The view of the US’s role in the world has deteriorated both internationally and domestically, a BBC poll suggests. The World Service survey, conducted in 25 nations including the US, found that three in four respondents disapproved of how Washington has dealt with Iraq. The majority of the 26,381 respondents also disapproved of the way five other foreign policy areas have been handled. The poll, released ahead of President Bush’s State of the Union speech, was conducted between November and January. The number of those who said the US was a positive influence in the world fell in 18 nations polled in previous years. In those countries, 29% of people said the US had a positive influence, down from 36% last year and 40% two years ago. Across the 25 countries polled, 49% of respondents said the US played a mainly negative role in the world. In Kenya, Nigeria, the Philippines and the US most of those polled said they thought America had a positive role. But among Americans, the number of those who viewed their country’s role positively fell to 57% – six percentage points down from last year and 14 […]
OSLO — A U.N. climate panel will project wrenching disruptions to nature by 2100 in a report next week blaming human use of fossil fuels more clearly than ever for global warming, scientific sources said. A draft report based on work by 2,500 scientists and due for release on February 2 in Paris, draws on research showing greenhouse gases at their highest levels for 650,000 years, fuelling a warming likely to bring more droughts, floods and rising seas. The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) may have some good news, however, by toning down chances of the biggest temperature and sea level rises projected in the IPCC’s previous 2001 study, the sources said. But it will also revise up its lowest projections. ‘The main good news is that we have a clearer idea of what we are up against,’ one source said. The report will set the tone for work in extending the U.N.’s Kyoto Protocol, the main international plan for curbing global warming, beyond 2012. The IPCC will say it is at least 90 percent sure that human activities, led by burning fossil fuels, are to blame for a warming over […]
A graduate school application can go sour in as many ways as a blind date. The personal essay might seem too eager, the references too casual. The admissions officer on duty might be nursing a grudge. Or a hangover. Rachel Riskind of Austin, Tex., nonetheless has a good feeling about her chances for admittance to the University of Michigan’s exclusive graduate program in psychology, and it’s not just a matter of her qualifications. On a recent afternoon, as she was working on the admissions application, she went out for lunch with co-workers. Walking from the car to the restaurant in a misting rain, she saw a woman stroll by with a Michigan umbrella. ‘I felt it was a sign; you almost never see Michigan stuff here,’ said Ms. Riskind, 22. ‘And I guess I think that has given me a kind of confidence. Even if it’s a false confidence, I know that that in itself can help people do well.’ Psychologists and anthropologists have typically turned to faith healers, tribal cultures or New Age spiritualists to study the underpinnings of belief in superstition or magical powers. Yet they could just as well have examined their own […]
Almost half the population is suffering from common complaints such as exhaustion, colds and migraines because of food intolerance, according to a new report published tomorrow. ‘Around 20 million people are suffering from symptoms that impact on their daily lives and yet they are not able to get help from the NHS,’ said Muriel Simmons, Allergy UK’s chief executive. ‘We want to see more dietary advice being available and more training given to GPs so that they can recognise that food could be the trigger for some of the symptoms that they are seeing on a daily basis.’ While 2 per cent of Britons suffer from a life-threatening food allergy, up to 45 per cent have some form of food intolerance; symptoms include rashes, headaches and stomach pains. Food can also worsen existing conditions such as eczema, irritable bowel syndrome and asthma. The most common food intolerances are to milk and lactose (the sugar in milk), gluten and wheat. Allergy UK claims that year-long waiting lists to see a dietician are driving sufferers into the hands of alternative practitioners who may have noclinical background or qualifications. ‘People can get weird and wacky diets which are […]
Charity begins…in the posterior superior temporal salcus, according to scientists who have traced the origins of altruism in the brain. A study found that this part of the brain is more active in people who often engage in helpful behaviour. The region, which lies in the top and back portion of the brain, is linked to sorting out social relationships. US scientists scanned the brains of 45 volunteers using a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging which can watch the brain working. At the same time, participants either played a computer game, or watched the computer play the game on its own. In either case, winning the game earned money for a chosen charity. Volunteers were also questioned about how often they put others before themselves – in other words, how altruistic they were. The brain scans revealed that the most charitable showed the most activity in the posterior superior temporal salcus when the computer game was being played. Study leader Dr Scott Huettel, a neuroscientist from Duke University Medical Centre in Durham, North Carolina, said: ‘Although understanding the function of this brain region may not necessarily identify what drives people like Mother […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
