China Science & Technology Forum

[JSCh]

JUNE 14, 2019 REPORT
Using carbon nanotubes to strengthen graphene-based membranes used for desalination
by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

A large-area atomically thin graphene nanomesh membrane with excellent mechanical strength for ionic and molecular nanofiltration. Credit: Quan Yuan

A team of researchers from China, the U.S. and Japan has developed a way to strengthen graphene-based membranes intended for use in desalination projects—by fortifying them with nanotubes. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes how they created their fortified membranes and how well the membranes worked when tested. Baoxia Mi, with the University of California, has published a Perspective piece on the work by the team in the same journal issue.

As time passes and the human population grows, access to water becomes more of a serious problem for many people around the world. To address the problem, scientists have been putting a lot of effort into creating better water filtration systems to remove salt from water. Part of this effort has focused on finding better filters. One idea is to use a graphene membrane; prior research has shown that it would be faster and more efficient than current materials. But graphene sheets are also prone to defects and damage if struck by objects in the water, and they deteriorate quickly under the constant flow of water. In this new effort, the researchers have found a way to improve the strength of graphene-based membranes by using carbon nanotubes.

Prior research had shown that graphene-based membranes are more likely to have defects and are more prone to damage as their surface area increases. To get around that problem, the researchers created small cells of graphene nanomesh connected and held together by single-walled carbon nanotubes. The result was a centimeter-sized mesh with a honeycomb appearance—one that was large enough to test as a membrane in a filtration system. The researchers report that testing showed their membrane to be highly efficient, and just as important, less prone to damage migration—if damage occurred to the mesh in one of the cells, it was constrained to that cell alone.

The researchers claim that their technique could be used to produce membranes large enough for commercial applications. Mi points out, however, that despite the good work done by the team in creating the membrane, more work is required before graphene can be used in any kind of real-world application.



https://phys.org/news/2019-06-carbon-nanotubes-graphene-based-membranes-desalination.html

Yanbing Yang, Xiangdong Yang, Ling Liang, Yuyan Gao, Huanyu Cheng, Xinming Li, Mingchu Zou, Renzhi Ma, Quan Yuan, Xiangfeng Duan. Large-area graphene-nanomesh/carbon-nanotube hybrid membranes for ionic and molecular nanofiltration. Science (2019). DOI: 10.1126/science.aau5321​

 

[JSCh]

Nobel laureate Tu Youyou's team makes breakthrough in artemisinin resistance against malaria
By Liu Caiyu Source:Global Times Published: 2019/6/17 11:13:57

Nobel laureate Tu Youyou's team makes breakthrough in tackling artemisinin resistance against malaria

Nobel Prize winner Tu Youyou's team announced on Monday that they have made fresh breakthroughs in treating artemisinin resistance, which is regarded as the biggest technical challenge facing the world against malaria.

After more than three years of scientific research, Tu's team proposed that the artemisinin resistance would be solved by appropriately extending the duration of treatment from three to five - or even seven - days, and replacing the ancillary drugs that are resistant to drugs in the artemisinin combination therapy, the Xinhua News Agency reported Monday.

Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) are the primary anti-malarial therapies promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the most important global weapon against malaria. But the widespread resistance to artemisinin-resistant parasites has concerned scientists around the world.

Research has shown that in countries in the Greater Mekong subregion, such as Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam, the parasite in patients who undergo three-day periodic treatment against malaria shows signs of slow speed in being cleaned up and generate resistance to artemisinin.

Solving the artemisinin resistance is of great significance because artemisinin will continue to be the primary drug to fight malaria and the drug, due to its low cost, is suitable to people living in poverty-stricken Africa where malaria is rampant, according to Tu's team.

Artemisinin, a high-efficient, safe and low toxic anti-malaria drug, has become the first choice for the international community in the treatment of malaria.

The discovery of the anti-malaria compound artemisinin won Chinese scientist Tu a Nobel Prize in science in 2015.

According to the World Malaria Report released by the WHO on November 19, 2018, an estimated 219 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide in 2017, and 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and India carried almost 80 percent of the global malaria burden.

Tu's research was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

 

[Grandy]

Science
Polar bear’s fur inspires Chinese breakthrough in super insulator for space

• Synthetic material that mimics and improves on nature could be used in China’s hypersonic space plane

Stephen Chen
Published: 1:34pm, 17 Jun, 2019.

Chinese researchers have developed a super insulator based on the unique properties of polar bear fur. Photo: TNS

What can withstand heat of more than 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 Fahrenheit), maintain its elasticity in extreme cold, and dry almost instantly after being submerged in water?

The answer is a new synthetic fur which has been developed by Chinese scientists, who set out to mimic – and improve upon – the unique properties of the polar bear’s coat.

The team, led by Professor Yu Shuhong, was at first simply curious to know what made the polar bear so comfortable and successful in the unforgiving environment of the Arctic.

In their laboratory in Hefei, in the southeastern province of Anhui, they studied polar bear hair with a high-definition microscope and found a unique difference compared to the hair of human beings and other mammals.

Chinese researchers have wrapped a carbon material around a nanowire, which is then removed, to mimic a polar bear’s unique hollow hair, which could have applications for the aerospace industry. Photo: Handout

It was hollow inside. What’s more, they observed the tubelike hairs intertwined with one another, forming a random network like a bird's nest. Using theoretical models on a powerful computer, the researchers confirmed that the structure was an efficient heat insulator.

