Superbakterid, trollid, ujumistrikood ja une mõjust mälule
Minust on seekord olümpiamängud sama hästi kui mööda läinud. Paari ujumisala olen vaadanud, sest peaaegu iga võistlus toob mõne olümpia- või maailmarekordi. Slate’is ilmus aga Phelps’i vägitegudega seoses artikkel ujujate riietusest ehk n.n. tehnoloogilisest dopingust:
To make its latest high-tech, skinlike suit, Speedo enlisted NASA’s wind tunnels, a water flume at New Zealand’s Otago University, and the once-radical fashion design of Comme des Garçons Rei Kawakubo. Whatever Speedo’s doing seems to be working: “When I hit the water [in the LZR Racer], I feel like a rocket,” claims Michael Phelps, who’s set two world records in LZR suits. Since its introduction in February, swimmers wearing the LZR Racer have claimed close to 50 world records.
Speedo viimase saavutuse tõmbab selga ka artikli autor, kes jagab enda muljed muu hulgas ka selle trikoo selga saamisest, mis pakub mõned päris lõbusad kirjeldused.
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Tänud ühele Vabalogi ustavale lugejale, kes saatis viite hiljuti New York Times’is ilmunud pikemale artiklile trollidest The Trolls Among Us. Jutt ei käi loomulikult mütoloogilistest olenditest vaid üpris tüütutest inimestest, kes annavad endast sageli parima(?!), et provotseerida ja agiteerida:
While reporting this article, I did everything I could to verify the trolls’ stories and identities, but I could never be certain. After all, I was examining a subculture that is built on deception and delights in playing with the media. If I had doubts about whether Fortuny was who he said he was, he had the same doubts about me. I first contacted Fortuny by e-mail, and he called me a few days later. “I checked you out,” he said warily. “You seem legitimate.” We met in person on a bright spring day at his apartment, on a forested slope in Kirkland, Wash., near Seattle. He wore a T-shirt and sweat pants, looking like an amiable freelancer on a Friday afternoon. He is thin, with birdlike features and the etiolated complexion of one who works in front of a screen. He’d been chatting with an online associate about driving me blindfolded from the airport, he said. “We decided it would be too much work.”
Ma olen küll trollidest juba mitu head aastat teadlik olnud, kuid mulle tuli üllatusena, et osad inimesed on trollimisele sisuliselt pühendunud. Artiklist selgub, et ega need inimesed vaimselt terved ei ole vaid pigem elavad mingis kibestunud mullis, millest välja ei suudeta näha. Kohati õõvastav, kuid ootamatult õpetlik lugu, mis pigem demonstreerib kui haledate inimestega on tegu.
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Scientific American’is ilmus pikem lugu magamisest ja une olulisusest inimmälule. Nagu taoliste artiklite puhul ikka saab põgusa ülevaate valdkonna ajaloost ja märkimisväärsematest avastustest kui ka hea kokkuvõtte viimastest läbimurretest:
In 2006 we demonstrated the powerful ability of sleep to stabilize memories and provided further evidence against the myth that sleep only passively (and, therefore, transiently) protects memories from interference. We reasoned that if sleep merely provides a transient benefit for memory, then memories after sleep should be, once again, susceptible to interference. We first trained people to memorize pairs of words in an A-B pattern (for example, “blanket-window”) and then allowed some of the volunteers to sleep. Later they all learned pairs in an A-C pattern (“blanket-sneaker”), which were meant to interfere with their memories of the A-B pairs. As expected, the people who slept could remember more of the A-B pairs than people who had stayed awake could. And when we introduced interfering A-C pairs, it was even more apparent that those who slept had a stronger, more stable memory for the A-B sets. Sleep changed the memory, making it robust and more resistant to interference in the coming day.
Artiklist selgub muu hulgas ka see, kuidas magades aju erinevaid probleem lahendab ja isegi mehhaanilisi ülesandeid optimeerib.
