It has been suggested that the timing of pollination in Ephedra foeminea coincides with the full moon in July. The implication is that the plant can detect the full moon through light or gravity and that this trait is an evolutionary adaptation that aids the navigation by pollinating insects. Here we show that there are insufficient data to make such a claim, and we predict that pollinations of...

The Moon is the closest astronomical object to the Earth, and the only one on which we can see significant surface features with our naked eyes (the Sun is too bright, and everything else is pointlike or, like the Andromeda galaxy, too dim). As a result, it has from time immemorial inspired many fanciful notions, including that the Moon is inhabited. In fact, life on the Moon was the subject of...

We use the GEANT4 Monte Carlo framework to calculate the γ-ray albedo of the Moon due to interactions of cosmic ray (CR) nuclei with moon rock. Our calculation of the albedo spectrum agrees with the EGRET data. We show that the spectrum of γ-rays from the Moon is very steep with an effective cutoff around 3–4 GeV (600 MeV for the inner part of the Moon disk) and exhibits a narrow pion-decay lin...

There has been a renewed interest in exploration of the moon in the past few years and a number of space missions are planned by various countries during this decade. The Indian Space Research Organization has also been discussing the possibility of an orbiter mission to the moon for remote sensing and has debated the scientific goals for such a mission in various fora such as the annual meetin...

New estimates of the thickness of the lunar highlands crust based on data from the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory mission, allow us to reassess the abundances of refractory elements in the Moon. Previous estimates of the Moon fall into two distinct groups: earthlike and a 50% enrichment in the Moon compared with the Earth. Revised crustal thicknesses and compositional information from...

[1] For the unique case of magnetic field parallel to the solar wind flow, a column of reflected protons can accumulate upstream from the Moon. We investigate observations from the ARTEMIS probes for an extended period with this geometry. During this time, P2 observes strong wave turbulence in two frequency bands above and below the ion cyclotron frequency near the Moon, not seen by P1 farther ...

Kakoi, Masaki Ph.D., Purdue University, May 2015. Design of Transfers from EarthMoon L1/L2 Libration Point Orbits to a Destination Object. Major Professor: Kathleen C. Howell. Within the context of both manned and robotic spaceflight activities, orbits near the Earth-Moon L1 and L2 libration points could support lunar surface operations and serve as staging areas for future missions to near-Ear...

BACKGROUND Urolithiasis affects an estimated 5% of the population and the lifetime risk of passing a stone in the urinary tract is estimated to be 8-10%. Urinary calculus formation is highly variable and while certain risk factors such as age, gender, seasonality, anatomic abnormality, and metabolic diseases have been identified, not much is known regarding the association of environmental fact...

To return to the ecologically optimal zone of the beach, the sandhopper Talitrus saltator (Montagu) maintains a constant sea-land direction based on the sun and moon compasses. In this study, we investigated the role of the skylight gradient of luminance in sun and moon identification under natural and artificial conditions of illumination. Clock-shifted (inverted) sandhoppers tested under the ...

The origin of Earth's Moon has been a perplexing mystery for many decades. Lunar samples have been obtained indicating an age of the Moon to be roughly 60-120 Myr [1,2] younger than the Calcium Aluminum Inclusions in the chondritic meteorites. Updated measurements indicate an age difference of 70-110 Myr [3,4]. Additional information has been obtained for the composition of the Moon relative to...