RP400 Cracking the Case

RP400 Cracking the Case
It is China in the year 1247. Song Ci has just written Washing Away of Wrongs, a book that contains the first written accounts of forensic science— the type of science that is used to answer legal questions. The book tells of an investigator who travels to a remote village in order to solve a murder mystery. After examining the murder victim's wound, he tries out various weapons on animal corpses to identify what kind of weapon the murderer used. He then gets the villagers to bring their scythes to the center of town. Flies start to accumulate on one of the scythes because it still has trace amounts of blood on it. The villager who owns the scythe breaks down and confesses to the murder.
Hundreds of years pass. It's late nineteenth century France. Alexandre Lacassagne conducts a study into the relationship between bullets and guns. His work lays the foundation for the modern practice of ballistic fingerprinting, which is how investigators match bullets to the gun that fired them.
Next, Argentine policeman Juan Vucetich shocks the world in 1892 when he uses a suspect's fingerprints to convict her for a murder. Mr. Vucetich's technique for classifying fingerprints would eventually spread to police departments all over the world.
Another breakthrough occurs in Germany about 15 years later. Margarethe Filbert's murderer is captured after investigators use soil samples taken from the murderer's shoes to verify his movements on the day that the crime took place.
In 1987, a British man named Colin Pitchfork becomes the first criminal to be convicted using DNA fingerprinting evidence. Investigators believe that a 17-year-old would have been wrongly convicted for the double murders if not for the DNA evidence proving he was innocent.
Nowadays, police forces the world over have taken these past breakthroughs and integrated them in order to facilitate police work. For example, American government agencies have created vast databases containing DNA, fingerprint, paint type, tire tread, and weapon and bullet manufacturing information.
It seems that the life of a criminal has gotten a lot harder since the days of just having to wash off your scythe thoroughly.

RP399 Loose Your Arrows

 RP399 Loose Your Arrows!

Archery is the practice of firing an arrow into a target, living or otherwise, using a bow. The origins of archery possibly date back as far as 50,000 B.C., a theory supported by the discovery of prehistoric stone arrowheads in Africa. Since its invention, archery has been used primarily in hunting and war. The Mongol armies of Genghis Khan conquered Asia with their devastating mounted archers, and many gods and heroes of myth and legend are depicted as archers. The Greek demigod Hercules, the Chinese hero Houyi (who shot down nine of the ten suns), and the English folk hero Robin Hood are just some of the many archers celebrated in popular legends.
Despite the strong start, bows gradually lost their prominence as the long-range weapon of choice after the rapid development of portable firearms in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Soldiers could be trained to use guns much faster, and their ability to pierce armor easily caused the bow to become quickly obsolete. As such, modern archery is treated as a competitive sport rather than a combative skill, with participants firing at targets placed at set distances, then scored depending on their accuracy.
Commonly, an archer stands with his or her side facing the target with both feet at shoulder-width apart, providing a stable base for the shooter. The arrow is then loaded into the bow in a process called "nocking the arrow." The nock is the small groove at the end of the arrow that the string of the bow fits into. The bow is then raised, and the arrow is drawn back in one smooth motion. The left arm should be locked in a straight position, pointing toward the target, while the right arm, which draws the bow, should be bent with the elbow at shoulder height and in line with the arrow. If the drawing arm is too far back, the arrow will not fly straight on release.
You may be surprised to find out that the world record for the furthest arrow ever shot using a handheld, pulled bow is an astonishing 1,222.01 meters—that's over a kilometer! Not bad for just wood, string, and an arm, don't you think?

RP398 Apricot Kernels: the Cancer Buster

 RP398 Apricot Kernels: the Cancer Buster?

In the war against cancer, allies can come from the most unlikely places. Take apricot kernels for example. These soft, bitter-tasting seeds are found by breaking open the hard pit of an apricot. While they may taste awful, some people are convinced that they can cure cancer.
The secret to the kernel's success is that it's high in amygdalin. Amygdalin contains two toxic substances, benzaldehyde and cyanide. Usually, these poisons are bound to other molecules so they can't hurt us. But when cancer cells show up, it's another story completely. Cancer cells contain an enzyme that unlocks the poison in amygdalin. That's bad news for the cancer cell. Therefore, amygdalin is kind of like a freelance killer that floats around your body looking for cancer cells to assassinate.
Most research pertaining to apricot kernels was originally conducted by an American biochemist named Ernst Krebs Jr. in the 1950s. Dr. Krebs claimed that people could remain cancer free if they just ate fifteen apricot kernels a day.
In 1996, an Australian named Paul Reid took Dr. Krebs's advice to heart. Paul had been diagnosed with a form of blood cancer that wasn't treatable using conventional radiation or chemotherapy. Instead of losing heart, Paul decided to explore alternative methods of treatment. He started a strict organic diet and ate 30 apricot kernels every day. Years later, Paul beat his cancer and went on to live well beyond the five years that his original diagnosis gave him.
Paul Reid isn't alone. There are many people who swear that alternative treatments like apricot kernels can cure cancer. However, there is no scientific evidence that proves apricot kernels are effective. In addition, the United Kingdom Food Standards Agency has ruled that a mere two apricot kernels a day is the maximum safe dose. Under these regulations, the 30 that Paul ate daily to treat his cancer would be considered a serious risk of cyanide poisoning.
More studies need to be conducted before we' ll know for sure whether or not apricot kernels are the next wonder drug in the fight against cancer.

RP397 The Hobbit

 RP397 The Hobbit

It lived over 12,000 years ago and was only the size of a three-year-old human child, and yet it hunted dwarf elephants weighing 1,000 kg and lived alongside giant dog-sized rats and killer lizards. Homo floresiensis, nicknamed the “Hobbit” because of its small size, lived on the island of Flores, Indonesia, and may have been the last species of early humans to interact with modern humans, Homo sapiens.
The species is probably descended from Homo erectus, an ancestor it shared with modern humans, which arrived on Flores around one million years ago. Hundreds of thousands of years later, Homo erectus had evolved into the tiny Hobbit probably because of a phenomenon known as insular dwarfism. On small islands, survival favors those who need a lower energy intake from the limited food available. Animals therefore tend to develop smaller body sizes.
The species was discovered in 2003 by archaeologists excavating a cave. They found a female skeleton, one meter tall, buried in the sediment covering the cave floor. Originally, they mistook it for that of a child. Later, eight additional skeletons were found in the cave along with stone tools and dwarf elephant bones.
Homo floresiensis differed from modern humans not only in height. Their arms were longer, and they had large feet and teeth, though not much of a chin. Their brains, however, were far smaller than ours and smaller even than the average chimpanzee's. In spite of this, they used sophisticated tools, fire, and probably even had language, evidenced by their complex group hunting strategies.
Most evidence points to Homo floresiensis becoming extinct about 12,000 years ago after a volcanic eruption destroyed many of the island's inhabitants. Modern human remains have been found dating from around 11,000 years ago, but not before, so it is unclear whether the two species ever mingled.
However, Flores's modern-day inhabitants have legends that tell of small, hairy humanlike creatures who lived in caves and spoke a strange primitive language. These creatures were thought to be alive as recent as the nineteenth century, leading archaeologists to infer that perhaps they were the surviving descendants of Homo floresiensis, and may still be living in the poorly explored forests of Indonesia.

RP396 Part of the Herd

 RP396 Part of the Herd

It is said that there's safety in numbers.
Fish collect in huge schools, and zebras come together in large groups, blending into an uncountable mass to confuse predators. This kind of herd behavior, while apparently beneficial to the whole group, actually has a more selfish motive. Though a flock of birds may look majestic and graceful, seemingly moving as if with one mind, each individual animal is in fact looking out for itself and itself alone. Each animal is trying to get as close to the center of the herd as possible, effectively using its fellows as living shields. It is of course the unfortunate individual on the outer edges that inevitably gets eaten. Herd behavior is also seen in humans, with similarly selfish motives and potentially destructive results.
Crashes on the stock market are a result of human herd behavior. Panicked investors try to sell their stock before others, resulting in a financial disaster caused by individual fear. People have been trampled to death in supermarkets during frantic shopping seasons in a bid to get that last-in-stock product.
Being a part of a huge crowd can cause people to behave in ways that they wouldn't otherwise behave. An individual becomes less aware of the true effects of his or her actions, depending on raw emotion rather than reason and looking to the majority for signals on how to proceed. This kind of behavior has been labeled mob mentality and has led to acts of violence and destruction that people would not usually be willing to perform.
An experiment by a British illusionist recently explored the dark side of herd behavior. He set up a fake TV show for which the audience members were asked to vote for what should happen to an unsuspecting member of the public. They were given choices between something nice and something unpleasant, and as the show progressed the audience increasingly voted for the unpleasant option, resulting in the victim having his property destroyed, being told he had been fired, and in the end being kidnapped. This was done to show how uncharacteristically people can behave when they are an anonymous part of a crowd.

