Tom's Spaces

LONDON (Reuters) - A school in eastern England was ordered to pay 19,000 pounds ($30,140) Monday after a 16-year-old girl lost nearly all her fingers when she put her hands in a bucket of plaster of Paris during an art lesson.

The teen-ager was attempting to make a sculpture of her own hands during a lesson in January 2007 when the accident happened, Boston Magistrates' Court in Lincolnshire heard.

The plaster set around her hands and neither staff nor paramedics could get it off during the lesson at Giles School, in Boston.

The court was told that temperatures up to 60C can be generated in large quantities of plaster and the girl, who was not named in court, suffered terrible burns.

After a series of 12 operations, she was left with no fingers on one hand and just two on the other.

The school's governing body admitted breaching health and safety regulations and also failing to report the incident to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The court was told the HSE was never informed by the school about what had happened and only found out six weeks after the accident from the girl's plastic surgeon.

The school was fined a total of 16,500 pounds and ordered to pay 2,500 pounds in legal costs, the Press Association reported.

The girl's lawyer Stephen Hill said outside court the injuries his client, now 18, had suffered were "truly horrific" and she also had severe scars all over her body where the plastic surgeons had taken skin for grafts.

However, Hill said she was now doing "remarkably well."

"She is a very determined, self sufficient character but she is now only left with one forefinger and an index finger," he said.

"Teachers have a responsibility to ensure when children are using chemicals they are used safely."

-Quoted from Yahoo

P.S. Be more careful! Our surrounding is not always safe!

　　公共健康奖

　　由美国伊利诺伊州医学博士埃莱娜与同事获得。她们设计了一种可迅速转变为两只防毒面具的胸罩，并获得专利。

　　兽医奖

　　得主是英国纽卡斯尔大学学者凯瑟琳以及彼得。他们在今年1月份公布研究成果称，有名字的奶牛比未起名的奶牛产奶量高。

　　经济学奖

　　由克伊普辛银行、冰岛国民银行、格利特尼尔银行以及冰岛中央银行4所冰岛银行的管理层获得。他们向世人展示了“小银行可以迅速成长为大银行，反之亦然”。

　　化学奖

　　由墨西哥国立自治大学科学家哈维尔等人获得。他们通过实验将龙舌兰酒转变为钻石薄膜。

　　和平奖

　　由瑞士伯尔尼大学病理学家斯特凡和同事获得。他们研究空啤酒瓶与装满酒的酒瓶击打头骨哪个更有破坏力。结论是，两者都能砸碎头骨，但空酒瓶更坚固，因为受啤酒中碳酸压力的影响，装满酒的酒瓶更容易爆炸。

　　文学奖、物理学奖等得主也都取得了“首先令人发笑，继而让人思考”的成就。

　　发达国家“00后”半数有望活过百岁

　　丹麦科学家预测,假如人类寿命延长的趋势不变，2000年后出生的发达国家儿童半数以上有望活到百岁。最新一期英国医学杂志《柳叶刀》刊载了相关研究报告。

　　南丹麦大学丹麦老龄化研究中心教授卡雷·克里斯滕森主持的研究小组对20世纪发达国家人口寿命展开调查,结果显示:20世纪末与20世纪初相比,发达国家人口平均寿命增加大约30岁。

　　“假如发达国家平均寿命在21世纪保持增加趋势。”研究报告说,“那么,多数2000年以后出生的法国人、德国人、意大利人、英国人、美国人、加拿大人和日本人有望庆祝百岁生日。”报告列举一些发达国家人口寿命的预期数据,例如,半数以上2000年出生的日本人可望活到104岁;半数以上2003年出生的美国人可望活到103岁;半数以上2007年出生的意大利人可望活到104岁。研究报告说,进入21世纪,老龄人口无力照顾自己、需要依赖别人的年龄将比以往推迟。

P.S. 那世界将会何等拥挤啊？个人认为医学的作用并不在于延续人的寿命，而在于提升人的生活质量．总之，生物技术太强大了！