what I have learned today.

[hatler]

Uuurgghh rurrrgh.  Nggghhh ?

[jsabine]

Uuuurrrrrggggh nnnnrrrrggggh!

Oh, sorry. The Archers thread is thataway >>>>

[Basil]

Thanks to Svante Pääbo, I now know that very roughly half the Neanderthal genome has so far been found to be still floating around - in us. And the more people are tested, the more is found.

My mind is boggled.

A fascinating program.   Amazing  that new hominids are being identified even when they have  left no physical trace.  Only residual non-modern human DNA still surviving in isolated clusters.

[Bledlow]

Yeah. Impressive enough that a test to see whether a bone was us or Neanderthal could find a completely unexpected new type of human, so we now know of a type of human which was definitely distinct, but which we know nothing about the appearance of, it being known only from a couple of teeth & a bone or two. And then the 'no physical trace' ones - wow!

The discussion of Neanderthal populations & genetic diversity or lack of was also fascinating. What did they think they were? Cheetahs?

A proper Horizon. I liked it a lot. Now I have some reading to do.

[David Martin]

Damn - missed it. I'm good friends with Janet Kelso, one of the bioinformatics group leaders in Pääbo's department. Have to get it on iPlayer.

[Torslanda]

That it's 50 years since the Aberfan disaster.

[Bledlow]

Damn - missed it. I'm good friends with Janet Kelso, one of the bioinformatics group leaders in Pääbo's department. Have to get it on iPlayer.

She's in it.

[Paul]

That it's 50 years since the Aberfan disaster.

I only caught the last 3 minutes of the programme last night (The Young Wives' Club) but I was in tears at the final scene. I found it on +1 and recorded it. I'll watch when I'm feeling strong.

[Kim]

That it's 50 years since the Aberfan disaster.

I wonder how many people of my age or younger have even heard of it?

I only became aware when it came up in a Geography lesson at GCSE.  It must be prehistoric for the younger generations.  I suppose the same can probably be said for coal mining.

[Wombat]

I was 14, and remember arriving at my grandmother's house and finding her in tears, in a terrible state, being quite reasonably upset by what had happened to all those unsuspecting children.  From what I gathered at the time (I've not remotely studied the subject) it was another corporate carelessness job, leavened with a lack of knowledge about watercourses or something.

Whatever, it should be a lesson for the future.

[ElyDave]

A Welsh university lecturer with a bent for process safety.  One of those sad case studies that every chemical engineer should learn about.

Along with
Bhopal
Alexander Keilland
Piper Alpha
Seveso
Texas City
Feyzin
Deepwater Horizon
... (unfortunately we keep repeating these)

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Reviewing engineering failures is part of the first year of engineering courses in Oz. I hadn't come across Aberfan before now, not unexpectedly. Also not too surprising that it made a big impression in the UK.

[hatler]

Flixborough too.

[David Martin]

Alexander Kielland was an interesting case. My father lost a number of friends that day. It certainly had an impact on testing and certification.

[Legs]

Ronan Point is one of the big ones for us structural engineers.

[T42]

I remember that. Quite a kerfuffle it caused.

[Torslanda]

That it's 50 years since the Aberfan disaster.

I only caught the last 3 minutes of the programme last night (The Young Wives' Club) but I was in tears at the final scene. I found it on +1 and recorded it. I'll watch when I'm feeling strong.

The thing that struck me was the stoicism demonstrated by the residents and rescue workers. One guy was asked a question by a young reporter and replied his mother was 'probably in there' before going back to digging. Another man interviewed said he was looking for his son, his daughter had already been found safe.

Difficult to watch, can only thank the stars and hope to never have that experience.

[Canardly]

That is a day I will never forget. I was delivering morning newspapers carrying the Aberfan headlines and came across a BISF (British Iron and Steel) house roaring in flame and watched the asbestos roof explode. (Occupant had been smoking in bed). I was 13.

[matthew]

Reviewing engineering failures is part of the first year of engineering courses in Oz. I hadn't come across Aberfan before now, not unexpectedly. Also not too surprising that it made a big impression in the UK.

I had the same in 2000 as part of the first year of my chem eng course, 'what happens if we make a mistake'. Buildings blown out, Piper Alpha, Bhopal etc. were all part of it.

Texas City was while I was post grad as was Bunsfield.

They were all examples of doing things without full thought or full quality control during construction. Most of the fatalities at Texas City would have been avoided by following protocol and telling next door what you were about to do, the meeting would have been held elsewhere. Though the route cause of the incident is more involved the consequences would have been much reduced.

[Jakob W]

Adding to the list: DH Comet, Liberty ship hull failures. We had examples brought up through the various modules on my aero eng degree, but I always thought a second- or final-year seminar course on engineering failures would be a useful introduction to engineering practice; get given a classic case study to read up on and discuss every week.

[hatler]

The shuttle's tiles ?  One of our Uni lecturers was involved with sticking them on, or perhaps was consulted when they had failed to stick on.

[Quisling]

A Welsh university lecturer with a bent for process safety.  One of those sad case studies that every chemical engineer should learn about.

Along with
Bhopal
Alexander Keilland
Piper Alpha
Seveso
Texas City
Feyzin
Deepwater Horizon
... (unfortunately we keep repeating these)

Seveso was so important that there's an entire EU Directive named after it.  "The Directive is widely considered as a benchmark for industrial accident policy and has been a role model for legislation in many countries world-wide."[http://ec.europa.eu/environment/seveso/index.htm]
The production director of the Seveso chemical plant was subsequently shot and killed by a terrorist organisation.  This incident led to much of our current understanding of the dangers of dioxins.

Back OT, I learned about the structure of the foot in a dissection programme on BBC4 last night.  Gross, but fascinating.

[T42]

Reviewing engineering failures is part of the first year of engineering courses in Oz. I hadn't come across Aberfan before now, not unexpectedly. Also not too surprising that it made a big impression in the UK.

Similar in development to the Shenzen landslide last December.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Shenzhen_landslide

[Cudzoziemiec]

That cardinals over 80 do not have the right to vote for the next pope. At present only 111 of the 211 cardinals are entitled to take part in a conclave, which means if Francis were to die right now, they'd have to do something special: they need a minimum of 121 voters to choose a pope.

[Mr Larrington]

That cardinals over 80 do not have the right to vote for the next pope. At present only 111 of the 211 cardinals are entitled to take part in a conclave, which means if Francis were to die right now, they'd have to do something special: they need a minimum of 121 voters to choose a pope.

God will provide