RP395 Troubled Waters

 RP395 Troubled Waters

There is an environmental crisis that is brewing deep within the rivers, lakes, and oceans of our planet. It's called eutrophication, and it's what happens when excessive amounts of nitrates or phosphates are added to a body of water.
Eutrophication can ravage entire food chains in underwater ecosystems because it alters the delicate balance of life at its most basic level. Simple plant life like algae thrives in water that has undergone eutrophication. In fact, algae and phytoplankton grow so rapidly that nothing else can survive. As the algae grows and expands, it suck s all of the oxygen out of the water, suffocating more complicated forms of plant life. Consequently, fish and other aquatic life forms lose their primary source of food and starve to death.
As if that wasn't scary enough, scientists have also discovered that eutrophication is increasing acidity in the world's oceans. A recent study by the University of Georgia found that eutrophication increases the amount of carbon dioxide that oceans are able to absorb from the atmosphere. It concluded that the continued eutrophication of coastal waters could lead to the collapse of several species of crabs, snails, clams, and coral.
Eutrophication can occur in freshwater systems just as easily as it can in the open ocean. Surveys have shown that 54 percent of the lakes in Asia are eutrophic, as well as 53 percent in Europe and 48 percent in North America. Some of the world's largest and most well-known lakes are also considered to be eutrophic, such as Lake Erie in the United States and Tai Lake in China. Eutrophic water can be dangerous to drink. Thus, the more eutrophication there is in freshwater lakes, the less drinking water there will be for a global population that is already starting to get thirsty.
Though eutrophication can occur naturally, this crisis is the direct result of human activity. Farming in particular is thought to be a main reason why eutrophication is increasing. Most fertilizers contain either phosphates or nitrates, the two chemicals that cause eutrophication. According to some estimates, over 600,000,000 tonnes of phosphates were added to the earth's surface between 1950 and 1995. With numbers like these, it's not hard to see why eutrophication is becoming so widespread.

RP394 Humanity's First Words

 RP394 Humanity's First Words

The origin of language is a puzzle that has baffled theorists for hundreds of years. How did early humans go from producing animal-like howls and grunts to expressing abstract ideas and passing on complex skills? So far there has been no universally agreed upon conclusion, and the puzzle has been called "the hardest problem in science."
There are two main approaches to tackling the problem. The first assumes that language gradually evolved from preexisting systems used by our primate ancestors, such as mating calls or warning signals. The second is that language suddenly came out of nowhere, caused by a random mutation that reorganized the brain and emerged almost perfectly formed in a very short period of time.
Some scientists suggest that a basic form of language existed with early humans such as Homo ergaster (1.8 million years ago). This basic language was somewhere between a primate form of communication and modern language. It was probably mainly made up of commands and suggestions and also depended heavily on gestures.
Studies of chimpanzees have suggested that the emergence of language is linked to our ability to trust each other within a community. Chimps use a variety of sounds and calls to signal different meanings, but they also try to use these signals to deceive their fellows. Therefore, any sound whose meaning could be easily faked is often ignored and treated as a deception. It is only in a community in which the members trust each other enough to allow signals that express things other than involuntary natural or emotional reactions that language can flourish.
However, a phenomenon in Nicaragua has lent credibility to the theory that language may have appeared relatively suddenly. In 1980, an institute for the deaf was created in Nicaragua. The school focused on lip-reading, but the children, when allowed to play together, began creating their own basic sign language. The next generation of children built on this basic language, and it became more and more complex. This suggested that humans have a kind of innate grammar, and that it was possibly a mutation in the brain of early humans that gave rise to this remarkable ability to form sophisticated languages from scratch.

RP393 Journey to the Center of the Earth

 RP393 Journey to the Center of the Earth

Have you ever thought about how deep people can go toward the center of planet Earth? Just about every child has dreamed about digging a hole and coming out the other side of the planet. What's down there, and what would it look like? Well, Earth isn't just made up of stone and rock. It actually has three distinct layers, and each one of them has its own physical properties.
First, there's the outer layer. This is called Earth's crust. It's made of solid rock, and is divided into massive tectonic plates. Sometimes, energy from deep within the planet causes these plates to shift, and an earthquake is the result. On average, the earth's crust is about 80 km thick. It can be as thin as 5 km at the bottom of the ocean.
The layer under Earth's crust is the mantle. It is composed of an upper and lower section. In total, it's about 2,900 km thick. The harder upper part of the mantle and the earth's crust are collectively known as the lithosphere, after the Greek word for "rocky." The inner mantle is liquid that swirls and flows like honey. It is made up of silicon, oxygen, iron, and magnesium.
Sometimes, shifts in tectonic plates can create a passageway for superheated lava from the inner mantle to escape to the planet's surface. This is where volcanoes come from. Think of a volcanic eruption as Earth bleeding.
Then there's the core in the very center of the planet. This part is still somewhat of a mystery to scientists, but it is widely accepted that its density is very high. Experts also believe that the center of Earth is made of iron and nickel. It is said to be around the same temperature as the surface of the sun.
So next time when you hear of someone wanting to dig to the other side of the world, make sure you tell him he might want to bring a first aid kit and wear a T-shirt. It can get pretty hot down there.

RP392 Trapped in a Small Space

RP392 Trapped in a Small Space
Were you ever trapped in a small space as a child? Did you ever find yourself accidentally locked in a dark room or fall into a deep pool with no way out? For many people, these kinds of terrifying childhood experiences do not fade away with time. Instead they can leave behind a sometimes crippling condition called claustrophobia.
Claustrophobia is the irrational fear of confined spaces. Sufferers can become extremely panicked at even the thought of entering such a small space. Entering an elevator, taking the subway, or sitting on an airplane are all situations that can fill sufferers with a deep sense of terror. It is estimated that six percent of the world's population suffers from claustrophobia, though only a small number see any kind of treatment.
Claustrophobia occurs because the mind associates small spaces with that terrible childhood memory of being trapped, triggering a hysterical reaction whenever a confined space is encountered. This usually results in a panic attack which can cause the sufferer to sweat, feel light-headed or sick, begin to shake, and sometimes even faint.
For extreme sufferers, this condition can cause serious problems in their social lives, and often results in the sufferer deliberately avoiding certain situations because he or she fears experiencing a panic attack. Sufferers can also become depressed, feeling their lives are dominated by fear. They can become afraid of being in a crowded room at a party, and in some very extreme cases even fear a closed door.
One branch of research has suggested that claustrophobia is, in fact, a fear that's hidden in all of us. Fearing dangerous confined spaces was actually an important evolutionary advantage in early humans, and so we are now naturally prone to this kind of phobia.
The most effective treatment for claustrophobia has been exposure therapy. This kind of therapy gradually exposes the sufferer to the thing that they fear. The first session may introduce the subject to an elevator, convincing them that there is nothing to fear at being inside. Then the therapist gradually exposes the patient to smaller and smaller spaces until the subject is completely comfortable in even the most confined spaces.

RP391 A Tale of Two Chimps

 RP391 A Tale of Two Chimps

Researchers at the University of Atlanta have discovered a side of chimpanzees that no one has seen before. Apparently, these distant relatives of human beings may not be as selfish and cruel as we thought.
Since chimpanzees are our closest living relatives, we tend to label them as the source of all of humanity's failings. So, it's true that we can be greedy, but chimpanzees are greedier. We can also be vengeful, but our talent for revenge is nothing compared to what chimpanzees display in the wild. And that's just to name a few flaws. Basically, when we think of the goodness of humankind, we think of the things that we've accomplished in spite of what we share with chimpanzees.
This negative view of chimpanzees is often reinforced by various studies. Chimpan society is often regarded as fission-fusion. This means that the only substantial social bonds in chimp society are those that exist between mothers and their offspring. Every other member of chimpanzee society would stab the next chimp in the back if there was a banana in it for them. Chimps have also been observed waging war for territory and killing each other for no apparent reason.
However, a groundbreaking study of chimpanzee behavior performed by the University of Atlanta is challenging these conventional views. Researchers performed an experiment for which two chimps were placed in two rooms separated by a wire mesh. A bucket full of different colored tokens was placed in front of each chimp. When a chimp handed a green token to the researchers, it would be rewarded with a treat. If it chose a blue token on the other hand, both chimps would get a treat. Under these circumstances, the chimps consistently chose blue tokens. They would rather help out their fellow chimp than dine alone. According to the researchers who organized this study, this proves that chimpanzees can put group welfare ahead of their own individual needs. In other words, it shows that chimpanzee behavior can be ethical. They may not choose the action that benefits the group every single time, but then again—neither do humans.

RP390 Korean Combat

 RP390 Korean Combat

With over 30 million practitioners spread across five continents, tae kwon do has become one of the most popular martial arts on the planet. But did you know that tae kwon do is not just one, but nine different schools (kwans) of Korean martial arts, each with its own long history?
The story of tae kwon do begins around the sixth century A.D. Back then, the Korean Peninsula was divided into three kingdoms: Silla, Koguryo and Paekche. Silla, the smallest kingdom, was worried about being conquered by its larger neighbors. This constant fear caused it to establish a group of elite warriors called the Hwarang, or "flower boys." These Hwarang didn't just pioneer unarmed combat techniques that focused on the foot, much like modern-day tae kwon do does. They also established a code of ethics that emphasized honor and obedience. Eventually, the flower boys helped Silla to defeat its neighbors and unify Korea under the Koryo dynasty in A.D. 918.
Korean martial arts continued to flourish under the Koryo dynasty. This is when early styles like subak and tae kyon made their first appearances. Their popularity spread like wildfire after the king established regular martial arts competitions and ordered that all soldiers be trained in the art of unarmed combat.
The rise of Japanese influence in Korea after 1910 marked a turning point in tae kwon do's historical development. This was a time when Korean martial arts were banned and Japanese styles such as karate were encouraged as alternatives. As a result, Korean martial arts absorbed some Japanese styles and tactics.
After Korea was liberated in 1945, Korean martial arts were once again allowed to flourish, but there was a diverse set of nine different schools at this point, each with its own fighting styles, tactics, and philosophies. Ultimately, these nine schools were combined into one when the Korea Tae Kwon Do Association was established in 1961. This started the process of standardizing and simplifying teaching methods, making the martial art more accessible to international audiences.
So next time you head out to your tae kwon do dojang for some practice, don't forget that you' re studying the sum of over 1,000 years of fighting wisdom.

RP389 Education Where It's Needed Most

 RP389 Education Where It's Needed Most

After a near-death experience inspired him to see the world, Adam Braun began backpacking in some of the world's poorest countries. He traveled from the deprived townships of South Africa to the starving streets of Cambodia. But it was in India where the idea for Pencils of Promise struck him. A small beggar boy held out his hand for some money. Instead of immediately giving money, Braun asked the boy what he wanted most in the world. “A pencil,” the boy replied.
From that moment on, Braun would buy large stacks of pencils and pens wherever he went and would give them to the children who lived on the street. He quickly realized that pencils, the tools for an education, were far more valuable to these children than anything else.
In 2008, just before his 25th birthday, Braun put $25 into a savings account in the hope of starting a fund to build just one school in a poor area of the world. The reaction to his pledge, however, was quite extraordinary.
Within six months he had raised over $50,000 and had 75 volunteers ready to start building a preschool in Laos.
“It was funded by 2,000 individual contributions of less than $100 each. That is the grassroots-style movement we hope to create and build upon as we grow,” Braun said, encouraging the involvement of people at a local level.
The first school, built in 2009, was a great success. It took only three months to build and cost $18,000. This cost included teachers' salaries, school materials, and three years' maintenance costs. One of Pencils of Promise's policies is that the community in which the school is built must fund 10 percent of the project. They can do this by providing workers and building materials, and this ensures that the whole community is involved in and cares about the project.
But the organization is much more than just a construction company. It now trains teachers and provides long-term support for schools in Laos, Ghana, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, regularly checking in and testing students to ensure that standards remain high. It has also started a program called WASH, ensuring clean bathrooms are available and teaching children about water and health.
So far, Pencils of Promise has built over 400 schools, taking education to places where money is scarce but the desire for education is plentiful.

RP388 The Magic Social Number

 RP388 The Magic Social Number

From the earliest point in our evolution, we have been social animals. Living in hunter-gatherer groups, we created small societies based on complex interpersonal relationships and developed a broader collective of ideas dictating the rules of our social world.
Creating and maintaining these bonds requires a skill that sociologists have termed “social action.” These are actions which take into account the reactions of others and can be altered according to these reactions. This cause-and-effect-based behavior results in firm social structures within which individuals can better organize their lives, and set and achieve goals.
During the past 200 years, however, people have gone from living in relatively small rural societies to living in cities filled with millions of people. It is estimated that by 2050, 70 percent of the world's population will live in cities. So how do human beings, who for most of our evolutionary history have lived in small societies, cope with the emergence of these city-centered super societies?
Robin Dunbar, a professor of evolutionary anthropology at the University of Oxford, has suggested that there is actually a limit to the number of people we can maintain meaningful social interactions with. Dunbar says that human beings tend to form natural groups of about 150 people. This number is roughly the size of traditional hunter-gatherer tribes, the average size of a medieval village, and the number of friends the average person stays in contact with on Facebook.
Dunbar has divided this number into layers of intimate friends, good friends, friends, and acquaintances. The level of intimacy required between these 150 people is described by Dunbar as "people you wouldn't feel embarrassed about joining if you happened to find them at the bar in the transit lounge of Hong Kong airport at 3 a.m."
In recent years, people's social groups have tended to become stretched over countries or even continents due to job migration, attending universities far from home, and the Internet revolution.
This has led to theorists questioning the concept of community and its future, fearing that as the world grows farther apart, a lack of social interactions may leave us feeling quite alone in a very crowded world.

RP387 Speaking Spooks

 RP387 Speaking Spooks

In 1848, two sisters, Kate and Margaret Fox, said they could communicate with the dead. They claimed to hear loud tapping sounds coming from their house in Hydesville, New York. People who visited them confirmed the tapping and that the girls could indeed communicate with the noisy spirit.
Before long, thousands of mediums had emerged who claimed miraculous powers of being able to speak to the dead. In darkened rooms, with a small group of people, they would attempt to reach departed loved ones.
Mediums would use many different methods to indicate that a spirit was present. Bells and balls were placed on the table, and as the medium spoke, the ball would move around, or the bell would ring without being touched. Some mediums would use spirit slates—two blank chalkboards tied together that, after calling a spirit, would be opened to reveal a message written on the inside. However, many of these methods were exposed as common magic tricks.
Many modern seances now take place in front of large audiences, with the medium providing personal messages from the spirit world. The medium often displays an uncanny knowledge of the deceased as well as the audience member—sure proof that he is genuinely talking to the spirits!
However, skeptics insists that mediums are simply using a linguistic trick called “cold reading,” which gives the impression of telling someone information, when actually the information is mostly being provided by the audience member himself.
For example, a medium might claim to be hearing from a spirit whose name begins with P and who is repeatedly saying the number five. An audience member picks up on this information and says, “That must be my father, Peter, who had five brothers.” In fact, the letter P and number five could have applied to many audience members; meanwhile, the medium has actually not given any details at all, only appeared to do so.
It may not come as a surprise, then, that in 1888 Margaret Fox, who had started the entire phenomenon, confessed that the mysterious tapping was nothing more than she and her sister cracking the joints of their toes.

RP386 En Garde

 RP386 En Garde!

"Sir, I demand satisfaction!" This cry, heard among the upper classes of early modern England, would be shouted by a man who felt his honor had been insulted. Unless an apology was swiftly offered by the offending party, a duel would follow to settle the score, sometimes resulting in death.
Fencing, a sport in which two people engage in close combat using one of three different kinds of swords, is the modern manifestation of these duels, which were fought in countries all over Europe.
Fencers stand on a piste, which is a long strip usually 2 meters wide and 14 meters long, with two lines on either side of the midpoint where the fencers take their starting positions. Fencers stand on these lines and salute each other, then, the referee calls" En garde!" This is the signal for the fencers to put on their protective masks and raise their swords. After the match begins, whoever manages to score a hit (called a "touch") on their opponent's body gains a point, and five points wins a match.
In medieval Europe, skill with a sword became unnecessary as the use of armor demanded strength, hacking, and heavy weapons to cut through an opponent's tough metal suit. However, the development of guns made armor useless, and swordplay became popular once again during the fifteenth century. The development of the rapier— a long, light sword— in the sixteenth century caused swordsmen to emphasize skill, speed, and technique over power. Later swords developed from the rapier were even lighter and pointed rather than sharp-edged, which encouraged thrusting attacks rather than slashing.
Modern fencing weapons consist of three swords: the foil, the épée, and the saber. The foil is light, flexible and pointed, the épée is slightly heavier, and the saber is an edged weapon, making it perfect for cutting as well as stabbing. In the past, fencing matches were scored by judges who would watch the match and shout if they saw a hit. However, this was unreliable and was replaced by the current electronic scoring system in which a flashing light is triggered when the system detects a hit, truly bringing the art of dueling into the modern era.

RP385 The Heroes Who Heal

 RP385 The Heroes Who Heal

In 1971 a group of French doctors and journalists created an international organization that would provide emergency medical care to victims of war, natural disasters, or disease regardless of their race, religion, or political beliefs. They named the organization Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, as it has become known in the United States.
Made up of all kinds of specialists from every aspect of the health industry, the organization provides vital medical support in some of the world's most deprived and war-torn countries.
These doctors, nurses, administrators, and planning experts are active in over 70 countries and operate under a firm code of ethics, which requires them to treat everyone equally without showing discrimination. The organization also remains strictly politically and religiously neutral and does not take sides in war. It does this so that it can remain free of any constraints that could affect its ability to give aid where it's most needed.
It also maintains its independence by making private donations its main source of income. There are over 5.7 million private donors that come from countries all around the world. Only 10 percent of its funds come from governments.
Often first on the scene in any crisis, Doctors Without Borders is constantly in the thick of disasters, be they man-made or natural, sometimes witnessing scenes of real brutality and violence. In order to provide the best medical care, they are continually in touch with local people on the ground. As such, they have a unique and thorough perspective on the world's most desperate situations.
Using this firsthand knowledge, the organization frequently speaks out against human rights abuses, medical neglect, and instances of violence that do not get sufficient attention from the media.
A peaceful organization, they have only ever called for military intervention once, during the 1994 massacre in Rwanda. However, they have also strongly condemned the actions of the governments of several African and Asian countries, often working directly with the United Nations.
In 1999, the organization was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its exceptional humanitarian work around the world. And, true to form, it used the money to fund the fight against neglected diseases.

RP384 The Stolen Hour

 RP384 The Stolen Hour

“Give us back our stolen hour!” Britons demanded as they protested against the introduction of Daylight Saving Time (DST) in the 1900s. The idea of altering the clocks to move an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening during summer has been controversial throughout its history. People have argued that the practice saves energy, reduces crime, and prevents traffic accidents. Others are not so convinced, and studies conducted over the past decade have shown mixed results.
The idea was first implemented in Germany during World War I in an attempt to conserve coal during wartime. Britain soon followed with its own Summer Time but so did confusion and chaos, with some institutions following the changes and some simply ignoring them. One writer resented the laws in a more poetic manner, expressing his distaste at being forced to favor the sun over the moon.
Despite the early controversy, more than 70 countries currently use DST. The United States moves its clocks forward an hour at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March and back an hour on the first Sunday in November. Some states, however, still do not apply DST, and in the past even some areas within individual states refused to observe DST while the rest of the state did.
It was originally thought that DST would reduce energy consumption as people would use less electric lighting in the evening due to the increased hours of daylight. However, recent studies have suggested that this benefit has been offset by the increased use of home air conditioners, which people use for longer on long summer evenings.
Brighter evenings have reduced the number of traffic accidents in countries which observe DST, but studies have also noticed a spike in the number of accidents during the week after the clocks change, possibly due to the sudden interruption of people's sleeping patterns.
One certain good thing to come out of DST, however, happened in 1999, when a group of West Bank terrorists (on DST) delivered bombs to a cell in Israel (not on DST) but ignored the time difference when setting the timers for their bombs. The bombs went off one hour earlier than planned, killing three terrorists instead of the intended civilians.

RP383 Breaking the Habit

 RP383 Breaking the Habit

I'm Dave. I'm Dave. I'm Dave. Whoops, sorry about that. Looks like it happened again! My obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) sometimes makes me write things three times for good luck.
I was first diagnosed with OCD five years ago. My problems began when I found myself developing all of these weird habits that I couldn't control. For example, I would be scared to go to bed if I didn't turn the lights on and off five times. That's also when I started saying and writing everything three times in a row. And let me assure you, this makes it hard to have normal conversations with people.
The doctor told me that OCD is very common. In fact, it's diagnosed almost as frequently as asthma. He said that it was nothing to be ashamed of. All of us have habits in life, like checking to make sure the door is locked before going to sleep. People with obsessive-compulsive disorder have habits that are... Well, let's just say their habits are a bit more exotic than normal people's.
He also told me that symptoms vary from person to person. Some OCD sufferers occasionally have a thought that won't go away. It may make them uncomfortable or anxious for a while, but it will eventually disappear. Other people experience much more serious OCD symptoms. They might have uncomfortable thoughts that make them anxious all of the time. They tend to develop habits in order to help put their mind at ease. One minute they' re feeling nervous, and the next they' re washing their hands for two hours before they' ll even touch their lunch.
I know what you' re thinking: Why aren't I writing everything in this article three times in a row? Well, the doctor didn't just tell me what OCD was; he also told me how I could treat it. I underwent two kinds of treatment— ritual prevention and exposure therapy. These treatments exposed me to circumstances that triggered my habits. Think of it as getting practice resisting the urge to indulge in my exotic habits. So far, the treatment has worked very well, but there's still some work to do. Still some work to— Hah! Gotcha!

RP382 Can the Future Really Be Known

 RP382 Can the Future Really Be Known?

Some say Nostradamus (1503-1566) predicted the French Revolution, the rise of Adolf Hitler, the 9/11 attacks in the United States, and George W. Bush's presidency. Others dismiss his predictions as nonsense.
His most famous work, The Prophecies (published between 1555 and 1558), contains a future history of the world up to the year 3797. His most famous predictions (though there are over 1,000 in The Prophecies) are probably the following two: "Beasts mad with hunger will swim across rivers/Most of the battle will be against Hister," and "At forty-five degrees, the sky will burn/Fire will approach the great new city."
Believers are quick to point out the similarity between "Hister" and "Hitler," convinced that Nostradamus named the infamous dictator. However, "Hister" was the ancient name for the Danube River in central Europe, and has nothing to do with Hitler. The second prophesy is supposed to be a description of 9/11, and the "new city" New York, which lies at latitude 45°. In fact, New York is at latitude 40°43', and the "new city" probably refers to Naples, whose Greek name, Neapolis, actually means "new city."
The main criticism of Nostradamus's prophecies is that they are often repetitions of past events projected into the future in the assumption that history will repeat itself. It's also convenient that he left his prophecies undated and in no particular order. It has been suggested that the famous 9/11 prophesy is a repetition of the 1139 invasion of Naples in the same year that the nearby volcano Mount Vesuvius erupted.
His general statements, their overinterpretation, and lines taken out of context have all fed the myth of Nostradamus's mystical ability to see into the future.
In 2000, after George W. Bush was elected president of the United States, a verse apparently written by Nostradamus was circulated around the Internet, predicting Bush's election. "Come the millennium, month 12/In the home of the greatest power/The village idiot will come forth/To be acclaimed the leader." Incredible accuracy! It was later revealed, however, that this was written not by the great foreseer, but rather by an Internet prankster looking for a laugh.

RP381 Synthetic Signal Blockers

 RP381 Synthetic Signal Blockers

The human endocrine system is a complex series of glands and pathways that help hormones travel from one point in our body to another. Think of these hormones like workers in a tiny biological postal service. Their function is to deliver messages. For example, when you' re young, they deliver the message that it's time for your body to grow. After you grow old, they start delivering the less uplifting message that it's time for your body to shrink. The endocrine system is responsible for your growth, metabolism, and tissue function. It even affects whether you' re feeling happy or sad.
What happens when something starts interfering with the endocrine system? That's what scientists around the world are currently trying to figure out. They are studying the chemicals that block our body's biological postal service. These endocrine disruptors are synthetic chemicals that humans have created. They have seeped into natural environments all around the world. Endocrine disruptors are known to harm living organisms, and they have been linked to cancer and other reproductive disabilities in humans.
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, or DDT, is a classic example of a synthetic chemical that is an endocrine disruptor. It was banned in the United States in 1972 after it was discovered that DDT caused birds to lay eggs with soft shells. DDT also harms human reproductive health. It is still being used in some parts of Africa.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released several reports outlining the threat that endocrine disruptors pose to wildlife. These reports show that mammals, reptiles, birds, and fish species are suffering from altered gender ratios, reproductive deficiencies, and growth disorders. However, the results aren't totally conclusive. Currently, there are so many pollutants in natural environments that it's difficult for these studies to determine what is and isn't being caused by endocrine disruptors.
Only studies that have been conducted in laboratories have proven that endocrine disruptors can harm humans. So far, there have been no conclusive studies linking human disease to endocrine disruptors that already exist in our environment. However, several studies have proven that endocrine disruptors are negatively impacting mammal species in their natural habitats. Since humans are mammals, doesn't that mean that we' re in trouble, too?

RP380 A Challenging Diagnosis

 RP380 A Challenging Diagnosis

I told the patient that I needed to fill out some paperwork, but in reality I'm not sure how I should proceed on this one. It might just be a classic case of the mental disorder called schizophrenia, but something doesn't seem right.
While no one is totally sure what causes schizophrenia, we do know some things that increase the chances of getting the disease. There are definitely a few red flags in this patient's background. First of all, his sister has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, meaning he has a 6.5 percent chance of developing it himself. What's more, the patient has a history of drug abuse involving marijuana and cocaine. That can be another contributing factor. He's also twenty years old, which is about the time when schizophrenia usually starts to manifest itself.
It's certainly true that his symptoms don't resemble the paranoid type of schizophrenia. He isn't hearing any voices in his head, thinking he's better than everyone else, or becoming suspicious that people are out to get him. However, he is definitely displaying symptoms of other kinds of schizophrenia. He has isolated himself from his friends, doesn't display much emotion, and can't sleep at night. Most troubling, he's having problems formulating sentences. His speech is becoming distorted because his mind cannot think in an orderly and logical fashion. This might be a sign that he's developing a case of disorganized schizophrenia.
He could be one of the 3.2 million Americans who suffer from schizophrenia, or he could just be a depressed young man who has fried his brain with illegal drugs.
I always want to be absolutely sure before I diagnose schizophrenia because the antipsychotic drugs used to treat it can be very damaging. The last person I prescribed antipsychotic drugs to suffered from side effects such as dizziness, tremors, and weight gain. He even started to move in slow motion sometimes. On the other hand, bad things can happen if schizophrenia goes untreated. Not only do most patients eventually try to medicate themselves with illegal drugs, but over one-third of them will attempt suicide at some point during their illness.
I think I'll wait and see how his symptoms develop. I'll tell him to come back in a month.

RP379 Tears for Hire

 RP379 Tears for Hire

There's nothing harder than losing a loved one. Between the shock and the sadness, it can be hard to focus on anything else. But what about the funeral? How can you give a proper send-off to the deceased when you still feel so stunned? Well, if you live in China, it might be time to hire a professional mourner.
Professional mourners attend funerals to grieve on behalf of the family of the deceased. Dressed in white robes, they will kneel and wail in agony over someone they never met. Their performance serves two purposes. First, it shows that the deceased was a wonderful person who will be greatly missed. Second, it spares the family from having to "perform" while they' re still dealing with their loss.
Mourning can be big money here. A family can pay over $6,000 for a funeral parade that includes professional mourners. You might be thinking: "That's a lot of money! Professional mourners really have it made!" But the job is actually much harder than it looks. You must be able to change your emotional state instantly, shifting from happy to sad. You also need to know how to read a crowd. Professional mourners need to strike a perfect balance in their grieving. They must show sadness and agony, but not have it appear too exaggerated or humorous. Going too far risks insulting the family and their lost loved one in the afterlife.
The idea of professional mourners may seem strange to some cultures. It's not unusual for mourners here to show up in zany news articles. However, this is not a joke or some money-making trick. The practice is thousands of years old, and rooted in ancient Chinese culture. Parents used to marry off their daughters to distant lands. When a parent died, it wasn't easy for the daughters to come home and mourn them. Therefore, someone was hired nearby to mourn in her place. The practice wasn't just limited to China. There are examples of professional mourners in ancient Greece, India, and some African countries as well.

