Tiny Possum and the Migrating Moths

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Murphy ◽  
Ben Clifford

High in the Australian Alps, Possum needs to find enough food and shelter to survive the harsh alpine winter. She will spend months hibernating under a blanket of snow. Will she last through the year to successfully raise a new family? The mountain pygmy-possum is small in size but huge in appeal! Once thought to be extinct, there are now around 2500 of these tiny survivors in the wild. They need snow and bogong moths to survive, and also the support of great conservation work. Reading level varies from child to child, but we recommend this book for ages 6 to 9.

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9529
Author(s):  
Mark A. Freeman ◽  
Tetsuya Yanagida ◽  
Àrni Kristmundsson

Gastrointestinal myxosporean parasites from the genus Enteromyxum are known to cause severe disease, resulting in high mortalities in numerous species of cultured marine fishes globally. Originally described as Myxidium spp., they were transferred to a new genus, Enteromyxum, to emphasize their novel characteristics. Their retention in the family Myxidiidae at the time was warranted, but more comprehensive phylogenetic analyses have since demonstrated the need for a new family for these parasites. We discovered a novel Enteromyxum in wild fish from Malaysia and herein describe the fourth species in the genus and erect a new family, the Enteromyxidae n. fam., to accommodate them. Enteromyxum caesio n. sp. is described infecting the tissues of the stomach in the redbelly yellowtail fusilier, Caesio cuning, from Malaysia. The new species is distinct from all others in the genus, as the myxospores although morphologically similar, are significantly smaller in size. Furthermore, small subunit ribosomal DNA sequence data reveal that E. caesio is <84% similar to others in the genus, but collectively they form a robust and discrete clade, the Enteromyxidae n. fam., which is placed as a sister taxon to other histozoic marine myxosporeans. In addition, we describe, using transmission electron microscopy, the epicellular stages of Enteromyxum fugu and show a scanning electron micrograph of a mature myxospore of E. caesio detailing the otherwise indistinct sutural line, features of the polar capsules and spore valve ridges. The Enteromyxidae n. fam. is a commercially important group of parasites infecting the gastrointestinal tract of marine fishes and the histozoic species can cause the disease enteromyxosis in intensive finfish aquaculture facilities. Epicellular and sloughed histozoic stages are responsible for fish-to-fish transmission in net pen aquaculture systems but actinospores from an annelid host are thought to be necessary for transmission to fish in the wild.


Author(s):  
Y. P. Lin ◽  
J. S. Xue ◽  
J. E. Greedan

A new family of high temperature superconductors based on Pb2Sr2YCu3O9−δ has recently been reported. One method of improving Tc has been to replace Y partially with Ca. Although the basic structure of this type of superconductors is known, the detailed structure is still unclear, and various space groups has been proposed. In our work, crystals of Pb2Sr2YCu3O9−δ with dimensions up to 1 × 1 × 0.25.mm and with Tc of 84 K have been grown and their superconducting properties described. The defects and crystal symmetry have been investigated using electron microscopy performed on crushed crystals supported on a holey carbon film.Electron diffraction confirmed x-ray diffraction results which showed that the crystals are primitive orthorhombic with a=0.5383, b=0.5423 and c=1.5765 nm. Convergent Beam Electron Diffraction (CBED) patterns for the and axes are shown in Figs. 1 and 2 respectively.


Author(s):  
Martin Poenie ◽  
Akwasi Minta ◽  
Charles Vorndran

The use of fura-2 as an intracellular calcium indicator is complicated by problems of rapid dye leakage and intracellular compartmentalization which is due to a probenecid sensitive anion transporter. In addition there is increasing evidence for localized microdomains of high calcium signals which may not be faithfully reported by fura-2.We have developed a new family of fura-2 analogs aimed at addressing some of these problems. These new indicators are based on a modified bapta which can be readily derivatized to produce fura-2 analogs with a variety of new properties. The modifications do not affect the chromophore and have little impact on the spectral and metal binding properties of the indicator. One of these new derivatives known as FPE3 is a zwitterionic analog of fura-2 that can be loaded into cells as an acetoxymethyl ester and whose retention in cells is much improved. The improved retention of FPE3 is important for both cuvettebased measurements of cell suspensions and for calcium imaging.


Author(s):  
Thecan Caesar-Ton That ◽  
Lynn Epstein

Nectria haematococca mating population I (anamorph, Fusarium solani) macroconidia attach to its host (squash) and non-host surfaces prior to germ tube emergence. The macroconidia become adhesive after a brief period of protein synthesis. Recently, Hickman et al. (1989) isolated N. haematococca adhesion-reduced mutants. Using freeze substitution, we compared the development of the macroconidial wall in the wild type in comparison to one of the mutants, LEI.Macroconidia were harvested at 1C, washed by centrifugation, resuspended in a dilute zucchini fruit extract and incubated from 0 - 5 h. During the incubation period, wild type macroconidia attached to uncoated dialysis tubing. Mutant macroconidia did not attach and were collected on poly-L-lysine coated dialysis tubing just prior to freezing. Conidia on the tubing were frozen in liquid propane at 191 - 193C, substituted in acetone with 2% OsO4 and 0.05% uranyl acetate, washed with acetone, and flat-embedded in Epon-Araldite. Using phase contrast microscopy at 1000X, cells without freeze damage were selected, remounted, sectioned and post-stained sequentially with 1% Ba(MnO4)2 2% uranyl acetate and Reynold’s lead citrate. At least 30 cells/treatment were examined.


Author(s):  
CE Bracker ◽  
P. K. Hansma

A new family of scanning probe microscopes has emerged that is opening new horizons for investigating the fine structure of matter. The earliest and best known of these instruments is the scanning tunneling microscope (STM). First published in 1982, the STM earned the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics for two of its inventors, G. Binnig and H. Rohrer. They shared the prize with E. Ruska for his work that had led to the development of the transmission electron microscope half a century earlier. It seems appropriate that the award embodied this particular blend of the old and the new because it demonstrated to the world a long overdue respect for the enormous contributions electron microscopy has made to the understanding of matter, and at the same time it signalled the dawn of a new age in microscopy. What we are seeing is a revolution in microscopy and a redefinition of the concept of a microscope.Several kinds of scanning probe microscopes now exist, and the number is increasing. What they share in common is a small probe that is scanned over the surface of a specimen and measures a physical property on a very small scale, at or near the surface. Scanning probes can measure temperature, magnetic fields, tunneling currents, voltage, force, and ion currents, among others.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (45) ◽  
pp. 6116-6121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tan Ji ◽  
Lei Xia ◽  
Wei Zheng ◽  
Guang-Qiang Yin ◽  
Tao Yue ◽  
...  

We present a new family of porphyrin-functionalized coordination star polymers prepared through combination of coordination-driven self-assembly and post-assembly polymerization. Their self-assembly behaviour in water and potential for photodynamic therapy were demonstrated.


1985 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 497-498
Author(s):  
Carol C. Nadelson
Keyword(s):  

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