Until I get back to the UK and have something more relevant to report, here are some recent stories spotted by the elves at BBCs Qi site. Qi stands for Quite Interesting and began life as a TV gameshow where the questions (asked by Stephen Fry) are so hard that contestants gain points for interesting (if not necessarily correct) answers. However, they also lose points for being wrong and obvious.
Anyway, for your reading pleasure are a few interesting news snippets from around the world:-
Japanese Hay Fever Sufferers turn to Robots
Robots are now being used around Japan in order to detect pollen levels, in order to help those with hay fever.
500 small, globe-shaped robots produced by Japan's Weather News information company have been produced. The robots are installed in home across the country and gauge the amount of pollen in the air to give suffers warnings, based on a scale from one to five. This information is collected by the company and posted on the internet.
Spokesperson Naoko Tani said: "You cannot really see pollen, but these detectors help you find out the exact pollen levels at a particular location at a particular time."
According to experts, changes in lifestyle and housing environments have caused an increase of hay fever sufferers. Most of pollen in Japan comes from cedar trees, which cover over 10% of the country. Symptoms of hay fever include sneezing, headaches and watery eyes.
Polio Sufferer wins $22.5 million lawsuit
A man from Staten Island, New York has won a lawsuit after he contracted polio 30 years ago from his daughter's oral vaccination.
Dominick Tenuto, 61, won $22.5 million from Lederle Laboratories who manufactured "Orimune", a polio vaccine that was given to Tenuto's 5-month-old daughter, Diana, in May 1979.
The following month, Tenuto, who was a supervisor for a Wall Street securities firm, contracted polio and lost the use of legs. He claimed that the vaccine, which contained a live virus, passed through his daughter's body and she excreted it. As a result, he is now in a wheelchair.
After the ruling, Tenuto said: "I've got some measure of relief that the truth finally was told in an open court of law." He said of the money that, "it doesn't change the way I live my life. It's still going to be hard."
Tenuto had also tried to sue the state of the late paediatrician Dr. Leroy Schwartz, but only Lederle was held liable. Lederle is planning to appeal.
Americins has truble spelin
A new study has shown the Americans are worse at spelling in the English.
The study, carried out in the US last month and based on one performed in the UK last April, 62% of Americans could not spell "embarrassed" correctly, compared to 54% of Britions.
Other words that American adults had trouble with included "millennium" (52% of Americans, compared to 43% of Britons), "liaison" (61% compared to 54%) and "accommodation" (42% compared to 36%). The only words out of the study that the Americans did better than the British were "definitely" and "friend".
Professor Edward Baranowski of California State University said that the results were a reflection of the "horrific" drop-out rate in US high schools. He said: "This certainly puts an eventual strain upon the universities, which must devote lots of resources to remedial education."
The research was commissioned the research. Jack Bovill, a member of the society said that the high inaccuracy rates in both UK and the USA showed the English spelling system to be modernised to improve literacy. The Society wants a cross-party committee of MPs to promote spelling reforms. Bovill said: "When asked, only a quarter of adults thought they had a problem with spelling. The answers in the test prove that this is far from the case. What is holding the UK and the USA back is the irregular spelling system."
A small collection of very happy (and relieved) Natural Scientists celebrating with the department head (2nd from Left) and office staff (standing behind). I would like to thank these ever generous people to whom I owe so much and congratuate my fellow students.