The only drawback was its fragility and – according to their research paper in the latest issue of online science journal Chem – the researchers have managed to develop a synthetic version strong enough to withstand being pressed one million times during testing.

The new material was lighter than any heat insulation product in use today, with one cubic metre weighing just 8kg (17.6lbs) and might have applications in many areas, including the hypersonic space plane, under development in China for low-cost transport between space station and Earth, the researchers said.

Liu Jianwei, professor with the chemistry department at the University of Science and Technology of China and a co-author of the paper, said several research institutes and aerospace companies had been in contact to discuss the possibility of mass production.

“It is a super-strong, super-light heat insulator that can be used in hostile environments,” Liu said.

“To find a new material that can be used in critical engineering projects, we needed to make it stronger. We needed to surpass nature.”

The researchers replaced the organic substance of the hair with a carbon material and used it to coat a long, fine thread known as a nanowire which was then removed through a series of physical and chemical processes, leaving a dark-coloured, spongy “fur” about the size of a thumb.

According to their study, the new material outperformed natural polar bear hair in nearly all aspects from physical strength to heat insulation. The next challenge is to develop a process that can produce the material at a scale suitable for industrial use.

At the moment, the thumb-sized sample takes about a week to form and, said Liu, there were still some issues to be resolved before it could be mass produced, including building processing equipment at a much larger scale than what is available in the laboratory. Another challenge will be to simplify and speed up the manufacturing process.

 

[JSCh]

Quantum physics experiment shows Heisenberg was right about uncertainty, in a certain sense
June 14, 2019 10.19pm BST

Author
Howard Wiseman
Director, Centre for Quantum Dynamics, Griffith University


The word uncertainty is used a lot in quantum mechanics. One school of thought is that this means there’s something out there in the world that we are uncertain about. But most physicists believe nature itself is uncertain.

Intrinsic uncertainty was central to the way German physicist Werner Heisenberg, one of the originators of modern quantum mechanics, presented the theory.

He put forward the Uncertainty Principle that showed we can never know all the properties of a particle at the same time.

Read more: Explainer: Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle

For example, measuring the particle’s position would allow us to know its position. But this measurement would necessarily disturb its velocity, by an amount inversely proportional to the accuracy of the position measurement.

Was Heisenberg wrong?
Heisenberg used the Uncertainty Principle to explain how measurement would destroy that classic feature of quantum mechanics, the two-slit interference pattern (more on this below).

But back in the 1990s, some eminent quantum physicists claimed to have proved it is possible to determine which of the two slits a particle goes through, without significantly disturbing its velocity.

Does that mean Heisenberg’s explanation must be wrong? In work just published in Science Advances, my experimental colleagues and I have shown that it would be unwise to jump to that conclusion.

We show a velocity disturbance — of the size expected from the Uncertainty Principle — always exists, in a certain sense.

But before getting into the details we need to explain briefly about the two-slit experiment.

The two-slit experiment
In this type of experiment there is a barrier with two holes or slits. We also have a quantum particle with a position uncertainty large enough to cover both slits if it is fired at the barrier.

Since we can’t know which slit the particle goes through, it acts as if it goes through both slits. The signature of this is the so-called “interference pattern”: ripples in the distribution of where the particle is likely to be found at a screen in the far field beyond the slits, meaning a long way (often several metres) past the slits.

​

Particles going through two slits at once form an interference pattern on a screen in the far field. There are bands (dark) where they are more likely to show up separated by bands (light) where they are less likely to show up. Wikimedia/NekoJaNekoJa/Johannes Kalliauer, CC BY-SA​

But what if we put a measuring device near the barrier to find out which slit the particle goes through? Will we still see the interference pattern?

We know the answer is no, and Heisenberg’s explanation was that if the position measurement is accurate enough to tell which slit the particle goes through, it will give a random disturbance to its velocity just large enough to affect where it ends up in the far field, and thus wash out the ripples of interference.

What the eminent quantum physicists realised is that finding out which slit the particle goes through doesn’t require a position measurement as such. Any measurement that gives different results depending on which slit the particle goes through will do.

And they came up with a device whose effect on the particle is not that of a random velocity kick as it goes through. Hence, they argued, it is not Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle that explains the loss of interference, but some other mechanism.

As Heisenberg predicted
We don’t have to get into what they claimed was the mechanism for destroying interference, because our experiment has shown there is an effect on the velocity of the particle, of just the size Heisenberg predicted.

We saw what others have missed because this velocity disturbance doesn’t happen as the particle goes through the measurement device. Rather it is delayed until the particle is well past the slits, on the way towards the far field.

How is this possible? Well, because quantum particles are not really just particles. They are also waves.

In fact, the theory behind our experiment was one in which both wave and particle nature are manifest — the wave guides the motion of the particle according to the interpretation introduced by theoretical physicist David Bohm, a generation after Heisenberg.

Let’s experiment
In our latest experiment, scientists in China followed a technique suggested by me in 2007 to reconstruct the hypothesised motion of the quantum particles, from many different possible starting points across both slits, and for both results of the measurement.

They compared the velocities over time when there was no measurement device present to those when there was, and so determined the change in the velocities as a result of the measurement.

