Thunderstorms: an important mechanism in the transport of air pollutants

Acid deposition and photochemical smog are urban air pollution problems, and they remain localized as long as the sulfur, nitrogen, and hydrocarbon pollutants are confined to the lower troposphere (below about 1-kilometer altitude) where they are short-lived. If, however, the contaminants are rapidly transported to the upper troposphere, then their atmospheric residence times grow and their range of influence expands dramatically. Although this vertical transport ameliorates some of the effects of acid rain by diluting atmospheric acids, it exacerbates global tropospheric ozone production by redistributing the necessary nitrogen catalysts. Results of recent computer simulations suggest that thunderstorms are one means of rapid vertical transport. To test this hypothesis, several research aircraft near a midwestern thunderstrom measured carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, ozone, and reactive nitrogen compounds. Their concentrations were much greater in the outflow region of the storm, up to 11 kilometers in altitude, than in surrounding air. Trace gas measurements can thus be used to track the motion of air in and around a cloud. Thunderstorms may transform local air pollution problems into regional or global atmospheric chemistry problems.     

Operant conditioning of single-unit response patterns in visual cortex

Unit responses to photic stimuli were studied in cat visual cortex. After the baseline response pattern of a cell was determined, conditioning trials were given during which reinforcement was contingent upon increased firing during a selected segment of the poststimulus interval. Density of reinforcement increased substantially in about half the cells studied; significant increases in firing occurred within, but not outside, the criterion segment.     

Human acid phosphatase in somatic cell hybrids

The human enzyme, lysosomal acid phosphatase ACP2, is expressed in nan-rodent somatic cell hybrids as a dimeric molecule. The human-rodent heteropolymer, as well as the human and rodent homopolymer, is associated with lysosomes in these cells. The genes specifying lysosomal acid phosphatase ACP(2) and LDH A are syntenic.     

Oxygen-18 enrichment of planktonic foraminifera due to gametogenic calcification below the euphotic zone

Empty shells of spinose planktonic foraminifera on the seabed are significantly enriched in oxygen-18 as compared with the shells of their living counterparts in surface waters. This enrichment is due to gametogenic calcification, which extracts calcium carbonate from deeper and colder waters as the shell sinks below the euphotic zone. JEAN-CLAUDE DUPLESSY.     

Rapidly changing radio images

Differences in total transit time can give rise to images that expand at arbitrarily high speed. Two versions of a model based on this idea can account for the varying microwave structure reported for the quasar 3C 279. Other possible examples are suggested.     

Fallout from nuclear detonations of February and April 1960

A sharp increase in the ratio of strontium-89 to strontium-90 in rain was observed at Fayetteville, Arkansas, after the French nuclear detonations of February and April 1960. Experimental data obtained suggest the possibility that part of the debris from atom bombs detonated in the tropical region may enter the stratosphere.