China Science & Technology Forum

[JSCh]

China starts construction of world's first 1,100kv DC line
2016-01-14 09:08 CRIENGLISH.com Editor: Wang Fan

The world's first 1,100 kilovolt direct current electricity transmission line project starts on January 11, 2016, in eastern Junggar Basin, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Photo/People.cn)​

China started to build world's first 1,100 kilovolt direct current electricity transmission line on Monday.

This is a power line with the highest voltage, biggest transmission capacity, longest distance and the latest technology in the world.

It will start from northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, connecting Gansu Province, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Shaanxi Province, Henan Province and Anhui Province.

The whole length will be over 3,300 kilometers. When finished in 2018, its transmission capacity will be 12 million kilowatt.

Researcher of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chen Weijiang, said the system adopted the 1,100 kilovolt voltage for the first time.

"Its nominal voltage is 37.5 percent higher than those with a 800-kilovolt nominal voltage. And the transmission capacity is 50 percent more. We also increased the transmission distance from 2,000 to 3,000 kilometer."

Another ultra-high voltage AC transmission lines are now under live-line operations in Tianjin.

It will deliver clean energy from Inner Mongolia to Tianjin, Hebei and Shandong Province.

The 1,000 kilovolt ultrahigh AC transmission line project will reduce coal consumption by 9 million tons and carbon dioxide by 26.9 million tons.

It is of great significance in controlling haze and fog and improving the air quality.

The whole project is expected to end in April this year and put into operation by the end of October.

 

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China’s quantum space pioneer: We need to explore the unknown
Pan Jian-Wei is masterminding a project to test quantum entanglement in space
Celeste Biever
14 January 2016

Tengyun Chen

Pan Jian-Wei is leading a satellite project that will probe quantum entanglement.

Physicist Pan Jian-Wei is the architect of the world’s first attempt to set up a quantum communications link between Earth and space — an experiment that is set to begin with the launch of a satellite in June.

The satellite will test whether the quantum property of entanglement extends over record-breaking distances of more than 1,000 kilometres, by beaming individual entangled photons between space and various ground stations on Earth. It will also test whether it is possible, using entangled photons, to teleport information securely between Earth and space.

On 8 January, Pan, who works at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, won a major national Chinese science prize (worth 200,000 yuan, or US$30,000) for his contributions to quantum science. He spoke to Nature about why his experiments are necessary and about the changing nature of Chinese space-science missions.

How are preparations for the launch going?
We always have two feelings. We feel, “Yes, everything is all right,” and then we are happy and excited. But we have, a couple of times, thought, “Probably our project will collapse and never work.” I think the satellite should be launched on time.

What technical challenges do you face?
The satellite will fly so fast (it takes just 90 minutes to orbit Earth) and there will be turbulence and other problems — so the single-photon beam can be seriously affected. Also we have to overcome background noise from sunlight, the Moon and light noise from cities, which are much stronger than our single photon.

What is the aim of the satellite?
Our first mission is to see if we can establish quantum key distribution [the encoding and sharing of a secret cryptographic key using the quantum properties of photons] between a ground station in Beijing and the satellite, and between the satellite and Vienna. Then we can see whether it is possible to establish a quantum key between Beijing and Vienna, using the satellite as a relay.

The second step will be to perform long-distance entanglement distribution, over about 1,000 kilometres. We have technology on the satellite that can produce pairs of entangled photons. We beam one photon of an entangled pair to a station in Delingha, Tibet, and the other to a station in Lijiang or Nanshan. The distance between the two ground stations is about 1,200 kilometres. Previous tests were done on the order of 100 kilometres1.

Does anyone doubt that entanglement happens no matter how far apart two particles are?
Not too many people doubt quantum mechanics, but if you want to explore new physics, you must push the limit. Sure, in principle, quantum entanglement can exist for any distance. But we want to see if there is some physical limit. People ask whether there is some sort of boundary between the classical world and the quantum world: we hope to build some sort of macroscopic system in which we can show that the quantum phenomena can still exist.

In future, we also want to see if it is possible to distribute entanglement between Earth and the Moon. We hope to use the Chang’e programme (China’s Moon programme) to send a quantum satellite to one of the gravitationally-stable points [Lagrangian points] in the Earth-Moon system.

How does entanglement relate to quantum teleportation?
We will beam one photon from an entangled pair created at a ground station in Ali, Tibet, to the satellite. The quantum state of a third photon in Ali can then be teleported to the particle in space, using the entangled photon in Ali as a conduit.

The quantum satellite is a basic-science space mission, as is the Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE), which China launched in December. Are basic-research satellites a new trend for China?
Yes, and my colleagues at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and I helped to force things in this direction. In the past, China had only two organizations that could launch satellites: the army and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. So scientists had no way to launch a satellite for scientific research. One exception is the Double Star probe, launched in collaboration with the European Space Agency in 2003 to study magnetic storms on Earth.

What changed?
We at CAS really worked hard to convince our government that it is important that we have a way to launch science satellites. In 2011, the central government established the Strategic Priority Program on Space Science, which DAMPE and our quantum satellite are part of. This is a very important step.

I think China has an obligation not just to do something for ourselves — many other countries have been to the Moon, have done manned spaceflight — but to explore something unknown.

Will scientists also be involved in China’s programme to build a space station, Tiangong?
The mechanism to make decisions for which projects can go to the space station has been significantly changed. Originally, the army wanted to take over the responsibility, but it was finally agreed that CAS is the right organization.

