In defense of Louis Pasteur: Critique of Gerald Geison's deconstruction of Pasteur's discovery of molecular chirality

Louis Pasteur discovered the phenomenon of molecular chirality, based on his studies of tartrate crystals. His finding remains one of the most important discoveries in the history of chemistry and a fundamentally important chemical phenomenon, with essential implications in biology. In his 1995 book The Private Science of Louis Pasteur, the eminent historian of science Gerald L. Geison (1943‐2001) was highly critical of much of Pasteur's work including his discovery of molecular chirality. The in‐depth analysis provided in this article indicates, however, that the negative assessment of Pasteur's chirality work by Geison is entirely without scientific basis. Criticisms of Pasteur in the book for other “transgressions” in his chirality work, such as supposed influences of his personal biases and stubbornly held a priori notions, misrepresentation of his scientific work in his publications and lectures, and unethical and career‐minded conduct, are also not supported by the evidence. Other troubling features of the book include a broad failure to assure accuracy in a variety of fundamental and important information, including errors in names, dates, events, referencing, indexing, and French‐language text.     

Palaeobiogeographic significance of the Deccan infra‐ and intertrappean biota from peninsular India

Extensive work done in the last decade on the sedimentary beds intercalated with the Deccan volcanic flows (infra‐ and intertrappean) has demonstrated the vast potential of these rocks for vertebrate, invertebrate and plant fossils. The infra‐ and intertrappean beds, especially those exposed on the eastern margin of the Deccan Traps, produced a large number of fossils which made it possible to establish the age and duration of Deccan volcanism (late Cretaceous—early Palaeocene) with some degree of confidence. Affinities of the late Cretaceous infratrappean vertebrates, such as pelomedusid turtles and sauropod dinosaurs, lie with those of Gondwanan landmasses. It seems more likely that these taxa are relicts of the Gondwanan stock that boarded the Indian plate well before its separation from Madagascar 70–80 Ma ago. Remnants of the former Gondwanaland fauna, such as pelomedusid turtles, leptodactylid frogs and titanosaurid dinosaurs did persist in relatively younger (latest Cretaceous) intertrappean beds. In addition to these Gondwanan elements, the intertrappean beds register many North American, European and Central Asiatic taxa (pelobatid and discoglossid frogs, anguid lizards, alligatorid crocodiles, palaeoryctid mammals, ostracodes and charophytes) suggesting that a contact between India and southern Asia was already established by the end of Cretaceous. An early India/Asia collision, long before the widely accepted early to middle Eocene date, is favoured to explain the presence of Laurasian elements in the late Cretaceous of India.     

More Malpighiales: Woods of Achariaceae and/or Salicaceae from the Deccan Intertrappean beds,India

The families Achariaceae and Salicaceae (Malpighiales) are characterized by wood anatomical ranges that partly overlap. Formerly these families were treated together in the polyphyletic Flacourtiaceae and a much more narrowly circumscribed Salicaceae. Here we attribute two recently collected fossil woods from the Deccan Intertrappean Beds to the clade that contain these two families, i.e., the Parietal Clade of the Malpighiales. The new genus Elioxylon shares features with several extant genera of Achariaceae and Salicaceae, but does not completely match with any of them. A new record of Hydnocarpoxylon indicum Bande & Khatri is a good match for extant Hydnocarpus Gaertn. (Achariaceae). Elioxylon and Hydnocarpoxylon share an absence of parenchyma, the presence of septate fibres and 1–3 seriate heterocellular rays with long uniseriate margins consistent with Achariaceae and Salicaceae. Elioxylon has mixed simple and scalariform perforations, whereas Hydnocarpxylon has exclusively scalariform perforations. Other Deccan fossils formerly attributed to “Flacourtiaceae” in the literature are critically discussed and mostly excluded from Achariaceae and Salicaceae. Elioxylon and Hydnocarpoxylon from the Maastrichtian ‐ Danian of India are the oldest fossil records of the Parietal Clade of the Malpighiales. With their occurrence on the Indian plate during its northward journey from Gondwana to Laurasia, these fossils provide further support for an ‘out‐of‐India’ hypothesis for Achariaceae and/or Salicaceae. “Baileyan trends” in vessel perforation plate and vessel grouping evolution are apparent in the phylogeny of the Parietal Clade.     

