This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Bob
Doughty. And I'm Faith Lapidus.
This week, we will tell about sharks a fish with a public relations
problem.
A picture in the newspaper shows a person standing next to a
huge shark. The body of the shark is hanging with its head down. A
scale is measuring its weight.
The lines below the picture say the shark was a very big one. Or
perhaps it was one of the biggest ever caught in the area. The
person who brought in the fish looks extremely pleased. That
person won a battle with what has been called one of nature's
fiercest creatures.
Some people, however, do not approve of catching sharks. They
do not think all sharks are terrifying enemies. They know that
studies show lightning and snakebites threaten people more than
shark attacks.
Activists for sharks note that the fish are valuable in the ocean.
Sharks eat injured and diseased fish. Their hunting means that
other fish do not become too great in number. This protects other
creatures and plants in the ocean.
Environmental activists worry that some kinds of fish are in danger
of dying out. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
estimated that fishing operations kill more than one hundred million
sharks every year. Sharks are harvested for meat and cartilage,
liver oil and, especially, for their fins. Many of the animals die when
people harvesting other kinds of fish pull in sharks by accident.
George Burgess leads the International Shark Attack File at the
Florida Museum of Natural History of the University of Florida. He
says shark attacks increased during the past century for a good
reason. Hundreds of millions of people now use the world's
oceans, more than in the past.

1
Professor Burgess says the first ten years of the twenty-first
century are expected to register the most attacks of any ten-year
period.
Yet the International Shark Attack File reports that the number of
shark attacks has, in fact, decreased in recent years. During this
period, there was an average of sixty-three attacks worldwide each
year. That compares with a high of seventy-nine in two thousand.
The file gives some likely reasons for the decrease. One reason is
that overfishing of sharks and related fish has reduced the size of
some shark populations.
Another is that more people are careful to stay away from waters
where sharks swim. And the file says workers responsible for
boating and beach safety may be doing a better job of warning
people when sharks are seen.
The International Shark Attack File describes shark attacks as
either provoked or unprovoked. An unprovoked attack means the
person is alive when bitten. It also means the person must not
have interfered with the shark.
Some divers interfere with sharks on purpose. They want to get the
attention of sharks, perhaps to take pictures of them. The diver
may put food in the water to get the animal to come close. Sharks
do not normally want to be with people. But their excellent sense of
smell leads them to food.
Some experienced divers say they may not face danger when near
a shark. But they say the next person who comes near the shark
may be in trouble. The animal's experience with being fed may
make it connect food with people.
(MUSIC)
2

Some divers, filmmakers and nature photographers enter a shark's
territory while inside containers made of steel. Others wear heavy
metal equipment for protection. And others get near sharks
wearing only normal diving equipment.
Close contact with sharks has its critics. Some people say it
represents invasion of the animals' territory for no good reason. But
exciting films may increase public interest and sympathy for the
animals.
Many people wanting to save sharks have formed activist groups.
For example, a group called Shark Safe helped prevent the killing
of sharks at a fishing competition in Florida earlier this month.
Event organizers had said the goal would be to catch and release
sharks.
But the Shark Safe Project said the stated goal of "bringing in the
big one" would lead to killing of the biggest sharks. The big ones
are the most likely to reproduce.
The Shark Safe Project planned a demonstration against the
competition. The demonstration never took place, however.
Instead, the event organizers changed their plans. Participants
were to catch the sharks as expected. But all sharks were to be
released.
The Shark-Free Marinas Initiative is a campaign aimed at helping
sharks worldwide. Under the Initiative, people could not bring a
killed shark to a participating marina. People transporting captured
sharks to the boat landing for weighing and killing would also be
rejected.
The initiative cooperates with several other programs, including the
Cape Eleuthera Institute in the Bahamas islands. The Institute is
an educational center that also operates a shark research
program.

