Concern about ocean iron levels: implications for reduced ocean uptake of CO2

Parliamentary Yearbook examines an article which reports large regional variations in the presence of iron in our oceans.  This is important because ocean iron plays a vital role in determining the rate at which oceans absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide. This absorption - and its rate - are critically important to the rate and  extent  of global warming and so affects the prospects for human survival.

The burning of coal, oil and methane gas provides the main source of energy in modern society.  However, this process releases carbon dioxide as a by-product. Years of burning these fossil fuels have significantly increased carbon dioxide levels in the Earth’s atmosphere. The atmospheric carbon dioxide level has become so great that it acts like a blanket. An overwhelming majority of the world’s scientists agree that this is causing the Earth to warm and driving climate change.

The oceans play an important role in moderating the impact of global warming.  According to the National Oceanography Centre, the oceans absorb one quarter of all the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere.  Once dissolved into the ocean, it is estimated that this absorbed human waste product will stay there for more than 500 years on average. So, as with the rain forests, the oceans form a sink absorbing pollution. As is now well understood, pollution of the common environment is not a cost of production which is computed by our market-based costing system and is instead an “externality” assigned to populations. In this way, market accounting can continue to respect and privilege the paramount interests of short-term economic profit and rent on which – with the best will in the world - our present form of life unsustainably depends.

One way the ocean takes up carbon dioxide is through the process of photosynthesis occurring in microscopic plant-like organisms called phytoplankton. These single cell plants use energy from the sun to convert carbon dioxide and nutrients into complex organic compounds which form new plant material. During the process, phytoplankton also release oxygen into the water.  It is a vitally important process. Half of the world’s oxygen is produced via phytoplankton photosynthesis.

However, photosynthesis is limited by a lack of iron. Dr Will Homoky, from the University of Southampton, has recently described the importance of iron in this process: “Iron acts like a giant lever on marine life, storing carbon.  It switches on growth of microscopic marine plants, which extract carbon dioxide from our atmosphere and lock it away in the ocean.”

‘Continental margins’ are a major source of dissolved iron entering the oceans.  This is the zone of the ocean floor that separates the thin oceanic crust - composed of rocks rich in iron and magnesium - from thick continental crust (made of the igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rock that forms continents). 

To date, iron measurements have been taken from a limited number of global regions. However, a new study, which focused on a region in Atlantic waters off the coast of South Africa, has identified that the amount of dissolved iron released into the oceans varies in ways previously not understood, by up to 10,000 times. 

The study, led by researchers based at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, reports that the amount of iron leaking from continental margin sediments varies significantly between regions.  Alarmingly, the study identified substantially smaller levels of iron being released into the seawater than measured anywhere before.

The findings are important because they have implications for models of climate change and could alter predictions for the future of climate change in the most unwelcome way.

The scientific community continues to issue its warnings. But to largely deaf ears in business, government and media, for reasons that are deep and not easily changed.

www.parliamentaryyearbook.co.uk

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New observations of neutrinos: one of the universe’s smallest sub-atomic particles

Parliamentary Yearbook reports on observations of one of the universe’s smallest and least understood particles - neutrinos - by the international T2K project. Neutrinos exist in three types. 

The T2K project has recently conclusively established - through observation for the first time - that muon neutrinos transform into electron neutrinos as they travel. It is hoped that the findings will help solve one of the great mysteries of the universe.

The T2K (Tokai-to-Kamioka) project is a multinational experimental project led by Japan and part-funded by the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). It was designed to detect and study some of the least understood particles in the universe, including tiny particles called neutrinos.

Neutrinos are invisible particles which are one of the basic building blocks of nature.  They have no electrical charge and very tiny masses, making them extremely hard to detect. Their mass is thought to be tiny even by the standards of subatomic particles (particles smaller than an atom). This allows them to travel at close to the speed of light. They only interact via weak force which means they can pass straight through large amounts of dense matter - like the Earth - unimpeded.  For example, every second hundreds of billions of neutrinos can travel through your thumbnail.

Neutrinos occur in three types or “flavours”: electron neutrinos, muon neutrinos and tau neutrinos.  T2K’s recent experiment has provided conclusive proof that muon neutrinos transform into electron neutrinos through a process known as neutrino oscillation.

