一代人的泰坦尼克

《泰坦尼克号》3D(2012)导演:詹姆斯·卡梅隆主演:凯特·温丝莱特,莱昂纳多·迪卡普里奥故事梗概:1912年,美国白星航运公司建造了一艘被称为"永不沉没"的巨型邮轮——泰坦尼克号,但从英国港口南安普顿到纽约的处女航途中,便撞上冰山沉入海底成为了哗然一时的新闻。电影所讲述的一对爱情故事便发生在这艘船上,女主     

Ultrastructural and geochemical characterization of Archean-Paleoproterozoic graphite particles: implications for recognizing traces of life in highly metamorphosed rocks

Abundant graphite particles occur in amphibolite-grade quartzite of the Archean-Paleoproterozoic Wutai Metamorphic Complex in the Wutaishan area of North China. Petrographic thin section observations suggest that the graphite particles occur within and between quartzite clasts and are heterogeneous in origin. Using HF maceration techniques, the Wutai graphite particles were extracted for further investigation. Laser Raman spectroscopic analysis of a population of extracted graphite discs indicated that they experienced a maximum metamorphic temperature of 513 +/- 50 degrees C, which is consistent with the metamorphic grade of the host rock and supports their indigenicity. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy revealed that the particles bear morphological features (such as hexagonal sheets of graphite crystals) related to metamorphism and crystal growth, but a small fraction of them (graphite discs) are characterized by a circular morphology, distinct marginal concentric folds, surficial wrinkles, and complex nanostructures. Ion microprobe analysis of individual graphite discs showed that their carbon isotope compositions range from -7.4 per thousand to -35.9 per thousand V-PDB (Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite), with an average of -20.3 per thousand, which is comparable to bulk analysis of extracted carbonaceous material. The range of their size, ultrastructures, and isotopic signatures suggests that the morphology and geochemistry of the Wutai graphite discs were overprinted by metamorphism and their ultimate carbon source probably had diverse origins that included abiotic processes. We considered both biotic and abiotic origins of the carbon source and graphite disc morphologies and cannot falsify the possibility that some circular graphite discs characterized by marginal folds and surficial wrinkles represent deflated, compressed, and subsequently graphitized organic-walled vesicles. Together with reports by other authors of acanthomorphic acritarchs from greenschist-amphibolite-grade metamorphic rocks, this study suggests that it is worthwhile to examine carbonaceous materials preserved in highly metamorphosed rocks for possible evidence of ancient life.     

Implications of an anthropic model of evolution for emergence of complex life and intelligence

Structurally complex life and intelligence evolved late on Earth; models for the evolution of global temperature suggest that, due to the increasing solar luminosity, the future life span of the (eukaryote) biosphere will be "only" about another billion years, a short time compared to the approximately 4 Ga since life began. A simple stochastic model (Carter, 1983) suggests that this timing might be governed by the necessity to pass a small number, n, of very difficult evolutionary steps, with n < 10 and a best guess of n = 4, in order for intelligent observers like ourselves to evolve. Here I extend the model analysis to derive probability distributions for each step. Past steps should tend to be evenly spaced through Earth's history, and this is consistent with identification of the steps with some of the major transitions in the evolution of life on Earth. A complementary approach, identifying the critical steps with major reorganizations in Earth's biogeochemical cycles, suggests that the Archean-Proterozoic and Proterozoic-Phanerozoic transitions might be identified with critical steps. The success of the model lends support to a "Rare Earth" hypothesis (Ward and Brownlee, 2000): structurally complex life is separated from prokaryotes by several very unlikely steps and, hence, will be much less common than prokaryotes. Intelligence is one further unlikely step, so it is much less common still.     

痒

《结婚七年》(2003·法国)导演:迪迪埃·布尔东主演:凯瑟琳·弗洛,迪迪埃·布尔东故事梗概:故事发生在法国,阿蓝和奥德赫是一对结婚7年的夫妻,有一个小女儿。七年之痒在全世界仿佛都是一个通用的概念,而这对夫妻也同样过着不咸不淡的生活。之前他们觉得两个人的生活中存在着很多矛盾,直到有一天,阿蓝的一位性学专家朋友给他指点迷津,生活瞬间做了减法,事情也开始向另一个方向好转起来。     

