This mosaic of three images, taken by the advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE) on board ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft, shows the area around the Sulpicius Gallus crater (upper left), a fairly fresh, bowl-shaped crater with a diameter of roughly 12 kilometres, on the near side of the Moon. AMIE obtained this sequence on 18 March 2006, from a distance of 1200 kilometres from the surface, with a ground resolution ranging from 110 to 114 metres per pixel. The area shown in the top image is centred at a latitude of 19.7º North and longitude 12.2º East; the image in the middle is centred at a latitude of 18.2º North and longitude 12.3º East; the bottom image is centred at a latitude of 16.7º North and longitude 12.5º East. The area around Sulpicius Crater is geologically interesting for lunar scientists, since it is one of the areas where good spectroscopic data (that is relative to the mineralogical composition) are available both from the Clementine mission and from ground-based observations. These data sets, together with the colour images from the AMIE camera, are helping to better constrain the geological evolution of our closest cosmic neighbour. Credits: ESA/SMART-1/Space-X (Space Exploration Institute)

AMIE obtained this sequence on 18 March 2006, from a distance of 1200 kilometres from the surface, with a ground resolution ranging from 110 to 114 metres per pixel.
The area shown in the top image is centred at a latitude of 19.7º North and longitude 12.2º East; the image in the middle is centred at a latitude of 18.2º North and longitude 12.3º East; the bottom image is centred at a latitude of 16.7º North and longitude 12.5º East.

The prominent crater on the upper left area of this mosaic is called Sulpicius Gallus. It is a fairly fresh, bowl-shaped crater with a diameter of roughly 12 kilometres. The flat lava plains surrounding it belong to the Mare Serenitatis (the 'Sea of Serenity') on the north-eastern side of the Moon facing Earth. The mountains going diagonally through the middle part of the mosaic are called Montes Haemus. They are denoting the edge of the huge impact crater which formed the Mare Serenitatis.

The area around Sulpicius Crater is very interesting for lunar scientists – it is one of the most geologically and compositionally complex areas of the nearside of the Moon. The geologic history of this region has been shaped by impacts of different scales and epochs, by volcanism of variable style and composition with time, and by limited tectonics. Specific findings (Bell and Hawke, 1995) include the detection of relatively fresh highlands materials in the crater.

Good spectroscopic data (that is relative to the mineralogical composition) are available both from the Clementine mission and from ground-based observations, allowing to better constrain the geological evolution of our closest cosmic neighbour.

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Cells expressing inositol triphosphate receptors with an engineered binding site stained with snake venom

Calcium signals control almost every activity in the human body, from fertilization to cell death and everything between, including every beat of the heart. The researchers have found that just 2-3 calcium channels, from among the many thousands present on the surface of a cell, are responsible for much of the calcium signal that regulates the activity of immune cells. The 2-3 channels are formed by inositol trisphosphate (IP3) receptors on the membrane that surrounds the cell. Despite being the cellular equivalent of a needle in a haystack, the team discovered that these 2-3 channels make a substantial contribution to calcium signalling.

The membranes of cells are like dams holding back a flood of calcium. Channels within these membranes are the sluice gates that cells regulate to allow controlled entry of calcium. Too much calcium and the cell dies. But just as the water from a dam may be directed via the sluice gates to a fish ladder or a generator, then so the calcium passing through channels can be sent to different intracellular proteins to bring about different cellular responses. In this way, the same intracellular messenger, calcium, can be used to control all sorts of things without confusing the cell. The new research shows that IP3 channels, originally thought to be found only in membranes within the cell, such as the endoplasmic reticulum, are also found in its external membrane.

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This mosaic of three images, taken by the advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE)on board ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft, shows Mare Humorum on the Moon. AMIE obtained the top frame on 1 January 2006, from a distance of 1087 kilometres from the surface, with a ground resolution of 98 metres per pixel. The remaining two frames were taken on 13 January 2006, from a distance of about 1069 (centre) and 1050 kilometres (bottom) from the surface, with a ground resolution of 97 and 95 metres per pixel, respectively. The area shown in the top image is centred at a latitude of 40.2º South and longitude 25.9º West; the centre image is centred at a latitude of 40.2º South and longitude 27.3º West; the bottom image is centred at a latitude of 40.2º South and longitude 28.8º West. Mare Humorum, or 'Sea of Moisture', is a small circular mare on the lunar nearside, about 825 kilometres across, filled with a thick layer of mare basalt, (possibly exceeding 3 kilometres in thickness at the centre of the basin). Mare Humorum is a scientifically interesting area because it allows the study of the relationships among lunar mare filling, mare basin tectonics, and global thermal evolution to the major mascon maria – that are regions of the moon's crust which contain a large amount of material denser than average for that area.

AMIE obtained the top frame on 1 January 2006, from a distance of 1087 kilometres from the surface, with a ground resolution of 98 metres per pixel. The remaining two frames were taken on 13 January 2006, from a distance of about 1069 (centre) and 1050 kilometres (bottom) from the surface, with a ground resolution of 97 and 95 metres per pixel, respectively.

The area shown in the top image is centred at a latitude of 40.2º South and longitude 25.9º West; the centre image is centred at a latitude of 40.2º South and longitude 27.3º West; the bottom image is centred at a latitude of 40.2º South and longitude 28.8º West.

Mare Humorum, or 'Sea of Moisture', is a small circular mare on the lunar nearside, about 825 kilometres across. The mountains surrounding it mark the edge of an old impact basin which has been flooded and filled by mare lavas. These lavas also extend past the basin rim in several places. In the upper right are several such flows which extend northwest into southern Oceanus Procellarum.

Mare Humorum was not sampled by the Apollo program, so its precise age could not been determined yet. However, geologic mapping indicates that its age is in between that of the Imbrium and the Nectaris basins, suggesting an age of about 3.9 thousand million years (with an uncertainty of 500 million years).

Humorum is filled with a thick layer of mare basalt, believed to exceed 3 kilometres in thickness at the centre of the basin. On the north edge of Mare Humorum is the large crater Gassendi, which was considered as a possible landing site for Apollo 17.

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