Glaciation in taylor valley, antarctica, older than 2.7 million years

Potassium-argon dates for three samples of basaltic scoria from Taylor Valley, on the west side of McMurdo Sound, indicate that the basalt, which antedates and postdates major glaciations, is at least 2.7 million years old.     

Cold-seep mollusks are older than the general marine mollusk fauna

The origin and possible antiquity of faunas at deep-sea hydrothermal vents and seeps have been debated since their discovery. We used the fossil record of seep mollusks to show that the living seep genera have significantly longer geologic ranges than the marine mollusks in general, but have ranges similar to those of deep-sea taxa, suggesting that seep faunas may be shaped by the factors that drive the evolution of life in the deep sea in general. Our data indicate that deep-sea anoxic/dysoxic events did not affect seep faunas, casting doubt on the suggested anoxic nature and/or global extent of these events.     

经尿道前列腺汽化电切术结合经尿道前列腺电切术治疗80岁以上前列腺增生症84例

目的 :总结对高危前列腺增生患者的经尿道前列腺汽化电切术 (TUVP)结合经尿道前列腺电切术 (TURP)的治疗经验。方法 :应用 TURP、TUVP结合治疗 80岁及以上前列腺增生症患者 84例。结果 :84例 (10 0 % )均有效。国际前列腺症状评分 (I- PSS)术前为 (30 .6± 3.6 ) ,术后减少至 (9.4± 1.7) ;生活质量评分 (QOL )由术前的 (5 .2± 4 .8)下降至术后的 (1.8± 0 .2 ) ,最大尿流率由 (5 .2± 4 .8) m L/ s增加至 (36 .4± 10 .4 ) m L/ s,剩余尿从术前 (2 80± 170 ) m L 减少至术后的 (36 .4± 10 .4 ) m L,差异均有显著性 (P<0 .0 1)。全部患者均安全度过围手术期。结论 :应用 TURP、TUVP结合治疗前列腺增生症安全 ,简便 ,疗效满意。     

Glaciation in southern Argentina more than two million years ago

In southern Argentina till beds interbedded with lava flows were deposited by ice that extended at least 40 kilometers east of the present crest of the cordillera. The flow covering the oldest till bed is 3.2 +/- 1 million years old. The flow that constitutes the present surface and covers the youngest till bed, is 1.7 +/- 0.5 million years old.     

Evidence for life on Earth more than 3850 million years ago

A recent study by Mojzsis et al., (Nature 384, 55, 1996) found evidence of life in rocks in Greenland estimated by new isotopic data to be more than 3800 million years old. The author examines this study in relation to studies conducted on rocks between 3250 and 3800 million years old and presents reasons to agree and disagree with the interpretation of data.     

Discoidal impressions and trace-like fossils more than 1200 million years old

The Stirling Range Formation of southwestern Australia contains discoidal impressions and trace-like fossils in tidal sandstones. The various disks have previously been linked to the Ediacaran biota, younger than 600 million years old. From this unit, we report U-Th-Pb geochronology of detrital zircon and monazite, as well as low-grade metamorphic monazite, constraining the depositional age to between 2016 +/- 6 and 1215 +/- 20 million years old. Although nonbiological origins for the discoidal impressions cannot be completely discounted, the structures resembling trace fossils clearly have a biological origin and suggest the presence of vermiform, mucus-producing, motile organisms.     

海南岛30年空中云水资源时空特征分析

为了解海南岛空中云水资源的时空分布特征和变化趋势,利用ERA-I再分析资料分析了1981—2010年海南岛夏半季、冬半季、年平均大气可降水量（PW）、总云量（TCC）、低云量及高云量的时空分布特征。结果表明：海南岛区域PW存在明显的时空差异,具有南湿北干、海洋大于陆地、夏半季大于冬半季的特点,海南岛年平均PW低值中心位于五指山地区,南海海域为相对的高湿区;海南岛西部及华南沿海是华南地区年平均总云量低值区,华南地区高值中心位于四川盆地东部,南海南部是次高值区域,海南岛夏半季和冬半季总云量最大值分别为63.20%和54.26%;海南岛夏半季以高云为主,高云量大于44%,冬半季以低云为主,低云量最大值为41.88%,高云量则普遍小于17%;海南岛PW年变化为明显单峰结构,8月为峰值。30年海南岛PW和总云量年平均距平存在较明显的年代际变化。     

Radon-222 from the island of hawaii: deep soils are more important than lava fields or volcanoes

The mean flux of radon-222 atoms from the island of Hawaii is 0.45 atom per square centimeter per second. Lava fields occupy 50 percent of the land area, but their radon flux is only 1 percent of that from deep volcanic soils. The island yields approximately 10 curies of radon-222 per hour to the air surrounding it. The radon-222 contribuition of volcanoes is negligible.     