Bioelectromagnetics,Carl Durney,and dosimetry: Some historical remarks

The contributions of Carl Durney to dosimetry have decisively advanced the bioelectromagnetics field and led to significant revisions of relevant health standards. Three items come to mind while studying his work: 1. The work of Carl Durney and his colleagues in dosimetry has advanced the bioelectromagnetics field most significantly whereas more abundant work of a biomedical nature has had less impact. More biophysics work is desirable. 2. The rationale for the specific absorption rate as a basis of health standards needs further elaboration. The need for scaling animal results is stressed. 3. Dosimetry at the cellular level (microdosimetry) is essential if one cares to discuss direct field interactions at the cellular and macromolecular level. Carl Durney's recognition of this need is stated. Carl Durney's wide range of productive interests is indicated by several tables. They summarize his many contributions to electrical engineering, education, bioelectromagnetic dosimetry, hyperthermia, NMR, and field‐induced biophysical phenomena at the molecular and cellular level. His scientific work is summarized, including how his interest changed with time. His scientific accomplishment and productive interaction with students, colleagues, and society sets an example to be admired. Bioelectromagnetics 20:3–8, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

The intimate arctic: An early anthropologist's diary in the strict sense of the term

A lively debate has taken place in anthropology in recent years on field‐work and its representation in ethnographic accounts. At the same time, historians and cultural critics have dissected the ideology and rhetoric of early explorations. Here I examine the writings of the anthropologist and explorer Vilhjalmur Stefans‐son (1879–1962) in the light of current debates about textual representation, drawing upon recent discussions of ethnography, gender, and the power relations of early twentieth‐century explorations. Stefansson went on lengthy expeditions into the Alaskan and Canadian Arctic and wrote extensively on his encounters with indigenous groups, I argue that while Stefansson was a perceptive ethnographer and explorer, he was silent in both his publications and his diaries about important aspects pertaining to his fieldwork, in particular the ethnographic contributions of his Inuit companions and his intimate relations with a native woman named Pannigabluk. This silence, I suggest, contradicts the narrative trope Stefansson generally adopted, summed up in his concept of the friendly Arctic’     

The extinction of the dinosaurs

Non‐avian dinosaurs went extinct 66 million years ago, geologically coincident with the impact of a large bolide (comet or asteroid) during an interval of massive volcanic eruptions and changes in temperature and sea level. There has long been fervent debate about how these events affected dinosaurs. We review a wealth of new data accumulated over the past two decades, provide updated and novel analyses of long‐term dinosaur diversity trends during the latest Cretaceous, and discuss an emerging consensus on the extinction's tempo and causes. Little support exists for a global, long‐term decline across non‐avian dinosaur diversity prior to their extinction at the end of the Cretaceous. However, restructuring of latest Cretaceous dinosaur faunas in North America led to reduced diversity of large‐bodied herbivores, perhaps making communities more susceptible to cascading extinctions. The abruptness of the dinosaur extinction suggests a key role for the bolide impact, although the coarseness of the fossil record makes testing the effects of Deccan volcanism difficult.     

Working Under Daylight Intensity Lamp: An Occupational Risk for Developing Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorder?

