Evidence for a late supernova injection of 60Fe into the protoplanetary disk

High-precision 60Fe-60Ni isotope data show that most meteorites originating from differentiated planetesimals that accreted within 1 million years of the solar system's formation have 60Ni/58Ni ratios that are approximately 25 parts per million lower than samples from Earth, Mars, and chondrite parent bodies. This difference indicates that the oldest solar system planetesimals formed in the absence of 60Fe. Evidence for live 60Fe in younger objects suggests that 60Fe was injected into the protoplanetary disk approximately 1 million years after solar system formation, when 26Al was already homogeneously distributed. Decoupling the first appearance of 26Al and 60Fe constrains the environment where the Sun's formation could have taken place, indicating that it occurred in a dense stellar cluster in association with numerous massive stars.     

Occurrence of Earth-like bodies in planetary systems

Present theories of terrestrial planet formation predict the rapid ;;runaway formation' of planetary embryos. The sizes of the embryos increase with heliocentric distance. These embryos then merge to form planets. In earlier Monte Carlo simulations of the merger of these embryos it was assumed that embryos did not form in the asteroid belt, but this assumption may not be valid. Simulations in which runaways were allowed to form in the asteroid belt show that, although the initial distributions of mass, energy, and angular momentum are different from those observed today, during the growth of the planets these distributions spontaneously evolve toward those observed, simply as a result of known solar system processes. Even when a large planet analogous to ;;Jupiter' does not form, an Earth-sized planet is almost always found near Earth's heliocentric distance. These results suggest that occurrence of Earth-like planets may be a common feature of planetary systems.     

Supra-canonical 26Al/27Al and the residence time of CAIs in the solar protoplanetary disk

The canonical initial 26Al/27Al ratio of 4.5 x 10(-5) has been a fiducial marker for the beginning of the solar system. Laser ablation and whole-rock multiple-collector inductively coupled plasma-source mass spectrometry magnesium isotope analyses of calcium- and aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) from CV3 meteorites demonstrate that some CAIs had initial 26Al/27Al values at least 25% greater than canonical and that the canonical initial 26Al/27Al cannot mark the beginning of solar system formation. Using rates of Mg diffusion in minerals, we find that the canonical initial 26Al/27Al is instead the culmination of thousands of brief high-temperature events incurred by CAIs during a 10(5)-year residence time in the solar protoplanetary disk.     

Formation of giant planets by fragmentation of protoplanetary disks

The evolution of gravitationally unstable protoplanetary gaseous disks has been studied with the use of three-dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations with unprecedented resolution. We have considered disks with initial masses and temperature profiles consistent with those inferred for the protosolar nebula and for other protoplanetary disks. We show that long-lasting, self-gravitating protoplanets arise after a few disk orbital periods if cooling is efficient enough to maintain the temperature close to 50 K. The resulting bodies have masses and orbital eccentricities similar to those of detected extrasolar planets.     

Evidence for a solar system-size accretion disk around the massive protostar G192.16-3.82

Seven-millimeter continuum observations of a massive bipolar outflow source, G192.16-3.82, were made at a milli-arc-second resolution with a capability that links the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Large Array radio interferometer with the Very Long Baseline Array antenna, located in Pie Town, New Mexico. The observations provide evidence for a true accretion disk that is about the size of our solar system and located around a massive star. A model of the radio emission suggests the presence of a binary protostellar system. The primary protostar, G192 S1, at the center of the outflow, with a protostar mass of about 8 to 10 times the solar mass, is surrounded by an accretion disk with a diameter of 130 astronomical units (AU). The mass of the disk is on the order of the protostar mass. The outflow is poorly collimated with a full opening angle of about 40 degrees; there is no indication of a more highly collimated jetlike component. The companion source, G192 S2, is located 80 AU north of the primary source.     