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Natuke rohkem kui kolm aastat tagasi kirjutasin Vabalogis ettevaatusprintsiibist. Ühelt poolt selleks, et ise paremini mõista seda üha suuremat kaaluv omavat põhimõtet, kuid teiselt poolt juhtida tähelepanu sellele, et ettevaatusprintsiip ei tähenda “tasuta” kindlust vaid ka teatavaid ohverdusi. Mõni nädal tagasi ilmus aga Boston Globe’is Cass Sunstein’i pikem artikkel ettevaatusprintsiibist, mis üritab samuti lugejale selgitada (kuigi märksa lühemalt ja selgemalt) ettevaatusprintsiibi olemust ja samas sisemist vastuolu:
Yet the precautionary principle, for all its rhetorical appeal, is deeply incoherent. It is of course true that we should take precautions against some speculative dangers. But there are always risks on both sides of a decision; inaction can bring danger, but so can action. Precautions, in other words, themselves create risks – and hence the principle bans what it simultaneously requires.
Sunstein toob hulgaliselt näiteid, millest enamus pärinevad kahjuks Euroopast. Mitte just kõige julgustavam täheldus. Vähemalt on Vaclav Klaus selgelt mõista andnud, miks ta REACH’i ei toeta:
Czech President Vaclav Klaus has vetoed a law placing the country’s chemical industry under tougher European Union rules, calling it bureaucratic and bad for business.
In a statement released on Monday, Klaus said that neither the Czech Republic nor the whole EU needs such a regulation.
“There is no reason to further toughen legislation in this field. People are not endangered by chemicals,” he added.
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Mind hämmastab, et The New Yorker suudab sedavõrd stabiilselt avaldada huvitavaid mõnda valdkonda detailsemalt käsitlevaid artikleid. Taolistes viiteid koguvates Vabalogi postitustes on nad juba suht regulaarne nähtus ja seda sugugi mitte sellepärast, et ma ise regulaarselt väljaannet loeks vaid teised lihtsalt viitavad huvitavatele artiklitele. Viimases numbris ilmus pikem lugu bakteritest, mis on immuunsed antibiootikumidele ja sellest, kuidas need superbakterid levivad isegi Eestile üpris lähedal:
In 2004, about thirty per cent of all patients returning from Iraq and Afghanistan tested positive for the bacteria. “It’s a big problem, and it’s contaminated the evacuation facilities in Germany and a lot of the V.A. hospitals in the United States where these soldiers have been brought,” Moellering said. Patients evacuated to Stockholm from Thailand after the 2004 tsunami were often infected with resistant gram-negative microbes, including a strain of Acinetobacter that was resistant even to colistin, the antibiotic used, to variable effect, in the outbreak at Tisch Hospital. The practice of “clinical tourism,” in which patients travel long distances for more advanced or more affordable medical centers, may introduce resistant microbes into hospitals where they had not existed before.
Mul pole aimugi, kuidas on lood Eesti haiglates. Kas meie haiglates on üldse kangemat kraami, mis suudaks superbaktereid hävitada?
Artiklis tuleb loomulikult juttu ka sellest, kuidas liigne antibiootikumide tarvitamine on ka bakterite evolutsioonile hoogu juurde andnud. Ja seda mitte ainult inimeste vaid ka loomade puhul, kes meie toidulauale lõpuks jõuavad.
Lool on ka üks huvitav omadus: mida rohkem loed, seda hirmuäratavamaks läheb. Umbes poole peal mainitakse, et Kreekas on 50-60% haiglas saadud nakkustest antibiootikumidega ravimatud ja mõned read hiljem selgitab üks arst, miks ta ise proovib võimaluse korral antibiootikumide tarbimisest hoiduda.
Päris lootusetu olukord õnneks pole, sest bakterite negatiivse mõju allikaid mõistetakse paremini kui kunagi varem, mis ühtlasi võimaldab ka probleeme teisiti lahendada. Kahju ainult, et see siiani erilist tulemust pole andnud.
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