Higher-quality Australian diets are reported to taste more bitter(1), have healthier nutritional profiles and align more closely with the recommendations of the Australian Dietary Guidelines(2). Greater consumption of bitter foods may benefit health, but most research has focused on green leafy vegetables(3). However, there are other foods and beverages (F&Bs) that taste bitter and could increase the bitterness of diets if consumed in greater amounts(2). Yet, strategies to increase bitter F&B consumption and enhance the bitterness of diets remain largely underexplored. An online-based cross-sectional survey of Australian adults was conducted (in July and August 2023) to explore barriers, facilitators, and strategies associated with willingness to try or increase consumption of bitter F&Bs. Eight non-discretionary bitter F&Bs available in the Australian market (including coffee, tea, soda water, Brussels sprouts, rockets, grapefruit, walnuts, and eggplant) were selected. The design of survey questions was guided by conceptual models of food choice. Respondents were asked about their familiarity with and consumption habits of bitter F&Bs and their willingness to incorporate more bitter F&Bs into their diets. Respondents were grouped into those who had never tried bitter F&Bs, non-consumers or consumers, who were further categorised into low-, moderate- or high-consumers. This analysis focused on respondents with low bitter F&B consumption, non-consumers, and individuals who had never tried bitter F&Bs, as the potential to increase consumption was greatest. This study enrolled 879 respondents across Australia. Respondents had previously tried an average of six of the eight bitter F&Bs (median = 6). Most respondents (85.4%) were willing to increase their consumption of bitter F&Bs. While the bitter taste was consistently reported as the main barrier to greater consumption, the reported facilitators and strategies varied between consumer groups and the different F&Bs. More than half of the respondents (61.1%) had never tried bitter vegetables (i.e., Brussels sprouts and rockets). For this group, ‘nutrition education’ (selected by 34%) and ‘appealing presentation’ (selected by 25.9%) were the most commonly selected facilitator and preferred strategy, respectively. Non-consumers of other bitter foods in the survey reported ‘price’ (selected by 43.8%) and ‘convenience’ (selected by 16.5%) as the most important facilitator and strategy, respectively. While ‘food availability’ (selected by 39.3%) was the common facilitator among low-consumers of bitter beverages, ‘easier preparation’ and ‘altering the taste’ (selected by 19.9% and 17.3%) were the most preferred strategies. This study provides valuable insights into the acceptability of bitter F&Bs among Australian adults. These findings could help tailor dietary interventions to groups of individuals based on their consumption habits of particular bitter F&Bs to support increased consumption. Further research is needed to understand whether improving bitter F&B consumption increases the bitterness of diets overall and whether this is associated with improved health outcomes.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) are studying how samples might be brought back to Earth from Mars safely. Backward planetary protection is key in this complex endeavour, as it is required to prevent potential adverse effects from returning materials to Earth's biosphere. As the question of whether or not life exists on Mars today or whether it ever did in the past is still unanswered, the effort to return samples from Mars is expected to be categorized as a ‘Restricted Earth Return’ mission, for which NASA policy requires the containment of any unsterilized material returned to Earth. NASA is investigating several solutions to contain Mars samples and sterilize any uncontained Martian particles. This effort has significant implications for both NASA's scientific mission, and the Earth's environment; and so special care and vigilance are needed in planning and execution in order to assure acceptance of safety to Earth's biosphere. To generate a technically acceptable sterilization process across a wide array of scientific and other stakeholders, on 30–31 January 2019, 10–11 June 2019 and 19–20 February 2020, NASA informally convened a Sterilization Working Group (SWG) composed of experts from industry, academia and government to assess methods for sterilization and inactivation, to identify future work needed to verify these methods against biological challenges, and to determine their feasibility for implementation on robotic spacecraft in deep space. The goals of the SWG were:

1. (1) Understand what it means to sterilize and/or inactivate Martian materials and how that understanding can be applied to the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission.

2. (2) Assess methods for sterilization and inactivation, and identify future work needed to verify these methods.

3. (3) Provide an effective plan for communicating with other agencies and the public.

This paper provides a summary of the discussions and conclusions of the SWG over these three workshops. It reflects a consensus position based on qualitative discussion of how agencies might approach the problem of sterilization of Mars material. The SWG reached a consensus that sterilization options can be considered on the basis of biology as we know it, and that sterilization modalities that are effective on terrestrial materials and organisms should be part of the MSR planetary protection strategy. Conclusions pointed to several industry standards for sterilization to include heat, chemical, UV radiation and low-heat plasma. Technical trade-offs for each sterilization modality were discussed while simultaneously considering the engineering challenges and limitations for spaceflight. Future work includes more in-depth discussions on technical trade-offs of sterilization modalities, identifying and testing Earth analogue challenge organisms and proteinaceous molecules against chosen modalities, and executing collaborative agreements between NASA and external working group partners to help close data gaps, and to establish strong, scientifically grounded sterilization and inactivation standards for MSR.

