Pollen, EU Brexit vote and Syrian Chemical attack

Left airborne pollens (pink) and dust (other irregular bits) taken from car roof in April 2014. Large pink pollen grains are probably Ash, smaller ones, Birch. Right, six different insect carried pollens from top to bottom, left to right: Apple; Hollyhock, Geranium, Venus fly trap, Lily, Unknown.

Rampant plant sex causes hayfever attack, explanation. EU Parliament votes on their Brexit strategy. Syrian gas attack, who is most likely to blame and consequences.

Today, I suffered from unfortunate side effect of indiscriminate, rampant sex. Not on my part, but rather plants, causing hayfever, of which more below. I battled through with Bulletin edits and some emails till having to crash in bed for the afternoon, exhausted from sneezing almost continuously.

Considerate plants are generally those with visible, colourful flowers. They rely on insects to collect their pollen, deliberately or accidentally, and deliver it from one flower to another. Some lovely examples of their pollen can be seen in the panel of six images top right. Their pollen is sticky and does not get into the air.

Inconsiderate plants, including many native trees from hazel, ash, birch and pines, and practically all of the grasses, simply shed vast quantities of their pollen to drift in the wind, relying on chance that at least a few pollen grains will land on the right plant to fertilise. These are the ones that become the bane of our lives by causing hayfever.

Plants, understandably, want to ensure that they are only fertilised by pollen from the same species. In fact, some are so picky, that they want to protect against potential incest and will only be fertilised by different members of the same species, rather than by themselves or very close relatives growing nearby.

Pollen grains are therefore coated with a fine layer of proteins that very specifically signal where that pollen comes from and who it will be compatible with. Unfortunately, these protein signals are also identified in us hayfever sufferers as being foreign. When we breathe in pollens through our noses, our bodies react as if these were foreign invaders, like cold viruses, and try to get rid of them - hence the runny noses and sneezes. Another defence response is inflammation - which gives us the itchy eyes.

Because the pollen proteins are unique for a particular plant species, we can develop hayfever that is specific to just one or a few plant species. I haven't been tested, so unfortunately, I only know that I'm probably allergic to one of the tree pollens that starts spreading in April, possibly beech. Oh, and also a grass in the summer - and also dust mites. My hayfever tablets keep this under control 95% of the time, but sometimes the allergen load is so high, I get days where I'm severely hit, like today.

The EU Parliament voted and passed its proposed negotiation stance: Phased negotiations, with exit talks first, followed by trade negotiations, rather than the parallel negotiation preferred by the UK; Transition conditions to not exceed three years; and keeping open the option for individual UK citizens to apply to keep EU rights.

The rising outrage about the chemical attack in Syria on the village of Khan Sheikhoun reached both the White House and United Nations, It prompted President Trump to say his mind had been changed on the Syrian regime and its Russian backed President Bashar al-Assad. The U.S. Permanent Representative, Nikki Haley, was quite outspoken at the U.N. Security Council, holding up pictures of gassed children to the Russian Representative.

The West blames Syria for dropping chemical bombs, the Russians say that conventional bombs were dropped on a rebel chemical bomb store or  factory. According to New Scientist, The latter explanation is unlikely. Sarin degrades rapidly, so is usually stored in a binary form. The amount generated and released by a bomb strike would be low. Furthermore, it says:

"Moreover, if Syrian air strikes released the agent by accidentally hitting an enemy cache, they were improbably lucky, as they managed to do the same thing at three separate locations in the area within 24 hours: SAMS reports two attacks on nearby villages the previous day that produced fewer casualties but with similar symptoms."

see https://www.newscientist.com/article/2126905-syria-chemical-attack-looks-like-nerve-gas-and-was-no-accident/

The UN Security Council did not even come to a vote (Russia has a veto and would have used it). As I stated yesterday, it is the gathering and accumulation of evidence for future trials that will bring results in the long run. In the meantime, even President Trump acknowledges that Regime change in Syria is currently unlikely. Meanwhile , it is the civilians who will continue to suffer.