A Neutron Star is Born

An infant neutron star, the super-dense core of a stellar explosion, has been observed for the first time. The 12.4 mile-wide object is the youngest object of its kind ever discovered, having appeared just 330 years ago.

It has been cloaked in mystery since it was identified as a powerful X-ray source in 1999. Astronomers now know the source is a neutron star 11,000 light years from Earth at the centre of the supernova Cassiopeia A.

Neutron stars are the super-dense compact cores of massive stars whose outer shells have been blasted away in violent explosions at the end of their lives. Compressed tightly by gravity, they are composed almost entirely of neutrons, sub-atomic particles with no electric charge that form part of atoms.

One teaspoonful of material from a neutron star would weigh a billion tonnes. The newly identified neutron star has a unique carbon atmosphere just four inches thick.

Britain's first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, is believed to have observed the supernova that spawned it in 1680. Astronomers studied the supernova using the Chandra X-ray space telescope launched by the American space agency Nasa in 1999.

Every other neutron star identified by scientists has been much older. It is hoped the object will reveal more clues about the role exploding stars play in building the Universe. Heavy elements flung out into space by supernovae end up in the rocks of planets such as the Earth. Even the human body is largely composed of stardust.

Professor Craig Heinke, from the University of Alberta in Canada, who co-led the new research published in the journal Nature, said: 'The discovery helps us understand how neutron stars are born in violent supernova explosions.

'This neutron star was born so hot that nuclear fusion happened on its surface, producing a carbon atmosphere just 10 centimetres thick.'

kompas.com

Inilah Tanda-Tanda Ponsel Anda Disadap

Pemutaran rekaman percakapan antara Anggodo Widjojo dengan berbagai pihak telah mengungkap terjadinya rekayasa kriminalisasi terhadap Komisi Pemberantas Korupsi.

Bahkan, efek dari pemutaran rekaman percakapan hasil penyadapan itu jauh lebih besar. Rekaman ini telah memaksa Wakil Jaksa Agung AH Ritonga dan Kabareskrim Mabes Polri Komjen Susno Duadji mengundurkan diri karena namanya banyak disebut-sebut dalam percakapan Anggodo.

Banyak orang bertanya-tanya bagaimana sesungguhnya penyadapan itu dilakukan, dan bagaimana pula tanda-tanda ponsel disadap. Apalagi, penyadapan bukan hanya pada pejabat, tetapi bisa dilakukan terhadap siapa saja.

Sebenarnya, tidak terlalu sulit untuk mengidentifikasi apakah ponsel kita sedang disadap orang. Berikut ini beberapa cara simpel untuk mengenali gejala-gejalanya.

1. Bila baterai ponsel Anda menjadi lebih cepat terkuras padahal jarang digunakan, Anda harus curiga. Sebab, sebuah software mata-mata (spyware) yang sudah tertanam di ponsel, biasanya akan mengirimkan informasi-informasi kepada si penyadap. Hal ini menyebabkan baterai ponsel akan lebih cepat terkuras.

2. Walaupun Anda tak menggunakan ponsel tersebut, bila disentuh, ponsel ini terasa hangat karena walaupun terlihat tak digunakan, ponsel ini sebenarnya bekerja, kemungkinan karena proses penyadapan itu sendiri.

3. Saat digunakan untuk menelepon orang lain, Anda mendengar berbagai macam bunyi-bunyian, misalnya bunyi klik, derau, atau bunyi lainnya. Bahkan, kemungkinan volume ponsel juga bisa bisa berubah-rubah sendiri

4. Bila terdengar bunyi yang tak wajar dari ponsel saat sedang tak digunakan, kemungkinan ponsel Anda sedang bekerja, berfungsi sebagai receiver atau transmitter yang sedang menerima percakapan telepon di area sekitarnya.

5. Saat ponsel digunakan berkomunikasi, biasanya ponsel tiba-tiba mati, sinyal tiba-tiba turun atau suaranya mendengung.

6. Beritahu kepada orang yang Anda percaya bisa memegang rahasia, tentang informasi tertentu. Bila kemudian orang lain mengetahui informasi Anda itu, tandanya, ponsel Anda sudah disadap orang.

kompas.com

The Power of Giving Up Hope for Chronically Ill Patients

Giving up hope can make people living with a serious illness happier, according to a study. Researchers warned of the 'dark side of hope' which they observed among a group of adults who had their colons removed. Out of 71 patients, 41 were told they could have surgery to reconnect their bowels, while the others were given the grim prognosis that nothing further could be done.

According to the study, published in the November issue of Health Psychology journal, those who had resigned themselves to living with colostomy bags ended up being happier over the six months following the prognosis than those with a chance of recovery.

