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Solar radiation and geological processes over the first few million years of Earth’s history, followed soon thereafter by the origin of life, steered our planet towards an evolutionary trajectory of long-lived habitability that ultimately enabled the emergence of complex life. We review the most important conditions and feedbacks over the first 2 billion years of this trajectory, which perhaps represent the best analogue for other habitable worlds in the galaxy. Crucial aspects included: (1) the redox state and volatile content of Earth’s building blocks, which determined the longevity of the magma ocean and its ability to degas H 2 O and other greenhouse gases, in particular CO 2 , allowing the condensation of a water ocean; (2) the chemical properties of the resulting degassed mantle, including oxygen fugacity, which would have not only affected its physical properties and thus its ability to recycle volatiles and nutrients via plate tectonics, but also contributed to the timescale of atmospheric oxygenation; (3) the emergence of life, in particular the origin of autotrophy, biological N 2 fixation, and oxygenic photosynthesis, which accelerated sluggish abiotic processes of transferring some volatiles back into the lithosphere; (4) strong stellar UV radiation on the early Earth, which may have eroded significant amounts of atmospheric volatiles, depending on atmospheric CO 2 /N 2 ratios and thus impacted the redox state of the mantle as well as the timing of life’s origin; and (5) evidence of strong photochemical effects on Earth’s sulfur cycle, preserved in the form of mass-independent sulfur isotope fractionation, and potentially linked to fractionation in organic carbon isotopes. The early Earth presents itself as an exoplanet analogue that can be explored through the existing rock record, allowing us to identify atmospheric signatures diagnostic of biological metabolisms that may be detectable on other inhabited planets with next-generation telescopes. We conclude that investigating the development of habitable conditions on terrestrial planets, an inherently complex problem, requires multi-disciplinary collaboration and creative solutions.

Hydrogen production by thermophilic anaerobic microflora enriched from sludge compost was studied by using an artificial medium containing cellulose powder. Hydrogen gas was evolved with the formation of acetate, ethanol, and butyrate by decomposition of the cellulose powder. The hydrogen production yield was 2.0 mol/mol-hexose by either batch or chemostat cultivation. A medium that did not contain peptone demonstrated a lower hydrogen production yield of 1.0 mol/mol-hexose with less formation of butyrate. The microbial community in the microflora was investigated through isolation of the microorganisms by both plating and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of the PCR-amplified V3 region of 16S rDNA. Sixty-eight microorganisms were isolated from the microflora and classified into nine distinct groups by genetic fingerprinting of the PCR-DGGE or by a random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis and determination of the partial sequence of 16S rDNA. Most of the isolates belonged to the cluster of the thermophilic Clostridium/Bacillus subphylum of low G+C gram-positive bacteria. Product formation by most of the isolated strains corresponded to that produced by the microflora. Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum was isolated in the enrichment culture with or without added peptone and was detected with strong intensity by PCR-DGGE. Two other thermophilic cellulolytic microorganisms, Clostridium thermocellum and Clostridium cellulosi, were also detected by PCR-DGGE, although they could not be isolated. These findings imply that hydrogen production from cellulose by microflora is performed by a consortium of several species of microorganisms.

High precision measurements of the ground state hyperfine structure (HFS) of muonium is a stringent tool for testing bound-state quantum electrodynamics (QED) theory, determining fundamental constants of the muon magnetic moment and mass, and searches for new physics. Muonium is the most suitable system to test QED because both theoretical and experimental values can be precisely determined. Previous measurements were performed decades ago at LAMPF with uncertainties mostly dominated by statistical errors. At the J-PARC Muon Science Facility (MUSE), the MuSEUM collaboration is planning complementary measurements of muonium HFS both at zero and high magnetic field. The new high-intensity muon beam that will soon be available at H-Line will provide an opportunity to improve the precision of these measurements by one order of magnitude. An overview of the different aspects of these new muonium HFS measurements, the current status of the preparation for high-field measurements, and the latest results at zero field are presented.

The piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters were fabricated by using uniaxially stretched poly (vinylidene difluoride/trifluoroethylene) copolymer (P(VDF/TrFE)) film, and the relationship between piezoelectric power generation and molecular orientation was investigated. The molecular orientation in the stretched P(VDF/TrFE) films was evaluated with polarized Fourier transfer infrared (FT-IR) spectra measurement. In stretched films, the main-chains of P(VDF/TrFE) were aligned along the stretching direction. The piezoelectric properties and the electric power generation of stretched P(VDF/TrFE) films were strongly depended on their molecular orientation, measuring by cantilever-type energy harvesters. The piezoelectric coefficient(e) and output power observed in the energy harvester with the film stretched in the longitudinal direction of cantilever were 16.9 mC/m2 and 222 nW, respectively. These values were approximately 2.1 and 3.5 times these of the unstretched elements.

Due to an unfortunate turn of events the wrong affiliation number was given for Dr. H. Lammer. Please find on this page the correct affiliation number behind his name.

