Silicate liquid immiscibility in lunar magmas, evidenced by melt inclusions in lunar rocks

Examination of multiphase melt inclusions in 91 sections of 26 lunar rocks revealed abundant evidence of late-stage immiscibility in all crystalline rock sections and in soil fragments and most breccias. The two individual immiscible silicate melts (now glasses) vary in composition, but are essentially potassic granite and pyroxenite. This immiscibility may be important in the formation of the lunar highlands and tektites. Other inclusions yield the following temperatures at which the several minerals first appear on cooling the original magma: ilmenite (?) liquidus, 1210 degrees C; pyroxene, 1140 degrees C; plagioclase, 1105 degrees C; solidus, 1075 degrees C. The glasses also place some limitations on maximum and minimum cooling rates.     

Metastable Superheated Ice in Liquid-Water Inclusions under High Negative Pressure

In some microscopic inclusions (consisting of aqueous liquid and vapor) in minerals, freezing eliminates the vapor phase because of greater volume occupied by the resulting ice. When vapor fails to nucleate again on partial melting, the resulting negative pressure (hydrostatic tension) inside the inclusions permits the existence of ice I crystals under reversible, metastable equilibrium, at temperatures as high as +6.5 degrees C and negative pressures possibly exceeding 1000 bars.     

Silicon oxynitride stability

Silicon oxynitride occurs as a mineral (sinoite) in meteorites. Equilibrium measurements are reported which provide information on the approximate ratios of pressures of oxygen to nitrogen required for existence of this phase under equilibrium conditions at elevated temperatures. This ratio is approximately 10-(15) at 1400 degrees to 1500 degrees C.     

Exceptionally thermally stable polyimides for second-order nonlinear optical applications

The thermal stability of the electric field induced poled order in a new class of second-order optically nonlinear polymers, "donor-imbedded" side-chain polyimides containing no flexible connectors or tethers to the nonlinear optical (NLO) chromophore, is investigated. In these polymers, the electron-donor part of the chromophore is a diaryl-substituted amine that is incorporated as a part of the polymer backbone. The donorimbedded systems used in this study have exceptional chemical stabilities at elevated temperatures (350 degrees C) and impressive poled order stability at extremely high temperatures (300 degrees C). In both respects, they were significantly more stable than a true side-chain polyimide with a similar NLO-active chromophore covalently linked to the polymer backbone by a flexible tether group.     

Flight of Winter Moths Near 0{degrees}C

Some noctuid winter moths fly at near 0 degrees C by maintaining an elevated(30 degrees to 35 degrees C) thoracic muscle temperature. Geometrid winter moths sustain themselves in free flight at subzero muscle temperatures. However, the temperature characteristics of citrate synthase and pyruvate kinase from both of these different kinds of moths and from a sphinx moth that flies with a muscles temperature of 40 degrees C are nearly identical. Furthermore, mass-specific rates of energy expenditure of both kinds of winter moths are also similar at given thoracic temperature (near 0 degrees C). The geometrids that are able to fly with a thoracic temperature near 0 degrees C do so largely because of unusually low wing-loading, which permits a low energetic cost of flight.     

Diamonds and the african lithosphere

Data and inferences drawn from studies of diamond inclusions, xenocrysts, and xenoliths in the kimberlites of southern Africa are combined to characterize the structure of that portion of the Kaapvaal craton that lies within the mantle. The craton has a root composed in large part of peridotites that are strongly depleted in basaltic components. The asthenosphere boundary shelves from depths of 170 to 190 kilometers beneath the craton to approximately 140 kilometers beneath the mobile belts bordering the craton on the south and west. The root formed earlier than 3 billion years ago, and at that time ambient temperatures in it were 900 degrees to 1200 degrees C; these temperatures are near those estimated from data for xenoliths erupted in the Late Cretaceous or from present-day heat-flow measurements. Many of the diamonds in southern Africa are believed to have crystallized in this root in Archean time and were xenocrysts in the kimberlites that brought them to the surface.     

Freeze avoidance in a mammal: body temperatures below 0 degree C in an Arctic hibernator

Hibernating arctic ground squirrels, Spermophilus parryii, were able to adopt and spontaneously arouse from core body temperatures as low as -2.9 degrees C without freezing. Abdominal body temperatures of ground squirrels hibernating in outdoor burrows were recorded with temperature-sensitive radiotransmitter implants. Body temperatures and soil temperatures at hibernaculum depth reached average minima during February of -1.9 degrees and -6 degrees C, respectively. Laboratory-housed ground squirrels hibernating in ambient temperatures of -4.3 degrees C maintained above 0 degree C thoracic temperatures but decreased colonic temperatures to as low as -1.3 degrees C. Plasma sampled from animals with below 0 degree C body temperatures had normal solute concentrations and showed no evidence of containing antifreeze molecules.     

