In the atmosphere the importance of biological ice nuclei is still not well understood. Therefore we investigated the ice nucleation behavior of Snomax, used as a model for bacterial ice nucleation, and birch pollen washing water, used as a model for pollen induced ice nucleation. Thereby we quantified the ice nucleation behavior of the INA protein complexes controlling the ice nucleation abili...

Density functional theory is applied to ion-induced nucleation of dipolar molecules. The predicted reversible work shows a sign preference, resulting in a difference in the nucleation rate by a factor of 10–10, for realistic values of model parameters. The sign effect is found to decrease systematically as the supersaturation is increased. The asymmetry of a molecule is shown to be directly res...

The theory of sexual selection was formulated by Darwin (1871) to explain the origin of sexually dimorphic traits that are detrimental to survival. Darwin believed that sexual selection arises from either mate choice or intrasexual competition for mates, reasoning that such traits could evolve if they conferred a fitness advantage on their bearer. In part because of the obvious difficulties in ...

Classical nucleation theory offers a good framework for understanding the common features of new phase formation processes in metastable homogeneous media at rest. However, nucleation processes in liquids are ubiquitously affected by hydrodynamic flow, and there is no satisfactory understanding of whether shear promotes or slows down the nucleation process. We developed a classical nucleation t...

Spatial and temporal control of crystal nucleation is demonstrated by nonphotochemical laser-induced nucleation of an aqueous agarose gel prepared with supersaturated potassium chloride. The location of nucleation was controlled by means of an optical mask; crystals were only observed in the area exposed to near-infrared laser radiation. The dependence of nucleation on laser power was measured,...

ir conditioning as we know it, providing thermal comfort by mechanical methods, first appeared in buildings about a hundred years ago. The ability to control temperature, humidity and air purity made urban development possible in the most inhospitable of locations. Together with electric lighting, air conditioning also eliminated restrictions on plan form and fenestration that architects had be...