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SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: And I’m Shirley Griffith. This week on our program, we learn about the art of rhetoric and tell you about a website that brings American rhetoric to life.

STEVE EMBER: We use rhetoric every time we use language, whether giving a speech or talking with a friend. So what is rhetoric? Dictionaries list several meanings for this word. One is the study of using language effectively. Another is the art of using language to persuade, influence or please.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle described rhetoric as "the ability, in each particular case, to see the available means of persuasion." But the word can also have a negative meaning, like when a politician gives a speech and critics dismiss it as "rhetoric." What they mean is, it sounded good, but lacked substance.

Michael Eidenmuller knows all about rhetoric, and he says it sometimes gets a bad name.

MICHAEL EIDENMULLER: "Rhetoric is not inherently evil or corrupt, in my view. It's a neutral tool or technology that has and is and will be used for both good or ill."

www.americanrhetoric.com

Michael Eidenmuller

Mr. Eidenmuller is a communications professor at the University of Texas at Tyler. About ten years ago, he created a Web page for his students. It included links to famous speeches on other websites. The idea was to create a resource that his students could use in their studies.

The list of speeches grew, and so did the popularity of the page.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Then, in two thousand four, Mr. Eidenmuller posted a link to the speech that Senator Zell Miller gave at the Republican National Convention.

ZELL MILLER: “…For my family is more important to me than my Party.”

Shortly after that, the Web page received more hits than the server computer at the university could handle. As a result, Mr. Eidenmuller created a separate website and called it American Rhetoric.

AmericanRhetoric.com is an online speech bank of thousands of speeches. It gets as many as six hundred thousand visits each month during the school year in the United States. In the summer months, the number falls to about two hundred thousand visits a month.

Professor Eidenmuller says many students learning English outside the United States also use his website. It includes text, audio and in some cases video of some of the most popular speeches of our time.

STEVE EMBER: People can have different reactions to a speech depending on whether they listen to it, watch it or read it.

MICHAEL EIDENMULLER: "Attending to one or to multiple mediums does tend to produce different perspectives and encourage different judgments on any given speech or speaker."

Professor Eidenmuller points to the example of the candidate debates in the nineteen sixty presidential election. This was the first series of nationally televised debates between American presidential candidates. The public was able to hear and see John Kennedy, the Democratic candidate, and Richard Nixon, the Republican candidate, as they debated.

Nixon had suffered a knee injury and had spent time in the hospital before the first debate. He had lost weight as a result, and looked skinny and unhealthy. Kennedy had been campaigning in California. He arrived at the debate looking healthy, fit and suntanned, although the broadcast was in black-and-white.

People who listened to that first debate on the radio largely felt Nixon had performed better. But those who watched the debate on television were influenced by what they saw in addition to what they heard. Professor Eidenmuller says those who watched the debate were more likely to feel that Kennedy had won.

MICHAEL EIDENMULLER: "So mediums do matter."

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: There are many rhetorical methods and devices that can add to good speech. These often have Latin or Greek names.

For example, anaphora is when a speaker repeats the same words at the start of sentences or phrases that follow each other. Hillary Clinton, then the first lady, used anaphora in her speech at the Democratic National Convention in nineteen ninety-six. Notice her use of the phrase "it takes."

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Hillary Clinton addresses the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, in 1996 while she was first lady of the United States

HILLARY CLINTON: “To raise a happy, healthy and hopeful child, it takes a family; it takes teachers; it takes clergy; it takes business people; it takes community leaders; it takes those who protect our health and safety. It takes all of us.”

An analogy is a comparison made to show a similarity between two things. In the movie "Man of the Year," a political comedian -- played by Robin Williams -- accidentally wins the presidency. He uses an analogy.

ROBIN WILLIAMS: "Remember, ladies and gentlemen, it’s an old phrase, basically anonymous -- that politicians are a lot like diapers: They should be changed frequently and for the same reason. Keep that in mind next time you vote. Good night.”

STEVE EMBER: A metaphor is another figure of speech used to suggest a comparison between two things. The civil rights leader Martin Luther King Junior used this metaphor in one of the most famous speeches of all time.

MARTIN LUTHER KING: "With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood."

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Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech to hundreds of thousands of marchers gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963

Professor Eidenmuller says the Reverend King's "I Have a Dream" speech is by far the most popular speech on the American Rhetoric site. It took place at the Lincoln Memorial on August twenty-eighth, nineteen sixty-three, during a huge march on Washington.

MARTIN LUTHER KING: " … I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!"

AmericanRhetoric.com includes a list of the "Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century." These include the remarks that President Ronald Reagan gave at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin in June of nineteen eighty-seven. President Reagan was often called "the Great Communicator." Here is part of what he said.

RONALD REAGAN: "We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty -- the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace.”

"There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.

"General Secretary [Mikhail] Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate.”

"Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate.”

"Mr. Gorbachev -- Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: In nineteen forty-five, World War Two ended and the United Nations began. Three years later, fifty-eight states approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt had worked hard for the declaration. She spoke in honor of its adoption at a UN meeting in Paris on December ninth, nineteen forty-eight.

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: "We stand today at the threshold of a great event both in the life of the United Nations and in the life of mankind. This Universal Declaration of Human Rights may well become the international Magna Carta of all men everywhere. We hope its proclamation by the General Assembly will be an event comparable to the proclamation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man by the French people in seventeen eighty-nine, the adoption of the Bill of Rights by the people of the United States, and the adoption of comparable declarations at different times in other countries."

STEVE EMBER: Another area on AmericanRhetoric.com contains recordings about the terrorist attacks of September eleventh, two thousand one. These include the first statement that President George W. Bush made to reporters during a visit to an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida.

GEORGE W. BUSH: "… Today, we've had a national tragedy. Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country.

"I have spoken to the vice president, to the governor of New York, to the director of the FBI, and have ordered that the full resources of the federal government go to help the victims and their families, and -- and to conduct a full-scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act.

'"Terrorism against our nation will not stand. And now if you [would] join me in a moment of silence."

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The American Rhetoric website also includes quizzes and exercises related to the art of rhetoric. People who want to learn more about rhetoric can take classes in rhetorical theory. There are also books like "Farnsworth's Classical English Rhetoric" published in two thousand ten. Author Ward Farnsworth offers eighteen chapters' worth of rhetorical devices.

