An inside story

There's been a lot of talk recently about 3 parent children. Using a slightly more complicated version of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) the nucleus is removed from a donor's egg and replaced by the nucleus from one of the mother's eggs before, or sometimes after, it's fertilised by the father's sperm. So, the resulting child is said to have three parents.

Now why would anyone go to this much trouble? 

Well the answer lies in the fact that we aren't the only inhabitants of our bodies. For a start, the surfaces of our bodies, which imagining us as the topological equivalent of an American doughnut - the sort with a hole - includes the gastrointestinal tract, plays host to about 3kg of other micro-organisms. Collectively known as our microbiome, these play an important role in digesting our food and protecting our body from invasion. Because they're mostly very small they actually outnumber the cells of our own body by a factor of about 10 to 1.

But, important as these fellow travellers are they're not the ones we're concerned about here. The ones that matter in this story actually live inside nearly every cell in our bodies. These are the mitochondria. The little factories that use the energy in sugars to recharge the body's internal energy currency of Adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Without them we'd literally be going nowhere.

Now the strange thing is that mitochondria, without which we'd literally be going nowhere, are not actually part of us. At some point in the distant past it is thought that one cell engulfed another and the arrangement proved so useful, for both parties, that it has persisted until this day. A classic example of symbiosis or, in this case, endosymbiosis; where the endo bit simply means "inside".

You'll no doubt be familiar with sexual reproduction, well mitochondria don't do that. They simply produce clones of themselves inside our cells and never indulge in all that mixing up the genes business. Of course they don't always do this cloning properly and so, over time, the mitochondrial DNA slowly changes. But, as long as the mitochondria still work well enough to keep their host cells alive that'll do. 

However, not quite all of our cells contain their own mitochondria. Some, like mature red blood cells, don't need their own internal energy supply and some, like sperm cells, are just too small. This means that all the mitochondria we inherit come from our mother's eggs. This means that I share my mitochondria with my mother, my maternal grandmother, my mother's brothers and sisters, her sisters children, her sisters daughter's children but not my own sons. 

Back to the beginning. The reason for producing so called three parent babies is because of problems with the mother's mitochondria. Put the mother's unique genetic material into a donor's egg then the child will get the donor's healthy mitochondria and not the mother's sick ones. Just as I share my mitochondria, or their clones, with numerous other relatives the child will now share his or hers with numerous other people who may or may not be otherwise closely related. i.e. using a donor egg from the father's sister would mean that the child shared its mitochondrial DNA with its father. From the mitochondrion's perspective we're simply a broad landscape of potential habitats.

When we had a dog I could never bring myself to talk about being its owner. I accepted responsibility for looking after it but never thought of her as a possession. Likewise I'm grateful for my mitochondria but, given the number of people I share them with, I clearly don't own them. They're our mitochondria not mine and we are their people.

n.b. This simple fact, that we only inherit mitochondria down the maternal line and that they don't reproduce sexually means that if you compare two people's mitochondrial DNA you can deduce how closely related they must be. The longer ago they had a common ancestor the more the mitochondrial DNA will have changed. This has been used to plot the movements of people around the globe and points to the existence of a primordial Eve, the mother of us all.

Route 1

Running up the east coast of the country is the grandly titled Route 1 of the National Cycle Network (NCN) Of course, the number 1 doesn't mean it's the most important bit of the network merely that the numbering scheme follows that of the roads radiating out from London but we like to pretend it does. For those in the UK that haven't been paying attention, and for those from elsewhere who can't be expected to have noticed, the NCN was set up by the charity Sustrans with routes that run along quiet roads or separated tracks. Increasingly well used by both cyclists and pedestrians, the NCN makes it a lot easier for people to leave their cars behind and get around under their own steam. However, the route up to Scarborough from the south needs to be realigned to take it away from some frankly dangerous roads and closer to the coast with it's spectacular views. Yesterday I popped out to take a few photographs along the proposed new route.

Ridiculously narrow chicane at Osgodby

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Heading out of Scarborough to the south the proposed route uses a section of the old main road up the coast that was closed to traffic when it began to look like it was in danger of slipping into the sea. The barrier at the north end has a ridiculously narrow chicane, one that couldn't possibly be got through by most bike trailers.

Spot the missing dropped kerb

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At the southern end of the road closure whilst there's a drop kerb on the northern side of the chicane on the other there simply isn't. 

From this point on the proposed route follows paths and quiet stretches of road that run alongside the main road up the coast. Eventually, however, the quiet alternatives run out and there's no choice but to rejoin the main road.

