(a) Phenotypic fitnesses were estimated over the temperature range 15°C to 29°C for genotypes at the alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) locus. The traits measured were egg and larval survival, development time and mating ability in single generation experiments, and total fitness by gene frequency changes in discrete generation populations.(b) Significant temperature-dependent fitness associations involving the Adh locus were obtained for isofemale strains which had been in the laboratory for eighteen months. Heterozygote advantage was general in the single generation experiments, and in the populations the AdhF allele increased in frequency.(c) In contrast, populations obtained directly from the field did not show these fitness associations. It was not therefore possible to attribute the genotypic fitness differences detected for the laboratory strains directly to the Adh locus. Indeed, the contrast between the laboratory-adapted and field collected flies may provide a model of likely change under domestication whereby the higher variability of the laboratory strains may be a manifestation of the "stress" involved in the adaptation of populations to laboratory conditions.(d) The results emphasise the need to commence at the phenotypic level in attempting to understand fitness relationships in natural populations and it is suggested that direct assessments of the effects of environmental stresses of ecological significance may provide an initial strategy.

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A quasistatic nanoindentation technique, enhanced by scanning probe microscopy, was used to measure cuticle stiffness of live Drosophila melanogaster during its larval, pupal, and early adult development in vivo. Stiffness was defined as the reduced elastic modulus (E(r)), which is a material property related to the elastic modulus. E(r) was measured at the local contact while indenting the live sample at a constant loading rate using a spherical tip. E(r) was derived from the resultant force-displacement curves. Insect cuticle exhibits viscoelastic behavior. Constant loading rate quasistatic measurements were used so that the effects of viscosity and contact force adhesion introduced systematic measurement effects. E(r) values were as follows: larvae, mean (SE), 0.39 (0.01) MPa; the puparium without evidence of adult structures 15.43 (1.78) MPa; and the adult, measured in the puparium at the completion of metamorphosis, 4.37 (0.31) MPa. Thus, as expected, the puparium and adult cuticle were very much stiffer than larval cuticle. Results also indicated stiffness variation that related to developmental events. This study has shown that this quasistatic nanoindentation-scanning probe microscopy approach is a suitable method for analyzing live biological samples.

Although quantum mechanics allows consciousness to have some effect on the collapse of wave functions, most conventional scientists expect the effect to be quite small. Their experience with expert systems, computer-aided design, etc., would cause them to deny the possibility that a specific human intention could be imprinted into a simple electronic device via a meditative process and that this device could then influence a target experiment in accordance with the specific intention. Here, via two very different target experiments, that prevailing supposition has been experimentally tested and found to be fallacious! For each target experiment, one starts with two identical physical devices, isolates them from each other and "charges" one with the specific intention for the particular experiment. This charging process involved the services of four highly qualified meditators to imprint the device with the specific intention. The devices were then wrapped in aluminum foil and separately shipped, via Federal Express approximately 2,000 miles to a laboratory where the actual target experiments were conducted by others. For the two experiments, the intentions were (1) to decrease (increase) the pH of water by one pH unit and (2) to increase the ATP/ADP ratio in fruit fly larvae so as to significantly decrease their development time. For (1), changes of 0.5 to 1.0 pH units were achieved while, for (2), reductions of approximately 15 percent in larval development time for the imprinted vs. unimprinted device were observed (p<0.005). From a theoretical perspective, (1) a thermodynamic basis is provided for the effect of intention on both the electrochemical potential and flux of molecular species, (2) a conceptual model for linking subtle domains with the physical domain devices is given, and (3) a conceptual model is also given of how such devices may broadcast specific prime directive information via intention-augmented electromagnetism which can "tilt" chemical reactions in appropriate ways within the target experiment.