And there is another way to improve your skills. Michael Eidenmuller at AmericanRhetoric.com says you can study the speakers you admire.

MICHAEL EIDENMULLER: "Read and listen and watch the great speeches and great speakers. I would recommend listening to those speeches. If you find a speaker whose delivery you particularly like, try mimicking it."

STEVE EMBER: Our program was written and produced by Brianna Blake. I’m Steve Ember.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: And I’m Shirley Griffith. What are some of your favorite speeches? Tell us at voaspecialenglish.com, where people learning English can also find transcripts, audio and video to read, listen and learn. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

DOUG JOHNSON:  I’m Doug Johnson.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

And I’m Faith Lapidus with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we tell about an unusual and mysterious experience that can affect people in extreme situations of danger. People who live through life threatening situations sometimes describe a calming presence or guiding voice that helps them survive.

People have described this experience as “sensed presence” or as an “imaginary shadow person.”  It is also known as the “Third Man” syndrome. The Canadian-American writer John Geiger wrote about this in a book called “The Third Man Factor.”

DOUG JOHNSON:  Ernest Shackleton spent his career exploring the little known areas of the South Pole. One of his most famous trips began in nineteen fourteen. The goal of the trip was to cross Antarctica on foot.  But it did not go as planned. His boat, the Endurance, became trapped and later crushed by ice.

The Endurance trapped on Antarctic ice

After many months, Shackleton and a few of his men traveled through dangerous waters to the island of South Georgia to get help and rescue the rest of their crew. They faced extreme hunger, thirst and cold. But their rescue operation was successful, and all twenty-two crew members survived.

FAITH LAPIDUS:  Later, Shackleton wrote about the impossible struggles he faced. He described feeling that there was another unseen person with him and his men during the last days of their trip.

He wrote this about his experience: “I know that during that long and racking march of thirty-six hours over the unnamed mountains and glaciers of South Georgia it seemed to me often that we were four, not three.”

DOUG JOHNSON:  The American poet T.S. Eliot was influenced by Shackleton’s description. Here, the poet includes Shackleton’s vision in part of his famous poem “The Waste Land.”

MARIO RITTER:

Who is the third who walks always beside you?

When I count, there are only you and I together

But when I look ahead up the white road

There is always another walking beside you.

DOUG JOHNSON:  It is from this line of poetry about Shackleton that the Third Man syndrome takes its name.

FAITH LAPIDUS:  Writer and researcher John Geiger has twice experienced a similar reaction to extreme danger himself: once as a child and once while suffering from extreme cold in Arctic Canada. He says his experiences made him want to learn about Third Man examples among other explorers.

johngeiger.net

John Geiger

JOHN GEIGER: “In other words, my experience I think predisposed me to being interested in the kind of phenomena that people in these extreme and unusual environments encounter.”

DOUG JOHNSON:  With Shackleton’s experience in mind, John Geiger started to investigate whether other people facing death or extreme fear had faced similar situations.

He discussed the subject with explorers and extreme sports athletes. He read historical documents written by past explorers, prisoners of war, pilots, and ship wreck survivors.  He found that many different people in extreme situations have similar experiences.

JOHN GEIGER: “So when I had a handful of these cases, it seemed to me then there was likely something worth investigating. I began to look very seriously and very quickly found scores of examples of it.”

FAITH LAPIDUS:  In nineteen thirty-three, the British mountain climber Frank Smythe was attempting to climb Mount Everest in the Himalayan Mountains.

He was at the dangerous altitude of over eight thousand four hundred meters. Smythe was extremely tired and suffering from the effects of low oxygen. He decided to stop, rest and eat. He pulled out a piece of cake, divided it into two pieces, and offered it to another person he sensed nearby. But Frank Smythe was alone. The sense of strength and safety that he felt from this invisible person helped him survive his climb.

DOUG JOHNSON:  John Geiger points out that these Third Man experiences are very common among mountain climbers. But he shows in his book that they take place in other environments as well.

For example, one American astronaut on a four-month long mission on the Russian space station Mir saw a vision of his dead father. His father spoke to him, praised his hard wor k and gave the astronaut a sense of calm during a very stressful space operation.

In another example, pilot Edith Foltz Stearns was flying a plane to a military base in Scotland during World War Two. Because of bad weather she could not see where to land the plane. A voice next to her in the plane called out to warn her about a dangerous hill nearby. She said her imaginary “copilot” guided her to safety.

FAITH LAPIDUS:  John Geiger says that many people who experience the Third Man explain it as a religious experience. But he is more interested in exploring the science behind the Third Man. He discusses how scientists over the years have identified the experience and developed theories to explain it. The findings suggest that the human brain has developed this special ability as a survival method.

DOUG JOHNSON:  Geiger discusses several conditions that seem to produce Third Man experiences. One of these is being alone, far from other people. Being alone can be stressful especially when experienced with monotony. This is when the mind tires from the sameness of a repeated experience. For example, an explorer can be affected mentally after days of walking through the snowy environment of Antarctica. The terrible winds and never-ending whiteness may lead many polar explorers to have visions of other people.

FAITH LAPIDUS:  The psychologist Woodburn Heron wrote about this subject in his nineteen fifty-seven work “The Pathology of Boredom.” He said that the brain depends on having continuing information from the body’s senses. The mind can have problems if it has nothing new to sense. Often, the brain’s response is to create its own input, in the form of a hallucination.

A hallucination is a sensory experience that does not exist outside the mind.

DOUG JOHNSON:  Other stressful conditions can lead to Third Man experiences. These include the stress of injury or of seeing an expedition partner become injured or even die.  Different scientists have studied the effects of extreme conditions on the human mind and body.

One researcher found that extreme cold can have a damaging effect on the mind. The researcher said that before the body begins to freeze, cold can cause changes in brain chemistry which lead to hallucinations.

FAITH LAPIDUS:  Another doctor believes that Ernest Shackleton’s vision was caused by a drop in blood sugar. Explorers working in extreme cold often burn more energy than they can eat. This doctor believes that low glucose levels in the blood lead to hallucinations.