Path through the hedge to join footway along main road.

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View along main road where path emerges

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The footway along this stretch is not as wide as we might like it to be but, see later, the underlying path is actually wider that it looks. The alternative to this 500m stretch involves a 1.8km trip up the hill to the Blue Dolphin caravan park and then back down again. 

Hill up towards Blue Dolphin

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But, once you've come back down the hill again there really is no choice but to rejoin the route of the main road.

Rejoining the footway at the roundabout near Gristhorpe

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Footway alongside main road

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There is clearly room to make the footway alongside the main road wider and still leave a barrier to passing traffic but even though  hadn't brought my spade with me to scrape back the overgrowing vegetation to see how wide the path really is, a bit later on some edging slabs were revealed and it was possible to measure it as 1.5m

Path edges revealed, bike for scale

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As the proposed route approaches Filey it's possible to stay on the footway as it passes behind bushes next to the roundabout. Without bringing a spade it isn't possible to tell how wide this path really is.

Looking back at the footway as it by bypasses the roundabout.

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The road to Filey is not as busy as the main coast road but I think it would be best if the route stayed on the footway at least until the road has a 40mph limit.

Looking up the Filey road towards the 40mph limit

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First obvious place to rejoin the road

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Looking back from the same spot.

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Finding myself close to Filey I couldn't help but drop in and have a ride along the sea front and gaze out at the vast beauty of Filey Bay as it sweeps towards the high limestone cliffs at Bempton. If you ever want to feel like you've gone back in time to the 1950's then Filey's the place. Too small to attract the major retailers, who either land in Scarborough or Bridlington, it still retains the mix of small shops that was once typical.

After that I went to visit friends in the nearby village of Hunmanby, before heading back along the existing Route 1 which runs out of Hunmanby and up the long drag of the road to the top of Folkton Brow where it then rapidly descends the escarpment. The long drag is relatively straight, narrow and fast and more than once I was passed very closely (< 1m) by cars travelling at speed in the face of oncoming traffic. If there were ever a reason Route 1 needs to take another route this is it.

Bearing witness

Unlike a lot of my friends I'm lucky that I've still got both parents. They were young when they got married and I suppose that their only disappointment, which as far as I know nobody has actually talked about, is that even though they've now got grandchildren in their 30's, there still isn't any sign of them becoming great grandparents. But, even though both of them are still in reasonable health, give or take a pace maker, crumbling knees or the odd short term lapse of memory, we are beginning to think more seriously about the inevitable; and I don't mean taxes. 

Now when you're young it's hard to take your own mortality seriously. This week has seen the 50th anniversary of Winston Churchill's death and it brought to mind one of the few occasions that I can remember when, as an adolescent, I gave my own potential death any thought at all. I'd been reading his jingoistic version of British history "This Island Race" and had wandered off to visit a friend who, rather recklessly I thought even at the time, had been given sole charge of looking after a nearby village store. On the way I distinctly remember wondering what it would be like to be dead and then dismissing the thought on the horribly sensible grounds that I wouldn't actually be there to notice. Clearly not a believer in any sort of after life then.

Since then the stories that I tell have been told from the even broader perspectives of geological time and the big bang. All of which makes it easy to see my own existence as not only brief but also, in all likelihood, extremely forgettable. Not only will the mighty never look on my works and despair but they're also unlikely to see out the current century let alone slowly erode into invisibility over a millennium. 

Now I'm well aware that this particular way of looking at things might make scientific sense, though it doesn't in any way reduce the sense of wonder I have that life exists at all, and it probably puts more emphasis on the individual, that's me, as part of a collective phenomenon, that's the evolution of life in general and of homo sapiens in particular, than most people would be comfortable with, but that's how it is. Without purpose and wonderful all at the same time.

If you've got this far you might be wondering what brought all this on. Well, a few months ago, in Ghost Rider,  I reported on the death of our pet Whippet and in the aftermath I've been learning to take the walks we used to take together but alone. The most common of these went through the local cemetery on our way to Peasholm Park and down to the beach. Whilst I enjoyed walking through the cemetery, in particular the way the gravestones would shuffle past each other out of the side of my eye, I'd allowed my over rational self to ignore why the stones were there in the first place: To cling to the collective memory for at least as long as the engravings withstand being worn down by the elements or encrusted by lichen.  

So, to reflect the spirit that got the stones engraved and erected and to recognise that while these lives may have been brief they were, to those intimately concerned, as significant as yours or mine might be now, I hereby consign this picture to be buried in cyberspace as a modest way of bearing witness to lives past.

