As if in a Jack London story the view from an old log cabin is a frozen landscape in northern Canada .  It is so still; still as it can only be after a snowfall. Only animal tracks, including some huge wolf prints, and human footprints give away some signs of life. The scene is in the rolling hills of the interior of northern British Columbia (BC) in Canada , just a short drive from Prince George , a city of some 80,000 people.  Prince George is the regional capital and the main service centre of northern BC. Its economy has been fuelled by forestry and mining, but it now has a young university, just 11 years old, and is the regional centre for medical services.