The T2K project is spread across several sites in Japan. The J-PARC accelerator in the village of Tokai, on the east coast of Japan, produces a beam of neutrinos - primarily muon neutrinos - which is transmitted via a local detector in Toakai to the Super-Kamiokande detector, located 295km away the Kamioka Zinc Mine near the west coast of Japan.  The neutrino beam is produced when high-energy protons strike a graphite target.  This results in short-lived secondary particles (such as kaons and pions). As these particles decay, neutrinos are produced.  To increase the volume of neutrinos reaching the Super-Kamiokande detector, three huge magnetic horns are used to focus the direction of secondary pions.

In the experiment, an analysis of data observed at the Super-Kamiokande detector associated with a neutrino beam transmitted from the J-PARC accelerator the presence of more electron neutrinos than would be expected. The observation is the first of its kind to explicitly see a unique flavour of neutrinos appear at the detection point (in Super-Kamiokande) from a beam initially consisting of a different type of neutrino (in Tokai).

It was previously known that neutrinos transform from one kind but this particular transformation had never been conclusively observed and is regarded as a major milestone.

Commenting on the results, Professor Alfons Weber, a British collaborator on the T2K from the STFC and Oxford, said in a statement:  “Up until now the oscillations have always been measured by watching the types disappear and then deducing that they had turned into another type.  But in this instance, we observe muon neutrinos disappearing and we observe electron neutrinos arriving - and that’s a first.”

The findings may play an important role in helping to answer one of the most important questions about the universe: ‘Why is there so much more ‘matter’ than ‘antimatter’ in the universe?’  Every particle has a corresponding anti-particle (with a charge opposite to that of its counterpart). This is known as anti-matter.  Physicists have long puzzled over why, if anti-matter and matter are equal but opposite, should there be so much more matter in the universe than antimatter.

It is anticipated that T2K’s recent findings will be compared to future data with anti-neutrinos to test whether muon and electron neutrinos oscillate in a different manner to their antimatter counterparts.  It is believed that this asymmetry could help explain why anti-matter is so comparatively rare.

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D-Wave Two: the world’s second commercial quantum computer

A superfast computer that apparently uses quantum physical effects to perform tasks 3,600 times faster than standard computers is to be shared by Google, NASA and the non-profit Universities Space Research Association (USRA).  This is the world’s second commercial quantum computer to be made.  Parliamentary Yearbook reports.

A superfast D-Wave computer that operates 3,600 times faster than standard computers and is worth $15 million is to be shared by NASA, Google and the non-profit Universities Space Research Association.  The D-Wave Two computer has been built by the Canadian company D-Wave Systems. It is called a “quantum computer” because it relies on quantum bits (or qubits) which have properties that allow the computer to simultaneously perform multiple calculations to boost its speed.

Standard computers operate on a design created by the Englishman Alan Turing during the 1930s. 

They are digital and use bits as their measure of information. The term bit is a contraction of the term binary unit. The binary unit has two values or logical states: inactive or active. At any time a bit is therefore set to be in an “off state” or “on state”.
A quantum bit or qubit works very differently from a classical bit.  Unlike the bit, the qubit can be off, on or in a ‘superposition’ of both; which means that it exists in all theoretically possible states simultaneously (off and on and any state possible by superposition of these basis states). Quantum computation with a qubit processor exploits this quantum reality performing single tasks at speeds much greater than normal computers and multiple tasks more efficiently.

There is clearly a difficulty for ordinary intelligibility in claiming that an element which is susceptible of contrary values, for example being on or being off, can take both values simultaneously, as this seems to involve a contradiction. How can the given element be both on and off at the same time? This is “unintelligible”. It is worth remembering in this regard that physical theory since Newton in the seventeenth century has relied crucially on claimed “action at a distance”, for example in gravitational attraction, in defiance of the contact mechanics of ordinary common sense. Modern physics is therefore not intelligible to common sense in the way that earlier physics – which supposes mechanical causal influence to depend upon contact – is intelligible. It “works” – allowing detailed prediction - but there is a philosophical sense in which this success in prediction is not understood. However, plain contradiction – as apparently with quantum mechanical theory - might seem a step too far. Interested readers are invited to explore the term ‘quantum superposition’ by Google or other means to deepen appreciation of what is involved. (For a broad philosophical discussion relevant to questions of intelligibility the recent book “Basic Structures of Reality: Meta-physics” by the well-known English philosopher Colin McGinn is sometimes recommended.)

