Also: Young men in Kenya change from killing lions to helping keep them alive. Transcript of radio broadcast: 04 May 2009
VOICE
ONE:
This
is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Doug Johnson.
VOICE
TWO:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. This week, we will tell about ice loss in the
Arctic Sea. We also will tell about a
campaign to improve treatment of snakebites. And we report on an effort to save wild lions in Africa.
(MUSIC)
VOICE
ONE:
Scientists say melting Arctic Sea ice threatens native animals
American scientists say ice covering the Arctic Sea continued
to shrink last winter. The scientists say
they recently found that older, thicker sea ice was increasingly replaced with
new ice. The new ice is thinner and melts
faster than the older ice.
The
scientists work for the American space agency and the National Snow and Ice
Data Center in Boulder, Colorado. The
two government agencies have been studying Arctic Sea ice from space since
nineteen seventy-nine. One of the scientists
says the past six years have shown the lowest Arctic sea ice cover ever measured.
VOICE
TWO:
The
study found an average ice cover of about fifteen million square kilometers in March.
That is seven hundred thirty kilometers
above the record low set three years ago. But it represents a loss of about five hundred ninety thousand
kilometers from the yearly average between nineteen seventy-nine and two
thousand.
Scientists
say ninety percent of all Arctic sea ice is only one or two years old. This is up from forty to sixty percent in the
nineteen nineties. The newer ice,
experts say, is less resistant to melting during the summer months.
VOICE
ONE:
The amount of ice cover and its
thickness are two measures of the health of the Arctic Sea. Arctic
sea ice is important because it throws sunlight back into space, keeping the
sea cold. The ice also cools the air. But when the ice melts, the sun warms ocean
waters.
Walter Meier is a scientist with the National Snow and
Ice Data Center. He says a
warmer Arctic and thinner sea ice changes the balance between the normally cold
Arctic and warmer areas. He says changes to the ice cover also affect Arctic
wildlife and people who depend on the local environment. The melting has already threatened native
animals like the polar bear. Arctic
melting could also affect Earth's climate.
Professor
Meier also says the possibility of ships being able to move through newly
unfrozen parts of the Arctic could lead to losses of natural resources. He says the competition this could create may
also threaten international security.
VOICE TWO:
The study follows a separate report by the United
States Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Joint Institute for the
Study of Atmosphere and Ocean. That
study used computers and current ice-level information to predict future ice
levels. The findings predicted that most
of the Arctic's summer ice could disappear in thirty years.
Parts of Antarctica are also believed to be melting
because of climate change. Satellite
images show an ice bridge that held a huge Antarctic ice shelf in place
recently broke apart.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Laboratory workers in Costa Rica collect venom from a highly poisonous fer-de-lance snake. The venom is used to make a treatment for the snake's bite.
More
than four million people around the world are bitten by snakes each year. At least one hundred twenty-five thousand of
these people die. Almost three million
others are seriously injured. Doctors
and researchers say the world does not provide enough good treatment for
poisonous snakebites. To help improve
the situation, experts have formed a project called the Global Snakebite
Initiative.
Poisonous
snakebites are common in rural areas of many developing countries with warm
climates. Many victims are agricultural
workers and children in Asia and southern Africa. Shortages of antivenom medicines, the
treatment for snakebite, are common there. Existing supplies may not be high quality or developed correctly for
local needs.
VOICE TWO:
Ken
Winkel directs the University of Melbourne's Australian Venom Research
Unit. He and university scientist David
Williams are among the organizers of the Global Snakebite Initiative. Other project leaders are from Britain,
Brazil, Sri Lanka, Costa Rica and Singapore.
The
International Society of Toxinology supported the Initiative at the recent World
Congress of Plant, Animal and Microbial Toxins in Recife, Brazil.
Doctor
Winkel says antivenom treatment is too costly for many poor people who need it
most. The drugs are developed from the
venom of poisonous snakes.
VOICE ONE:
The Global Snakebite Initiative is working
to increase the availability of good quality antivenom treatments and improve
medical training for patient care. Another goal is to help manufacturers of antivenom medicines improve
their products.
The project also wants
communities to learn about snakebites and first aid. It wants more research and reporting
systems. And it aims to help national
health officials choose antivenoms for their countries' special needs.
The antivenom that cures the bite of one kind of snake
may not be effective for another kind of snake. And the medicines for a cobra bite in the Philippines may not work for
someone bitten by a similar snake in West Africa.
Experts
look forward to improvements in worldwide treatment for snakebite. But they say the best ways to reduce death
and injury from snakebites are education and prevention.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
A male lion in the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya
Up
to two hundred thousand lions lived in Africa twenty years ago. Today, fewer than thirty thousand lions live
there, many in protected areas. But
environmental activists are working to save the animals. And, the activists have some unexpected
helpers.
Members of the Maasai people have stopped killing lions
and now are protecting them. Maasai
herders care for cattle, sheep and goats on the Mbirikani Group Ranch. This community-owned ranch is in southeastern
Kenya. It covers more than one hundred twenty
one thousand hectares.
