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Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.

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I'm Doug Johnson. This week:

We listen to new music from Ben Harper …

And answer a listener question about the White House ...  

But first, a report on entertainers who lend their fame and more to social, political and environmental efforts

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Star Humanitarians

HOST:

Movie stars and musicians are experts at getting the attention of the media and public. More and more of these famous people are using their popularity to bring attention to humanitarian and environmental causes that are important to them. Some people say these famous "diplomats" help to humanize an issue. Mario Ritter tells us more.

MARIO RITTER:

Leonardo DiCaprio is best known for his roles as adventurous young men in popular movies including "Titanic," "The Aviator" and "Blood Diamond." But the thirty-four year old actor has taken on an important role in real life as well.

About ten years ago, he created the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. Its aim is to increase public awareness about environmental issues by working with other organizations. Two years ago, DiCaprio worked on a movie called "The Eleventh Hour." It is about the damaging effects of climate change and other environmental problems affecting the planet.

Angelina Jolie

Peter Kessler works with the U.N. Refugee Agency. He believes that famous "diplomats" help bring a human face to important causes.

PETER KESSLER: "As we saw with Princess Diana when she first held the hand of an AIDS victim, it's spreading that message that these people are safe. They're not a threat, they're threatened. And you also can reach out to them in your own way. You don't have to be a VIP celebrity."

Some experts say famous people may bring public awareness to an issue. But this increased attention does not mean anything without effective action.

The actress Mia Farrow has traveled to refugee camps in Sudan more than twelve times. She recently took action in a very personal way. Mia Farrow began a hunger strike to protest the situation of refugees in Darfur. She has written messages on her Web site that describe her experience. She links her own situation with the daily experience of millions of hungry and sick refugees in Darfur.

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The White House

HOST:

Our listener question this week comes from Vietnam. Khoa Pham wants to know more about the White House, home of the American president and his family.

ANNCR:

The White House was the largest house in the country until after the Civil War in the eighteen sixties. The White House has one hundred thirty-two rooms, including sixteen family and guest rooms, thirty-five bathrooms and three kitchens. There are six levels. The first level has many famous rooms. For example, the West Wing of the White House includes the Oval Office.

The Blue Room of the White House

The second and third floors are the family's private areas. When it is cold outside, the president and his family can warm up near one of the White House's twenty-eight fireplaces. And when it is hot outside, they can swim in the outdoor pool.

The White House offers lot of things to do for entertainment. The first family can watch a movie in the small theater, play ping-pong in the family game room or bowl in the small bowling alley. Former President Richard Nixon had the bowling alley built in nineteen sixty-nine. The White House's newest occupant, Barack Obama, is not much of a bowler. But he is a big fan of basketball. He has already been seen shooting hoops on the basketball court outside. President Obama is said to be considering replacing the bowling alley with an indoor basketball court.

The Obama family recently added an outdoor playground for their two young daughters. It has a swing set, a climbing section, a slide and a tire for swinging. The Obamas can also play tennis on a court on the South Lawn, hit a few golf balls on the putting greens or run around the jogging track.  

The White House has been home to forty-three presidents. America's first president, George Washington supervised the building process which began in seventeen ninety-two. But he never lived there. John and Abigail Adams became the building's first family in eighteen hundred. Since then, the White House has experienced many changes. And each presidential family has left its own historical mark on America's most famous house.

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Ben Harper

HOST:

Ben Harper is back with his own special kind of blues music. His music is a mix of many different styles. Faith Lapidus has more.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

Ben Harper and Relentless7

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That was "Shimmer and Shine," the first release from Ben Harper's new CD, "White Lies for Dark Times. It is Harper's first CD with his new band, Relentless Seven. Harper took his band on the road last year as part of the effort to get young people to vote. The group began many of its performances with this song, "Up to You Now."

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The members of Relentless Seven all come from Texas. Guitarist Jason Mozersky worked part-time driving bands back and forth to a performance center in Texas. Mozersky was lucky enough to get Ben Harper as a passenger. He played his music for Harper and the rest, as they say, is history. We leave you with the opening track from "White Lies for Dark Times." Here is "Number with No Name."

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HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.

It was written by Dana Demange and June Simms. Caty Weaver was the producer. For transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs, go to voaspecialenglish.com.

Send your questions about American life to mosaic@voanews.com. Please include your full name and where you live.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.

ANNOUNCER:

EXPLORATIONS -- a program in Special English by the Voice of America.

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Today, Richard Rael and Tony Riggs tell the story of American astronomer Edwin Hubble. He changed our ideas about the universe and how it developed.

Edwin Hubble made his most important discoveries in the nineteen twenties. Today, other astronomers continue the work he began. Many of them are using the Hubble space telescope that is named after him.

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Edwin Hubble

Edwin Powell Hubble was born in eighteen eighty-nine in Marshfield, Missouri. He spent his early years in the state of Kentucky.  Then he moved with his family to Chicago, Illinois. He attended the University of Chicago. He studied mathematics and astronomy.

Hubble was a good student. He was a good athlete, too. He was a member of the University of Chicago championship basketball team in nineteen-oh-nine. He also was an excellent boxer. Several people urged him to train for the world heavyweight boxing championship after college. Instead, he decided to continue his studies. He went to Queen's College at Oxford, England.

At Oxford, Hubble studied law. He was interested in British Common Law, because his family had come to America from England many years before. He spent three years at Oxford.

In nineteen thirteen, Hubble returned to the United States. He opened a law office in Louisville, Kentucky. After a short time, however, he decided he did not want to be a lawyer. He returned to the University of Chicago. There, once again, he studied astronomy.

VOICE ONE:

Hubble watched the night sky with instruments at the university's Yerkes Observatory. His research involved a major question astronomers could not answer: What are nebulae?

The astronomical term "nebulae", Hubble explained, had come down through the centuries. It was the name given to permanent, cloudy areas in the sky outside our solar system. Some astronomers thought nebulae were part of our Milky Way Galaxy.   Others thought they were island universes farther away in space.

In his research paper, Hubble said the issue could be decided only by more powerful instruments. And those instruments had not yet been developed.

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen seventeen, the United States was fighting in World War One in Europe. Edwin Hubble joined the American army and served in France.

Earlier, astronomer George Ellery Hale had offered Hubble a position at the Mount Wilson Observatory in southern California.   When Hubble returned to the United States after World War One, he accepted Hale's offer. Hubble was thirty years old. He was just beginning the work that would make him famous.

Edwin Hubble

In his first observations from Mount Wilson, Hubble used a telescope with a mirror one hundred fifty-two centimeters across.   He studied objects within our own galaxy. And he made an important discovery about nebulae.

Hubble said the light that appeared to come from nebulae really came from stars near the nebulae. The nebulae, he said, were clouds of atoms and dust. They were not hot enough -- like stars-- to give off light.

Soon after, Hubble began working with a larger and more powerful telescope at Mount Wilson. Its mirror was two hundred fifty centimeters across. It was the most powerful telescope in the world for twenty-five years. It had the power Hubble needed to make his major discoveries.

VOICE TWO:

From nineteen twenty-two on, Edwin Hubble began examining more and more distant objects. His first great discovery was made when he recognized a Cepheid variable star. It was in the outer area of the great nebula called Andromeda. Cepheid variable stars are stars whose brightness changes at regular periods.

An astronomer at Harvard College, Henrietta Leavitt, had discovered that these periods of brightness could be used to measure the star's distance from Earth. Hubble made the measurements. They showed that the Andromeda nebula lay far outside our Milky Way Galaxy.

Hubble's discovery ended a long dispute. He proved wrong those who believed nebulae lay inside the Milky Way. And he proved that nebulae were galaxies themselves. Astronomers now agree that far distant galaxies do exist.

A NASA image of the Andromeda Galaxy

Hubble then began to observe more details about galaxies. He studied their shape and brightness. By nineteen twenty-five, he had made enough observations to say that the universe is organized into galaxies of many shapes and sizes.

As stars differ from one another, he said, so do galaxies. Some are spiral galaxies like the Milky Way and Andromeda. They have a center, and arms of matter that seem to circle the center like a pinwheel. Others are shaped like baseballs or eggs. A few have no special shape.

VOICE TWO:

Hubble proposed a system to describe galaxies by their shape.   His system still is used today. He also showed that galaxies are similar in the kinds of bright objects they contain. All galaxies, he said, are related to each other, much as members of a family are related to each other.

In the late nineteen twenties, Hubble studied the movement of galaxies through space. His investigation led to the most important astronomical discovery of the Twentieth century -- the expanding universe.

