British Walkout, Reviving the Dodo, and Corrupt Countries

The Great British Walkout 

Nearly half a million workers across the United Kingdom are poised to start coordinated nationwide strikes today in protest of the government’s proposed anti-strike legislation and to call for public sector pay raises. See a schedule of the strikes here.

The legislation, introduced to Parliament Jan. 9, would require workers in six

sectors—health, rail, education, fire, border security, and nuclear—to provide minimum safety and service levels during strikes. One of the largest-scale strikes in a decade, the walkout will likely shut down thousands of schools, halt rail lines, and cause significant border disruption.

Unions are also advocating for pay raises that match inflation, which remains close to the highest level seen in 40 years, while the government contends the demands are unaffordable in the current economic climate. The UK is expected to be the only major industrialized country to see its economy shrink this year.

Separately, France yesterday saw its second major nationwide strike this year against the government's proposed pension overhaul. 

Colorado River Impasse 

Seven states that rely on the Colorado River to support their cities and farms have, for the second time in six months, failed to reach a full agreement on reducing water usage by a federal deadline. See previous write-up here.

Six states—Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming—have outlined a plan to the Interior Department that would reduce water usage by more than 2 million acre-feet. The government had requested to conserve 2 million to 4 million acre-feet of water. The states' proposal would result in the largest cuts for California and Arizona. California, which currently has the largest allocation of the river (see overview), is the lone holdout and said it will release its own plan.

The Interior Department will consider the six states' proposal as part of a larger plan to change how it operates the Glen Canyon and Hoover dams on the Colorado River in low-water scenarios. The Glen Canyon creates Lake Powell and the Hoover dams create Lake Mead, which have both reached historic lows amid a 23-year drought.

Dodo De-Extinction

Biotechnology startup Colossal announced plans yesterday to develop an organism gene-edited to match the extinct dodo bird, the company's third so-called "de-extinction" project after the woolly mammoth and Tasmanian tiger (see 101). The Texas-based group revealed it had raised $150M in its latest funding round at an estimated $1B valuation. 

The last sighting of a dodo, a tall, flightless bird native to the island of Mauritius off the coast of Madagascar, was recorded in the late 17th century, less than one hundred years after Europeans arrived. 

The procedure will likely involve the insertion of a bird egg cell modified as a dodo cell into an existing egg, with the fertilized egg expected to mature and harbor dodo-like reproductive cells.  

The novel procedure has attracted investment from the venture capital arm of the US Central Intelligence Agency, In-Q-Tel, a firm looking to fund cutting-edge technology it believes could be useful for intelligence gathering. See the projects In-Q-Tel supports here.

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