Differential lead retention in zircons: implications for nuclear waste containment

An innovative ultrasensitive technique was used for lead isotopic analysis of individual zircons extracted from granite core samples at depths of 960, 2170, 2900, 3930, and 4310 meters. The results show that lead, a relatively mobile element compared to the nuclear waste-related actinides uranium and thorium, has been highly retained at elevated temperatures (105 degrees to 313 degrees C) under conditions relevant to the burial of synthetic rock waste containers in deep granite holes.     

Oxygen isotope fractionation in the system dolomite-calcite-carbon dioxide

Oxygen isotopes were equilibrated between carbon dioxide and calcite at four temperatures in the range 350 degrees to 610 degrees C and between carbon dioxide and dolomite at 350 degrees and 400 degrees C. Carbon of unusual isotopic composition was used as a tracer to demonstrate the nature and extent of the exchange process. Extrapolation of these data at lower temperatures indicates that at 25 degrees C dolomite is enriched in oxygen-18 by 6.8 per mil with respect to calcite. This result indicates that those natural dolomite-calcite assemblages which show very small fractionations were not formed in isotopic equilibrium.     

Temperature Regulation in the Bumblebee Bombus vagans: A Field Study

Bombus vagans forages for nectar at 5 degrees C in shade and at 31 degrees C in sunshine. The production of heat while the bumblebee is on flowers, at ambient temperatures below 24 degrees C, helps to maintain a thoracic temperature that is near the minimum for flight between flowers. However, at ambient temperatures above 24 degrees C the thoracic temperature is no longer regulated at 32 degrees to 33 degrees C and rises.     

Thermal preference and tolerance of alvinellids

The highest oceanic temperatures are found at hydrothermal vents, where the polychaete Paralvinella sulfincola lives on vent sulfides within steep and dynamic thermal gradients. To determine P. sulfincola thermotolerance and preference, we developed a high-pressure aquarium that mimics in situ thermal gradients and permits P. sulfincola to move within the gradient. These polychaetes were thermotaxic, preferring temperatures of 40 degrees to 50 degrees C. Some individuals remained at 50 degrees C for 7 hours (the duration of the experiment), whereas others endured exposure to 55 degrees C for over 15 minutes, demonstrating that alvinellids prefer high temperatures and are among the most thermotolerant of marine organisms.     

Regulation of oxygen consumption and body temperature during torpor in a hummingbird, Eulampis jugularis

The West Indian hummingbird, Eulampis jugularis, maintained its body temperature in torpor at 18 degrees to 20 degrees C over an ambient temperature range of 2.5 degrees to 18 degrees C. At ambient below 18 degrees C oxygen consumption during torpor increased linearly with decreasing temperature. Thermal conductances were the same for resting and torpid Eulampis regulating their body temperatures at 40 degrees and 18 degrees C, respectively.     

Visceral tissue vascularization: an adaptive response to high temperature

Electrical heat sources implanted in the abdominal cavities of sheep were heated to give initial temperatures of 42 degrees and 45 degrees C at the surfaces of the heaters. During 18 days of constant heating, a vascularized connective-tissue envelope encapsulated the heat sources, and the temperatures at the surfaces of the heaters declined 0.8 degrees and 1.8 degrees C, respectively. The degree of vascularization and the magnitude of the decrease in the surface temperature appeared to be related to the proximity of the tissue's initial temperature to 45 degrees C, a temperature ordinarily considered detrimental to cell structure. The vascularization thus appears to be adaptive.     

冷藏对石蒜鳞茎休眠生理及开花的影响

为掌握冷藏对石蒜(Lycoris radiata)鳞茎休眠生理及开花的影响,研究了石蒜球根在6和9℃低温下分别冷藏4、7、9周后,鳞茎尖内的生理变化,并观察其开花时间.结果表明:在6℃冷藏4周花期推迟19d;9℃冷藏4周花期推迟12d;6、9℃条件下冷藏7和9周均未开花.在6℃冷藏4周条件下,蛋白质和核酸质量分数均保持着较低的水平;同时对内源激素质量摩尔浓度测定表明内源激素IAA极显著对花期具有影响作用,ABA、ZR也具有影响花期的作用,而内源激素GA3质量摩尔浓度变化对开花无显著影响.     

