Hair Today and Cyber Security

Stegosaurus displayed at the Natural History Museum, London, UK

Workshop at the Natural History Museum; Cyber security.

A trip to London can be a little adventure - as long as its not the daily commute. That's how I felt as I took the train from Waterbeach to spend the day at the Natural History Museum. Whilst the morning was Quekett Microscopical Club committee business, the afternoon involved co-sharing a workshop on animal hairs and feathers with Dennis Fullwood. After a brief introduction, the delegates were let loose and descended on the numerous samples from animals as diverse as peacock and mammoth. 

A box of cheap 3d glasses, as used by cinemas, had arrived on Thursday. These were dismantled at the workshop, with the lenses scavenged as convenient polarising filters. Hair glows against a black background if viewed between crossed polars. Thin hairs appear white, medium hairs show a rainbow of colours. The colors are a function of the thickness of the hair and can cover a full spectrum from yellow at the outer borders of the hair through red, green and to blue at the central core. Dennis demonstrated a technique from the late 1800's - making dry cells for mounting samples in air using card, artists PVA and cover slips. amongst his samples were the coronal feathers from a peacock - very small compared to the tail feathers, but equally beautiful.

Book recommendation of the day, prompting a kindle purchase - The Man Who Ate the Zoo: Frank Buckland, forgotten hero of natural history. It will have to wait till I finish the Sherlock Holmes compendium and 'Watching the English'.

Came back happy but tired that the event had gone well.

On Brexit, EU Chief Jean Claude Juncker has apparently said in an interview, that it may be difficult to retain EU unity during Brexit if Britain picks of countries individually for trade negotiations, Security begins to take over news from NHS problems, There is talk of updating cyber security legislation to match the modern world of social media and the internet - and including additional measures against those revealing and disseminating confidential information. This against an apparent backdrop of several thousand hacking attacks per day, some of these being of major concern.

Whilst the Trump ban ban rumbles on, apparently there has been more vigorous activity by the US immigration department in actively deporting immigrants with criminal convictions.