Maasai warriors in their late
teenage years, twenties and early thirties are called murran. The murran normally gain fame and honor if
they kill a lion. But some of them now
defend the animals and work to keep them alive. The murran are called Lion Guardians. They are part of a scientific and environmental-protection group called
Living with Lions.
VOICE ONE:
The Lion Guardians help herders find
lost sheep, goats and cows. They observe
the movement of lions and warn herders of their presence. Sometimes the guardians intervene and break
up lion-hunters.
If a lion does kill a herd animal, the Maasai receive money
from a program that repays herders for losses.
The program has lessened the traditional conflict between herders and
lions.
The
murrans can follow a lion for hours without needing to drink water. They also learn radio work. That knowledge helps them find lions wearing
radio collars. Scientists place the
devices around the lions' necks so they can follow their movements.
Some
guardians also learn to read and write so they can keep records of their
work. Others keep records using
pictures.
VOICE TWO:
The Lion Guardians have been facing an especially
difficult situation in recent times.
Herders in Kenya are suspected of killing lions with a pesticide
product, Furadan. They reportedly pour
the product on dead animals that lions eat. Furadan makes the lions unable to move, then causes a painful death.
Laurence Frank is
a lion expert with the University of California at Berkeley. He says up to seventy-five wild Kenyan lions
may have died this way during the past five years. Professor Frank heads the Living with Lions
group.
In reaction to protests, the manufacturer of Furadan stopped
all sales of it in Kenya. But environmental
activists worry that the pesticide is already in stores and people's
homes. Farmers use it to protect crops
from insects, worms and mites.
VOICE ONE:
African lions are
also threatened by human expansion into areas that once were wild lion
country. Other enemies are hunters who
kill lions for their body parts. The
parts are then used in traditional medicines and souvenirs.
And, diseases sometimes kill large numbers of
lions. Infectious animal tuberculosis,
for example, has established itself as a threat to lions in southern Africa. Researchers also blame long periods of dry
weather and heavy rain. Some scientists
say climate change makes this worse.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
This
SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Jerilyn Watson and Brianna Blake, who was
also our producer. I'm Faith Lapidus.
VOICE ONE:
And I'm Doug Johnson.
Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs are at
voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again
next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of
America.
Thank you for very intresting article on very important topic. Submitted by: E.Kudrenok (Russia,Kalinind) 05-05-2009 - 15:35:39
2.
I am angry for Arctic and I love massai people in Africa , the earth is for you and children please protect it Submitted by: hossien (kurdistan) 05-05-2009 - 14:01:51
3. Lions
Im glad to see that there is still people in the world that care enough to help the ongoing slaughter of the lions.Thank you for what your doing. Submitted by: David Evans (Canada) 05-05-2009 - 13:58:21
4. care about our earth
I remember, when I was a small child, my families and neighbors got drinking water from rivers directly. And the rivers were very clean, we could see fishes swimming at the bottom of river, and green grass floating in the water. I yearn that old time. I also worry about our global future. Submitted by: zhou xiaoying (china) 05-05-2009 - 13:13:25
5.
I don't know that the ice of the North Pole is thinner than that of old times, and I think that we should know more about global warming.
Thank you. Submitted by: saya (Japan) 05-05-2009 - 11:19:39
6. social expert
these informations are wonderful.it is fresh and practical to richen our all of kind knowledge.it make us more care about our common earth and research it more deeply so that server every human. Submitted by: bill (China) 05-05-2009 - 10:56:24
7. best regards
this programme is the best for leaning englis thanks alot who create this programme Submitted by: Ahmad fawad (Afghanistan) 05-05-2009 - 10:52:04
8. Learn English
I would like to congratulate you about the site and the special support that the site provide in order to help to learn the language.
Tks Submitted by: Robson Costa (Brazil) 05-05-2009 - 03:57:48
9. newspaper editor
it is best way to control human being ! that is control birth rate, our planet the earth have too many people. get some place,source,and more food to our friend _all kinds of animal! Submitted by: huangcx (China) 05-05-2009 - 03:40:50
10. be a guardian of nature
The loss of arctic ice is threatening the human life on earth.
I am very worried about natural disasters which caused from the climate change.
Each year, there are thousand of people died or missed by storms around the world, especially in poor countries.
Vietnam is one of the countries that is going to suffer hard hit by the typhoons and other disasters coming from the sea. With a high number of residents are living alongside of the rivers, or by fishing. High dikes, hurricanes are menacing their lives.
To protect our earth, our lives, to calm down angriness of the sea, reduce emissions of gas, just use products friendly with environment, guard wild animals, cut back on exploiting natural resources, like petroleum, gases, and be a guardian of the nature. Submitted by: oanh (vietnam) 05-05-2009 - 02:24:04
11. reading
really i am excitted to your news thank you so much!!! Submitted by: el aissaoui (morocco) 05-05-2009 - 00:37:59
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