Sir David Attenborough - a British broadcasting legend

The first draft of this post was intended to be a straight forward review of this year's 'Christmas Books' that Santa saw fit to send my way this festive season. Among the three that he bestowed upon me this year was 'First Life' by David Attenborough and Matt Kaplan. It is the book of the TV mini series of the same name and is a wonderful piece of work. But it got me thinking about the influence David Attenborough has had on my life and after giving it some thought I realised it has been enormous!

Born on 8th May 1926, David joined the BBC in 1952 and rather bizarrely, was initially discouraged from appearing on camera because it was thought that his teeth were too big! His first contribution to the subject of natural history was a three part BBC series called 'The Pattern of Animals' that he presented and produced himself.

My own first recollection of the man was when I started to watch the epic series 'Life on Earth', which brought the incredible variety and beauty of life on earth in all its glory. While Attenborough presented the programmes, it was the animals who were the real stars. One progrmme that I've never forgotten featured the Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda. The way the series introduced the ugly as well as the beautiful, the weird as well as the wonderful was pure genius and it set the standard for natural history broadcasting.

As well as presenting the regular series 'Wildlife on One', the 'Life' series continued with 'The Living Planet'.

This series built on the success of 'Life on Earth' and was based on ecology - the way in which animals adapt to their environment. This was another brilliant series and was followed by 'The Trials of Life' looking at animal behaviour. This  completed the 'Life' trilogy, which was the original intention, but other more specialist series covering all facets of life were to follow. In 1993 he presented 'Life in the Freezer', highlighting the natural history of Antarctica.

A noticeable omission from Attenborough's works up until this point was the world of plants and this was addressed in 'The Private Life of Plants' in 1995. The reason for the reluctance to devote too much air time to plants is that they are essentially immobile objects and tend not to do a great deal. How do you make an hours TV programme depicting unmoving objects and make it entertaining? Well, this problem was tackled brilliantly with the use of groundbreaking time-lapse photography to speed up growth, death and seed dispersal.

Following on from this came 'The Life of Birds' (1998); 'The Life of Mammals' (2002) and 'Life in the Undergrowth' (2005), To complete the story of 'life' 2008 saw the production of 'Life in Cold Blood', focusing on the remaining animal groups of amphibians and reptiles. And that was intended to be that until he realised one final, but major omission - the very beginning of Life on Earth. This thought spawned the ultimate prequel - 'First Life'. Another stunning piece of work, this time brought to 'life' by some magical computer animation.

What is a shame about this series and the superb book that goes with it is that for me, it came a year too late. It would've been invaluable in my recent study of fossils and the history of life with the OU! Nevertheless, reading it now is shedding more light on the mysterious onset of life and is helping me better understand the process of evolution. In fact this book ought to be required reading for the disappointing Darwin course that I've just finished. Or maybe the OU could ask Matt Kaplan to re-write the Darwin and Evolution course book?

Anyway, what fascinates me is the Ediacaran period and the discovery of a group of fossils in pre-cambrian rocks such as Charnia masoni, first discovered in April 1957 in Charnwood Forest by an eleven year old schoolboy called Roger Mason, who ironically attended the same Leicestershire grammar school as Mr Attenborough! What brings this subject to life is some superb animated computer graphics giving an interpretation of what these ancient lifeforms may have looked like all those millions of years ago. Of course no-one really knows what these creatures looked like or how they really lived, but isn't that the case with much of geology? It's all about evidence, interpretation, and the discussion that follows. In this book Attenborough offers all sides of the argument, such as in the pros and cons of the 'Snowball Earth' theory, but leaves it to the reader to make his or her own mind up, which is how it should be.

I really hope the man is eternal because BBC television without David Attenborough is quite unthinkable. Even though he's in his eighty-fifth year, I'm sure there will be a few more gems to come from this genius of broadcasting. Long live David Attenborough - a real 'national treasure' if ever there was one!