Another theory says that the stress of having to pay constant attention to survive leads to Third Man hallucinations.

DOUG JOHNSON:  Researchers in Switzerland were able to recreate a Third Man experience in a laboratory setting. They sent electric signals into the brain of a young patient who suffered from epilepsy. When the electric current was on, the woman described seeing a presence or shadow nearby who did not speak or move. When the scientists stopped the electricity, the woman said the presence disappeared.

John Geiger believes brain doctors and other scientists should study this interesting issue more fully.

FAITH LAPIDUS:  While writing the book, John Geiger believed that a test of its success would be whether people accepted its subject matter.

JOHN GEIGER: “Here I was writing a book about unseen beings helping people who are in life and death struggles. That seems to me to be a fairly out-there proposition. And yet, the evidence is so overwhelming, that really nobody has surfaced to suggest that indeed this does not happen.”

DOUG JOHNSON:  John Geiger says there is a wide acceptance of the Third Man experience among the scientific community and the general public.

JOHN GEIGER: “People understand that there is this phenomenon, the Third Man Factor. And, that it applies universally, it doesn’t matter what one’s faith is, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a man or a woman. It doesn’t matter whether they are at great elevation or at sea level.”

FAITH LAPIDUS:  John Geiger suggests that the brain’s effort to create a Third Man is not an accident of human brain structure, or a sign of injury in extreme conditions.

He says it may be an evolutionary characteristic developed to help us. In times of extreme hardship, the human brain may have developed a way to create a social link, the sense of a helpful and guiding partner. So, even in a person’s darkest hour, he or she can feel less alone.

DOUG JOHNSON:  This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I’m Doug Johnson.

FAITH LAPIDUS:  And I’m Faith Lapidus. John Geiger has created a Web site where people who have had Third Man experiences can publish their stories. You can find a link to it on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.  Join us again next week for Explorations in VOA Special English.

Charles Darwin developed the theory of how living things develop from simpler organisms over long periods of time.  That theory is known as evolution through natural selection.

How do new kinds of life come into existence?  For much of recorded history, people have believed that organisms were created.  Few people believed that living things changed.  What process could make such change possible?

These were some of the questions Charles Darwin asked himself over years of research in botany, zoology and geology.  He was not the first person to ask them.  His own grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, believed that species evolved.  And others, like the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamark, had proposed ways this could happen.  But it was Darwin who identified and explained the process, natural selection, that causes life to evolve.

BARBARA KLEIN:  Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England on February twelfth, eighteen-oh-nine. His father Robert Darwin was a doctor.  Charles' mother Susannah Darwin was the daughter of the famous potter, Josiah Wedgwood.  She died when Charles was only eight years old.

Young Charles was intensely interested in the natural world from an early age.  But his father wanted him to be a doctor.

At age sixteen, Charles was sent to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh.  But he did not like it.  He found medical operations especially horrible.  He later went to Cambridge University.  His father now hoped that Darwin would become a clergyman. But at Cambridge, Charles continued to follow his own interests.  There, he met John Henslow, a plant scientist and clergyman.  The two became friends.

A painting of young Charles Darwin

STEVE EMBER:  John Henslow suggested that Charles Darwin take the unpaid position of naturalist for a trip on the British ship H.M.S. Beagle. It sailed around the world from eighteen thirty-one to eighteen thirty-six. The main goal was to make maps of the coastline of South America.  The British government paid for the voyage.  But another purpose of the trip was to collect scientific objects from around the world.

BARBARA KLEIN:  The Beagle’s first stop was one of the Cape Verde Islands near the coast of Africa.  There, Darwin noted that levels of rock extending high above the sea contained the fossil remains of shells.  He thought that this was evidence that the bottom of the ocean had been lifted up by powerful geological forces over long periods of time.

The Beagle continued to the coast of South America.  In Valdivia, Chile, Darwin experienced an earthquake.  He collected examples of plants and animals.  He also collected the fossil remains of animals that had disappeared from the Earth.

But it was on the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador that Darwin found creatures that made him wonder about how species develop and change.  There, he saw giant tortoises and noted that the reptiles were different on each island.

He collected birds, each with different beaks.  Later, after he had returned to England, he would be shocked to find that these very different birds were all finches. Darwin found lizards called iguanas that lived on land and ones that fed in the sea.

Darwin noted that all these species were similar to those found in South America.  But, they all had differences, or adaptations, that helped them survive in the environment of the Galapagos Islands.

STEVE EMBER:  Darwin sent much of what he collected back to England on other ships the Beagle met along the way.  By the time he returned to England in October of eighteen thirty-six, he was already a well known geologist and naturalist.  Within a few years, he would be accepted into scientific organizations like the Geological Society and the Royal Society.

Darwin moved to London to be near other scientists.   He wrote a new version of the book about his travels.  He also edited works of others about the things he had collected on his trip.  Darwin also agreed to write several books including the "Zoology of the Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle."  But in eighteen thirty-seven, the pressure of the work caused his health to suffer.  He developed problems with his heart.

BARBARA KLEIN:  Charles Darwin had poor health much of his life.  He suffered headaches and problems with his skin and stomach.  No one was able to find out what disease he may have had during his lifetime.  Recently, some experts have suggested that he might have become infected with a tropical disease.  Others suggest Darwin’s health problems were caused by conflict in his mind over his theory.  Poor health would later force him to leave London and settled at Down House near Kent, England.

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A copy of Charles Darwin's notebook containing his idea of an evolutionary tree. The notebook is in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Darwin began work on a series of secret notebooks containing his thoughts about the evolutionary process.  He began to think that animals developed from earlier, simpler organisms.  As early as eighteen thirty-seven, he imagined this process as a tree with branches representing new species.  Unsuccessful branches ended.  But successful evolutionary changes continued to form new branches.

STEVE EMBER:  Charles Darwin’s personal life was also expanding.  In eighteen thirty-nine, he married Emma Wedgwood, his cousin.  He told her his ideas about how species evolve over time -- what he called the transmutation of species.

Emma did not agree with her husband.  But the two had a strong and happy marriage.  They had ten children together. Seven of them survived.

