Feasting is one of humanity's most universal and unique social behaviors. Although evidence for feasting is common in the early agricultural societies of the Neolithic, evidence in pre-Neolithic contexts is more elusive. We found clear evidence for feasting on wild cattle and tortoises at Hilazon Tachtit cave, a Late Epipaleolithic (12,000 calibrated years B.P.) burial site in Israel. This incl...

Biopedturbation, or animal-caused soil disturbance, may be important for development and maintenance of small-scale heterogeneity in ecosystems with the potential to alter seed mortality and recruitment. However, its role in tropical forests has been largely ignored. This study explored effects of vertebrate biopedturbation on seed (1) microsite heterogeneity, (2) predation and (3) germination ...

[1] Changes in the distribution of the preservation and burial of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in deep ocean sediments and associated atmospheric pCO2 response to the shutdown of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) are examined using an Earth system model. We find that shutdown of the Atlantic MOC forced by the freshwater inflow significantly decreases the CaCO3 content in North ...

[1] The primary goal of the Ocean Seismic Network Pilot Experiment (OSNPE) was to learn how to make high quality broadband seismic measurements on the ocean bottom in preparation for a permanent ocean seismic network. The experiment also had implications for the development of a capability for temporary (e.g., 1 year duration) seismic experiments on the ocean floor. Equipment for installing, op...

We describe an improved method for dating buried paleosols using measurements of the cosmic-ray-produced radionuclides Be and Al in quartz grains, and apply it to a sequence of intercalated tills and paleosols in central Missouri, USA, that record Plio-Pleistocene advances of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. A buried paleosol implies a period of surface exposure and nuclide accumulation, followed by b...

Introduction Archaeological investigations of landfills have revealed that biodegradable wastes can be found — virtually intact — 25 years after burial. We know that landfills contain bacteria with the metabolic capability to degrade many of the materials that are common components of municipal refuse. The persistence for decades of degradable materials in the presence of such organisms appears...

Using a simplified protein model, the equilibrium between different oligomeric species of the wild-type GCN4 leucine zipper and seven of its mutants have been predicted. Over the entire experimental concentration range, agreement with experiment is found in five cases, while in two cases agreement is found over a portion of the concentration range. These studies demonstrate a methodology for pr...