Shark vertebrae and their centra (vertebral bodies) are high-performance structures able to survive millions of cycles of high amplitude strain despite lacking a repair mechanism for accumulating damage. Shark centra consist of mineralized cartilage, a biocomposite of bioapatite (bAp), and collagen, and the nanocrystalline bAp's contribution to functionality remains largely uninvestigated. Using the multiple detector energy-dispersive diffraction (EDD) system at 6-BM-B, the Advanced Photon Source, and 3D tomographic sampling, the 3D functionality of entire centra were probed. Immersion in ethanol vs phosphate-buffered saline produces only small changes in bAp d-spacing within a great hammerhead centrum. EDD mapping under in situ loading was performed an entire blue shark centrum, and 3D maps of bAp strain showed the two structural zones of the centrum, the corpus calcareum and intermedialia, contained opposite-signed strains approaching 0.5%, and application of ~8% nominal strain did not alter these strain magnitudes and their spatial distribution.

NASA’s all-sky survey mission, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), is specifically engineered to detect exoplanets that transit bright stars. Thus far, TESS has successfully identified approximately 400 transiting exoplanets, in addition to roughly 6 000 candidate exoplanets pending confirmation. In this study, we present the results of our ongoing project, the Validation of Transiting Exoplanets using Statistical Tools (VaTEST). Our dedicated effort is focused on the confirmation and characterisation of new exoplanets through the application of statistical validation tools. Through a combination of ground-based telescope data, high-resolution imaging, and the utilisation of the statistical validation tool known as TRICERATOPS, we have successfully discovered eight potential super-Earths. These planets bear the designations: TOI-238b (1.61$^{+0.09} _{-0.10}$ R$_\oplus$), TOI-771b (1.42$^{+0.11} _{-0.09}$ R$_\oplus$), TOI-871b (1.66$^{+0.11} _{-0.11}$ R$_\oplus$), TOI-1467b (1.83$^{+0.16} _{-0.15}$ R$_\oplus$), TOI-1739b (1.69$^{+0.10} _{-0.08}$ R$_\oplus$), TOI-2068b (1.82$^{+0.16} _{-0.15}$ R$_\oplus$), TOI-4559b (1.42$^{+0.13} _{-0.11}$ R$_\oplus$), and TOI-5799b (1.62$^{+0.19} _{-0.13}$ R$_\oplus$). Among all these planets, six of them fall within the region known as ‘keystone planets’, which makes them particularly interesting for study. Based on the location of TOI-771b and TOI-4559b below the radius valley we characterised them as likely super-Earths, though radial velocity mass measurements for these planets will provide more details about their characterisation. It is noteworthy that planets within the size range investigated herein are absent from our own solar system, making their study crucial for gaining insights into the evolutionary stages between Earth and Neptune.

Efforts are underway to magnetically confine electron–positron pair plasmas to study their unique behaviour, which is characterized by significant changes in plasma time and length scales, supported waves and unstable modes. However, use of conventional plasma diagnostics presents challenges with these low-density and annihilating matter–antimatter plasmas. To address this problem, we propose to develop techniques based on the distinct emission provided by annihilation. This emission exhibits two spatial correlations: the distance attenuation of isotropic sources and the back-to-back propagation of momentum-preserving 2$\gamma$ annihilation. We present the results of our analysis of the $\gamma$ emission rate and the spatial profile of the annihilation in a magnetized pair plasma from direct pair collisions, from the formation and decay of positronium as well as from transport processes. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of annihilation-based techniques, we tested them on annular $\gamma$ emission profiles produced by a $\beta ^+$ radioisotope on a rotating turntable. Direct and positronium-mediated annihilation result in overlapping volumetric $\gamma$ sources, and the 2$\gamma$ emission from these volumetric sources can be tomographically reconstructed from coincident counts in multiple detectors. Transport processes result in localized annihilation where field lines intersect walls, limiters or internal magnets. These localized sources can be identified by the fractional $\gamma$ counts on spatially distributed detectors.

The mere presence of predators or parasites can negatively impact the fitness of prey or hosts. Exposure to predators during an organism's development can have deleterious effects on juvenile survival and the subsequent adult stage. Currently, it is unknown if parasites have analogous impacts on host larval stages and whether these effects carry over into other subsequent life stages. However, parasites may be exerting widespread yet underestimated non-consumptive effects (NCEs). We tested if Drosophila nigrospiracula larvae avoid pupating near mite cues (caged Macrocheles subbadius) in arena experiments, and measured the rate of pupation in arenas with mites and arenas without mites. Larvae disproportionately pupated on the side of arenas that lacked mite cues. Furthermore, fewer larvae successfully pupated in arenas containing mites cues compared to arenas without mite cues. We found that ectoparasitic mites exert NCEs on Drosophila larvae, even though the larval stage is not susceptible to infection. We discuss these results in the context of parasite impacts on host population growth in an infectious world.