VOICE ONE:

Earlier observations about the movement of galaxies had been done by V. M. Silpher. He discovered that galaxies are moving away from Earth at speeds between three hundred kilometers a second and one thousand eight hundred kilometers a second.

Hubble understood the importance of Silpher's findings. He developed a plan for measuring both the distance and speed of as many galaxies as possible. With his assistant at Mount Wilson, Milton Humason, Hubble measured the movement of galaxies. The two men did this by studying what Hubble called the "red shift." It also is known as the "Doppler effect."

The Doppler effect explains changes in the length of light waves or sound waves as they move toward you or away from you. Light waves from an object speeding away from you will stretch into longer wavelengths. They appear red. Light waves from an object speeding toward you will have shorter wavelengths. They appear blue.

VOICE TWO:

Observations of forty-six galaxies showed Hubble that the galaxies were traveling away from Earth. The observations also showed that the speed was linked directly to the galaxies' distance from Earth. Hubble discovered that the farther away a galaxy is, the greater its speed. This scientific rule is called "Hubble's Law."

Hubble's discovery meant a major change in our idea of the universe. The universe had not been quiet and unchanging since the beginning of time, as many people had thought. It was expanding. And that, Hubble said, meant it probably began with an explosion of unimaginable force. The explosion often is called "the big bang."

VOICE ONE:

Hubble's work did not end with this discovery. He continued to examine galaxies. He continued to gain new knowledge about them. Astronomers from all over the world went to study with him.

Hubble left the Mount Wilson Observatory during World War Two. He did research for the United States War Department. He returned after the war. Then, he spent much of his time planning a new, much larger telescope in southern California. The telescope was completed in nineteen forty-nine. It had a mirror five hundred centimeters across. It was named after astronomer George Ellery Hale.

VOICE TWO:

Edwin Hubble was the first person to use the Hale Telescope. He died in nineteen fifty-three while preparing to spend four nights looking through the telescope at the sky.

Hubble's work led to new research on the birth of the universe.   One astronomer said scientists have been filling in the details ever since. And, he said, there is a long way to go.

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ANNOUNCER:

This Special English program was written by Marilyn Rice Christiano. Your narrators were Richard Rael and Tony Riggs.   Listen again next week for another EXPLORATIONS program on the Voice of America.

VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Bob Doughty. Today we tell about osteoporosis, a disease that can make bones weak so they break easily.

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VOICE ONE:

Osteoporosis causes bones to weaken and break more easily.

A fifty-five year-old American woman named Jill went skiing several years ago. Although she was a good skier, she fell on a difficult hill. She attempted to get up, but could not move one leg. She was taken to a hospital, where doctors found she had broken a bone in her upper leg. And there was another discovery in the hospital. She had osteoporosis.

Today, Jill still goes skiing. But now she takes medicine to protect against osteoporosis.

VOICE TWO:

Like Jill, many people do not know they have osteoporosis unless they break a bone. Or, they may find that they are getting shorter.

Osteoporosis can make it hard for a person to stand up straight if the disease is untreated for a long time. When it has progressed very far, walking can be difficult. Severe osteoporosis in older adults can take away their independence.

The National Osteoporosis Foundation works to inform Americans about bone health. The group says breaks caused by weakened bones can lead to pain, disability and even death

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VOICE ONE:

The word osteoporosis means porous bones, or bones that are not solid enough. The disease harms bones by removing calcium and other important minerals from tissue. Bones are living tissue. Tissues continually break down and then they replace themselves. But as people get older, more bone breaks down than gets replaced. The result is that small spaces inside the bone get larger. And the shell of the bones gets thinner.

The National Osteoporosis Foundation, or NOF, says eight of every ten osteoporosis patients are women. It says the condition is most common in Caucasian women over age fifty. Last year, the group suggested that doctors expand their list of persons to watch for osteoporosis. The additions included Latina, African American, Asian and other women. The NOF also called attention to the fact that men can also suffer from osteoporosis.

VOICE TWO:

Before people develop osteoporosis, they have a condition called osteopenia. Treatment can prevent this condition from becoming osteoporosis. Doctors agree that the best way to deal with osteopenia or osteoporosis is to find and treat it before the disease progresses. Bone damage need not be permanent. Drugs can help replace lost bone.