Cheers,

Alyn

Cumbrian & Japanese earthquakes - December 21st 2010.

With me half way through a course on the subject of volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis, there has been interesting news this week about earthquakes in Cumbria, England and Japan.

The Cumbrian quake, a relatively modest magnitude 3.5 ML is unlikely to have caused significant damage, but was nevertheless felt throughout Cumbria, in Galloway and southern Scotland. Detailed info can be found at the British Geological Survey website here.

Meanwhile, on the same day, a more potentially destructive quake was experienced in the Bonin Island region of Japan with a magnitude of 7.4 at a depth of 14 kilometers. While we Brits might get excited by an admittedly infrequent but modest 3.5 quake, the Japanese have had to endure an alarming succession of 86, yes, eighty-six quakes between Tuesday 21st and Thursday 23rd December and all of them have been in excess of 4.7! I know aftershocks are likely after any earthquake, but 86? Scary stuff! Take a look at the list of mgnitudes on this website.

This will all be of use later in my course I'm sure.

Cheers for now,

Alyn.

S170: Darwin and Evolution - The Result!

Greetings!

Sorry it has been a while, but what with another Open University course to get to grips with, a ridiculously busy life playing 'taxi' in order to ferry the girls to their umpteen social activities and then TWO WEEKS with the flu (yes, REAL flu not a mythical man-flu!), there has been precious little time for anything else in my cluttered schedule! So much for blogging more in 2010! Sigh!

Anyway, I've mentioned a few times on these pages how uninspired I was by the 'Darwin & Evolution' course, S170. The 10 credit, Level 1, OU course seemed like it would be a good follow up to the truly excellent 'Fossils and the History of Life'. I posted the following feedback onto the OU's website for S170:-

Opinion seems somewhat divided on this course with some really enjoying it and others being decidedly unimpressed. I'm afraid I fall into the latter category. After taking 'Fossils and the History of Life' and loving it, I thought this would be a good follow up course but for some reason it just never 'grabbed' me at all. The enthusiasm was there to begin with and I prepared by reading Darwin's 'On the Origin of Species' on the run up, but the study materials managed to kill off that interest completely.

The main reason I think was because of the lack of printed course book. The need to be constantly switching between the online course materials and the set book '99% Ape' was very inconvenient and meant I never got into a settled study routine. I found '99% Ape' to be horribly disjointed and frankly, dull and needs a radical re-write in my opinion!

Also, the well intentioned snail 'megalab' study just did not work in practice. Unlike many, I did manage to find lots of snails, but frustratingly few if any suitable samples to compare them with in my area, which rendered the whole thing a bit farcical. The OU needs to seriously rethink this study in future presentations.

Unlike the period following each of my previous courses, I have no idea if I have passed this course at all, which I think says it all.

I don't think I was being overly harsh either. I really didn't have a clue whether I had properly grasped the material and done enough to pass the course. Last Friday however, I found to my relief that I did manage a good PASS. Hoorah!

Frustratungly, the OU no longer gives a numerical mark for these short science courses, prefering to give a simple, brief indication as to how well you have achieved various 'Key Learning Outcomes'. Now I really hate this modern politically correct tosh - give me a damned percentage mark any day! But at least I did manage 'Well Achieved' in every category except one where I nevertheless achieved 'Achieved', if you follow me? So, I would appear that, despite not enjoyimng this course as much as previous ones, I did manage a very good pass and its another 10m credits in the bag towards a degree, making 80 in total so far!

Not that I will end up with a BSc in Geosciences any more. Oh no, the OU in its infinite wisdom has decided to scrap named degrees in science subjects and are intent on lumping them together under the umbrella called 'Natural Sciences'. While the content of my degree can be made up predominantly of Geology and Earth Science modules, the degree I will be awarded will be 'BSc in Natural Sciences'. Hmm, not at all convinced this is a great idea. It seems a retrograde step to me and from what I hear on the grapevine, there is a move to get the OU to rethink this decision. Fingers crossed, because if there's anything that will push me towards doing a degree at Derby University in preference to the OU it is the fact that I can get a GEOLOGY degree at Derby! Come on Open University - think about it!?!

