NEW YORK -- The Struggle to Help Myanmar Recover 
 
The military government of Myanmar is obviously more worried about having the world find out what a horrible regime it is than they are in helping the million and a half victims of last Saturday's devastating cyclone. There are already perhaps a hundred thousand dead. Nobody really knows. The government simply won't let humanitarian aid workers in to help. 

John Holmes, U.N. Humanitarian Affairs Chief says, "We are simply trying to help people. There are no other political motives in this."
 

The U.N. says the regime's refusal to let in foreign aid workers is unprecedented in the history of humanitarian work. John Holmes, the U.N's Humanitarian Affairs Chief.

Holmes says, "There are many corpses there. Again, we don't know the exact number. They need to be managed, they need to be dealt with, they need to be buried or otherwise disposed of quickly because of a threat to health."

The cyclone hit Myanmar 6 days ago.

 Paul Risley, Spokesman, U.N. World Food Program says, "There's a 10-day window following a natural disaster of this magnitude. If they do not receive food, clean water and emergency medical treatment, the problems they had immediately following the cyclone will worsen."

Paul Risley of the U.N's World Food Program. The Myanmar government, arguably the most repressive on earth, does everything it can to keep any foreigners out, even now.

Risley says, "When we're held up by little things such as visas, those are minutes, those are hours, those are days that are wasted. In this time period, that will translate into thousands of additional lives lost."

Not that there aren't barriers enough as it is.

Risley says, "Roads, bridges and causeways that connected these very low lying areas are all completely gone. The only way to reach many of these areas is by boat."

The junta says any aid the world has it should leave at the doorstep. The situation is desperate, says Risley."Every day, every hour and every minute that emergency assistance doesn't reach these people, the threat of an increased death toll increases." 


The Strait Dope on Doping Teens

Marijuana use among American teens has decreased 25 percent since 2001. But 2.3 million teens here still use it. And many Americans have come to think of marijuana as a relatively harmless drug.  But a report released today by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy says if that's what they think, they're dead wrong.

Dr. Drew Pinsky, Addiction Medicine Specialist says, "The cultural attitudes towards marijuana are in fact completely inaccurate. And it's a time just to raise awareness about the really serious potential danger of this chemical."

Especially for teens, says Dr. Drew Pinsky. For them, using marijuana increases the risk of developing mental disorders by 40 percent.

Pinsky says, "Those kids that had no pre-existing depression, cannabis, marijuana, pot, absolutely there is no doubt, induces depression, induces psychotic states similar to schizophrenia."

A lot of Americans who'd be horrified to find out that their kids were using heroin or cocaine, when it comes to pot say, well it's just marijuana. Little do they know, says Dr. Drew Pinsky.

Pinsky says, "It's so funny to hear people talk about marijuana as just marijuana, because those of us who work in the addiction field have been struggling with this drug for years. Some people, clearly a genetic sub-set of individuals are highly prone to the addictive potential of this drug."

The report says teens who smoke pot even once a month for a year are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than non-users.  For those parents who wink, smile and say "I didn't inhale," it's time we stopped kidding ourselves.

Pinsky says, "It's time we talked realistically about this drug. We're not talking about "reefer madness," we're talking about the way it affects people, so people just need to be aware of the risks. They're substantial, they're real, and it's no different than any other drug of addiction."

And if you thought it was not so addictive?

Pinsky says, "When people are addicted to cocaine and marijuana and methamphetamines, the drug they end up missing the most is the cannabis. It's the one they love."

The Moms of Mulitples
 
There are many more multiple births now than there used to be. That's because of the use of fertility drugs and what we used to call test tube babies, In Vitro Fertilization.

Dr. Avner Hershlag, Chief, Center for Human Reproduction at Northshore University Hospital says, "The multiples rate in IVF in America is about 35 percent and in Europe about 25 percent."

That's because of the way it's done, says Dr. Avner Hershlag, Chief of the Center of Human Reproduction at Long Island's Northshore University Hospital.

Dr. Avner Hershlag says, "The decision about how many embryos we put in is a gamble. Because what we don't know, and there is still no tool to test an embryo in the lab and say this specific embryo will be a baby."

Fewer embryos are used these days in IVF.

Dr. Avner Hershlag says, "At the beginning, we would always put in more embryos, like, lets say in the 80s, because to get a single baby you would put in multiple embryos and pray that one of them will take. Today, our trust in our system, the tightness of the lab, and the repeatable success rate, we have pregnancies every day now from IVF."

Multiple births are not the goal, he says.

Dr. Avner Hershlag says, "The ultimate goal of what we do is to produce a single healthy pregnancy in each woman. We're not trying to create multiples here. Even when patients want to get two-for-one."

But if two, three or more take, what happens when the doctor breaks the news to the couple?

Dr. Avner Hershlag says, "I would say that in most cases, she is delighted. I usually have the husband sit, I think that's a much better position for him. Because he's immediately in his head, it’s like the bills, and the tuition, and getting another job."

Getting Under the Skin of the Duck-Billed Platypus

For convenience and orderly study, scientists have classified living organisms by genus, species and the like.  You and I, being homo sapiens, are mammals, primates specifically.  In the same class as chimps and other monkeys.  Scientists believe that all mammals evolved from reptiles, snakes and lizards and the like.  That's not quite as obvious.

But from Australia comes word that they have now completely mapped the genome of an animal unlike any other.  The duck-billed platypus. What happened there?  Did a duck mate with a beaver?  Did a snake mate with a bird? 

The platypus is classified as a mammal because it has fur and feeds it's young with milk.  It has a beaver like tail which it flaps, a duck like beak and webbed feet.  The females lay eggs and males have venom filled spurs on their heels. 

We used to say if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's a duck. Well ducks don't talk, with the notable exception of Donald and his family.  Well platypuses don't talk either and they're not ducks, not birds of any kind.  But the genome study suggests the platypuses, I don't know if that's the plural, and we humans were on the same evolutionary path until 165 million years or so when the platypus branched off retaining the characteristics of snakes and lizards, including the pain causing venom the male uses to ward off mating rivals.

It is found only in Australia and is so strange looking that when the British Museum received its first specimen in 1798, the zoologist George Shaw was so dubious he tried to cut the pelt with scissors to make sure the duck like bill hadn't been stitched on by a taxidermist.

It's a pretty weird looking creature alright.  But then, to the rest of the animal kingdom I bet you and I must look a little weird too.