BARBARA KLEIN:  Charles Darwin read widely and sought ideas from other fields of study.  He was influenced by Thomas Malthus’ work, "An Essay on the Principle of Population" written in seventeen ninety-eight. Malthus argued that populations are always limited by the food supply.

Darwin would later say that this work caused him to realize the struggle for limited resources was a fact of life.  He said small changes took place in individual animals.  Changes that helped them survive would continue.  But those that did not would be destroyed. The result of this would be the formation of new species.

The British philosopher Herbert Spencer described this struggle as "survival of the fittest."  But biologists use the term “natural selection” to describe the evolutionary process.

STEVE EMBER:  Charles Darwin developed his idea slowly over more than twenty years.  He was concerned that he would lose the support of the scientific community if he revealed it.  He wrote to his friend, botanist Joseph Hooker, that speaking about evolution “was like confessing a murder.”

It was not until eighteen fifty-eight that Darwin was forced to release his theory to the public.  Another naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, had independently written a paper that contained ideas similar to Darwin's concerning evolution.  Wallace had reached these ideas from his studies on islands in the western Pacific Ocean.

With help from Darwin's friends, the two naturalists presented a joint scientific paper to the Linnean Society of London in July of eighteen fifty-eight.  At first there was little reaction.

Then, in November, eighteen fifty-nine, Darwin released the results of all his work on evolution.  The book was called "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life."  It was an immediate success.

BARBARA KLEIN:  The "Origin of Species" was praised by many scientists.  But religious leaders denounced it.  For them, evolution opposed the explanation of creation found in the book of Genesis in the Bible.  Today, almost all scientists accept the theory of evolution.  But many non-scientists are unsure about whether humans evolved over millions of years. In the United States, public opinion studies have shown that less than half the population believes in evolution.

STEVE EMBER:  Natural selection does not explain everything about why species evolve.  Darwin did not know about Gregor Mendel’s work on heredity.  And the discovery of genetics and D.N.A. molecules took place long after his death.  Yet, Darwin theorized in a world much different from the one we know.  That is why scientists today wonder at the depth of his knowledge and the strength of his arguments.

Charles Darwin died on April nineteenth, eighteen eighty-two.  He was buried at Westminster Abbey, in London, among other heroes of Britain.

BARBARA KLEIN:  This program was written and produced by Mario Ritter. I’m Barbara Klein.

STEVE EMBER:  And I’m Steve Ember.  You can find a link to Charles Darwin's writings and research at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.  Join us again next week for Explorations in VOA Special English

FAITH LAPIDUS: I’m Faith Lapidus.

STEVE EMBER: And I’m Steve Ember with People in America in VOA Special English.  Today we tell about the world’s most famous doctor for children, Benjamin Spock.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Benjamin Spock’s first book caused a revolution in the way American children were raised. His book, “The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care,” was published in nineteen forty-six. The book gave advice to parents of babies and young children. The first lines of the book are famous. Dr. Spock wrote: “Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do”.

STEVE EMBER: This message shocked many parents. For years, mothers had been told that they should reject their natural feelings about their babies. Before Dr. Spock’s book appeared, the most popular guide to raising children was called “Psychological Care of Infant and Child.” The book’s writer, John B. Watson, urged extreme firmness in dealing with children. The book called for a strong structure of rules in families. It warned parents never to kiss, hug or physically comfort their children.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Dr. Spock’s book was very different. He gave gentle advice to ease the fears of new parents. Dr. Spock said his work was an effort to help parents trust their own natural abilities in caring for their children.

AP

Dr. Benjamin Spock revised his legendary best-selling "Baby and Child Care" book many times

DR. SPOCK: “I was always trying to lean in the direction of reassuring parents.”

Dr. Spock based much of his advice on the research and findings of the famous Austrian psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud.

DR. SPOCK: “Freud was interested in where is the origin of neuroses, I was interested in the other side of it, how do children grow emotionally. And I think Freud has given us a very good explanation of the stages of development.”

FAITH LAPIDUS: Dr. Spock’s book discusses the mental and emotional development of children. It urges parents to use that information to decide how to deal with their babies when they are crying, hungry, or tired.

For example, Dr. Spock dismissed the popular idea of exactly timed feedings for babies. Baby care experts had believed that babies must be fed at the same times every day or they would grow up to be demanding children.

Dr. Spock said babies should be fed when they are hungry. He argued that babies know better than anyone about when and how much they need to eat. He did not believe that feeding babies when they cry in hunger would make them more demanding.       He also believed that showing love to babies by hugging and kissing them would make them happier and more secure.

STEVE EMBER: “The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care” examined the emotional and physical growth of children. Dr. Spock said he did not want to just tell a parent what to do. He said he tried to explain what children generally are like at different times in their development so parents would know what to expect.

Dr. Spock’s book did not receive much notice from the media when it was published in nineteen forty- six. Yet, seven hundred fifty thousand copies of the book were sold during the year after its release. Dr. Spock began receiving many letters of thanks from mothers around the country.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Dr. Spock considered his mother, Mildred Spock, to be the major influence on his personal and professional life. He said his ideas about how parents should act were first formed because of her. He reacted to the way in which his mother cared for him and his brother and sisters.

AP

In the first printing of his legendary book there was no mention of pregnancy or drug abuse. Dr. Spock said the addition of those topics later was a new and startling change

Dr. Spock described his mother as extremely controlling. He said she believed all human action was the result of a physical health issue or a moral one. She never considered her children’s actions were based on emotional needs.

DR. SPOCK: “And though some people have said I suppose this book is a protest against the way you were brought up, well that’s only about a third of it.”

FAITH LAPIDUS: Dr. Spock later argued against this way of thinking. Yet, he praised his mother’s trust of her own knowledge of her children. In his book, “Spock on Spock,” he wrote about his mother’s ability to correctly identify her children’s sicknesses when the doctors were wrong.

DR. SPOCK: “I think that my interest in children, devotion to children and those of my sisters and brother were all because my mother was totally devoted to her children. So I think that’s part of where I got launched from, I cared a lot about children, but I think I also thought there must be easier ways, more pleasant ways to bring up children than the rather severe oppressive way that my mother used.”