Time to get on with Volcanoes, earthquakes and Tsunamis. Fascinating stuff and more on this one later!

Cheers for now!

Alyn.

Education - it's a wonderful thing!

After finally getting the less than inspiring 'S170: Darwin & Evolution' course out of the way, I'm now already into the next challenge, which is another 10 credit, Science Short Course entitled S186: Volcanoes, Earthquakes and Tsunamis. And what a cracking course this promises to be!

The leader of this particular module is none other than David Rothery, the volcanologist whose talk I attended last month at the Open University Open Day to mark 40 years of Earth Sciences courses at the OU. (Click here for my post about it)

After witnessing David's talk about his media involvement during the Icelandic volcanic dust storm crisis, it became a 'must do' from that point on. The man is clearly passionate about his subject, but doesn't take himself too seriously. One interview he did for ITV News in particular needs to be seen! Click here to view it. Watch out for the amazing disappearing car! My wife Ruth, doesn't seem to understand quite why I find it so hilarious, but it tickled me, but then, I'm easily amused as Ruth will tell you!

I only received the course materials last weekend, but I'm already hooked in a way that I never was by the Darwin course. It's all down to the style of writing I think. Ruth, who is an English graduate (with FIRST CLASS HONOURS I hasten to add) would be able to explain exactly how and why the writing was so dull and uninspiring on that course and how in just a few opening paragraphs of this new course I am totally hooked! It's not as if I wasn't interested in 'evolution' either. I started off keen enough, but the dullness of the course book killed off the enthusiasm entirely, which was a shame!

Anyway, I mustn't dwell on the negative, but concentrate on the delights of 'volcanoes' and already some long held misconceptions have come to light and been soundly kicked into touch. Firstly, I've always been led to believe that the earth's crust lies above a viscous but generally liquid mantle. Plates move about over considerable lengths of time, moving apart at constructive boundaries and moving together at destructive boundaries but by and large, it's pretty much liquid down there. WRONG! The very first sentence of the opening chaper of the course set text 'Teach Yourself Volcanoes, Earthquakes and Tsunamis', by the course leader states:

"It is a common misconception that the interior of the Earth is molten".

Er, yes indeed. Oops! But then as I read on it becomes obvious that it simply cannot be. Pressure, obviously, ensures that despite it's heat, most of the rock in the mantle is in fact solid. Hmmm!

Secondly, regarding plate tectonics, Mr Rothery drops this bombshell on page 11:

"it is important to be clear that these tectonic plates are not rafts of crust moving over the mantle. The Earth's crust is firmly joined to the part of the mantle immediately below it".

That was a bit of a revelation too in that the top 100 km or so of the mantle is just as strong as the crust and is joined to the crust to make a single 'mechanical layer'. Interesting stuff!

Third eye opener concerned the next layer down, that of the lower mantle. This layer it turns out while not rigid, is neverhteless solid and yet slowly circulates at a rate of a few centimetres per year. Now this is a difficult concept to grasp but a good analogy is to compare the rock of the lower mantle with say, a slab of Devon toffee! Okay, a bit bizarre, but stay with me okay? Now, put the slab in the fridge for a while and it will be hard enough to shatter if whalloped with a hammer. Go on try it if you've got a spare slab lying around! However, if you leave another slab in the fridge with slightly less than half its length overhanging the fridge shelf and leave it for a few months, it will eventually bend over the shelf. Okay, I've not actually tried this myself - there's little or no chance for a slab of toffee surviving for long enough in my house antway, but I'm told it does work! Anyway, my point is that, yes the toffee is obviously solid, but will still bend if given sufficient time. So it is with the rock that makes up the lower mantle which is subject to what is called 'solid state convection'.

