Back on 11th October, the Open Rights Group (together with a number of other concerned organisations) held a protest in Parliament Square to publicise the growing surveillance we are all subjected to.  A large mosaic constructed from images of CCTV installations was assembled.  The image (below) has been released under a Creative Commons licence.  A bigger version is available. 

From the ORG "The Big Picture" wiki:

Back at the end of 2007, Privacy International published this map of world surveillance societies. The full report is here.  Each country is rated on a number of categories, and the results pooled to give an overall rating.  The dear old United Kingdom doesn't come out of the analysis too well.

As I posted the other day, the latest version of Ubuntu GNU/Linux has been released.  Ubuntu's schedule sees a new release every six months, and this is reflected in the release numbering: 7.10 was released in October 2007, 8.04 in April 2008 and 8.10 in October 2008.  Each release has a nickname - 8.10 is also known as 'Intrepid Ibex', hence the image of an ibex to the left.

I usually avoid fresh installs of Ubuntu, preferring to go the route of upgrading via synaptic.  This involves considerable file downloading, which can be a fairly lengthy affair, particularly soon after release date when the Ubuntu servers and their mirrors are presumably havily loaded.   I have four computers running Ubuntu, and in light of the usual comments and complaints in the Ubuntu forums, I thought I'd note my upgrade experiences here.

The BBC are reporting that an initiative to curb drug use in Aberdeen will test pub-goers for drug use.  It's a relatively non-invasive test involving hand swabs.  Te odd thing about this is the way the test is being carried out.

People are tested when entering pubs and clubs: the test is apparently not compulsory, but those declining to be tested will be refused entry.  An unusual definition of "not compulsory", that!  So, let me get this right.  I could be lawfully going about my business, and wish to visit a pub for a beer.  I can be stopped for drug testing, and on declining to be tested will be refused entry.

Further evidence of abuse of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) is reported by the Daily Telegraph (1/11/08).  Their investigation involved FOI requests to councils: over half of them are using RIPA powers for such trivia as monitoring abuse of refuse collection, littering and fly-tipping.

This is far from the first such occasion: earlier this year, Poole Borough Council spied on a family to check if they live in a school catchment area.  (BBC News 10/4/08), and Bury Metropolitan Council spied on their binmen to catch them over-enthusiastically collecting refuse (The Register 10/9/08) -an action that cost the council a £100,000 settlement - three days before the case was due to go to trial.

An amino acid polymorphism in the couch potato gene forms the basis for climatic adaptation in Drosophila melanogaster

Most organisms are faced with dealing with seasonal variations in environmental conditions.  As winter approaches, physiological changes need to be implemented: deciduous trees drop their leaves, mammals may hibernate, and so forth.  In the case of many insects, the strategy is to move into a diapause state.  This may be in any of the life stages - pupal diapause, larval diapause etc, and in the case of Drosophila melanogaster reproductive diapause, in which ovarian activity is shut down in response to a combination of short day length and low temperature.  My interests in diapause are two-fold in origin: firstly, diapause appears to have an impact on lifespan in Drosophila, and secondly, my father identified the existence of reproductive diapause in Drosophila back in 1989.  

"Privacy is in our DNA, so we need to be honest and clear about what we are doing. We have decided not to be in Phorm because of that... The way it was proposed, the privacy issue was too strong." 

Just thought I'd plug the new release of Ubuntu Linux: Version 8.10, Intrepid Ibex.  Ubuntu Linux is the linux distribution that I use on my work laptop and three PCs at home.  In my view it's a fully featured and fully functional operating system, and well worth investigating. The press release is here.

I choose Ubuntu for a number of reasons, including ease of installation, software installation and upgrades. And of course it's open source and a free download  I'm well aware of the numerous alternative versions of Linux out there, and that some of those may better suit other users.  check out the distrowatch site for more information.   Many thanks to all the developers that together enable the distribution of so many flavours of Linux.

We've had another paper on the WRN exonuclease homologue accepted for publication.  In it we demonstrate that DmWNexo is a 3'-5' exonuclease, and describe a new EMS allele. Here's the abstract:

The premature human ageing Werner's syndrome is caused by loss or mutation of the WRN helicase/exonuclease. We have recently identified the orthologue of the WRN exonuclease in flies, DmWRNexo, encoded by the CG7670 locus, and showed very high levels of mitotic recombination in a hypomorphic PiggyBac insertional mutant. Here, we report a novel allele of CG7670 , with a point mutation resulting in the change of the conserved aspartate (229) to valine. Flies bearing this mutation show levels of mitotic recombination 20-fold higher than wild type. Molecular modelling suggests that D229 lies towards the outside of the molecule distant from the nuclease active site. We have produced recombinant protein of the D229V mutant, and assayed its nuclease activity in vitro, and compared activity with that of wild type DmWRNexo and a D162A E164A double active site mutant we have created. We show for the first time that DmWRNexo has 3′ -5′ exonuclease activity and that mutation within the presumptive active site disrupts exonuclease activity. Furthermore, we show that the D229V mutant has very limited exonuclease activity in vitro. Using Drosophila , we can therefore analyse WRN exonuclease from enzyme activity in vitro through to fly phenotype, and show that loss of exonuclease activity contributes to genome instability. 

The BBC reports that measures to prevent undesirables gaining access to the UK are to be strengthened, under measures to be introduced by our not-so-libertarian Home Secretary.

