Nacre, also known as mother of pearl, is an organic–inorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer. It is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent.
Biomineralization, also written biomineralisation, is the process by which living organisms produce minerals, often resulting in hardened or stiffened mineralized tissues. It is an extremely widespread phenomenon: all six taxonomic kingdoms contain members that are able to form minerals, and over 60 different minerals have been identified in organisms. Examples include silicates in algae and diatoms, carbonates in invertebrates, and calcium phosphates and carbonates in vertebrates. These minerals often form structural features such as sea shells and the bone in mammals and birds.
Ocean acidification is the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth's ocean. Between 1950 and 2020, the average pH of the ocean surface fell from approximately 8.15 to 8.05. Carbon dioxide emissions from human activities are the primary cause of ocean acidification, with atmospheric carbon dioxide levels exceeding 410 ppm. CO2 from the atmosphere is absorbed by the oceans. This chemical reaction produces carbonic acid which dissociates into a bicarbonate ion and a hydrogen ion. The presence of free hydrogen ions lowers the pH of the ocean, increasing acidity. Marine calcifying organisms, such as mollusks and corals, are especially vulnerable because they rely on calcium carbonate to build shells and skeletons.
Rhodoliths are colorful, unattached calcareous nodules, composed of crustose, benthic marine red algae that resemble coral. Rhodolith beds create biogenic habitat for diverse benthic communities. The rhodolithic growth habit has been attained by a number of unrelated coralline red algae, organisms that deposit calcium carbonate within their cell walls to form hard structures or nodules that resemble beds of coral.
Alice Yen-Ping Ting is Taiwanese-born American chemist. She is a professor of genetics, of biology, and by courtesy, of chemistry at Stanford University. She is also a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub investigator and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
The spotted sea hare is a species of sea slug in the family Aplysiidae, the sea hares. It reaches a length of up to 20 cm (7.9 in) and is found in the northeast Atlantic, ranging from Greenland and Norway to the Mediterranean Sea.
Marine chemistry, also known as ocean chemistry or chemical oceanography, is the study of chemical content in marine environments as influenced by plate tectonics and seafloor spreading, turbidity, currents, sediments, pH levels, atmospheric constituents, metamorphic activity, and ecology. Marine life has adapted to the chemistries unique to Earth's oceans, and marine ecosystems are sensitive to changes in ocean chemistry.
Mineralized tissues are biological tissues that incorporate minerals into soft matrices. Typically these tissues form a protective shield or structural support. Bone, mollusc shells, deep sea sponge Euplectella species, radiolarians, diatoms, antler bone, tendon, cartilage, tooth enamel and dentin are some examples of mineralized tissues.
Lesley Jane Yellowlees, is a British inorganic chemist conducting research in Spectroelectrochemistry, Electron transfer reactions and Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) Spectroscopy. Yellowlees was also elected as the president of the Royal Society of Chemistry 2012–14 and was the first woman to hold that role.
Margaret Scott Robinson FRS FMedSci is a British molecular cell biologist, a professor and researcher in the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, at the University of Cambridge.
Pupa Gilbert is an American biophysicist and geobiologist. She has been pioneering synchrotron spectromicroscopy methods since 1989, and she continues to use and develop them today. Since 2004 she has focused on biomineralization in sea urchins, mollusk shells, and tunicates. She and her group are frequent users of the Berkeley-Advanced Light Source.
Stephen Anthony Cusack FRS is the former Head of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) site in Grenoble, France.
Marine biogenic calcification is the production of calcium carbonate by organisms in the global ocean.
Justin Baker Ries is an American marine scientist, best known for his contributions to ocean acidification, carbon sequestration, and biomineralization research.
Ancient proteins are complex mixtures and the term palaeoproteomics is used to characterise the study of proteomes in the past. Ancients proteins have been recovered from a wide range of archaeological materials, including bones, teeth, eggshells, leathers, parchments, ceramics, painting binders and well-preserved soft tissues like gut intestines. These preserved proteins have provided valuable information about taxonomic identification, evolution history (phylogeny), diet, health, disease, technology and social dynamics in the past.
The Arctic ocean covers an area of 14,056,000 square kilometers, and supports a diverse and important socioeconomic food web of organisms, despite its average water temperature being 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Over the last three decades, the Arctic Ocean has experienced drastic changes due to climate change. One of the changes is in the acidity levels of the ocean, which have been consistently increasing at twice the rate of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Arctic Ocean acidification is a result of feedback from climate system mechanisms, and is having negative impacts on Arctic Ocean ecosystems and the organisms that live within them.
Lia Addadi is a professor of structural biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science. She works on crystallisation in biology, including biomineralization, interactions with cells and crystallisation in cell membranes. She was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 2017 for “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research”, and the American Philosophical Society (2020).
Human activities affect marine life and marine habitats through overfishing, habitat loss, the introduction of invasive species, ocean pollution, ocean acidification and ocean warming. These impact marine ecosystems and food webs and may result in consequences as yet unrecognised for the biodiversity and continuation of marine life forms.
Elizabeth M. Harper (Liz) is an evolutionary biologist known for her work on molluscs. She is an honorary fellow of the British Antarctic Survey and was accorded the title of Honorary Professor by the University of Cambridge in 2019.
Petra Fromme is a German-American chemist who is Director of the Biodesign Center for Applied Structural Discovery and Regents Professor at the Arizona State University. Her research considers the structure-to-function relationship of the membrane proteins involved with infectious diseases and bio-energy conversion. In 2021, she was awarded the Protein Society Anfinsen Award.