A 47‐yr‐old male was admitted to the Institute for Fatigue and Sleep Medicine complaining of severe fatigue and daytime sleepiness. His medical history included diagnosis of depression and chronic fatigue syndrome. Antidepressant drugs failed to improve his condition. He described a gradual evolvement of an irregular sleep‐wake pattern within the past 20 yrs, causing marked distress and severe impairment of daily functioning. He had to change to a part‐time position 7 yrs ago, because he was unable to maintain a regular full‐time job schedule. A 10‐day actigraphic record revealed an irregular sleep-wake pattern with extensive day‐to‐day variability in sleep onset time and sleep duration, and a 36 h sampling of both melatonin level and oral temperature (12 samples, once every 3 h) showed abnormal patterns, with the melatonin peak around noon and oral temperature peak around dawn. Thus, the patient was diagnosed as suffering from irregular sleep‐wake pattern. Treatment with melatonin (5 mg, 2 h before bedtime) did not improve his condition. A further investigation of the patient's daily habits and environmental conditions revealed two important facts. First, his occupation required work under a daylight intensity lamp (professional diamond‐grading equipment of more than 8000 lux), and second, since the patient tended to work late, the exposure to bright light occurred mostly at night. To recover his circadian rhythmicity and stabilize his sleep‐wake pattern, we recommended combined treatment consisting of evening melatonin ingestion combined with morning (09:00 h) bright light therapy (0800 lux for 1 h) plus the avoidance of bright light in the evening. Another 10‐day actigraphic study done only 1 wk after initiating the combined treatment protocol revealed stabilization of the sleep‐wake pattern with advancement of sleep phase. In addition, the patient reported profound improvement in maintaining wakefulness during the day. This case study shows that chronic exposure to bright light at the wrong biological time, during the nighttime, may have serious effects on the circadian sleep‐wake patterns and circadian time structure. Therefore, night bright light exposure must be considered to be a risk factor of previously unrecognized occupational diseases of altered circadian time structure manifested as irregularity of the 24 h sleep‐wake cycle and melancholy.     

Palynoflora from intertrappean localities in southeastern part of Deccan volcanic province: taxonomic composition,age and paleogeographic implications

Understanding the flora preserved in the Late Cretaceous–Early Paleocene Deccan volcanic associated sediments is significant as it gives insight into the floral composition during Deccan volcanic activity. This time interval is also associated with extinction and evolution of many angiosperm families on the Indian subcontinent. The record of palynomorph bearing intertrappean beds of Shankar Lodhi in Chandrapur district and Shimbala in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra from southeastern part of Deccan volcanic province provides information on biodiversity, age and depositional environment of the Deccan province. These intertrappean beds are characterized by presence of Maastrichtian age marker taxa such as Azolla cretacea, Jiangsupollis and Echitricolpites. Aquatic palynoassemblage such as, Azolla cretacea, Crybelosporites intertrappea, Gabonisporis vigourouxii and Sparganiaceaepollenites are dominant in Shankar Lodhi intertrappean beds. Presence of taxa Crybelosporites, Incrotonipollis and Periporopollenites in the intertrappean beds of the study area and their global geological history suggest their Gondwanan origin.     

From the Murray to the Mekong: Grant Evans' life and fieldwork

This article presents glimpses of the life and fieldwork of Grant Evans, the foremost anthropologist and historian to work on Laos in recent decades. It explores his youth in rural Australia, his tumultuous student years, and the challenges he faced as a professional scholar negotiating the Lao PDR bureaucracy. It draws insights from some of his early writing for alternative publications in Australia, as well as extensive discussions and correspondence with family, friends, professional counterparts and former students. It identifies factors in Grant's early life that were instrumental in his ability to research the Lao PDR. Ultimately, Grant possessed wide‐ranging academic and non‐academic interests. He was highly respected as a scholar and was a very decent human being.     

Paleobiota from the Deccan volcano-sedimentary sequences of India: paleoenvironments,age and paleobiogeographic implications

Paleobiotic assemblages from the Deccan infra- and intertrappean beds are reviewed in great detail. Three distinct paleoenvironments (fluvio-lacustrine/terrestrial, brackish water and marine) have been identified within the infra- and intertrappean biotic assemblages of peninsular India. Recently, marine incursions have been recorded in a few of the Deccan intertrappean beds exposed in central and south-eastern India. The intertrappean beds have yielded marine planktic foraminiferans and freshwater/brackish water ostracods. The affinities of the paleobiotas are commonly considered to show a mixed pattern resulting from the addition of Gondwanan and Laurasian elements to endemic Indian taxa. During the last four decades, various biogeographic models (southern and northern connections) have been proposed to explain the presence of anomalous biogeographic biota in the Late Cretaceous of India. Based on the recovered fauna and flora assemblages, the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary has been marked and a Late Cretaceous to Early Paleocene age has been assigned to these Deccan volcano-sedimentary sequences.     