To achieve enhanced computational performance by quantum means, quantum computers exploit a technique called “quantum annealing”. This is a process whereby optimal mathematical solutions are distilled from all possible solutions.  Put simply, this means that all possible solutions are explored at the same time – using quantum superposition - and the optimal solution chosen, rather than working through all possible solutions one at a time.  Crucially, this is only possible through an effect in physics called “quantum tunneling” which can provides each qubit with an awareness of every other one.

In contrast the standard computer based on the Turing design operate on the basis of performing one calculation at a time. Standard home computers operate with processors typically in the region of 32-64 bits.  The D-Wave Two computer runs on a 512 qubit processor.

Benchmarking tests by NASA and Google showed that their new D-Wave Two took half a second to complete a task that took a standard computer using conventional software 30 minutes to complete.

This latest collaboration between NASA, Google and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) will mean that access is shared to new D-Wave Two which is to be housed at NASA’s Ames Research Centre in California.

Google has declared its immediate interest in using the facility to investigate how quantum computing might advance techniques of machine learning and artificial intelligence, including voice recognition. University researchers will have access to the computer via the Universities Space Research Agency for 20% of the time.  It is expected that NASA will use the computer for scheduling problems and planning.

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The shocking truth about Britain’s child carers

To coincide with National Carers Week, Parliamentary Yearbook reports on shocking figures which report a shameful increase in the number of young children forced to be unsupported carers for adults in our society over the last decade.

Figures recently published in a report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) - based on data collated from the 2011 Census - show a staggering increase in the numbers of young carers over the last decade. This includes the regrettable statistic that almost 10,000 children aged between 5-7 years are providing unpaid care for relatives, a rise of almost 80%.  A separate report by the Children’s Society suggests that this is likely to underestimate the real picture. It also provides further evidence of the negative impacts of extra caring responsibilities on the lives of young carers and calls for legislative changes to help safeguard the welfare and rights of children and young people in this situation.

The following figures relating to young carers aged 5-7 years are particularly distressing. 

• 9,371 young carers aged 5-7 years provided unpaid care (up almost 80% over the last decade)
• Over 1,600 young carers aged 5-7 years provided over 50 hours of care each week
The figures relating all young carers across the ages of 5-17 years are no better. They reveal that:
• 177,918 children aged 5-17 years provide unpaid care (a 20% increase over the last decade)
• Nearly 15,000 children provide over 50 hours of care per week
• Around 2,000 children provide 20-49 hours care per week
• In England the largest numbers of young carers are in the North West (24,561)
• South East England had the largest rise in unpaid carers since the 2001 Census; an increase of 41.2%, representing an additional 7,282 young carers.

The report shows that being a carer has a detrimental impact on general health. A total of 2000 young carers had “bad” or “very bad” health.  Furthermore, the percentage with “Not Good” health was generally higher among young carers providing care than their counterparts. This percentage increased with greater amounts of care provided. Those caring for 50 hours or more per week were between 4.4 (in Wales) and 5.9 times (in England) more likely to report their health as “Not Good” compared with those not providing care.

According to the Children’s Society, the data compiled from the 2011 Census is likely to underestimate the true picture.  Chief Executive of the Children’s Society Matthew Reed warned that these shocking figures were likely to be “the tip of the iceberg”.  He said: “Many often incredibly vulnerable young carers are slipping through the net, undetected by the support services they so desperately need.”   The Children’s Society’s has conducted its own independent analysis of the same government data (which tracks 15,000 children across England) produced in a related report, Hidden from View.  The report highlights the impact on young carers in more detail and calls for government support and recognition of their welfare. 

