Veterinary history and the development of human relationships with animals.

Reviewed by the chair of the Veterinary History Society Gary Clayton Jones.

California sea lions employ task-specific strategies for active touch sensing.

Active sensing is the process of moving sensors to extract task-specific information. Whisker touch is often referred to as an active sensory system as whiskers are moved with purposeful control. Even though whisker movements are found in many species, it is unknown whether any animal can make task-specific movements with their whiskers.

LiNaSiB3O7(OH)--novel structure of the new borosilicate mineral jadarite determined from laboratory powder diffraction data.

The structure of a new mineral jadarite, LiNaSiB(3)O(7)(OH) (IMA mineral 2006-36), has been determined by simulated annealing and Rietveld refinement of laboratory X-ray powder diffraction data. The structure contains a layer of corner-sharing, tetrahedrally coordinated Li, Si and B forming an unbranched vierer single layer, which is decorated with triangular BO(3) groups. The Na ion is situated between the tetrahedral layers in a distorted octahedral site.

Multi-element including rare earth content of lichens, bark, soils, and waste following industrial closure.

The fate of rare earth and other rare elements entering the environment is largely unknown. The lichen Hypogymnia physodes was transplanted over a 40 km long transect centered on a major metallurgical waste dump close to the Zlatna town center two weeks after smelter closure. Lichens, bark, soil, and waste dump materials were analyzed for 56 elements (including REE).

Lichen biomonitoring near Karabash smelter town, ural mountains, Russia, one of the most polluted areas in the world.

Biogeochemical signatures were investigated in transplanted and native lichens near a major pollution source using sensitive multi-element chemical analysis. Transplants were established across a 60 km transect centred on the smelter town of Karabash, Ural Mountains, Russia. Statistically significant trends in element concentrations were recorded, some below one part per million.