Points of departure for a constructive critique of the Bolivarian Revolution

From what Left position, both intellectually and politically, does one formulate a critique of the Chávez-led Bolivarian Revolution without aligning with a right-wing opposition? For starters, we need reliable evidence of the achievements, problems, and mistakes of the Bolivarian project. At the same time, any engagement with social change in Venezuela necessitates attention to one’s positionality as well as scholarly and activist categories of analysis and practice.     

Bats and frogs and animals in between: evidence for a common central timing mechanism to extract periodicity pitch

Widely divergent vertebrates share a common central temporal mechanism for representing periodicities of acoustic waveform events. In the auditory nerve, periodicities corresponding to frequencies or rates from about 10 Hz to over 1,000 Hz are extracted from pure tones, from low-frequency complex sounds (e.g., 1st harmonic in bullfrog calls), from mid-frequency sounds with low-frequency modulations (e.g., amplitude modulation rates in cat vocalizations), and from time intervals between high-frequency transients (e.g., pulse-echo delay in bat sonar). Time locking of neuronal responses to periodicities from about 50 ms down to 4 ms or less (about 20–300 Hz) is preserved in the auditory midbrain, where responses are dispersed across many neurons with different onset latencies from 4–5 to 20–50 ms. Midbrain latency distributions are wide enough to encompass two or more repetitions of successive acoustic events, so that responses to multiple, successive periods are ongoing simultaneously in different midbrain neurons. These latencies have a previously unnoticed periodic temporal pattern that determines the specific times for the dispersed on-responses.     

The biology of the crustose lichen <Emphasis Type=Italic>Rhizocarpon geographicum</Emphasis>

The crustose lichen Rhizocarpon geographicum (L.) DC. comprises yellow-green lichenized areolae which develop and grow on the surface of a non-lichenized fungal hypothallus, the latter extending beyond the edge of the areolae to form a marginal ring. The hypothallus advances very slowly and the considerable longevity of R. geographicum, especially in Arctic and Alpine environments, has been exploited by geologists in dating the exposure age of rock surfaces (lichenometry). This review explores various aspects of the biology of R. geographicum including: (1) structure and symbionts, (2) lichenization, (3) development of areolae, (4) radial growth rates (RaGR), (5) growth physiology, (6) changes in RaGR with thallus size (growth rate-size curve), (7) maturity and senescence, and (8) aspects of ecology. Lichenization occurs when fungal hyphae become associated with a compatible species of the alga Trebouxia, commonly found free-living on the substratum. Similarly, ‘primary’ areolae develop from free-living algal cells trapped by the advancing hypothallus. The shape of the growth rate-size curve of R. geographicum is controversial but may exhibit a phase of decreasing growth in larger thalli. Low rates of translocation of carbohydrate to the hypothallus together with allocation for stress resistance results in very slow RaGR, a low demand for nutrients, hence, the ability of R. geographicum to colonize more extreme environments. Several aspects of the biology of R. geographicum have implications for lichenometry including early development, mortality rates, the shape of the growth-rate size curve, and competition.