A report on biocompounds from palm fossil of India

The occurrence of a large number of fossil woods having resemblance in anatomical features with the modern palm genus, Phoenix L in Deccan Intertrappean fossil flora of Maastrichtian-Danian age (i. e. Late Cretaceous and Earliest Tertiary (65-67 my)) indicates the most primitive record of date palm. Present discovery of biocompounds from fossil wood of Phoenix collected from Deccan Intertrappean having affinity with the biocompounds known from modern plant further exemplify the earliest documentation of Phoenix in Indian peninsula.     

A permineralized species of mangrove fern Acrostichum L. from Deccan Intertrappean beds of India

Acrostichum intertrappeum sp. nov., a permineralized aerial stem with helically arranged petioles and roots in organic connection, is described from the Deccan Intertrappean beds of Nawargaon, District Wardha, Maharashtra, India and forms the first and the oldest record of its kind. The stem is covered with a thick ramentum of large multicellular scales and is characterized by a three angled dictyostele enclosing a few medullary bundles. The petioles are helically arranged and the vascular morphology is distinct with abaxial horseshoe-shaped ring, adaxial linear row and central dorso-ventrally elongated ring. The roots have hexarch steles and aerenchymatous cortex with large air cavities in rings. Occurrence of Acrostichum along with coastal palms, mangroves and marsh plants described earlier from this region and nearby locations suggests the north-western shore of the Deccan was linked to the equatorial ocean (South Western Tethys Sea) probably through the Narmada Valley during the deposition of Intertrappean sediments. Morphological features and anatomical characters of the fossil reveal that Acrostichum grew in marsh swamp environment or on mud flats of back water areas of the coastal environment prevailing a tropical humid climate when the Deccan region was almost at an equatorial position during the Late Cretaceous period. This new record further adds to a growing body of data on the diversification of polypodiaceous ferns that point to a much earlier crown group radiation of the group than previously thought.     

CHINESE VISITORS TO 18TH CENTURY BRITAIN AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO ITS CULTURAL AND INTELLECTUAL LIFE

This essay introduces three 18th century Chinese visitors to Britain, analysing the important role they played in cross‐cultural intellectual and artistic contact between the two countries. Loum Kiqua, a merchant, arrived in London in 1756. He gave the first known performance on a Chinese musical instrument in the West. Chitqua, a portrait modeller who arrived in 1769, exhibited at the newly‐established Royal Academy (becoming the first named Chinese artist to have a work shown in an overseas exhibit). Whang at Tong (Whang Atong, Huang Yadong), was only in his early 20s at the time of his arrival in England in August 1774, but he played a significant role in the transfer of botanical knowledge from China to the West through his connections with John Bradby Blake in Canton and his father John Blake in London.     

Understanding the brain in health and disease

Today, Karl Deisseroth was awarded the 4 million euro 2017 Else Kröner Fresenius Prize for his discoveries of optogenetics and of hydrogel‐tissue chemistry, and for developing circuit‐level insight into depression. We asked him how his and related work enhances our understanding of the brain and psychiatric diseases at the molecular level.     

Genotyping of Indian <Emphasis Type="Italic">Yersinia pestis</Emphasis> strains by MLVA and repetitive DNA sequence based PCRs