Identification of osteoporosis and osteopenia is made by measuring the mineral density of a person's bones. In this case, density means the strength of the bones.

VOICE ONE:

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons says there are a number of ways bone mineral density can be measured. The group suggests bone mineral density examinations for women sixty years and older. Doctors use the tests to examine the hip and spine, or backbone.

The NOF says a test called Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, or DXA, is the best test for osteoporosis. DXA uses radiation from x-rays. The patient does not get much radiation from the process, which lasts only a few minutes.

VOICE TWO:

Another way to measure bone-density is called peripheral bone mineral density testing. It is often used in the United States to show people if they are in danger of osteoporosis. A moveable machine does the test.

Medical testing companies sometimes perform this examination at an office or other place of business. The test costs less than the DXA. But peripheral testing measures only one part of the body. Usually that place is the wrist, the heel, or the bones between finger joints.

If the testing device is in good condition, it probably will give satisfactory results. But what if the patient has normal bones in the tested areas, but not in others? A person could appear normal on the test. But she still might have osteoporosis in her backbone or hips.

VOICE ONE:

Differences in bone mineral density among body parts are most often found in women who recently ended their childbearing years. The density may be normal at one place but low at another. Bone mineral density in the spine decreases first. A woman's bone mineral density becomes about the same in all parts of her body after she is seventy years old.

The lower-cost test may not give complete answers. But it can warn that osteoporosis threatens or has started.

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VOICE TWO:

The National Osteoporosis Foundation has advised several steps toward the goal of healthy bones. Its experts say get enough calcium and vitamin D. The experts say do not smoke or drink too much alcohol. Talk to your healthcare provider about bone health and a possible bone mineral density test.

The NOF's guide for healthcare providers says people over fifty should get one thousand two hundred milligrams of calcium every day. The guide also says this age group should get eight hundred to one thousand International Units of Vitamin D. It says Vitamin D-Two and Vitamin D-Three are both good for bones.

VOICE ONE:

Milk and milk products contain calcium. So do fish with soft bones, like salmon, and dark green leafy vegetables. Some orange juice, bread and cereals may have calcium added.

Some people also take pills containing calcium. But be careful about how much calcium you take. You should not have more than two thousand five hundred milligrams a day. That total includes calcium from food and all other sources. Too much calcium can cause problems like kidney stones.

VOICE TWO:

Vitamin D absorbs, or takes up, calcium. Fish, cereal and milk are good sources of Vitamin D. If you spend at least fifteen minutes a day in the sun without a product to block the sun's radiation, you probably get enough Vitamin D.

Several kinds of drugs treat osteoporosis. America's Mayo Clinic medical centers say bisphosphonates are the most popular. Fosamax, Actonel and Boniva are products of this family of drugs. The Mayo Clinic advises that these drugs are very effective and appear safe for most people if taken as directed. Fosamax has been sold for at least ten years. Other drugs proven effective for osteoporosis are hormones and parathyroid hormone.

VOICE ONE:

Doctors say physical exercise can help keep bones strong.

Some older adults worry about exercising. They believe they could hurt themselves. The Mayo Clinic says that could be true if they have not exercised in the past. It says people who have not been active in the past need a doctor's advice before starting.

VOICE TWO:

Some people who are afraid of exercise worry about its effects on their joints, especially the knees. They are afraid exercise might cause osteoarthritis, a condition in which connective tissue around the bones wears down. A study in The Netherlands found that could be true. Results of the study were reported recently in the publication "Arthritis Care and Research."

Researchers studied one thousand six hundred seventy eight people over a period of twelve years. The subjects were between fifty-five and eighty-five years old. The results linked knee osteoarthritis to high mechanical strain -- activities that are hard on joints.

VOICE ONE:

But another study found that regular exercise does not harm joints. Those findings were reported in "The Journal of Anatomy." Scientists from Germany and the United States considered earlier research on the effect of exercise on joints. They did not find a link between regular exercise and knee osteoarthritis.

If you are still worried about exercise for osteoporosis, why not go for a walk? But you have to do it correctly. The Mayo Clinic says hold your head high. Straighten your back and neck as much as possible. Tighten the chest muscles. As you move along, let your shoulders and arms move freely and naturally.

Walking places the full weight of your body on your bones. It also has other good effects. It raises the levels of chemicals in the brain known as endorphins. They reduce pain and make you feel happier.

