Our Times: April 2006

Women make a stand

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of women involved in politics in 2005, according to the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union. Worldwide the numbers of female members of parliaments last year reached 6960, up 16.1 per cent.

Divine decision

An Italian court has been given the responsibility of deciding whether Jesus Christ is in fact a myth.

Plaintiff Luigi Casciolli, a 70-year-old atheist, has filed a lawsuit against 70-year-old Priest Enrico Righi for deception and impersonation. However in Roman Catholic Italy Casciolli admits, “it would take a miracle to win.”

Take cover!

A primary school in Trzebnik, Poland, had to be evacuated after nineyear- old schoolboy Piotr Ernst brought a live hand grenade to present at a show-and-tell session.

Speedy eyes

Research has shown that internet users will judge a website in less than a blink of an eye. In onetwentieth of a second, the study showed, people make aesthetic judgements that will effect the rest of their experience with a website. “Web designers have to make sure they're not offending users visually,” said study author Gitte Lindgaard.

Sexes similar

Current research has indicated that men and women are not as different as we may have thought. A report in the Journal of Women's Health found that contrary to popular belief, high-volume exercise is not harmful to the reproductive system of women. Additionally, it was found that while women may have smaller bones than men, relative to the demands put on them, they may be stronger.