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"Tobin, J J"
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Plants vs. zombies. Lawn of doom
\"Halloween in Neighborville is weird enough, but now Zomboss and his zombie army want to turn the holiday into their own scarier Lawn of Doom celebration! With Zomboss filling everyone's yards with traps and special zombies, Crazy Dave, Patrice, Nate, and a batch of brave, boisterous plants fight back in contests of best tricks, best treats, and best costumes!\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Metal oxides for optoelectronic applications
Optical transparency, tunable conducting properties and easy processability make metal oxides key materials for advanced optoelectronic devices. This Review discusses recent advances in the synthesis of these materials and their use in applications.
Metal oxides (MOs) are the most abundant materials in the Earth's crust and are ingredients in traditional ceramics. MO semiconductors are strikingly different from conventional inorganic semiconductors such as silicon and III–V compounds with respect to materials design concepts, electronic structure, charge transport mechanisms, defect states, thin-film processing and optoelectronic properties, thereby enabling both conventional and completely new functions. Recently, remarkable advances in MO semiconductors for electronics have been achieved, including the discovery and characterization of new transparent conducting oxides, realization of p-type along with traditional n-type MO semiconductors for transistors, p–n junctions and complementary circuits, formulations for printing MO electronics and, most importantly, commercialization of amorphous oxide semiconductors for flat panel displays. This Review surveys the uniqueness and universality of MOs versus other unconventional electronic materials in terms of materials chemistry and physics, electronic characteristics, thin-film fabrication strategies and selected applications in thin-film transistors, solar cells, diodes and memories.
Journal Article
Mixed-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures
This Review discusses the different, state-of-the-art applications of heterostructures containing at least one layer of a two-dimensional (2D) material, combined with 0D, 1D and 3D nano-objects.
The isolation of a growing number of two-dimensional (2D) materials has inspired worldwide efforts to integrate distinct 2D materials into van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures. Given that any passivated, dangling-bond-free surface will interact with another through vdW forces, the vdW heterostructure concept can be extended to include the integration of 2D materials with non-2D materials that adhere primarily through non-covalent interactions. We present a succinct and critical survey of emerging mixed-dimensional (2D +
n
D, where
n
is 0, 1 or 3) heterostructure devices. By comparing and contrasting with all-2D vdW heterostructures as well as with competing conventional technologies, we highlight the challenges and opportunities for mixed-dimensional vdW heterostructures.
Journal Article
Links between metamorphosis and symbiosis in holometabolous insects
Many animals depend on microbial symbionts to provide nutrition, defence or other services. Holometabolous insects, as well as other animals that undergo metamorphosis, face unique constraints on symbiont maintenance. Microbes present in larvae encounter a radical transformation of their habitat and may also need to withstand chemical and immunological challenges. Metamorphosis also provides an opportunity, in that symbiotic associations can be decoupled over development. For example, some holometabolous insects maintain the same symbiont as larvae and adults, but house it in different tissues; in other species, larvae and adults may harbour entirely different types or numbers of microbes, in accordance with shifts in host diet or habitat. Such flexibility may provide an advantage over hemimetabolous insects, in which selection on adult-stage microbial associations may be constrained by its negative effects on immature stages, and vice versa. Additionally, metamorphosis itself can be directly influenced by symbionts. Across disparate insect taxa, microbes protect hosts from pathogen infection, supply nutrients essential for rebuilding the adult body and provide cues regulating pupation. However, microbial associations remain completely unstudied for many families and even orders of Holometabola, and future research will undoubtedly reveal more links between metamorphosis and microbiota, two widespread features of animal life. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The evolution of complete metamorphosis’.
Journal Article
Evolutionary and Ecological Consequences of Gut Microbial Communities
Animals are distinguished by having guts-organs that must extract nutrients from food yet also bar invasion by pathogens. Most guts are colonized by nonpathogenic microorganisms, but the functions of these microbes, or even the reasons why they occur in the gut, vary widely among animals. Sometimes these microorganisms have codiversified with hosts; sometimes they live mostly elsewhere in the environment. Either way, gut microorganisms often benefit hosts. Benefits may reflect evolutionary addiction, whereby hosts incorporate gut microorganisms into normal developmental processes. But benefits often include novel ecological capabilities; for example, many metazoan clades exist by virtue of gut communities enabling new dietary niches. Animals vary immensely in their dependence on gut microorganisms, from lacking them entirely to using them as food or to obligate dependence for development, nutrition, or protection. Many consequences of gut microorganisms for hosts can be ascribed to microbial community processes and the host's ability to shape these processes.
Journal Article
Gut microbes may facilitate insect herbivory of chemically defended plants
The majority of insect species consume plants, many of which produce chemical toxins that defend their tissues from attack. How then are herbivorous insects able to develop on a potentially poisonous diet? While numerous studies have focused on the biochemical counter-adaptations to plant toxins rooted in the insect genome, a separate body of research has recently emphasized the role of microbial symbionts, particularly those inhabiting the gut, in plant–insect interactions. Here we outline the “gut microbial facilitation hypothesis,” which proposes that variation among herbivores in their ability to consume chemically defended plants can be due, in part, to variation in their associated microbial communities. More specifically, different microbes may be differentially able to detoxify compounds toxic to the insect, or be differentially resistant to the potential antimicrobial effects of some compounds. Studies directly addressing this hypothesis are relatively few, but microbe–plant allelochemical interactions have been frequently documented from non-insect systems—such as soil and the human gut—and thus illustrate their potential importance for insect herbivory. We discuss the implications of this hypothesis for insect diversification and coevolution with plants; for example, evolutionary transitions to host plant groups with novel allelochemicals could be initiated by heritable changes to the insect microbiome. Furthermore, the ecological implications extend beyond the plant and insect herbivore to higher trophic levels. Although the hidden nature of microbes and plant allelochemicals make their interactions difficult to detect, recent molecular and experimental techniques should enable research on this neglected, but likely important, aspect of insect-plant biology.