STEVE EMBER: Benjamin Spock was born in nineteen-oh-three. He was the first of six children. The Spock family lived in New Haven, Connecticut. His father was a successful lawyer. Benjamin was a quiet child. He attended Phillips Academy, a private school in Andover, Massachusetts. Later he attended Yale University in New Haven. He joined a sports team at Yale that competed in rowing boats. In nineteen twenty-four, he and his team members competed in rowing at the Olympic Games in Paris, France. They won the gold medal.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Benjamin Spock worked at a camp for disabled children for three summers during his years at Yale. He said the experience probably led to his decision to enter medical school. He began at Yale Medical School, but he completed his medical degree at Columbia University in New York City. He graduated as the best student in his class in nineteen twenty-nine.

Benjamin Spock had married Jane Cheney during his second year in medical school. They later had two sons, Michael and John.

Dr. Spock began working as a pediatrician, treating babies and children in New York City in nineteen thirty-three. During the next ten years he tried to fit the theories about how children develop with what mothers told him about their children. In nineteen forty-three, a publisher asked him to write a book giving advice to parents. He finished the book by writing at night during his two years of service in the United States Navy.

Jane Spock helped her husband produce the first version of “Baby and Child Care.” She typed the book from his notes and spoken words.

STEVE EMBER: During the nineteen fifties, Dr. Spock became famous. He wrote several other books. He wrote articles for a number of magazines. He appeared on television programs. He taught at several universities. And he gave speeches around the country to talk to parents about their concerns.

During this time, he discovered things he wanted to change in the book. He wanted to make sure parents knew that they should have control over their children and expect cooperation from them. So, in nineteen fifty-seven the second version of the book was published. He continued to make changes to “Baby and Child Care” throughout his life.

AP

Dr. Benjamin Spock spoke at a meeting for "Peace in Vietnam" in Fair Lawn, N.J in 1968

FAITH LAPIDUS: In the nineteen sixties, Benjamin Spock began to be active in politics. He supported John F. Kennedy in his campaign for president. He joined a group opposed to the development of nuclear weapons.

Dr. Spock also took part in demonstrations to protest the Vietnam War. In nineteen sixty-eight, he was found guilty of plotting to aid men who were refusing to join the American armed forces.

STEVE EMBER: Dr. Spock appealed the ruling against him. Finally, it was cancelled. However, the legal battle cost Doctor Spock a lot of money. The events damaged public opinion of the once very trusted children’s doctor. Fewer people bought his books. Some people said Dr. Spock’s teachings were to blame for the way young people in the nineteen sixties and seventies rebelled against the rules of society. A leading American religious thinker of that time called Dr. Spock “the father of permissiveness.”

In nineteen seventy-two, Dr. Spock decided to seek election as president of the United States. He was the candidate of the small “People’s Party.”

He spoke out on issues concerning working families, children and minorities. Dr. Spock received about seventy-five thousand votes in the election that Richard Nixon won.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Dr. Spock’s marriage had been suffering for some time. For years, Jane Spock drank too much alcohol and suffered from depression. She reportedly felt her husband valued his professional and political interests more than he valued her. In nineteen seventy-five, Benjamin and Jane Spock ended their forty-eight-year marriage. One year later, Mary Morgan became his second wife.

STEVE EMBER: More than fifty million copies of Dr. Spock’s “Baby and Child Care” book have been sold since it was published. It has been translated into thirty-nine languages. The eighth edition was published in two thousand four.

Benjamin Spock died in nineteen ninety-eight at the age of ninety-four. Yet his advice continues to affect the lives of millions of children and their parents.

(MUSIC)

FAITH LAPIDUS: This program was written by Caty Weaver. It was produced by Jill Moss. I’m Faith Lapidus.

STEVE EMBER: And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another People in America program in VOA Special English.

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Sound of Dr. Spock taken from a 1982 interview on “The Alternative Information Network”, produced by Frank Morrow

JUNE SIMMS: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English.  I’m June Simms.

MARIO RITTER: And I’m Mario Ritter.  This week, we examine scientific findings about how intelligence develops in babies.

JUNE SIMMS: Not long ago, many people believed that babies only wanted food and to be kept warm and dry. Some people thought babies were not able to learn things until they were five or six months old.

Yet doctors in the United States say babies begin learning on their first day of life. The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development is a federal government agency. Its goal is to identify which experiences can influence healthy development in people.

Researchers at the institute note that babies are strongly influenced by their environment. They say a baby will smile if her mother does something the baby likes. A baby learns to get the best care possible by smiling to please her mother or other caregiver. This is how babies learn to connect and communicate with other people.

The researchers say this ability to learn exists in a baby even before birth. They say newborn babies can recognize and understand sounds they heard while they were still developing inside their mothers.

MARIO RITTER: Another study has suggested that low birth weight babies with no evidence of disability may be more likely than other children to have physical and mental problems.

American researchers studied almost five hundred boys and girls. They were born in, or admitted to, one of three hospitals in New Jersey between nineteen eighty-four and nineteen eighty-seven. At birth, each child weighed fewer than two thousand grams.

The boys and girls had an average age of sixteen at the time of the study. They were asked to complete intelligence and motor skill tests in their homes. Their test results were compared with those of other children their age.

The study found that the young people with low birth weight often had more problems with motion skills than others. These problems were more common among males, those with injured nerve tissue in the brain and those who had been given oxygen supplies for days as a baby.

JUNE SIMMS: Experts say the first three years of a child's life is the most intensive period of language and speech development. This is the time when the brain is developing. Language and communication skills are believed to develop best in an environment that is rich with sounds and sights. Also, the child should repeatedly hear the speech and language of other people.

The National Institutes of Health says evidence suggests there are important periods of speech and language development in children. This means the brain is best able to learn a language during this period. Officials say the ability to learn a language will be more difficult if these periods pass without early contact with a language.

MARIO RITTER: The first signs of communication happen during the first few days of life when a baby learns that crying will bring food and attention. Research shows that most children recognize the general sounds of their native language by six months of age. By that time, a baby usually begins to make sounds.  These sounds become a kind of nonsense speech over time.

By the end of the first year, most children are able to say a few simple words. But they may not understand the meaning of their words. By eighteen months of age, most children can say eight to ten words. By two years, most children are able to make simple statements, or sentences. By ages three, four and five, the number of words a child can understand quickly increases. It is at this age that children begin to understand the rules of language.