Regulation of body temperature in the blue-tongued lizard

Lizards (Tiliqua scincoides) regulated their internal body temperature by moving back and forth between 15 degrees and 45 degrees C environments to maintain colonic and brain temperatures between 30 degrees and 37 degrees C. A pair of thermodes were implanted across the preoptic region of the brain stem, and a reentrant tube for a thermocouple was implanted in the brain stem. Heating the brain stem to 41 degrees C activated the exit response from the hot environment at a colonic temperature 1 degrees to 2 degrees C lower than normal, whereas cooling the brain stem to 25 degrees C delayed the exit from the hot environment until the colonic temperature was 1 degrees to 2 degrees C higher than normal. The behavioral thermoregulatory responses of this ectotherm appear to be activated by a combination of hypothalamic and other body temperatures.     

Starch accumulation associated with growth reduction at low temperatures in a tropical plant

Growth of Digitaria decumbens is severely reduced by night temperatures of 10 degrees C or below. Ultra-structure of leaves and chemical analyses show a high starch content in chloroplasts of plants illuminated and kept at a temperature of 30 degrees C. This starch disappears after a period in the dark at 30 degrees C, but it remains if the temperature during the dark period is 10 degrees C. The inhibition or slowing of starch translocation out of chloroplasts appears to account for reduced photo-synthesis and growth at low night temperatures.     

Life at high temperatures

Water environments with temperatures up to and above boiling are commonly found in association with geothermal activity. At temperatures above 60 degrees C, only bacteria are found. Bacteria with temperature optima over the range 65 degrees to 105 degrees C have been obtained in pure culture and are the object of many research projects. The upper temperature limit for life in liquid water has not yet been defined, but is likely to be somewhere between 110 degrees and 200 degrees C, since amino acids and nucleotides are destroyed at temperatures over 200 degrees C. Because bacteria capable of growth at high temperatures are found in many phylogenetic groups, it is likely that the ability to grow at high temperature had a polyphyletic origin. The macromolecules of these organisms are inherently more stable to heat than those of conventional organisms, but only small changes in sequence can lead to increases in thermostability. Because of their unique properties, thermophilic organisms and their enzymes have many potential biotechnological uses, and extensive research on industrial applications is under way.     

High-Rate, Gas-Phase Growth of MoS2 Nested Inorganic Fullerenes and Nanotubes

The gas-phase reaction between MoO3-x and H(2)S in a reducing atmosphere at elevated temperatures (800 degrees to 950 degrees C) has been used to synthesize large quantities of an almost pure nested inorganic fullerene (IF) phase of MoS(2). A uniform IF phase with a relatively narrow size distribution was obtained. The synthesis of IFs appears to require, in addition to careful control over the growth conditions, a specific turbulent flow regime. The x-ray spectra of the different samples show that, as the average size of the IF decreases, the van der Waals gap along the c axis increases, largely because of the strain involved in folding of the lamella. Large quantities of quite uniform nanotubes were obtained under modified preparation conditions.     

Oxygen consumption of red and white muscles from tuna fishes

Metabolic rates of unstimulated, minced preparations of red and white muscles from two species of Pacific tuna fishes (Katsuwonus pelamis and Thunnus obesus) were determined from respirometric measurements of oxygen consumption. Ratios of mean metabolic rates for red muscles to those of white muscles averaged 6.2 at five temperatures over the range of 5 degrees to 35 degrees C. Temperature coefficients (Q10's) for mean metabolic rates for both types of muscle were between 1.0 and 1.2 over the entire temperature range. Metabolic rates of tuna red muscles were equal to those of preparations of mixed red and white muscle from the white rat at 25 degrees and 35 degrees C, and were higher than the mammalian rates at lower temperatures.     

Strength of diamond

The yield strength of diamond is measured under a pressure of 10 gigapascals at temperatures up to 1550 degrees C by the analysis of x-ray peak shapes on diamond diffraction lines in a powdered sample as a function of pressure and temperature. At room temperature, the diamond crystals exhibit elastic behavior with increasing pressure. Significant ductile deformation is observed only at temperatures above 1000 degrees C at this pressure. The differential yield strength of diamond decreases with temperature from 16 gigapascals at 1100 degrees C to 4 gigapascals at 1550 degrees C. Transmission electron microscopy observations on the recovered sample indicate that the dominant deformation mechanism under high pressure and temperature is crystal plasticity.