And all this is even before the course (or 'module' as the OU now like to call them) officially starts on Saturday 13th! And I haven't even mentioned 'cowpat bombs' yet!?! Maybe next time dear friends!

Cheers for now!
Alyn.

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Flamborough Head - August 2010

Well, it's taken a while, but I finally persuaded Anna to download the photographs she took on our brief visit to Flamborough Head while on holiday in Lincolnshire back in early August.

So, Flamborough Head is located off the east coast of England, north-east of the coastal town of Bridlington. My family and I started this particular day with a visit to the rather disappointingly sad spectacle of Scarborough, a place which rather reminded me of Blackpool 'up north' - all a bit run down and desperately trying to return to it's former glory days of the fifties and sixties. I kinda felt that these types of seaside holiday resort need to reinvent themselves somehow. The days of donkey rides and 'Kiss me Quick' hats are long gone I think!

Anyway, our detour to Flamborough was the highlight of the day - for me at least! For those wishing to visit, there is plenty of parking space available near the lighthouse and access to the chalk cliffs is possible down some scarily steep and slightly uneven steps, but it's worth the effort, trust me!

'Yours truly' with the stacks and cliffs of Upper Cretaceous chalk at Flamborough Head

The photo of me was taken by this lovely person, my step-daughter Anna-Ruth. The equally lovely Amy, her younger sister, declined the opportunity to descend the steep steps and stayed up top with her mum!

Anna-Ruth by the way, studied for a GCSE in Geography virtually on her own. The teaching for this subject seemed pretty rubbish in truth, so it's to her enormous credit that she passed it so well! On our walk down the steps (see later photo!) she proudly pointed to the stack and told me all about its formation, so there's definitely a potential geologist deep within her! She currently has her heart set on drama, but you never know!

Now here's a thought . . . she could forget drama and do a Geology degree instead! We could even study at the same time on the same course? How cool would that be? Actually, to the average teenager, that would probably be the most embarrassing thing ever! In a classroom with their 'old man'!?! OMG!!!

'Nature' - the worlds greatest sculpter!

Anyway, I digress. The most striking thing about Flamborough is the distinctly layered chalk cliffs and their associated features. The great accumulation of tiny, fossilised sea life that make up this rock took place some 70 - 90 million years ago. The classic stack shown above, formed comparatively quickly over thousands of years. Constant battering of the now exposed rock by the waves, erodes weak areas in the rock eventually creating caves. Where this occurs on an area jutting out into the sea the cave will eventually break through to form an arch. With further erosion the roof can collapse to form an isolated lump of rock - the stack shown above.

Another view of the stack, chalk cliffs and glacial till above.

Above the chalk cliffs lies a layer of glacial till which is a layer of deposits left behind by a glacier during the last ice age.

I have since learnt that there is a fine example of an arch here, I think on the far right  in the above photo, though from our view point we couldn't see through it!

Layered chalk cliff at Flamborough Head.

See what I mean? Scary steps, but solid and safe enough!

Okay, now this is where I need some help. Maybe in 'x' years time after I've actually done my geology degree, the answer to this will be more obvious, but I am currently a bit puzzled by this photo. Throughout the cliffs, the chalk layers are either horizontal or dipping about 10 degrees or so. Here however, at the bottom of the steps there is this section which seems to fold upwards as can be seen at lower right of the photo. At the upper middle of the photo the beds are at about 80 degrees from horizontal! So whats gone on here? Seems a quite localised fold that's quite out of step with the surrounding features!?! Answers on a postcard to . . . .

Me looking for fossils but not finding anything significant - or even insignificant for that matter!

Beautiful! Anna obviously, not the layered chalk and dipping beds! Obviously!

So there you have it. The geological delight that is Flamborough Head - go visit next time you are on the east coast!

Cheers for now,

Alyn.