JUNE SIMMS: Many children grow up in homes where more than one language is spoken. It is clear that understanding two languages can help children as they grow older. However, new studies are showing the more immediate effects of bilingualism on babies’ brains.

Researchers at the University of Washington organized one of the studies. They measured brain activity to compare babies in bilingual families to those in monolingual homes, where one language was spoken. The information they gathered is helping to explain how the early brain listens to language and how listening can influence the brain.

MARIO RITTER:

The researchers studied babies who were between six and twelve months old. The babies were not yet saying words in any language. The youngest monolingual babies were able to recognize a difference between a language used at home and another language. But by ten to twelve months of age, the monolingual babies were not identifying the sounds of the second language, only the main language spoken in their home.

In comparison, the bilingual babies did not differentiate sounds of different languages spoken to them between the ages of six and nine months. But between ten and twelve months, they could identify the different sounds of both languages.

JUNE SIMMS: Another report suggests that the effects languages have on a young brain are a result of people speaking, and not from video or audio recordings. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics says parents of young children should limit the time youngsters spend watching television or videos. The group says that spending time in front of the television offers no educational benefit or help to children younger than two years old.

Many videos are created especially for young children. They are advertised as learning aides. But the American Academy of Pediatrics says there is little evidence that such videos have any beneficial effect on babies. In fact, the group is warning that too much time in front of the television can in fact slow language development in children. Instead it suggests that parents limit the time babies spend watching video screens, including televisions and computers.

MARIO RITTER: The report was released last month at a meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The warning is not as severe as one the Academy made in nineteen ninety-nine. At that time, parents were advised to completely avoid television viewing for children under two years old.

The group says it now recognizes that banning all screen time is probably unrealistic in an age where video technology is everywhere. What is more helpful for the development of young children, it says, is communication and activities with people. The AAP says having the television on, even if it is not being watched directly by young children, can cause a problem.

(MUSIC)

JUNE SIMMS: Another American study has shown the effect of early education on future learning abilities. The study followed more than one thousand three hundred children from birth through the ages of ten or eleven. It found that children who received higher quality care before starting school had better language skills by those ages than children who had lower quality care.

The study is called the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. It is said to be the largest, longest lasting and most complete study of child care in the United States.

MARIO RITTER: The children included in the study were born around nineteen ninety-one in ten areas of the country. Researchers examined the quality and amount of child care the children received until they were four and one-half years old. Child care included any care provided by people other than the child’s mother that lasted at least ten hours a week. This included any care given by fathers or other family members.

The researchers then examined each child’s performance in school and social development. They also measured other influences, such as the quality of classroom education and parenting.

JUNE SIMMS: The researchers examined whether the developmental qualities that had been observed in young children were still present a few years later. They found that the older children who had received higher quality child care continued to show better ability in tests of language skills.

Researchers tested the children’s ability to name objects shown in a series of pictures. The study confirmed that a link between high quality child care and better test results continued as the children grew older. It also found that the children’s ability was not dependent on the amount of time they had spent in child care.

MARIO RITTER: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Brianna Blake. I’m Mario Ritter with June Simms, who was also our producer.

JUNE SIMMS: And I'm June Simms. You can find transcripts, MP3s, and podcasts of our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

The United Nations estimates that the world reached seven billion people on Monday. No one can be sure. The United States Census Bureau does not expect that to happen until March.

Populations are growing faster than economies in many poor countries in Africa and some in Asia. At the same time, low fertility rates in Japan and many European nations have raised concerns about labor shortages.

Population experts at the United Nations estimated that the world reached six billion in October nineteen ninety-nine. They predict nine billion by twenty-fifty and ten billion by the end of the century.

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China's population of one and a third billion is currently the world's largest. India is second at 1.2 billion. But India is expected to pass China and reach one and a half billion people around twenty twenty-five. India will also have one of the world's youngest populations.

Economists say this is a chance for a so-called demographic dividend. India could gain from the skills of young people in a growing economy at a time when other countries have aging populations. But economists say current rates of growth, although high, may not create enough jobs.

Also, the public education system is failing to meet demand and schooling is often of poor quality. Another concern is health care. Nearly half of India’s children under the age of five are malnourished. Sarah Crowe at the United Nations Children's Fund in New Delhi says these two problems "could keep India back."

SARAH CROWE: "That child is unable to really grow to its ability and will remain in a state of stunting and not be able to learn when it goes to school -- when he or she goes to school, and indeed later earn and really pay back and pay into the economy and help the country and the region move forward. We have, you know, out of every two hundred million children who start school, only ten percent complete grade twelve."

Michal Rutkowski is the director of human development in South Asia at the World Bank. He says the seven billionth person was likely to be a girl born in rural Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh is one of India’s poorest and most crowded states, with nearly two hundred million people.

He says reaching seven billion people in the world is a good time for a call to action.

MICHAL RUTKOWSKI: "I think the bottom line of the story is that the public policy needs to become really, really serious about gender equality and about access to services -- to combat malnutrition, and to provide for access to health services, water, sanitation, schooling."

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report.  I'm Jim Tedder.

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

The World Health Organization recently reported that the number of cases of tuberculosis has been falling since two thousand six. Also, fewer people are dying from TB. But a study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, says smoking could threaten this progress.

Nearly twenty percent of all people use tobacco, and millions of non-smokers get sick from breathing the smoke. The new study predicts that smoking will produce an additional thirty-four million TB deaths by twenty-fifty.

Efforts to control the spread of tuberculosis have mainly focused on finding and treating infections. Much less effort has been made to understand the causes. Dr. Anthony Fauci is the director of the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

ANTHONY FAUCI: "Despite our control efforts, that you still have more than a million people each year, you know, dying from TB and millions and millions getting infected, we realize it's still a very important problem. So we have to do the practical thing and we have to do the fundamental research things at the same time."

Smoking does not cause tuberculosis; bacteria cause the infection. But the study says smoking affects the nervous system in a way that makes an inactive case of TB more likely to develop into an active one.

