An ion balance for ultra-high-precision atomic mass measurements

We have developed the analog of a double-pan balance for determining the masses of single molecular ions from the ratio of their two cyclotron frequencies. By confining two different ions on the same magnetron orbit in a Penning trap, we balance out many sources of noise and error (such as fluctuations of the magnetic field). To minimize the systematic error associated with the Coulomb interaction between the two ions, they are kept about 1 millimeter apart from each other, resulting in fractional uncertainty below 1 x 10(-11). Such precision opens the door to numerous applications of mass spectrometry, including metrology, fundamental physics, and weighing chemical bonds.     

The role of magma overpressure in suppressing earthquakes and topography: worldwide examples

In an extending terrane basaltic magma supplied at a pressure greater than the least principal stress (overpressure) may be capable of suppressing normal faulting and the earthquakes and topographic relief that commonly accompany normal faulting. As vertical dikes intrude, they press against their walls in the direction opposite the least principal stress and increase its magnitude. The emplacement of tabular intrusions causes the internal magma pressure to act selectively in opposition to tectonic stresses. This process tends to equalize the stresses and thus diminishes the deviatoric stress (difference between maximum and minimum stresses) that creates faults and causes earthquakes. Observations of the pattern of seismicity and magmatism worldwide indicate that magmatism commonly supplants large earthquakes as the primary mechanism for accommodating tectonic extension. Recognizing the extent of magmatic stress accommodation is important in assessing seismic and volcanic risks.     

Helioseismic measurement of solar torsional oscillations

Bands of slower and faster rotation, the so-called torsional oscillations, are observed at the Sun's surface to migrate in latitude over the 11-year solar cycle. Here, we report on the temporal variations of the Sun's internal rotation from solar p-mode frequencies obtained over nearly 6 years by the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) instrument on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite. The entire solar convective envelope appears to be involved in the torsional oscillations, with phase propagating poleward and equatorward from midlatitudes at all depths throughout the convective envelope.     

El nino-southern oscillation events recorded in the stratigraphy of the tropical quelccaya ice cap, peru

Snow accumulation measured during 1982-1983 on the Quelccaya ice cap, Peru, was 70 percent of the average from 1975 through 1983. Inspection of 19 years (1964 through 1983) of accumulation measured near the summit of Quelccaya reveals a substantial decrease ( approximately 30 percent) in association with the last five El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) occurrences in the equatorial Pacific. The ENSO phenomenon is now recognized as a global event arising from large-scale interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere. Understanding this extreme event, with the goal of prediction, requires a record of past occurrences. The Quelccaya ice cap, which contains 1500 years of annually accumulated ice layers, may provide a long and detailed record of the most extreme ENSO events.     

Ecological effects of a major oil spill on panamanian coastal marine communities

In 1986 more than 8 million liters of crude oil spilled into a complex region of mangroves, seagrasses, and coral reefs just east of the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal. This was the largest recorded spill into coastal habitats in the tropical Americas. Many population of plants and animals in both oiled and unoiled sites had been studied previously, thereby providing an unprecedented measure of ecological variation before the spill. Documenation of the spread of oil and its biological begun immediately. Intertidal mangroves, algae, and associated invertebrates were covered by oil and died soon after. More surprisingly, there was also extensive mortality of shallow subtidal reef corals and infauna of seagrass beds. After 1.5 years only some organisms in areas exposed to the open sea have recovered.     

Surface molecules identify groups of growing axons

Studies on vertebrate and invertebrate species have established that, during development, axons have the ability to choose particular paths over others. The chemical basis of this pathfinding is not clear but biochemical differences between neurons have long been postulated to account for the specificity of neuronal connections. Such subtle molecular differences between different cells in a single tissue are difficult to study with standard biochemical techniques but hybridoma technology has offered a potential solution to this type of problem. This technique has made possible the production of monoclonal antibodies for identifying and characterizing a family of glycoproteins which are expressed on the surface of specific axon bundles during the development of the leech nervous system. The results show that groups of growing axons do indeed carry chemically distinct surface molecules.     

Alpha tocopherol control of sexuality and polymorphism in the rotifer Asplanchna

A dietary component that initiates both the tranisition from parthenogenetic to sexual reproduction and the production of lateral, posterodorsal, and posterior outgrowths of the body wall of females was isolated from the neutral lipids of dried grass and identified as (alpha)-tocopherol. The smallest concentrations eliciting both responses were below 100 nanograms per milliliter. Relative activities of (alpha)-, beta3-, and (gamma)-tocopherol and (alpha)-tocopheryl-quinone were roughly 100 : 100 : 20 : 0.4. The synthetic antioxidants tested were without activity.