Urbanisation is associated with air and soil pollution, particularly from heavy metals. One of the tissues most exposed to such pollutants is the midgut epithelium as insects may ingest these pollutants with food. Bees are one of the most important urban insects, providing important ecosystem services such as pollination. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have investigated the possible histological alterations to the midgut epithelium of bees caused by urbanisation. We sampled workers of the ground-nesting, primitively eusocial bee Halictus scabiosae in a large metropolis (Milan), with the aim to test if individuals from areas characterised by higher urbanisation and consequently higher pollution levels-defined here by a greater proportion of roads-exhibit greater histological tissue and cellular alterations in the midgut epithelium. We obtained semi-thin sections of the midgut through histological techniques, and then adopted a semi-quantitative approach to assess morphological damage. The midgut presented a range of histological alterations including epithelium disorganisation, vacuolisation, and nucleus karyorrhexis (one of the stages of cellular death). We found higher histological damage score (calculated taking into account all found alterations) and frequency of karyorrhectic nuclei in sites with a higher proportion of roads (i.e. more urbanised). The observed alterations may underline a potential impairment of the digestive function in highly urbanised areas.

We have simulated solar wind-based space weathering on airless bodies in our Solar System by implanting hydrogen and helium into orthopyroxene at solar wind energies ( 1 keV/amu). Here we present the results of the first scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) study of one of these simulants. It has been demonstrated that the visible/near infrared (VNIR) reflectance spectra of airless bodies are dependent on the size and abundance of nanophase iron (npFe(0)) particles in the outer rims of regolith grains. However, the mechanism of formation of npFe(0) in the patina on lunar regolith grains and in lunar agglutinates remains debated. As the lattice is disrupted by hydrogen and helium implantation, broken bonds are created. These dangling bonds are free to react with hydrogen, creating OH and/or H2O molecules within the grain. These molecules may diffuse out through the damaged lattice and migrate toward the cold traps identified at the lunar poles. This mechanism would leave the iron in a reduced state and able to form npFe(0). This work illustrates that npFe(0) can be nucleated in orthopyroxene under implantation of solar wind hydrogen and helium. Our data suggest that the solar wind provides a mechanism by which iron is reduced in the grain and npFe(0) is nucleated in the outer surfaces of regolith grains. This formation mechanism should also operate on other airless bodies in the Solar System. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Neutral Mass Spectrometer (NMS) onboard the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) provided the first global characterization of He and Ar along with the discovery of Ne in the lunar exosphere. The mapping of the equatorial distribution of these noble gases revealed new selenographic and temporal variations. Helium was found to be controlled by the supply of solar wind alpha particles and by the presence of an endogenous source that supplies the exosphere at a rate of 1.9x10(23)atomss(-1). Neon was detected over the nightside at levels comparable to He and was found to exhibit the spatial distribution of a surface accommodated noncondensable gas. The global measurements of NMS revealed the presence of a localized Ar enhancement that has never been identified before at the western maria. The variability resulting from this local enhancement is coupled to a more global but transient source.

The Neutral Mass Spectrometer (NMS) of the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) Mission is designed to measure the composition and variability of the tenuous lunar atmosphere. The NMS complements two other instruments on the LADEE spacecraft designed to secure spectroscopic measurements of lunar composition and in situ measurement of lunar dust over the course of a 100-day mission in order to sample multiple lunation periods. The NMS utilizes a dual ion source designed to measure both surface reactive and inert species and a quadrupole analyzer. The NMS is expected to secure time resolved measurements of helium and argon and determine abundance or upper limits for many other species either sputtered or thermally evolved from the lunar surface.