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VOICE TWO:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by Jerilyn Watson. Our producer was Brianna Blake. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE ONE:

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

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.

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I'm Doug Johnson. This week…

We hear music by the Irish rock band U2 …

Answer a listener question about stock car racing …

And report about a restaurant in Washington, D.C. that operates a fully "green" business.

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Coppi's Italian Restaurant

HOST:

More and more restaurants across the United States are starting to cook with organic fruits and vegetables. Organic foods are grown without chemical fertilizers and insecticides. But one restaurant in Washington, D.C. has gone far beyond just buying organic food in its effort to be sustainable and healthy. Coppi's restaurant on U Street has become a good example in the community of how to operate a "green" business. Bob Doughty has more.

BOB DOUGHTY:

When you walk into Coppi's Italian restaurant, it looks like many other warm and lively eating places on the popular U Street corridor.                            

Coppi's team: Carlos Amaya, left, with Pablo, Nori, Cecilia, and Ramon

CARLOS AMAYA: "Coppi's is a very unique, sustainable restaurant. The theme of it is of course, northern Italian, but the difference in maintaining a sustainable restaurant, meaning we have to source American products."

Almost all of the salads, pizzas, meats and pastas served at Coppi's are organic. Mister Amaya buys seasonal foods from local producers who follow sustainable practices.

CARLOS AMAYA: "We've actually visited these farms to see exactly where everything comes from and the process, so you can understand it and explain it better to the clientele."

Mister Amaya even buys the flour for his pastas from an American producer so that he does not have to import flour from as far away as Italy.

Also, all the electricity used at Coppi's is wind-generated so it does not cause pollution. And, all cooking in the kitchen is done with only two hot water boilers for pasta and a wood-burning oven. Most restaurants use large gas ovens and stoves which can be wasteful. The oak wood for the oven comes from an organic farm in Pennsylvania that collects old wood from fallen trees.

Other details are important to Coppi's green efforts. For example, the restaurant has very low lighting to conserve energy. And, the restaurant saves on water and energy by not using tablecloths.

Carlos Amaya was born in El Salvador. He started working at Coppi's in nineteen ninety-four. Over the years he worked many different positions in the restaurant. In two thousand two, he bought the restaurant from its owners.

CARLOS AMAYA: "By then, I had already developed my own idea of what sustainable was, and where it needed to go."

The former owners were interested in organic cooking. But Carlos Amaya knew he wanted to make the business even greener.  He says that owning Coppi's is a good example of the American Dream.

CARLOS AMAYA: "Here I am, and the unique thing about the United States and the American way of living is we have rights to own our own businesses and to actually lead by example."

Coppi's owners and visitors can feel good about the food they are making and eating because it is delicious, healthful and sustainably produced.

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NASCAR

HOST:

Our listener question this week comes from Brazil.  Anderlon Rocha de Oliveira loves the sport of NASCAR. He wants to know about this season's Sprint Cup.

An example of a NASCAR stock car

Stock cars used to be produced in car factories. They were not specially designed for racing.

But now most stock cars are individually designed and built, although they still look like cars you see on the road. The power from the engine pushes the car forward from the back wheels instead of pulling it forward with the front wheels.

NASCAR races generally use oval shaped tracks of different lengths that require turns to the left. There are short tracks, longer tracks called speedways and even longer ones called super-speedways. There are also some races on tracks called road courses. These require right and left turns.

The Sprint Cup uses all these kinds of tracks. It is the highest level of competition and most popular of all NASCAR series.  People often use the words Sprint Cup and NASCAR as if they were the same thing.

The ten month thirty-six race Sprint Series began in February in Daytona Beach, Florida. The Daytona Five Hundred race is one of the most famous races of all. The drivers race around the super-speedway two hundred times to travel about eight hundred kilometers in all.

Jimmie Johnson

Right now, Jeff Gordon is in first place in the Sprint Cup series. His victory Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth was especially sweet. It followed forty-seven winless races. Jeff Gordon is a four-time Sprint Cup champion.

But hot on his racing trail is Jimmie Johnson.  Last year, Johnson became the second driver in history to win a third straight Sprint Cup championship. And close behind Johnson is Kurt Busch. He won the Sprint Cup in two thousand four. All three top racers will compete at the next Sprint Cup race April eighteenth in Phoenix, Arizona.

