Radioactive Poisoning is a Messy Business!

Given that short-lived (alpha particle) radiation from polonium-210 cannot even find its way out of a paper bag, the supposedly hi-tech assassins of Mr Litvinenko seem to have been very untidy. Unless, of course, they intended to leave trails of polonium everywhere, to throw people off their scent. The scientists amongst you will of course be quick to point out that the police are not finding polonium (Po-210), but the product of the decay process, which is lead (Pb-206).

But that does not make any difference. It still implies that the polonium was sprinkled all over the place, because - whether it was inside someone's body, or a metal box, or even a paper bag - it should not be there to be found.

I think the Metropolitan Police should "come clean", and tell us the whole story - stable and unstable isotopes; atomic numbers; the works.

This "dumbing-down" of news items has got to stop!

Apologies for the Slave Trade?

Thanks to Tony Blair deciding to express regret for the UK's part in the Slave Trade, this has been Big News here this week.

However, actions speak louder than words and, today, the ongoing slavery we should be apologising for (and abolishing) is the burden of debt that we refuse to remove from developing economies that cannot help themselves because of unfair trade rules, etc., etc..

Furthermore, given the content of the Stern Report, we had better start saving now in order to fund the claims for reparations that will likely be made in the future by the millions that will be affected by our failure to mitigate the effects of global warming. Nevertheless, President Bush, an apology would be most welcome...

Thank God for James Lovelock

It is just as well that James Lovelock is a patient man; undeterred by any amount of criticism and/or ridicule. Personally, I was very sceptical of his Gaia hypothesis up until only a few years ago, when the BBC first broadcast their excellent "Earth Story" series presented by Sir Aubrey Manning. I suspect that I was not the only one to watch it that said to themselves, "Wow, so there is solid evidence for the Earth being a self-regulating entity after all!"

Prior to this, as a Christian and a geologist who rejects tortological arguments based on the anthropic principle (i.e. "the universe is the way it is because we are here to observe it"), I had regarded James Lovelock's ideas merely as another clever atheistic attempt to explain the contingent nature of our existence (i.e. "it needn't have been this way at all"). However, now it would seem that the Gaia hypothesis is an idea whose time has finally come.

Having developed an interest in the fundamental influence that geology has on landscape at an early age, my main motivation for having pursued a career in hydrogeology was and is the belief that we have been entrusted with the job of looking after our planet. So, I for one should like to apologise to James Lovelock for having regarded his ideas with suspicion for so long and, I suspect, along with many others, hope that the global village community has finally woken-up to the reality of our culpability in the phenomenon of climate change, and our responsibility for doing something about it.

Therefore, the publication - and general acceptance - of the Stern Report has come not a moment too soon. The only remaining question now is, "How long will James Lovelock have to wait for his Knighthood?"

Martin C. Lack Bsc(Hons) MSc CGeol FGS
www.geosus.org.uk