Letter from Henry F. Osborn to John Muir, 1904 Oct 5.

AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY,77TH STREET AND EIGHTH AVENUE.NEW YORK, 5 October, 1904.DEPARTMENT OFVERTEBRATE PALAEONTOLOGYMy dear Mr. Muir:On our return from a wonderful trip abroad we find your letter of July 16th. I write to say that we are all well and happy. Our older daughter, Virginia, is engaged to be married, and we are looking forward to this event with great interest. My older son is a senior at Princeton, and the second son enters there next year.I enjoyed your letter intensely. The picture of your journeys fills me with envy. I often recall the passage which you quoted to us from Goethe,Keep not standing, fixed and rooted, Briskly venture, briskly roam.One reason I should like to live to be a hundred years old is to be able to see more of the planet than I am likely to. My chief duty now seems to be to publish the results of the wonderful discoveries we are making in the West. You will find popular articles of mine in the September and November Century.Do come and see us on top of the mountain at Castle Rock. It is still wilder and more in the forest than Wing and Wing.With warmest greetings from Mrs. Osborn, and trusting you will pardon a typewritten letter, I amAlways faithfully yours,[illegible]Mr. John Muir.0345

Letter from Henry F. Osborn to John Muir, 1905 May 18.

AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY,77th STREET AND EIGHTH AVENUENEW YORK,18 May, 1905. DEPARTMENT OFVERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGYMy dear friend Muir: I enclose copy of a review of a book by the greatest authority in Europe on the subject of mountain formation, namely,Penck of Vienna, which delighted me because of its confirmation of your theories, which, as you know, have been held by some geologists to be extreme. We are all doing finely. Can you not come out and spend a week with us at Garrison this summer, any time before the 1st of August? Yours faithfully, [illegible]Mr. John Muir

Letter from Henry F. Osborn to John Muir, 1897 Nov 18.

[4][maga-]zine. I shall look forward to the others. No, my book is not as Big as the \u27Silva\u27-but it is big enough! I never have it off my mind for a moment day or night.My wife leans over my shoulder to say \u27Give him my love\u27. Your invitation to the Yosemite will not be forgotten. therefore - alwaysFaithfully your firendHenry F. Osborn[1]November 18th 1897[letterhead]My dear Prof. Muir, We were very happy to hear from you again, in such a long delightful letter. and learn of your Alaskan journey. The Osborns and chickarees are all blooming--staving off as late as possible the return to New York and clinging to the country until Thanksgiving is over. We have you and your glacier always before us in the explorer\u27s corner of my library-panels, under Humboldt. And the mem-02361 [2]on the Laramie plains. I visited four of our bone hunting camps. With great success. My wife and I took the tour of Detroit and Toronto for the American and British Associations in the latter part of August, met many people and enjoyed it greatly.I am glad you saw the [cape?] article. I especially enjoyed your Atlantic \u27forest\u27 article which is grand. It ought to be distributed as a campaign document by the hundred thousand. Too few people outside of the \u27Hub\u27 see the Atlantic although it is an admirable mag-[3][mem-]ory of our sunlit trip is as fresh as yesterday. I sent a large party of my students to Sitka this summer. and as you probably read they were wrecked and lost almost everything on the way home. I do not know whether they will have the grit to go back. We are all settling down in our wonderful new laboratories, but every man of us gets off into the wilds of real life during the summer. I took a flying Rocky Mt trip in May and was in at the discovery of a grand old dinosau

Direct Measurements of Unimolecular and Bimolecular Reaction Kinetics of the Criegee Intermediate (CH 3 ) 2 COO

