Vaccine Olympics?

It is clear that different countries are performing in variable ways in attempts to roll out vaccinations for Covid-19 (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/05/covid-vaccinations-slow-start-around-world-dose-reality). A common feature is that politicians talk up the likely 'speed' of 'their' programmes, without having a clear understanding of the technical difficulties surrounding such exercises. There have been problems with the packaging of vaccines (e.g. shortages of vials) and availability of syringes. There have been problems with finding medical people available and competent to administer the jabs. There have been problems in even finding out, for certain, what some countries have been doing. There have been problems associated with the bureaucracies needed to record injections (often taking longer than the vaccination itself) as well as to approve the use of particular vaccines (and batches of vaccine, as they come off the production line). There have been problems associated with the fact that different countries have different priority groups (e.g. Indonesia is to vaccinate working-age folk, before getting round to the elderly). There has even been wastage of vaccine (refrigeration issues) and at least one case of sabotage (in the US). In France (one of the most vaccine-averse nations), it has been reported that the 'mass' programme has only delivered slightly more than 500 injections, in spite of the country having millions of doses of vaccine available. It's not exactly citius (faster), altius (higher) and fortius (stronger). I suspect that vaccination is going to be a slow process in many parts of the world.

Back Where We Started Or Further Up the Creek?

With news that England is going back into a full lockdown (with comparable arrangements in the other UK countries), there is a tendency to say "Here we go again" (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/05/covid-lockdown-in-england-likely-in-place-until-march-gove-warns). There is no doubt, given record numbers of positive tests for Covid-19 and with hospitals creaking under the pressure of record influxes of Intensive Care patients, something (rather predictably?) draconian had to be done. This was after initial insistence that we could 'go back to work', take foreign holidays and have a furlough for the initially five days of Christmas. It was also said, until very recently, that schools, colleges and universities (now deemed to be super-spreader centres) must be openned, so as not to imperil education (true, but was this ever an option, given where we find ourselves?). So, are we simply going back to measures, forced on the country, by the first 'wave' (the pandemic is actually more like a wild fire, flaring up all over the place)? The situation here is now actually worse. This is not just because the prevailing weather, means that activities in the open air are less easy (although we surely always knew that winter would arrive). It's not even down to the development of new, more infective (like the 'English variant') or more infective and possibly vaccine-resistant (like the 'South African variant') strains of Sars-CoV-2. I must emphasise here, that the labels are somewhat arbitrary, as they generally refer to the country that first identified them. The main problem is that we have the virus in large numbers of people and people (even with variable levels of self-isolation, lockdowns and travel bans) remain highly interconnected. Each human infection (and I sincerely hope the virus doesn't substantially get into domestic, companion or wild animal populations), is a potential incubator for further viral mutations. The early arrival of the vaccines is very important but it's a race against time, if it's actually going to be a 'game changer'. Even if you vaccinate your entire population (a very considerable undertaking), they will not be 'safe', if they are later exposed to vaccine-resistant variants, arising elsewhere but inevitably rapidly transported in. Israel has apparently vaccinated record numbers of its own citizens but its failure to do likewise for Palestinians, within its borders, is likely to come back to bite it (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/03/palestinians-excluded-from-israeli-covid-vaccine-rollout-as-jabs-go-to-settlers). I'm sure that similar short-sighted calculations are evident in other areas of the world (e.g. the predicted late receipt of vaccines by poorer countries). I have said it before but there seems every possibility that Covid-19 could become like seasonal influenza, needing a new vaccine every year.

Virgin Birth: What Can We Learn From Dragons?

This seems a suitable topic for a time just post-Christmas. Only around 70 (0.1%) vertebrates are capable of producing offspring without fertilisation (parthenogenesis). The Kimodo dragon is one such animal where the phenomenon has been noted in a number of zoo animals (https://greatkomododragon.blogspot.com/2019/04/komodo-dragon-parthenogenesis.html). Unlike mammals (where males are XY and females XX), male Kimodo dragons have identical sex chromosomes (designated ZZ) whereas females are ZW. In the absence of a male, a female Kimodo dragon fertilises her own eggs, with a polar body (a kind of left-over from the process of meiosis in egg production). Meiosis is the form of reduction division, generating eggs and sperm (which are haploid or 1N). Self-fertilisation restores the number of chromosomes to the normal (diploid or 2N) number (40, in the case of these lizards). Only fertilised eggs that are ZZ are viable (ZW and WW die). This is why she produces only male dragons who are not simply clones of their mother (just like Mary and Jesus?).

