Still, with 80% of states in the country phasing out cursive and so much of today's communication being digital, the discussion may be purely academic.
Prof Christy makes the distinction - crucial to scientists - between draft papers for discussion and final, complete ones that go into academic journals and become part of the formal literature of science.
The new organization, to be called the Ocean Energy Safety Institute, would be a government-run center made up of regulators, industry representatives, members of the academic community and the U.S. Coast Guard, according to a person familiar with the discussion.