Well That Establishes the Knowledge Hierachy

Today the high level segment of the COP18/CMP8 Summit has begun however with few Heads of Government/State attending this is much less dramatic then it sounds.

In preparation for this segment of the summit the US space agency NASA has announced that the Voyager 1 has encountered what has been described as a "Magnetic Highway" as is reaches the edge of the solar system. Basically this highway sees lowly charged magnetic particles emitted by the sun mixing with more highly charges magnetic particles entering the sun heliosphere from outer space. It has been dubbed a 'highway' because prior to entering the zone the magnetic particles moved slowly in somewhat random directions as if congested on urban roads before speeding up and moving in a more uniform direction once entering the zone as if on a highway. Apart from laying down some heavy duty science about the way the energy emitted by the sun behaves - something which is very important when discussing global temperature - the highway/urban road comparison promotes discussion about the role of the motor vehicle in terms of urban design - something which is central to discussions about carbon intensity and green development.

NASA has also announced that it's Curiosity rover has discovered carbon and hydrogen molecules on Mars. Along with things like water and oxygen these represent some of the main building blocks for life and therefore promote discussion about what biological processes a planet requires to sustain life. There is also some debate about whether the carbon found is organic carbon or volcanic carbon which in turn promotes discussion about volcanoes which are very large natural emitters of greenhouse gases. The American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting at which the Curiosity rover findings were presented also heard NASA findings on fossilised raindrops found in the Ventersdorp area of South Africa which claims to show that some 2.7 billion years ago the earths atmosphere was very heavily laden with nitrogen but lacking in oxygen with the suspicion being that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane replaced the oxygen. This discussion about the chemical make up of the earths atmosphere and how it's balance can be altered is obviously hugely relevant to discussions about global warming/climate change.

For it's part China has unveiled plans to grow plants vegetables in special constructed bases on the moon and Mars. The purpose of this exercise is for the plants and vegetables to act as absorbers of carbon dioxide and emitters of oxygen while growing allowing the astronauts to live in outer space for extended periods of time. The use of natural vegetation as carbon sinks through things like the REDD program has for a long time being central to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's (UNFCCC) plan to help reduce overall human greenhouse gas emissions. It also feeds into the slightly cool (and much discussed) premise from the TV show "Firefly" in which the USA and China join together before colonising outer space by terraforming planets in order to make them habitable for humans.

Britain on the other hand has gone with the Duchess of Cambridge is pregnant and is in hospital being treated for hypermeresis gravidarum (extreme morning sickness). The treatment for this condition is a nutrient drip like what my grandmother had and Rihanna had in that incident that provoked a little war with the Sun newspaper. Up until very recently it was believed that hypermeresis gravidarum was a psychosomatic condition caused by a mother subconsciously wanting her body to reject her foetus. However these days it can sometimes been considered an indicator of either twins or a female foetus. Either way the story does give Britain an opportunity for coded discussions with the 15 Commonwealth nations which have the Queen as head of state over a female's right to succeed to the throne.

16:40 on 4/12/12.