No Anaesthetic, No Execution?

There is a lack of pentobarbital at US prisons (New Scientist, no 2941). This is one of the main anaesthetics used in lethal injections. As a result some states (e.g. Arkansas) are suspending executions until alternatives are found; others are switching to new, untested combinations. Perhaps the US could consider just getting rid of the death penalty instead?

Gaia - Great Theory But.......

As ever I'm behind on my reading and have only just managed to look at the 26 October edition of New Scientist which contains an article by Toby Tyrell puporting to test the Gaia hypothesis. Indeed, Tyrell has recently published a book on the subject.

Being late to reading the article reminds me that I didn't pick up James Lovelock's original work until several years after it hit the bookshops. I recall thinking at the time that it was a wonderful theory - appealing to the new-age hippy in me if nothing else (actually that's being mean to Lovelock - it is genuinely a fascinating and well-worked theory). However, I couldn't see any conclusive proof that his hypothesis was correct. Being an idle *** I didn't take that thought any further; and I suspect that there were/are many others in that boat. Tyrell has, however, set out to test Lovelock's main propositions.

To cut a long story short, Tyrell's conclusion is that the Gaia hypothesis is not an accurate picture of how the world works (though he does point to some "mini-Gaias" such as the thermoregulation of the interior of terminte mounds). In some ways this is a great pity - there is something comforting about the thought of a self-regulating world. However, it rather looks as though we shall have to tackle the various environmental issues confronting us on the basis of our world system being very much more fragile that the Gaia hypothesis suggests - it won't just happen!

Polio!

I read the other day that 22 cases of suspected polio have been identified in NE Syria. If the civil war wasn't bad enough, allowing a window for a disease that can paralyse children to re-establish itself is tragic. Polio is on the brink of eradication (think of the success with smallpox) and here we have a situation that may allow a wider comeback. This is especially so given that local leaders in NW Pakistan have banned vaccination. Two fronts on which to fight this disease are two fronts too many.

Oral History - Capture It Now

Those of you who know me well (and following this post, the rest of you) will be aware that I've been sporadically capturing my family history over the past few years. In a recent blog post Dick Eastman refers to a statement from an American archives technician that, on average, it takes just 3 generations for a piece of oral family history to be lost unless there is a diligent attempt to preserve it. There are certainly several half-remembered tales attached to my family, some of which I'm sure I'll never fully understand. I think I've solved the mystery of "the woman who ran away with the man from the powder factory" but I've no idea what connection we have to "the waterman from Wapping".

So, my suggestion to you all when you gather for your Christmas celebrations and swap family anecdotes is to write them down as soon as possible. So much in life these days is ephermeral (think of all those deleted emails and tweets) - let's capture what we can.

The Dead Salmon Has It

When Craig Bennett of the University of California stuck a dead salmon in his brain scanner to perform a test run on the machine he got something of a shock - the fish's brain and spinal column were showing signs of neural activity.

This has rather put the cat among the neuroscience pigeons. It has pointed up that many, many research findings in the discupline are fatally flawed by poor technique. As a (lapsed) scientist I find this shocking.

Is it any wonder that scientists face not just a sceptical public but a disbelieving one? Climate change anyone?

Random Thoughts on GM

The fingers have been away from the blog-keyboard for a while - for a variety of reasons including work, covering for an absent colleague, travel, volunteering. This all means that I've rather lost track of some of the exciting things happening out there beyond the boundaries of Commuterland. In my reading to catch up with life I was struck by the kerfuffle that's been going on about the proposal to release GM flies in Spain to tackle olive flies. There's been the usual outcry about meddling with nature when we don't know the potential outcome but that's an argument that could be placed on the doormat of almost every experimental procedure. And there's evidence from seven (yes, seven) years ago that such experiments don't necessarily end in death, doom and disaster. GM bollworms have been "out in the wild" without, apparently, any unexpected problems. Isn't about time we were a little less hysterical about such approaches? GM flies might just be less harmful than the clouds of insecticide that will otherwise be used on those olive trees. It's time to find out.

Some Risks in CCS

Last night over dinner a couple of mates were berating me for not putting finger to keyboard for some time. So, Keith and Ken, this is for you.

The other day a colleague pointed out to me a couple of risks associated with the White Rose CCS project that hadn't occurred to me. The White Rose project itself involves the construction of a new coal-fired plant, alongside the existing Drax PS, equipped with oxyfuel combustion technology. Then there is an entirely separate project headed up by National Grid to build a pipeline out into the North Sea.

Of course, the two project are inextricably linked. What my colleague suggested was that any environmental statement supporting the development will need to adopt the so-called "Rochdale Envelope Principle" (No -I've never heard of it before, either). Under this principle the developers have to assess and present the maximum potential adverse impacts for the whole scheme. My colleague then went on to point out that this adds two new risks to the plethora that already surround CCS projects:

• the risk of increased challenge prompted by presentation of this worst case scenario;
• challenge about whether or not a worst case scenario has actually been disclosed.

As assiduous readers of this blog will know I was periferally involved in one of the unsuccessful projects bidding into the competition. One of the big headaches in putting together the project was clear allocation and management of risk. Of course, there are all the usual ones you expect in any big project - technology risk, financing risk etc., but also some peculiar to a multi-player project of this nature - integration risk being one of the biggest.

Even at the back-end of the project there is a sting in the tail. Eventually, under the EU CCS Directive, risk can be passed to the member state's government but only "if and when all available evidence indicates that stored CO2 will be completely and permanently contained". That is some tall order if you really think about it. The monitoring and maintenance commitment that is implied is not insignificant. Furthermore, even when risk is transferred to the state the operator has to make a financial contribution towards continued monitoring.

One of the big hopes of the project that I was involved in was that it would unlock enhanced oil recovery as a means of offsetting some of the risk-based costs. Neither of the selected pojects will do this and it is difficult to see how a truly independent project with such an aim can get off the ground in the near-, or even medium-term.