Nature provides a whole host of superior multifunctional structures that can be used as inspirational systems for the design and synthesis of new, technologically important materials and devices. We review here the exceptional optical performance of microlens arrays formed by light-sensitive brittlestars, their structural and compositional features, and advantageous properties. We show that bri...

Sea urchin larvae have an endoskeleton consisting of two calcitic spicules. We reconstructed various stages of the formation pathway of calcium carbonate from calcium ions in sea water to mineral deposition and integration into the forming spicules. Monitoring calcium uptake with the fluorescent dye calcein shows that calcium ions first penetrate the embryo and later are deposited intracellular...

[1] Core top samples from Indonesian and northeast Atlantic depth transects were used to calibrate Mg/Ca and dO in tests of the calcitic benthic foraminifer Hyalinea balthica to bottom water temperature between 4°C and 13°C. This shallow infaunal species is primarily abundant in neritic to upper bathyal sediments (<600 m). Both linear and exponential calibrations suggest a temperature sensitivi...

Isotope data from bulk carbonates, micrite, marine calcite cements, non-skeletal grains and brachiopods indicate deposition of a wide spectrum of warm to cold water carbonates during the Ordovician and the Jurassic. This isotopic interpretation is supported by warm to cold climatic models proposed for the Ordovician and the Jurassic. These carbonates formed during the Greenhouse mode (condition...

The documentation of proteinaceous soft tissues in fossils from deep time remains controversial. Often this has been attributed to the laboratory or other modes modern contamination. Here we provide incontrovertible evidence for preservation moieties Maastrichtian dinosaur eggshell using pyrolysis-GC×GC-TOFMS. presence nitrogen-bearing organic molecules along with diketodipyrrole suggests that ...

This paper elucidates the methodology of applying artificial neural network model (ANNM) to predict the percent swell of calcitic soil in sulphuric acid solutions, a complex phenomenon involving many parameters. Swell data required for modelling is experimentally obtained using conventional oedometer tests under nominal surcharge. The phases in ANN include optimal design of architecture, operat...

The magnetization of fresh natrocarbonatite lavas from Oldoinyo Lengai in Tanzania is dominated by small amounts of singleor pseudo-single-domain grains of a spinel in the solid solution series jacobsite (MnFe204)-magnetite (Fe304). Although this phase may acquire TRM before carbonatite lava crust has ceased being mobile, the Oldoinyo Lengai samples are good palaeomagnetic recorders of the fiel...