Read more: We did a breakthrough 'speed test' in quantum tunnelling, and here's why that's exciting

The experiment showed that the effect of the measurement on the velocity of the particles continued long after the particles had cleared the measurement device itself, as far as 5 metres away from it.

By that point, in the far field, the cumulative change in velocity was just large enough, on average, to wash out the ripples in the interference pattern.

So, in the end, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle emerges triumphant.

The take-home message? Don’t make far-reaching claims about what principle can or cannot explain a phenomenon until you have considered all theoretical formulations of the principle.

Yes, that’s a bit of an abstract message, but it’s advice that could apply in fields far from physics.


https://theconversation.com/quantum...t-about-uncertainty-in-a-certain-sense-118456

 

[JSCh]

China's Sichuan to offer quake early warning services by year-end
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-10 22:40:31|Editor: yan

CHENGDU, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Sichuan, a quake-prone province in southwest China, will provide its residents earthquake early warning services by the end of this year, according to the Sichuan Earthquake Administration.

The early warning services include alerting residents seconds before seismic waves arrive through multiple broadcasting systems, using the theory that radio waves travel faster than seismic waves.

Earthquake research has found that being aware of an earthquake three seconds beforehand can save 14 percent of casualties, 10 seconds can save 39 percent of casualties, and 20 seconds can save 63 percent of casualties.

The services will also offer residents brief information about the quake one to two minutes after a quake strikes, its magnitude two to five minutes later, and an assessment of the disaster within two hours.

China's capacity in earthquake monitoring and disaster relief has improved since 2008, when the Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan killed more than 69,000 people and left nearly 18,000 missing, said a report submitted to the country's top legislature last year.

A new generation of earthquake monitoring and warning systems have been installed along more than 20 high-speed railway lines spanning 6,642 km, said the report.

+++###+++​

China seismic experimental site launches 360 observation stations
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-10 23:21:04|Editor: yan

BEIJING, May 10 (Xinhua) -- A total of 360 observation stations have been established in the China Seismic Experimental Site (CSES) so far, Zheng Guoguang, head of the China Earthquake Administration, said Friday.

China announced on May 12, 2018 to build the CSES, a natural laboratory in earthquake science and technology, in Sichuan and Yunnan regions.

It aims to facilitate investigator-driven research on continental strong earthquake preparation and occurrence, and enhance the disaster resilience of the society, according to Zheng.

So far, a total of 360 observation stations have been established in the experimental site. Thirteen countries including the United States and Russia have participated in the research.

China will step up the pace of experimental site construction to obtain more underground observation data, and promote data sharing for further research, Zheng said.

Sichuan quake death toll rises to 12, early warning prevents heavy casualties
By Chen Xi and Zhao Yusha Source:Global Times Published: 2019/6/18 14:08:40

As least twelve people were killed and another 135 injured after a 6.0-magnitude earthquake rattled Changning county in Yibin, Southwest China's Sichuan Province late Monday, and an early warning system proved effective to prevent heavy losses, according to local authorities and seismologists.

The epicenter, with a depth of 16 kilometers, was monitored at 28.34 degrees north latitude and 104.90 degrees east longitude, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

After the earthquake, the Ministry of Emergency Management activated an emergency response and sent a team to the stricken areas to provide rescue and disaster relief.

The ministry and the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration have sent 5,000 tents, 10,000 folding beds and 20,000 quilts to the quake-hit areas.

The early warning system played an important role, media reported.

Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan, which is about 300 kilometers from Changning, received the alert 61 seconds before the seismic waves. People from 180 schools and 101 communities were evacuated after receiving the early warning, Wang Tun, head of the Institute of Care-life, a key earthquake early warning laboratory in Chengdu, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Wang also said the system simultaneously sent a warning to government departments, communities and other places through various platforms, such as cellphones, television and other broadcasts.

Chengdu resident Tang Jiayou told the Global Times that he received the warning while watching television Monday night. "It flashed on the television screen, with a countdown saying how long it would take for the seismic waves to arrive. But it took me a few seconds to realize it, because I haven't seen this before."

The loudspeakers installed for earthquake warnings in 60 communities in Chengdu proved crucial. Many residents in the Chengdu High-tech Industrial Development Zone heard a 60-second countdown warning alert and took prompt measures, Wang said.

The similar system alerted residents in Yibin ten seconds before the quake struck, according to media reports.

Earthquake research has found that being aware of an earthquake three seconds beforehand can save 14 percent of casualties, 10 seconds can save 39 percent of casualties, and 20 seconds can save 63 percent of casualties, according to Wang.

Sichuan experiences frequent earthquakes because it is situated at the edge of a major quake-prone region where active seismicity occurs due to a collision between two tectonic plates.

After the devastating 2008 Wenchuan earthquake which claimed more than 69,000 lives, China has been dedicating itself to developing earthquake warning systems.

China in 2018 began using the world's first cloud image system based on sensory technology to release more timely and reliable earthquake warnings.

Wang's team uses a cloud image system that involves deeply-buried sensors that can detect stress and energy dynamics 8 to 20 kilometers below the surface.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1140868103519080448

 

[JSCh]

↑↑↑
Early warning system effective in Sichuan quake
China Plus Published: 2019-06-18 20:35:59

An early warning system established in the province of Sichuan is being credited with possibly preventing casualties following a 6.0-magnitude earthquake on Monday night.