One of the most shocking findings from the Hidden from View report is that young carers are more than one and a half times more likely to have a long-standing illness or disability or special educational need than their peers.  Other figures illustrate the demands and effect of caring in terms of school attendance, educational achievements, and employment and income capacity.  The report includes the following facts about young carers:

• 1 in 12 spend 15 hours a week caring for a relative
• Approximately 1 in 20 miss school because of their caring responsibilities
• They achieve fewer formal qualifications at GCSE; equivalent to 9 grades lower overall than their peers.
• They are more likely than average to be “not in education, employment or training” (NEET) between the ages of 16-19
• They are more than one and a half times more likely to be from black, Asian or other minority ethnic communities, and twice as likely not to speak English as their first language.
• Their families tend to have an average annual income of £5,000 less than families without a young carer

Perhaps one of the report’s most significant findings is that there is no strong evidence that young carers are any more likely than their peers to receive help from local support agencies.

Concerned about the welfare of young carers, The Children’s Society is campaigning for better support and recognition of their plight. The society regards two bills currently going through parliament - the Care Bill and the Children and Families Bill - as providing a ‘once in a generation’ chance to improve the lives of young carers.  

It calls for the Care Bill to be amended to ensure that young carers are supported and adult needs are met sufficiently so that children are protected from harmful forced duty of caring.

Similarly, it views the Children and Families Bill as “a great chance to simplify and clarify existing law and guidance in relation to young carers”.

Crucially, The Children’s Society want the bill to give young carers a new legal entitlement to assessment and support to ensure that young carers are not left with unequal rights compared with adult carers.

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Macmillan Cancer Support warns cancer survivors need more support

Parliamentary Yearbook examines a recent report by Macmillan Cancer Support.  The report reveals that hundreds of thousands of cancer survivors live with poor health or disability following cancer treatment for which they should be offered continuing support.

According to figures produced by the charity Macmillan Cancer Support this year, by 2020 while one in two people will get cancer, almost four in ten of those will not die from the disease.  The charity warns that while it is good news that more people are surviving cancer, “progress can be a double-edged sword”.  Recent research by Macmillan reveals a further startling figure that, while many patients recover well, at least one in four of those living with cancer - around 500,000 in the UK - face poor health or disability after treatment. The charity is concerned that the NHS has underestimated the severity of the issue.

Professor Jane Maher, Chief Medical Officer of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “Put simply, the better we get at treating and curing cancer patients, the more people we have living with the long-term effects of cancer and its treatment”.

The details are contained in the charity’s report ‘Throwing Light on the Consequences of Cancer and it Treatment’ (and its accompanying lay summary report ‘Cured - But at What Cost?’).
Although, the precise impact on the NHS is not known, the report makes clear that there is a substantial level of need. It describes a significant proportion of cancer patients experiencing a wide range of distressing long-term problems.  It estimates the following figures for people currently living with the long-term consequences of cancer and its treatment.

• 90,000 people currently living with gastrointestinal problems, including faecal incontinence, chronic diarrhoea and bleeding
• 150,000 people affected by urinary problems such as incontinence
• 240,000 people with associated mental health problems
• 350,000 people living with sexual difficulties

The report also describes the wider consequences, including social isolation and inability to continue working leading to financial difficulties and further isolation. 

The emphasis is not just on those given the ‘all-clear’ but also on those still undergoing primary treatment.  It makes clear that the issue is not restricted to older patients in poor health, stating that: “A high proportion of those who are treated for cancer as children or young adults can face the long-term consequences of treatment, such as heart problems or second cancers, for the rest of their adult life.”

It warns that while most patients affected by these issues will be using a range of NHS resources, “patients often do not report the full scale of their problems and their needs are often not fully met”.
According to Ciaran Devane, Chief Executive for Macmillan Cancer Support:  “By throwing light on the scale of the problem, it shows the Government and the NHS that we must take action, particularly if we are to cope with the increased demand on services.”  He believes that many healthcare professionals underestimate the long-term consequences of cancer and its treatment, and some can feel uncomfortable talking about something for which they may feel partly responsible. 

Whilst he acknowledges the positive fact that more people are being cured of cancer, he emphasises that “we have to recognise that ‘not dying’ is not the same as ‘being well’.  Mr Devane has called specifically for the NHS to ensure that all cancer patients receive a “cancer recovery package” at the end of their treatment. 

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