September 20, 1990 Vol. 9, No. 3 tf CANADIAN SCIENCE Executive Editor: Lydia Dotto Managing Editor: John Holt ISSN 0712-488 Published by: Canadian Science News Service, Room H-02, University College, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont. M5S 1 A1 (416) 595-7153 Canadian Science News Service acknowledges a grant from the Science Culture Canada Program Canadians don't know much science, study finds By Sally Johnston Maybe they've been watchine too much of The Fhntstones. More than onc-tlurd of Canadians wrongly believe that humans lived at the same time as dinosaurs, according to a survey of 2,000 adults across the country. The study, by University of Calgary communications professor Edna Einsiedel, found that when it comes to science people often don't know the most basic things. It showed, for instance, that fifteen per cent of those questioned thought the sun goes around the Earth, one-quarter didn't know or didn't believe that light travels faster than sound, and more than one-third didn't know it takes the Earth one year to go round the sun. About four out of 10 respondents did not know or did not accept that humans evolved from earlier groups of animals. "If you take each question individually, maybe it doesn't matter," says Einsiedel "But the set of questions is supposed to indicate at least a familiarity with simple scienufic matters. If you don't have Kids stiii suffer stress from Quebec PCB fire By David Heller Psychological evaluations one year after the PCB fire at St.-Basile-le-Grand, Quebec, have shown that 6 to 1 1 year -olds who lived there are still experiencing anxiety over the incident and the subsequent evacuation. These children have a higher than usual rale of sleep disturbances and anxiety, the researchers found, discovering also that this age group is particularly susceptible to stress caused by disaster situations. On August 23, 1988, a warehouse containing 117,000 litres of polychlormated biphenyls (PCBs) exploded into flames, sending a toxic cloud over St.-Basile-le-Grand. Over 3,300 residents in the community of about 5,200 were forced to evacuate their homes in the middle of the night, as a result of the disaster. "The evacuation was brutal, without warning and without explanation," says Dr. Stephane Proulx, an environmental health specialist at Charles Lemoyne Hospital and coordinator of the PCB Public Health FoHow-up Program. He says the ensuing media invasion Fungi help asparagus grow well .-..IH'-.t that, you have to question whether people are capable of functioning in an increasingly complex industrial society." Movies and cartoons, like The Fhntstones, in which humans and dinosaurs live side by side, are probably partly to blame for the incorrect answers, she says. She also blames the media for inadequate coverage of science and technology issues. Einsiedel, a former science journalist, has spent three years studying how science b covered by the media, surveying science writers and questioning their audiences. In each case she has concluded that Canadians lack a good basic knowledge of science. In the poll of Canadian adults, respondents scored high in health and environmental matters: 95 .5 per cent knew that sunlight can cause skin cancer and 85.9 per cent understood that air pollution can cause a greenhouse effect. Women and French-Canadians fared particularly badly. Fewer than one in 10 women could answer eight and fear of PCB-related problems probably contributed to the overall level of stress as well. After the fire, the 5,200 resident! underwent a series of studies headed by Proulx. Health professionals assessed the result of clinical examinations, biochemical and toxicological analysis of blood, analysis of breast-milk, the outcome of pregnancies, and psychological evaluations. For the most part, no abnormal levels of PCBs or related health problems were found. Psychological evaluations found that immediately after the emergency the residents experienced anxiety and anger. However, while the adults recovered quickly from the stress of the evacuation, the youngsters did not Between August and October 1989 a team of counsellors from local community service centres worked door-to-door in SL-Basile-le-Grand, conducting questionnaire surveys of the mental health of children 3 to 11 years old and their parents. The research was supervised by Dr. Jean-Jacques Breton, a child psychiatrist at P fA. -sa" -rw wi ar ,j r x i 'IMS . . JV.S . tJlaS Saw f. ci nunc tumttiK ttrnnuiiz. tr3f8?iry&ti.1 MmtDM-fajiif uwnrafiBijf kuis.x DLtmuu BHBuarusuw Agriculture Canada scientists found that some fungi, when In association with the roots of leeks, help the plants grow. They are now testing these fungi with other plants. These asparagus plants, 3.5 months old, have been lnnoculated with different fungi, except the control plant which has none. The fungi have boosted their growth. (Dr. V. Furlan, Agriculture Canada) (Canadian Science News) out of 10 basic science questions, compared to just over three in 10 men. Einsiedel attributes this to "women taking less science courses and degrees." People living in Quebec showed the least understanding of general science in the country. Only one in 10 made the 8 out of 10 category, compared to 20 per cent of those in Ontario and 29 per cent of Western Canadians. This doesn't surprise Einsiedel because "the overhaul in the Quebec education system has only taken place in the last 20 years or so." The study clearly shows that Canada needs to review the way science is taught, she says. And she applauded Alberta, which "has just gone through a major discussion about science curriculums in school." But she stresses that scientific literacy is a lifelong learning process that doesn't end with graduation. In fact, the poll found that Canadians are eager to know more about science and technology. Most of those surveyed felt the media were doing a poor job in keeping them the Universite de Montreal. The same evaluation was carried out on a 'control group' of families living in neighbouring Montreal, who were unaffected by the PCB fire. The two groups were matched for socioeconomic and marital status. Results showed no difference between the general physical health of the two groups or the levels of psychological distress experienced by parents or 3- to 6-year-olds. However, the 6- to 11 -year-old children of SL-Basile-le-Grand were found to be experiencing twice as many stress-related problems as the control group. They had more nightmares, anxieties, depression, Engineers technique By Sally Johnston Dr. Bez Tabarrok has a mission - to make sure fighter pilots don't (Kt their hearts broken. But Tabarrok is neither Cupid nor a cardiologist. He is a mechanical engineer who uses a computer program, designed for bridges, to study physical changes in the heart when it is subjected to extreme physical stress. His work should help prevent military jet pilots from suffering permanent damage to their hearts during sharp air manoeuvres at very high speeds. "We are trying to find the physical limits to which we can push the human heart," says Tabarrok, head of mechanical engineering at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. 