LIFE鈥橲 A BEACH: And often a contaminated one. Water-quality testing in the state of California has been given increased emphasis recently. The current testing methods take too long and as a result some beaches are left open for a period of time while the water is contaminated. Other beaches are closed when they are clean. Researchers there are trying to come up with a way to measure for viruses and other pathogens in real time. That, Mansour Samadpour told the San Diego Union-Tribune, would be an important development because of the threat that humans pose to an otherwise clean environment. 鈥淥ne human with an infection can contaminate an entire beach. It doesn鈥檛 take much if the bather has a highly contagious illness,鈥� Samadpour, an assistant professor of environmental health, said. 鈥淏abies at the beach are like bacteria tea bags.鈥�
I鈥橪L DRINK TO THAT: But perhaps not out of a child鈥檚 鈥渟ippy cup.鈥� The drinking vessels with a protruding bill that keep adults鈥� homes and cars from suffering the indignity of youthful spillage came under fire in a recent story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Among other claims, parents, dentists and some speech therapists suggested that the cups interfere with a child鈥檚 speech development. The UW鈥檚 Christopher A. Moore, however, isn鈥檛 about to slam the sippy. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 imagine how they could be a problem,鈥� the professor of speech and hearing sciences told the Post-Gazette. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an anecdotal observation that鈥檚 not supported by research.鈥� Detractors suggest that the cups cause children to develop a lazy tongue that produces sloppy 鈥渢h鈥� and 鈥渟t鈥� sounds, at least temporarily.
RU IMING?: That is, are you instant messaging? And the answer is, probably not, if you鈥檙e an adult. A recent story in the Columbus Dispatch looked at the world of instant messaging 鈥� real-time Web communication 鈥� and according to the UW鈥檚 David Silver, an assistant professor of communications, it鈥檚 a world that belongs to teens. 鈥淭his is a technology that came about during their coming of age,鈥� he told the Dispatch. As for the slang that is so much a part of the way teens use the technology, perhaps it鈥檚 just another form of teen rebellion. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a playful kind of informal, immature communication that allows for a lot of flexibility in language. We鈥檙e seeing kids with very few rules on a medium they conceive as their own.鈥�
Newsmakers is a periodic column reporting on coverage of the 91探花 by national press services.