'Hope is an important part of happiness,' said Peter Ubel, director of the University of Michigan Centre for Behavioural and Decision Sciences in Medicine, and one of the authors of the Happily Hopeless study. '

But there is a dark side of hope. Sometimes, if hope makes people put off getting on with their life, it can get in the way of happiness.'

His findings suggest people do not always adapt well to short-term adversity. All the patients in the study had their colons removed and were fitted with a colostomy bag that lies outside the body. In some cases the colostomy could be reversed. The 30 patients who were told they would never recover normal bowel function reported feeling more positive than those who were awaiting operations to restore their bowel and rid them of the colostomy bag.

Mr Ubel said: 'We think they were happier because they got on with their lives. They realised the cards they were dealt and recognised that they had no choice but to play with those cards.

'We're not saying hope is a bad thing. What we're pointing out is that there can be a dark side of hope. It can cause people to put their lives on hold.

'Instead of moving on and trying to make the best of circumstances, you can think, "my circumstances are going to change eventually - no point in dealing with these circumstances".'

He said the same was often true of people living with chronic pain. They put their lives on hold waiting for it to go away, even though they know it may never do so.

kompas.com

Indonesia, Calon Raksasa Ekonomi Baru Dunia

Dengan skala ekonomi yang besar, Indonesia calon kekuatan ekonomi baru. Indonesia akan masuk dalam G7 pada tahun 2040.

Pemerintah baru Indonesia periode 2009-2014 dimulai. Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono terpilih kembali untuk masa jabatan kedua dan terakhir melalui proses pemilihan yang damai pada Juli.

Sejak lengsernya Suharto tahun 1998, Indonesia berhasil melakukan transformasi menjadi negara dengan sistem demokrasi terbesar ketiga di dunia (setelah India and Amerika Serikat) dan menjadi salah satu negara dengan sistem politik yang paling stabil di kawasan Asia.

Bahkan serangan bom oleh teroris akhir-akhir ini tidak menyurutkan kepercayaan para investor. Semua indikator keuangan malah menguat setelah terjadinya serangan bom tersebut.

Namun, perlu digarisbawahi beberapa isu utama yang mengemuka ketika kita mengamati Indonesia dari sudut pandang global, terutama di tengah tahap awal pergeseran perimbangan kekuatan ekonomi dan finansial global.

Mengacu paradigma ini, para pemenang dalam proses transformasi ini adalah negara yang masuk dalam tiga kategori. Ketiganya adalah sebagai berikut: (1) memiliki sumber-sumber keuangan; (2) memiliki sumber alam berupa energi dan komoditas; dan (3) memiliki kemampuan untuk beradaptasi dan berubah.

Indonesia belum memiliki sumber-sumber keuangan yang memadai. Jadi, tantangan utamanya adalah bagaimana menarik investasi asing masuk untuk mengolah potensi ekonomi yang ada. Indonesia sebenarnya memenuhi dua dari tiga kategori di atas karena telah memiliki sumber daya alam yang melimpah dan kemampuan untuk berubah dan beradaptasi.

Memang, masih banyak pihak yang meragukan kemampuan Indonesia untuk hal yang disebut terakhir ini. Namun, setelah memperhatikan situasi politik domestik dan kerangka kebijakan ekonomi yang ada, kami percaya bahwa Indonesia memang mempunyai kemampuan beradaptasi.

Meskipun Indonesia adalah negara dengan populasi muslim terbesar ketiga di dunia, ketiga kandidat dalam pemilihan presiden 2009 berasal dari kalangan sekuler. Sistem politik Indonesia juga sudah jauh berbeda dibandingkan beberapa dasawarsa sebelumnya.

Sebagai perbandingan, Spanyol pernah dipimpin oleh seorang diktator sampai dengan 1976, namun sekarang telah menjadi salah satu benteng demokrasi di Barat – sehingga tidak ada alasan untuk meragukan perkembangan politik yang positif di Indonesia.

Perkembangan ini perlu terus dipelihara, dan kinerja ekonomi yang baik akan sangat mendukung proses perubahan politik ini. Perubahan ke arah yang lebih baik ini juga tercermin dari persepsi investor terhadap tingkat korupsi di Indonesia.

Jika sepuluh tahun lalu kita menanyakan tentang persepsi terhadap Indonesia, beberapa investor asing yang cenderung berpandangan negatif akan mengemukakan dua faktor berikut: (1) korupsi, dan (2) pasar domestik yang kecil.

Namun, betapa banyak yang telah berubah pada saat ini! Pemberantasan korupsi kini telah menjadi fokus, dan persepsi secara umum telah melihat korupsi tidak lagi merupakan masalah utama yang dihadapi Indonesia. Namun demikian, perubahan ke arah keterbukaan dan transparansi terkadang menyebabkan anggaran pemerintah tidak dapat diserap secepat yang diharapkan.

