Redescription of the deep-sea octopod Benthoctopus normani (Massy 1907) and a description of a new species from the Northeast Atlantic

A long-synonymized species Benthoctopus normani (Massy 1907) (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae) is redescribed from material collected over 30 years by the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton and the National Museums of Scotland. It can be distinguished from other octopodid specimens found in deep waters of the Northeast Atlantic by its biserial suckers, lack of ink sac, and simple ligula, which lacks transverse ridges. Examination of the collections led to the identification of a new species of Benthoctopus from the Northeast Atlantic, which is described herein.

Permafrost response to last interglacial warming: field evidence from non-glaciated Yukon and Alaska

We present stratigraphic observations from three sites in eastern Beringia - Ch'ijee's Bluff in northern Yukon and nearby exposures on the Old Crow River, the Palisades on the Yukon River in Alaska, and placer mining exposures at Thistle Creek in west-central Yukon - which provide insight into the response of permafrost to regional warming during the last interglaciation. Chronology is based on the presence of Old Crow tephra, an important regional stratigraphic marker that dates to late Marine Isotope Stage 6, supplemented by paleoecology and non-finite C ages on wood-rich organic silts. Old Crow tephra overlies several relict ice wedges at the Palisades and Thistle Creek, indicating that permafrost at these sites did not thaw completely during the last interglaciation. Prominent deposits of last interglacial wood-rich organic silt are present at multiple sites in eastern Beringia, and probably represent accumulations of reworked forest vegetation due to thaw slumping or deposition into thermokarst ponds or depressions. Consistent stratigraphic relations between these deposits, Old Crow tephra, and ice wedge pseudomorphs at our three study sites, and at least six other sites in eastern Beringia, suggest that thaw of shallow permafrost was widespread during the last interglaciation. Limited stratigraphic evidence suggests that thaw was probably on the order of meters, rather than 10s of meters. The ubiquity of shallow permafrost degradation during the last interglaciation suggests that current ground warming may foreshadow widespread near-surface thaw under even modest future warming scenarios. However, the persistence of relict pre-last interglacial ice wedges highlights the potential for the regional antiquity of discontinuous permafrost, and provides compelling field evidence for the long-term resilience of deep permafrost during sustained periods of warmer-than-present climate.

Being observant and observed: embodied citizenship training in the Home Guard and the Boy Scout Movement, 1907-1945

Building upon recent studies by geographers and social scientists on the everyday practices of (scientific) observation, this paper focuses on the role of two distinct, yet similar organisations that held observation as an essential and 'automatic' embodied skill. Utilising the examples of Home Guard camouflage and the Boy Scout Movement, the paper critically examines how these organisations sought to articulate the individual as both observer and observed, thereby exposing a much more complex entanglement of different visual positions and practices hitherto neglected in studies of observation. Moreover, the paper emphasises the importance of the act of 'not-being-seen' as a complementary and fundamental aspect of (non-)observational practice, accentuated and promoted by civic institutions in terms of duty and responsibility. Finally, the paper considers the evolutionary aspects of observation through the lifecourse, revealing a complex, relational geography of expertise, experience and skill that crossed age-distinctions. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

A história da (in)felicidade

Portuguese translation of my book 'The Secrets of Happiness', for publication and sale in Brazil.