Passive water control at the surface of a superhydrophobic lichen.

Some lichens have a super-hydrophobic upper surface, which repels water drops, keeping the surface dry but probably preventing water uptake. Spore ejection requires water and is most efficient just after rainfall. This study was carried out to investigate how super-hydrophobic lichens manage water uptake and repellence at their fruiting bodies, or podetia.

An evaluation of the bioavailability and bioaccumulation of selected metals occurring in a wetland area on the volcanic island of Guam, Western Pacific Ocean.

This initial research examined the presence, distribution and bioavailability of Cu, Cr, Ni, Mn and Fe in a wetland area of southern Guam. The research sites are within an area covered with saporite, a soil type derived from volcanic deposits on the island. Leaf tissue of Pandanus tectorius was extracted and analysed to determine the bioaccumulation of the target metals.

Bioavailability of tungsten and associated metals in calcareous soils in the vicinity of an ancient metalliferous mine in the Corbières area, southwestern France.

The mobility and bioavailability of tungsten and associated metals are examined in calcareous soils and subsequent bioaccumulation by four species of plants is determined. Apparent bioavailability of metalliferous cations indicated by accepted monitoring methods and actual bioaccumulation is compared using regression analysis. Two soil extraction procedures were used without significant correlation between the methods at all stages, with the exception of copper and arsenic.

The 'human revolution' in lowland tropical Southeast Asia: the antiquity and behavior of anatomically modern humans at Niah Cave (Sarawak, Borneo).

Recent research in Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia suggests that we can no longer assume a direct and exclusive link between anatomically modern humans and behavioral modernity (the 'human revolution'), and assume that the presence of either one implies the presence of the other: discussions of the emergence of cultural complexity have to proceed with greater scrutiny of the evidence on a site-by-site basis to establish secure associations between the archaeology present there and the hominins who created it. This paper presents one such case study: Niah Cave in Sarawak on the island of Borneo, famous for the discovery in 1958 in the West Mouth of the Great Cave of a modern human skull, the 'Deep Skull,' controversially associated with radiocarbon dates of ca. 40,000 years before the present.

Bio-availability of tungsten in the vicinity of an abandoned mine in the English Lake District and some potential health implications.

This research addresses the occurrence, detection and possible fate of tungsten in the vicinity of an abandoned mine in the English Lake District. Aqua regia extraction and subsequent analysis of spoil and vegetation confirmed the presence of tungsten and other heavy metals. Spoil samples examined were last worked almost 100 years ago and the concentrations of copper, zinc, tungsten and arsenic detected demonstrate the environmental persistence of these metals in an area of relatively high rainfall.

A lichen protected by a super-hydrophobic and breathable structure.

A species of lichen, Lecanora conizaeoides, is shown to be super-hydrophobic. It uses a combination of hydrophobic compounds and multi-layered roughness to shed water effectively. This is combined with gas channels to produce a biological analogue of a waterproof, breathable garment.

The dispersion of heavy metals in the vicinity of Britannia Mine, British Columbia, Canada.

Britannia Mine in British Columbia, Canada, is a major source of copper and other heavy metal pollutants, which enter the sea at Howe Sound. This investigation aims to determine whether there is sufficient Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn, in the terrestrial environment surrounding the mine to suggest that dispersion and subsequent bioaccumulation has occurred in the past and continues. Samples of spoil, vegetation, and water were collected in January 2003 from areas at sea level and up to an altitude of 790 m.

The potential risk from 222radon posed to archaeologists and earth scientists: reconnaissance study of radon concentrations, excavations, and archaeological shelters in the Great Cave of Niah, Sarawak, Malaysia.

This reconnaissance study of radon concentrations in the Great Cave of Niah in Sarawak shows that in relatively deep pits and trenches in surficial deposits largely covered by protective shelters with poor ventilation, excavators are working in a micro-environment in which radon concentrations at the ground surface can exceed those of the surrounding area by a factor of > x 2. Although radon concentrations in this famous cave are low by world standards (alpha track-etch results ranging from 100 to 3075 Bq m(-3)), they still may pose a health risk to both excavators (personal dosemeter readings varied from 0.368 to 0.

'Death ... more desirable than life'? The human skeletal record and toxicological implications of ancient copper mining and smelting in Wadi Faynan, southwestern Jordan.

Skeletal material from 36 people, dating from the early Christian era, who lived by or worked in the notorious Roman copper mines of Phaeno, were analysed to determine their exposure to copper and lead. We demonstrate that many of the bones analysed had a substantially higher concentration of these cations than modern individuals exposed to metals through industrial processes. Health, toxicological and environmental implications of these data are reviewed.

Copper bioaccumulation by the freshwater snail Lymnaea peregra: a toxicological marker of environmental and human health?

Snails (Lymnaea peregra) were exposed to both low and high concentrations of copper(as copper nitrate) undercontrolled conditions and then were sacrificed and dissected; various tissues/organs were removed and subsequently analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry to determine both the copper concentration and the nature of localization. At low concentrations, bioaccumulation was evident in various tissues/organs; a dose response occurred in tissues derived from both the head and foot. At high concentrations, the copper concentrations of the liver-like body and kidney became massively enhanced.