Scientific consequences of the wreck of the “Torrey Canyon”

Summary 1. The re-deployment of the resources of the Plymouth Laboratory required to observe the consequences of the Torrey Canyon disaster were described. Some excerpts were taken from the report (Smith 1968) to be published by the Marine Biological Association of U. K. on 18 March, 1968.2. Field studies were made at sea and on the polluted shores, as well as laboratory studies of the toxicity of the detergents employed to disperse the oil.3. The drift of the oil, established by aerial reconnaissance, was found to be directly ahead of the wind at 3.3 % of the wind speed.4. Now that the 3.3 % factor has been established by direct observation at sea, a limited aerial survey of the area where the oil was predicted to be would have been of more value than the blanket survey of a limited area close to the coast.5. When known, strong surface currents should be added vectorially to the calculated wind-drift. Two examples are quoted, one explaining the differences between calculated drift and the drift observed by the French while oil was northwest of Ushant. The results in the Helgoland Bight were compared.6. The value of craie de Champagne used by the French to sink the oil at sea and the possible part played by the phagotrophic flagellate,Noctiluca miliaris, were discussed.7. Implications of the Torrey Canyon disaster affecting international law and enforcement were developed. The need was stated for an international fire brigade ready to deal with pollution of the sea by an accident on the high seas or on a coast.

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Wissenschaftliche Konsequenzen des Schiffsunglücks der Torrey Canyon

Kurzfassung Einige Gesichtspunkte ozeanographischer und biologischer Untersuchungen, die unmittelbar nach dem Auflaufen des Öltankers Torrey Canyon im Englischen Kanal (März 1967) in Angriff genommen worden sind, werden geschildert. Unter anderem werden die Ölverdriftung durch Wind und Fragen der Toxizität der Detergentien, welche zur Dispergierung des ausgelaufenen Öls benutzt wurden, behandelt. Im Großeinsatz hat sich französische Kreide (craie de Champagne) als besonders wirksam erwiesen. Die Beteiligung von Mikroorganismen und des FlagellatenNoctiluca miliaris beim Ölabbau wird diskutiert. Auf eine zusammenfassende, von der Marine Biological Association herausgegebene Darstellung der wissenschaftlichen Ergebnisse, welche nach dem Tankerunglück erarbeitet worden sind, wird hingewiesen.

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The two papers which I presented at the International Symposium 1967 of the Biologische Anstalt Helgoland were not scientific papers in the usual sense but news reports of much interest only at the time. The colour photographs had all been lent by colleagues. Seven of these in black and white, have been published in Penn ar Bed which contains the article byBrusson (1967). Close counterparts of others are appearing in the Plymouth Report (Smith 1968). There seems no point in duplicate publication. The appearance of the Breton publication Penn ar Bed (in French) and further information has made it possible to add to some of the interim reports. The paper byBrusson (1967) has been especially useful. It has been thought better to give the latest views rather than a verbatim account from the tape recordings taken at the Symposium. The two addresses given at the Symposium have therefore been combined and condensed and then developed with the help of new material.     

“Neutral theory” and the dynamics of the evolution of “Modern” human morphology

There is a widespread assumption, even among those who reject the Synthetic Theory of Evolution, that the form of “modern”Homo sapiens is somehow superior to that of archaicHomo sapiens (Tattersall 2000). Those who accept the general outlook of evolutionary biology also tend to assume that “modern” form emerged because it was selected for, which also implies that it was better than that which preceded it. However, after years of using craniofacial measurements to compare human populations, I finally came to realize that, with only a few exceptions, the dimensions measured have no relation to differences in adaptation (Brace 1989, 1996, 2000; Brace et al., 1993). Elsewhere the conclusion has been supported that what is shown by craniometrics is selectively neutral on the average (Relethford 2002). With the documentation that approximately 95% of the genome is not functional, molecular genetics has proved to be useful in documenting the length of time of separation of related human populations by investigating the differences that have accumulated in the neutral parts of the genome. Not surprisingly, the picture revealed by the study of genetic differences is very similar to the one revealed by the study of craniometric differences (Brace et al., 2001). For this reason, the logic behind the “neutral theory” in molecular genetics is very similar to that applied to what happens to morphological characteristics when selection ceases (Brace 1963; Kimura 1968). The difference is that random changes in the neutral part of the genome have no other consequences. However, random changes in the genes that produce specific aspects of morphology will be visible even when selection is no longer controlling the particular trait in question. From an assessment of what random changes in genes controlling morphological traits are likely to do, it follows that the most likely change will probably be a reduction in the trait in question, i.e. the Probable Mutation Effect will produce structural reduction. When survival in the temperate zone during the last glaciation dependend on “obligatory cooking”, one of the unintended consequences was a reduction in the selective pressures maintaining a Middle Pleistocene-sized dentition. The result was a gradual reduction in tooth size and a conversion, of a Neanderthal-sized face into one of “modern” dimensions. The manufacture and use of string for snares and nets similarly reduced the selective pressures maintaining post-cranial levels of robustness and muscularity. The reduction in the latter resulted in the emergence of moderm post-cranial robustness out of what had been a Neanderthal level,in situ wherever the technology can be documented and without any need for invasions and replacements.     

The Study of Children’s Play within the Context of Cultural-Historical Psychology: Experience and Prospects

The paper reconstructs the history of the problem of mental development using material from children’s play. This study shows how researchers in the school of cultural-historical psychology identified the developmental function of play, established a qualitative leap in its development and attempted to re-create it, beginning with the works of L.S. Vygotsky, then of his followers (the activity-based approach in the interpretation of narrative role-playing: A.N. Leontiev, D.B. Elkonin, N.Ia. Mikhailenko, N.A. Korotkova, etc.), and, finally, of the researchers who studied a specific act of development in play (L.I. El’koninova, T.V. Bazhanova, K.O. Iur’eva). This research presents the view that the concept of the cultural form of play, containing a Challenge (defined by the boundaries of the possibilities of action and by risk) and the subsequent Response is the basis not only of narrative role-playing but also of games with rules, as well as computer games. The Challenge entails action that changes the action situation; it typifies all forms of play, which are supposed to tie together what is disjointed in a child’s daily life into a semantic knot.