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U2

HOST:

The Irish rock group U2 has been making music for over thirty years. Their latest album, "No Line on the Horizon," is filled with poetic songs about love, separation and the human condition. The group explores many different musical styles in this album. Shirley Griffith tells us more.

U2

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH:

That was the song "Magnificent." Like many of U2's songs, it is an expressive love song with a melody that is hard to forget. The album "No Line on the Horizon" took the band about two years to complete. They first started testing out songs together while on a trip to Fez, Morocco.

U2 lead singer Bono said he did not know how fans would react to the record.

But he said being comfortable and predictable by recording the same kind of music is not the place for rock music.

The energetic "Get On Your Boots" is one of the fastest paced songs U2 has ever recorded. The song starts with these words: "The future needs a big kiss". Bono has said that the hopeful message of this song is especially meaningful during these difficult times.

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Starting this summer, U2 will perform around the world on its 360 Degrees Tour. A huge structure with four legs is being built as the stage for the tour. It will permit the band to perform surrounded by the audience. And, U2's manager says the band has worked hard to make sure tickets are lower in cost than in the past so that fans can afford to attend the shows.

We leave you with the smooth sound of "Moment of Surrender."

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HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.

It was written by Caty Weaver and Dana Demange who was also the producer. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.

VOICE ONE:

I’m Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Steve Ember with Explorations in VOA Special English. Today, we travel through city streets all over the world to explore street art, a popular and lively art movement.

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VOICE ONE:

Street art can be found on buildings, sidewalks, street signs and even trashcans from Tokyo to Paris to New York City. This special kind of art can take the form of paintings, sculptures, cloth or even stickers. Its international presence is supported by Web sites, artist communities, books and magazines. Street art has become part of a global visual culture. Now, even art museums and galleries are collecting the work of street artists.

VOICE TWO:

It is not easy to provide an exact history of the street art movement. This kind of art has developed in many kinds of ways in places all over the world. Also, because it is illegal to paint public and private property without permission, street artists usually work secretly. This secretive nature of street art and its countless forms make it hard to define exactly. And people have different opinions about the movement. Some think street art is a crime and destroys property. But others see this art as a rich form of non-traditional cultural expression.

VOICE ONE:

Many experts say the movement began in New York City in the nineteen sixties. Young adults would use paint in special cans to spray their “tag” on walls and train cars around the city. This tag was a name they created to identify themselves and their artwork. This colorful style of writing is also called graffiti. It is visually exciting and energetic. Some graffiti paintings were signs marking the territories of city gangs or illegal crime groups.

VOICE TWO:

Graffiti also became a separate movement expressing the street culture of young people living in big cities. Graffiti art represented social and political rebellion. This was art that rejected the accepted rules of culture and power. These artists could travel around areas of the city making creative paintings for everyone to see. The artists could become famous without being officially recognized. Sometimes this street art created a dispute between artists and city officials. Graffiti artists created their images and city officials quickly painted over them.

During the nineteen eighties two New York painters who began as street artists became very famous. Keith Haring and Jean Michel Basquiat started creating their paintings on the streets. But soon they began showing their work in art galleries and museums. This is when street art started to become part of the more general popular culture.

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VOICE ONE:

An example of Swoon's work

VOICE TWO:

Swoon did not start her career making street art. She studied fine art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. But she says she lost interest in the official workings of art galleries. She soon started taking her art into the streets.

Swoon likes how her work changes slowly after it is outside for a while. The art slowly disappears because of the effects of time, sun and rain. She also enjoys the freedom of expression which street art permits. And people enjoy Swoon’s strong and imaginative pictures. In fact, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City has bought several of her works.

VOICE ONE:

In Houston, Texas you can see a very different kind of street art by Knitta Please. This group of artists is made up of people who like to knit. Knitting is a way of creating clothing by looping together long thin pieces of material such as cotton or wool. Two members of Knitta Please became tired of starting knitting projects and never finishing them. So they decided to become street artists. They place their knitted projects on door handles, street signs, and cars around town. Many people in Houston collect the colorful creations of Knitta Please.

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VOICE TWO:

One of Space Invader's works on a building in Barcelona, Spain

On Space Invader’s Web site, you can see the many other cities where he has placed his art. Space Invader has traveled to places like Dhaka, Bangladesh; Mombasa, Kenya, and Istanbul, Turkey.If you like his work, you can even buy Space Invader clothing, shoes, and pictures.