Kentucky Fried Litter

Some people like to read on trains, others like to watch videos, fill in their spreadsheets, catch up with their marking or, like me, stare out of the window. In the countryside you often get an unrivalled view of the scenery, the trip up the North Sea coast to Edinburgh being a particular favourite, but in towns and cities you literally see another side to life. Apart from when the train passes through a station, all the buildings are facing the other way and you get to see the back gardens, back alleys, fire escapes and car parks. In particular, you get to see the dark side of the supermarkets, the side where the litter collects. You can easily tell which is the biggest supermarket in town by the predominant colour of the litter. Blue and white for Tesco, orange for Sainsbury's and yellow and black for Morrisons. We're beyond the reach of Waitrose,  but I bet they've got a distinctive colour scheme too.

Now a few weeks ago there was much excitement in Scarborough. Not shared by me but excitement all the less. We were going to join much of the rest of the world in being able to sample, if not enjoy, Colonel Sanders' famous fried chicken. Kentucky Fried Chicken were coming to town.

Outside my local newsagents

And lo and behold if a new colour hasn't  been added to the litter-erary scene, and what a synthetically horrible one it is. I once dared to try a bubblegum flavoured slush in Malta and it was exactly this colour. Hence the slight feeling of nausea.

Up on Oliver's Mount

Now if you read more than a few of my posts you'll know that I do tend to go on a bit about public health. My focus is usually on the output side, on how physically active people are or ought to be, rather than on the input side, which is what they put in their mouths. As a seaside town that caters for people on a budget there are already lots of fast food outlets (the fish and chips are usually very good but more than once a month is more than enough) and so I find it hard to believe that adding yet another will bring much real public benefit. 

You may or may not be pleased to know that the much awaited KFC has been temporarily closed down while it figures out how to stop the smell going where it isn't welcome. Meanwhile the cultural pressures to lead a sedentary life carry on unabated.

A young man learning how to sit.

Frack this for a lark

I've just written some brief notes on fracking for one of our local Parliamentary candidates. Here they are.

Global context and transition fuel

It's been argued by proponents that since burning gas produces less CO2 per unit of energy (has a lower carbon intensity) than, for example, coal, shifting from coal to gas will help in the transition to a low carbon economy.

But

1) As a recent BP report indicated, there's precious little evidence that exploiting new sources of fossil fuels reduces consumption of the others (indeed the USA has opened up 4/5 new coal exporting terminals on its west coast so that it can export the coal that it would otherwise have burnt itself).

2) Natural gas is mainly methane and methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2 (between 20 and 40 times depending on the timescale). This means that any leaks of methane (referred to as fugitive emissions) can easily end up undoing any greenhouse gas savings from its lower carbon intensity.

3) Whenever you make an investment in energy infrastructure there's an expected working lifetime of at least 25 years. The International Energy Agency has recently done an analysis of the expected overall emissions from our existing global energy infrastructure (anything that converts energy from one form to another, from car engines to power stations) and is clear that on current plans we've got 3/4 years left of investment as usual before the cumulative emissions from the existing infrastructure will exceed those needed to achieve the target of a than 2C rise in global temp.  Blog post locked in

4) Following on from 3), to avoid dangerous climate change we need to leave around 60% of known fossil fuel reserves in the ground. A good place to start would be with as yet unexploited and unconventional (in the UK ) sources such as fracking.

Local environmental impact

A lot of opposition has centred on local pollution (e.g of water supplies). The fracking process involves drilling deep into suitable geological structures and then injecting high pressure water (along with sand, to keep the fractures open, and other chemicals, to dissolve some rock and keep everything flowing ) and there are obvious risks if the well casing loses its integrity. If done well this should not be a problem but experience from the USA suggests that over time even the best managed wells can start to leak into surrounding strata and so the long term management of wells would have to be very well controlled.

However, its possible to distinguish the methane that comes from deep lying strata from methane of more recent biological origin by its profile of isotopes (the same as carbon dating) and in the USA the methane coming out of people's taps has clearly been shown to be of recent origin and therefore not the result of fracking.

Getting all materials on site means quite a lot of transport of materials and lots of associated noise. Because you have to fracture the rocks before you can extract the gas its not like a conventional gas well where you drill a hole in one place and the gas simply flows to it. Instead you're limited by how far you can drill sideways (now about 0.5 mile but originally much less) so the minimum well spacing would be at least one per mile.