Gibberellin and growth in isolated wheat embryos

Gibberellic acid promoted elongation growth in the coleoptiles and leaves of embryos from gamma-irradiated wheat grains whether the embryos were isolated or attached to the endosperm. Thus gibberellic acid affected this growth directly rather than indirectly through an effect upon endosperm. However, root growth was promoted by gibberellic acid only on embryos attached to endosperm, suggesting an indirect effect of gibberellic acid upon growth.     

Disks around stars and the growth of planetary systems

Circumstellar disks play a vital evolutionary role, providing a way to move gas inward and onto a young star. The outward transfer of angular momentum allows the star to contract without breaking up, and the remnant disk of gas and particles is the reservoir for forming planets. High-resolution spectroscopy is uncovering planetary dynamics and motion within the remnant disk, and imaging at infrared to millimeter wavelengths resolves disk structure over billions of years of evolution. Most stars are born with a disk, and models of planet formation need to form such bodies from the disk material within the disk's 10-million-year life-span.     

Major ecological transitions in wild sunflowers facilitated by hybridization

Hybridization is frequent in many organismal groups, but its role in adaptation is poorly understood. In sunflowers, species found in the most extreme habitats are ancient hybrids, and new gene combinations generated by hybridization are speculated to have contributed to ecological divergence. This possibility was tested through phenotypic and genomic comparisons of ancient and synthetic hybrids. Most trait differences in ancient hybrids could be recreated by complementary gene action in synthetic hybrids and were favored by selection. The same combinations of parental chromosomal segments required to generate extreme phenotypes in synthetic hybrids also occurred in ancient hybrids. Thus, hybridization facilitated ecological divergence in sunflowers.     

Excitation of lunar eccentricity by planetary resonances

The origin of the Moon's nonnegligible orbital eccentricity of 0.053 has no theoretical explanation. Lunar laser ranging indicates that tides on Earth are currently increasing the Moon's eccentricity. However, ocean tides were likely much weaker during the first billion years, allowing lunar tides to damp any primordial lunar eccentricity very early on. During the tidally driven expansion of its orbit, the Moon must have been affected by two substantial resonances related to Jupiter and Venus, passage through which may have generated today's lunar eccentricity.     

Induction of mesoderm by a viral oncogene in early Xenopus embryos

During frog embryogenesis, mesoderm is specified in the equatorial region of the early embryo by a signal from the vegetal hemisphere. Prospective ectodermal cells dissected from the animal hemisphere can be respecified to form mesodermal tissues by recombination with vegetal tissue or by treatment with any of several polypeptide growth factors or growth factor-like molecules. Together with the discovery that several developmental mutations in Drosophila are in genes with significant homology to mammalian mitogens and oncogenes, these observations suggest that early developmental signals may use similar transduction pathways to mitogenic signals characterized in cultured mammalian cells. Whether mesoderm can be induced by activation of intracellular signal transduction pathways implicated in mitogenesis and oncogenesis has been investigated with the viral oncogene polyoma middle T. Microinjection of middle T messenger RNA into early embryos results in the respecification of isolated prospective ectodermal tissue to form characteristic mesodermal structures. Middle T in frog blastomeres appears to associate with cellular activities similar to those observed in polyoma-transformed mouse cells, and transformation-defective middle T mutants fail to induce mesoderm. These results suggest that early inductive signals and mitogenic and oncogenic stimuli may share common signal transduction pathways.     

Hydra viridis: inhibition by the basal disk of basal disk differentiation

When the basal dist of Hydra viridis is excised, a new disk is regenerated. A basal disk grafted on an animal regenerating its own disk can suppress this regeneration. The effect is reversed if the grafted basal disk is subsequently excised. For inhibition to occur, the grafted disk must be present for at least 3 hours, beginning no later than 2 hours after amputation. The results indicate that the basal disk participated in the control of its own differentiation.     