VOICE ONE:

The streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil are also rich with artwork. For example, you can find the work of two brothers who go by the name Os Gemeos. They paint images of funny flat-faced people with orange-yellow skin. Their imaginative characters have many different forms and expressions. Art galleries all over the world have shown the artwork of Os Gemeos.

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VOICE TWO:

Street artists have different reasons for choosing this special kind of creative act. Some artists do not approve of the profit-making business of galleries and museums. They think that these organizations disconnect art from every day life. They also like the fact that street art stays part of the city environment.

Other artists express their political beliefs with their art. Some see street art as protesting the culture of big business and corporations. They do not like city walls covered with advertisements that sell products. These artists see these advertisements as examples of corporate aggression. They think that if an advertisement can be on a wall, so can their art. Still other artists like the excitement of working in the streets and trying not to get caught.

VOICE ONE:

A detail of Shepard Fairey's original image of Obama. This collage is now part of the Smithsonian's collection.

Shepard Fairey is also involved in legal action with the Associated Press. The AP accuses him of using one of its photographs of Barack Obama for his famous poster. Fairey says he used the AP photograph as a reference, but then changed it greatly for his own idealized and colorful picture of Barack Obama.

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VOICE TWO:

Street art has become a popular kind of design for advertising companies because it gives an image of youth, boldness and energy. For example, the American department store Saks Fifth Avenue recently chose Shepard Fairey’s design company to create window displays and shopping bags. His bold black and white designs are influenced by Russian Constructivist art of the nineteen twenties. This Russian art was used as a propaganda tool to represent the goals of the socialist state. Fairey’s designs change the meaning of the Russian propagandist style by applying it to the costly shopping goods of capitalism.

VOICE ONE:

The Internet has had a big influence on street art. For example, artists can show their work to people all over the world.

Web sites like WoosterCollective.com have thousands of pictures of street art from all over the world. Also, artists and fans can communicate with each other and exchange ideas.

However, people say the Internet is not a replacement for the experience of seeing street art live. To really understand this art you have to see it in its environment. The street art movement depends on the energy and life of the city. And like cities, this imaginative and exciting art will continue to change and grow.

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VOICE TWO:

This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. You can see examples of street art at voaspecialenglish.com.  I’m Steve Ember.

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And I’m Shirley Griffith. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

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This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein.

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And I'm Bob Doughty. Today we tell about the latest research and treatments for Parkinson's disease.

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In some patients, doctors place electrical devices into the brain to reduce the effects of Parkinson's disease

The decrease in the amount of dopamine can result in one or more general signs of Parkinson's disease. These include shaking of the hands, arms and legs. They also include difficulty moving or keeping balanced while walking or standing. Also, there may be emotional changes, like feeling depressed or worried. The symptoms of Parkinson's differ from person to person. They also differ in their intensity.                                                     

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The disease is named after James Parkinson.  He was a British doctor who first described this condition in eighteen seventeen. Doctor Parkinson did not know what caused it. During the nineteen sixties, medical researchers discovered changes in the brains of people with the disease. These discoveries led to medicines to treat the effects of the disease. There is no cure for Parkinson's and no way to prevent it.  And doctors still are not sure about the cause.

Parkinson's affects more than four million people around the world. It affects more than one million people in North America.  Most are older adults.

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Most patients have what is called idiopathic Parkinson's disease. Idiopathic means the cause is unknown. People who develop the disease often want to link it to something they can identify.  This might be a medical operation or extreme emotional tension.

Yet many doctors reject this idea of a direct link to Parkinson's. They point to other people who have similar experiences and do not develop the disease. 

Still, doctors say it is possible that such events might cause symptoms of Parkinson's to appear earlier than they would have.

Studies have found a link between the disease and some chemical products. Last year, an American study showed such a link between Parkinson's and pesticides, like those used for killing insects. The study compared three hundred nineteen Parkinson's patients to more than two hundred family members.

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Two years ago, a European study showed a link between pesticide use and Parkinson's. This study also found that serious head injuries also increased a person's risk. Scientists at Aberdeen University in Scotland collected information about more than nine hundred people with Parkinson's or similar conditions. They compared this group to almost two thousand people without the disorder. All the people were asked about their use of pesticides, chemical fluids and metals like iron. The researchers also collected information about family history of the disease and head injuries.