Sebagaimana persepsi atas korupsi di Indonesia yang telah berubah, demikian halnya persepsi investor asing atas pasar domestik Indonesia. Negara-negara dengan pasar domestik besar mampu bertahan di tengah gejolak ekonomi dunia akhir-akhir ini.

Lingkungan kebijakan di Indonesia juga telah berubah, meskipun masih banyak hal harus diperbaiki. Indonesia naik 10 tingkat pada survey Bank Dunia mengenai “Kemudahan Melakukan Usaha” pada 2008, meskipun masih berada pada peringkat 123. Memang sudah banyak perbaikan pada kategori “pengurusan perijinan”, “pembayaran pajak”, dan “perdagangan lintas batas”. Namun, perbaikan lebih lanjut iklim usaha perlu ditingkatkan.

Perbaikan iklim usaha dari dalam sangatlah diperlukan, sejalan dengan tren di kawasan Asia Tenggara yang mendorong perdagangan antar regional dan menarik arus investasi masuk. Indonesia masih kekurangan investasi dan infrastruktur.

Peningkatan investasi di bidang energi dan bidang-bidang yang berorientasi pada pasar domestik sama-sama dibutuhkan. Namun Indonesia dihadapkan pada persaingan yang ketat dengan negara-negara lainnya di kawasan, selain global, untuk menarik investasi asing.

Indonesia akan menarik lebih banyak arus modal masuk dalam tahun-tahun mendatang, terutama jika presiden terpilih meneruskan reformasi ekonomi dan hukum sesuai dengan harapan para investor. Dengan demikian, upaya-upaya perbaikan daya saing Indonesia bagi para investor internasional tetap menjadi isu kunci.

Salah satu keprihatinan IMF soal Indonesia adalah kemampuan negara ini menghadapi memburuknya global risk appetite dan makin ketatnya likuiditas global.

Di awal terjadinya krisis global pada musim gugur lalu, kombinasi dari beberapa faktor menjadi penyebab melonjaknya sovereign spread Indonesia, arus keluar dana asing secara signifikan, dan pelemahan rupiah sekitar 40%, dari 9.200 per US$ ke hampir 13.000. Namun setelah periode ini, pasar mulai pulih, dan cadangan devisa naik ke US$ 57,4 miliar.

Utang luar negeri Indonesia berada pada level 29% dari PDB, jauh lebih baik dibandingkan dengan 150% pada saat terjadinya Krisis Asia. Dengan pertumbuhan ekonomi yang berkesinambungan dan arus modal asing masuk, rasio utang ini dapat semakin berkurang.

Indonesia dapat digolongkan sebagai sebuah negara dengan manajemen krisis yang baik. Berbagai langkah kebijakan telah dilakukan, termasuk memberi bantuan bagi sektor perbankan dan pasar modal, serta menjamin stabilitas nilai tukar rupiah pasca pelemahan di musim gugur lalu. Pendekatan Indonesia dapat diringkas: “Stabilitas fiskal ketika terjadi goncangan ekonomi eksternal. Manajemen utang yang kredibel dan proaktif.”

Kebijakan fiskal juga tampak sudah berada pada arah yang benar, sementara Bank Indonesia, yang menerapkan kerangka inflation targeting sejak 2005, telah berhasil mengendalikan laju inflasi dan dapat mencapai target inflasi jangka menengah pada kisaran 3-4%. Akhirnya, meskipun Indonesia tidak sepenuhnya kebal terhadap krisis, sektor finansial masih berada pada kondisi yang baik.

Secara garis besar, kami memproyeksikan Indonesia akan mengalami pertumbuhan ekonomi berkesinambungan, didukung oleh stabilitas politik, permintaan domestik kuat, dan lingkungan kebijakan yang dapat merespon krisis dengan baik.

Jangan lupa, skala ekonomi Indonesia sangat menakjubkan. Indonesia memiliki jumlah penduduk 228 juta orang, dan menjadikannya negara dengan populasi keempat terbesar di dunia setelah Cina, India, dan Amerika Serikat.

Jumlah kelas menengah di negara ini juga cukup besar, diperkirakan sekitar 26 juta orang, dan terus tumbuh cepat. Indonesia memiliki rasio permintaan domestik terhadap PDB yang tinggi, dan layak menikmati laju pertumbuhan antara 4-5% tahun ini dan tahun depan dan akan naik ke 6% pada 2011.

Dengan pertumbuhan yang berkesinambungan, skala ekonomi Indonesia telah mencapai US$ 510 miliar – enam kali lipat dari ekonomi Vietnam, dan dua kali lipat dari ekonomi Thailand.

