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1. The Cephalozygoptera, a new, extinct suborder of Odonata with new taxa from the early Eocene Okanagan Highlands, western North America

   https://doi.org/doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4934.1.1  

   Archibald, S. B. ( February 2021 , Zootaxa)

   Marinov, Milen (Ed.)

   We describe the Cephalozygoptera, a new, extinct suborder of Odonata, composed of the families Dysagrionidae and Sieblosiidae, previously assigned to the Zygoptera, and possibly the Whetwhetaksidae n. fam. The Cephalozygoptera is close to the Zygoptera, but differs most notably by distinctive head morphology. It includes 59 to 64 species in at least 19 genera and one genus-level parataxon. One species is known from the Early Cretaceous (Congqingia rhora Zhang), possibly three from the Paleocene, and the rest from the early Eocene through late Miocene. We describe new taxa from the Ypresian Okanagan Highlands of British Columbia, Canada and Washington, United States of America: 16 new species of Dysagrionidae of the existing genus Dysagrion (D. pruettae); the new genera Okanagrion (O. threadgillae, O. hobani, O. beardi, O. lochmum, O. angustum, O. dorrellae, O. liquetoalatum, O. worleyae, all new species); Okanopteryx (O. jeppesenorum, O. fraseri, O. macabeensis, all new species); Stenodiafanus (S. westersidei, new species); the new genus-level parataxon Dysagrionites (D. delinei new species, D. sp. A, D. sp. B, both new); and one new genus and species of the new family Whetwhetaksidae (Whetwhetaksa millerae). 

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2. THE NEOTROPICAL SPECIES OF SMALL CARPENTER BEES OF THE SUBGENUS CERATINA (ZADONTOMERUS) ASHMEAD, 1899 (HYMENOPTERA: APIDAE)

   https://doi.org/10.11646/ZOOTAXA.5214.2.3  

   FLÓREZ-GÓMEZ, NATHALIA ; AYALA, RICARDO ; HINOJOSA-DÍAZ, ISMAEL ; MORRONE, JUAN J. ( December 2022 , Zootaxa)

   The Neotropical species of the subgenus Ceratina (Zadontomerus) Ashmead are revised. We recognize seven new species, giving a total of 10 species for the region: Ceratina (Zadontomerus) capitosa Smith, C. (Z.) ignara Cresson, C. (Z.) nautlana Cockerell, C. (Z.) kopili new species, C. (Z.) basaltica new species, C. sapphira new species, C. (Z.) indigovirens new species, C. (Z.) rehanae new species, C. (Z.) raquelitae new species, and C. (Z.) tepetlana new species. We propose the following synonymies: C. abdominalis Smith, C. tehuacana Strand, and C. parignara Cockerell under C. (Z.) ignara; and C. bakeri Smith and C. nigriventris Friese under C. (Z.) nautlana. Also, we describe the previously unknown male of C. capitosa, and provide a key to the species, diagnoses, descriptions and illustrations of the new species. 

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3. Reappraising the evolutionary history of the largest known gecko, the presumably extinct Hoplodactylus delcourti, via high-throughput sequencing of archival DNA

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-35210-8  

   Heinicke, Matthew P. ; Nielsen, Stuart V. ; Bauer, Aaron M. ; Kelly, Ryan ; Geneva, Anthony J. ; Daza, Juan D. ; Keating, Shannon E. ; Gamble, Tony ( June 2023 , Scientific Reports)

   Hoplodactylus delcourtiis a presumably extinct species of diplodactylid gecko known only from a single specimen of unknown provenance. It is by far the largest known gekkotan, approximately 50% longer than the next largest-known species. It has been considered a member of the New Zealand endemic genusHoplodactylusbased on external morphological features including shared toe pad structure. We obtained DNA from a bone sample of the only known specimen to generate high-throughput sequence data suitable for phylogenetic analysis of its evolutionary history. Complementary sequence data were obtained from a broad sample of diplodactylid geckos. Our results indicate that the species is not most closely related to extantHoplodactylusor any other New Zealand gecko. Instead, it is a member of a clade whose living species are endemic to New Caledonia. Phylogenetic comparative analyses indicate that the New Caledonian diplodactylid clade has evolved significantly more disparate body sizes than either the Australian or New Zealand clades. Toe pad structure has changed repeatedly across diplodactylids, including multiple times in the New Caledonia clade, partially explaining the convergence in form betweenH. delcourtiand New ZealandHoplodactylus. Based on the phylogenetic results, we placeH. delcourtiin a new genus.

    

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4. Guitar Making: The Luthier’s Bench and the Factory

   French, Mark ( July 2018 , American lutherie)

   Lutherie is changing. Digital tools are transforming factories, and also opening new possibilities to individual shops. This brigs up new issues. Like, what if the normal accuracy gets so high that the instruments sound too similar to each other? Will it become desirable to build in a certain amount of random variation? 

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5. New frontiers for the materials genome initiative

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41524-019-0173-4  

   de Pablo, Juan J. ; Jackson, Nicholas E. ; Webb, Michael A. ; Chen, Long-Qing ; Moore, Joel E. ; Morgan, Dane ; Jacobs, Ryan ; Pollock, Tresa ; Schlom, Darrell G. ; Toberer, Eric S. ; et al ( April 2019 , npj Computational Materials)

   The Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) advanced a new paradigm for materials discovery and design, namely that the pace of new materials deployment could be accelerated through complementary efforts in theory, computation, and experiment. Along with numerous successes, new challenges are inviting researchers to refocus the efforts and approaches that were originally inspired by the MGI. In May 2017, the National Science Foundation sponsored the workshop “Advancing and Accelerating Materials Innovation Through the Synergistic Interaction among Computation, Experiment, and Theory: Opening New Frontiers” to review accomplishments that emerged from investments in science and infrastructure under the MGI, identify scientific opportunities in this new environment, examine how to effectively utilize new materials innovation infrastructure, and discuss challenges in achieving accelerated materials research through the seamless integration of experiment, computation, and theory. This article summarizes key findings from the workshop and provides perspectives that aim to guide the direction of future materials research and its translation into societal impacts.

    

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