As the quake first began, a warning was sent through broadcast signals to radios, televisions and mobile phones to residents near and beyond the epicenter, which was in Changning County, located on the outskirts of the city of Yibin.

Photo taken on June 17, 2019, shows an early quake warning appearing on the screen of a TV in Ya'an, Sichuan Province, alerting residents that seismic waves would arrive in 25 seconds. [Photo: China Daily]

So far 13 people are confirmed dead, with over 200 others injured in the quake.

However, locals are suggesting the quake could have created more casualties.

Local media reports say residents in Yibin were alerted ten seconds before the effects of the quake started to be felt.

In Chengdu, Sichuan's capital, located 300 kilometers from the epicenter, the alert was sent out up to 61 seconds ahead of the arrival of seismic waves.

People from 180 schools and 101 communities were evacuated after receiving the early warning, Wang Tun, head of the Institute of Care-life, a key earthquake early warning laboratory in Chengdu, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Photo taken on June 18, 2019 shows a damaged store in Changning County, Yibin, Sichuan Province. [Photo: Xinhua/Zhuang Geer]

According to Wang, the early warning system simultaneously sent a warning to government departments, communities and other places through various platforms, such as mobile phones, television and other broadcast mediums.

"Loudspeakers installed for earthquake warnings in 60 different communities in Chengdu were also activated. Residents in the Chengdu High-tech Industrial Development Zone were given a 60-second countdown alert, allowing them to take prompt action," said Wang.

Earthquake research has found that being aware of a sizeable earthquake 3 seconds beforehand can save 14 percent of casualties, while 10 seconds can prevent 39 percent of casualties, and 20 seconds can possibly save 63 percent of the casualties from an earthquake.

A 6.0-magnitude quake hits Changning County, Yibin, Sichuan Province, 10:55 p.m. Monday (Beijing Time), according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC). [Photo: Xinhua/Qin Ying]

Chengdu's warning system covers 2 million square kilometers. China became the third country in the world, after Japan and Mexico, to install an earthquake early warning system.

"China's capacity in earthquake monitoring and disaster relief has improved since 2008, when the Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan killed more than 69,000 people and left nearly 18,000 missing," said a report submitted to the country's top legislature last year.

(Story includes material sourced from Global Times.)

 

[Kamil_baku]

↑↑↑
Early warning system effective in Sichuan quake
China Plus Published: 2019-06-18 20:35:59

An early warning system established in the province of Sichuan is being credited with possibly preventing casualties following a 6.0-magnitude earthquake on Monday night.

As the quake first began, a warning was sent through broadcast signals to radios, televisions and mobile phones to residents near and beyond the epicenter, which was in Changning County, located on the outskirts of the city of Yibin.

Photo taken on June 17, 2019, shows an early quake warning appearing on the screen of a TV in Ya'an, Sichuan Province, alerting residents that seismic waves would arrive in 25 seconds. [Photo: China Daily]

So far 13 people are confirmed dead, with over 200 others injured in the quake.

However, locals are suggesting the quake could have created more casualties.

Local media reports say residents in Yibin were alerted ten seconds before the effects of the quake started to be felt.

In Chengdu, Sichuan's capital, located 300 kilometers from the epicenter, the alert was sent out up to 61 seconds ahead of the arrival of seismic waves.

People from 180 schools and 101 communities were evacuated after receiving the early warning, Wang Tun, head of the Institute of Care-life, a key earthquake early warning laboratory in Chengdu, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Photo taken on June 18, 2019 shows a damaged store in Changning County, Yibin, Sichuan Province. [Photo: Xinhua/Zhuang Geer]

According to Wang, the early warning system simultaneously sent a warning to government departments, communities and other places through various platforms, such as mobile phones, television and other broadcast mediums.

"Loudspeakers installed for earthquake warnings in 60 different communities in Chengdu were also activated. Residents in the Chengdu High-tech Industrial Development Zone were given a 60-second countdown alert, allowing them to take prompt action," said Wang.

Earthquake research has found that being aware of a sizeable earthquake 3 seconds beforehand can save 14 percent of casualties, while 10 seconds can prevent 39 percent of casualties, and 20 seconds can possibly save 63 percent of the casualties from an earthquake.

A 6.0-magnitude quake hits Changning County, Yibin, Sichuan Province, 10:55 p.m. Monday (Beijing Time), according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC). [Photo: Xinhua/Qin Ying]

Chengdu's warning system covers 2 million square kilometers. China became the third country in the world, after Japan and Mexico, to install an earthquake early warning system.

"China's capacity in earthquake monitoring and disaster relief has improved since 2008, when the Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan killed more than 69,000 people and left nearly 18,000 missing," said a report submitted to the country's top legislature last year.

(Story includes material sourced from Global Times.)

6 level is not something that will really bring a lot of death with itself.. after 7 its more dangerous..

 

[JSCh]

Cancer genes help deer antlers grow
By Elizabeth Pennisi
Jun. 20, 2019 , 2:00 PM

Antlers are some of the fastest-growing bone in the animal kingdom: Deer, moose, elk, and reindeer sprout up to half a meter of new bone growth in a month prior to the mating season. Now, researchers studying their genomes have discovered how. Genes that both promote and suppress cancer are partially responsible, suggesting the bony tissue may reveal new ways to fight cancer.