India experienced two plague outbreaks in Gujarat and Maharastra during 1994 and then in the Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh during 2002. Yersinia pestis strains recovered from rodents and pneumonic patients during the 1994 outbreaks, pneumonic patients from the 2002 Shimla outbreak and rodents trapped on the Deccan Plateau during a surveillance activity carried out in 1998 were characterized by MLVA, ERIC-PCR and ERIC-BOX-PCR. MLVA genotyping of Indian Y. pestis strains revealed strains of 2 Orientalis, 1 Mediaevalis and 1 Antiqua genotypes distributed in three distinct branches corresponding to their biovar. The Orientalis genotype strains recovered from the 1994 outbreaks and 1998 surveillance activity clustered in one branch while the Antiqua biovar strains from the Shimla outbreak and the Mediaevalis strain recovered from a rodent trapped on the Deccan Plateau region during surveillance formed the other branches. The Orientalis Y. pestis strains recovered from rodents and patients from the 1994 plague outbreaks exhibited similar MLVA, ERIC-PCR and ERIC-BOX-PCR profiles and these were closely related to the Orientalis strains recovered from the rodents trapped on the Deccan Plateau. These data provide evidence for the possible linkage between the Y. pestis strains resident in the endemic region and those that were associated with the 1994 plague outbreaks. Mediaevalis and Antiqua biovars also were recovered from the environmental reservoir on the Deccan Plateau and from the pneumonic patients of 2002 plague outbreak. Therefore, as in Central Asian and African regions, Antiqua and Mediaevalis biovars seem to be well established in the Indian subcontinent as well. ERIC-PCR DNA fingerprinting delineated genotypes similar to those defined by MLVA. Thus ERIC-PCR appears to have the potential to be used as a molecular marker in the molecular epidemiological investigations of plague.     

Deccan volcanism,the KT mass extinction and dinosaurs

Recent advances in Deccan volcanic studies indicate three volcanic phases with the phase-1 at 67.5 Ma followed by a 2 m.y. period of quiescence. Phase-2 marks the main Deccan volcanic eruptions in Chron 29r near the end of the Maastrichtian and accounts for ∼80% of the entire 3500 m thick Deccan lava pile. At least four of the world’s longest lava flows spanning 1000 km across India and out into the Gulf of Bengal mark phase-2. The final phase-3 was smaller, coincided with the early Danian Chron 29n and also witnessed several of the longest lava flows. The KT boundary and mass extinction was first discovered based on planktic foraminifera from shallow marine intertrappean sediments exposed in Rajahmundry quarries between the longest lava flows of the main volcanic phase-2 and smaller phase-3. At this locality early Danian (zone P1a) planktic foraminiferal assemblages directly overlie the top of phase-2 eruptions and indicate that the masse extinction coincided with the end of this volcanic phase. Planktic foraminiferal assemblages also mark the KT boundary in intertrappean sediments at Jhilmili, Chhindwara, where freshwater to estuarine conditions prevailed during the early Danian and indicate the presence of a marine seaway across India at KT time.     

Formal behavioral evaluation of enrichment programs on a zookeeper's schedule: a case study with a polar bear (Ursus Maritimus) at the Bronx Zoo

We conducted a brief study of the effectiveness of environmental enrichment for a polar bear at the Bronx Zoo with two objectives in mind. First we wanted to determine if a novel method of collecting data that easily fits into a zookeeper's work routine would produce usable data and if so, we wanted to evaluate the effectiveness of some new items that had been purchased for enriching the polar bear in reducing his pacing behavior. Observations were recorded for 119 days over a period of 5 months from April 2007 through August 2007. Five new items and eight previously used items were rotated and presented to the polar bear in the morning and afternoon. We recorded the bear's behavior five times per day as we passed by his exhibit during our regular work routine. Predictably, we found that the newer enrichment items were more effective at increasing play and decreasing pacing, as well as other more subtle effects on his behavior that helped us to design a better enrichment routine. More importantly, we found that this method of “multi‐point scan sampling” was effective at producing ample and reliable data that could be used to analyze the bear's behavior without adding significant work to the keepers' daily routine. Zoo Biol 29:503–508, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Assortative Pairing Based on Contact Call Similarity in Budgerigars, Melopsittacus undulatus