The Criegee intermediate acetone oxide, (CH3)2COO, is formed by laser photolysis of 2,2-diiodopropane in the presence of O2 and characterized by synchrotron photoionization mass spectrometry and by cavity ring-down ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy. The rate coefficient of the reaction of the Criegee intermediate with SO2 was measured using photoionization mass spectrometry and pseudo-first-order methods to be (7.3 ± 0.5) × 10–11 cm3 s–1 at 298 K and 4 Torr and (1.5 ± 0.5) × 10–10 cm3 s–1 at 298 K and 10 Torr (He buffer). These values are similar to directly measured rate coefficients of anti-CH3CHOO with SO2, and in good agreement with recent UV absorption measurements. The measurement of this reaction at 293 K and slightly higher pressures (between 10 and 100 Torr) in N2 from cavity ring-down decay of the ultraviolet absorption of (CH3)2COO yielded even larger rate coefficients, in the range (1.84 ± 0.12) × 10–10 to (2.29 ± 0.08) × 10–10 cm3 s–1. Photoionization mass spectrometry measurements with deuterated acetone oxide at 4 Torr show an inverse deuterium kinetic isotope effect, kH/kD = (0.53 ± 0.06), for reactions with SO2, which may be consistent with recent suggestions that the formation of an association complex affects the rate coefficient. The reaction of (CD3)2COO with NO2 has a rate coefficient at 298 K and 4 Torr of (2.1 ± 0.5) × 10–12 cm3 s–1 (measured with photoionization mass spectrometry), again similar to rate for the reaction of anti-CH3CHOO with NO2. Cavity ring-down measurements of the acetone oxide removal without added reagents display a combination of first- and second-order decay kinetics, which can be deconvolved to derive values for both the self-reaction of (CH3)2COO and its unimolecular thermal decay. The inferred unimolecular decay rate coefficient at 293 K, (305 ± 70) s–1, is similar to determinations from ozonolysis. The present measurements confirm the large rate coefficient for reaction of (CH3)2COO with SO2 and the small rate coefficient for its reaction with water. Product measurements of the reactions of (CH3)2COO with NO2 and with SO2 suggest that these reactions may facilitate isomerization to 2-hydroperoxypropene, possibly by subsequent reactions of association products

Observation of an Excited Bc+ State

Using pp collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 8.5 fb-1 recorded by the LHCb experiment at center-of-mass energies of s=7, 8, and 13 TeV, the observation of an excited Bc+ state in the Bc+π+π- invariant-mass spectrum is reported. The observed peak has a mass of 6841.2±0.6(stat)±0.1(syst)±0.8(Bc+) MeV/c2, where the last uncertainty is due to the limited knowledge of the Bc+ mass. It is consistent with expectations of the Bc∗(2S31)+ state reconstructed without the low-energy photon from the Bc∗(1S31)+→Bc+γ decay following Bc∗(2S31)+→Bc∗(1S31)+π+π-. A second state is seen with a global (local) statistical significance of 2.2σ (3.2σ) and a mass of 6872.1±1.3(stat)±0.1(syst)±0.8(Bc+) MeV/c2, and is consistent with the Bc(2S10)+ state. These mass measurements are the most precise to date

The SOPHIE search for northern extrasolar planets-XIX. A system including a cold sub-Neptune potentially transiting a V = 6.5 star HD88986

Transiting planets with orbital periods longer than 40 d are extremely rare among the 5000+ planets discovered so far. The lack of discoveries of this population poses a challenge to research into planetary demographics, formation, and evolution. Here, we present the detection and characterization of HD88986b, a potentially transiting sub-Neptune, possessing the longest orbital period among known transiting small planets (< 4 R$_{\oplus}$) with a precise mass measurement ($\sigma_M/M$ > 25%). Additionally, we identified the presence of a massive companion in a wider orbit around HD88986. Our analysis reveals that HD88986b, based on two potential single transits on sector 21 and sector 48 which are both consistent with the predicted transit time from the RV model, is potentially transiting. The joint analysis of RV and photometric data show that HD88986b has a radius of 2.49$\pm$0.18 R$_{\oplus}$, a mass of 17.2$^{+4.0}_{-3.8}$ M$_{\oplus}$, and it orbits every 146.05$^{+0.43}_{-0.40}$ d around a subgiant HD88986 which is one of the closest and brightest exoplanet host stars (G2V type, R=1.543 $\pm$0.065 R$_{\odot}$, V=$6.47\pm 0.01$ mag, distance=33.37$\pm$0.04 pc). The nature of the outer, massive companion is still to be confirmed; a joint analysis of RVs, Hipparcos, and Gaia astrometric data shows that with a 3$\sigma$ confidence interval, its semi-major axis is between 16.7 and 38.8 au and its mass is between 68 and 284 M$_{Jup}$. HD88986b's wide orbit suggests the planet did not undergo significant mass loss due to extreme-ultraviolet radiation from its host star. Therefore, it probably maintained its primordial composition, allowing us to probe its formation scenario. Furthermore, the cold nature of HD88986b (460$\pm$8 K), thanks to its long orbital period, will open up exciting opportunities for future studies of cold atmosphere composition characterization.Comment: 37 pages, accepted to be published in A&