(MUSIC)
3
In late two thousand seven, a United Nations conference reported
that one kind of shark, the basking shark, is in danger of dying out.
The numbers of basking sharks have been decreasing for the past
half-century. The animals are the second largest shark, after whale
sharks. They swim with their mouths open, cleaning the water as
they move. They take up and eat objects like fish eggs and tiny sea
organisms.
Scientists want to know how and where basking sharks travel.
Recently, experts on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean were
interested in a huge basking shark discovered in eastern Canada.
The remains of the eight-meter long animal were found on a rocky
beach in Saint John, New Brunswick. Experts said the cause of
death is unknown.
Donald McAlpine heads the zoology collection at the New
Brunswick Museum in Saint John. He said scientists removed the
head and some backbones from the shark for examination. Mr.
McAlpine said pictures of the animal were sent to scientists in
Britain. The British scientists had requested the pictures to learn if
the shark was the same fish they had observed on their side of the
Atlantic.
Sharks can be identified by their individual markings and
sometimes by healed wounds.
For years, the travels of basking sharks have been a mystery to
scientists. Basking sharks from the northeastern United States are
not seen in the winter. They seem to disappear from cool waters of
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Yet studies published in the
journal Current Biology are providing clues about the mystery.
The studies found that the sharks went to warmer waters of the

Atlantic during the winter. The animals did a good job of staying
hidden from sight. They swam in waters from two hundred to one
thousand meters deep.
4
Like Americans living in cold climates, some of the sharks traveled
to Florida for the winter. Others went even further south. One spent
a month in waters near Brazil.
One of the investigators was Gregory Skomal of the
Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. He says the fish
probably get to eat more plankton in the warmer waters.
(MUSIC)
Today, a major threat to sharks comes from shark fin soup. The
popularity of the soup has increased greatly over the years.
Fisheries can earn a lot of money for even one kilogram of shark
fins.
Finning, as it is called, is big business. It means cutting the fins off
a live shark. Fishermen cut off the shark's fins and throw the
animal back into the water. The shark then bleeds to death on the
bottom of the ocean.
Many animal-protection groups and people worldwide have
denounced finning as cruel. Some areas have banned this activity.
But it is hard to enforce the ban in many places.
Ann Luskey is an activist for the world's sea environment. She lives
on a boat and often dives to watch underwater life. Her three
children took part in an unusual recording project. The family
hopes the music will attract attention to the need for taking good
care of the earth and its seas.
One of the recordings is a hip-hop song called "Shark Fin Soup." It
urges people not to eat the soup because it threatens sharks.
(MUSIC)

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Jerilyn Watson.
Brianna Blake was our producer. I'm Faith Lapidus. And I'm Bob
Doughty. Listen again next week for more news about science in
Special English on the Voice of America.
5
This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, a program in VOA Special English. I'm Bob
Doughty. And I'm Shirley Griffith.
This week, we will tell about a study involving monkeys and a gene
from jellyfish. We will tell about an agreement to ban nine
dangerous chemicals. We will also report on problems linked to
cigarette smoking and alcoholic drinks.
(MUSIC)
Scientists in Japan say they have produced monkeys with a gene
that gives the skin of the animals an unusual look. The skin is said
to look bright green under ultraviolet lighting.
The scientists say the monkeys represent an important step in how
researchers study human disease. These marmosets are the first
fully transgenic primates. Primates are the biological group of
animals that includes monkeys and apes. An animal that has
received foreign genetic material is considered transgenic.
For almost thirty years, researchers have used transgenic mice to
carry out biomedical research. To produce these animals,
researchers inject fertilized mice eggs with foreign genes, and then
place them in the uterus of a female mouse. The specially chosen
genes are then expressed in some of the mouse's babies.
Transgenic mice help researchers study the appearance and
treatment of human diseases. But mice are not as helpful as
primates are for studying the behavior of human diseases.
Scientists at Japan's Central Institute for Experimental Animals led
the study that made the transgenic marmosets. The scientists say

they injected a green glowing protein found in jellyfish into fertilized
marmoset eggs. They chose this gene because it is easy to see
with a fluorescent light.
Four of the five marmosets born as part of the experiment carried
the foreign gene in several kinds of tissue. The fifth only carried
6
the green protein in its placenta tissue at birth. Two of the animals
later showed the foreign gene in their reproductive cells. This
means they would pass on the gene for the green protein to their
young.
Later, a male transgenic marmoset reproduced and passed on the
green gene to a baby. This is the first time scientists have
successfully passed on a foreign gene to a future generation. And,
it means that transgenic marmosets can be produced from
breeding instead of by the lengthy process of injecting fertilized
eggs.
The scientists say the marmosets could one day be easily
produced for medical research. They could be used to study
conditions like Parkinson's disease and Lou Gehrig's disease. A
report about the experiment was published last month in Nature
magazine.
(MUSIC)
Officials from more than one hundred sixty governments have
agreed to ban production of nine of the world's most dangerous
chemicals. The agreement was announced last month at a United
Nations conference in Switzerland.
The chemicals are joining twelve other substances that are already
banned under a treaty known as the Stockholm Convention. The
treaty was signed in two thousand one.
The Stockholm Convention governs some kinds of industrial

