Phosphorus is a macronutrient that plays a number of important roles in plants. It is a component of nucleic acids, so it plays a vital role in plant reproduction, of which grain production is an important result. It is also critical in biological energy transfer processes that are vital for life and growth. Adequate phosphorus results in higher grain production, improved crop quality, greater ...

By combining electron tomography with energy-filtered electron microscopy, we have shown the feasibility of determining the three-dimensional distributions of phosphorus in biological specimens. Thin sections of the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans were prepared by high-pressure freezing, freeze-substitution and plastic embedding. Images were recorded at energy losses above and below the phosph...

We determined phosphate uptake by calcareous sediments at two locations within a shallow lagoon in Bermuda that varied in trophic status, with one site being mesotrophic and the other being more eutrophic. Phosphate adsorption over a six hour period was significantly faster in sediments from the mesotrophic site. Uptake at both sites was significantly less than that reported for a similar exper...

The Poisson's ratio of a material characterizes its response to uniaxial strain. Materials normally possess a positive Poisson's ratio - they contract laterally when stretched, and expand laterally when compressed. A negative Poisson's ratio is theoretically permissible but has not, with few exceptions of man-made bulk structures, been experimentally observed in any natural materials. Here, we ...