Growth lines in a bivalve mollusk: subdaily patterns and dissolution of the shell

Scanning electron micrographs of sections of the prismatic shell of the bivalve Mercenaria mercenaria reveal narrow subdaily growth striations. The width of these narrow lines, formed by concentrations of organic material, corresponds to the quantity of shell material that would be expected to dissolve during periods of anaerobic metabolism. The pH in the extrapallial fluid of the bivalve decreases when the valves are closed, and the amount of dissolution of shell is related to the duration of valve closure.     

Rare earths: atmospheric signatures for oil-fired power plants and refineries

The concentration pattern of rare earth elements on fine airborne particles (less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter) is distorted from the crustal abundance pattern in areas influenced by emissions from oil-fired plants and refineries. For example, the ratio of lanthanum to samarium is often greater than 20 compared to a crustal ratio less than 6. The unusual pattern apparently results from the distribution of rare earths in zeolite catalysts used in refining oil. Oil industry emissions perturb the rare earth pattern even at remote locations such as the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. Rare earth ratios are probably better for long-range tracing of oil emissions than vanadium and nickel concentrations because the ratios of rare earths on fine particles are probably not influenced by deposition and other fractionating processes. Emissions from oil-fired plants can be differentiated from those of refineries on an urban scale by the much smaller amounts of vanadium in the latter.     

Bismuth bronze from machu picchu, peru

The decorative bronze handle of a tumi excavated at the Inca city of Machu Picchu, Peru, contains 18 percent bismuth and appears to be the first known example of the use of bismuth with tin to make bronze. The alloy is not embrittled by the bismuth because the bismuth-rich constituent does not penetrate the grain boundaries of the matrix phase. The use of bismuth facilitates the duplex casting process by which the tumi was made and forms an alloy of unusual color.     

Erythropoietin: production by a particulate fraction of rat kidney

An erythropoietic factor was extracted with hypotonic phosphate buffer from the kidneys of hypoxic rats. Normal rat serum enhanced the activity of this factor, which is associated with the light mitochondrial fraction. The data suggest that the renal factor is not physiologically active unless it interacts with a serum carrier or activator, or that the factor may be an enzyme which produces erythropoietin from some serum substrate.     

Interstellar sulfur hydride: a search for the 111-megahertz lines

Similarities in the energy-level structure of the sulfur hydride radical and the hydroxyl radical suggest that sulfur hydride in the interstellar medium might be detectable because of a population inversion or anti-inversion similar to that of the hydroxyl radical. We have searched for the 111.54-megahertz transition [F (total angular momentum quantum number) = 2 --> 2] and for the 111.22-megahertz transition (F = 1 --> 1) in the galactic radio source W49, one of the brightest hydroxyl emission sources. No sulfur hydride emission lines with half-power widths of 130 hertz or greater were detected with the 1000-foot Arecibo antenna. The upper limits established with 100-hertz filters were 50 and 60 flux units (1 flux unit= 10(26) watt meter(-2) hertz(-1)), respectively, for the two lines.