Drosophila melanogaster is a convenient model organism for studying factors that affect lifespan (LS) and other life history traits. In this work, we tested flies from different laboratory lines, including those subjected to artificial selection for late reproduction, and showed that evolutionary changes in LS can be associated not only with changes in the gene pool of the experimental Drosophila line. Contrary to expectations, the genetic contribution to the increase in LS of flies selected for late reproduction appears to be relatively small. It is difficult to assess it separately, as it is masked by the influence of other factors, primarily the symbiotic microbiota. Our results are consistent with the assumption that differences in LS between Drosophila lines kept under different conditions can be largely determined by the components of their microbiota. The selection of Drosophila for late reproduction (as well as other environmental influences) can affect the LS of flies indirectly through changes in the microbiota, as well as directly, that is, through evolutionary changes in the gene pool of the experimental fly population. This example illustrates the “hologenomic theory of evolution,” showing that in some cases it is more correct to consider a holobiont, that is, a complex that includes a macroorganism and its associated microbiota as a unit of selection, and not an individual organism.

The results of an experimental analysis of the effect of the volume content of voids in the range of 0.25–5% on the crack resistance of structural carbon plastics are presented. To obtain a variation of the volume content of voids, samples were manufactured using the vacuum-infusion method with variations in the vacuum strength from –760 to –150 mm Hg. The total volume content of voids was determined by methods of optoacoustic structuroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and chemical etching to obtain comparative data. The experimental dependences of the characteristics of the interlaminar crack resistance on the volume content of voids under static and cyclic loading of samples in the normal-separation mode were obtained.

The paper discusses an acoustoelastic study of residual stresses and related structural changes in thin-walled austenitic steel pipes. A probing ultrasonic (US) beam is formed owing to the thermoelastic effect by absorption of a laser pulse in an optoacoustic transducer. Normal and oblique incidence (at an angle close to critical) of the US beam was used on the studied. Distribution maps of US velocity variations over the object’s surface and the volume structural inhomogeneities inside the metal were plotted. Estimates are presented for the residual stresses in the sample under nonstationary thermal loading. The coincidence between the residual stress distribution, structural inhomogeneities of the metal, and distribution of thermal loading sources is established. The possibility of estimating the residual life and finding of macrocrack nucleation centers is discussed.

Three nondestructive testing techniques, namely, active infrared thermography, laser vibrometry and laser ultrasound, have been comparatively applied in the inspection of a graphite epoxy sample characterized by a complicated geometry to demonstrate advantages and drawbacks of each technique in the detection of various types of defects.