phone, which will act as its power supply as well as the storage and display medium.

So far the Sheet Image Scanner's resolution is relatively low, at 36 dots per square inch but has the potential to go up to a resolution quality of 250 dpi. As of now the lightweight design can only scan in shades of grey, making it most useful for taking images of curved objects such as open books or even wine bottles, where conventional scanners fall short. Also, considering that the apparatus has no moving parts or optical components makes it extremely light weight and compact.

The product is still in its developing stages so currently the images can only be translated by use of complicated electronics. The designers envision adding color to the scanner in coming years as well as a custom chip that will read the visual information and feed it into a mobile phone. These additions will make it the most accurate way of aquiring a close-up image on the go and may take the place of cellphone cameras as the preferred mobile image recorder. The device should be on the market in about three years at a price around USD 10.

Vocabulary
UV radiation 紫外射线
ozone layer 臭氧层
sun-block 防晒霜
asteroid 小行星
astrological 占星术的
NASA (short for National Aeronautics and Space Administration) 美国国家航空和宇宙航行局
anesthesia 麻醉
tranquilizer 镇定剂
consistent 始终如一