chemicals and pesticides products meant to kill insects. These
substances can damage the human nervous system and natural
defenses against disease. They have also been linked to cancer,
reproductive disorders and interfere with normal child
development. The substances can also kill people.
Donald Cooper is Executive Secretary of the Stockholm
Convention. He says the substances are especially dangerous
because they travel through the air and stay in the atmosphere,
7
soil and water. It takes many years for them to weaken. Mr.
Cooper says the substances build up in the cells of plants, animals
and human beings.
One of the newly banned chemicals is perflurooctane sulfonic acid,
or PFOS. It is found in electrical parts and fire-fighting products.
Another banned chemical is the pesticide Lindane. It is used in
some areas as a treatment for head lice.
The governments at the U.N. conference also reached a decision
on another pesticide, DDT. They said they want DDT banned, but
recognize that some countries use it to protect people from
diseases like malaria. The governments said they will consider a
plan that supports safer, effective choices to DDT. And, they hope
to ban its use by two thousand ten.
(MUSIC)
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, also known as C.O.P.D.,
blocks airflow through the lungs. It makes breathing difficult. The
leading cause is cigarette smoking. America's National Institutes
of Health says the damage to the lungs cannot be repaired and
there is no cure.
Dawn DeMeo is an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School
in Massachusetts.

DAWN DeMEO: "By two thousand and twenty, C.O.P.D. will likely
be the third leading cause of death across the world."
C.O.P.D. is a new name for emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
These are the two most common forms of the disease. Many
people with C.O.P.D. have both of them.
Doctor DeMeo wrote about a study by a team from Harvard's
Brigham and Women's Hospital and the University of Bergen in
Norway. The study adds to findings that women may be more at
risk than men for the damaging effects of smoking.
8
The team examined results from a Norwegian study of more than
nine hundred people with C.O.P.D. Inga-Cecilie Soerheim also
wrote about the team's findings. She says they show that women
suffered the same severity of C.O.P.D. as men. But, the female
smokers were younger and had smoked a lot less.
The team also looked at two groups among the people in the
study. These were people under the age of sixty and those who
had smoked for less than twenty years. In both cases, women had
more severe C.O.P.D. and a greater loss of lung function than
men.
The study was presented last month to the American Thoracic
Society.
Doctor Soerheim says there are several possible explanations why
women may be more at risk from the effects of cigarette smoke
than men. Women have smaller airways, she says, so each
cigarette may do more harm. Also, there are differences between
males and females in the way the body processes cigarette smoke.
And, she says, genes and hormones could also play an important
part.
(MUSIC)

Finally, a listener in Taiwan wrote to ask why his face turns red
when he drinks alcohol. This effect called facial flushing is a
common reaction to alcohol among East Asians. It affects an
estimated thirty-six percent of Japanese, Chinese and Koreans.
For many people, even a little alcohol can cause unpleasant
effects. Most commonly, their face, neck and sometimes their
whole body turns red. People might also feel sick to their stomach
and lightheaded. They might experience a burning sensation,
increased heart rate, shortness of breath and headaches.
The cause is a genetic difference that some people are born with.
It prevents their bodies from processing alcohol the way other
people do. But the effects might be more serious than just a red
9
face. Researchers have warned of a link between this condition
and an increased risk of cancer of the esophagus from drinking
alcohol.
A report about facial flushing appeared recently in PLoS Medicine,
a publication of the Public Library of Science. The report says the
more alcohol that persons with this deficiency drink, the greater
their risk. It estimates that at least five hundred forty million people
have the deficiency.
Esophageal cancer is one of the deadliest cancers. It can be
treated when found early. But once it grows the chances of
survival drop sharply.
Philip Brooks is a researcher at America's National Institute on
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Doctor Brooks says it is important
to educate people about the link between the alcohol flushing
effect and esophageal cancer. He says doctors should ask East
Asian patients about their experiences with facial flushing after
drinking alcohol. Those with a history of it should be advised to

