Chemical analysis of pottery demonstrates prehistoric origin for high-altitude alpine dairying

The European high Alps are internationally renowned for their dairy produce, which are of huge cultural and economic significance to the region. Although the recent history of alpine dairying has been well studied, virtually nothing is known regarding the origins of this practice. This is due to poor preservation of high altitude archaeological sites and the ephemeral nature of transhumance economic practices. Archaeologists have suggested that stone structures that appear around 3,000 years ago are associated with more intense seasonal occupation of the high Alps and perhaps the establishment of new economic strategies. Here, we report on organic residue analysis of small fragments of pottery sherds that are occasionally preserved both at these sites and earlier prehistoric rock-shelters. Based mainly on isotopic criteria, dairy lipids could only be identified on ceramics from the stone structures, which date to the Iron Age (ca. 3,000 - 2,500 BP), providing the earliest evidence of this practice in the high Alps. Dairy production in such a marginal environment implies a high degree of risk even by today’s standards. We postulate that this practice was driven by population increase and climate deterioration that put pressure on lowland agropastoral systems and the establishment of more extensive trade networks, leading to greater demand for highly nutritious and transportable dairy products

MicroMotility: State of the art, recent accomplishments and perspectives on the mathematical modeling of bio-motility at microscopic scales

Mathematical modeling and quantitative study of biological motility (in particular, of motility at microscopic scales) is producing new biophysical insight and is offering opportunities for new discoveries at the level of both fundamental science and technology. These range from the explanation of how complex behavior at the level of a single organism emerges from body architecture, to the understanding of collective phenomena in groups of organisms and tissues, and of how these forms of swarm intelligence can be controlled and harnessed in engineering applications, to the elucidation of processes of fundamental biological relevance at the cellular and sub-cellular level. In this paper, some of the most exciting new developments in the fields of locomotion of unicellular organisms, of soft adhesive locomotion across scales, of the study of pore translocation properties of knotted DNA, of the development of synthetic active solid sheets, of the mechanics of the unjamming transition in dense cell collectives, of the mechanics of cell sheet folding in volvocalean algae, and of the self-propulsion of topological defects in active matter are discussed. For each of these topics, we provide a brief state of the art, an example of recent achievements, and some directions for future research

Disruption of Lateral Efferent Pathways: Functional Changes in Auditory Evoked Responses

The functional consequences of selectively lesioning the lateral olivocochlear efferent system in guinea pigs were studied. The lateral superior olive (LSO) contains the cell bodies of lateral olivocochlear neurons. Melittin, a cytotoxic chemical, was injected into the brain stem using stereotaxic coordinates and near-field evoked potentials to target the LSO. Brain stem histology revealed discrete damage to the LSO following the injections. Functional consequences of this damage were reflected in depressed amplitude of the compound action potential of the eighth nerve (CAP) following the lesion. Threshold sensitivity and N1 latencies were relatively unchanged. Onset adaptation of the cubic distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) was evident, suggesting a reasonably intact medial efferent system. The present results provide the first report of functional changes induced by isolated manipulation of the lateral efferent pathway. They also confirm the suggestion that changes in single-unit auditory nerve activity after cutting the olivocochlear bundle are probably a consequence of disrupting the more lateral of the two olivocochlear efferent pathways.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41379/1/10162_2002_Article_3018.pd