Sobre los experimentos de creación de vida de Andrew Crosse

Uno de los personajes más exitosos y conocidos de la historia de la literatura y el cine de ficción es el creado por la escritora Mary Shelley en 1817 en su libro "Frankenstein o el moderno Prometeo". Paradójicamente, uno de los científicos menos conocidos y más misteriosos de la historia de la ciencia británica es Andrew Crosse, el individuo real en el que, según se suele afirmar, Mary Shelley basó su historia(Haining, 1979). Durante los trabajos de documentación científica de la exposición “CRISTALES: UN MUNDO POR DESCUBRIR” hemos topado con varios artículos sobre este experto en electrocristalización que protagonizó uno de los episodios más controvertidos de la historia de la ciencia del siglo XIX, cuando se dieron a conocer sus experimentos sobre creación de vida en el laboratorio. Los enigmáticos experimentos que dieron lugar a la polémica son muy similares desde el punto de vista químico a los experimentos conocidos como jardines químicos. En este trabajo discuto esta propuesta y su relevancia en el contexto histórico de las investigaciones sobre creación de vida.European Research Council dentro del European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC grant agreement nº 340863Peer reviewe

Privacy-Preserving Reengineering of Model-View-Controller Application Architectures Using Linked Data

When a legacy system’s software architecture cannot be redesigned, implementing additional privacy requirements is often complex, unreliable and costly to maintain. This paper presents a privacy-by-design approach to reengineer web applications as linked data-enabled and implement access control and privacy preservation properties. The method is based on the knowledge of the application architecture, which for the Web of data is commonly designed on the basis of a model-view-controller pattern. Whereas wrapping techniques commonly used to link data of web applications duplicate the security source code, the new approach allows for the controlled disclosure of an application’s data, while preserving non-functional properties such as privacy preservation. The solution has been implemented and compared with existing linked data frameworks in terms of reliability, maintainability and complexity

A non-parametric independence test using permutation entropy

In the present paper we construct a new, simple and powerful test for independence by using symbolic dynamics and permutation entropy as a measure of serial dependence. We also give the asymptotic distribution of an affine transformation of the permutation entropy under the null hypothesis of independence. An application to several daily financial time series illustrates our approach

Distribution patterns of Hydropsychids and Rhyacophilids species (Trichoptera) in a not regulated Mediterranean river (SW Spain)

This paper investigates the longitudinal ordination of the Hydropsychidae and Rhyacophilidae species present in the high basin of the Hozgarganta River. The ordination of the Hydropsychids species present in the basin show three distribution patterns: Diplectrona felix and Hydropsyche infernalis are confined to the head streams; H. siltalai and H. iberomaroccana are distributed throughout the entire study zone, although the second one does not reach the highest sections of the basin; finally, H. lobata occupies the lowest sections, specially in the main axis of the river. The two Rhyacophila species studied show also a well differentiated distribution. R. fonticola is more abundant in the gorges and high sections, whereas R. munda prefers the riverbed of the main river, although it's also found in some tributaries. Even in these intermediate sections, the segregation between the two species is almost perfect. The water permanence in the riverbeds influences the distribution of some species.We have found that D. felix and H. infernalis inhabit the permanent sections of the stream heads whereas H. iberomaroccana significantly dominates the intermittent ones. H. siltalai, H. lobata, R. fonticola, and R. munda do not show a significant preference for any type of riverbed (permanent, intermittent, or ephemeral). It is interesting to highlight the survival of some H. iberomaroccana larvae in isolated pools during the summer. We suggest the possibility that these larvae survive thanks to the existence of a weak underground flow of subsurface origin between adjacent pools.En el presente trabajo se investiga la ordenación longitudinal de las especies de Hydropsychidae y Rhyacophilidae presentes en la cuenca alta del río Hozgarganta. La ordenación de las especies de Hydropsychidae presentes en la cuenca muestra tres patrones de distribución: Diplectrona felix e Hydropsyche infernalis están confinadas en los arroyos de cabecera; H. siltalai e H. iberomaroccana están distribuidas por toda la zona de estudio, aunque la segunda no alcanza los tramos más altos de la cuenca; por último, H. lobata ocupa los tramos más bajos, especialmente en el eje principal del río. Las dos especies de Rhyacophila estudiadas también muestran una distribución bien diferenciada. R. fonticola es más abundante en las gargantas y tramos altos, mientras que R. munda prefiere el cauce del río principal, aunque también se encuentra presente en algunos tributarios. Incluso en estos tramos intermedios la segregación entre ambas especies es casi perfecta. La permanencia del agua en los cauces influye en la distribución de algunas especies. Hemos encontrado que D. felix e H. infernalis habitan los tramos permanentes de cabecera, mientras que H. iberomaroccana domina de forma significativa en los intermitentes. H. siltalai, H. lobata, R. fonticola y R. munda no muestran una preferencia significativa por algún tipo de cauce (permanente, intermitente o efímero). Es interesante resaltar la supervivencia de algunas larvas de H. iberomaroccana en pozas aisladas durante el verano. Sugerimos la posibilidad de que estas larvas sobrevivan gracias a la existencia de un débil flujo subterráneo de origen freático entre pozas adyacentes