RP378 Something in the Wind

 RP378 Something in the Wind

A vast brown cloud of smog, dust, and other pollutants hangs over the Indian subcontinent like a filthy smear of mud in the sky. It is the accumulation of decades of fossil-fuel abuse and vehicle emissions. In recent years, it has begun to affect the weather to such an extent that it endangers the lives of millions and can potentially cause billions of dollars' worth of damage.
A study has concluded that the so-called “Asian brown cloud” has directly increased the intensity of the area's tropical cyclones, particularly those forming over the Arabian Sea on India's west coast.
In India, harmful chemical emissions are now six times higher than they were in the 1950s. This increased concentration of harmful particles in the air acts like a sponge that absorbs the sun's rays, affecting the area in which the sun can reach and heat the surface of the sea. This has caused an atmospheric disturbance that has reduced the vertical wind shear in the area. Vertical wind shear is the difference in speed or direction between winds at different altitudes. High vertical wind shear is an important factor in weakening the formation of cyclones. As the wind shear decreases, cyclones in the area can strengthen to a degree that can cause major problems when they hit land.
Cyclones are caused by hot air rising from the ocean surface. Cold air rushes in to replace it and heats up, and this cycle eventually causes a violent circulation of wind and storms. Cyclones need to form vertically, so if the winds higher up in the atmosphere are traveling faster or in different directions to those in the lower atmosphere, this vertical formation will be disrupted, and the cyclone will disintegrate.
In the past, strong winds traveling in opposite directions (high vertical wind shear) would substantially reduce the frequency of cyclone formation in the Arabian Sea. However, with the brown cloud weakening the wind shear, cyclones in this area have grown in intensity. Cyclone Gomu, in 2007, was the strongest ever cyclone in the area, causing $4.4 billion worth of damages and killing 78 people. It was followed in 2010 by Cyclone Phet, which caused 47 deaths. To get these storms under control, India must tackle the causes of the brown cloud— which, in such a rapidly developing country, may be easier said than done.

RP377 Writing the Unexpected

 RP377 Writing the Unexpected

With his deep understanding of horror and the grotesque and his talent for unexpected plot twists, Edogawa Rampo took the Japanese mystery genre to terrifying new territories. Born Hirai Taro, he published his first story in 1923 under the name Edogawa Rampo— a play on the name Edgar Allan Poe. Rampo gained success by combining the suspense-filled style of Western mystery stories with his own bizarre imagination.
In his story “The Human Chair,” for example, Rampo describes an ugly chair maker who craves human contact and designs a luxurious sofa for a hotel. He alters the inside of the sofa so that he himself can climb inside. The sofa is then taken to the hotel with its maker hiding just beneath the surface. In the hotel, guests sit on him unaware that the chair is in fact hiding a man. The sofa is eventually sold to another household, where a young woman lives. The story itself takes the form of a letter being read by a young female writer, and as she reads on, it becomes more and more apparent that the chair she is sitting on is hiding the twisted chair maker beneath its surface. Though the story doesn't end here (there is one more delicious twist before the reader turns the final page), it shows just how smoothly Rampo is able to manipulate his readers' most basic emotions of fear and dread.
Another story, “The Red Chamber,” focuses on a group of men who come together to tell horror stories. One new member begins by revealing that he is a murderer and has killed 99 people but has done so in a way so ingenious that the police will never catch him. He tricks people into deadly situations by lying or suggesting actions that will certainly cause their deaths. He sees himself as the perfect murderer, and in the end tricks a servant into killing him, thus bringing his total murders to 100. Once again, though, there is in fact one more twist in the story before the final sentence. It's important to remember that even when you think the story's over, Rampo always has a final surprise up his sleeve.

RP376 The Cold-Blooded Collapse

 RP376 The Cold-Blooded Collapse

Frogs, toads, and salamanders were the earliest vertebrate life-forms to walk on land. This accomplishment happened about 350 million years ago. Since then, amphibians have gone extinct at a rate of one species every 250 years. That is until humanity arrived and altered Earth's natural balance.
Recently, the extinction rate of amphibians has increased dramatically. Since 1980, over 200 species of amphibians have disappeared from the planet forever, and it's about to get a lot worse. Another 1,856 species are currently facing the threat of extinction. These shocking numbers are causing a worldwide scramble as scientists desperately seek to understand what is behind this amphibian collapse.
It seems that mass amphibian extinction is being caused by several factors. First and foremost is the destruction of natural habitats. As humans continue to tear down forests and build houses in their place, we disrupt ecology all over the planet. Global warming is also adding to the damage. Frogs, toads, and salamanders have evolved in a highly specialized way in order to live in specific habitats. Subtle changes in global temperatures can disrupt their ability to survive.
It's not just humans who are the problem. A deadly disease called chytridiomycosis has ravaged amphibian populations in the Americas and Australia. Amphibians that are infected with this fungus die within weeks. Scientists don't even know where it came from, let alone how to stop it.
Scientists often classify amphibians as bio-indicators. This means that they' re more sensitive to changes in their environment than other organisms are. Frogs, toads, and salamanders are like an early-warning system that can show us what will happen to other species that suffer similar environmental destruction. Therefore, since amphibians are going extinct at an astonishing rate, it's quite possible that birds and mammals won't be far behind.
We may also be losing a wealth of medical science from amphibian collapse. Around 10 percent of all of the Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine have involved research on amphibians. That means that every species that disappears is one that might have cured a terrible disease.

RP375 The Skull and Bones Society

 RP375 The Skull and Bones Society

Outside a room guarded by an iron door, 15 new members nervously await their initiation. They can hear strange noises, cries, and screams coming from within the sanctuary. One enters. He sees robed figures, men in skeleton costumes, and a man dressed as the devil; they push him to a table and chant" Read!" He reads the secret oath. The robed figures grab him and push him toward a picture of Eulalia— the society's own goddess of eloquence." Eulalia！ Eulalia!" the figures chant.
He is rushed outside, where the figures scream, wail, and urge him toward a white tent." The hangman equals death," they shout." The devil equals death! Death equals death!" In the tent he picks up a thigh bone. Out in the open again, he sees a terrifying scene before him. A butcher towers over a figure covered in fake blood. The initiate approaches a skull on the ground near the butcher, kneels, and kisses it. The butcher enacts cutting the figure's throat, a motion that symbolizes the initiate's death to the barbarian world and rebirth into The Order.
The Skull and Bones is Yale's oldest secret society, with nearly 200 years of hidden tradition and a habit of producing some of America's most important future leaders.
This disturbing description of the society's initiation ritual has been pieced together by journalists from countless interviews and secret recordings. No one except true members of the society really know what goes on behind the doors of the Skull and Bones club. The members are sworn to secrecy, keeping the society's inner workings quiet under strict oaths of silence.
While it may be just an eccentric debate society that meets every Thursday and Sunday evening, the Skull and Bones club's obsession with death and connection with turning out America's power elite separate it from other college societies.
In the 2004 US presidential election, George W. Bush and his opponent John Kerry (both former Bonesmen) were asked about their time in the society." It's so secret we can't talk about it," said President Bush. While Kerry, when asked what it meant that both had been initiated into the society, replied," Not much, because it's a secret."

RP374 Communication Breakdown

 RP374 Communication Breakdown

So, you want to learn a new language. Good for you! But there's something you should know: not all languages are created equal. Some of them will have you happily communicating with native speakers in a few weeks, and others will make you toil for an entire year before you can even start complaining about the weather. Read on if that's the kind of challenge you' re looking for. These are the hardest languages in the world.
First off, there's Arabic. This language is so difficult that it will give even the cleverest students nightmare. Letters can be written in four different ways depending on their position in a word and the present verb tense has 13 different forms. There are also as many dialects spread around the world as there are days in a month.
If that sounds too easy for you, you might want to try Cantonese. You can embark on the monotonous process of memorizing 25,000 written characters. And don't forget to master the nine tones as well. At least grammar won't be a problem. With no verb transformations, genders, or tenses, Chinese grammar is some of the simplest in the world.
Japanese is another Asian language that will take a lot of toil to master. It's almost like the opposite of Cantonese. Pronunciation is easy, and there are few tones, but the verb tenses will make you want to pull your hair out. What's more, you have to learn a whole new verb tense if you want people to stop thinking that you' re rude.
If you'd rather learn a tongue-twisting European language, then Hungarian is a good choice. Hungarian nouns have 18 different cases. Memorizing them won't be your only problem. To speak Hungarian properly, you need to become familiar with all of the different sounds that your throat can produce. Hungarian pronunciation can be extremely difficult for non-native speakers.
If none of these appeal to you, there are plenty of other languages in the running for world's hardest. Finnish, Polish, Estonian, Navajo, Basque, and Icelandic are only a few of them. Just remember: no matter what language you decide to study, perseverance is the key to fluency.

RP373 People Power

 RP373 People Power

In a world where oil and gas are increasingly scarce, companies are scrambled to find innovative new ways to conserve energy and save money. A Swedish company called Jernhusen has taken things one step further. They have discovered how to harness an energy source that is abundant yet often overlooked—the heat radiated by the human body.
Jernhusen is a real estate company that owns Stockholm's Central Station, the largest railway station in Sweden. Over 250,000 commuters come through here every single day. Some of them stay for a while to have a coffee, a quick bite, or maybe even catch a nap while they wait for an afternoon train. All of them put together radiate enough heat to keep the station warm and toasty despite the harsh Swedish winter outside.
Jernhusen engineers discovered that this heat could be used for another purpose. They built an innovative new heating system that uses the accumulated body heat in Stockholm Central Station to heat up large tanks of water. Once it's hot enough, the water is then pumped 100 yards across the street, where it's used to heat another office building that is owned by Jernhusen. The system cost a mere US$30,000 to install, and it is estimated that it will reduce energy costs by 30 percent every year.
Sweden isn't the only country going ahead with this innovative new technology. A similar scheme has also been implemented in Paris, where body heat from the Metro is harnessed and pumped into public housing buildings. The Mall of America in Minnesota is another example of a heating system that takes advantage of body heat. In fact, its combination of skylights and body heat has been a little too effective. There are times when the mall needs to turn on the air-conditioning during wintertime in order to maintain a comfortable temperature for shoppers.
While body heating systems are an innovative new approach, they do have some drawbacks. The heat cannot travel very far before it starts to cool off. What's more, body heat systems are not economically feasible in warmer climates and locations with cheaper conventional energy sources like oil and gas.

