Biological phosphonates: determination by phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance

Advanced methods of phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy provided a method whereby biological phosphonates and phosphates can be determined on simple lipid fractions of biological origin. The spectra consist of two easily distinguished resonance bands; one corresponds to families of phosphonates, and the other corresponds to families of orthophosphates.     

Late glacial stage and holocene tropical ice core records from huascaran, peru

Two ice cores from the col of Huascarán in the north-central Andes of Peru contain a paleoclimatic history extending well into the Wisconsinan (Würm) Glacial Stage and include evidence of the Younger Dryas cool phase. Glacial stage conditions at high elevations in the tropics appear to have been as much as 8 degrees to 12 degrees C cooler than today, the atmosphere contained about 200 times as much dust, and the Amazon Basin forest cover may have been much less extensive. Differences in both the oxygen isotope ratio zeta(18)O (8 per mil) and the deuterium excess (4.5 per mil) from the Late Glacial Stage to the Holocene are comparable with polar ice core records. These data imply that the tropical Atlantic was possibly 5 degrees to 6 degrees C cooler during the Late Glacial Stage, that the climate was warmest from 8400 to 5200 years before present, and that it cooled gradually, culminating with the Little Ice Age (200 to 500 years before present). A strong warming has dominated the last two centuries.     

Lunar organic compounds: search and characterization

The carbon concentration in Apollo 11 lunar fine material is of the order of 200 ppm. By far the largest single amount of this carbon appears to be in carbon monoxide. Some of this seems to be in the form of gas bubbles in the glass spheres, but most of it could be in some complex form other than gas. This result would be consistent with the idea that most of the fines passed through a high temperature and that the carbon was oxidized by mineral oxides at that time.     

Brain weight increases resulting from environmental enrichment: a directional dominance in mice

A genetic analysis of brain weights of 544 mice reared in either enriched or standard laboratory environments indicated significant directional dominance in the percentage of increase in brain weight as a result of enrichment.