Convergent Evolution in Aquatic Tetrapods: Insights from an Exceptional Fossil Mosasaur

Mosasaurs (family Mosasauridae) are a diverse group of secondarily aquatic lizards that radiated into marine environments during the Late Cretaceous (98–65 million years ago). For the most part, they have been considered to be simple anguilliform swimmers – i.e., their propulsive force was generated by means of lateral undulations incorporating the greater part of the body – with unremarkable, dorsoventrally narrow tails and long, lizard-like bodies. Convergence with the specialized fusiform body shape and inferred carangiform locomotory style (in which only a portion of the posterior body participates in the thrust-producing flexure) of ichthyosaurs and metriorhynchid crocodyliform reptiles, along with cetaceans, has so far only been recognized in Plotosaurus, the most highly derived member of the Mosasauridae. Here we report on an exceptionally complete specimen (LACM 128319) of the moderately derived genus Platecarpus that preserves soft tissues and anatomical details (e.g., large portions of integument, a partial body outline, putative skin color markings, a downturned tail, branching bronchial tubes, and probable visceral traces) to an extent that has never been seen previously in any mosasaur. Our study demonstrates that a streamlined body plan and crescent-shaped caudal fin were already well established in Platecarpus, a taxon that preceded Plotosaurus by 20 million years. These new data expand our understanding of convergent evolution among marine reptiles, and provide insights into their evolution's tempo and mode

Transits of Known Planets Orbiting a Naked-Eye Star

© 2020 The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.Some of the most scientifically valuable transiting planets are those that were already known from radial velocity (RV) surveys. This is primarily because their orbits are well characterized and they preferentially orbit bright stars that are the targets of RV surveys. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) provides an opportunity to survey most of the known exoplanet systems in a systematic fashion to detect possible transits of their planets. HD 136352 (Nu2 Lupi) is a naked-eye (V = 5.78) G-type main-sequence star that was discovered to host three planets with orbital periods of 11.6, 27.6, and 108.1 days via RV monitoring with the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectrograph. We present the detection and characterization of transits for the two inner planets of the HD 136352 system, revealing radii of 1.482-0.056+0.058 R ⊕ and 2.608-0.077+0.078 R ⊕ for planets b and c, respectively. We combine new HARPS observations with RV data from the Keck/High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer and the Anglo-Australian Telescope, along with TESS photometry from Sector 12, to perform a complete analysis of the system parameters. The combined data analysis results in extracted bulk density values of ρb = 7.8-1.1+1.2 g cm-3 and ρc = 3.50-0.36+0.41 g cm-3 for planets b and c, respectively, thus placing them on either side of the radius valley. The combination of the multitransiting planet system, the bright host star, and the diversity of planetary interiors and atmospheres means this will likely become a cornerstone system for atmospheric and orbital characterization of small worlds.Peer reviewe

Chronic hepatitis B: whom to treat and for how long? Propositions, challenges, and future directions

Recent guidelines of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, the European Association for the Study of the Liver, and the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver 2008 update of the “Asian-Pacific consensus statement on the management of chronic hepatitis B” offer comprehensive recommendations for the general management of chronic hepatitis B (CHB). These recommendations highlight preferred approaches to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of CHB. Nonetheless, the results of recent studies have led to an improved understanding of the disease and a belief that current recommendations on specific therapeutic considerations, including CHB treatment initiation and cessation criteria, particularly in patient populations with special circumstances, can be improved. Twelve experts from the Asia-Pacific region formed the Asia-Pacific Panel Recommendations for the Optimal Management of Chronic Hepatitis B (APPROACH) Working Group to review, challenge, and assess relevant new data and inform future updates of CHB treatment guidelines. The significance of and controversy about reported findings were discussed and debated in an expert meeting of the Working Group in Beijing, China, in November 2008. This review paper attempts to identify areas requiring improved CHB management and provide suggestions for future guideline updates, with special emphasis on treatment initiation and duration