RP372 Dancing Queen

 RP372 Dancing Queen

In 1970, at the age of 76, Martha Graham performed her final dance. For the legendary American dancer and choreographer, it was a transition that she would find very difficult to go through. Having spent over half a century as a dancer, when the time finally came to hang up her dancing shoes, Graham sank into depression and alcoholism, feeling that her raison d'être had been taken away from her by age.
By the time it came for Graham to retire from dancing, she had danced at the White House for eight different presidents and choreographed countless highly influential performances. Her dance company, the Martha Graham Dance Company, which is now one of the oldest dance companies in America, had toured Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, earning her global acclaim.
But watching young dancers take roles that had once been meant for her was almost overwhelmingly sad for the aging Graham. “I believe in never looking back, never indulging in nostalgia, or reminiscing,” she said. “Yet how can you avoid it when you look on stage and see a dancer made up to look as you did 30 years ago, dancing a ballet you created with someone you were then deeply in love with?”
Graham's approach to modern dance was innovative in that she challenged the fluidity and grace of ballet, confronting tradition with sharp movements. Her actions expressed violent passions, inner turmoil, and psychological torment, all vividly expressed through her ability to display extreme tension and release with her body. Freedom of movement was central to her philosophy. “It's not my job to look beautiful,” she said. “It's my job to look interesting.” For subject matter she took stories from mythology, folk tales, and history, and often wove strong social commentary into her choreography.
Alcohol abuse after her retirement sent her to the hospital, but she recovered and even began writing again, continuing to contribute to choreography until her death in 1991. Her influence on modern dance has been compared to Picasso's influence on art, something she could never have expected when, as an aspiring young performer, she enrolled in a dance school at the late age of 22, which many considered far too old for a dancer.

RP371 Come Watch Me Play

 RP371 Come Watch Me Play

Wouldn't it be great to just play video games for a living? For many young people, that's the dream. A few years ago, many would have laughed at such a ridiculous fantasy, but the world has changed. Nowadays, playing video games for a living is not only possible, but also has the potential to make you a very comfortable living, too. It's all thanks to video game live streaming.
Video game live streaming is simply the act of broadcasting footage of yourself playing a video game live over the Internet. And though you might struggle to believe it, viewers actually come in their millions to watch these streamers at play.
What is it, then, that draws so many viewers to watch people playing video games? As with any form of reality entertainment, it comes down to our very human love of people-watching. Viewers are drawn by the streamers' personalities, in-game commentary, and humor, as well as their gaming skills.
The streamers themselves make their money through sharing in advertising revenue from the streaming sites, sponsorships from gaming organizations, and even donations from their fans. According to the US-based website Twitch, one of the world's top live-streaming websites, the most successful live-streamers make more than six figures a year.
Of course, only very few of the top streamers make that much money, and before you decide to start your own streaming channel, there are risks to consider.
Amateur streamers often spend long hours online with few breaks, as any time they spend away from their channel marks an opportunity for them to lose viewers. As a result, the lifestyle of the average aspiring streamer is not the healthiest.
Streamers are also at risk of online stalking. Some viewers become so obsessed with their favorite streamer that they attempt to find and befriend them, which, though flattering, is not always a welcome prospect.
Despite the risks, streaming remains a popular pastime for many gamers. Even if they have few followers, the joy of being able to share their passion with the world is enough and that is something all of us, games or not, can surely relate to.

RP370 An African Hero

 RP370 An African Hero

If Kenya's Wangari Maathai kept a trophy case for her international awards, it would be as big as a house. Yet all these awards resulted from a very simple concept: the importance of planting trees.
Her story starts in 1940, when she was born in a small village in Kenya. Her early upbringing occurred in an area rich with natural beauty and wildlife. This taught her to love nature from a very early age. In 1960, she was one of 300 Kenyans selected for a special scholarship to study in America. Ten years of rigorous study later, she became the first East African woman to receive a doctorate degree.
Wangari Maathai was active in the National Council of Women of Kenya (NCWK) in the 1970s. Her early work with the NCWK convinced her that the environment was the key to improving the lives of poor women.
Next, she put her theory into practice. She began planting trees in 1976 and established the Green Belt Movement in 1977. By 1986, her movement had spread to the rest of the continent. To date, it has planted over 40 million trees in Africa. As if that wasn't enough, their goal for the next decade is to plant over one billion trees worldwide.
Though Ms. Maathai's activism began with the environment, it eventually expanded into political matters. This got her into trouble with Kenya's ruling elite. Between 1982 and 2001, she was beaten up, arrested, forced into hiding, and even had to barricade herself in her house at one point. However, in 2002 democracy prevailed, and Ms. Maathai was elected to Kenya's parliament. The very next year, she was appointed Assistant Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources.
In 2004, Wangari Maathai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her efforts to promote environmental protection, women's rights, and political freedom. It marked the first time the prize was awarded to an African woman.
Africa lost one of its most brilliant activists in September 2011 when Wangari Maathai died of ovarian cancer. She may be gone, but her message of political freedom and caring for our environment live on in the Green Belt Movement.

RP369 Gone and Back Again

 RP369 Gone and Back Again

What if death is not really the end? That's what billions of people around the world believe. Some are looking forward to an eternity in Heaven. Others are worried about ending up in Hell. And still others believe that they' ll end up right back where they started— on Earth. The idea of being reborn after dying is called rebirth. It has been a part of the Buddhist and Hindu religions for thousands of years.
Reincarnation may be a matter of belief, but that doesn't mean there isn't any evidence. There have been hundreds of cases of suspected reincarnation over the years. Some of these incidents remain unexplained to this very day. Are these stories the smoking gun that proves reincarnation exists? Decide for yourself.
Take the story of a young American boy named Ryan. At just four years of age, Ryan started begging his parents to take him home. His parents were confused; he was already home. They asked: “Where is your home?” He replied it was a big house in Hollywood. Ryan's mom started taking books on Hollywood from the library. One day she showed Ryan a picture from a movie set. Ryan pointed at one of the actors and said: “That guy's me! The old me!”
Then there's the strange tale of James Leininger. Like many little boys, James loved planes, but he knew much more about them than he should, even down to the technical details. One day, James started having nightmare s. The dream was always the same. He would get shot down by a plane with a red sun on it. In the nightmare, his plane was called Corsair and he launched from a boat called Natoma. The incredible thing is that both actually existed. They match the fate of James Huston, a pilot who died in World War II. Could it be that James was experiencing trauma from a past life?
There are hundreds of stories like these from all around the world. The facts on reincarnation are out there for anyone who wants to search for them.

RP368 Doctor, Doctor emergency button

 RP368 Doctor, Doctor! emergency button

Suffering minor aches and pains is a normal part of being human. Our bodies constantly exhibit mild signs of discomfort, and usually we ignore these as being what they are—nothing serious. But what if every tiny ache, every twinge of pain, and every harmless ailment was, in your eyes, the sign of a terminal illness? That's the kind of mental torment sufferers of health anxiety, or hypochondria, have to deal with on a permanent basis.
Hypochondriacs are constantly afraid that they may have a terrible disease and become obsessed with checking their bodies for symptoms. Even the most innocent symptoms can, to a health anxiety sufferer, lead to a cycle of obsessive behavior, driving them insane with worry. To a sufferer, a cough is sure to be lung cancer, a headache is a brain tumor, and stomach pains most certainly are proof of an ulcer.
According to some statistics, six percent of patients who visit doctors have health anxiety and not only do they cause themselves undue distress, they also take up unnecessary amounts of doctors' time and medical resources.
The problem has gotten worse since medical information has become readily available on the Internet. Hypochondriacs are now able to find obscure diseases that seem to fit their symptoms, and they convince themselves that they are one of the rare sufferers.
It's important to note that hypochondriacs do not make up their symptoms. But while the symptoms may be real, their exaggerated self-diagnosis is often the problem.
The condition has been linked to obsessive-compulsive disorder, a form of anxiety that makes people obsess about the tiniest things and exhibit bizarre behavior as a result, like turning light switches on and off 10 times before they leave the room. The same kind of obsessive behavior is thought to be at the root of health anxiety.
One of the main problems doctors have in treating hypochondriacs is that they often don't trust doctors' advice and, even when constantly assured that they are not sick, will still be doubtful. Doctors usually refer health anxiety cases to behavioral therapists who can better help patients come to terms with their condition.

RP367 In Danger of Falling Silent

 RP367 In Danger of Falling Silent

There are over 6,000 languages spoken in the world today. More than 1,000 of them are locked away in the heads of elderly people who cannot pass them on to the next generation. If current rates of language extinction continue, anywhere from 50 to 90 percent of these languages will be gone forever by 2050. We are living in an age of mass language extinction.
To some, this isn't considered to be a problem. Quite the contrary, it's an indication of global progress. They argue that the fewer languages, the greater the number of people who can actually communicate with each other. Communication breeds understanding, so the world will be a more peaceful place as a result.
Others aren't so sure. Professor Wade Davis believes that a language takes a piece of humanity's heritage with it when it dies. To him, languages represent the complex web of human imagination. If one language gets plucked from that web, a way of thinking disappears along with it. In other words, the fewer languages there are in the world, the less imaginative and creative we are as a species.
It's going to take a lot of effort to rein in language extinction. The United Nation's list of dying languages is rather long. China's Thao language and Manchu made it onto the list. Saving these languages isn't just a matter of time and money. Governments need to foster the belief that these dying languages are worth saving.
The good news is that there have been success stories in the past. Hebrew was saved from the brink of extinction by the hard work of an academic named Eliezer Ben-Yehuda in the nineteenth century. He took an ancient language and transformed it into something that could be used in everyday life. Eventually, his efforts paid off as Hebrew is now spoken by over nine million people.
We should think of all the world's languages as humankind's cultural inheritance. They tell us stories about where we came from, the gods we believe in, what it is to be human, and the environment around us. We're squandering our inheritance, and when it's gone, it's gone forever.