The study started when scientists in China and their colleagues abroad sequenced the genomes of 44 ruminants, including cows, deer, giraffes, pronghorn sheep, and other mammals that have complex stomachs for digesting plants. Many of these ruminants sprout bony protrusions, including the skin- and hair-covered bony ossicles of giraffes; the horns of cattle, which have an additional hard sheath; pronghorns in which this sheath is shed every year; and the annually shed antlers of deer, elk, and moose.

The scientists then looked for the genes underlying the evolution and development of this headgear. Qiang Qiu, a geneticist from Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi’an, China, and colleagues mapped out which genes were active in 16 live tissues from sheep, goats, and deer, including horns and antlers. They also assessed which genes were active in the developing embryos of some animals.

Horns and antlers evolved once in an ancestor to all these animals, they found. What’s more, these new structures emerged when genes that help build nerve, bone, and skin tissue altered and became active in forming these bony protrusions, Qiu and colleagues report today in Science. In particular, changes to genes involved in bone formation and the development of an embryonic tissue called the neural crest likely helped lead to headgear in the first place. As further evidence of a single origin for bony headgear, Chinese water deer and two species of musk deer, both of which lack antlers, have a mutation in one of the genes linked to bone formation.

In regular deer, the researchers found eight active genes that are normally involved in promoting tumor formation and growth. That suggests, Qiu says, that antler growth is more like that of bone cancer than that of typical bones. However, in contrast to bone cancer, where tumors grow unchecked, antler growth is tightly regulated by the activity of tumor-suppressing and tumor-growth-inhibiting genes, the team reports.

“Deer antlers [are] using essentially a controlled form of bone cancer growth,” says Edward Davis, an evolutionary paleobiologist at the University of Oregon in Eugene who was not involved with the work. The involvement of the tumor-promoting genes isn’t surprising, he says; what’s surprising is the involvement of the cancer-controlling genes.

But that surprise may have done more than just turbocharge deer antler growth. The cancer-suppressing genes that keep growth in check also protect against cancer in general, Qiu says. Zoos, for example, have documented cancer rates in deer that are five times lower than rates in other mammals—perhaps, Davis says, a “happy accident” of antler evolution.


Cancer genes help deer antlers grow | Science | AAAS

Yu Wang, Chenzhou Zhang, Nini Wang, Zhipeng Li, Rasmus Heller, Rong Liu, Yue Zhao, Jiangang Han, Xiangyu Pan, Zhuqing Zheng, Xueqin Dai, Ceshi Chen, Mingle Dou, Shujun Peng, Xianqing Chen, Jing Liu, Ming Li, Kun Wang, Chang Liu, Zeshan Lin, Lei Chen, Fei Hao, Wenbo Zhu, Chengchuang Song, Chen Zhao, Chengli Zheng, Jianming Wang, Shengwei Hu, Cunyuan Li, Hui Yang, Lin Jiang, Guangyu Li, Mingjun Liu, Tad S. Sonstegard, Guojie Zhang, Yu Jiang, Wen Wang, Qiang Qiu. Genetic basis of ruminant headgear and rapid antler regeneration. Science (2019). DOI: 10.1126/science.aav6335​

 

[JSCh]

How reindeer evolved to survive freezing Arctic winters
By Elizabeth Pennisi
Jun. 20, 2019 , 2:00 PM

Santa’s warm workshop is nothing like the cold, often-dark Arctic where reindeer really live. Above the Arctic Circle, temperatures can drop as low as –67°C and darkness can last nearly the entire day. Now, a new study reveals how reindeer have evolved to cope with these tough conditions.

To look for the genes that let Santa’s helpers survive scarce food and months without daylight, researchers took advantage of a massive effort to sequence the genomes of reindeer and 43 other ruminants, including cows, sheep, and camels. They compared the reindeer’s genes for various traits to the same genes in several other mammals.

One improvement: Compared with other mammals, the reindeer are much more efficient in their use of vitamin D. That isn’t a complete surprise, scientists say, because reindeer need lots of vitamin D—created during sun exposure—to build their bony antlers, which even females shed and regrow every year. To overcome the winter sunlight shortfall, mutations in two of the 68 genes used to synthesize and process vitamin D make the process up to 20 times more efficient, researchers report today in Science.

Because the amount of sunlight varies so much so far north, reindeer seem to have lost the biological clock that makes humans and other animals active by day and sleepy by night. Compared with other mammals, reindeer have genetic changes that “short-circuit” their clocks, disrupting the ability of one key clock protein to interact with another. This finding could help researchers unravel disorders that involve disrupted biological clocks, such as insomnia, seasonal affective disorder, and perhaps even depression.

Other mutations in the reindeer genome, some of which are present in polar bears and Adélie penguins, improve fat use, fat transport, and the building of fat reserves. This discovery, the scientists say, could improve the understanding of fat accumulation and transport in people. It also goes to show that maybe those reindeer don’t need Santa’s help, after all.



