Calcification on an Unstable Substrate: Marginal Growth in the Moilusk Pecten diegensis

Observations of the growing margin of Pecten diegensis show that calcification can occur on an unstable substrate, although this initial shell material is quite disordered. Later growth on the inner surface of the disordered material soon becomes ordered, which suggests that the calcification process benefits from the stability of a mineralized substrate, but does not utilize the substrate as a physical or stereochemical template.     

Environmental nitroso compounds: reaction of nitrite with creatine and creatinine

Creatine reacts with nitrite under acid conditions to produce first sarcosine and then N-nitrososarcosine, which is a weak carcinogen in the rat. Creatinine reacts with acidified nitrite to produce either creatinine-5-oxime or 1-methylhydantoin-5-oxime, depending on reaction conditions. The toxicity and environmental significance of these compounds is not yet known.     

Nimbus-7 coastal zone color scanner: system description and initial imagery

The Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) on Nimbus-7, launched in October 1978, is the only sensor in orbit that is specifically designed to study living marine resources. The initial imagery confirms that CZCS data can be processed to a level that reveals subtle variations in the concentration of phytoplankton pigments. This development has potential applications for the study of large-scale patchiness in phytoplankton distributions, the evolution of spring blooms, water mass boundaries, and mesoscale circulation patterns.     

Interferometer experiment with independent local oscillators

We have operated an interferometer with independent local oscillators and without any communication link of wide bandwidth between the elements of the interferometer. This makes operation possible at very long base lines because, heretofore, construction of the communications link has been the factor limiting the separation of the elements. In our system, coherence at the two elements is maintained through the use of two highly stable, atomic oscillators. The intermediate-frequency output signals are recorded at each element on a high-speed digital tape recorder. Interference fringes are produced later by cross-correlating the two tape records in a digital computer.     

X-ray Scattering Studies of Aligned, Stacked Surfactant Membranes

X-ray scattering studies were performed to understand the structure and correlations in the lamellar phases of thick, freely suspeded films of (i) the hydrated phospholipid dimyristoylphosphotidylcholine (DMPC) and (ii) the ternar system consisting of the surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), cosurfactant (pentanol), and water. The films were drawn in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment, where the layers were oriented to within 0.1 degrees . In the DMPC system, this made it possible to directly observe the orientation of the P(beta') modulation and to identify phase L(beta') as three distinct phases distinguished by the direction of chain tilt with respect to the lattice. In the L(alpha) phase of the ternary system, power law behavior of the (0,0,L) structure factor arising from the algebraic decay of layer correlatios was observed in single crystals.     

Spontaneous formation of macroscopic chiral domains in a fluid smectic phase of achiral molecules

A smectic liquid-crystal phase made from achiral molecules with bent cores was found to have fluid layers that exhibit two spontaneous symmetry-breaking instabilities: polar molecular orientational ordering about the layer normal and molecular tilt. These instabilities combine to form a chiral layer structure with a handedness that depends on the sign of the tilt. The bulk states are either antiferroelectric-racemic, with the layer polar direction and handedness alternating in sign from layer to layer, or antiferroelectric-chiral, which is of uniform layer handedness. Both states exhibit an electric field-induced transition from antiferroelectric to ferroelectric.