Kini, Indonesia telah menjadi salah satu anggota Kelompok 20 (G20). Tatanan global yang terus berubah akan sangat memungkinkan Indonesia menjadi pemain utama pada tatanan global maupun regional di masa depan.

Namun dengan skala ekonomi yang besar, Indonesia calon kekuatan atau raksasa ekonomi baru dunia. Indonesia akan masuk dalam G7 pada tahun 2040.

Dengan menggunakan compound annual growth rate (CAGR) dari negara-negara G20 selama periode 2000 dan 2008, serta mengasumsikan laju pertumbuhan ekonomi Indonesia akan berada pada tingkat potensialnya mulai tahun 2012, ukuran ekonomi Indonesia akan melampaui Korea Selatan di tahun 2016, Jepang di tahun 2024, Inggris di tahun 2031, dan Jerman di tahun 2040.

Pertumbuhan PDB Indonesia pada Semester I-2009 mencapai 4,2%, dan tercatat merupakan yang ketiga tertinggi di G20. Kami memperkirakan laju pertumbuhan ekonomi Indonesia akan melambat dari 6,1% pada 2008 ke level 4% pada 2009. Ini masih tetap yang ketiga tertinggi di G20 akibat krisis finansial global dan penurunan harga komoditas dunia, sebelum pulih ke 5% pada 2010.

Laju pertumbuhan ekonomi Indonesia diperkirakan akan melewati 6% pada 2011 dan 2012. Kami memproyeksikan PDB per kapita Indonesia di tahun 2020, akan menjadi empat kali lipat dari nilai sekarang.

***

Analisis ini adalah ringkasan dari laporan khusus para ekonom dari Standard Chartered Bank yang dipublikasikan pertengahan Oktober 2009 dengan judul "Indonesia, Bangkitnya Sumber Pertumbuhan Ekonomi Asia".

Laporan disusun oleh Gerard Lyons (Group Head of Global Reserach, StanChart Inggris),Fauzi Ichsan (ekonom senior StanChart Indonesia), Eric Sugandi (ekonom StanChart Indonesia), Lee Wee Kok (Regional Head of Rates Strategy, StanChart Singapura), danThomas Harr (Senior FX Strategist, StanChart Singapura).

vivanews.com

Peace in Aceh: An Invention

War, according to Sir Henry Maine, appears to be as old as mankind. “But peace," the British judge said sometime in 19th century Europe, "is a modern invention." Peace may be a “modern invention”. Or it may not. Amidst the war which is as old as human civilization, peace is indeed not easy to grasp.

In Aceh, for example, people often reminisce: at one point in time, peace is a failure. For three decades, politics in the province was driven by outrage. Weapons take out words. On behalf of justice, a concept of Indonesia was challenged by the Aceh Freedom Movement (GAM). “Indonesia,“ said Hasan Tiro, the leader of the movement, “is not more than a colonial concept invented by the Dutch and is then resumed by Javanese imperialists,”

Hasan Tiro had great passion in giving rise to the old sovereignty: a glorious Aceh, just like during the era of Iskandar Muda sultanate. Certainly, as we all know, the New Order regime crushed the dream. When the regime was brought down by the reform, the new ruler still could not stop the war in the area.

Therefore, in Aceh, people also recall Jusuf Kalla. On August 15, 2005, as the temperature in Helsinki dropped to below zero, he defrosted an issue that had been frozen between Aceh and Jakarta: Trust. Kalla was not there when the peace treaty was signed by both parties. He, together with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, witnessed the historical moment from Jakarta.

Was the reconciliation possible without Kalla? He is a trader who runs politics as frisky as he works with trading formula. “Negotiations are about offer,“ Kalla said one day when he started to work on Aceh. “If you can’t get one with the price of ten, you can ask for fifteen with the price of 2,” Kalla, in many ways possible, is a pragmatist.

But, as we could see, the trading approach is most of the time not flawless.

Two months before the Tsunami hit Aceh in December 2004, Kalla had actually taken the steps to gain reconciliation. At that time, he was just inaugurated as the Vice President and was convinced that he would be able to settle the conflicts in Aceh, just like he did in Ambon and Poso.

Kalla later assigned the task to Hamid Awaluddin, his confidant who was newly appointed the Minister of Justice and Human Rights. The plan was top-secret: persuading GAM commanders. “Don’t let the press know,“ Kalla reminded.

The leaders of the movement, who were in Sweden, were ignored for a moment. Probably, in this strategy, they were not really important. To Hamid, those who were at war and suffered were those who were living in Aceh. What they needed was a respected high commander. He had to be negotiable as well.

Hamid’s attempt was not really successful. It even turned out to be funny.