Fencing Without Fences

In some upland areas, it is expensive to put in and maintain fencing. Such fences can also be hazards for some species of wild animals (e.g. Black grouse). So what can you do when you want to Facilitate the grazing of large herbivores (e.g. cows and feral horses), to diversify habitats for animals and plants without putting in physical fences? One solution is to use a system devised by Norwegian company 'Nofence' (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/03/a-moo-ving-target-fenceless-grazing-widens-possibilities-for-cows-and-wildlife). In this your large herbivore is fitted with a £300 solar-powered, GPS collar, that plays melodies, when it approaches an invisible fence line. The fence line is drawn on a map on a mobile phone app by the landowner. Lines can even be drawn around specific small locations you would like your grazer to avoid (e.g. a clump of rare orchids or an area where ground-nesting birds are hatching their eggs). If the collar wearer crosses the fence line, it receives a small electric shock (comparable to that delivered by an electric fence). In trials, tagged animals very quickly learned to turn back. The system has been used by land owners in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain and the UK. A recent, apparently successful trial, attached collars to 19 cows at the RSPB reserve of Geltsdale, near Carlisle. The cows broke up coarse vegetation areas, diversifying as well as improving habitat. The collars even moved them away from springs where they could contaminate watercourses. This smart technology seems to be very useable for a variety of users with stewardship of the natural world. It can even warn owners if their cow is in trouble!

Great Tits and Climate Change

Great tits have the problem of having synchronise the emergence of their chicks with the availability of moth caterpillars (1000 per day) on which to feed them. A study by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology/ Oxford University has looked at how this species attempts to deal with climate change (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/03/a-wing-and-a-prayer-how-birds-are-coping-with-the-climate-crisis). As the leaves on deciduous trees unfurl earlier as temperatures warm, there is a danger that the moth caterpillars munching on them, may disappear before the chicks have hatched. Great tits consequently attempt to deal with climate change, by laying their eggs earlier. The study demonstrated, however, that there is a 'tipping point'. If Spring comes 24 or more days early, the birds cannot adjust egg laying to compensate for a change of this magnitude. 'Common' garden species may actually disappear.

Spray on 'Skin'

The Israeli Company, Nanomedic, is marketing the 'Spincare system' using a technique, not unlike that of web-spinning spiders, to create a 'skin' for burns patients (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/04/spider-man-style-medical-gun-spins-out-skin-substitute-for-burns). The hand-held device can be brought to the patient's bed and uses electricity to generate nanofibres from a contained fluid. The 'skin' generated by the contactless device, is a flexible replacement for, otherwise painful bandaging that needs to be changed periodically. With the 'skin', patients can move about better, with less discomfort and can even take showers. Rather obviously, the technique is appropriate for superficial rather than deep burns. Amazing how animals can inspire technology!

The Ageless Question?

Ex-Physicist turned Biologist, Andrew Steele poses the question 'Do we have to age?' (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jan/03/observer-magazine-do-we-have-to-age-biologist-andrew-steele). In essence, he medicalises the phenomenon, regarding it as something to be 'cured' by physicians (now where have we heard of that before?). His basic motivation seems worthy enough, as he equates aging with suffering. Steele notes that cancer, heart disease and stroke are more common in older people. I suspect, however, that his claim that they 'primarily occur because of the aging process', would be strongly contested. Clearly, environmental factors and life style, also have powerful effects on the incidences of these conditions. When challenged about the potential detrimental effect of extending people's lives to say 150, on over-population, he comes up with, what seems to me, a rather glib defence. Steele poses the question whether we would choose to invent aging as a 'cure' for over-population. Population is, however, a balance between natality (birth-rate), mortality (death-rate) and migration (not really much of an option on a finite planet). Over-population is a difficult and emotive concept but, again, it's not a medical condition. A question that should be dealt with by Steele is 'why, if aging is such a bad thing, is it such a common characteristic of the vast majority of living organisms?' The answer may lie in recognising that what might be bad for the individual, may be beneficial to the species. I appear to be already past my 'sell-by date'?