Marine mammals as indicators of Anthropocene Ocean Health.

The current state of marine mammal populations reflects increasing anthropogenic impacts on the global Ocean. Adopting a holistic approach towards marine mammal health, incorporating healthy individuals and healthy populations, these taxa present indicators of the health of the overall Ocean system. Their present deterioration at the animal, population and ecosystem level has implications for human health and the global system.

Quantitative dual-energy CT as a nondestructive tool to identify indicators for fossilized bone in vertebrate paleontology.

Dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) is an imaging technique that combines nondestructive morphological cross-sectional imaging of objects and the quantification of their chemical composition. However, its potential to assist investigations in paleontology has not yet been explored. This study investigates quantitative DECT for the nondestructive density- and element-based material decomposition of fossilized bones.

A comprehensive diagnostic approach combining phylogenetic disease bracketing and CT imaging reveals osteomyelitis in a Tyrannosaurus rex.

Traditional palaeontological techniques of disease characterisation are limited to the analysis of osseous fossils, requiring several lines of evidence to support diagnoses. This study presents a novel stepwise concept for comprehensive diagnosis of pathologies in fossils by computed tomography imaging for morphological assessment combined with likelihood estimation based on systematic phylogenetic disease bracketing. This approach was applied to characterise pathologies of the left fibula and fused caudal vertebrae of the non-avian dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex.

Gas-Phase Ion Chemistry of Metalloporphyrin Anions with Molecular Oxygen: Probing the Influence of the Oxidation and Spin State of the Central Transition Metal by Experiment and Theory.

We performed a comprehensive gas-phase experimental and quantum-chemical study of the binding properties of molecular oxygen to iron and manganese porphyrin anions. Temperature-dependent ion-molecule reaction kinetics as probed in a Fourier-transform ion-cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer reveal that molecular oxygen is bound by, respectively, 40.8 ± 1.

Cranial symmetry in baleen whales (Cetacea, Mysticeti) and the occurrence of cranial asymmetry throughout cetacean evolution.

Odontoceti and Mysticeti (toothed and baleen whales) originated from Eocene archaeocetes that had evolved from terrestrial artiodactyls. Cranial asymmetry is known in odontocetes that can hear ultrasound (>20,000 Hz) and has been linked to the split function of the nasal passage in breathing and vocalization. Recent results indicate that archaeocetes also had asymmetric crania.