Word: humanities
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...prefertilization testing is perfected, it could be a blessing for those ardently opposed to abortion. James Bopp Jr., general counsel for the National Right to Life Committee, says he can see nothing wrong with the test, since it does not involve "the taking of an innocent human life." Still, others have raised moral objections to the whole notion of "test-tube babies." The Roman Catholic Church and some conservative Protestant groups oppose IVF as a threat to the sanctity of human life...
...relief of politicians on both sides, no more than 15,000 East Germans elected to stay permanently in the West, joining the 225,000 who had fled before the border opened. Some -- East Germany says as many as 10,000 -- may return home. But the human hemorrhage stopped, confirming what common sense should have told East Germany's leaders years ago: people who feel free have no need to run away from home...
...watch my fellow human swimmers' expressions, which range from the merely ecstatic to the truly transported, the question arises, How can this be bad? The program is operated by two acknowledged marine-mammal experts whose company, Dolphin Quest, has created a sandy bottomed, virtually natural lagoon for the animals. Still, for some conservationists, "dolphin-fondling" programs (as they are dismissively called) are just one more way in which humans deprive highly intelligent animals of their freedom and put them at risk of disease or mishandling for the entertainment of customers and the enrichment of owners...
...become big box office. Around the U.S., amusement parks and aquariums pack spectators into dolphin and killer-whale shows. Companies have organized whale-watching voyages and party-boat trips to feed wild dolphins. One promoter has even proposed an underwater birthing facility where dolphins would serve as "midwives" for human deliveries...
...make them look so intelligent. But for whatever reason, people think of the animals as special, perhaps even more so than other intelligent creatures such as chimpanzees or elephants. Unfortunately, dolphins can be smothered by misdirected love as well as by tuna nets. Swimming with them may make their human fans feel good, but it would be better if the admiring masses appreciated their grace and intelligence from afar...