How reindeer evolved to survive freezing Arctic winters | Science | AAAS

Zeshan Lin, Lei Chen, Xianqing Chen, Yingbin Zhong, Yue Yang, Wenhao Xia, Chang Liu, Wenbo Zhu, Han Wang, Biyao Yan, Yifeng Yang, Xing Liu, Kjersti Sternang Kvie, Knut Håkon Røed, Kun Wang, Wuhan Xiao, Haijun Wei, Guangyu Li, Rasmus Heller, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Qiang Qiu, Wen Wang, Zhipeng Li. Biological adaptations in the Arctic cervid, the reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). Science (2019). DOI: 10.1126/science.aav6312​

 

[JSCh]

Chinese researchers map out deer's genomes, lend clues to cure human diseases
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-21 04:19:29|Editor: yan

WASHINGTON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- An international team led by Chinese scientists explained why deer are less likely to develop cancer, how reindeer adapt to the harsh environments, and how they produce more Vitamin D. The answers could have far-reaching medical implications.

A trio of reports published on Thursday in the journal Science mapped out the genomes of 44 ruminant species, a group of multi-stomached mammals including deer, cow and goat.

Researchers from more than 20 organizations including Northwestern Polytechnical University, Northwest A&F University and Chinese Academy of Sciences published their initial findings with the Ruminant Genome Project, producing an evolutionary tree of the ruminant group.

They also found significant declines in ruminant populations nearly 100,000 years ago when humans migrated out of Africa, revealing early humans' impact on ruminant species.

In the second paper, the researchers used the genome map and found the growth of antlers -- as much as 2.5 centimeters a day -- was only made possible as those headgear-bearing ruminant animals utilized cancer-linked molecular pathways and highly expressed tumor suppressing genes. The findings lend a clue to a new protective mechanism against cancer.

Reindeer thriving in harsh Arctic conditions like extreme cold and prolonged periods of light and dark have been scrutinized in the third paper. They turned out to acquire a gene mutation that deprives the reindeer of the circadian clocks so that they can live without sleeping disorder through long nights and long days.

It may inspire scientists to design a drug to cure sleeping diseases or help astronauts adjust their biological clocks during space travel.

Also, the researchers revealed how supercharged Vitamin D-using genes in reindeer were evolved to help them absorb more calcium, which made the antler rapid growth possible. This can be a potential molecular mechanism used to treat brittle-bone disease, according to the study.

The findings provide vital insights into genetic adaptations that are responsible for ruminant animals' biological success, said Stanford researcher Yang Yunzhi, who wrote a perspective article in the journal to review the three papers.

"Understanding the evolution of ruminant animals can improve our research in regenerative medicine, tumor biology, sleeping disorder and osteoporosis, and it may also help us breed new livestock in the future," the paper's corresponding author Wang Wen, researcher of Kunming Institute of Zoology under Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Xinhua.

1. Lei Chen, Qiang Qiu, Yu Jiang, Kun Wang, Zeshan Lin, Zhipeng Li, Faysal Bibi, Yongzhi Yang, Jinhuan Wang, Wenhui Nie, Weiting Su, Guichun Liu, Qiye Li, Weiwei Fu, Xiangyu Pan, Chang Liu, Jie Yang, Chenzhou Zhang, Yuan Yin, Yu Wang, Yue Zhao, Chen Zhang, Zhongkai Wang, Yanli Qin, Wei Liu, Bao Wang, Yandong Ren, Ru Zhang, Yan Zeng, Rute R. da Fonseca, Bin Wei, Ran Li, Wenting Wan, Ruoping Zhao, Wenbo Zhu, Yutao Wang, Shengchang Duan, Yun Gao, Yong E. Zhang, Chunyan Chen, Christina Hvilsom, Clinton W. Epps, Leona G. Chemnick, Yang Dong, Siavash Mirarab, Hans Redlef Siegismund, Oliver A. Ryder, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Harris A. Lewin, Guojie Zhang, Rasmus Heller, Wen Wang. Large-scale ruminant genome sequencing provides insights into their evolution and distinct traits. Science (2019). DOI: 10.1126/science.aav6202
2. Zeshan Lin, Lei Chen, Xianqing Chen, Yingbin Zhong, Yue Yang, Wenhao Xia, Chang Liu, Wenbo Zhu, Han Wang, Biyao Yan, Yifeng Yang, Xing Liu, Kjersti Sternang Kvie, Knut Håkon Røed, Kun Wang, Wuhan Xiao, Haijun Wei, Guangyu Li, Rasmus Heller, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Qiang Qiu, Wen Wang, Zhipeng Li. Biological adaptations in the Arctic cervid, the reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). Science (2019). DOI: 10.1126/science.aav6312
3. Yu Wang, Chenzhou Zhang, Nini Wang, Zhipeng Li, Rasmus Heller, Rong Liu, Yue Zhao, Jiangang Han, Xiangyu Pan, Zhuqing Zheng, Xueqin Dai, Ceshi Chen, Mingle Dou, Shujun Peng, Xianqing Chen, Jing Liu, Ming Li, Kun Wang, Chang Liu, Zeshan Lin, Lei Chen, Fei Hao, Wenbo Zhu, Chengchuang Song, Chen Zhao, Chengli Zheng, Jianming Wang, Shengwei Hu, Cunyuan Li, Hui Yang, Lin Jiang, Guangyu Li, Mingjun Liu, Tad S. Sonstegard, Guojie Zhang, Yu Jiang, Wen Wang, Qiang Qiu. Genetic basis of ruminant headgear and rapid antler regeneration. Science (2019). DOI: 10.1126/science.aav6335

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[JSCh]

Chinese scientists bloom in efforts to save rare flowers
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-20 16:54:10|Editor: ZX

BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- At over 4,000 meters above sea level, botanist Xue Jingqi and his colleagues felt their heads throbbing with altitude sickness.

