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In Hong Kong recently, a 9-year old boy fell 20 floors to his death after his heavy backpack pulled him over the safety rail of a building. Officials suspect the bag moved forward as the boy leaned over to look at something, pushing him over the railing.

Physicians say they are beginning to see symptoms of back problems in kids, caused by heavy backpacks. A study in the January issue of the journal Spine shows that carrying backpacks that weigh an average of 20 pounds is likely to cause back pain in children.
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Scientists are beginning to suspect that artificial light can be lethal for plants and animals. Studies show it can disrupt the natural biological patterns of the human body that regulate sleep, body temperature and other functions. However, little research has been done on how the widespread electrification of the past century has affected the plant, animal and insect worlds.

Travis Longcore, who runs a Los Angeles-based conservation think tank, says, ?All of the things we do for nature preservation are necessary, but they might not be sufficient if we don?t address this.?
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The proposed 2003 budget for NASA would be $15 billion, $500 million more than in 2002. However, there would be major cutbacks in money for the space station and space exploration and increases in money for the development of nuclear power and propulsion. scale back spending on the international space station and space shuttle but promote the development of nuclear technology in space.

The budget would eliminate all future funds for proposed missions to Europa, a large Jupiter moon that some scientists think may harbor life, and to Pluto, the only planet that remains unvisited by a probe.
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Genetically-modified crops in Canada are creating new kinds of weeds, as herbicide-resistant oilseed rape crops cross-breed at the edge of fields. The weeds are accumulating extra genes and are rapidly becoming resistant to chemical sprays. This could lead to rogue GM weeds that are harder to control.

Canadian farmers are advised to leave a distance of 575 feet between different GM varieties but the guidelines are voluntary. But Dr. Brian Johnson of the conservation agency English Nature, says these guidelines may not be enough. ?The consequences for farmers could be that volunteer crops would be harder to control and they might have to use different, and more environmentally damaging, herbicides to control them,? he says.
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