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Plastic-eating fungi found in the Amazon
Well.... it was bound to happen sooner or later....
A group of students and professors from Yale University have found a fungi in the Amazon rainforest that can degrade and utilize the common plastic polyurethane (PUR). As part of the university’s Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory educational program, designed to engage undergraduate students in discovery-based research, the group searched for plants and cultured the micro-organisms within their tissue.
Several active organisms were identified, including two distinct isolates of Pestalotiopsis microspora with the ability to efficiently degrade and utilize PUR as the sole carbon source when grown anaerobically, a unique observation among reported PUR biodegradation activities. Polyurethane is a big part of our mounting waste problem and this is a new possible solution for managing it. The fungi can survive on polyurethane alone and is uniquely able to do so in an oxygen-free environment. The Yale University team has published its findings in the article ‘Biodegradation of Polyester Polyurethane by Endophytic Fungi’ for the Applied and Environmental Microbiology journal.
With thanks to David Carey for the link and Follow the Money
Plastic-eating fungi found in the Amazon
A group of students and professors from Yale University have found a fungi in the Amazon rainforest that can degrade and utilize the common plastic polyurethane (PUR). As part of the university’s Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory educational program, designed to engage undergraduate students in discovery-based research, the group searched for plants and cultured the micro-organisms within their tissue.Several active organisms were identified, including two distinct isolates of Pestalotiopsis microspora with the ability to efficiently degrade and utilize PUR as the sole carbon source when grown anaerobically, a unique observation among reported PUR biodegradation activities. Polyurethane is a big part of our mounting waste problem and this is a new possible solution for managing it. The fungi can survive on polyurethane alone and is uniquely able to do so in an oxygen-free environment. The Yale University team has published its findings in the article ‘Biodegradation of Polyester Polyurethane by Endophytic Fungi’ for the Applied and Environmental Microbiology journal.
With thanks to David Carey for the link and Follow the Money
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN SCIENCE
New I .C. Society
The British Society for Social Responsibility in Science was formed two years ago by scientists who were dissatisfied with some of the things science and technology are doing to the world we live in, and who wanted to do something about it. Since then, many good things have happened.
There have been conferences, meetings and campaigns to get "establishment" organisations like the British Association for the Advancement of Science to take social consequences more seriously.
Partly because of the Society's formation, people are now talking far more realistically about the effects of technology on our environment.
Now there is to be an "Imperial College Society for Social Responsibility in Science", an autonomous branch of the national society. There will be a lively series of meetings with guest speakers such as Kit Pedler, writer of 'Doomwatch' Prof. Colin Cherry and Jerry Ravetz. The first meeting will be on October 26th at 7.00 p.m. in Mech. Eng. 342. Also this term there will be a series of special discussions under the general title of 'Science and Technology in the 3rd World', starting October 19th in Physics S.C.R. at 6.00 p.m. Everyone is very welcome to all these meetings.
Original article by Peter Elphick.
IN SEARCH OF THE ESTATE OF WRITER JOHN GOULD
With the recent exciting news of a script book covering Six of the missing Doomwatch episodes, now would be a good time to search for the estate of the late DOOMWATCH writer, John Gould. John, real name (John Gerard Muirhead-Gould), was the son of
an Admiral who died when he was just a boy. He scripted Enquiry for DOOMWATCH and should another script book appear, the publishers would very much like to feature his work. So, if you you know of any of his relatives, please get in touch with us here
TWO NEW DOOMWATCH BOOKS - RELEASE DATE CONFIRMED
PROPHETS OF DOOM
(ISBN: 9781908630117)
Prophets of Doom is the definitive guide to the BBC TV Series Doomwatch created by Kit Pedler & Gerry David and broadcast from 1970 to 1972.
In February 1970, one of the most important television drama programmes from the 1970s was broadcast on BBC1. Not only did it introduce a new word to the English language, it also brought to a mainstream audience of ten million viewers each week the new, emerging idea of the scientists' moral and ethical responsibility in society. This was Doomwatch, a visionary science fiction series which took scientific research and technological advances and imagined where they could go disastrously wrong if greed, politics or simple ambition won over caution. This was drama with a message. And it was heard. The fears of the Sixties: over-population, test-tube babies, super-sonic aircraft, DDT, the Bomb, all found expression in Doomwatch.
Launching the career of actor Robert Powell, Doomwatch entertained and thrilled its audience with concepts such as a plastic eating virus, animal hearts transplanted into children, toxic chemical dumps, cannibal rats, the surveillance state, noise that can kill, food poisoned by drugs and chemicals, and by the end of its first successful series, the ultimate horror: a nuclear bomb washed up underneath a seaside pier, its countdown ticking down to claim the life of one of the celebrated Doomwatch team.
It was conceived by a research scientist and a television dramatist, Dr. Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, who had previously devised the Cybermen for Doctor Who. With Doomwatch, they soon became famous for creating seemingly prophetic storylines in which the media eagerly found parallels in real life. Were the writers of Doomwatch prophets of doom or simply scaremongering popularists?
The programme divided the scientific and political establishment into those who thought the programme was a much needed and timely warning and tried to do something about it, and those who thought it was a naive, reactionary piece of trivial, and ignorant television. Dr. Kit Pedler actively tried to create a real-life Doomwatch, and was at the beginnings of the alternative technology movement in Britain and did his own experiments on creating ecologically sound housing and develop a new way of living in a modern society without destroying the habitat or regressing back to the stone age. With contributions from the family of Dr. Kit Pedler, Darrol Blake, Jean Trend, Glyn Edwards, Martin Worth, Adele Winston, Eric Hills, and others, this book will tell the proper story of Doomwatch both on and off the screen, how it was made, the true story behind the stories, the controversies, the back stage bust-ups, and how the programme inspired those who looked around the world in which they had been conditioned to accept, and begin to question.