Local Tibetans guided them as they searched carefully in rocks near Shangri-La, southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Then their malaise lifted as they found rare wild peonies they had been looking for.

The team from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) carefully collected the seeds and brought them back to Beijing as part of a conservation program for endangered plants.

But in the lowland climate, almost all the seedlings were dead the following year.

The scientists returned to the plateau to collect new seeds, which they took to the relatively cooler Yanqing District, in the north of Beijing. The seedlings blossomed after careful cultivation, but then a sudden late-spring chill killed most of them.

"It was very frustrating that years of work went for nothing, but we soon improved the program," Xue said.

The team developed an efficient breeding method that greatly shortened the peony breeding cycle.

GIANT PANDA OF FLOWERS

The peony is native to China, where it has been cultivated for about 2,000 years. Admired as the "king of flowers" in China, the peony is now cultivated in more than 20 countries, including Japan, France, Britain, the United States, Italy and the Netherlands.

China has more than 1,500 peony varieties, but some of the wild varieties are endangered, and some have only one plant left, said CAAS expert Wang Shunli.

The CAAS has bred more than 20,000 wild peony seedlings and transplanted hundreds back to their native places in southwest China through an endangered plant protection program launched in 2012.

Dubbed the "giant panda of flowers," paphiopedilum is another critically endangered plant rescued by the program. This orchid was discovered in the 1970s on a few mountainsides along the Nujiang River in Yunnan Province.

Orchids are very sensitive to environment changes and human activities, so many species are in danger. Researchers from the CAAS have mastered artificial propagation and cultivation methods of some wild orchids that can effectively protect them in the wild. They have also cross-fertilized wild plants to breed new paphiopedilum varieties with a wider range of colors, said CAAS chief flower expert Ge Hong.

The flowers bred from wild varieties such as peonies and paphiopedilum are blooming at the Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition (Beijing Expo 2019).

They also have the potential to raise living standards in remote areas.

Peonies can live on less productive land so they don't compete with other crops. Their seeds can produce oil and the stamens can be made into tea. The CAAS is working with the government of Linxia, Gansu Province, to increase local farmers' incomes by planting peonies.

PLANT FACTORY

China is one of the few countries in the world to have mastered the plant factory technology, which is on display at the Beijing Expo 2019.

Vegetables growing in nutrient solutions line the shelves under red and blue lights. A computer automatically controls the temperature, humidity, light, carbon dioxide concentration and nutrient solution.

According to Yang Qichang, director of the CAAS Facility Agricultural Environmental Engineering Research Center, his team has made breakthroughs in developing light sources, light regulation, multi-layer hydroponic cultivation, intelligent environmental management and control, nutrient solution regulation, and energy-saving technologies.

CAAS studies show the vitamin C content of vegetables grown in their plant factories is significantly above average while nitrite content is lower.

Researchers are trying to further reduce the energy consumption and improve its automation, said Li Kun, a member of the team.

Plant factories are developing rapidly in China. In addition to application in polar regions and on islands, mini plant factories have come into play in daily life. The technology is expected to be used in space exploration in the future.

 

[JSCh]

Chinese academy takes step to bolster agriculture in Zambia
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-21 16:52:15|Editor: ZX

LUSAKA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) handed over a high-definition cropland distribution dataset to Zambia on Thursday, aiming to help the southern African nation develop its agriculture sector.

The Zambia National Fine Resolution Cropland Data Layer provides nationwide close to real-time cropland data and up to a 10-meter resolution ratio, according to CAS.

With its improved measuring resolution, the dataset will make a significant improvement in cropland mapping for the country, said Yan Qing, head of the academy's Bureau of Science and Technology for Development.

Such time-series cropland data will be valuable for analyzing driving mechanisms of cropland distribution, as well as the cropland's impact on water resources and food security, said Yan on the handover ceremony to Zambia's Ministry of Agriculture.

"Recent advances and trends in geospatial technologies are making it easier and more cost-effective to monitor food and agriculture resources in a timely manner," said Peter Kalunga, Director of Agriculture in the ministry.

The dataset, built upon the CAS' Big Earth Data Program launched in 2018, is one of the projects promoting earth observation in the Belt and Road region for sustainable development.

Kalunga said that earth observation was the key to addressing the information gap in food production, food security and nutrition in Zambia.

CAS expected the new dataset to help Zambian authorities make science-based policies and to promote cooperation between the Chinese academy and Zambian research institutes.

 

[JSCh]

Viewpoint: Cooling with a Squeeze

• Jaka Tušek, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Nini Pryds, Department of Energy Conversion and Storage, Technical University of Denmark, Roskilde, Denmark

June 26, 2019• Physics 12, 72

A newly designed alloy exhibits a “colossal” elastocaloric effect—a temperature change under strain—making it a good candidate for an environmentally friendly type of cooling.