limit their alcohol use. They should also be warned that cigarette
smoking works with the alcohol in a way that further increases the
risk of esophageal cancer.
This is the VOA Special English DEVELOPMENT REPORT.
In far northern Mongolia, the survival of the smallest ethnic group
in the country depends on reindeer.
An American named Morgan Keay visited the Tsaatan community
when she was studying in Mongolia in two thousand two. Leaders
told her that the animals were not healthy and the number of
reindeer was getting too small to support the community.
When she left, the chief gave her his grandfather's smoking pipe.
That way she would remember the Tsaatan and try to help them.
The Tsaatan have about five hundred members. About half are
reindeer herders up in the Taiga mountains. The other half live in a
town.
10
Back in the United States, Morgan Keay and a friend who had also
studied in Mongolia started an organization. They named it Itgel
the Mongolian word for hope.
The Itgel Foundation has helped bring foreign scientists to
Mongolia to research and treat reindeer diseases. Itgel also helped
Tsaatan workers build a community and visitor center. The building
includes guest rooms for tourists.
The Tsaatan not only work as guides, they now provide all services
for travelers. The community works in partnership with international
tour operators. Those tour operators had formerly been in control
of the services.
People in the community designed the center, which they also own
and manage. Before the visitor center was built, families earned an
average of one hundred dollars a year. Now Morgan Keay says the

average is three to four times that. Money also goes into a
community fund.
Four years ago the Tsaatan had fewer than five hundred reindeer.
Now Morgan Keay says the herd has just reached nine hundred.
Last year, the Tsaatan learned that the government of Mongolia
planned to spend one and a half million dollars on their community.
But no one had talked to the Tsaatan about the plans. The Itgel
Foundation organized a meeting between community members
and government representatives.
Morgan Keay says the Tsaatan are becoming economically
independent for the first time. The Mongolian government is now
considering a development plan written by the community. The
plan deals with education, health, the environment and economics.
And that's the VOA Special English DEVELOPMENT REPORT,
written by Karen Leggett. For pictures, transcripts and MP3
archives of our reports, go to voaspecialenglish.com.
This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Bob
Doughty. And I'm Shirley Griffith.
11
This week, we tell about a discovery of gorillas in the Republic of
Congo and the loss of Bengal tigers in Nepal. We also tell about a
famous heart surgeon and what you need to know about your
heart.
(MUSIC)
Deep in the forests in the northern part of the Republic of Congo,
scientists have made a surprising discovery. Researchers
discovered more than one hundred twenty-five thousand critically
endangered western lowland gorillas.
In the nineteen eighties, scientists estimated that the total
population of western lowland gorillas in Central Africa was fewer

than one hundred thousand. Since then however, the scientists
believed this number had been reduced by at least half. They
thought the animals were being killed off by hunters and disease,
especially the deadly Ebola virus.
The new population count was the result of intensive work by the
Wildlife Conservation Society, based in New York City, and
scientists of the Republic of Congo. They searched rainforests and
swamps, looking for gorilla nests.
Gorillas build beds, or nests, for sleeping each night. They use
leaves and other parts of trees. The researchers use the number of
nests they find to help estimate the local gorilla population. They
found some forests had population densities that were among the
highest ever recorded. The researchers studied an area of forty-
seven thousand square kilometers. They announced the results of
their population count at a meeting of the International
Primatological Society Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The scientists say the higher number of gorillas is the result of
efforts by the Republic of Congo to take care of its protected areas.
The gorillas have also done well because they live in areas far
away from people. And they have plenty to eat. Wildlife
Conservation Society President Steven Sanderson said the
12
success of the gorillas is proof that humans can help protect
animal species in danger of disappearing.
Western lowland gorillas are one of four recognized gorilla
subspecies. Other subspecies include mountain gorillas, eastern
lowland gorillas, and Cross River gorillas. The International Union
for Conservation of Nature considers all of the subspecies to be
critically endangered, except for the eastern lowland gorillas. That
subspecies is considered endangered.