Reversible reduction of oxygen to peroxide facilitated by molecular recognition

Generation of soluble sources of peroxide dianion (O(2)(2-)) is a challenge in dioxygen chemistry. The oxidizing nature of this anion renders its stabilization in organic media difficult. This Report describes the chemically reversible reduction of oxygen (O(2)) to cryptand-encapsulated O(2)(2-). The dianion is stabilized by strong hydrogen bonds to N-H groups from the hexacarboxamide cryptand. Analogous stabilization of peroxide by hydrogen bonding has been invoked recently in crystalline saccharide and protein systems. The present peroxide adducts are stable at room temperature in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and N,N'-dimethylformamide (DMF). These adducts can be obtained in gram quantities from the cryptand-driven disproportionation reaction of potassium superoxide (KO(2)) at room temperature.     

Detection of the water reservoir in a forming planetary system

Icy bodies may have delivered the oceans to the early Earth, yet little is known about water in the ice-dominated regions of extrasolar planet-forming disks. The Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared on board the Herschel Space Observatory has detected emission lines from both spin isomers of cold water vapor from the disk around the young star TW Hydrae. This water vapor likely originates from ice-coated solids near the disk surface, hinting at a water ice reservoir equivalent to several thousand Earth oceans in mass. The water's ortho-to-para ratio falls well below that of solar system comets, suggesting that comets contain heterogeneous ice mixtures collected across the entire solar nebula during the early stages of planetary birth.     

星斑川鲽胚胎的玻璃化冷冻保存

为研究星斑川鲽胚胎玻璃化冷冻保存,首先,于室温条件下采用玻璃化液五步平衡法处理星斑川鲽的尾芽期胚胎30 min,比较分析分别含有葡萄糖、果糖、蔗糖和海藻糖的4种不同玻璃化液(PMG3G、PMG3F、PMG3S、PMG3T)的毒性,发现含有海藻糖的玻璃化液(PMG3T)对尾芽期胚胎的毒性最小,胚胎的成活率与孵化率相对较高,分别为75.00%±5.43%和50.00%±4.53%(P0.05)。其次,分析玻璃化液PMG3T对星斑川鲽囊胚期至出膜前期7个时期的胚胎的毒性,发现尾芽期胚胎和心跳期胚胎经处理后成活率较高,分别为69.33%±6.43%和72.67%±3.94%(P0.05),但心跳期胚胎的孵化率较高,为65.33%±3.91%(P0.05),尾芽期胚胎次之,说明心跳期胚胎对PMG3T的耐受能力相对于尾芽期胚胎更好,更适宜进行胚胎的玻璃化冷冻保存实验。最后,采用玻璃化液PMG3T对心跳期胚胎进行–196℃冷冻实验,发现所处理的60粒胚胎中有7粒成活,可漂浮水面,继续培养后可见进一步发育,但未孵化出膜。另外,将100 mL未受精卵(未经玻璃化液处理)置于–20℃,分别在冷冻5～70 min时取出10 mL复温并进行授精,结果显示,冷冻5 min的卵的受精率为89.83%±6.51%(P0.05),随着冷冻时间的延长,受精率越来越低,冷冻70min时受精率为3.71%±1.27%,畸形率越来越高,在冷冻70min时达到100%。本研究筛选出比较适宜的玻璃化液、低温耐受性较高的胚胎发育时期,为星斑川鲽胚胎低温冷冻保存技术的建立和种质的长期保存和应用提供了实验数据。     

Rubella virus: growth and cytopathic effect in primary cultures of cells of rabbit embryos

Primary cultures of rabbit (New Zealand white) embryo cells support growth of rubella virus. Distinct cytopathic changes are discernible within 6 to 8 days after inoculation. This cell system has been successful for the recovery of rubella virus from clinical materials and the demonstration of neutralizing antibody in patient serum.     

维生素A缺乏对大鼠胚胎生长发育的影响

将雌鼠随机分为对照组和维生素A缺乏组,通过胎鼠的大体标本和骨骼标本观察维生素A缺乏对大鼠胚胎生长发育的影响, 结果表明,维生素A缺乏导致胎鼠的体重、身长、尾长明显小于对照组,囟门明显大于对照组,第2、5、6胸骨残缺以及前爪骨化不完全者、脑淤血、脑水肿以及肾盂积水者明显多于对照组.