The concept of quasicrystals was first introduced twenty-eight years ago and, since then, over a hundred types have been discovered in the laboratory under precisely controlled physical conditions designed to avoid crystallization. Yet the original theory suggested that quasicrystals can potentially be as robust and stable as crystals, perhaps even forming naturally. These considerations motiva...

Introduction: Crystallization ages of lunar impact melt rocks provide the primary evidence for a spike in the impact flux at ~3.9 Ga. Here we report U-Pb isotopic ages of accessory phases (apatite, zirconalite) in lunar melt breccia 67955 that confirm a crystallization age of ~4.2 Ga and reveal a younger overprint possibly related to entrainment of the breccia by one or more younger basins such...

Silicosis is a preventable occupational lung disease caused by the inhalation of respirable crystalline silica dust and can progress to respiratory failure and death. No effective specific treatment for silicosis is available; patients are provided supportive care, and some patients may be considered for lung transplantation. Chronic silicosis can develop or progress even after occupational exp...

The Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (“MIU”) is now under construction by Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) in the Cretaceous Toki granite in the Tono area of central Japan. One of the main goals of the MIU project, which is a broad scientific study of the deep geological environment as a basis of research and development for geological disposal of nuclear wastes, is to establish compre...

Epilithic microbial communities, ubiquitously found in biofilms on submerged granite, limestone, and sandstone, as well as on the concrete support pillars of bridges, were examined in the Speed River, Ontario, Canada. Transmission electron microscopy showed that attached bacteria (on all substrata) were highly mineralized, ranging from Fe-rich capsular material to fine-grained (<1 mum) authigen...

The transition from 41to 100-kyr glacial cycles and concomitant increase in global ice volume ~1 Ma remain an enigmatic feature of late Cenozoic climate. Here, we examine the petrology, mineralogy, and geochemistry of the silicate fraction of tills spanning the past 2 Ma from the north-central United States to evaluate the hypothesis that this so-called middle Pleistocene transition (MPT) occur...

Phase change or Ovonic memory technology has gained much interest in the past decade as a viable solution for the rapid increase in the demand for memory storage. This unique technology, first proposed by S. Ovshinsky in 1968, is based on storing information on the crystalline and amorphous phases of a material. The most common phase-change materials (PCMs) use chalcogenide alloys such as the G...

Eighty-eight strains of microorganisms were isolated from soils collected in northern and southern Chile, and 10 fungi which showed the highest solubilizing action upon the iron in granodiorite were then selected. These fungi were incubated with the following iron-containing minerals: augite, hornblende, biotite, magnetite, hematite, and the igneous rock granodiorite. The solubility of iron in ...

This work shows that Ostwald ripening, a universal mechanism responsible for the increase of crystal size during precipitation from solutions, can be meditated by ion diffusion through condensed monolayers of water connecting separated nanocrystals. In an environmental electron microscope we have observed “in-situ” the time evolution of the number, shape, size and crystallographic texture of Na...

Misfit cobaltates ([Bi/Ba/Sr/Ca/CoO]n(RS)[CoO2]q) constitute the most promising family of thermoelectric oxides for high temperature energy harvesting. However, their complex structure and chemical composition makes extremely challenging their deposition by high-vacuum physical techniques. Therefore, many of them have not been prepared as thin films until now. Here we report the synthesis of hi...