Researchers at the meeting in Scotland warned about the dangers
that continue to threaten gorillas. They say almost fifty percent of
the world's species of primates are in danger of disappearing,
especially in Asia. This is because the areas in which they live are
being destroyed. And many animals are illegally hunted as food.
(MUSIC)
That was some good news about gorillas. But we have some bad
news about tigers. Three years ago, between twenty and fifty
Bengal tigers lived in the Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve in Nepal.
But this year, researchers reported evidence of only six to fourteen
tigers. The Nepalese government announced the decrease of the
tiger population last month. The wildlife reserve measures about
thirty thousand hectares. It is the world's third largest living area for
the big cats.
Nepalese national parks and conservation officials called the
situation very serious. They said illegal hunting is the major cause
of tigers disappearing from this protected area.
The World Wildlife Fund did most of the study about the tigers. The
findings were based on pictures taken by camera traps from
January to April. The camera traps contain devices that take a
picture when they sense movement in the forest. Researchers
used two cameras to take pictures of the tigers from both sides.
But the cameras also photographed the hunters who killed the
tigers and removed their remains.
13
The Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve is on the border with India.
World Wildlife Fund officials say this makes it easy to illegally
transport protected wildlife. Very little of the tigers' remains are
found because all of the animal's parts are valuable in the illegal
wildlife trade.

Jon Miceler heads the World Wildlife Fund's Eastern Himalayas
Program. Mr. Miceler said that in May, two tiger skins were seized
from the Nepalese border town of Dhangadi. So were thirty-two
kilograms of tiger bones.
Mr. Miceler says the loss of tigers is linked to a powerful
international criminal group that controls the illegal wildlife trade.
Only about two thousand to four thousand Bengal tigers survive in
the wild.
Most live in forests in central and south India, Bhutan, and the
Himalayan foothills of India and Nepal. Bengal tigers also live in
China, Bangladesh and Burma. The World Wildlife Fund says
populations of all kinds of tigers have decreased by ninety-five
percent over the past one hundred years. And three kinds of tigers
have disappeared.
(MUSIC)
Famous American heart surgeon Michael DeBakey died last
month. He was ninety-nine years old. He performed more than
sixty thousand operations during his long career. As a medical
student in nineteen thirty-one, he invented the roller pump. Years
later doctors used it for blood transfusions during heart operations.
The roller pump became a major part of the heart-lung machine.
The machine pumps oxygen-rich blood to the brain and other
organs so doctors can operate on the heart.
Michael DeBakey was a pioneer of open-heart surgery. The name
means that doctors open the chest and perform surgery on the
heart. Doctors may or may not open the heart as well.
14
Doctor DeBakey developed a way to replace or repair blood
vessels with Dacron, a stretchy manmade material. He continued
to improve on the process. Today the DeBakey artificial graft is

used around the world. He was also a pioneer in artificial hearts,
heart transplants and recording surgeries on film. During World
War Two in the nineteen forties, he helped develop the Mobile
Army Surgical Hospital, or MASH.
Michael DeBakey saved many lives during his long career as a
heart surgeon. One life he helped save was his own. Two years
ago he had a damaged aorta, which carries blood from the heart to
the body. Surgeons repaired it with an operation he developed long
ago.
(MUSIC)
Speaking of hearts, here is some information about that complex
organ and how to keep it healthy. The heart has four parts. As the
heart beats, it pumps blood through these chambers and the blood
vessels in the body. The body is estimated to have at least ninety-
six thousand kilometers of blood vessels. That is about the same
as two and a half times around the Earth. But blood goes the
distance in about twenty seconds on its way back to the heart.
Each day the heart pumps about eight thousand liters of blood.
The blood feeds the brain and other organs with oxygen and
nutrients. It also carries away carbon dioxide and other waste. The
heart pumps by expanding and contracting of muscle. In a healthy
adult, the heart beats an average of seventy-two times a minute
about one hundred thousand times a day.
Rates of heart disease started growing sharply in the second half
of the twentieth century. As machines did more and more work,
people did less and less. Not only did physical activity decrease,
but people started eating more processed foods.
Experts say a diet low in fats and high in fruits, vegetables,
15
proteins and whole grains may help reduce the risk of heart

disease. At least thirty minutes a day of physical activity, enough to
work up a sweat, can also help. A good night's sleep is also
important for good health.
Cardiovascular disease is caused by disorders of the heart and
blood vessels. It includes heart attacks, strokes and high blood
pressure. The World Health Organization says there are three
major causes of cardiovascular disease: tobacco use, physical
inactivity and an unhealthy diet. The W.H.O. says
cardiovascular disease is the world's leading cause of death.
(MUSIC)
This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by Jerilyn
Watson, Caty Weaver and Brianna Blake, who also was our
producer. I'm Shirley Griffith.
And I'm Bob Doughty. You can read and listen to our programs at
voaspecialenglish.com. Join us next week for more news about
science in VOA Special English.
This is the VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT.
A burro is a small donkey. Donkeys are related to horses; both are
part of the equine family. Another way people say it is BOOR-oh.
The name comes from Spanish and, before that, from a Latin term
for small horse.
Burros reach an average height of over a meter and can weigh
more than two hundred twenty-five kilograms. The long-eared
animals are often gray with white noses, jaws and undersides. But
they can also have coats of red or blue.
Burros are known for their sure footing on mountains while carrying
heavy loads. In the United States, they are best known for their
history as pack animals in the desert Southwest. In fact, burros in
the wild are related to pack animals that ran away or were freed by
16