激光多普勒测速仪在弯管中的折射修正

介绍2种在应用双光束激光多普勒测速仪测量弯管内流速时，修正测量体位置和光束之间夹角的计算方法。一种是Snell折射定律的简化近似法，而另一种是精确的光线追踪法。针对弯管实例，将这2种方法所得的结果相比较，可看出近似法的不足是对三维折射的修正不够充分，然而与在直管中折射效应的测量结果相比较，证明这2种修正方法均是可行的。     

看得到死,却看不到生

《美错》(2010·西班牙)导演:亚历桑德罗·冈萨雷斯·伊纳里多主演:贾维尔·巴登故事梗概:乌斯巴是巴塞罗那城中的灵媒,有人枉死的时候总希望能让他送上一程,除此之外,已经和老婆离婚的他为了养活两个孩子,不得不靠找其他营生赚钱。有一天医院查出乌斯巴的肾出了问题,所剩时目已然不多,可对他来说越是想抓紧     

用新技术支持未来航天任务

未来的航天任务操作将是什么样？未来航天任务将从目前开发的新技术中获得多少好处？从桌面个人计算机（ＰＣ）操作整个卫星、一个星座和一族卫星的可能性如何？本文就来探讨这些问题，作为对星上自主和Ｉｎｔｅｒｎｅｔ大型协议之类新技术将如何改变航天操作的前景预测。分析了“离岗”任务操作控制中心的设想及其在未来任务操作中的作用，介绍了从现有方案发展的类似情况，仔细研究了智能卫星的设想。这种智能卫星能监视自己运行状     

The O/OREOS mission: first science data from the Space Environment Survivability of Living Organisms (SESLO) payload

We report the first telemetered spaceflight science results from the orbiting Space Environment Survivability of Living Organisms (SESLO) experiment, executed by one of the two 10?cm cube-format payloads aboard the 5.5?kg Organism/Organic Exposure to Orbital Stresses (O/OREOS) free-flying nanosatellite. The O/OREOS spacecraft was launched successfully to a 72° inclination, 650?km Earth orbit on 19 November 2010. This satellite provides access to the radiation environment of space in relatively weak regions of Earth's protective magnetosphere as it passes close to the north and south magnetic poles; the total dose rate is about 15 times that in the orbit of the International Space Station. The SESLO experiment measures the long-term survival, germination, and growth responses, including metabolic activity, of Bacillus subtilis spores exposed to the microgravity, ionizing radiation, and heavy-ion bombardment of its high-inclination orbit. Six microwells containing wild-type (168) and six more containing radiation-sensitive mutant (WN1087) strains of dried B. subtilis spores were rehydrated with nutrient medium after 14 days in space to allow the spores to germinate and grow. Similarly, the same distribution of organisms in a different set of microwells was rehydrated with nutrient medium after 97 days in space. The nutrient medium included the redox dye Alamar blue, which changes color in response to cellular metabolic activity. Three-color transmitted intensity measurements of all microwells were telemetered to Earth within days of each of the 48?h growth experiments. We report here on the evaluation and interpretation of these spaceflight data in comparison to delayed-synchronous laboratory ground control experiments.     

Low-temperature ionizing radiation resistance of Deinococcus radiodurans and Antarctic Dry Valley bacteria

The high flux of cosmic rays onto the unshielded surface of Mars poses a significant hazard to the survival of martian microbial life. Here, we determined the survival responses of several bacterial strains to ionizing radiation exposure while frozen at a low temperature characteristic of the martian near-subsurface. Novel psychrotolerant bacterial strains were isolated from the Antarctic Dry Valleys, an environmental analogue of the martian surface, and identified by 16S rRNA gene phylogeny as representatives of Brevundimonas, Rhodococcus, and Pseudomonas genera. These isolates, in addition to the known radioresistant extremophile Deinococcus radiodurans, were exposed to gamma rays while frozen on dry ice (-79°C). We found D. radiodurans to exhibit far greater radiation resistance when irradiated at -79°C than was observed in similar studies performed at higher temperatures. This greater radiation resistance has important implications for the estimation of potential survival times of microorganisms near the martian surface. Furthermore, the most radiation resistant of these Dry Valley isolates, Brevundimonas sp. MV.7, was found to show 99% 16S rRNA gene similarity to contaminant bacteria discovered in clean rooms at both Kennedy and Johnson Space Centers and so is of prime concern to efforts in the planetary protection of Mars from our lander probes. Results from this experimental irradiation, combined with previous radiation modeling, indicate that Brevundimonas sp. MV.7 emplaced only 30?cm deep in martian dust could survive the cosmic radiation for up to 100,000 years before suffering 10? population reduction.