RP366 The Sport of CEOs

 RP366 The Sport of CEOs

Golf is a businessman's game. Big money deals are struck on the golf course, and a trip to the golf club is just another name for a business meeting. The connection between golf and business is such that, according to a recent survey, CEOs who play better golf actually make more money than those whose scores are too high.
Too high? Golf is one of the few sports where a low score is preferable to a high one. Players try to hit the ball into a hole on the course in as few strokes as possible. To make things more interesting, the course is often littered with obstacles such as areas of long grass (known as the rough) and sand pits (or bunkers).
Golfers hit the ball using a variety of clubs, each suitable for a particular area of the course. A driver, for example, is heavy and large-headed and is used for long-distance shots, while a putter is used for the final tap into the hole.
The scoring system in golf is littered with odd sounding names. The target number of shots for each hole is called “par.” For an easy hole, this number might be three, for very difficult holes, par is as high as six. If the player is skilled, he may sink the ball in fewer strokes than the average par. A score of one below par is called a “birdie,” and two below an “eagle,” while one over par is “bogey”.
Modern golf originated in fifteenth century Scotland (though a similar game existed in the Tang Dynasty of China), where it was played by the rich and poor alike. In the 1800s, however, wealthy members of the middle class became fond of escaping the city and playing golf together in the countryside. These golf clubs, which had expensive membership fees and formal dress codes, eventually became the norm, and golf passed into the realm of the elite.
Golf's reputation for being exclusive to the mostly male business class has become so rooted in public opinion that a popular joke about the word “golf” is that it's an acronym for “Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden.”

RP365 The Food Poisoner

 RP365 The Food Poisoner

Salmonella is a noxious little bacteria that has been infecting humans and other mammals for thousands of years. How does it make us sick? Often via eating contaminated foods such as eggs, meat, poultry, and even fruits and vegetables. Symptoms of salmonella poisoning include diarrhea, dehydration, fever, and vomiting. Occasionally, salmonella can cause serious complications if it travels from the intestines into the bloodstream without being treated with antibiotics. In some cases, it can even be deadly.
Salmonella is not rare. Quite the contrary, it is the most common foodborne illness in the United States. America's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 19, 336 people were hospitalized and 378 died as a result of salmonella poisoning in 2011.
Deadly salmonella outbreaks are big news in America. Every year, there are a few high-profile outbreaks that result in food products being recalled. In 2011 alone there were salmonella outbreaks involving pine nuts, boiled chicken livers, papayas, alfalfa sprouts, and turkey burgers.
Unfortunately, scientists are predicting that future outbreaks of salmonella will be more deadly. This is due to the bacteria's growing resistance to antibiotics. Clinical studies have shown that the more a bacteria is exposed to a certain kind of antibiotic, the less effective that antibiotic is. Scientists in Asia, America, and Europe have already discovered a few strains of salmonella that are highly resistant to most kinds of antibiotics.
Some scientists believe that this resistance is being caused by excessive use of antibiotics in large-scale chicken farms, or factory farms. In fact, the World Health Organization has been issuing warnings over the use of antibiotics in factory farming for several years.
The fight against salmonella and several other food safety issues can be boiled down to a simple equation: the more food that's produced, the less safe it is. For example, a food company wants to produce more chickens to make more of a profit. However, so many chickens packed together breed disease. To keep the chickens healthy, the company injects them with antibiotics, and voilà, an antibiotic resistant outbreak of salmonella.
To beat salmonella, we may need to start putting food safety before food industry profits.

RP364 The Siege of Beijing

 RP364 The Siege of Beijing

Beijing is a city under siege, and the threat isn't coming from any country or group of rebels. It's not people at all. Rather, it's the Gobi Desert, and it's slowly winning the fight.
Every year, the Gobi Desert expands more than 3,300 square kilometers. On the eastern side it is pushing closer to Beijing, and experts worry the city could be on the verge of desertification. While alarming, this phenomenon is not exactly new. It's actually been going on for quite a long time. Back in 2006, the Chinese government announced that 27 percent of China's landmass was desert, up from 18 percent in 1994. In other words, it only took 12 years for nine percent of China's landmass to be swallowed up by growing deserts. However, since 2006 the rate of expansion seems to be less drastic—but it certainly hasn't stopped.
When it comes to the expansion of the Gobi Desert, the list of contributing factors is quite long. Two of the biggest ones are the presence of too many grazing animals and widespread deforestation. The growth of China's cities has also contributed to the problem by increasing demands on underground water supplies. This has left the soil more vulnerable to desertification.
The Chinese government is determined to win its battle against the sandy menace, and to do so, it has decided to fight nature with nature. The Green Wall of China is a government program that aims to build a massive barrier of trees to protect China's cities from desertification. The program was started in 1978. Its goal is to plant a 4,480-kilometer wall of trees by 2050, that spans all the way from Xinjiang to Heilongjiang. By then, they expect forests to cover 42 percent of China's landmass. This ambitious project will also help in the fight against global warming.
But will the Green Wall be enough to save Beijing? Some experts remain skeptical. They argue that trees are easy to plant but hard to take care of over the long term, especially when the trees being planted are non-native breeds that aren't suited to the environment. If they're right, then violent sandstorms will be the least of Beijing's problems. Residents could one day wake up to find their houses have been buried in sand.

RP363 Listen to Your Heart

 RP363 Listen to Your Heart

Smartphones have completely transformed the way we look at telephones. From its humble beginnings as a communication tool, the phone has evolved into a movie theater, music studio, library, and now a portable hospital.
A number of apps have been invented that can check a patient's heart rate. In the past, patients were required to wear sensitive pads on their torso, close to the heart, but this is no longer necessary. If the app user feels chest pain, they can take their own pulse by placing their finger on the smartphone's camera, or laying the phone against their chest. Wearing a smart watch, instead of using a phone, is even more effective as the apps can monitor heart rate all the time, not only when pain is felt.
If there are any abnormal signs, the phone can automatically send an SMS to the patient's doctor. Experts have said that this could help save valuable time in diagnosing a condition, as doctors would not have to wade through piles of information in order to observe the problem.
Obviously these apps have been designed specifically for patients with heart conditions, and the ability to monitor their hearts as they go about their daily lives is a major advantage in combating heart disease. But these revolutionary apps have found some other applications, too.
People without serious health issues, but who like to keep track of how their lifestyle affects their well-being, use these apps for more general health monitoring. Other uses include performance assessment for athletes, diet monitoring for overweight people, and even a driving safety system.
Imagine a device that "could be used in combination with cameras and other mechanisms in the car," says David Atenza, who works on smartphone medical technology. “The driver could be monitored for hunger, tiredness, and any other things that affect driving ability.”
At the moment, there is a huge wave of interest in producing these kinds of medical apps. Products like the iStethoscope, which allows you to listen to your heart through the phone's microphone, are already popular. The hope is that in the future this type of technology will allow doctors to save lives faster and more efficiently than ever before.

RP362 Paranormal Activity

 RP362 Paranormal Activity

The word “paranormal” is made up of two parts: para and normal. In Greek, para means “beside,” or “beyond.” Paranormal describes ghosts, alien abductions, magic, and mind reading—almost anything that modern science cannot explain. So basically, the supernatural spooks us out but also makes us feel a bit curious at the same time.
One example of the supernatural occurred on June 30, 1908, in the snowy woodlands of Russia. There was an explosion that was 1,000 times more powerful than the nuclear bomb that detonated over Hiroshima in 1945. This Tunguska event created a huge ring of fiery devastation, and scientists still can't explain how it happened. Some believe it was a comet that never made impact, but what if it's actually evidence of advanced alien technology?
Then there's the unsolved mystery of the Mothman sightings. Starting in 1966, a series of reports describing a giant winged creature appeared in West Virginia in the United States. These sightings mysteriously stopped right after the collapse of the Silver Bridge in 1967, a disaster that killed 46 people. There are those who believe that the Mothman was sent to warn local townspeople of the coming disaster. Others believe that the Mothman might have been what destroyed the bridge in the first place. These lingering questions are why the legend of the Mothman is still considered to be an unsolved supernatural mystery by many people throughout the United States.
And what about those unexplained balls of light that can materialize in the middle of nowhere, far away from any electric lights. Are these spooklights proof that ghosts exist? One famous example of this phenomenon is the spooklight near Hornet, Missouri, in the United States. This creepy white light looks like it's dancing up and down. It has shown up constantly in the woods outside of town since the late nineteenth century. Some locals say that it's the ghost of two Native American lovers who died after being expelled from their homeland. Others believe that it's the lantern of a miner who got lost hundreds of years ago. Whatever it is, the Hornet Spooklight is keeping people guessing.