Today’s society thrives on cooling. In Europe, for example, 70% of the food is chilled or frozen, while in the US, air conditioners in people’s homes consume more electricity than all of Africa. The demand for cooling is only expected to rise [1], along with its exacerbating effects on global warming, creating a push to find alternatives to the century-old and relatively inefficient vapor compression cooling technology in use today [2]. A promising option is to employ elastocaloric solids. These materials change their temperature in response to a mechanical stress, a property that can be used to pull heat from an object in thermal contact. Daoyong Cong of the University of Science and Technology Beijing and colleagues now report that they have designed and synthesized an alloy whose temperature rises and falls more than 30 K when strained and then released—the largest reversible elastocaloric effect observed so far.

...

Physics - Viewpoint: Cooling with a Squeeze

Colossal Elastocaloric Effect in Ferroelastic Ni-Mn-Ti Alloys
Daoyong Cong, Wenxin Xiong, Antoni Planes, Yang Ren, Lluís Mañosa, Peiyu Cao, Zhihua Nie, Xiaoming Sun, Zhi Yang, Xiufeng Hong, and Yandong Wang
Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 255703 (2019)
Published June 26, 2019​

 

[JSCh]

NEWS RELEASE 26-JUN-2019
Uridine diphosphate glucose found to dampen lung cancer metastasis
CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES HEADQUARTERS

Schematic model of the mechanism of UGDH-promoted tumor cell migration.
CREDIT: Image by the research groups

In a study published online in Nature on June 26, research teams led by Dr. YANG Weiwei at the Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Dr. LI Guohui from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of CAS reported a new function of uridine diphosphate glucose (UDP-glucose), a metabolic intermediate in the uronic acid pathway: It impairs lung cancer metastasis by accelerating SNAI1 mRNA decay.

This discovery is important because lung cancer is the leading cancer killer in both China and the world, and cancer metastasis is estimated to be responsible for 95% of cancer deaths. Lung cancer alone kills more than 600,000 people each year in China.

Primary malignant tumors can often be effectively treated by traditional therapies such as surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. However, in most cases, traditional therapies have limited effect on metastatic tumors. Therefore, understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying tumor metastasis helps to provide a biomarker for the early detection of tumor metastasis and a new strategy for intervening in metastasis, thus offering patients a better prognosis.

Deregulated metabolism is the hallmark of cancer. Mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes cause alterations to multiple intracellular signaling pathways that affect tumor cell metabolism and re-engineer it to allow enhanced survival and growth. The unique biochemical microenvironment further influences the metabolic phenotype of tumor cells, and thus affects tumor progression, response to therapy and patient outcome.

This study reveals a unique function of UDP-glucose in impairing tumor metastasis, presents a new model of metabolite-regulated protein function, and establishes a new connection between metabolism and RNA stability.

Specifically, the researchers demonstrated that upon epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activation, UDP-glucose dehydrogenase (UGDH) is phosphorylated at tyrosine (Y) 473. UGDH is the rate-limiting enzyme in the uronic acid pathway. It catalyzes UDP-glucose to produce UDP-glucuronic acid and participates in the biosynthesis of glycosaminoglycan.

Phosphorylated UGDH binds to HuR and converts UDP-glucose into UDP-glucuronic acid, which attenuates UDP-glucose-mediated inhibition on HuR association with SNAI1 mRNA, thereby enhancing SNAI1 mRNA stability. Increased Snail (encoded by SNAI1) expression in turn initiates the epithelial-mesenchymal transition of tumor cells, thus promoting tumor cell migration and lung cancer metastasis.

In addition, the scientists found that lower UDP-glucose levels are closely related to the metastasis and recurrence of lung cancer. They observed that UDP-glucose levels in metastatic tumors were much lower than in primary tumors. Patients with distant metastasis had much lower UDP-glucose levels than those without distant metastasis, and patients with high UGDH Y473 phosphorylation in tumor tissues had a higher rate of metastasis and worse prognosis.



Uridine diphosphate glucose found to dampen lung cancer metastasis | EurekAlert! Science News

Xiongjun Wang, Ruilong Liu, Wencheng Zhu, Huiying Chu, Hua Yu, Ping Wei, Xueyuan Wu, Hongwen Zhu, Hong Gao, Ji Liang, Guohui Li & Weiwei Yang. UDP-glucose accelerates SNAI1 mRNA decay and impairs lung cancer metastasis. Nature (2019); DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1340-y​

 

[JSCh]

'World's brightest light' project expected to start mid 2019
2019-02-01 16:14:04Ecns.cnEditor : Mo Hong'e

A video demonstration shows how the world's brightest synchrotron radiation light takes place. (Photo/Screenshot of CNS Video)

(ECNS) -- A project to build the world's brightest synchrotron radiation light source has passed review by national authorities, said the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) of Chinese Academy of Sciences on Thursday.

Construction of the facility will start in middle of this year at Science and Technology Town located in Beijing's suburban Huairou District, and will be finished in six and a half years.

With an investment of 320 million yuan ($48 million), the Test Facility of High Energy Photon Source (HEPS-TF), the first R&D phase before construction of the facility, is expected to produce X-rays up to 300 keV in photon energy.

A synchrotron radiation light source uses electron-magnetic radiation usually produced by a storage ring.

The first phase will consist of accelerator chains, 14 beamlines and other auxiliary facilities.

To generate light of extreme brilliance, electrons will be accelerated nearly to the speed of light in several stages and forced to travel in a closed path.

Photo from China Institute of High Energy Physics, ceremony laying symbolic foundation to mark start of construction.

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