Issue 6 2009: June
RATS!
After 229 years, Alaska's Rat Island is rat free. The 10 square-mile speck of land has been infested with rats since 1780, when a Japanese shipwreck spilled them there. But last fall, at a cost of $2.5 million, the federal government and two wildlife groups joined forces to bombard the island with poison. Since then, there has been no sign of the rodents, and several of the bird species they had devastated have begun to return. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will continue to monitor Rat Island for vermin for at least two more years. ..... The Week
THE CHANGING FACE OF AMERICA
"When he easily beat Jimmy Carter in the presidential election of 1980, Ronald Reagan captured 55 percent of the white vote. John McCain won that same percentage of white voters last year, but lost decisively to Barack Obama. The difference: Blacks and Hispanics collectively accounted for 22 percent of the vote last year, up from 12 percent in 1980." ..... The New York Times
NURSE RECRUITMENT TECHNIQUES
In response to a shortage of nurses, Czech hospitals are now offering free plastic surgery and breast implants to retain and recruit nurses. "There is nothing degrading about this kind of benefit," said a spokeswoman for the Czech nurses' association. ..... The New York Times
SUPREME COURT JUSTICES
When asked which of the U.S. Supreme Court justices they most admire, half of the respondents either did not have an answer or could not name one. The "winner" picked by 11 percent was Justice Clarence Thomas, though he tied with Sandra Day O'Connor who left the court in 2006. ..... Fox News
THE FOREARM WINS
All of our skin is crawling with microscopic organisms, but you'd be surprised which area is the most biodiverse. As part of a large-scale survey called the Human Microbiome Project, geneticist Julie Segre set out to learn what kinds of bacteria live on different parts of the human body by taking swabs from 20 critical areas. Our skin is a smorgasboard of ecosystems, Segre found,and home to roughly 1,000 species of bacteria -- about as many as inhabit the gut. The most diverse region, it turns out isn't the navel, nostril, armpit, or the part of the buttocks that scientists call the gluteal crease. The honor instead goes to the forearm, which teems on average with 44 species, double the number found in the most barren realm, behind the ears. Scientists hope the study will shed light on why skin disorders such as acne and eczema occur where they do. "It's a straightforward description of something that needed to be described," dermatologist Richard Gallo tells ScienceNOW. ..... The Week
CELL PHONE TAKEOVER
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that for the first time, more U.S. households have only cell phones - about 20 percent - than only land lines, at 17 percent. About 60 percent still have both, but the trend is clear. ..... San Jose Mercury News
LEGAL IMMIGRANTS
About 1 million immigrants became U.S. citizens last year - the largest one-year surge in history. ..... Los Angeles Times
DONUTS GALORE
No wonder it sometimes seems as if there's a Dunkin' Donuts on every corner. This past week, Dunkin' Brands, which operates the coffee-and pastry chain, opened its 15,000th store, in Raleigh, N.C. ..... The Boston Globe
JIM'S STETHASCOOP
"True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country." .....Kurt Vonnegut, quoted in TheBookreporter.com
MILT'S MORSEL OF THE MONTH
"When a politician decides to make a living in politics, that's the day he becomes corrupt." ..... Jerry Springer, quoted in the London Daily Telegraph