A trait typical of parrots, but rare in other groups of birds, is the acquisition of new learned calls (acquired by copying conspecifics) throughout an individual's lifetime. The significance of this distinctive psittacid trait is not understood. In budgerigars, females preferentially affiliate with unfamiliar males whose contact calls resemble their own during brief dyadic choice trials; also, in forced‐pair situations, contact call similarity of members of pairs increases as a result of a male tendency to imitate his mate's call type. The functions of budgerigar call imitation and preference for pre‐pairing similarity are currently unknown. Moreover, as budgerigar pair formation occurs over a span of days or weeks, it is important to determine whether birds in breeding colonies assort and proceed to breed on the basis of pre‐pairing contact call similarity, and whether high levels of call similarity are maintained after pair formation is complete. To explore these questions, we recorded contact calls of male and female budgerigars before and after they were placed into an aviary equipped for breeding. As predicted, birds paired assortatively based on pre‐pairing call similarity. Once birds had paired, their calls converged further in acoustic structure, as previous work had led us to expect. However, after eggs were laid and the males began to feed their mates, the calls of mated birds diverged, suggesting that there might be some cost to maintenance of shared calls. Male care‐giving correlated with the degree to which his pre‐pairing calls resembled those of his mate, but not with the similarity achieved through convergence. These results suggest that female budgerigars may use a male's pre‐pairing call similarity as a predictor of paternal investment. The questions of why such similarity predicts male care‐giving, and why calls converge following initial pairing activities, require further work.     

Palynoflora from deccan volcano-sedimentary sequence (Cretaceous-Palaeogene transition) of central India: implications for spatio-temporal correlation

The sedimentary beds associated with Deccan Continental Flood Basalt (DCFB) sequences exposed in the volcanic subprovinces of Jabalpur-Mandla-Chhindwara (JMC) regions of Madhya Pradesh and Nand-Dongargaon (N-D) basin and the adjoining areas to the west in Yeotmal-Nanded in Maharashtra were studied for their palynofloral analysis. The sediments were characterized palynologically and changes in the palynoflora are observed at different stratigraphic levels in a number of sections including several new intertrappean localities recorded in recent years. For the purpose of effective correlation of different subprovinces, palynofloras of some of the previously studied intertrappeans are also reviewed. Our studies suggest that before the start of the Deccan volcanic activity, the palynoflora found in the Lameta sediments, was dominated by gymnosperms-angiosperm association. The plant canopy consisted mainly of gymnosperms (Conifers and Podocarpaceae) whereas, the understory members were mostly of palms and herbs (Poaceae and Asteraceae). The eruption of Deccan volcanic flows severely affected the existing floral association and proved fatal for the well established plant community. The immediately overlying sediments associated with the earliest volcanic flows are dominated by pteridophytes and angiosperm taxa (Azolla cretacea, Aquilapollenites bengalensis, Ariadnaesporites sp., Gabonisporis vigourouxii and Triporoletes reticulatus). Higher up in the stratigraphic sequence, similar forms continued with simultaneous appearance of new taxa including Scabrastephanocolpites spp. At still higher stratigraphic levels, abundance of fungi especially the mycorrhizal fungi, concurrent with sharp decline in pollen/spore recovery was observed. In the culminating phase (i.e. Palaeocene) of Deccan volcanic history a new palynofloral assemblage of typical Palaeocene taxa (Dandotiaspora dilata, D. pseudoauriculata, D. plicata, Spinizonocolpites echinatus, Matanomadhiasulcites sp., and Lakiapollis ovatus) was encountered.     

Thirty‐five years of spatial autocorrelation analysis in population genetics: an essay in honour of Robert Sokal (1926–2012)

We could not start this review, literally from the beginning, without expressing our sadness over the passing of Professor Robert R. Sokal. We are sure, nevertheless, that the importance of his scientific achievements will ensure he is long remembered. In this modest tribute to Professor Sokal, we highlight his contributions to the field of population genetics and spatial statistical methods. Specifically, we discuss how two papers, co‐authored with Professor N. L. Oden and published in the pages of the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society in 1978, revolutionized the field of analytical population genetics. In these papers, Sokal and Oden created an elegant framework for inferring evolutionary processes (e.g. isolation‐by‐distance, demic diffusion, selection gradients, genetic drift) from the spatial autocorrelation analysis of genetic variation patterns. We also highlight the pivotal importance of Sokal's work to the development of emerging fields (e.g. landscape and conservation genetics). We hope this virtual issue containing the papers that Professor Sokal published in BJLS, and later, related papers by other researchers, will help to remember his work and maintain his legacy of spatial analysis in genetics, ecology, and evolutionary biology. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, ??, ??–??.