DEADLY DANGEROUS TOMORROW (ISBN: 9781908630209)
Deadly Dangerous Tomorrow is a compilation of six scripts for episodes from the legendary 1970s BBC drama series Doomwatch which no longer exist in the BBC's archives as they were considered to be of no further commercial value.
Doomwatch is a team of government scientists who investigate current scientific and technological research which could prove hazardous to Mankind. Unloved by industry and governments alike, it is headed by the Nobel Prize winning physicist Dr. Spencer Quist, a man who never forgot that he was one of those who had helped to create the first atomic bomb. His crusade was to prevent a deadly, dangerous tomorrow...
The SIX missing episode scripts included in this volume are:
Spectre at the Feast by Terence Dudley
Dr. Quist convenes an anti-pollution conference in the luxurious Jayson's Hotel but some of the delegates begin to fall ill and experience terrifying hallucinations. Food poisoning? Or are they being targeted by one of the worst polluters in the country: Newington Chemicals?
Fire and Brimstone by Terence Dudley
The strain of preventing environmental catastrophe in the face of governmental indifference proves too much for Dr. John Ridge and he suffers from what appears to be a nervous breakdown. He steals phials of anthrax from Porton Down and tries to shock the Governments of the world into acting now before it is too late.
High Mountain by Martin Worth
Doomwatch is finished and Dr. Quist is facing an uncertain future. He receives an offer to spend a weekend with the family of a rich industrialist in Scotland where he receives an extraordinary job offer, one with much power. But with it comes a catch, and Quist has to rely on help from a very unlikely source.
Say Knife, Fat Man by Martin Worth
A consignment of plutonium is hijacked and all the evidence points to London gangsters in league with a foreign power wanting nuclear weapons. Or is that what they are meant to think? Who else would want to build a nuclear bomb in the heart of England?
Deadly Dangerous Tomorrow by Martin Worth
A family of sick Asians, recently smuggled into the country, are found squatting in a tent in St James Park, next to Buckingham Palace. Who is behind this appalling publicity stunt and what connection does it have with an American mission to ban the pesticide D.D.T.?
Flood by Ian Curteis
Two flood warnings over two successive nights in London is more than just a coincidence and Doomwatch are ordered by the Minister to explore every possibility in just a couple of hours. Is this a natural or a man-made phenomena? As London is put on full Flood Alert, the problem for Quist and the team appears to be that the Minister already knows the answer.
These stories from the first and third series of Doomwatch are the only way to enjoy the episodes which no longer exist in the BBC archives. They have been constructed from a mixture of rehearsal and camera scripts along with notable camera directions giving a flavour of what the episodes may have looked like on transmission.. High Mountain appears as both rehearsal and camera scripts since many changes were made during the transition. Each story comes with a set of footnotes, explaining the background and references that would have been familiar to viewers of the time. Also included are extracts from promotional material for the third series written by Terence Dudley, and letters by Martin Worth. Author profits from the sale of Deadly Dangerous Tomorrow will be donated to the East Anglian Air Ambulance service.
About the Author
Michael Seely's love affair with the Doomwatch series is over twenty years old and he is a regular contributor to www.doomwatch.org, the only Doomwatch appreciation site on the web. In his time he has worked as an English second language teacher in Asia, attempted a degree and has worked in a variety of jobs where a real-life Doomwatch investigation would not have gone amiss. He is married with two children. Michael is currently researching an authorised biography of the originator of Doomwatch, and author of The Quest For Gaia, Dr. Kit Pedler, also available from Miwk Publishing.
THE PARTNERS IN A FIRM OF SCIENTIFIC CONSULTANTS
The online BBC Archive is a wonderful place. One of the gems uploaded is a two page document detailing the requirement of Saturday teatime sci-fi drama which details the beginnings of an idea that eventually formed as Doctor Who. Within this document from 29th March 1963C.E. Webber provides details of another series he'd like to see called "The Troubleshooters" which was never produced. It shares more than a nod to Doomwatch.
They are a kind of firm which does not exist at present,
being an extension of today's industrial consultant into the scientific era. We
are in a time which is not specified but which is felt to be just a bit ahead
of the present; but the wonder is introduced into today’s environment. You can check it out here
The 70s : Doomwatch 9pm Monday 23rd April 2012
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| Screencap from the first programme "Get it on 70-72" |
With thanks to Tony Darbyshire
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| Screencap from the second programme "Doomwatch 73-74" |
New DOOMWATCH related book: - The Quest for Pedler
The Life and Ideas of Dr Kit Pedler written by Michael Seely
Fans of DOOMWATCH are being spoiled with the release of not just one but two books written by Michael Seely. The Quest for Pedler, will be of interest to both fans of DOOMWATCH and DOCTOR WHO. It's unbelievable that no-one has ever thought to produce a book before covering this iconic scientist's huge body of work. With Gerry Davis, the real-life scientist Kit gave the world the Cybermen and DOOMWATCH and championed environmental concerns throughout his life and even conducted a scientific study of the Paranormal. More information from the publishers can be found here.
The Quest for Pedler will arrive on book shelves sometime in 2013.
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