Search results for "terrestrial environment"
showing 10 items of 33 documents
Risk factors for central nervous system tumors in children: New findings from a case-control study
2017
BACKGROUND: Central nervous system tumors (CNS) are the most frequent solid tumor in children. Causes of CNS tumors are mainly unknown and only 5% of the cases can be explained by genetic predisposition. We studied the effects of environmental exposure on the incidence of CNS tumors in children by subtype, according to exposure to industrial and/or urban environment, exposure to crops and according to socio-economic status of the child. METHODS: We carried out a population-based case-control study of CNS tumors in Spain, covering 714 incident cases collected from the Spanish Registry of Childhood Tumors (period 1996-2011) and 4284 controls, individually matched by year of birth, sex, and au…
Community Turnover of Wood-Inhabiting Fungi across Hierarchical Spatial Scales
2014
For efficient use of conservation resources it is important to determine how species diversity changes across spatial scales. In many poorly known species groups little is known about at which spatial scales the conservation efforts should be focused. Here we examined how the community turnover of wood-inhabiting fungi is realised at three hierarchical levels, and how much of community variation is explained by variation in resource composition and spatial proximity. The hierarchical study design consisted of management type (fixed factor), forest site (random factor, nested within management type) and study plots (randomly placed plots within each study site). To examine how species richne…
Photobiology in space: An experiment on Spacelab I
1984
The joint European/US Spacelab Mission I, scheduled for October 1983 for a 9 day lasting Earth-orbiting flight, provides a laboratory system for various disciplines of science, including exobiology. On the pallet, in the experiment ES 029 "Microorganisms and Biomolecules in Space Hard Environment" 316 dry samples of Bacillus subtilis spores will be exposed to space vacuum and/or selected wavelenghs of solar UV radiation. After recovery action spectra of inactivation, mutation induction, reparability and photochemical damage in DNA and protein will be determined. The results will contribute to the understanding of the mechanism of the increased UV sensitivity of bacterial spores in vacuo and…
Walking on exoplanets: Is Star Wars right?
2016
As the number of detected extrasolar planets increases, exoplanet databases become a valuable resource, confirming some details about planetary formation, but also challenging our theories with new unexpected properties.
Astrobiology of life on Earth
2021
Astrobiology is mistakenly regarded by some as a field confined to studies of life beyond Earth. Here, we consider life on Earth through an astrobiological lens. Whereas classical studies of microbiology historically focused on various anthropocentric sub-fields (such as fermented foods or commensals and pathogens of crop plants, livestock and humans), addressing key biological questions via astrobiological approaches can further our understanding of all life on Earth. We highlight potential implications of this approach through the articles in this Environmental Microbiology special issue ‘Ecophysiology of Extremophiles’. They report on the microbiology of places/processes including low-te…
Basaltic Rocks Analyzed by the Spirit Rover in Gusev Crater
2004
The Spirit landing site in Gusev Crater on Mars contains dark, fine-grained, vesicular rocks interpreted as lavas. Pancam and MiniâThermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) spectra suggest that all of these rocks are similar but have variable coatings and dust mantles. Magnified images of brushed and abraded rock surfaces show alteration rinds and veins. Rock interiors contain â¤25% megacrysts. Chemical analyses of rocks by the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer are consistent with picritic basalts, containing normative olivine, pyroxenes, plagioclase, and accessory FeTi oxides. MoÌssbauer, Pancam, and Mini-TES spectra confirm the presence of olivine, magnetite, and probably pyroxene. The…
Mineralogy at Gusev Crater from the Mössbauer spectrometer on the Spirit Rover.
2004
Mössbauer spectra measured on Mars by the Spirit rover during the primary mission are characterized by two ferrous iron doublets (olivine and probably pyroxene) and a ferric iron doublet (tentatively associated to nanophase ferric iron oxide). Two sextets resulting from nonstoichiometric magnetite are also present, except for a coating on the rock Mazatzal, where a hematite-like sextet is present. Greater proportions of ferric-bearing phases are associated with undisturbed soils and rock surfaces as compared to fresh rock surfaces exposed by grinding. The ubiquitous presence of olivine in soil suggests that physical rather than chemical weathering processes currently dominate at Gusev crat…
Magnetic Properties Experiments on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit at Gusev Crater
2004
The magnetic properties experiments are designed to help identify the magnetic minerals in the dust and rocks on Mars—and to determine whether liquid water was involved in the formation and alteration of these magnetic minerals. Almost all of the dust particles suspended in the martian atmosphere must contain ferrimagnetic minerals (such as maghemite or magnetite) in an amount of ∼2% by weight. The most magnetic fraction of the dust appears darker than the average dust. Magnetite was detected in the first two rocks ground by Spirit.
Oxygen and the Exploration of the Universe
2010
Humankind has begun, in a tentative way, the immense project of exploring, and perhaps colonizing, other worlds. The grand enterprise has hardly begun and will certainly suffer many defeats and reversals, but it seems destined to go forward. In the course of this, both in seeking life in extraterrestrial environments and voyaging into them, we shall encounter a number of problems concerning the existence or provision of oxygen. The basis for this has been described in previous chapters. First, we would like to summarize arguments as to why life could have evolved on other planets. We need to know what to expect.
Pesticides and conservation of large ungulates: Health risk to European bison from plant protection products as a result of crop depredation.
2020
The coexistence of large mammals and humans in the contemporary landscape is a big challenge for conservationists. Wild ungulates that forage on arable fields are exposed to the negative effects of pesticides, and this problem also applies to protected species for which intoxication by pesticides may pose a health risk and directly affect the effectiveness of conservation efforts. In this paper we assessed the threat posed by pesticides to the European bison Bison bonasus, a species successfully restituted after being extinct in the wild. We studied samples of B. bonasus liver from three free-living populations in Poland (Białowieska, Knyszyńska, and Borecka forests) and captive individuals…