On-farm welfare-assessment protocols should be based on valid, reliable and feasible indicators which reflect the animal's state in the context of the housing and management system. This paper focuses on the selection of parameters for cattle and buffalo from welfare research, from assessment protocols used in different European countries and from the literature. Three groups of parameters are described: (1) parameters which can readily be included, such as lameness, injuries, body condition score, cleanliness, getting up/lying down behaviour, agonistic social behaviour, oral abnormal behaviours, human behaviour toward the animals and measures of the animal-human relationship; (2) parameters which require more information on reliability, such as indicators of good welfare and housing factors; and (3) parameters which are regarded as important but so far lack reliability in most countries, such as the incidence of clinical diseases and mortality.

Finagling an inheritance is one time-tested way of resolving a money shortage: just flatter your way into the good graces of the aged and rich. In Satires 2.5 Horace parodies the Roman version of this vice, known as captatio or ‘legacy-hunting’; with baroque imagination, he presents Odysseus, the mythological hero, consulting the prophet Tiresias in the Underworld and learning how to increase his fortune by amassing inheritances. Odysseus asks: tu protinus, unde | diuitias aerisque ruam, dic, augur, aceruos (‘tell me forthwith, prophet, where I can dig up riches and heaps of money’, 21f.). Tiresias responds: captes astutus ubique | testamenta senum (‘cleverly snatch on all sides the testaments of old men’, 23f.). Social critique naturally looms large in this poem about venal dishonesty. In major studies, Niall Rudd and Klaus Sallmann have examined the poem's criticism of contemporary Roman society, and later scholars have taken a similar line, often reading the poem as a send-up of flattery. All true, but there is more to say. Even as it treats of wills, money, and flattery, the satire also shows a quiet concern with aesthetic issues, especially the state of contemporary poetry.

A terrestrial (lacustrine and fluvial) palaeoclimate record from Hoxne (Suffolk, UK) shows two temperate phases separated by a cold episode, correlated with MIS 11 subdivisions corresponding to isotopic events 11.3 (Hoxnian interglacial period), 11.24 (Stratum C cold interval), and 11.23 (warm interval with evidence of human presence). A robust, reproducible multiproxy consensus approach validates and combines quantitative palaeotemperature reconstructions from three invertebrate groups (beetles, chironomids, and ostracods) and plant indicator taxa with qualitative implications of molluscs and small vertebrates. Compared with the present, interglacial mean monthly air temperatures were similar or up to 4.0°C higher in summer, but similar or as much as 3.0°C lower in winter; the Stratum C cold interval, following prolonged nondeposition or erosion of the lake bed, experienced summers 2.5°C cooler and winters between 5°C and 10°C cooler than at present. Possible reworking of fossils into Stratum C from underlying interglacial assemblages is taken into account. Oxygen and carbon isotopes from ostracod shells indicate evaporatively enriched lake water during Stratum C deposition. Comparative evaluation shows that proxy-based palaeoclimate reconstruction methods are best tested against each other and, if validated, can be used to generate more refined and robust results through multiproxy consensus.

Our objective was to quantify the cross-sectional associations between dietary fatty acid (DFA) patterns and cognitive function among Hispanic/Latino adults. This study included data from 8942 participants of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos, a population-based cohort study (weighted age 56·2 years and proportion female 55·2 %). The National Cancer Institute method was used to estimate dietary intake from two 24-h recalls. We derived DFA patterns using principal component analysis with twenty-six fatty acid and total plant and animal MUFA input variables. Global cognitive function was calculated as the average z-score of four neurocognitive tests. Survey linear regression models included multiple potential confounders such as age, sex, education, depressive symptoms, physical activity, energy intake and CVD. DFA patterns were characterised by the consumption of long-chain SFA, animal-based MUFA and trans-fatty acids (factor 1); short to medium-chain SFA (factor 2); very-long-chain n-3 PUFA (factor 3); very-long-chain SFA and plant-based MUFA and PUFA (factor 4). Factor 2 was associated with greater scores for global cognitive function (β = 0·037 (sd 0·012)) and the Digit Symbol Substitution (DSS) (β = 0·56 (sd 0·17)), Brief Spanish English Verbal Learning-Sum (B-SEVLT) (β = 0·23 (sd 0·11)) and B-SEVLT-Recall (β = 0·11 (sd 0·05)) tests (P < 0·05 for all). Factors 1 (β = 0·04 (sd 0·01)) and 4 (β = 0·70 (sd 0·18)) were associated with the DSS test (P < 0·05 for all). The consumption of short to medium-chain SFA may be associated with higher cognitive function among US-residing Hispanic/Latino adults. Prospective studies are necessary to confirm these findings.