Once, the respected contact was made. A proposal had been prepared. There were also concession agreements on palm oil plantation, abundant electricity, special aircrafts and a world’s class airport for Aceh. The proposal also included the signatures of several government officials including Hamid. Across the table, there were two GAM negotiators: M Daud Syah and Harun Yusuf.

Daud was said to be Hasan Tiro’s loyal follower and was influential in Malaysia. Like Daud, in Malaysia, Harun was known as the “Chevrotain”. However, Daud failed in convincing Muzakkir Manaf. “Please address political affairs to Sweden,“ Muzakkir said. Harun was directly pushed away. “They are not our negotiators,“ M Nur Djuli, GAM’s official negotiator, said.

In Malaysia, Harun was more popular as herbal trader. He, apparently, was not an influential combatant.

But, Kalla never gave up. He then turned to the opposite way. Hamid was sent to Europe and the Netherland until finally a delegation was assigned to Sweden. Eventually, there was some hope. Hasan Tiro, through GAM Prime Minister Malik Mahmud agreed to hold a dialogue if there was one mediating country. It was not easy for Kalla. Yudhoyono’s administration would be squashed by the opposition for putting GAM under the world’s political spotlight.

The matter was how to keep a world-class dialogue going.

One day in January 2005, former Finland President, Martti Ahtisaari, received a call from a friend of him, the chief editor of a reputable newspaper in Helsinki. To Martti, the friend said there was a message from Indonesia, asking Martti to be a mediator. Martti, as he told me later, was in the first place reluctant. He was working on some peace efforts in Africa and Eastern Europe. Indonesia, probably, was way too far.

In the end, Martti nodded to the request, considering Aceh was one of the areas destroyed by the Tsunami and put the whole world in grief. The chief editor was Juha Christensen, a Finland citizen who was also an expert in pharmacy. Juha speaks fluent Makassar language. He is the colleague of Farid Hussein, one of Kalla’s men who joined the reconciliation team in Jakarta.

We all know how the story went. Kalla’s men ingratiated GAM’s leaders in Sweden. The negotiation began and was led by Martti. It was tough at first, but Kalla always came up with solutions. When deadlock was about to emerge, Kalla made a quick decision.

One of Kalla’s men testified: One time Hamid was overwhelmed by the numerous conditions proposed by GAM at the negotiation in Helsinki. He later called Kalla in Jakarta. “Have you ever proposed credit at the bank? Did you read all of the terms?” Kalla asked. Just like business, to Kalla, credit terms are not something crucial. Most importantly, the money can be cashed and the business can run. “Hamid, the most important thing is that they agree to be part of Indonesia. Other issues don’t really matter,“ Kalla said. Then, the dialogue proceeded.

Pragmatism, in certain extent, is sometimes vital. Kalla has proven it. As acknowledged by M Nur Djuli, the former Vice President played an important role every time the negotiations met a dead end. For example, on Aceh local party, “Kalla gave the green light. Local parties are allowed to be set up,“ Djuli said.

Since then, Kalla was trusted by GAM leaders in Sweden. He was agile. Kalla figured the group’s thoughts and feelings out. “I read almost every Hasan Tiro’s book,“ Kalla said one time at the Vice President’s office. He believes that dialogues are possible only if both parties know and respect each other. He often joked during the meeting with Malik Mahmud’s group that it was the meeting of GAM. “Gabungan Aceh Makassar (Aceh-Makassar Group)”, Kalla said.

The Helsinki agreement was completed in seven months. Not only did Kalla boost Indonesia’s reputation, he also set an example for other Southeast Asian countries. To Aceh, who has been devastated by war, peace may be an invention. They will always recollect Kalla: a leader who believes that peace is not nonsense.

kompas.com

Minum Susu Justru Sebabkan Osteoporosis?

Hari Osteoporosis Nasional 2009 diperingati ribuan warga di Bundaran Hotel Indonesia, Jakarta, tanggal 25 Oktober lalu. Sebagai sebuah event, acara itu cukup berhasil menarik perhatian, yang tentu tidak lepas dari peran sebuah perusahaan swasta yang memasarkan produk susu, terutama untuk orang dewasa.

Acara itu juga seolah-olah merupakan antitesis atau sanggahan terhadap pendapat bahwa minum susu terlalu banyak justru menyebabkan osteoporosis. Pendapat yang terakhir ini tercantum dalam buku best seller karya Prof dr Hiromi Shinya, The Miracle of Enzyme-Self-Healing Program, yang tahun 2008 telah diterjemahkan ke bahasa Indonesia dan diterbitkan Qanita, anak perusahaan Mizan.

