The Arcanum mission is a proposed L-class mother-daughter spacecraft configuration for the Neptunian system, the mass and volume of which have been maximised to highlight the wide-ranging science the next generation of launch vehicles will enable. The spacecraft is designed to address a long-neglected but high-value region of the outer Solar System, showing that current advances make such a mission more feasible than ever before. This paper adds to a series on Arcanum and specifically provides progress on the study of areas identified as critical weaknesses by the 2013–2022 decadal survey and areas relevant to the recently published Voyage 2050 recommendations to the European Space Agency (ESA).

Common lilac (Syringa vulgaris L.) is a popular landscaping plant. Our aim was to obtain a large set of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers, to reveal the precise identities of the investigated S. vulgaris accessions, and to discover genetic relationships among them. The studied plant material included local Finnish, previously unidentified accessions, known reference cultivars, and so-called historical accessions i.e., old shrubs growing in historic cultural landscapes. We intended to verify cultivar names for some valuable local common lilac accessions and to provide insights into the history of common lilac cultivation in Finland. In the analyses, we used a set of 15,007 SNP markers. First, polymorphic information contents were calculated (mean 0.190, range 0.012–0.500 per marker). Then, to investigate genetic relationships among genotypes, a phylogenetic tree was constructed, and a principal coordinate analysis was conducted. A Bayesian analysis of population structure was performed to determine the number and distribution of genetic clusters among samples. Genetic marker data combined with existing historical and phenotypic knowledge revealed novel information on the unidentified cultivars and on the genetic relationships among studied accessions and solved the arrival and early history of common lilac in Finland. Overall, such comprehensive genomic characterization and deep understanding of genetic relationships of S. vulgaris can be used when utilizing present cultivars and developing new ones in future breeding programs.

In 1520, during the midst of the conquest of Mexico, Spanish conquistadors and their Native allies embarked on a massive naval project—the construction of 13 brigantines and a canal—needed to help conquer the aquatic city of Tenochtitlan. In the dominant historical literature on the war, the Spanish tend to receive most, if not all, of the credit for the success of the nautical program. The contributions of their Native allies by contrast are little-known and oft-overlooked in the historiography. Drawing on Spanish and Indigenous sources, this article highlights the vital roles that Native peoples played in the naval episode, whether it be felling timbers, carving wood, transporting logs, or excavating the canal. In addition to labor services, it also considers the importance of Indigenous ecological and hydrological expertise, and demonstrates how such knowledge played a pivotal role in the overall success of the enterprise. I argue, ultimately, that these contributions made the Native peoples, and not the Spanish, the true masters of the amphibious operation. Along the way, this essay seeks to contribute to several important strands of scholarship, chiefly the New Conquest History, environmental histories of New Spain, and the burgeoning literature on Indigenous knowledge production in Spanish America.

In 2006, the authorities of the de facto state of Transnistria unilaterally held a sovereignty referendum. Almost all voters supported Transnistria gaining internationally recognized independence and subsequently integrating/associating with Russia. Despite such clear results, the poll was not recognized internationally and, consequently, not implemented. However, this was not a problem for the Transnistrian leadership, since the primary objective of the referendum was not to reallocate sovereignty, but to domestically empower Transnistria’s President Igor Smirnov. Based on the discourse of Transnistria’s next president, Yevgeniy Shevchuk, this article argues that the referendum was not placed in the dustbin of history. Analysis of the official Transnistrian news published during his presidency from 2011–2016 shows that Shevchuk re-exploited the 2006 sovereignty referendum. His aim was not to reallocate sovereignty either, but to reach the following goals: 1. procure legitimacy of the Transnistrian sovereignty cause internationally; 2. empower Transnistria vis-à-vis its parent state, Moldova; 3. boost relations with Transnistria’s patron, Russia; and 4. empower himself domestically. Arguably, the argument about the strategic use of past unilateral sovereignty referendums also works in cases of other de facto states, which can be analyzed using the analytical framework presented in this article.