gold miners and others.
But burros are not only good pack animals. They can also help
calm and control nervous horses and guard sheep and goats on
farms. Robin Rivello works with the New Jersey chapter of the
American Mustang and Burro Association. She says burros have
protected farm animals even against bears.
People may have the idea that burros and donkeys do not like
being told what to do. But experts say the animals are not being
stubborn; they just like to take their time considering what they will
do.
In the United States, there are breeders who raise and sell burros.
Or Americans can buy a burro taken from the wild by a federal
agency, the Bureau of Land Management.
People who get a wild burro need to "gentle" the animal. "Gentling"
means training it to accept the human attention needed for care
and grooming.
Burros like to clean each other. But these desert animals groom
themselves with dust instead of water. So it is normal for a burro to
have some dirt in its coat. A brush can remove hardened mud.
Experts like Robin Rivello advise owners not to let their burros eat
too much. Being fat can ruin their health. Overweight burros can
also develop a condition that threatens their well-known walking
ability.
Robin Rivello says a burro's feet should be cleaned and cared for
every six to eight weeks. But she warns owners not to raise the
feet as high as with a horse. A burro's legs differ from a horse's
legs. The pain could make the burro kick.
And that's the VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT,
written by Jerilyn Watson. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our
reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Jim Tedder.

17
This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Bob
Doughty. And I'm Barbara Klein.
This week, we will tell about mammal populations in danger of
disappearing. We will also tell about one kind of animal that
disappeared long ago. And, we will examine some traditional
beliefs about the viruses that cause influenza and the common
cold.
(MUSIC)
A worldwide study has found that almost twenty-five percent of wild
mammals are in danger of permanently disappearing. Scientific
researchers considered all known mammal populations. The
researchers say permanent disappearance threatens at least one
thousand one hundred forty-one species or groups of animals.
Mammals are the closest relatives to human beings.
The researchers are blaming loss of habitat, or living space, and
hunting for threatened land mammals. They say water mammals
suffer more from pollution, being hit by ships and caught in fishing
nets.
One thousand seven hundred experts worked on the study. They
are from one hundred thirty countries. Their findings were reported
at the World Conservation Conference of the International Union
for Conservation of Nature in Barcelona, Spain.
The report was presented in connection with the Red List of
Threatened Species. The World Conservation Conference
announces the Red List each year. The list contains almost forty
five thousand animals and plants. Of those, almost seventeen
thousand, or about thirty eight percent, are threatened with
extinction.
Some scientists say the report provides evidence that Earth's

wildlife is going through widespread extinction. The last such
period may have taken place millions of years ago, when dinosaurs
became extinct.
18
Jan Schipper led the writing of the report. He directs the I.U.C.N.'s
program that observes animal populations worldwide.
Mr. Schipper says up to thirty six percent of mammals could be
facing extinction. He says this is true because not much
information exists about some species. At least seventy-six
mammals have permanently disappeared since fifteen hundred.
The director general of the I.U.C.N., Julia Marton-Lefevre, says
human activity could cause loss of hundreds of species. She says
that is a frightening sign of what is happening to habitats. Still, the
report said human efforts also could help save some species. Ms.
Marton-Lefevre is calling for action to make that happen.
For study purposes, the I.U.C.N. divides animals into groups. The
scientists call animals that have disappeared, or almost
disappeared, extinct or nearly extinct. A frog-like creature called
Holdridge's toad was declared extinct. It lived only in Costa Rica.
Other divisions depend on the amount of threat the animals face.
The animals in most danger are considered critically endangered.
For example, the Iberian lynx is called critically endangered. As few
as eighty-four adult members of the large, cat-like animals remain
alive.
The Red List identifies the second most threatened animals as
endangered. The scientists named a Southeast Asian animal, the
fishing cat, as among the endangered. Part of the fishing cat's
wetland habitat no longer exists.
(MUSIC)
A new study suggests the last woolly mammoths in Siberia were

