The Polluter Doesn't Pay!

As countries attempt to progressively limit their release of 'greenhouse gases', the costs of cleaning up gets more and more expensive. This appears to be especially true for air travel ( https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/22/cleanup-cost-of-heathrow-third-runway-doubles-to-100bn-mps-told). For example, the carbon cost of the proposed expansion of London's Heathrow airport has doubled from the figure given at the time the scheme was politically approved to £100bn. Another 8 active UK airport expansion plans, have a further combined emissions cost of around £74bn. Only a fraction of these costs is reclaimed in taxation from the aviation industry (and this is reducing with new tax breaks). The rest of the clean up cost falls on the UK government (i.e. the tax payer, whether he or she flies or not). Indeed, some people suggest that air travel enjoys a relatively enormous public subsidy.

It's That Ruddy Duck!

In the 1940's, Peter Scott (Founder of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust) imported the Ruddy duck to his Slimbridge centre from North America. This turned out to be a bad mistake. Ruddy ducks thrived but their males were especially attractive to endangered female White-headed ducks in Southern Spain. Hybridisation threatened the survival of the White-headed duck (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/22/specieswatch-10-to-15-ruddy-ducks-left-in-uk-after-europe-wide-cull). The Ruddy duck was consequently ear-marked for destruction and thousands were killed. It is suspected, however, that 10-15 persist in the UK, because people are reluctant to report their presence. It only takes two to tango!

Back to the Future in Norfolk?

It's strange how, encouraging nature, generally involves reversing the activities of a few decades ago. Ghost pingos were ponds created, in parts of England, by retreating glaciers, at the end of the last ice age. Many were simply covered in to facilitate industrial agriculture. Now, on two former farms, near Thetford in Norfolk, Ghost pingos will be carefully re-excavated. The process will be similar to that used by archaeologists (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/23/buried-ponds-to-be-excavated-in-norfolk-to-revive-wildlife). The restored ponds are intended to revive wildlife in that area. Pingos will be home to (amongst others) the Scarce emerald damselfly (a small relative of the dragonfly) and the Northern pool frog. This project appears to be following the same tradition, as getting farmers to restore hedges. Hundreds of miles of hedges were removed, because they 'got in the way' of agriculture. These structures are, however, now recognised as being essential, when attempting to encourage biodiversity. Hedges provide shelter, refuges, nesting locations and increase connectivity within the landscape.

Where Did Omicron Come From?

Manon Ragonnet-Cronin (an MRC Research Fellow at Imperial College London) suggests that the Covid19 Omicron variant is towards the far end of a long series of mutations. He goes on to float the 'runners and riders' explanations of how the variant originated (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/dec/22/omicron-scientists-variant-virus-lab-public-health). One view is that Omicron originated in a part of the world (not necessarily South Africa?) that does little or no genetic sequencing. It could have gone undetected for some time. A second possibility is, that humans infected another animal species. We know that dogs, cats and mink are highly susceptible. The mutations could have occurred in that animal, before the virus was passed back to humans. Ragonnet-Cronin thinks the third possibility is the most likely. In this scenario, an immunocompromised individual (with AIDS or being treated for cancer) is infected by Covid19. In such a host, the virus could accumulate mutations, without challenge by the immune system. This has already been advocated as a possible explanation of the origin of the alpha variant. It's clear that all three are real possibilities. We consequently need a) more sequencing, in all parts of the globe; b) careful monitoring of situations where Sars-CoV-2 jumps to other species (there is already a long list of domestic and zoo animals) and c) particular care, when dealing with immunocompromised folk. So long as the virus has available hosts, it can mutate. The virus doesn't plan but its highly efficient replication, makes the most of any opportunity left to it by humans.

This Story Has 'Legs'

Modern millipedes are generally very unimpressive invertebrate herbivores. In spite of their name, they don't have one thousand legs. In the days of the Carboniferous period, however, the UK was much nearer the equator. At this time, giant millipedes roamed the north of England (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/dec/21/largest-ever-giant-millipede-fossil-found-on-uk-beach). The oldest and largest millipede fossil was recently found on a beach in Northumberland. The animal (Arthopleura) is estimated (only some segments were preserved), to have been around 2m long and weighing in at 50kg. A very rich plant diet would have been needed in that area to sustain such a beast. People have speculated that Arthopleura may have added to its calorie intake, by munching the odd amphibian or insect.

You Can Be Irritated By What You Eat?

Microplastics are now found virtually everywhere on the planet. These tiny plastic chips flow through ecosystems and can finish up in our foods. It well-established that, microplastics can be linked to intestinal inflammation and other digestive disorders in laboratory animals. There is now a study showing that people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have 50% more microplastics in their faeces, than counterparts without this unpleasant digestive disorder (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/dec/22/microplastics-may-be-linked-to-inflammatory-bowel-disease-study-finds). Strikingly, the faecal microplastic count also appears to be linked to IBD severity. The study effectively confirms that discarded plastics are damaging human health. Perhaps we need to have microplastics per gramme printed on all food labelling?

Seeing the Changes 1555

In the deep South of St Leonards (near Hastings) Ivy-leafed toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis) is still in bloom.