Farm workers and others who said they often used pesticides had a forty-one percent greater risk of Parkinson's than other people. The disease was also two and one-half times more common among people who had been knocked unconscious more than once in their lives. These people temporarily lost consciousness after suffering a blow to the head.

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Another area of study is family genetics. There are examples of members of a family having the disease. The National Institutes of Health in the United States says about fifteen percent of people with Parkinson's have a family history of the disease.  But most cases involve people with no such family history.

A few years ago, researchers completed what they called the first large map to show genetic links with Parkinson's disease.  The map identifies changes in genes that may increase the risk in some people.

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Recently, a gene-testing company announced plans for a large genetic study of Parkinson's patients. The company, 23andme, was the idea of Ann Wojcicki.

She is the wife of Sergey Brin, who helped create the Internet search engine Google. He has a gene that increases his risk of developing Parkinson's. His mother has the disease. The company is working with two not-for-profit groups.  They hope to collect DNA from ten thousand Parkinson's patients. The goal is to search for common genes that may cause the disease.

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There is no cure for Parkinson's disease. But improved treatments to ease the effects of the disease make it possible for many patients to live almost normal lives. People who have lost their ability to do many things are sometimes able to regain some of these abilities with treatment.

The most commonly used drug is levodopa. The National Institutes of Health says levodopa is a chemical found naturally in plants and animals. When it reaches the brain, levodopa is changed into dopamine, the chemical that is lacking in people with the disease.

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Levodopa helps ease the symptoms of Parkinson's.  But it does not prevent more changes in the brain that are caused by the disease. Long-term use can produce unwanted effects in some people. These side effects include feeling sick to the stomach.

To prevent this from happening, levodopa can be combined with other substances, like carbidopa. The National Institutes of Health says carbidopa delays the changes in levodopa until it reaches the brain.

Other drugs used to treat Parkinson's disease act like dopamine. They produce reactions in the nerve cells in the brain.  They can be given alone or in combination with levodopa. Many of the possible side effects are similar to those linked with the use of levodopa. They include sleepiness, feeling sick or having bad dreams.

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An operation called deep-brain stimulation also is used to treat Parkinson's disease. Doctors place small electrical devices deep in the brain. The devices are connected to a piece of equipment called a pulse generator.

Deep brain stimulation can reduce the need for levodopa and other drugs. It also helps to reduce symptoms such as shaking and slowness of movement. Recently, a report in Science magazine showed how deep-brain stimulation works. It found that the treatment affects neural wires called axons.

The researchers were from Stanford University in California. They used light-sensitive molecules to turn on and off nerve cells in the deep brain structure of mice. Nothing happened when they turned on the light in cells in an area of the brain called the subthalamic nucleus. But bursts of electricity on the axons improved movement in the animals.

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A separate study found that a less invasive treatment might reduce the symptoms of Parkinson's. It showed that a treatment called dorsal column stimulation could re-establish movement in rodents with Parkinson's-like problems. In the study, researchers fired bursts of electricity at the animals' spinal cords. Romulo Fuentes of Duke University in North Carolina led the researchers. He noted that doctors already use spinal cord stimulation in people to help reduce long-lasting pain.            

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Scientists are also exploring other experimental treatments. In March, President Obama ended restrictions on the use of federal money for research using human embryonic stem cells. Stem cells from very early embryos are able to grow into any tissue in the body. Scientists say such cells might be able to cure or treat diseases like Parkinson's.  But opponents say stem cell experiments are wrong because human embryos are destroyed. They say this is just like destroying a human life.

Michael J. Fox

American actor Michael J. Fox has had Parkinson's disease for eighteen years. But unlike most patients, he got the disease as a young man. He is forty-seven now and has many symptoms of the disease. But Fox still acts on television, writes books and is an activist for Parkinson's. The Michael J. Fox Foundation has raised more than one hundred forty-two million dollars to fund research for better treatments. Michael J. Fox says he is sure that a cure for Parkinson's disease will be found in the future.

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This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by George Grow. Our producer was Brianna Blake.  I'm Barbara Klein.

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And I'm Bob Doughty. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs are at voaspecialenglish.com.  Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.