native to North America. Scientists had believed these mammoths
came from Europe or Asia.
The study involved genetic evidence from the remains of the
ancient animal. Woolly Mammoths share an ancestor with modern-
19
day elephants. The mammoth is recognizable for its long hair and
large tusks.
Woolly mammoths disappeared thousands of years ago, after
Earth's most recent ice age. But mammoths were able to survive
for thousands of years. During this period, they slowly changed to
live in extremely cold climates.
Scientists believe the ancestors of woolly mammoths came from
Africa. As the African mammoths moved north to Eurasia,
scientists believe, they grew long hair to protect them from the
extreme cold of Siberia.
To better understand these animals, an international research
team examined genetic material from more than one hundred
woolly mammoth remains. The remains were found in North
America, Europe and Asia. These fossils came from woolly
mammoths that lived between forty-four thousand and eleven
thousand years ago.
Hendrik Poinar is a molecular evolutionary geneticist at McMaster
University in Ontario, Canada. He and his team examined genetic
material from fossilized teeth and pieces of bones from woolly
mammoths. They also examined results of earlier woolly mammoth
studies.
Until recently, many scientists believed that mammoths came from
Europe and Asia because that is where the oldest fossils were
found. Earlier studies of the mammoths involved only one continent
at a time. The researchers discovered that mammals traveled back

and forth several times between Eurasia and Alaska over
thousands of years. The animals were able to travel on a land
bridge that connected Siberia and Alaska during low sea levels.
The researchers discovered that the mammoths were divided in
three major groups. One group lived mainly in Asia. Another group
lived mainly in the Americas. And, a third group lived in both
places. They believe the American mammoths traveled back
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across the Bering Strait and in time replaced the other populations
of mammoths.
The researchers believe the animals moved the great distances in
search of food. A report with their findings was published in Current
Biology. Other researchers disputed the findings. They say the
study is based on only limited information.
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Autumn and winter are cold and flu season when people are
most likely to catch the viruses that cause influenza and the
common cold.
Is the old advice true that wearing warm clothing will help prevent a
cold? Or if you do get sick, should you follow the old saying, "Feed
a cold and starve a fever"? And what about that fever? Should you
take medication to reduce your temperature, or is it better to let the
body treat the infection itself?
Everyone seems to have an answer. But how much value is there
in popular wisdom?
Doctor Alvin Nelson El Amin knows a lot about cold and flu season.
He is medical director of the immunization program for the Los
Angeles County Department of Public Health in California.
Doctor Nelson El Amin says studies may be just starting to provide
evidence for long-held beliefs. For example, scientists for years

dismissed the idea that getting cold and wet might cause colds or
flu.
But recent studies have shown that cold temperatures cause stress
on the body. That stress can create conditions more inviting to
viruses. So maybe it does make sense to wrap up warmly before
leaving home.
And what about the advice to feed a cold and starve a fever?
Doctor Nelson El Amin says you should eat if you have a cold and
are hungry. But a higher than normal body temperature suggests a
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more serious problem. He says people are usually not hungry
anyway when they have a high fever. Eating might even cause a
person to vomit. But drinking plenty of liquids is important. A fever
can easily dehydrate the body.
Finally, when should you treat a fever? Doctor Nelson El Amin
says a fever should be treated if it stays at forty degrees centigrade
or above for a day or more. A temperature that high can damage
brain cells. The doctor also believes in treating a fever if it prevents
a person from sleeping.
Aspirin, acetaminophen and ibuprofen can all be used to reduce
pain and fever. But aspirin should not be given to children because
it can cause a rare condition.
One belief that Doctor Nelson El Amin wanted to make clear is
wrong is that influenza vaccine can cause the flu. It cannot.
Sometimes people get the flu from another person soon after they
get vaccinated, so they blame the vaccine, he says.
But, flu vaccines do not protect everyone who gets them. Still, even
if a person does get sick, the vaccine can limit the effects of the
virus.
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This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Jerilyn Watson, Caty
Weaver and Brianna Blake, who also was our producer. I'm
Barbara Klein. And I'm Bob Doughty. Read and listen to our
programs at voaspecialenglish.com. Listen again next week for
more news about science, in Special English, on the Voice of
America.
This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I'm Bob
Doughty. And I'm Barbara Klein.
This week, we will tell about a genetic map for an animal that
disappeared long ago. We will tell about an unusual-looking insect
from South America. And we will tell about a reported link between
animals and health problems in children.
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Scientists say they have completed most of a genetic map for an
ancient creature the woolly mammoth. The map is said to be the
first to show the genetic structure of an animal that no longer
exists.
Biologists at the Pennsylvania State University studied the remains
of two woolly mammoths from Siberia. One mammoth lived twenty
thousand years ago. The other lived at least sixty thousand years
ago.
The woolly mammoth belongs to a species, or group, linked to the
modern African elephant. With its thick, long hair, the now extinct
mammoth was able to survive in cold weather. Lead researcher
Stephan Schuster says the mammoth and African elephant share
more than ninety-nine percent of their genetic material.
STEPHAN SCHUSTER:"So this tells you that they are very, very
similar. And also, just because the mammoth is extinct does not
mean it is an ancient elephant. It is as modern as an Asian or

