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Easing the burden of schoolbags

Daily on my way to work I see schoolchildren with arched backs carrying the heavily-loaded schoolbags. It's a sour sight for eyes in the early hours of the morning, but how could we avoid this mishap?

A year six child has an average of eight to nine subjects to study with almost the same number of recommended textbooks. If six subjects are taught daily, students are expected to carry around five textbooks and five notebooks - a total of ten in all!

One does not need logic to realise that this heavily laid schoolbag itself might be the key reason for children to dislike schooling. Here are several suggestions on how to help these unfortunate children.

Use a single partitioned book to take down notes of all the subjects taught. Introduce a low cost locker or use the classroom cupboard for safekeeping of textbooks that need not be carried home daily.

If boiled, filtered water is provided at schools, the heavy drinking bottle could be replaced by an empty cup.

The schoolbag should be a twin compartment, one with an inbuilt rigid panel resting over the back of the child. The upper compartment should be packed with the heaviest items and the lower compartment with lighter ones.

Then, when the shoulder straps are well tightened, the centre of gravity will act straight down the spine, the concept used in mountaineering. This will put a stop to all sorts of back problems.

If arrangements can be made with the teachers, the number of subjects taught per day can be limited, and specified dates can be given for textbook usage. The educational authorities can revise the textbook layout so that books can be partitioned and given in separate terms. So parents, do some thinking and help your loved ones ease that schoolbag burden.

Dr. Himantha Atukorale, Radawana Government Hospital

Viruses are engineered to attack bacteria

U.S. scientists are creating viruses to attack and destroy surface "biofilms" harbouring bacteria in the body

 and on industrial and medical devices.

Such viruses would be one of the first potential applications of the emerging field of synthetic biology, which aims to design and build useful biomolecular systems.

The researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston University have already demonstrated one such virus. They say they believe many more viruses could be created to target different species or strains of bacteria.

"Our results show we can do simple things with synthetic biology that have potentially useful results," said MIT-Harvard doctoral student Timothy Lu, who led the research with Boston University Professor James Collins.

The work - supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation - is reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

United Press International

Tsunami hazard maps for five cities

Tsunami hazard maps have been designed by the Peradeniya University for five cities which received extensive damages in the December 2004 tsunami. Accordingly, the Engineering Faculty of the university has drawn these maps for the cities Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Trincomalee and Batticaloa.

These maps provide a graphical idea about areas prone to receive damages in a tsunami; the expected depth of flooding in the event of a tsunami similar to that of December 2004 is also provided.

A team of academics comprising Dr Janaka Wijetunge of the Peradeniya University Engineering Faculty and Prof. Philip Liu and Xiaoming Wang of the Cornell University College of Engineering, USA developed these hazard maps.

The maps were created after the development of computer models depicting tsunami flooding. Such computer models are used to gain information such as depth of flooding and flood velocity(speed); this information is required in the preparation of tsunami hazard maps.

The Disaster Management Centre will make these maps available to the local authorities and government organisations. The project was funded by the US Agency for International Development as part of the US Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System Project.

Meanwhile, the need to revive the currently non-functional seismic stations at the Eastern, Rajarata and Ruhuna universities has been emphasised by geological scientists after the earth tremors of the past weeks.

Only the Peradeniya University's Geological Department currently observes this data. However, it has been pointed out that data from this centre alone will not be useful; supporting readings from other locations are also said to be necessary to make an exact assessment of tremors within the country.

The tallest building now taking shape

The booming Gulf Emirate of Dubai boasted that it has created a "new global landmark," with its Burj Dubai tower becoming the tallest building in the world at 512.1 metres (1,680 feet).

Burj Dubai, Arabic for Dubai Tower, now surpasses Taiwan's Taipei 101 which is 508 metres (1,667 feet) tall, and has 141 storeys, more than any other building in the world, developers Emaar Properties said in a statement.

The skyscraper, being built by South Korea's Samsung and scheduled for completion next year, is one of a string of grandiose (grand) projects taking shape in Dubai, which is part of the United Arab Emirates. The statement did not reveal the final projected height or number of storeys of the tower, which Emaar has kept secret since launching the project in January 2004.

But Emaar officials have said the skyscraper, which will have cost one billion dollars by the time it is completed at the end of 2008, will be more than 700 metres (2,296 feet) tall and have more than 160 storeys.

Burj Dubai is the centrepiece of a 20-billion-dollar venture featuring the construction of a new district, "Downtown Burj Dubai," that will house 30,000 apartments and the world's largest shopping mall.

AFP