The rock association of minette with silicic lavas and intrusions (granites, syenites, dacites) is a common geologic feature in both collisional and extensional tectonic settings. Considerable doubt exists as to whether a genetic link exists between these mafic and silicic rocks. We describe a Miocene sill from NW Colorado which is a clear example of a mixed magma consisting of originally-liquid inclusions of minette in a silicic trachydacite host. Chemical and Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic data are consistent with derivation of the silicic host magma of the sill dominantly by fractional crystallization of the minette magma. Correlations between the elemental compositions of the rock types and their Sr and Nd isotopic ratios imply minor assimilation of continental crust with relatively low values of both 87Sr/86Sr and 143Nd/144Nd, concomitantly with fractional crystallization. The parental minette magma was probably derived by partial melting of subcontinental lithospheric mantle. While the sill was emplaced in a rift-like tectonic setting, the chemical and isotopic composition of the lithosphere-derived minette magmas (and hence the silicic fractionates) was largely independent of this setting, but dependent upon the composition and age of the lithospheric mantle and crust.

Medial claws from the right hind feet were obtained post mortem from four 19–20-month-old beef heifers and from four 28-month-old first-calving dairy heifers 3–4 days postpartum. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies were undertaken on samples of soft and hard (cornified) integumental tissues of dorsal wall, sole and heel (bulb) for varying sites and planes of exposure. The measurements were interpreted as defining diffraction patterns and intermolecular spacings of cytoskeletal and extracellular fibrous structural proteins. The orientation of these proteins was examined in relation to physical characteristics and function including bearing of body weight by these tissues.

Physical measurements taken included impression hardness which showed typically greater values for wall than sole and variable differences between horn of dairy and beef origin and husbandry systems. Claws from dairy heifers had significantly smaller values for toe (dorsal wall) angle, claw height and heel height and thickness of solear horn and heel soft tissue. Although few were studied, the results reflected typical husbandry origins and indicated the susceptibility to the lesion formation well recognized in postpartum dairy cattle.

Typical XRD patterns for horn samples showed defined arcs of reflectance on the equatorial axis consistent with findings for the presence of α-helices in fibrils reported to occur in other hard-keratin-containing integumental tissues. However, reflectance on the meridional axis also reported for these other tissues was not detected. A similar defined pattern was obtained for less than 0·10 of samples of internal soft pre-cornified epidermal and attached dermal tissue although the values for intermolecular ‘d’ spacing for these were consistent with those reported for type I collagen. Diffuse reflection patterns were thus evident for the majority of samples of soft tissue epidermis and dermis and also for adipose tissue of the digital cushion.

The formation of defined arcs of reflectance allowed the determination of fibril alignment in wall and solear horn. For the orientated samples of dorsal wall horn tissue, the outer layer showed a longitudinal angle of orientation essentially maintained proximal to distal. This pattern was maintained throughout the depth of horn at the proximal site. In contrast, layers in mid-wall and towards the distal edge showed a greater circumferential (horizontal) orientation in sections collected anterior to posterior towards the inner corial, including laminar, tissues. The orientation of fibrils in inner wall horn appears to relate to the direction of load-bearing forces in connecting horn to the distal phalanx. Horizontal alignment of fibrils was observed in the sole. In presenting the long axis of cells to the ground surface this orientation may facilitate erosive forces and contribute to the thinning of cornified sole horn under adverse underfoot conditions.

Post-Variscan magmatism in SW England involved the synchronous emplacement of basaltic and potassic lavas, minette dykes and the Cornubian granite batholith at c. 290 Ma. The basaltic and potassic rocks have high contents of Ni and Cr, which suggest that both are not excessively fractionated. The basaltic lavas are moderately enriched in LREE and LIL elements relative to HREE, whereas the chemically-varied potassic lavas are more strongly enriched in LREE and LIL elements, with notable depletions in Nb, Ta and Ti relative to LREE. These features are consistent with the view that these rocks are subduction-related. Possibly the potassic rocks were derived from an ultimate source in lithosphere subducted or downthrust during the Variscan orogeny. The source of the basaltic rocks was probably in the asthenosphere. The minette dykes are chemically similar to the potassic lavas, suggesting that they are genetically related. Most dykes occur in a zone up to 25 km wide around the margin of the granite batholith, in a “shadow-zone” relationship. The granite batholith (c. 48,000 km3) is moderately enriched in Th and HFS elements, but is strongly enriched in Rb. Rb-Th relationships indicate an origin for the granite by fractionation from potassic magma in addition to melting of crust.

Geochemical data are presented for 166 minor intrusions collected across the axis of the Ardgour swarm in the Isle of Lismore. The intrusions can be divided into: an alkali basalt-camptonite-monchiquite group resembling other Scottish Permo-Carboniferous dykes; a group of calc-alkaline (shoshonitic) lamprophyres, diorites and porphyrites with affinities to the late Silurian-early Devonian appinite suite of Scotland; and Tertiary dolerites. The different groups cannot be unambiguously distinguished in the field and secondary alteration precludes petrographic division in many cases. The data indicate that Caledonian and Permo-Carboniferous lamprophyres have probably been confused in previous accounts of dyke distributions in the region. In Lismore the two groups have identical azimuths but the Caledonian intrusions appear to have a greater aggregate volume. The implications for tectonic and regional models of the area are discussed.