Continental Connection

It has been known for a long time that offspring of closely related individuals tend to be less healthy than those of unrelated individuals. Authors of a new paper note that even Charles Darwin speculated as to whether or not marrying his own first cousin (the couple had the same grandfather in pottery magnate Josiah Wedgewood) had a bearing on the mortality of some of his own children. The opposite idea has also been established, that offspring of distantly related individuals tend to fair better on many measures via a phenomenon known as hybrid vigour.

A new study in the journal Nature has tried to put some hard numbers on the concept. They looked at a total of 16 traits, ten covering various cardio-metabolic health factors along with height, lung function, cognitive ability and educational attainment. Curiously, none of the health measures saw an effect but each of the 4 others saw a positive correlation. Children from distantly related parents were taller, had larger lungs, stayed in school longer and scored better on cognitive tests. It's certainly possible that genetics is directly influencing these measures but let's keep in mind, though, that correlation is not the same as causation.

The strongest effect was seen between people of different continental groups so if you want tall, bright children you might want to find yourself a partner from a long, long way away.

Gene Therapy for Cystic Fibrosis

An article in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine reports the first ever successful testing of a gene therapy for Cystic Fibrosis (CF). CF is caused by having two faulty copies of the CFTR gene, this results in a thick heavy mucous that builds up in the lungs providing a ripe breeding ground for bacterial infections. Treatments include a brutal regimen of physiotherapy to dislodge and bring up the mucous and plenty of antibiotics to keep infections at bay. Even with the best treatment available, though, 50% of sufferers are dead by the age of 41.

Researchers used a plasmid to deliver normal copies of the CFTR gene into the lungs of patients using an inhaler. They had treatment once per month for a year. Once the study was complete they compared lung function with a year earlier and also against a control group that was given only saline. The treatment group saw an increase in lung function of about 3% whist the control group saw a decrease in function. Whilst the improvement was modest if treatment could be started early in life then the chronic degradation of the lungs that is so characteristic of the disease could be stopped in its tracks. The team are now working on a virus based delivery system.

First Ever Head Transplant

Controversial neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero has announced that he plans to carry out the first ever full head transplant within the next two years. Before the end of 2017 he believes he will have successfully removed the head from one human and successfully grafted it, spinal cord and all, to the body of another human. The difficult part, some say the impossible part, will be successfully creating a functioning junction between the two spinal cords. He intends to use polyethylene glycol, a drug used to form bridges between the fat membranes in nerve cells, to achieve this. The drug has been used with mixed measures of success in animals and there is certainly a cadre of scientists out there who say getting this to properly work is a non-trivial problem to overcome. Time will tell.

Sergio Canavero

Hermaphroditic Shenanigans

A paper in the Royal Society's Proceedings B gives a remarkable example of a hermaphroditic flatworm, Macrostomum hystrix. In the absence of a female to mate with it will curve its behind towards its front end and stab itself in the head with its 'male copulating organ'. The sperm will then migrate through the body to the site of self-fertilisation. Who says science can't be romantic?

Dungeness: Black and White

Back in April I met up with a couple of fellow camera nerds, comrades from the 365 Project, for a trip down to the south coast. We were going to Dungeness, somewhere I had long wanted to photograph. I had looked into going there before but without a car it is prohibitively difficult; public transport doesn't best serve such areas. And they can't really be blamed, its own promotional website describes Dungeness as 'bleak and desolate'. This wasn't what was on our mind, however, as we headed progressively south. The weather was wonderful, one of the first truly beautiful days of the year. Sadly, it didn't last. By the time we had arrived the cloud had solidly set in and the exposed nature of the area left us open to a biting wind that soon left my ears stinging. Undeterred we set off to explore.

Anyone vaguely into landscape photography in the UK will be aware of Dungeness as a location unlike any other in the country. Basically it is an enormous bank of shingle, the largest on the continent. At a glance it is as bleak and desolate as advertised but upon closer inspection there is actually a lot going on. It is a part of a vast nature reserve that is particularly important with regard to bird and plant life, in fact it is home to one third of all the plant species to be found in the UK. There are also two nuclear reactors, Dungeness A and Dungeness B, the first of which has been shut down and the second of which is due to be so in 2018.

Although from a comfort perspective this was not going to be the most wonderful afternoon, from a photographic perspective it was pretty much exactly what I'd hoped for. It was Dungeness at its gloomy best. What little colour there already was had been further muted by the grey clouds and so tones and textures became ever more important. There was always going to be a lot of black and white conversions in post processing after this trip. A little tip, even if you fully intend to end up with black and white pictures it is generally a good idea to originally shoot in colour and then convert to black and white. This gives you a lot more options after the event in what type of black and white you want to apply and, of course, in staying in colour if you so choose.

The main photographic focus are the numerous abandoned fishing boats that sit just above the high tide mark in every imaginable stage of decay. There are a few where it's actually difficult to tell whether the boat has been left for dead or whether it's still a living, breathing boat; and then there are others where all that is left are the ribs of the hull and a few warped planks like the skin on the corpse of a rotting whale corpse. There are also tiny little railway tracks and wheelhouses that, once upon a time, were used to haul the fleet up and down the beach. The tracks can provide leading lines to help guide the eye around a carefully composed image.

I'm going to post a second Dungeness article full of colour images, there were a couple of occasions where having a splash of vibrancy was the right path to take. Our final path led Rachel, Christin and I to a local pub where we could warm up and refresh before the long drive home. I'm very happy that I finally made it down to Dungeness, it was a photographic and social success; I highly recommend it to those with a bleak streak running through them.