Avoidance Response in Goldfish: Emotional and Temporal Involvement of Medial and Lateral Telencephalic Pallium

The hippocampus and the amygdala are involved in avoidance learning in mammals. The medial and lateral pallia of actinopterygian fish have been proposed as homologous to the mammalian pallial amygdala and hippocampus, respectively, on the basis of neuroanatomical findings. This work was aimed at studying the effects of ablation of the medial telencephalic pallia (MP) and lateral telencephalic pallia (LP) in goldfish on the retention of a conditioned avoidance response previously acquired in two experimental conditions. In the first experiment, fish were trained in nontrace avoidance conditioning. In the second experiment, fish were trained in trace avoidance conditioning in which temporal cues were crucial for the learning process. An MP lesion affected the retention of the avoidance response in both procedures; in contrast, an LP lesion impaired the retention only in the trace-conditioning procedure. These data support the presence of two different systems of memory in fish, based on discrete telencephalic areas: the MP, involved in an emotional memory system; and the LP, involved in a spatial, relational, or temporal memory system. Moreover, these differential effects were similar to those produced by amygdalar and hippocampal lesions in mammals. We conclude that these specialized systems of memory could have appeared early during phylogenesis and could have been conserved throughout vertebrate evolution.Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología BF-I2001-3178Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología I2000-0315Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología I2003-0029Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología PB-96-1334Junta de Andalucía CVI-24

Identifying microbial life in rocks: Insights from population morphometry

The identification of cellular life in the rock record is problematic, since microbial life forms, and particularly bacteria, lack sufficient morphologic complexity to be effectively distinguished from certain abiogenic features in rocks. Examples include organic pore-fillings, hydrocarbon-containing fluid inclusions, organic coatings on exfoliated crystals and biomimetic mineral aggregates (biomorphs). This has led to the interpretation and re-interpretation of individual microstructures in the rock record. The morphologic description of entire populations of microstructures, however, may provide support for distinguishing between preserved micro-organisms and abiogenic objects. Here, we present a statistical approach based on quantitative morphological description of populations of microstructures. Images of modern microbial populations were compared to images of two relevant types of abiogenic microstructures: interstitial spaces and silica–carbonate biomorphs. For the populations of these three systems, the size, circularity, and solidity of individual particles were calculated. Subsequently, the mean/SD, skewness, and kurtosis of the statistical distributions of these parameters were established. This allowed the qualitative and quantitative comparison of distributions in these three systems. In addition, the fractal dimension and lacunarity of the populations were determined. In total, 11 parameters, independent of absolute size or shape, were used to characterize each population of microstructures. Using discriminant analysis with parameter subsets, it was found that size and shape distributions are typically sufficient to discriminate populations of biologic and abiogenic microstructures. Analysis of ancient, yet unambiguously biologic, samples (1.0 Ga Angmaat Formation, Baffin Island, Canada) suggests that taphonomic effects can alter morphometric characteristics and complicate image analysis; therefore, a wider range of microfossil assemblages should be studied in the future before automated analyses can be developed. In general, however, it is clear from our results that there is great potential for morphometric descriptions of populations in the context of life recognition in rocks, either on Earth or on extraterrestrial bodies.This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (grant agreement no. 646894 to MVZ) and under the ERC Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007- 2013 (grant agreement no. 340863 to JMG-R). JMG-R also acknowledges the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain through the project CGL2016-78971-P. We are grateful to seven anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. We thank four anonymous reviewers for their useful comments which greatly improved a previous version of the manuscript. This is IPGP contribution n°4098

Localized Crystallization of Calcium Phosphates by Light- Induced Processes

Medical treatment options for bones and teeth can be significantly enhanced by taking control over the crystallization of biomaterials like hydroxyapatite in the healing process. Light-induced techniques are particularly interesting for this approach as they offer tremendous accuracy in spatial resolution. However, in the field of calcium phosphates, lightinduced crystallization has not been investigated so far. Here, proof of principle is established to successfully induce carbonate-hydroxyapatite precipitation by light irradiation. Phosphoric acid is released by a photolabile molecule exclusively after irradiation, combining with calcium ions to form a calcium phosphate in the crystallization medium. 4-Nitrophenylphosphate (4NPP) is established as the photolabile molecule and the system is optimized and fully characterized. A calcium phosphate is crystallized exclusively by irradiation in aqueous solution and identified as carbonate apatite. Control over the localization and stabilization of the carbonate apatite is achieved by a pulsed laser, triggering precipitation in calcium and 4NPP-containing gel matrices. The results of this communication open up a wide range of new opportunities, both in the field of chemistry for more sophisticated reaction control in localized crystallization processes and in the field of medicine for enhanced treatment of calcium phosphate containing biomaterials.European Research Council for funding project 101069348 – INPATTOpen Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEA