Five for Sunday

Here are five news items for Sunday that caught my fancy.

• Last year, I'd read about a breakthrough in wireless electricity (yes, that's not a mistake) at MIT, and now that experiment has expanded from the confines of the lab and is on its way to becoming a practical and commercial application. More here, though I'd be interested in some research that shows it's safe for humans and pets, which might take a few years.
  

• Remember the Nobel Peace Prize more than a decade ago? In 1997, it went to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Along the same lines, comes Bart Weetjens, an engineer from Belgium who has trained rats to detect landmines in Mozambique. This means that people can return to the land and reclaim it to live and grow crops without any fear of losing their limbs, or worse, their lives. I'm sure Jody Williams will be glad, though not so sure what Ingrid Newkirk of PETA will think. Keep an eye out for a new PETA office opening in Mozambique soon. By the way, the rats are much more efficient at this work than humans, but we need not fear any outsourcing of jobs to the animal kingdom yet. There's still a need to train those rats and a pair of handlers are required to reward the rats for their work, as well as to deactivate the mines. Should the tab be sent to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, who (coincidentally?) also happen to be among the top seven arms exporters?

• Does money buy one happiness? The age-old debate gets another look, along with data that shows American women to be less happier today than in the 70s. A score for patriarchy?

• As the saying goes, "from adversity springs opportunity." In these tough economic times, an option for American Born Desis (ABDs) is to work in the country [link may require registration] their parents left for greener pastures in the US. The brain-drain of the 70s and 80s gives rise to a different kind of ghar wapasi (homecoming) for some brains. At that time, it used to be said that a 'brain drain' is better than 'a brain in the drain' - a reference to living and working in the US vs. India.
  And don't speak too soon
  For the wheel's still in spin
  And there's no tellin' who
  That it's namin'.
  For the loser now
  Will be later to win
  For the times they are a-changin'.

• Will an alien species one day encounter a toolbag in space and wonder about its origins? That is, if the toolbag doesn't crash into another satellite first. Most likely, it'll remain in orbit around the earth with other space debris and then burn up as earth's gravitational force eventually pulls it in.

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