Hingga tahun ini, buku itu telah mengalami cetak ulang beberapa kali. Tak kurang dari pengusaha Ciputra amat memercayai isi buku itu, sampai pernah mengadakan seminar untuk warga usia lanjut di rumahnya dengan pembicara seorang dokter yang menguraikan pokok-pokok isi buku Shinya.

Dalam bukunya itu, Shinya yang guru besar kedokteran Fakultas Kedokteran Albert Einstein di Amerika Serikat menulis demikian: ”Satu miskonsepsi umum yang terbesar mengenai susu adalah bahwa susu membantu mencegah osteoporosis. Oleh karena jumlah kalsium dalam tubuh kita berkurang seiring dengan usia, kita diberi tahu untuk minum susu yang banyak untuk mencegah osteoporosis. Namun, ini adalah sebuah kesalahan besar. Minum susu terlalu banyak sebenarnya menyebabkan osteoporosis.”

Apa argumen Shinya terhadap pendapatnya yang ”melawan” pendapat umum ini, termasuk sebagian dokter ahli gizi klinik? Menurut Shinya, kadar kalsium dalam darah manusia biasanya terpatok pada 9-10 mg. ”Namun, saat minum susu, konsentrasi kalsium dalam darah Anda tiba-tiba meningkat. Walaupun sepintas lalu hal ini mungkin terlihat seperti banyak kalsium telah terserap, peningkatan jumlah kalsium dalam darah ini memiliki sisi buruk. Ketika konsentrasi kalsium dalam darah tiba-tiba meningkat, tubuh berusaha untuk mengembalikan keadaan abnormal ini menjadi normal kembali dengan membuang kalsium dari ginjal melalui urine,” demikian pendapat Shinya.

Ia menambahkan, ”Jika Anda mencoba minum susu dengan harapan mendapatkan kalsium, hasilnya sungguh ironis, yaitu menurunnya jumlah kalsium dalam tubuh Anda secara keseluruhan. Dari empat negara susu besar—Amerika, Swedia, Denmark, dan Finlandia—yang banyak sekali mengonsumsi susu setiap hari, ditemukan banyak kasus retak tulang panggul dan osteoporosis.”

Masuk akal

Menanggapi pendapat Shinya ini, pakar gizi klinik Fakultas Kedokteran Universitas Indonesia, Prof Dr Waloejo Soerjodibroto, ketika dihubungi menyatakan bahwa pendapat tersebut masuk akal. Waloejo mengaku belum membaca buku Shinya, tetapi ia belum yakin bahwa kadar kalsium yang berlebih akibat asupan minum susu justru akan mendorong pembuangan kalsium dari ginjal melalui urine, termasuk kalsium dari massa tulang. ”Betapapun susu adalah sumber protein sehingga dalam konteks yang benar, susu tetap berguna untuk tubuh,” katanya.

Walaupun demikian, Waloejo setuju dengan sebagian pendapat Shinya bahwa susu sapi memang paling cocok untuk anak sapi, bukan untuk anak manusia, apalagi manusia dewasa. ”Dalam perkembangan masyarakat modern, air susu ibu diganti oleh susu formula atau pengganti air susu ibu supaya kaum ibu bisa aktif bekerja. Manusia punya otak untuk merekayasa, termasuk menciptakan pengganti air susu ibu yang mendekati atau mirip air susu ibu, walaupun tak bisa sama persis,” tambahnya.

Kita tentu ingat slogan gizi ”Empat Sehat, Lima Sempurna” yang diciptakan tokoh gizi nasional, almarhum Prof dr Poorwosoedarmo, sekitar empat dekade lalu, yang menyebutkan bahwa konsumsi susu ”menyempurnakan” empat komponen makanan lainnya (karbohidrat, protein dan lemak nabati/hewani, sayur, dan buah-buahan). Menurut Waloejo, slogan itu bagus dan amat berguna pada masa tahun 1960-an ketika kondisi gizi masyarakat Indonesia masih kurang baik karena memberikan panduan yang mudah diingat masyarakat awam.

”Namun, kini kita dapat mempertanyakan, apakah benar tanpa susu asupan gizi kita kurang sempurna. Panduan ini kemudian diganti dengan istilah ’menu seimbang’ (balanced diet), yang sebenarnya juga tidak pas. Yang benar untuk konteks Indonesia adalah giza atau gizi lengkap (wholesome diet). Semua komponen ada, tidak kelebihan, tidak kekurangan,” tutur Waloejo.