'It's not very different from finding the strength of a bridge." "The heart is fist-shaped in normal conditions," he explains. "Once you put a high stress on it, such as accelerating upwards very fast in an elevator, and in this case a jet plane, the heart becomes completely distorted into a long, tube shape." A person travelling in a fast elevator could undergo an acceleration equivalent to two or three times the force of gravity, he adds. Some fairground rides have the same effect. informed on these issues. Einsiedel found that interest in stories about medicine, health and environmental issues is far higher than interest in business and sports news, but the coverage of these scientific subjects is not as good. The study also uncovered a lot of fear and mistrust of science and scientists. Although 80 per cent of respondents think science and technology have made our lives easier and our 'bodies healthier, 46 per cent feel science is making the world change too fast. Another 41 per cent said scientists have powers that make them dangerous. The survey also .showed that those people who expressed fear or distrust were the same ones who had lower exposure to science through schooling and the media. In her study of media coverage of science, Einsiedel concluded that science stories tended to be much more positive than stories on politics, business, sports or other subjects. "That's not necessarily good for the readers or the scientific establishment," she says. "It means sleep disorders, and fear of the future than their counterparts who were unaffected by the fire. Breton told a meeting of the International Federation of Psychiatric Epidemiology that, "Children usually have more difficulty dealing with disasters than adults, but we were surprised at the extent of their problems." Their study is the first to identify a particular age group of children as being particularly susceptible to this sort of disaster-related stress. Breton says children between 6 and 11 are independent and have good memories. They have well-developed fantasy worlds, which are easily use bridge-testing for heart studies he says. The stress placed on the hearts of airmen during high-speed exercises is five or six times the force of gravity -two of three times greater than for a person travelling in a fast elevator. The fear is that pilots' hearts might tear under these conditions, causing a malfunction and irreparable damage, says Tabarrok. Astronauts, who are also subjected to high rates of acceleration during take-off, overcome the problem by lying on their back. This horizontal position reduces the changes to the heart and helps keep blood flowing to the brain, says Tabarrok. Pilots, however, can't lie down. Originally, Tabarrok developed his computer program to detect structural flaws in high-tech structures and equipment, such as bridges and submarines. Defence officials later contacted Tabarrok with their concerns about jet pilots. To him a human heart is simply another structure. "The main difference is the physical limits of materials used on a bridge, such as steel, are well known, but there has been little work on the effects of physical stress on heart tissue." Working with The Defence and Civil Institute for Environmental Medicine, Tabarrok and doctoral student Jim Moore designed a people have unrealistic expectations about science. They only ever hear about the cures and breakthroughs, presented in gee-whizz terms." She adds, "I would like to see findings couched in more cautious terms. It's good for people to be a little more sceptical." She believes that one reason for the positive coverage is that journalists treat scientists as authority figures. Also, most science writers come from general reporting backgrounds and lack the "time, knowledge and inclination to challenge scientists in the way they would a politician." She also found that a majority of science stories appearing in the Canadian media originate in the United States and other countries. "Many news organizations find it cheaper to supplement (science coverage) with wire material and much of that is from the States." Einsiedel received funding for her studies from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. (Canadian Science News) activated by such events. However, unlike adults, they do not have the emotional or intellectual maturity to handle disasters like the PCB fire. Breton adds that adults often have a tendency to underestimate the anxieties experienced by children. Now, two years after the fire, most of the PCB containers still remain in SL-Basile-le-Grand. Their continued presence may contribute to the children's high level of stress. Breton plans to begin a follow-up study of the children, the results of which should be available in early 1991. His research is funded by the Universite de Montreal. (Canadian Science News) computer model of the heart. A pilot was placed in a centrifuge, a device which spins rapidly, and X-ray pictures were taken of the heart's responses. Once the computer model of the heart was matched to the responses of the human heart, the computer program 'subjected' it to much higher levels of stress than could have been requested of a human volunteer. Tabarrok and Moore tested the computerized neart' to track what was happening to different parts, determining what would remain intact and what might rip. Dental patients too have been saved a lot of misery thanks to the scientists' program. Tabarrok and Moore were approached by dental surgeons who had designed a new false tooth implant, for use in place of dentures. The procedure involved drilling into the jaw and implanting a titanium base, then building the tooth on top. The dental surgeons wanted to know whether their materials and design could withstand the pressures of the human bite. Using his computer program, ' Tabarrok found a weakness in the design which could have caused the tooth to break. Subsequently the artificial tooth was re-designed. (Canadian Science News)