EcoGothic, Ecohorror and Apocalyptic Entanglement in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Tales of the Black Freighter

This essay explores the ecoGothic resonances of Tales of the Black Freighter, a dark pirate tale embedded within Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' 1986-87 postmodern DC graphic novel. By providing a grim prism for themes such as nuclear paranoia, the monstrous transformation of the self, and the horrifying possibilities of scientific solutions to social ills, Black Freighter provides a vocabulary of horror that echoes the grim post-modern alternate 1980s of its host narrative. The Gothic gives a voice to the subsumed existential dread exuded by the escalating nuclear tension and apocalyptic imagination of Watchmen, and the environmental entanglement and degradation of the body at sea serves as an ecocritical lens through which to view a corresponding societal degeneration in the face of a moribund social and political ecology. It is the technique of metatextual commentary, separating and intertwining, that brings the ecoGothic themes of Watchmen to light

Millisecond spin-flip times of donor-bound electrons in GaAs

We observe millisecond spin-flip relaxation times of donor-bound electrons in high-purity n-GaAs . This is three orders of magnitude larger than previously reported lifetimes in n-GaAs . Spin-flip times are measured as a function of magnetic field and exhibit a strong power-law dependence for fields greater than 4 T . This result is in qualitative agreement with previously reported theory and measurements of electrons in quantum dots.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Physico-chemical properties of newly discovered hydrothermal plumes above the Southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge (13°-33°S)

Highlights • Hydrothermal survey in the 13°-33°S region of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge based on hydrographic casts, noble gas observations and AUV dives. • Discovery of hydrothermal plumes above ten ridge segments pointing to 14 unknown active vent sites. • Rio de Janeiro Transform (22°S) likely represents a barrier separating different vent endemic faunal communities to the north and south. Abstract The oceanic crust is initially cooled and deep-sea chemosynthetic ecosystems are largely fed by hydrothermal circulation and venting on the seafloor. Much of this venting takes place at mid-ocean ridges and in order to make realistic models of the crust's thermal budget and to understand chemosynthetic biogeography it is important to have a detailed inventory of vent sites. Until recently, a major gap in this inventory was the Mid-Atlantic Ridge south of 13°S, a key region for vent fauna biogeography as it is the corridor linking the Atlantic to the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In spring 2013 we systematically surveyed the axial region between 13°S and 33°S for hydrothermal signals in the water column, using turbidity, oxidation-reduction-potential (ORP) and noble gases as indicators. Standard conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) rosette water-sampler deployments were complimented by a novel autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) deployment strategy, in which the AUV made single-pass, segment-scale (up to 100 km long) dives close to the seafloor to detect small vents. The ca. 2100 km-long survey covered 16 ridge segments and we identified previously unknown hydrothermal plumes above ten segments that point to 14 new hydrothermal vent fields. The majority of plumes are located at high-relief segment centers, where magmatism is robust. A wide gap in the distribution of vents in the 19°S-23°S region coincides with the Rio de Janeiro Transform, the maximum southward progression of North Atlantic Deep Waters and the maximum northwards extent of 3He-enriched waters with Pacific origins. Crossflowing currents in the transform and the large gap between adjacent vents may prevent a meridional connection between the vent fauna communities in the North Atlantic and along the Antarctic Ridges. This makes the region a prime target for future biogeographical studies

Hydrothermal Activity and Seismicity at Teahitia Seamount: Reactivation of the Society Islands Hotspot?

Along mid-ocean ridges, submarine venting has been found at all spreading rates and in every ocean basin. By contrast, intraplate hydrothermal activity has only been reported from five locations, worldwide. Here we extend the time series at one of those sites, Teahitia Seamount, which was first shown to be hydrothermally active in 1983 but had not been revisited since 1999. Previously, submersible investigations had led to the discovery of low-temperature (≤30°C) venting associated with the summit of Teahitia Seamount at ≤1500 m. In December 2013 we returned to the same site at the culmination of the US GEOTRACES Eastern South Tropical Pacific (GP16) transect and found evidence for ongoing venting in the form of a non-buoyant hydrothermal plume at a depth of 1400 m. Multi-beam mapping revealed the same composite volcano morphology described previously for Teahitia including four prominent cones. The plume overlying the summit showed distinct in situ optical backscatter and redox anomalies, coupled with high concentrations of total dissolvable Fe (≤186 nmol/L) and Mn (≤33 nmol/L) that are all diagnostic of venting at the underlying seafloor. Continuous seismic records from 1986-present reveal a ∼15 year period of quiescence at Teahitia, following the seismic crisis that first stimulated its submersible-led investigation. Since 2007, however, the frequency of seismicity at Teahitia, coupled with the low magnitude of those events, are suggestive of magmatic reactivation. Separately, distinct seismicity at the adjacent Rocard seamount has also been attributed to submarine extrusive volcanism in 2011 and in 2013. Theoretical modeling of the hydrothermal plume signals detected suggest a minimum heat flux of 10 MW at the summit of Teahitia. Those model simulations can only be sourced from an area of low-temperature venting such as that originally reported from Teahitia if the temperature of the fluids exiting the seabed has increased significantly, from ≤30°C to ∼70°C. These model seafloor temperatures and our direct plume observations are both consistent with reports from Loihi Seamount, Hawaii, ∼10 year following an episode of seafloor volcanism. We hypothesize that the Society Islands hotspot may be undergoing a similar episode of both magmatic and hydrothermal reactivation

The dynamic transcriptional and translational landscape of the model antibiotic producer Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2)

Individual Streptomyces species have the genetic potential to produce a diverse array of natural products of commercial, medical and veterinary interest. However, these products are often not detectable under laboratory culture conditions. To harness their full biosynthetic potential, it is important to develop a detailed understanding of the regulatory networks that orchestrate their metabolism. Here we integrate nucleotide resolution genome-scale measurements of the transcriptome and translatome of Streptomyces coelicolor, the model antibiotic-producing actinomycete. Our systematic study determines 3,570 transcription start sites and identifies 230 small RNAs and a considerable proportion (∼21%) of leaderless mRNAs; this enables deduction of genome-wide promoter architecture. Ribosome profiling reveals that the translation efficiency of secondary metabolic genes is negatively correlated with transcription and that several key antibiotic regulatory genes are translationally induced at transition growth phase. These findings might facilitate the design of new approaches to antibiotic discovery and development

A new class of Cu/ZnO catalysts derived from zincian georgeite precursors prepared by co-precipitation

Zincian georgeite, an amorphous copper-zinc hydroxycarbonate, has been prepared by co-precipitation using acetate salts and ammonium carbonate. Incorporation of zinc into the georgeite phase and mild ageing conditions inhibits crystallisation into zincian malachite or aurichalcite. This zincian georgeite precursor was used to prepare a Cu/ZnO catalyst, which exhibits a superior performance to a zincian malachite derived catalyst for methanol synthesis and the low temperature water-gas shift (LTS) reaction. Furthermore, the enhanced LTS activity and stability in comparison to that of a commercial Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst, indicates that the addition of alumina as a stabiliser may not be required for the zincian georgeite derived Cu/ZnO catalyst. The enhanced performance is partly attributed to the exclusion of alkali metals from the synthesis procedure, which are known to act as catalyst poisons. The effect of residual sodium on the microstructural properties of the catalyst precursor was investigated further with preparations using sodium carbonate