Selenium alters the gene content but not the taxonomic composition of the soil microbiome.

Background: Microbiomes, essential to ecosystem processes, face strong selective forces that can drive rapid evolutionary adaptation. However, our understanding of evolutionary processes within natural systems remains limited. We investigated evolution in response to naturally occurring selenium in soils of different geological parental materials on the Western Slope of Colorado.

Tuning the redox profile of the 6,6'-biazulenic platform through functionalization along its molecular axis.

The potential associated with reduction of the linearly-functionalized 6,6'-biazulenic scaffold is accurately correlated to the combined Hammett parameters of the substituents over >600 mV range. X-ray crystallographic analysis of the 2,2'-dichloro-substituted derivative revealed unexpectedly short C-Cl bond distances, along with other metric changes, suggesting a non-trivial cycloheptafulvalene-like structural contribution.

Overdose prevention centers: Innovative strategy or federal law violation?

Among the list of identified strategies to address substance use disorder, none is as controversial as overdose prevention centers. Also known as supervised injection sites, these centers provide clean needles, food, basic hygiene, medical care, referrals to treatment, and overdose reversal medication to people who use drugs, all in a supervised setting. Proponents of these centers argue they save lives and money, while opponents claim they perpetuate and normalize illegal drug use.