RP361 Witness the Strange and Wonderful

 RP361 Witness the Strange and Wonderful

Socotra lies about 380 km south of the Arabian Peninsula in the Indian Ocean. It is a small island, only 132 km long, and has been isolated from the mainland for about seven million years. It is this isolation that has allowed Socotra to become one of the world's most unique places. The island has diverse and distinctive plant life that gives it the appearance of an alien world straight out of the imagination of a science fiction writer.
Over 300 of the 825 plant species on Socotra can only be found on the island. Nowhere else in the world can boast such bizarre, otherworldly natural flora. Take the dragon blood tree (so called because of its blood-red sap) for example. Its branches sprout upwards in an umbrella-like dome while the leaves create a dense covering that resembles a well-mowed lawn. Hundreds of these trees dot the island like fleets of grounded UFOs.
Another even more alien-looking plant is the desert rose, whose leathery body bulges out from the rocks like an almost-bursting elephant's leg. The beautiful pink flowers that grow near the top seem almost clownish, while the thick body is perfectly evolved for storing water in the island's hot, dry climate.
Birdlife is also incredibly diverse and some rare species thrive in the fish-filled ocean surrounding the island. There are over 1,000 endangered Egyptian vultures living on Socotra— the most concentrated population of this dying species in the world.
The people of Socotra are mostly fishermen, farmers, and fruit growers, and while taking photos of the island's remarkable natural beauty is encouraged, it is considered extremely offensive to take any photos of the island's women.
Visiting the island can be tricky even though there are daily flights, they are often overbooked, meaning that it's not unusual to be delayed a day or more. Transport on the island has improved a lot over the past few years, but it's still inconvenient to get around, and the only places to stay outside the biggest town, Hadibu, are campsites dotted around the island. Sometimes, though, witnessing the strange and wonderful is worth a little inconvenience.

RP360 Old Ways, New World

 RP360 Old Ways, New World

Traditional Chinese medicine has been used in China for around 3,000 years and is deeply rooted in the spiritual and philosophical aspects of Chinese culture. One of the oldest works on the subject is the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon, which dates from the first century B.C. It lays down the basic principles on which traditional Chinese medicine is based, including Yin and Yang, Qi, and the five elements. It also provides a detailed discussion on early methods of acupuncture— the practice of inserting thin needles of varying lengths into different parts of a patient's body.
Traditional Chinese medicine is based on the principle that the body's internal systems are governed by the balance of five universal elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. The balance of these within the body affects the overall equilibrium of Yin and Yang, and any imbalance can cause the body's flow of Qi, or vital energy, to become blocked, resulting in disease and the deterioration of one's health. Qi can be stimulated by the use of acupuncture, which encourages the flow by inserting thin needles into certain points on the body. Other methods such as taking herbal concoctions and cupping, where hot glass cups are applied to the skin and suck blood into certain areas, also improve the flow of Qi.
In the West, traditional Chinese medicine has gone from being a treatment solely for Chinese immigrants uncomfortable with Western techniques to being an ever more popular form of alternative medicine. More than 70 percent of people in developed countries have tried alternative medicine, and the industry is showing steady growth due to the belief that traditional remedies have fewer side effects than chemical drugs.
Even though most Western doctors dismiss the effects of acupuncture and cupping as mostly psychological, many Hollywood celebrities who actively publicize these treatments have made them more and more fashionable.
A major step toward integrating Western and traditional Chinese medicine came in 2006. NeuroAiD, a drug made using Chinese herbs, showed proven results in assisting the recovery of stroke victims.
The World Health Organization has also encouraged the use of effective and tested traditional Chinese medicines, meaning that in the future certain Chinese remedies may become largely accepted by Western doctors.

RP359 Water for Everyone

RP359 Water for Everyone
Humans need clean drinking water to survive. When our water supply is contaminated or we drink from unsafe sources, we risk illness. Components in unclean water such as bacteria and parasites can have a variety of harmful effects. Waterborne diseases threaten the lives of millions of people every year. Even those who survive such illness can be left with serious medical conditions and financial burden.
Some communities use water filtration and treatment systems to purify water before distributing it to the public. Some people boil water before consuming it to kill any pathogens that it might contain. Others rely on purchasing bottled water that has already been treated. However, still others, especially in developing countries, have no reliable access to safe drinking water.
A Swiss company, Vestergaard Frandsen, decided to develop a water filter that could help these people. In 2005, they came out with a product called LifeStraw. It is a straw-like tube with special fibers to physically filter water. ac filters more than 99 percent of bacteria and parasites from the water that passes through it. LifeStraw is powered by suction and requires no electricity or pumping. Because LifeStraw uses chemicals and has no moving parts, it is both safe and durable.
One straw can provide one person with one year's worth of clean drinking water. Cleaning the filter after each use is easy and can even increase its use. All you have to do is blow air through the mouthpiece. Any water that is still inside will flush back out the bottom. After a LifeStraw has filtered 1,000 liters of water, the filter stops letting water through. This prevents people from unknowingly consuming contaminated water.
LifeStraws have also been used for emergency response and humanitarian aid. Every year, natural disasters unexpectedly disrupt communities worldwide. Hurricanes and floods contaminate water supplies, while earthquakes and tornadoes cause significant structural damage. Communities affected by such disasters can be left without safe water access for months or more. This leads to problems with not only personal health, but also disease outbreaks. Regardless of circumstance, a LifeStraw can provide anyone anywhere with the ability to drink clean water.

RP358 A Floating Landfill

 RP358 A Floating Landfill

Did you know that the world's biggest landfill isn't even on dry land? It's actually the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a sprawl of floating garbage located in the waters between Japan and California.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is made up of trash that has been dumped by ships, expelled by sewers, or just thrown into the ocean. Garbage from all over the world gets caught up in ocean currents and herded to the same spot. Some experts say that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the size of Texas. Others claim that it could be twice the size of the United States. What everyone can agree on is that the plastic in the garbage patch is not going away anytime soon.
Plastic is a tough synthetic substance that never naturally biodegrades. Think about that for a second. That means that pretty much all of the plastic we' ve ever made is still lying around somewhere. At least we know where a lot of it ended up; it's floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!
Plastic doesn't just threaten ocean ecology but human health as well. While plastic does not biodegrade, sunlight can still break it down into smaller and smaller pieces. The smaller these pieces get, the easier it is for fish and other sea life to mistake them for food. This means that the next fish you eat may have eaten some LEGO fragments in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Cleaning up the garbage patch won't be easy, though some organizations are trying. First of all, it's hard to see, so the media doesn't pay attention to it. It's not a giant island of garbage. Rather, it's an underwater sprawl of tiny fragments of plastic and other trash. These tiny, dispersed fragments of trash also make it hard for us to clean up. Therefore, if we really want to clean up our oceans, we need to stop using so much plastic and to recycle whenever we can. Maybe all it takes is some effort and a few reusable bags, and 10 years from now, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch will have become the Moderate Pacific Garbage Patch.

RP357 The Great Absorber

 RP357 The Great Absorber

The story of English is one of a language constantly evolving and absorbing outside influences. It begins thousands of years ago when the Celtic-speaking Britons inhabited Britain Their lives were turned upside down in A.D.43, when the island was conquered by the Roman Empire. These Roman soldiers didn't just bring weapons, but their Latin language as well. This was the first army to alter the course of Britain's linguistic development. It wouldn't be the last.
As the Roman Empire crumbled in the fifth century, it withdrew its armies from Britain. However, it wasn't long before they were replaced by invading tribes from Germany such as the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. These Anglo-Saxons brought their own German dialect with them. Over the years, it blended with the Celtic and Roman influences on the island. As a result, Old English was born. By A.D.600, Old English had become distinct from dialects that were spoken in Germany.
In A.D.787, Vikings arrived from Denmark and Norway. They set up permanent settlements in the north of Britain and even ruled over the entire island briefly in the early eleventh century. The Viking period created more cultural mixing, and it exposed Old English to various Scandinavian words. For example, this is where the pronouns they, them, and their came from.
One of the last contributions to Old English was the Norman conquest of Britain in 1066. The Norman conquerors brought the French language with them. As a result, English absorbed several French words, like liberty, continue, and journey to name a few.
The Middle English era lasted from A.D.1100 to 1500. It was a period when the elites spoke French but the peasants spoke English. As a result, Middle English grammar was simplified, and it lost many of the complex rules that once existed in Old English. Vowel sounds also became simplified during The Great Vowel Shift, which occurred from 1350 to 1500.
The last dramatic change in the evolution of English took place in 1474. That was when the first printing press was brought into England. Thereafter, standard spelling and grammar could be delivered to the masses via the prose of Chaucer, Milton, and Shakespeare. Modern English was born.

RP356 Building the Future

 RP356 Building the Future

Three-dimensional printing, which was, not too long ago, a part of science fiction, is now used practically everywhere—from the aerospace industry, to medicine and education. This amazing technology, which allows anyone to print an entire object, is now yesterday's news. The next big thing in printing, however, is on the horizon. How is it different from 3-D printing? Well, it not only uses the three dimensions of space but also the fourth dimension—time.
Four-dimensional printing involves printing materials that are able to change over time in reaction to different outside stimuli—for example, temperature, water, or air pressure. Why is this useful? Construction is, in fact, an incredibly inefficient industry. It takes a long time to assemble a piece of furniture, build a house, or lay down a water pipe. If the environment changes, damage occurs, or you're not happy with how your work looks, you have to start all over again. Rather than adapting or changing, building materials tend to stay the same shape—but not 4-D printed materials. These materials are essentially programmable. Think self-assembling furniture, self-fixing water pipes, even self-reconfiguring buildings that can take measures against natural disasters. Four-dimensional printing even allows us to take construction into outer space, where the hostile environment makes traditional construction incredibly problematic. Think of 4-D printed materials as robots, just without wires or electricity. Who knows, in the future we may even be able to print material capable of conscious thought!
So where did the idea for this kind of adaptable material come from? As with most things, Mother Nature got there first. DNA, RNA, and proteins, which make life possible and are found in all of our bodies, are essentially long strings of self-reconfiguring material. They can fold themselves, fix themselves, replicate themselves, and do so with little energy and no mistakes.
The trick is to translate those attributes from the micro world of molecules into the macro world of construction. Of course, that's easier said than done. But rest assured that some of the best material scientists in the world are working on it. Soon enough, cities won't need us to build them they'll build themselves.