Stanton Glantz is director of the University of California's Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education and an author of the new study. He says it shows that tuberculosis cannot be controlled unless tobacco use is controlled.

STANTON GLANTZ: "It increases the number of people who will get tuberculosis by about seven percent. It increases the number of people projected to die from tuberculosis between now and twenty-fifty by about twenty-six percent."

The study is described as the first to identify a direct link between tobacco use and rates of TB infection and death. Professor Glantz says the results should guide those creating health policies and TB control efforts.

STANTON GLANTZ: "If you want to control the infectious disease of tuberculosis, you have to control the tobacco industry and the tobacco industry's efforts to increase tobacco use, particularly in developing countries where tuberculosis is a big problem."

The study predicts that the situation will only get worse if tobacco companies continue to sell more of their products in those countries. It says strong efforts to control tobacco would not only reduce deaths from smoking-related diseases like emphysema, heart disease and lung cancer. They could also prevent millions of deaths from tuberculosis.

The study appeared in BMJ, the British Medical Journal.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. For more news about efforts to control tobacco

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http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/Study-Links-Smoking-to-Millions-of-TB-Deaths-134356488.html

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

The United Nations estimates that world food production will have to increase by seventy percent by twenty-fifty. A world population growing in number and wealth will require one billion tons more grain each year, and two hundred million tons more meat.

The Food and Agriculture Organization says those gains will have to happen largely on existing land through "sustainable intensification."

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Officials say the new report provides the first "global assessment of the state of the planet's land resources." It says large parts of all continents are experiencing damage. One-fourth of all land is described as "highly degraded." The greatest threats are losses of soil quality, biodiversity and water resources.

New agricultural methods and technology increased food production in many countries during the Green Revolution. Cropland increased by twelve percent from nineteen sixty-one to two thousand nine -- yet production grew by one hundred fifty percent.

But the new report warns that production rates have been slowing in many areas. In too many places, it says, practices that have increased production have also harmed the land and water. It calls for greater use of ways that can expand production while limiting damage to ecosystems.

One such practice might be the use of "fertilizer trees." These are fast-growing trees and shrubs whose leaves and roots help improve soil. A recent study found that about four hundred thousand farmers in southern Africa are using them.

The study appeared in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability. Lead author Oluyede Ajayi is senior scientist at the World Agroforestry Center in Nairobi, Kenya.

OLUYEDE AJAYI: "Basically these are trees that can fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert them into nitrates for fertilizer, for organic fertilizer, for the soil."

Farmers who planted fertilizer trees reported double the maize production of other farmers. In Zambia, the fertilized fields provided up to one hundred fourteen additional days of food.

Farmers say they need less rainwater if they use fertilizer trees. The trees reduce water runoff and soil erosion.

Mr. Ajayi says the project began when scientists were trying to identify the main threats to food security.

OLUYEDE AJAYI: "We actually got started by about twenty years ago trying to diagnose, to look at, the chief problems within the country, within the region."

The farmers themselves designed and managed part of the testing in the field, and spread the word of their successes.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I’m Bob Doughty.

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

A program in the United States brings scientists and engineers into elementary schools to teach teachers more about how to teach science.

DAVE WEISS: "Welcome to science class. So good to see you guys today."

Dave Weiss is a retired engineer. One day each week he volunteers at Georgian Forest Elementary School in Silver Spring, Maryland, near Washington.

DAVE WEISS: "But the experiment we're going to do, we want to keep all of our variables constant."

He works with teacher Fred Tenyke on science projects for ten-year-olds.

DAVE WEISS: "Fred is so enthusiastic and he's so much fun with the kids. I can see that he really loves what he's doing. I get as much pleasure from helping the teachers as I do helping the students."

Student Jada Lockwood she says enjoys Mr. Weiss' visits to her classroom. She likes the drawings he uses to explain scientific ideas.

JADA LOCKWOOD: "Mr. Weiss, like, he would go in the back and draw, like, these pictures and, like, he helps us a lot."

The American Association for the Advancement of Science sponsors the Senior Scientists and Engineers program. Dave Weiss has been a volunteer in that program for many years. The scientists and engineers help teachers in elementary schools improve their skills.

Mr. Weiss says he and the other volunteers help teachers by providing hands-on expertise.

DAVE WEISS: "In this experiment, I think it might be confusing to the kids that we're dealing with two masses."

He notes that science is an area in which many elementary school teachers have limited experience.

DAVE WEISS: "In elementary school, for the most part, your regular classroom teacher is responsible for teaching science, along with reading and math, and if they don't have a strong science background, just by nature, they're going to tend to underrepresent science in the curriculum."

Fred Tenyke agrees. He just started teaching science classes a few months ago.

FRED TENYKE: "A lot of time I'll spit out information I learned in the book, or things that are part of the curriculum. Dave helps me learn how to supplement that information so that it's more relevant to them, so that it will be more relevant to their work experience later on in life."

American fifteen-year-olds scored about average in science among countries that took part in testing by the OECD in two thousand nine. The OECD is the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Dave Weiss says he is concerned about such results, but hopeful for the future for American students learning science.

DAVE WEISS: "In elementary school I try to just give them a solid foundation. I hope they'll develop a curiosity about what's going on around them."

Fred Tenkye thinks volunteers like Dave Weiss are helping students do that.

FRED TENYKE: "And if you can develop a passion for science, then eventually the grades and the test scores, then that will follow."

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report. You can read and listen to this story and watch a video version at voaspecialenglish.com.  You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and iTunes at VOA Learning English. We offer English teaching lessons three times a day, Monday through Friday, on our Facebook page. I'm Christopher Cruise.

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BARBARA KLEIN: And I’m Barbara Klein. Today, we will tell the story of aspirin.

MARIO RITTER: People have known since ancient times that aspirin lessens pain and lowers high body temperature. But that is not all the drug can do. It has gained important new uses in recent years. Small amounts may help prevent a stroke or heart attack. One recent study showed that some people who took two aspirin pills a day had lower rates of colorectal cancer. And, some researchers say aspirin may help patients with colon cancer live longer.

But doctors also say the acid in aspirin can cause problems like bleeding in the stomach and intestines.

BARBARA KLEIN: So, how did aspirin become so important? The story begins with a willow tree. Two thousand years ago, the Greek doctor Hippocrates advised his patients to chew on the bark and leaves of the willow.

