Medicine

» Evidence is mounting that excessive use of antibiotics in livestock is diminishing their effectiveness in humans. Of particular concern to scientists is that recent studies have found bacteria in chickens that are resistant to the most recently approved class of antibiotics that they had been hoping would remain effective for a long time.
» Of the twenty million people who underwent major surgery in 1998, an estimated 40,000 to 200,000 woke up during the surgery, said Dr. Peter Sebel, a professor of anesthesiology. They can usually see, feel pain, hear and sometimes smell everything around them, but cannot do anything to alert doctors to their consciousness. Some patients tell of searing pain and observing their own open-heart surgery.

Health

» AIDS has cut the life expectancy in Zimbabwe from 65 to 39 years, costing the average person about a quarter-century of life. Other African nations are also experiencing dramatic drops in life expectancy.
» Plastic wrap seals everyday foods from cheese to meats and is easily taken for granted. A new worry is that it is not as safe as assumed. The plastic can contain endocrine disrupters that can mimic or interfere with hormones in the body, possibly causing breast cancer, birth defects, low sperm count and mental problems.

Bees And Honey

The varroa mite, an external parasite, can weaken or kill entire honeybee hives, and they have infested hives from coast to coast. In Washington State alone, hive numbers have dropped from 85,000 in 1992 to 54,000 in 1997. The EPA is trying a new product designed to fight the mites.

Losing Our Gates

The U.S. recently handed over the first of five military bases to Panama prior to the historic transfer of the Panama Canal to Panama later this year. "This is full satisfaction, to see for the first time the Panamanian flag flying instead of the U.S. one," said Juan Samudio, who waved a huge Panamanian flag.

Privacy

Microsoft, whose software runs most of the world's personal computers, admitted that its latest version of Windows generates a unique serial number that is planted in electronic documents and could be used to trace the authors' identity. The privacy implications are enormous.

Y2K Update

Many observers say that the U.S. military is preparing for martial law in late 1999, but no official publicly admits this. The British are more forthright, confirming that troops may be on the streets in 2000 under emergency Home Office plans to maintain vital services that could be crippled by the Y2K bug.

Education

The National Education Association's top priority is not quality education but its members' financial and political power. American Federation of Teacher's President Al Shanker, one of this century's best labor union presidents, once openly admitted, "I will begin to care about the quality of children's education in this country when they start paying union dues."

Rape of Children

South African police figures show that reported rapes of children have doubled since 1994. Neels Steenkamp, Northern Province divisional commissioner on human rights, reports 7,559 rapes in 1994, 14,723 in 1997.