University of Bristol summary of the issues

Energy policy

Fracking involves considerable investment of machinery and manpower. The present government is offering significant tax breaks for fracking which can be compared with the support given to renewables. The question can therefore be asked as to whether our energy security is best served by subsidising a fossil fuel industry, and using valuable human resources there, rather than in encouraging a faster switch to renewables.

Bicycle delivery

In 2007 ago Sustrans ( a charity that promotes the development of safe walking and cycling routes across the UK) received a £50m grant from the National Lottery to fund schemes across the UK. Under the banner of Connecting Communities this project has made a big impact right across the country. However, I remember at the time there were complaints in my home town of Scarborough that none of this money was coming here, unlike the neighboring County of East Yorkshire. Well the reason was simple, if you didn't ask you didn't get. The local authority simply hadn't responded to the well flagged opportunity.

It now feels like we're about to get into the same situation again. The current UK government has launched what it calls a Cycling Delivery Plan and has invited local authorities to come forward with expressions of interest. A couple of weeks ago when I was visiting my parents across the other side of the County I noticed in their local paper that their District Council, Harrogate, (we have two tiered local authorities here with North Yorkshire County Council sharing some responsibilities with smaller district councils) was already developing their expression of interest. So, when I returned home I wrote to the relevant officers of our district council to draw their attention to the scheme and see if they were preparing to make an expression of interest.

The reply came back that timescales were short, that supplying the information requested would be challenging and that we should, I quote, "Bear in mind that cycling is not really on our members agenda and we are strapped for cash."

Well the only way it can get onto the members' agenda is if they know about it, and that's the primary purpose of this post.

Whilst there are a number of requirements I think, apart from the political will that I'm not in a position to provide, that the task is not as hard as it might initially seem. Here they are

B.1 The Department for Transport is calling for expressions of interest from local authorities who would be interested in setting a long term ambition for walking and cycling in their area, and who, as part of that ambition would like to work in partnership with government to secure its delivery.

B.2 Expressions of interest in working with government on partnership projects to increase levels of walking and cycling should include the following information:

 An indication of the local authority's level of ambition for cycling and walking over a defined period;

In recent years the borough has developed a Cycling Strategy and a Pedestrian strategy. The Borough's Community Strategy does contain targets, albeit modest, to increase the number of journeys made on foot or by bike.

 Their expectation of government's role in the partnership, and how they would like to work with government;

Since the current Minister with responsibility for cycling is also the local MP I'm sure that something here could be worked out.

 Plans for engaging with key stakeholders and securing an influential cycling and walking champion;

As part of Scarborough's Urban Renaissance we had a well established walking and Cycling Action Group. This developed a number of local projects, took on the role of the Borough's Cycle Forum and was instrumental in the formation of the Friends of the old Railway which, in turn, has helped produce clear development plans, in partnership with the Borough, the National Park and the Groundwork Trust, for the track. In the urban area of Scarborough this is the key off road route and an obvious priority. A sister group, Gateway, now exists in Whitby.

 A demonstration of the local authority's commitment to door-to-door journeys, and to creating safe cycling and walking provision through cycle proofing new transport infrastructure;

This is where a more focused demonstration of political will would be required.

 An outline programme plan, including, where relevant, a planned and funded cycling and walking investment programme.

Both the pedestrian and cycle strategies have clear priorities and objectives. Plans for the enhancement of the Cinder Track are very well developed, are largely costed and have been the subject of widespread community consultation.

B.3 Expressions of interest can be submitted on an ad hoc basis, and local authorities will be contacted by a member of the Cycling Policy Team to discuss their proposal.

B.4 Submissions should be made to Walking.Cycling@dft.gsi.gov.uk. 

So, a political decision needs to be made. Of course it may well be that there isn't the local political will but at least councillors will have known that the opportunity was available.

And what do you do?

The first time you meet someone new it's hard to avoid making assumptions about them based on their age, their physical condition and how they're dressed. If you also happen to come from the same linguistic community, then as soon as they open their mouths and speak you'll also make assumptions about where they come from, their class and their level of education. Needless to say, some or all of these assumptions could be wrong. Finally comes the classic ice breaking question, one that I've been struggling with for some time, "and what do you do?"

The unspoken addition to this question is "for a living". How do you make your money? Are you a doctor, a lawyer, a butcher, a local government worker, a writer, an accountant, whatever.  At various times in the past I could have answered, medical researcher, teacher, law student, carbon analyst or, as I still put on my yearly tax return, because there are still one or two things that do bring in a bit of money, environmental consultant. But really, for the last decade or so, this question has left me floundering and I end up babbling about whatever project happens to have my attention at the time; few of which actually make any money.