The biogeochemistry of nitrous oxide (N2O) was investigated in Lake Kizaki, Japan, where accumulation of N2O in the water column has been observed. The N2O concentration profile showed weak accumulation in the oxic zone, although much higher and much lower N2O concentrations were observed in the deeper oxygen‐deficient zone. Intramolecular partitioning of 15N (site preference) of N2O within the oxic zone increased concomitantly with increased N2O concentration. The site preference of the newly produced N2O in the oxic zone was estimated as 33.6‰. This high site preference strongly suggests that this N2O was produced by hydroxylamine oxidation. In regions of the oxygen‐deficient zone, the nitrate (NO3−) concentration decreased rapidly, concomitantly with increased nitrogen and oxygen isotope ratios, indicating denitrification. The high site preference and nitrogen isotope ratio of N2O (δ15Nbulk), combined with isotopic data of NO3−, strongly suggest denitrification as the main N2O source. Moreover, site preference and δ15Nbulk data suggest that the existing N2O in the oxygen‐deficient zone was already strongly reduced (more than 75%) to N2. Results of this study demonstrate the feasibility of using isotope and isotopomer analyses of N compounds to elucidate the complex biogeochemistry of N2O in an intact ecosystem. Key Points N2O isotopomer was applied to elucidate N2O biogeochemistry in freshwater lake N2O site preference suggested nitrification as the source of N2O in oxic water Denitrification with N2O reduction was the source of N2O in deep water

High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy of the highly charged muonic atoms/ions isolated in vacuum is an ideal probe to explore quantum electrodynamics under extremely strong electric fields, which is one of the major topic in fundamental atomic physics. A feasibility test measurement with a low-density neon gas target was performed by observing X-rays emitted by muonic neon via the 5 → 4 transition, ∼  6.3 keV, using a multi-pixel array of superconducting transition-edge-sensor (TES) microcalorimeters at the J-PARC muon facility. We successfully demonstrated the feasibility of muonic atom X-ray spectroscopy with a gas target at a pressure as low as 0.1 atom using TES array under an intense pulsed muon beam.

MuSEUM (Muonium Spectroscopy Experiment Using Microwave) collaboration aims to measure the muonium hyperfine structure (MuHFS,vhfs) with a few ppb (parts per billion). MuHFS spectroscopy is a stringent test of the bound-state QED. From this measurement, the muon-proton magnetic moment ratio (μμ/μP) and the muon-electron mass ratio (mμ/me) can also be determined by applying a high magnetic field. In the previous MuHFS measurement carried out at Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility (LAMPF), the main uncertainty was caused by the lack of the statistics. MuSEUM collaboration uses the high intense pulsed muon beam at Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) to improve the statistical uncertainty. We are also developing our own experimental setups for the improvement of the systematic uncertainties. From June 2016, MuSEUM collaboration have carried out the MuHFS measurement in an extremely low magnetic field within 100 nT and now we are preparing for the measurement in a 1.7 T high magnetic field.

To study non-magnetic and magnetic impurity effects at the superconductor-normal metal interfaces, we have measured the differential conductance dI/dV for Josephson contacts made by vanadium (V) nanoconstrictions with a different amount of hydrogen (H) and deuterium (D) impurities, which are prepared by a mechanically controllable break junction (MCBJ) technique at low temperature. Below the superconducting transition temperature TC, we have found distinct peaks within and outside the gap, known as the sub-gap structure and an over-the-gap structure respectively, due to 5% concentration of atomic H and D on V nanocontact. Moreover, the temperature dependence of dI/dV spectra represents that both structures are survived until the critical temperature TC, which is consistent with the prediction of BCS energy gap. On the other hand, a very high concentrating phase (30atom%) behaves as a normal metal.

In chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), the BCR-ABL fusion oncoprotein activates multiple pathways involved in cell survival, growth promotion and disease progression. In this report, we show that the signal-transducing adaptor protein-2 (STAP-2) is involved in BCR-ABL activity. We demonstrate that STAP-2 bound to BCR-ABL, and BCR and ABL proteins, depending on the STAP-2 Src homology 2-like domain. BCR-ABL phosphorylates STAP-2 Tyr250 and the phosphorylated STAP-2 in turn upregulated BCR-ABL phosphorylation, leading to enhanced activation of downstream signaling molecules including ERK (extracellular-signal-regulated kinase), STAT5 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 5), BCL-xL (B-cell lymphoma-extra large) and BCL-2(B-cell lymphoma 2). In addition, STAP-2 interacts with BCR-ABL to alter chemokine receptor expression leading to downregulation of CXCR4 and upregulation of CCR7. The interaction between STAP-2 and BCR-ABL plays a crucial role in conferring a growth advantage and resistance to imatinib, a BCR-ABL inhibitor, as well as tumor progression. Notably, mice injected with BCR-ABL/STAP-2-expressing Ba/F3 cells developed lymph node enlargement and hepatosplenomegaly. Moreover, suppression of STAP-2 in K562 CML cells resulted in no tumor formation in mice. Our results demonstrate a critical contribution of STAP-2 in BCR-ABL activity, and suggest that STAP-2 might be an important candidate for drug development for patients with CML. Furthermore, the expression of STAP-2 provides useful information for estimating the characteristics of individual CML clones.