Arsenic mobility and groundwater extraction in Bangladesh

High levels of arsenic in well water are causing widespread poisoning in Bangladesh. In a typical aquifer in southern Bangladesh, chemical data imply that arsenic mobilization is associated with recent inflow of carbon. High concentrations of radiocarbon-young methane indicate that young carbon has driven recent biogeochemical processes, and irrigation pumping is sufficient to have drawn water to the depth where dissolved arsenic is at a maximum. The results of field injection of molasses, nitrate, and low-arsenic water show that organic carbon or its degradation products may quickly mobilize arsenic, oxidants may lower arsenic concentrations, and sorption of arsenic is limited by saturation of aquifer materials.     

Comment on "Ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) persists in continental North America"

We reanalyzed video presented as confirmation that an ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) persists in Arkansas (Fitzpatrick et al., Reports, 3 June 2005, p. 1460). None of the features described as diagnostic of the ivory-billed woodpecker eliminate a normal pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus). Although we support efforts to find and protect ivory-billed woodpeckers, the video evidence does not demonstrate that the species persists in the United States.     

地下水除砷技术的研究进展

砷是一种毒性很高的物质,地下水中存在砷污染,将对人体健康产生危害。重点介绍了地下水除砷技术的研究进展,评价了各种方法的优缺点。新型吸附材料具有较高的砷吸附容量,氧化法与吸附法等相结合是处理地下水中As(III)的有效途径,生物除砷成本低,无二次污染,具有广阔的发展前景。最后,展望了砷去除技术的发展方向。     

Comment on "Zircon thermometer reveals minimum melting conditions on earliest Earth" II

Watson and Harrison (Reports, 6 May 2005, p. 841) interpreted low temperatures (approximately 700 degrees C) for Hadean zircons as evidence of the existence of wet, minimum-melting conditions within 200 million years of solar system formation. However, high-temperature melts (approximately 900 degrees C) are zircon-undersaturated and crystallize zircon only after substantial temperature drop during fractional crystallization. Zircon thermometry cannot distinguish between low- and high-temperature Hadean igneous sources.     

Comment on "Orthographic processing in baboons (Papio papio)"

Grainger et al. (Reports, 13 April 2012, p. 245) suggest that baboons can discriminate words from nonwords on the basis of two-letter (bigram) frequencies. This ability can also be attributed to baboons being able to recognize specific letters (i.e., shapes) in specific positions in their four-letter words, without reference to letter or bigram frequencies.     

酸性土壤有效砷提取方法研究

采用0.5mol·L-1NaHCO3(pH8.5),0.5mol·L-1NaH2PO4和0.1mol·L-1HCl等3种浸提剂,对福建省酸性水稻土和酸性菜地土壤有效砷的提取效果以及相关的提取条件进行了研究。结果表明,3种浸提剂所提取的土壤有效砷与作物可食用部分砷含量之间均存在显著相关,其中0.5mol·L-1NaH2PO4提取的有效砷与糙米和蔬菜地上部砷含量的相关性最高,相关系数分别是0.628和0.824,是三者中最佳的浸提剂。对NaH2PO4的提取条件的研究表明,在15∶1的液土比条件下以250r·min-1的速度振荡120min是最佳的酸性土壤有效砷的提取方法。