Konsumsi ikan

Menurut Prof Errol Untung Hutagalung, Ketua Perhimpunan Osteoporosis Indonesia (Perosi), puncak massa tulang (peak bone mass) manusia terjadi pada usia 20 hingga 30-an tahun. Jumlah penderita osteoporosis terus meningkat dan dikhawatirkan menjadi beban masalah kesehatan di Indonesia 40 tahun lagi. Salah satu upaya pencegahannya adalah dengan memaksimalkan mengonsumsi kalsium ketika usia 20-30 tahun. Pengurangan kalsium mulai terjadi pada usia 40 tahun dan makin meningkat setelah usia 50 tahun, katanya (Kompas, 26/10). Ketika dihubungi semalam, Hutagalung menyatakan belum membaca buku Shinya sehingga belum bisa berkomentar bahwa konsumsi susu malah dapat meningkatkan laju osteoporosis.

Prof Waloejo sebaliknya setuju dengan pendapat Prof Shinya bahwa asupan kalsium tidak melulu harus dari susu. Ikan-ikan kecil dan rumput laut, yang selama berabad-abad dimakan oleh bangsa Jepang, ternyata mengandung kalsium yang tidak terlalu cepat diserap (slow release) yang justru dapat meningkatkan jumlah kalsium dalam darah.

Waloejo menekankan, yang penting untuk mencegah berkurangnya massa kalsium pada jaringan tulang bukan hanya asupan kalsium, tetapi juga tersedianya vitamin D3, yang dibuat dari inti kolesterol.

Pada awal evolusi, manusia purba tidak gampang mencari lemak. Dalam perkembangannya, lingkungan dan pola hidup manusia berubah, tetapi mekanisme usus dan enzim-enzim manusia purba masih tidak berbeda dengan manusia modern.

”Itulah sebabnya kita sekarang menjumpai banyak kasus obesitas, kelebihan kolesterol dan trigliserida. Kritik Prof Shinya ada benarnya,” katanya.

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Where Do Ghosts Come from?

AS MEDIEVAL CASTLE bedrooms go, this one looks the part. Disturbing Flemish tapestries share the walls with stern portraits. On close inspection, the ornate fireplace's iron firedogs turn out to have devils' heads. This place is supposedly haunted by the ghost of Tom Skelton, a 16th-century jester said to have committed murder. The malevolent face of "Tom Fool" stares from a dimly lit oil painting just outside the bedroom.

My assignment is to stay overnight in the Tapestry Room at Muncaster Castle in Cumbria, UK. Having earlier reassured my editor that I laugh at ghost stories, my bravado is crumbling. I still don't believe in ghosts, but I'm scared the atmosphere will wind me up into a panic. Two previous guests have bolted in the night, one a premiership footballer, the other a diehard sceptic who came to scoff. Then I learn that I will not be able to leave the room without tripping the castle's burglar alarms. What have I let myself in for?

I am here because of a controversial theory that some reports of ghosts could be caused by unusual magnetic fields triggering strange reactions in the brain. There's a long tradition of hunting for such fields at supposedly haunted locations - and even of trying to produce them in the lab. So far, results have been mixed, so I have followed neuroscientists and psychologists to Muncaster Castle to see if, in this case at least, science can lay a ghostly mystery to rest.

Chief investigator Jason Braithwaite is a cognitive psychologist at the University of Birmingham, UK. Braithwaite is a sceptic with a long-standing interest in the psychology of paranormal experiences and beliefs. "These weird experiences appear to be part of the normal operation of the brain," says Braithwaite. "No model of brain function can be viewed as complete until it explains them."

It was in the 1970s that Michael Persinger, a neuroscientist from Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, proposed that some hallucinations could be triggered by magnetic fields. It is well established that magnetic pulses of 1 or 2 teslas can stimulate neurons in the brain; it is sometimes used to treat depression. Persinger, however, was interested in much weaker fields, of about 1 to 10 microtesla, which can arise from electrical equipment such as a hairdryer, or simply exist in natural background fields.

Persinger has focused on the brain's temporal lobes, known to be involved in visual and auditory perception as well as memory. He found that people with less stable temporal lobes, prone to frequent bursts of electrical activity, were more likely to report mystical sensations when he applied complex magnetic fields to their brains.

He devised a helmet with built-in conducting coils that could produce weak fields in complex, rapidly fluctuating patterns around the temporal lobes. He claimed that as many as 4 in every 5 volunteers who wore his helmet experienced a strange "ethereal presence", which they might interpret as a dead loved one, or even as God.

Persinger's "God helmet" results remain controversial. How such weak magnetic fields could have this effect on the brain is not clear, although Persinger maintains that the fields' complexity seems to be the key. And not all his studies were double-blind; in other words, although the volunteer was not supposed to know whether the machine was on or off, the experimenter knew and might have unwittingly conveyed that information. When a Swedish team ran the test in a double-blind manner in 2004, their subjects reported just as many strange sensations regardless of whether the machine was on or off (Neuroscience Letters, vol 379, p 1). Persinger has criticised their study design and that debate rumbles on.