Journal Article
Caterpillars lack a resident gut microbiome
Many animals are inhabited by microbial symbionts that influence their hosts’ development, physiology, ecological interactions, and evolutionary diversification. However, firm evidence for the existence and functional importance of resident microbiomes in larval Lepidoptera (caterpillars) is lacking, despite the fact that these insects are enormously diverse, major agricultural pests, and dominant herbivores in many ecosystems. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and quantitative PCR, we characterized the gut microbiomes of wild leaf-feeding caterpillars in the United States and Costa Rica, representing 124 species from 15 families. Compared with other insects and vertebrates assayed using the same methods, the microbes that we detected in caterpillar guts were unusually low-density and variable among individuals. Furthermore, the abundance and composition of leaf-associated microbes were reflected in the feces of caterpillars consuming the same plants. Thus, microbes ingested with food are present (although possibly dead or dormant) in the caterpillar gut, but host-specific, resident symbionts are largely absent. To test whether transient microbes might still contribute to feeding and development, we conducted an experiment on field-collected caterpillars of the model species Manduca sexta. Antibiotic suppression of gut bacterial activity did not significantly affect caterpillar weight gain, development, or survival. The high pH, simple gut structure, and fast transit times that typify caterpillar digestive physiology may prevent microbial colonization. Moreover, host-encoded digestive and detoxification mechanisms likely render microbes unnecessary for caterpillar herbivory. Caterpillars illustrate the potential ecological and evolutionary benefits of independence from symbionts, a lifestyle that may be widespread among animals.
Journal Article
Not all animals need a microbiome
ABSTRACT
It is often taken for granted that all animals host and depend upon a microbiome, yet this has only been shown for a small proportion of species. We propose that animals span a continuum of reliance on microbial symbionts. At one end are the famously symbiont-dependent species such as aphids, humans, corals and cows, in which microbes are abundant and important to host fitness. In the middle are species that may tolerate some microbial colonization but are only minimally or facultatively dependent. At the other end are species that lack beneficial symbionts altogether. While their existence may seem improbable, animals are capable of limiting microbial growth in and on their bodies, and a microbially independent lifestyle may be favored by selection under some circumstances. There is already evidence for several ‘microbiome-free’ lineages that represent distantly related branches in the animal phylogeny. We discuss why these animals have received such little attention, highlighting the potential for contaminants, transients, and parasites to masquerade as beneficial symbionts. We also suggest ways to explore microbiomes that address the limitations of DNA sequencing. We call for further research on microbiome-free taxa to provide a more complete understanding of the ecology and evolution of macrobe-microbe interactions.
Contrary to a prevailing paradigm, some animals do not host nor rely on a microbiome.
Journal Article
Why people listen: Motivations and outcomes of podcast listening
The aim of this preregistered study was to identify dispositional predictors of podcast listening and examine the associations between aspects of podcast listening, dispositional predictors, and psychological outcomes. Three hundred and six adults from a range of countries completed an online questionnaire that assessed individual difference predictors (the Big Five personality factors, curiosity, need for cognition, need to belong, age, and gender), aspects of podcast listening (amount, format, setting, device, and social aspects), and potential outcomes (autonomy, competence, relatedness, meaning, mindfulness, and smartphone addiction). As predicted, openness to experience, interest-based curiosity, and need for cognition positively predicted podcast listening. Contrary to predictions, need to belong negatively predicted podcast listening, and time spent listening to podcasts was not associated with autonomy, competence, relatedness, meaning, mindfulness, or smartphone addiction. However, certain aspects of podcast listening (e.g., parasocial relationships and social engagement) were related to positive outcomes and to our predictor variables. Furthermore, neuroticism negatively predicted podcast listening. Overall, the findings support the idea that informational motives can play a role in podcast listening, and that some aspects of listening are associated with positive outcomes.
Journal Article
Deuterium-enriched water ties planet-forming disks to comets and protostars
Water is a fundamental molecule in the star and planet formation process, essential for catalysing the growth of solid material and the formation of planetesimals within disks
1
,
2
. However, the water snowline and the HDO:H
2
O ratio within proto-planetary disks have not been well characterized because water only sublimates at roughly 160 K (ref.
3
), meaning that most water is frozen out onto dust grains and that the water snowline radii are less than 10 AU (astronomical units)
4
,
5
. The sun-like protostar V883 Ori (M
*
= 1.3
M
⊙
)
6
is undergoing an accretion burst
7
, increasing its luminosity to roughly 200
L
⊙
(ref.
8
), and previous observations suggested that its water snowline is 40–120 AU in radius
6
,
9
,
10
. Here we report the direct detection of gas phase water (HDO and
H
2
18
O
) from the disk of V883 Ori. We measure a midplane water snowline radius of approximately 80 AU, comparable to the scale of the Kuiper Belt, and detect water out to a radius of roughly 160 AU. We then measure the HDO:H
2
O ratio of the disk to be (2.26 ± 0.63) × 10
−3
. This ratio is comparable to those of protostellar envelopes and comets, and exceeds that of Earth’s oceans by 3.1
σ
. We conclude that disks directly inherit water from the star-forming cloud and this water becomes incorporated into large icy bodies, such as comets, without substantial chemical alteration.
Direct detection of gas phase water from the disk of V883 Ori indicates that disks directly inherit water from the star-forming cloud that becomes incorporated into large icy bodies without notable chemical alteration.
Journal Article