So what do I do and why do I do it? Well now that I'm officially retired, in the sense that I can claim a very modest teacher's pension, it all feels a lot easier. Money no longer needs to play any part the answer.

The short answer is "things that I think need doing but which aren't happening", but this begs the further question of what these things are and, the one which I struggle with, why they aren't happening. So let's step back a bit and give this glib answer some roots.

Shortly after my 14th birthday Apollo 8 went around the moon and brought back what is arguably the most important image of all time.

Thank you NASA

There we are, all of us. A clearly finite blue and white ball, a mere speck in the wider Universe. Who, having seen that image could imagine that we could continue to plunder the Earth's resources as if they were without limit ? Well clearly there are plenty who can, but I couldn't.

Once this truth had been revealed I was unable to put it back. It might have been easier to ignore it if I'd been seduced by conventional dreams of money and success but my relationship with money has always been pragmatic, as long as you've got enough to have a roof over your head, keep reasonably warm, eat properly and still get hold of books to read then I really couldn't be bothered to chase after more. If shopping was the answer then you were probably asking the wrong question, if you needed money to demonstrate status then better to deal with the insecurity than go pointlessly chasing after more.

Whilst to many this might seem improbable, I drifted into Balliol College Oxford without any plans or expectations beyond doing whatever came next. Because I talked a lot at the interview I ended up studying Philosophy as well as Physics and, because I found myself captivated by a friend's textbooks on neurophysiology, I followed this up with a PhD in Physiology at the University of Bristol.  Later, after a short spell at University College London, found myself poking electrodes into mouse eggs at the University of Connecticut. Back in the UK, I trained to teach in further education and taught maths, physics and other bits of science for quite a few years until the old obsessions reasserted themselves, I gave up full time work and have been messing around ever since.

The first obsession was with energy, nature's currency. I could see that we were leading increasingly energy dependent lives but that little attention was being made to using it efficiently let alone using less and that if we carried on as we were then, within an historically short period - of the order of hundreds rather than thousands of years - we'd not only run out but would have caused dramatic environmental damage along the way. So, a lot of my often ineffective efforts have gone into trying to get people to recognise the nature of the problem and then to give them the basic knowledge needed to do something about it. If you compare current public policy with the very well established fact that to avoid the worst impacts of Climate Change we need to leave well over 60% of known fossil fuel reserves in the ground, you'll appreciate my disappointment in finding that we're not as rational as we'd like to think we are.

The second obsession, clearly linked to the first, has been with the quality of public space and how we can shift people out of motor cars, particularly for short journeys and back onto their feet or bicycles. Not only would this cut pollution, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote equality (that's why its called public space because everyone can benefit) increase sociability, reduce social isolation but it would also help deal with the next major crisis on public health (after smoking and drinking) of physical inactivity.

If you look through my blog posts then, apart from the odd bit of whimsy, you'll find a host of posts dealing with these issues. I put them there not only so so that they're on public record but also so that I can poke public officials and others in their direction. Over the decades that I've been thinking about these issues they've become more prescient rather than less and more and more of my thinking has been going into the political, social and psychological barriers which prevent them from getting the political attention that they need. 

So, what do I do? This and that.

Why do I do it? Because I think it needs doing

Some links from the blog

Living in the real world : a talk to the Scarborough Rotarians on the history of the concept of energy

A redacted abuse of power : The one time carbon analyst exposes his CEO as a fraud. You can guess who lost his job.

Time travel: The great Ivan Illich was an enormous influence. Here's a short riff on his masterpiece Energy and Equity.

Market Failure : You can't make sensible decisions about energy efficiency unless you're well informed

Insulation and bicycles : key technologies to prevent Climate Change

The exception proves the rule : a brief dip into the psychology of littering

Ask a pejorative question  and Two wheels good : The real reasons why people are reluctant to get on their bikes

If it were a drug : The health benefits of becoming physically active

The cost of sitting around in North Yorkshire : Official figures are used to put a cost on physical inactivity in the County.

Seamer Road : A look at the problems faced by cyclists on a busy road in Scarborough

Taking the lane : When and why it's safest for cyclists to block traffic from getting past

Smooth enough for buggies and wheelchairs (wide enough to pass) : The simple things that are needed to bring the Cinder Track up to scratch.

The Cinder Track : Why we set up the Friends of the Old Railway

The politics of the sedentary : Does the modern political process favour the sedentary.

Addicts at the wheel : Car dependency and its influence on public policy

Are we active or not? : Trying to make sense of contradictory figures about physical activity levels in our area.