A recurring theme in this blog is not just that the Government seems determined to trample over the data protection rights of the UK population, but that they are singularly inept at ensuring that the state machinery treats various data sources in a careful and secure manner.

From databases left on trains, to stolen laptops contaning databases of personal data, I (and I guess many others) view Wacky Jacqui's upcoming Uber-database that will be made possible by a combination of databases (including the vile IMP comms database and that of the ridiculous ID card scheme) using the "interesting" clause 152 of the Coroners and Justice Bill Part 8 - Data Protection Act 1998 (c. 29).  This empowers Ministers to direct the linkage of diferent databases.

Just as I finish reading (or rather, re-reading) chapters concerning the fate of Easter Island (Rapanui) and of Henderson and Pitcairn Islands in Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive by Jared Diamond, the 23rd January issue of Science arrives, bearing two articles on the spread of humans (Austronesians) from Taiwan and onwards across Micronesia to Polynesia.  One of these papers, by Gray and colleagues, presents a linguistic analysis of langauages across this region.  The second, by Moodley et al looks at the variation of the human pathogen Helicobacter pylori in these same peoples.  Both strands of evidence documenting this population spread are in striking agreement.

I have no experience in the kind of linguistic analysis carried out by Gray and colleagues, so my understanding is informed by Colin Renfrew's Perspectives article in this issue of Science.There are over 1000 polynesian languages, making it one of the largest language families.  Ultimately, the populations that eventually colonised even the most remote islands such as Easter were ultimately derived from a migration that can (at least in one theory) be traced back to origins in Taiwan (upper panel in the figure below).  Other possibilities include origins in island Southeast Asia.  Genetic evidence (such as that provided by mitochondrial DNA sequences) has been ahrd to interpret, and may not support the Taiwan origin of the Austronesian speaking people.  On the other hand, such evidence may be complicated by post-colonial gene flow.

The BBC reports that the upcoming ContactPoint database which is planned (at a cost of £224 million) to contain contact details of all kids under 18 years old in England is expected to be accessible to 390,000 users.  I guess more still when it gets lost in the post or left on a train.  The database will

hold the name, address, parents' contact details, date of birth, school and doctor of every child in England.

A short article at the Guardian (Damien Hirst salutes Darwin's 'courage' in On the Origin of Species painting) initially passed me by.  It's by Hirst himself, and he says nice things about Darwin.  Apparently the painting is called ""Human skull in space", but while I quite like it, it's still not clear to me how it relates to the book.  Even after reading what Hirst has to say about it!

An interesting report on the BBC website on the use and abuse of RIPA.  It would appear that local councils are always ready to use RIPA to keep an eye on their citizens.

Figures obtained by BBC Radio Lincolnshire show that local councils have used covert surveillance authorisations 217 times in the last three years.

The new Peguin Books' edition of Darwin's On the Origin of Species... features a cover by celebrated/reviled (dependent on one's opinion!) modern artist Damian Hirst. Now, while I quite like some (but not all) of Hirst's work - and recall I am no art aficionado, this cover seems a little odd to my tender eyes - a little like a cross between Francis Bacon's Pope paintings and something from Tim Burton's ghoulish animations. Still, it makes a nice change from pictures of heavily bearded Charles Darwin, or of finches etc.

Quite a few postings on internet tech sites tell us that the new MS browser, IE 8, is nearing release.  The Register tells us that the marketing strategy seems to involve MS employees being asked to send out enthusiastic emails to to 10 friends each, in a sort of chain letter style.

This isn't of much direct impact to me as a Linux user, but I am amused by its reported dual function mode: the default mode being adherence to web standards, and a "compatibility mode" that will work with all those websites that were built for use with earlier non-standards-adhering versions of IE.  So, I suppose that's progress of sorts. 

Privacy International have issued a report on how the Coroners and Justice Bill Part 8 - Data Protection Act 1998 (c. 29) will impact on data protection in the UK, and it makes for depressing reading.

Clause 152 of the Bill will permit an almost limitless range of data sharing pportunities both within government and between commercial organisations[...]

The latest in the ongoing saga of our fly shipment from the USA is that our packet of flies finally made it to the lab.  They've been in transit for exactly three weeks*, and of course kept in in known conditions.  I'm very grateful to various people at Animal Health, who were able to make an exception to the regulations.

Nonetheless, I think the application of tight control of over the international transport of live insects such as these is a bit over the top - the legislation that I've looked through seems principally aimed at commercially important farm stock and other animals important to the human food chain.   I understand there's a general unhappiness in the UK Drosophila research community, especially since the international postal union recently relaxed its regulations regarding the transport of live Drosophila through regular mail.  I'm not particularly optimistic that we can make a change to the enforcement of the new regulations, but it's most definitely worth a try.

There's been a bit of a rumpus echoing through the blogosphere following a series of pop sci articles about Darwin and his legacy (see for example this review of recent stories).  Generally, and presumably to attract readers, many make some kind of provocative claim in the title, such as "Was Darwin wrong?" or similar.

In contrast, the February 2009 edition of National Geographic features a rather excellent article by Matt Ridley: Darwin's Legacy. In a refreshing change from the tabloid-style hatchet jobs often seen in the press, this is a measured view of how modern biology has built on Darwin's foundations, and quite responsibly points out that Darwin, for all his breadth of knowledge never knew the physical basis for inheritance.