African elephant. But unfortunately, it had the bad luck to go extinct
before today."
Mr. Schuster and the research team studied genes, or DNA, that
were found in long pieces of mammoth hair. They say genes from
hair are better to study than those from bones or other remains.
That is because the genes from hair are less likely to mix with
other kinds of DNA.
The researchers say they were able to uncover about seventy
percent of the mammoth's genome, or genetic structure. They also
say the study will help scientists better understand how elephants
evolved, or developed.
Mr. Schuster says the information shows the mammoth evolved
from the African elephant six million years ago. Mammoths
disappeared about ten thousand years ago.
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The researchers hope their work will also increase understanding
of how the woolly mammoth evolved and why it died out. Their
findings were reported in the publication Nature.
The study also provides some information that would be needed to
re-create the mammoth. But scientists say such an animal would
not be possible any time soon if ever.
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Some researchers like to study animals that disappeared long ago.
But others want to discover new species creatures that may
have existed for thousands of years, but remain unknown to
scientists.
One recent discovery was made in Brazil. This is where a
researcher from the United States discovered a new ant species.
Christian Rabeling is a graduate student at the University of Texas
in Austin. He believes the species could be linked to some of the

earliest kinds of ants to have evolved.
The ant has a very unusual appearance. It is extremely light in
color and has no eyes. It also has large extensions from its head
called mandibles. These are likely used to capture food.
Because of its appearance, the ant was given the scientific name
Martialis heureka. The name means "ant from Mars."
The insect is two to three millimeters long. Scientists believe its
appearance resulted from changes that took place for the ant to
better live under the ground.
Genetic testing shows the ant belongs to a new ant subfamily.
There are twenty-one known ant subfamilies. The discovery marks
the first time since nineteen twenty-three that a new ant subfamily
has been identified. Since then, new subfamilies have only been
found from fossilized ant remains.
The genes of the new ant also show that it comes from a species
that first evolved from the wasp. Ants developed from these insects
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more than one hundred twenty million years ago. Some species
changed to live in trees or in their leaves.
Scientists believe others like the new species may have evolved to
live in the dirt. That would explain the ant's loss of eyes and light
color.
Christian Rabeling collected the only example of the new species
in two thousand three. It was found among leaves in the Amazon
rainforest. Mr. Rabeling reported on the discovery in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He says finding
new ant species could help scientists understand more about the
evolution of ants. He believes many other species have yet to be
discovered in warm climates.
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Many families in the United States have at least one pet. The most
popular are dogs, cats and fish. Some Americans own exotic, less
traditional pets. They care for animals like hedgehogs, monkeys or
snakes.
Recently, a report warned that non-traditional pets may cause
serious health problems in children. The report appeared in
Pediatrics, a publication of the American Academy of Pediatrics. It
says families with children less than five years old should not have
exotic pets. It says children that age should avoid contact with such
animals in petting zoos, schools and other public places.
The report says the number of exotic pets available in the United
States has increased since nineteen ninety two. Many people find
them easier to care for than other pets. For example, more than
four million American homes have reptiles like snakes and turtles
as pets.
Another exotic pet, the hedgehog, is native to Europe, Asia and
Africa. But hedgehogs can now be found in forty thousand homes.
Yet the animal also can spread salmonella infections. The sharp
spines on their back also make it easier to spread infections like E.
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