Will Myth Busting Actually Work?

An interesting paper in Environmental Research Letters by Cook, Ellerton and Kinkead examines 42 climate change myths and concludes that all involve fallacious reasoning (iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aaa49f/meta). They conclude that people can be educated to recognise the intellectual flaws in the reasoning and this may well enable progress to be made in meeting the challenges raised by human-assisted climate change. I am not so sure. It seems to me a) that climate change denial is far better-funded and appeals to lazy thinking; b) some influential people are probably fully aware of the fallacies but choose to ignore them for economic or political reasons and c) there is good evidence that sections of populations are very resistant to changing their views by exposure to 'facts'.

A Tiger in the Tank?

Disturbing news that a sedated tiger cub was reportedly posted in a plastic box from one part of Mexico to another (https://nypost.com/2018/02/08/someone-tried-to-express-mail-a-tiger-cub/). Tigers are apparently status pets in parts of that country. The cub was discovered by a sniffer dog and survived being only somewhat dehydrated but this technique is said to be used by many people attempting to make money from endangered animals. Rare tortoises have been dispatched en masse by mail often with fatal consequences.

Plastic Ice?

Norwegians are becoming concerned about the 'huge concentrations' of microscopic plastic waste in their Arctic sea ice and its potential effects on fish stocks (www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-42947155). Melting a litre of sea ice apparently reveals an average of more than 200 small pieces of plastic that can be ingested by marine organisms.They point out that, as plastics float, they are incorporated in the sea ice as the surface layers freeze. This really is the Anthropocene era!

Where's the Beef (From)?

All this speculation about new trading possibilities generates some interesting insights. It has been revealed, for example, that US beef originates from cattle dosed with 5 times as much antibiotic medicine as is allowable in the UK (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/08/huge-levels-of-antibiotic-use-in-us-farming-revealed). These drugs are used by farmers to stimulate growth (and profits) rather than to counter disease (and some US farmers additionally use bovine somatotrophic [growth] hormone, which is also outlawed in Europe). Overuse of antibiotics in farming is one of the practises that is leading to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, perhaps returning medicine to a pre-antibiotic era, where infection of a minor cut could lead to death. Unfortunately, banning US beef products in Europe (even if possible) will not keep any evolving dangerous bacterial strains on the other side of the Atlantic!

Hard Cheese!

There has been an interesting topical re-analysis (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/07/first-modern-britons-dark-black-skin-cheddar-man-dna-analysis-reveals) on the remains of Cheddar man, discovered in Gough's cave more than 100 years ago. The remains have been dated as being some 10,000 years old, making them the oldest Homo sapiens remains found, thus far, in the UK (presumably representing humans arriving after the last ice-age). Part of the study involved drilling into the skull to obtain some of the individual's DNA. When analysed, it suggested that the man had dark-black skin, brunette curly hair and blue eyes, leading to speculation that he was from a group migrating from the Middle East. Having a dark complexion would make it difficult for individuals to synthesise sufficient vitamin D following radiation of their skin by sunlight, perhaps accounting for a later paling of the skin in this location.

Bear-faced

I don't think we really had to have a study involving fitting Polar bears with cameras on their collars to predict that the dramatic decline in Arctic sea ice would create real problems for these animals (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/polar-bears-starve-melting-sea-ice-global-warming-study-beaufort-sea-environment/). The loss of sea ice results in reduced a) locations where the bears can ambush seals coming up to breathe and b) areas where the bears can hunt free from interference by their own species (all bear species require very substantial home ranges).

Processing Away Our Health?

Somewhat disturbing reports that now more than half the food purchased for family consumption in the UK is made from 'ultra-processed' ingredients (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/02/ultra-processed-products-now-half-of-all-uk-family-food-purchases). This puts the British in top spot in Europe, as eaters of products devised by 'food technologists', using ingredients (particularly salt and sugars) that encourage greater and greater consumption (and greater and greater profits for their companies). I suspect that many people use these foods because a) they they believe claims or implications that they can be nutritious and b) have been convinced that working from fresh ingredients takes too much time (difficult for people with fraught life-styles). It is not too far a leap, however, to think that this dependence of ultra-processed materials can be implicated in the obesity epidemic currently seen in the UK with its associated health risks (including type 2 diabetes, stroke and cardio-vascular disease).