Triploblastic animals more than 1 billion years ago: trace fossil evidence from india

Some intriguing bedding plane features that were observed in the Mesoproterozoic Chorhat Sandstone are biological and can be interpreted as the burrows of wormlike undermat miners (that is, infaunal animals that excavated tunnels underneath microbial mats). These burrows suggest that triploblastic animals existed more than a billion years ago. They also suggest that the diversification of animal designs proceeded very slowly before the appearance of organisms with hard skeletons, which was probably the key event in the Cambrian evolutionary explosion, and before the ecological changes that accompanied that event.     

50多年来黑龙江省小麦产量变化的初步分析

根据黑龙江省1949,2004年的小麦产量资料,分析了黑龙江省小麦产量的变化。小麦单产年际间和年代间变幅很大,总的趋势是不断地提高;小麦播种面积和总产量的变化特征很相似,呈现抛物线型,说明小麦播种面积和总产量从小到大,又由大到小;小麦的总产和播种面积、单产相关显著;单产和面积的交互作用是影响小麦总产的主要因素。     

Breeding against mycorrhizal symbiosis: Modern cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) varieties perform more poorly than older varieties except at very high phosphorus supply levels

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is an important fiber cash crop, but its root traits related to phosphorus (P) acquisition, including mycorrhizal root traits, are poorly understood.  Eight cotton varieties bred in northwestern China that were released between 1950 and 2013 were grown in pots with or without one arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) species (Funneliformis mosseae) at three P supply levels (0, 50 and 300 mg P as KH₂PO₄ kg^–1).  Eleven root traits were measured and calculated after 7 wk of growth.  The more recent accessions had smaller root diameters, acquired less P and produced less biomass, indicating an (inadvertent) varietal selection for thinner roots that provided less cortical space for AMF, which then increased the need for a high P fertilizer level.  At the two lower P levels, the mycorrhizal plants acquired more P and produced more biomass than non-mycorrhizal plants (3.2 vs. 0.9 mg P per plant; 1.8 vs. 0.9 g biomass per plant at P₀; 14.5 vs. 1.7 mg P per plant; and 4.7 vs. 1.6 g biomass per plant at P₅₀).  At the highest P level, the mycorrhizal plants acquired more P than non-mycorrhizal plants (18.8 vs. 13.4 mg per P plant), but there was no difference in biomass (6.2 vs. 6.3 g per plant).  At the intermediate P level, root diameter was significantly positively correlated with shoot biomass, P concentration and the P content of mycorrhizal plants.  The results of our study support the importance of the outsourcing model of P acquisition in the root economics space framework.  Inadvertent varietal selection in the last decades, resulting in thinner roots and a lower benefit from AMF, has led to a lower productivity of cotton varieties at moderate P supply (i.e., when mycorrhizal, the average biomass of older varieties 5.0 g per plant vs. biomass of newer varieties 4.4 g per plant), indicating the need to rethink cotton breeding efforts in order to achieve high yields without very high P input.  One feasible way to solve the problem of inadvertent varietal selection for cotton is to be aware of the trade-offs between the root do-it-yourself strategy and the outsourcing towards AMF strategy, and to consider both morphological and mycorrhizal root traits when breeding cotton varieties.     

Chemical Strengthening of Glass: After more than 70 years of research, glasses can now be made strong enough to be bent sharply

Although man has known for centuries that glass had potentially large mechanical capabilities, he had been content, until rather recently, to accept the fragility of bulk glass. Annealing, the first step in making glass a useful material, enabled him to make articles with strengths adequate for satisfactory service. Physical tempering provided the next big advance, permitting strengths more than three times those of annealed glass in simple shapes. Today, chemical strengthening is a real possibility for producing glass articles, regardless of design, more than three times the strength of physically tempered ware.     

利用祁连圆柏年轮资料重建江河源区东北部600余年气候研究

利用江河源区东北部600余年的祁连圆柏树木年轮资料,采用正交多项式、相关分析等方法,对该地区历史时期5月份平均气温和5～9月份降水量进行了重建。结果表明,江河源区东北部地区600余年来的气候呈波动变化,气温的上升和下降并不连续,5月份气温距平变化的幅度一般为±1．0℃,5年滑动平均值一般为±0．5℃,气温的年际波动值远大于其长期变化值。逐年雨季(5-9月份)的相对降水量一般为0．8～1．1,5年滑动平均为0．90-1.05,且600余年来相对降水量小1．0的时间较相对降水量大于1．0的时间长。