At least the plan is to announce who's on the the list of over 230 individuals considered to be a threat to the UK.   The measures  are as follows:

The British Humanist Association have teamed up with Richard Dawkins to push a message on London buses. 

It's apparently in response to previous pro-religion bus advertising (see Ariane Sherine's comment article at The Guardian). You can donate to the campaign here.   Fund raising has exceeded expectations - perhaps the campaign with run and run (round and round?).  As of 28/10/08:

Bernhard Kohl has apparently been interviewed about his slide into doping (cyclingnews.com).  The essential points make for interesting reading:

His decision to dope followed an extended period without results despite a good showing in the Dauphine Libere, a crash, and an awareness that contract negotiations for next season go on during and after the Tour d France.  He claims it was his decision to take CERA.  He complains about the press blaming riders alone for doping.  The media blame game may well be directed at the riders, and I think this raises interesting points.

Perhaps I have just taken the wrong career path in science, but I do find the reports of interesting new fossils rather exciting.  And how could I resist a paper describing a "bizarre Jurassic maniraptoran"?  It seems that hardly a week goes by without a striking fossil from China being described.  This one hit the BBC news pages, from where I linked the reconstruction of the animal below.

In the 1950s, Louis Miller conducted a number of experiments that tried to model the origin of organic compounds in a  prebiotic world.  Among these was the Miller-Urey experiment, in which a vessel containing water, methane, ammonia and hydrogen was heated and subjected to electrical discharge (simulating lightning). Diagram of the experiment (Wikipedia).  At the time, Miller reported that a number of amino acids were formed.

This brief article describes the reanalysis  of stored vials containing the outcome of one of these experiments, using material found at the University of Chicago after Miller's death.  Apparently Miller had identified five amino acids and a number of unidentified compounds in some of the experiments.

 Alfred Henry Sturtevant is another of my all time heroes of Drosophila genetics (see also Calvin Bridges).

 As an undergraduate he generated the first genetic map of any organism.  He realised the linear order and relative position of genes on a chromosome would be reflected in the frequency of genetic recombination between them. Using a set of six X-linked mutants (actually two were alleles, so there were only five markers), he assembled a 5 locus map of the X chromosome. [Sturtevant (1913) J. Exp. Biol. 14; 43-59; pdf]
• Sturtevant's discovery of inversion is important because it explains the why/how of certain genetic defects and discovery of inversion allows for its presence to be tested for

Recent political developments in the UK seem to be directed towards a loss of individual privacy and liberty, bandied about as politicians seek to be viewed as having the "hardest policies on terror".  Currently newsworthy topics are the drive of the Government to have a 42 day detention period without charge for terrorism suspects (fortunately thrown out by the House of Lords) and the move to greater communications surveillance, the latest plans for which appear to be a fit of pique from the Home Secretary in response to her detention plans being thwarted.  Jacqui Smith's opinions on personal freedom and liberty seem so far removed from common decency and the democratic ideal that one wonders why she is thought fit to hold public office, let alone one of the highest ministerial positions in the country.

The human rights organisation Liberty says:

A pair of recent issues of Science plonked into my mail box this week.  Among the items that caught my eyes was an exciting brief communication in Science shows a rare example of what appears to be fossil evidence of behaviour. These are Waptia-like arthropods from the Lower Cambrian, which appear to have been preserved while engaged in some form of processionary behaviour. Unlike known present day processionary arthropods, these chains of individuals appear to be physically linked - you can see in the figure that there is overlap between an individual's carapace and the preceding individual's telson. The authors propose the chains reflect migratory behaviour rather than feeding or reproduction.

Blood dope cheat Ivan Basso's back in action after serving his 16 months ban handed down for depositing blood in the Fuentes blood bank clinic.  He's riding for Liquigas, though it's not clear how this squares with the rule that riders busted for doping violations are not to ride for Pro-Tour teams for two years after they return from their ban.

Bernhard Kohl, the second CERA cheat (after Stefan Schumacher) on the soon-to-be-defunct Gerolsteiner team has confessed to doping, and has not requested the B sampled be tested.  Sadly the two Gerolsteiner positives continue to have a negative effect on German cycle sport:  Cyclingnews.com reports the Tour of Deutschlandand the Stuttgart Six have been cancelled as sponsors pull out of the sport.  Two German TV channels have announced they won't broadcast the Tour de France.  Well done Kohl and Schumacher, and other pro cyclists who decide to cheat - see what the consequences are?

As a direct result of BT's infuriating dalliance with the despicable Phorm system, I chose to leave BT, and joined Zen Broadband, with the switchover on 8th October. 

I selected Zen from the myriad of other ISPs out there for several reasons - good reviews (in both press and in the internet); reasonable pricing; clear upfront description of service; rapid response to my equiry about Phorm; no lock-in to lengthy contract.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is planning to implement even more draconian snooping powers that previously reported, according to a report in the Telegraph. 

In an astonishing non sequitur, Smith is quoted as saying that communications data of the sort which helped convict Soham killer Ian Huntley and the 21/7 bombers was not at present being routinely stored, and needed to be if terrorists and serious criminals were to be prevented from striking.   So what Smith appears to be saying is that phone call evidence of the type that was used to convict people after committing a crime could be used to collar them before committing a crime.  Now here we have a distinct sense of thoughtcrime.