Meanwhile, several groups have investigated magnetic anomalies at supposedly haunted locations. For the past two decades, Braithwaite has focused on Muncaster Castle, home of the Pennington family for 800 years, and now open to tourists. Manager Peter Frost-Pennington told Braithwaite that many strange reports came from overnight guests in the Tapestry Room.

Some reported hearing children crying or screaming. Others claimed they sensed a presence, heard phantom footsteps or felt something touch them. Braithwaite spoke to many of them and says the striking thing is that while most paranormal reports are fleeting, corner-of-the-eye experiences, the strange events in the Tapestry Room typically lasted from 20 minutes to an hour.

Braithwaite and his colleagues have checked out the room with what they believe is the most sensitive system ever used for this purpose. It consists of two magnetometers that can detect magnetic fields as weak as 0.5 nanoteslas, in three directions, 250 times per second.

After investigating many different areas, the team found the most complex fields coming from the Tapestry Room. They homed in on an iron mesh supporting the mattress, which strongly distorts local background magnetic fields. Crucially, if someone lies in the bed and turns from side to side, they jostle the mesh, causing the field near the pillows to fluctuate wildly, in a way that is similar in magnitude and complexity to the fields in Persinger's experiments. "It's highly complex, varying considerably across space and time," says Braithwaite, who described the results last month at a conference held at Muncaster Castle by UK-Skeptics.

So might these fields have contributed to some of the spooky experiences in the Tapestry Room? Braithwaite aims to test this by reproducing them in a customised room, and to that end he's teaming up with Chris French, who studies anomalistic psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London.

French has experience in frightening people in the name of science. In 2005, his team created a dimly lit, featureless white room where people could be exposed to simple sine-wave magnetic fields and low-frequency sound waves, which have also been linked with ghostly experiences.

One at a time, 80 or so volunteers were sent into the room, where they spent 50 minutes, subjected to either the magnetic fields, infrasound, both or neither. For ethical reasons they had to be told beforehand that they might experience some odd sensations, but were given no further details.

More than 90 per cent of participants reported unusual sensations, including feeling detached from their bodies and hearing ticking sounds. About 20 per cent reported sensing a presence, while nearly 10 per cent reported terror.

Disappointingly, however, the volunteers were just as likely to report odd sensations regardless of whether the magnetic fields and infrasound were switched on. In other words, they just got spooked by being shut in the eerie room. "If you say to suggestible people, you might experience something weird in here, some of them will," says French.

He has not given up, however; he and Braithwaite plan to test whether the more complex magnetic fields produced by the Tapestry Room bed frame will do the trick. They hope to secure funding to rig a new room with concealed coils that can generate such complex fields.

They will also attempt to quantify the relative importance of different psychological factors that spook people by adding other ingredients like drafts, sinister paintings and creepy furniture.

I can certainly vouch for the importance of atmosphere. When it came to my own stay in the Tapestry Room, I'm afraid to say it got the better of me: in the end, I couldn't bear being in there alone so I invited over my partner, who was staying nearby.

Bolstered by his company, my fears dwindled. We heard no wailing children nor sensed anything supernatural. Jester Tom Skelton seemed to be out of town for the night, and that was just fine by me.

*) Hazel Muir is a freelance writer based in the UK

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Thinking Negatively Can Boost Your Memory

Bad moods can actually be good for you, with an Australian study finding that being sad make people less gullible, improves their ability to judge others and also boosts memory. The study, authored by psychology professor Joseph Forgas at the University of New South Wales, showed that people in a negative mood were more critical of, and paid more attention to, their surroundings than happier people, who were more likely to believe anything they were told.

“Whereas positive mood seems to promote creativity, flexibility, cooperation, and reliance on mental shortcuts, negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking paying greater attention to the external world,” Forgas wrote. “Our research suggests that sadness ... promotes information processing strategies best suited to dealing with more demanding situations.”

For the study, Forgas and his team conducted several experiments that started with inducing happy or sad moods in their subjects through watching films and recalling positive or negative events. In one of the experiments, happy and sad participants were asked to judge the truth of urban myths and rumours and found that people in a negative mood were less likely to believe these statements.

People in a bad mood were also less likely to make snap decisions based on racial or religious prejudices, and they were less likely to make mistakes when asked to recall an event that they witnessed. The study also found that sad people were better at stating their case through written arguments, which Forgas said showed that a “mildly negative mood may actually promote a more concrete, accommodative and ultimately more successful communication style.”

“Positive mood is not universally desirable: people in negative mood are less prone to judgmental errors, are more resistant to eyewitness distortions and are better at producing high-quality, effective persuasive messages,” Forgas wrote. The study was published in the November/December edition of the Australian Science journal.

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