News & Media

August 2010
Director's Corner: Double, double, oil and trouble…

"Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our caldron.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble…"
Macbeth

No sooner than the initial capping of the Macondo well in the Gulf was completed that cheers erupted everywhere; no new oil would be gushing from so far below the ocean surface. Wonderful! But almost immediately this news was followed by the upbeat appraisal in the press that the spill wasn’t as bad as we had originally thought it might be. Why? Because the slick was rapidly disappearing from the ocean surface – evaporating into the atmosphere. Also – the anticipated onslaught of tar balls and sludge that had at first ominously threatened the Gulf coastline had not materialized. In other words, the seriousness of this event was being judged by what was immediately obvious on the basis of a cursory, surface evaluation of the event. Even the US federal government responded – just yesterday – by re-opening a large percentage of the Gulf fishing grounds.

Would that the 200 million gallons of crude oil and the associated chemical dispersants actually dissipated so readily! Unfortunately, it is just not possible that this catastrophe has so benign a conclusion. The reason for this assessment is perhaps not easily appreciated by a public eager for a comfortable resolution to the spill.

Crude oil is a very complex solution. And remember that the 200 million gallons were injected into the Gulf through a high-pressure opening in the ocean floor fully one mile below the surface, an environment that we know very little about. The oil mixed with seawater and the added dispersant, and although the lightest material rose rapidly to the surface, being much less dense than seawater, the largest, denser proportion of the crude oil must still be sitting on or near the ocean floor, or in vast water columns suspended in the open sea. As this material continues to “weather,” over time, and it separates out, dissolves and changes in density, it will re-distribute in the subsurface currents and slowly disperse, probably along the sea bed where fish spawn.

The initial oil mix itself comprises volatile light hydrocarbons – the kind that make gasoline, as well as the heavy sludge that gives us asphalt, and everything in between. Many of these compounds dissolve in seawater, and thus enter the food chain. And many are toxic to vital organs in fish and other marine life; in particular, several components are neurotoxins. All compromise the health of the organisms they enter.

Unlike mercury and other heavy metals that rain down on the Pacific from industrial sites in Asia, the oil-derived hydrocarbons from the Gulf spill are hard to trace and measure in fish. And even if they were accurately measurable, we would adjust to their presence in the fish we eat, just as we have done for mercury. How easily we accept that pregnant women should allow themselves no more than one serving of tuna or swordfish per month!

As I see it, the fundamental problem underlying the absence of a vigorous outcry about the long-term consequences of the Macondo spill is the public’s uncertainty about science.

If there ever was an acute argument for giving our young people basic training in science, this is it. A well-informed public, reasonably scientifically competent, would be not so easy to put to sleep. As I have said many times, most of our problems in the future will require for their solution broad-based, well-trained scientists who can apply what they know to safeguarding the public. An absolute, top priority for us therefore should be the education of our youth in the basic sciences.

Please send any comments about the Director's Corner to David Colman

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Recent News

Neuro nursing welcomes 27 new recruits
Sixteen new nurses who recently completed their education at McGill University, John Abbott College and Vanier College have joined The Neuro team and in these early days are working with highly skilled nursing mentors. Eleven experienced nurses from other hospitals both within and outside the McGill University Health Centre are focusing their careers on neuroscience and have joined us in the Brain Tumour Clinic, the Intensive Care Unit and other patient care areas. We are proud to have these talented nurses here and welcome them to The Neuro community.

Award winner in nursing
Geneviève Tousignant, Clinical Nurse Specialist in the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Program received the 2010 Prix de la Relève Regionale from the Quebec Order of Nurses’ (ONQ) Youth Committee, which recognizes the exceptional contribution of a nurse with less than 10 years of professional experience who is a role model due to excellence in studies, work, community and professional involvement. Ms. Tousignant was nominated by Clinical Nurse Specialist Diane Lowden for her initiatives to help the MS population including the development of the neuro-urology clinic. For the past 3 years, Ms. Tousignant has been a course coordinator and lecturer at the McGill University School of Nursing, and has presented at provincial, national and international conferences.

Neurotopia: New Neuro podcasts
BRAMS, the International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research, is the feature story on Neurotopia, the new Neuro audio podcast series. Just launched, Neurotopia will bring listeners closer to science stories at The Neuro and introduce them to some of the outstanding scientists who are discovering how the brain works.

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Building on a family legacy, Rees Cosgrove, Chief of Neurosurgery at Rhode Island Hospital and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Brown University, will model the new Neurosciences Institute there after The Neuro. Cosgrove, who completed his neurosurgery residency at The Neuro, carries on the tradition of outstanding achievement in research, education and clinical care established by his father, Bert Cosgrove, who was a founder of The Neuro’s Multiple Sclerosis Clinic and served as Clinic Director until his death in 1984. For more on this new institute, see Business Week.

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Upcoming Events

Retreat for neuroscience trainees, September 20-21
Students in the Integrated Program in Neuroscience (IPN) will gather for the second annual IPN Retreat to network and to learn about the depth and breadth of neuroscience across McGill. Through the IPN, more than 280 masters and doctoral students work with the 160 IPN-affiliated faculty, making IPN the largest neuroscience graduate program in North America. Faculty will present an overview of research in neuroengineering, neurophysiology, neuroinflammation, brain mapping, the study of human communication, and computational and mathematical modeling in neuroscience. IPN students will be introduced to career options when Louise Proulx, Vice President, Research and Development, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, chairs a panel discussion by corporate experts. To view the complete program, see website.

Dates to remember
September 27 - The Dorothy J. Killam Lecture
October 4 - The Marilyn Jones-Gotman Symposium
October 28 - The Denis Melançon Lecture
October 30 - Neuro Fellowship application deadline
See the Neuro Calendar for additional details about these and other events.

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Congratulations to ...

Pershia Samadi, a Fellow working with neurosurgeon Abbas Sadikot, for receiving the 2010 Killam Prize for best paper presentation on Fellows’ Day.

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Director - David R. Colman, PhD
Senior Management - Martine Alfonso; Mark Angle, MD; Phil Barker, PhD; Rob Dunn, PhD; Lucia Fabijan; Tom Gevas; Elizabeth Kofron, PhD; Catherine Rowe; Donatella Tampieri, MD
Neuro News: Elizabeth Kofron, PhD & Sandra McPherson, PhD

Please send any items for the Neuro News to Sandra McPherson or Beth Kofron.

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