Bubble trail and folia in cenote Zapote, Mexico: petrographic evidence for abiotic precipitation driven by CO2 degassing below the water table

Folia are speleothems that resemble bells, inverted cups, or bracket fungi, and whose origins are still controversial. Cenote Zapote (an underwater cave) in the Yucatán Peninsula (México), is home to some of the largest folia reported to date. These speleothems are currently growing in an active underwater system, meaning this site offers an excellent opportunity to constrain the different formation models proposed for folia, which have traditionally relied on inactive examples. In Cenote Zapote, folia are closely related to bubble trails and cupolas, suggesting an underwater CO2-degassing process. In thin section, they display a succession of columnar-open and columnar-elongated endings in micrite-dendritic fabrics. Our petrographic and geochemical results demonstrate the abiotic origin of these folia and indicate carbonate precipitation from cold water by CO2 degassing below the water table that started at least 5,210 yrs BP. We conclude that these folia formed as a result of subaqueous calcite precipitation around CO2 bubbles trapped below overhanging walls of the cave. The sequential alternation of columnar and micritic fabrics can be explained by changes in the position of the halocline and H2S-rich water mass while the exceptional size is the result of carbonate precipitation from waters saturated in CaCO3 during thousans of years. Then we propose the classification of these speleothems as a subtype of folia. This subtype could be named Hells Bells, respecting its original description.

Sequential alternation of offspring sex from successive eggs by female green anoles, Anolis carolinensis

We examined the relationships between maternal size, breeding season stage, and offspring sex at hatching for the oviparous lizard Anolis carolinensis. Specifically, we tested two hypotheses: (1) large females produce offspring with male-biased sex ratios and small females produce offspring with female-biased sex ratios; and (2) females, regardless of size, produce offspring with male-biased sex ratios early in the breeding season and female-biased sex ratios late in the breeding season. We found no support for either hypothesis. Rather, we found that individual females of all sizes and throughout the breeding season alternated offspring sex of sequentially laid eggs. Because female anoles also alternate the ovary that produces successive eggs, we tested a third hypothesis: females produce eggs of only one sex with each ovary. Both palpation to track which ovary produced which eggs, and unilateral ovariectomies, leaving females with only one functioning ovary, failed to support this hypothesis. Regardless of whether an ovary was removed, females were capable of producing both male and female offspring from either ovary. To account for this and potentially other unusual patterns of offspring production, we provide evidence that maternal hormone levels around the time of fertilization may affect offspring sex.

Visual Apparent Movement: Transformations of Size and Orientation

Sequential alternation between same-shaped stimuli differing in size (size ratio s) and orientation (angular difference v) produced a visual illusion of translation in depth and concurrent rotation. The minimum stimulus-onset asynchrony required for the appearance of a rigidly moving object was approximately a linearly increasing function of ( s− 1)/( s + 1) for simple translation in depth and a linearly increasing function of v for simple rotation. The extrapolated zero intercept was lower for translation than for rotation, but estimated transformation times were additive in combined transformations. The results suggest that (a) the processes of apparent translation in depth and apparent rotation are individually sequential-additive in structure, and (b) apparent translations and rotations are combined by fine-grained alternation of steps of apparent translation and steps of apparent rotation. Similar principles account for recent data on imagined spatial transformations of visual size and orientation.

Velocity Constraints on Apparent Rotational Movement

The visual illusion of apparent rigid rotation was produced by sequential alternation of two views of the same object in different orientations. The minimum stimulus-onset asynchrony required for the appearance of rigid rotation was a linearly increasing function of the angular difference in orientation between the two views. Variation in the size of the object affected the zero-intercept of the function, but the slope was virtually constant. The slope invariance suggests that the appearance of rigid rotation is constrained by an upper bound on the apparent angular velocity of the object as a whole, rather than a bound on the linear velocity of its parts.

Long Term Induction of Kindled Seizures in Rats: Interhemispheric Factors

SUMMARY:Previous research indicated that sequential alternation of stimulation of certain homologous brain areas via chronically implanted electrodes resulted in oscillation of high and low latencies for convulsions. This phenomenon suggested the establishment of interhemispheric facilitatory-inhibitory effects as a result of repeated stimulation of the two brain sites. In the present study, the latency oscillation pattern was observed in split-brain rats as well as in bilaterally stimulated controls, but not in rats stimulated on one side only. Significant differences were observed between split-brain and control rats in terms of initial kindling rates, duration of convulsions and type of oscillation. Results are discussed in the context of possible interhemispheric mechanisms involved in long term kindling.