Previous research into the effectiveness of healthy eating programmes has shown increases in healthful eating behaviour in primary schools; however, data collection methods have not been sufficiently sensitive to detect micronutrient changes. The present study extends the literature by measuring individual children's intake of macro- and micronutrients at lunchtime, before and after a programme targeting children's consumption of fruit and vegetables, to identify evidence-based health benefits of programme participation. Baseline data were collected over 4 d at lunchtime in two primary schools. The Food Dudes programme was then implemented in the intervention school. Follow-up data were collected over 4 d in each school 2 months after baseline. We employed a validated and sensitive photographic method to estimate individual children's (N 112) consumption of fruit, vegetables, and their intake of calories, macro- and selected micronutrients. Significant changes were observed in the intervention school but not in the control school: Children's consumption of fruit, vegetables, vitamin C and E intake increased, while their total energy consumption, fat, saturated fat, and sodium intake decreased. The present results show that the Food Dudes programme produced a positive nutritional change, with implications for its application as a healthy eating and obesity prevention intervention. These optimistic conclusions should be tested by further research to establish the longevity of the positive effects presented here.

We describe here efforts to create and study magnetized electron–positron pair plasmas, the existence of which in astrophysical environments is well-established. Laboratory incarnations of such systems are becoming ever more possible due to novel approaches and techniques in plasma, beam and laser physics. Traditional magnetized plasmas studied to date, both in nature and in the laboratory, exhibit a host of different wave types, many of which are generically unstable and evolve into turbulence or violent instabilities. This complexity and the instability of these waves stem to a large degree from the difference in mass between the positively and the negatively charged species: the ions and the electrons. The mass symmetry of pair plasmas, on the other hand, results in unique behaviour, a topic that has been intensively studied theoretically and numerically for decades, but experimental studies are still in the early stages of development. A levitated dipole device is now under construction to study magnetized low-energy, short-Debye-length electron–positron plasmas; this experiment, as well as a stellarator device that is in the planning stage, will be fuelled by a reactor-based positron source and make use of state-of-the-art positron cooling and storage techniques. Relativistic pair plasmas with very different parameters will be created using pair production resulting from intense laser–matter interactions and will be confined in a high-field mirror configuration. We highlight the differences between and similarities among these approaches, and discuss the unique physics insights that can be gained by these studies.

We describe system verification tests and early science results from the pulsar processor (PTUSE) developed for the newly commissioned 64-dish SARAO MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa. MeerKAT is a high-gain ( ${\sim}2.8\,\mbox{K Jy}^{-1}$ ) low-system temperature ( ${\sim}18\,\mbox{K at }20\,\mbox{cm}$ ) radio array that currently operates at 580–1 670 MHz and can produce tied-array beams suitable for pulsar observations. This paper presents results from the MeerTime Large Survey Project and commissioning tests with PTUSE. Highlights include observations of the double pulsar $\mbox{J}0737{-}3039\mbox{A}$ , pulse profiles from 34 millisecond pulsars (MSPs) from a single 2.5-h observation of the Globular cluster Terzan 5, the rotation measure of Ter5O, a 420-sigma giant pulse from the Large Magellanic Cloud pulsar PSR $\mbox{J}0540{-}6919$ , and nulling identified in the slow pulsar PSR J0633–2015. One of the key design specifications for MeerKAT was absolute timing errors of less than 5 ns using their novel precise time system. Our timing of two bright MSPs confirm that MeerKAT delivers exceptional timing. PSR $\mbox{J}2241{-}5236$ exhibits a jitter limit of $<4\,\mbox{ns h}^{-1}$ whilst timing of PSR $\mbox{J}1909{-}3744$ over almost 11 months yields an rms residual of 66 ns with only 4 min integrations. Our results confirm that the MeerKAT is an exceptional pulsar telescope. The array can be split into four separate sub-arrays to time over 1 000 pulsars per day and the future deployment of S-band (1 750–3 500 MHz) receivers will further enhance its capabilities.