The tree contains a chemical called salicin. In the eighteen hundreds, researchers discovered how to make salicylic acid from the chemical. In eighteen ninety-seven, a chemist named Felix Hoffmann at Friedrich Bayer and Company in Germany created acetyl salicylic acid.

Later, it became the active substance in a medicine that Bayer called aspirin. The "a" came from acetyl. The "spir" came from the spirea plant, which also produces salicin. And the "in"? That is a common way to end medicine names.

MARIO RITTER: In nineteen eighty-two, a British scientist shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine in part for discovering how aspirin works. Sir John Vane found that aspirin blocks the body from making natural substances called prostaglandins.

Prostaglandins have several effects on the body. Some cause pain and the expansion, or swelling, of damaged tissue. Others protect the lining of the stomach and small intestine.

Prostaglandins also make the heart, kidneys and blood vessels work well. But there is a problem. Aspirin works against all prostaglandins, good and bad.

BARBARA KLEIN: Scientists have also learned how aspirin interferes with an enzyme. One form of this enzyme makes the prostaglandin that causes pain and swelling. Another form of the enzyme creates a protective effect. So aspirin can reduce pain and swelling in damaged tissues. But it can also harm the inside of the stomach and small intestine. And sometimes it can cause bleeding.

But a British study released in two thousand nine suggested that taking another drug with a small amount of aspirin may help reduce the risk of bleeding. If this proves true, it would help thousands of people who are seeking to prevent life-threatening conditions.

MARIO RITTER: Many people take aspirin to reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke from blood clots. Clots can block the flow of blood to the heart or brain and cause a heart attack or stroke. Scientists say aspirin prevents blood cells called platelets from sticking together to form clots.

A California doctor named Lawrence Craven first noted this effect sixty years ago. He observed unusual bleeding in children who chewed on an aspirin product to ease the pain after a common operation.

Doctor Craven believed the bleeding took place because aspirin prevented blood from thickening. He thought this effect might help prevent heart attacks caused by blood clots.

He examined the medical records of eight thousand aspirin users and found no heart attacks in this group. He invited other scientists to test his ideas. But it was years before large studies took place.

BARBARA KLEIN: Charles Hennekens of Harvard Medical School led one of the studies. In nineteen eighty-three, he began to study more than twenty-two thousand healthy male doctors over forty years of age. Half took an aspirin every other day. The others took what they thought was aspirin. But it was only a placebo, a harmless substance.

Five years later, Doctor Hennekens reported that people who took aspirin reduced their risk of a heart attack. But they had a higher risk of bleeding in the brain than the other doctors.

MARIO RITTER: In two thousand nine, a group of experts examined studies of aspirin at the request of federal health officials in the United States. The experts said people with an increased risk of a heart attack should take a low-strength aspirin every day.

Aspirin may help someone who is having a heart attack caused by a blockage in a blood vessel. Aspirin thins the blood, so it may be able to flow past the blockage. But heart experts say people should seek emergency help immediately. And they say an aspirin is no substitute treatment, only a temporary help.

BARBARA KLEIN: But what about reducing pain? Aspirin competes with other medicines for reducing pain and high body temperature. The competition includes acetaminophen, the active substance in products like Tylenol. Like the medicine ibuprofen, aspirin is an NSAID -- a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.

Several studies have found that men who take aspirin and other NSAIDS have a decreased risk of prostate cancer. The prostate is part of the male reproductive system.

MARIO RITTER: Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota wanted to see how NSAIDs might affect prostates that are enlarged but not cancerous.  They followed the health of two thousand, five hundred men for twelve years.

The researchers said these drugs may delay or stop development of an enlarged prostate. They said the risk of an enlarged prostate was fifty percent lower in the NSAID users than the other men. The risk of bladder problems was thirty-five percent lower.

BARBARA KLEIN: Other studies have suggested that aspirin can help with cancer prevention and survival.   They showed that aspirin may help prevent cancers of the stomach, intestines and colon.

Researchers reported two years ago about people who had colorectal cancer. They found that aspirin users had an almost thirty percent lower risk of dying from their cancer. That was during an average of eleven years after the cancer was discovered.

Earlier this month, The Lancet medical journal published findings from a study of aspirin and cancer. Researchers followed almost one thousand patients who had Lynch syndrome – a genetic condition that makes them likely to develop some cancers. One group of patients took six hundred milligrams of aspirin a day for at least two years. These patients had a sixty-three percent lower risk of colorectal cancer than those who took a harmless substance or placebo. The longer they took aspirin, the lower their risk of cancer.

MARIO RITTER: This study seems to confirm a study released in two thousand eight. European researchers reported that aspirin may have what they called a “long-term protective effect against colorectal cancer.” Peter Rothwell of the University of Oxford led the researchers. They examined twenty years of results from four large studies. The studies involved fourteen thousand people.

The researchers found that people who took one aspirin a day for about six years reduced their risk of colon cancer by twenty-four percent. And deaths from the disease dropped by thirty-five percent.

Last year, The Lancet published the combined results of a larger observational study, also led by Professor Rothwell. This time, he and researchers examined eight studies that involved more than twenty-five thousand individuals. They found that taking a small aspirin once a day reduced death rates from a number of common cancers.

BARBARA KLEIN: Aspirin does not help everything, however. It can cause problems, like an increased danger of internal stomach bleeding and ulcers. And it can interfere with other medicines, although this is true of many drugs. Also, some people should not take aspirin. People who take other blood thinners or have bleeding disorders are among this group. Pregnant women are usually told to avoid aspirin.

And research has shown a link between aspirin use and the disease Reye's Syndrome. Children’s doctors say patients up to age nineteen should not take anything containing salicylatic products when sick with high temperatures.

Experts say most people should not take aspirin for disease prevention without first talking to a doctor because there are risks to taking aspirin. Some researchers have even said that some people get little or no protection from aspirin. So research continues on one of the oldest and most widely used drugs in the world.

MARIO RITTER: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Christopher Cruise. Our producer was June Simms. I’m Mario Ritter.

BARBARA KLEIN: And I’m Barbara Klein. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.