Middle-ear stiffness of the bottlenose dolphin tursiops truncatus

Previous research on the cetacean auditory system has consisted mostly of behavioral studies on a limited number of species. Little quantitative physiologic data exists on cetacean hearing. The frequency range of hearing varies greatly across different mammalian species. Differences among species correlate with differences in the middle-ear transfer function. Middle-ear transfer functions depend on the mechanical stiffness of the middle ear and the cochlear input impedance. The purpose of this study was to measure the middle-ear stiffness for the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), a species specialized for underwater high-frequency hearing and echolocation. Middle-ear stiffness was measured with a force probe that applied a known displacement to the stapes and measured the restoring force. The average middle-ear stiffness in ten dolphin ears was 1.37 N//spl mu/m, which is considerably higher than that reported for most terrestrial mammals. The relationship between middle-ear stiffness and low-frequency hearing cutoff in Tursiops was shown to be comparable to that of terrestrial mammals.     

Fire and ice: unravelling the climatic and volcanic history of James Ross Island, Antarctic Peninsula

Back in the mid-nineteenth century British explorer James Clark Ross took his ships, HMS Terror and HMS Erebus , farther south than anyone else had been. He now lends his name to James Ross Island, a part-volcanic edifice that rises out of the sea off the north-east tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The island records a geological history dating back to the Cretaceous, though its great peaks are volcanic. The most recent rocks of the island record a monumental struggle between fire and ice, the volcanoes, and the ice sheets that cover them. The glacigenic sediments that are interspersed with the volcanic rocks contain rich fossil assemblages which suggest that at times, the climate was warmer, with the ice retreating. Their study may help us to delimit the patterns of climate change in the Antarctic Peninsula region as Earth's global climate warms.     

A major sulphur isotope event at c. 510 Ma: a possible anoxia–extinction–volcanism connection during the Early–Middle Cambrian transition?

A new approach to constraining seawater δ³⁴S and sulphate concentration using francolite‐bound sulphate reveals an abrupt increase in δ³⁴S to +50‰ around the Early–Middle Cambrian boundary. Such high δ³⁴S values are best explained by increased rates of pyrite burial due to ocean anoxia coupled with an increased sensitivity of the ocean sulphate reservoir to perturbations due to low sulphate concentrations of 500–700 μgL^?1. We argue that the spread of anoxic waters at this time was partly the result of greenhouse warming related to the eruption of the Kalkarindji Large Igneous Province of northern Australia and that it triggered the collapse of early metazoan reef ecosystems during the latest Early Cambrian. Mass extinctions of the last 260 Myr have all coincided with enhanced volcanic activity, while several are also associated with positive shifts in seawater δ³⁴S. Extending this correlation back in time further implicates volcanically induced climate change as a major determining factor in biosphere evolution. Terra Nova, 18, 257–263, 2006     

Radiation exposure and Mission Strategies for Interplanetary Manned Missions (REMSIM)

Cosmic radiation is an important problem for human interplanetary missions. The “Radiation Exposure and Mission Strategies for Interplanetary Manned Missions–REMSIM” study is summarised here. They are related to current strategies and countermeasures to ensure the protection of astronauts from radiation during interplanetary missions, with specific reference to: radiation environment and its variability; radiation effects on the crew; transfer trajectories and associated fluences; vehicle and surface habitat concepts; passive and active shielding concepts; space weather monitoring and warning systems.     

Chemical alteration of tephra in the depositional environment: theoretical stability modelling

The study of the chemical stability of vitreous material in aqueous media is well‐established. There has to date been little consideration of the implications of variations in the chemical durability of tephra in Quaternary tephrochronology. Chemical alteration can take the form of cationic leaching from the matrix, or complete destruction of the silica network, either of which could constrain the ability to chemically identify distal tephra. Here we apply established models of vitreous durability to the published chemical analyses of a large number of Icelandic tephras in order to predict their relative durabilities under equivalent conditions. This suggests that some important tephras have relatively poor chemical stability, and that rhyolitic tephras are, in general, more stable than basaltic. We conclude that tephras should be expected to show predictable differential chemical stability in the post‐depositional environment. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Opposition polarimetry and photometry of S- and E-type asteroids

The first results of the observational program devoted to simultaneous investigation of asteroid polarimetric and photometric opposition phenomena are presented. UBVRI polarimetric and V-band photometric observations of the S-type Asteroid 20 Massalia and the E-type Asteroids 214 Aschera and 620 Drakonia were carried out in 1996-1999 down to phase angles of 0.08°, 0.7°, and 1.2°, correspondingly. The S-type Asteroid 20 Massalia is characterized by the pronounced brightness opposition surge with an amplitude larger than that observed for the E-type asteroids. A sharp peak of negative polarization at small phase angles was not observed for this asteroid. The value of polarization degree at phase angle α<1° is less than 0.5% for both S and E types. The negative polarization branches of S and especially E-asteroids have an asymmetrical shape. The phase angle at which the polarization minimum occurs is close to the angle at which non-linear increase begins in the asteroid magnitude phase curves. A relation of the observed effects to the mechanism of coherent backscattering is discussed.