We will have a quantum experiment on the space station and it will make our studies easier because we can from time to time upgrade our experiment (unlike on the quantum satellite). We are quite happy with this mechanism. We need only talk to the leaders of CAS — and they are scientists, so you can communicate with them much more easily.


China’s quantum space pioneer: We need to explore the unknown : Nature News & Comment

 

[JSCh]

Astronomers spot brightest-ever supernova in universe
Source: Xinhua 2016-01-15 03:26:23

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- An international team of astronomers, led by Subo Dong from China's Peking University, said Thursday they have spotted a violent stellar explosion, known as a supernova, that is about 200 times more powerful than a typical supernova and more than twice as luminous as the previous record holder.

At its peak intensity, the explosion, called ASASSN-15lh, shone brighter than 570 billion Suns.

The record-breaking blast, reported Thursday in the U.S. journal Science, is thought to be an outstanding example of a "superluminous supernova," or a recently discovered, supremely rare variety of explosion unleashed by certain stars when they die.

Scientists are frankly at a loss, though, regarding what sorts of stars and stellar scenarios might be responsible for these extreme supernovae.

"ASASSN-15lh is the most powerful supernova discovered in human history," said the study lead author Dong, an astronomer and a Youth Qianren Research Professor at the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics (KIAA) at Peking University. "The explosion's mechanism and power source remain shrouded in mystery because all known theories meet serious challenges in explaining the immense amount of energy ASASSN-15lh has radiated."

About 3.8 billion light years from Earth, ASASSN-15lh was first glimpsed in June 2015 by the All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN) team, an international collaboration headquartered at the Ohio State University, which uses a network of 14-centimeter telescopes around the world to scan the visible sky every two or three nights looking for very bright supernovae.

Further observations revealed that ASASSN-15lh bears certain features consistent with "hydrogen-poor" (Type I) superluminous supernovae, which are one of the two main types of these epic explosions so named for lacking signatures of the chemical element hydrogen in their spectra.

Yet in other ways, besides its brute power, ASASSN-15lh stands apart. It is way hotter, and not just brighter, than its apparently nearest of supernova kin, they said.

The galaxy it calls home is also without precedent. Type I superluminous supernovae seen to date have all burst forth in dim galaxies both smaller in size and that churn out stars much faster than the Milky Way, but ASASSN-15lh's galaxy appears even bigger and brighter than the Milky Way.

The researchers also speculated that the extraordinary emission of luminosity by ASASSN-15lh may be powered by a staggering amount of decaying radioactive nickel, or perhaps a rapidly rotating, highly magnetic neutron star.

"The honest answer is at this point that we do not know what could be the power source for ASASSN-15lh," said Dong. "ASASSN-15lh may lead to new thinking and new observations of the whole class of superluminous supernova, and we look forward to plenty more of both in the years ahead."

Editor: Mu Xuequan​

_______________________________________________________________​

ASASSN-15lh: A highly super-luminous supernova

1. Subo Dong1,*,
2. B. J. Shappee2,
3. J. L. Prieto3,4,
4. S. W. Jha5,
5. K. Z. Stanek6,7,
6. T. W.-S. Holoien6,7,
7. C. S. Kochanek6,7,
8. T. A. Thompson6,7,
9. N. Morrell8,
10. I. B. Thompson2,
11. U. Basu6,
12. J. F. Beacom6,7,9,
13. D. Bersier10,
14. J. Brimacombe11,
15. J. S. Brown6,
16. F. Bufano12,
17. Ping Chen13,
18. E. Conseil14,
19. A. B. Danilet6,
20. E. Falco15,
21. D. Grupe16,
22. S. Kiyota17,
23. G. Masi18,
24. B. Nicholls19,
25. F. Olivares E.4,20,
26. G. Pignata4,20,
27. G. Pojmanski21,
28. G. V. Simonian6,
29. D. M. Szczygiel21,
30. P. R. Woźniak22

1. 1Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, Yi He Yuan Road 5, Hai Dian District, Beijing 100871, China.
2. 2Carnegie Observatories, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101, USA.
3. 3Núcleo de Astronomía de la Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Diego Portales, Av. Ejército 441, Santiago, Chile.
4. 4Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, Santiago, Chile.
5. 5Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 136 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
6. 6Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University, 140 W. 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
7. 7Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics (CCAPP), The Ohio State University, 191 W. Woodruff Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
8. 8Las Campanas Observatory, Carnegie Observatories, Casilla 601, La Serena, Chile.
9. 9Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, 191 W. Woodruff Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
10. 10Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, 146 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L3 5RF, UK.
11. 11Coral Towers Observatory, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia.
12. 12INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, Via S.Sofia 78, 95123, Catania, Italy.
13. 13Department of Astronomy, Peking University, Yi He Yuan Road 5, Hai Dian District, 100871, P. R. China.
14. 14Association Francaise des Observateurs d’Etoiles Variables (AFOEV), Observatoire de Strasbourg 11, rue de l’Université, F-67000 Strasbourg, France.
15. ↵*Corresponding author. E-mail: dongsubo{at}pku.edu.cn

Science 15 Jan 2016:
Vol. 351, Issue 6270, pp. 257-260
DOI: 10.1126/science.aac9613

The most luminous supernova to date
Supernovae are exploding stars at the end of their lives, providing an input of heavy elements and energy into galaxies. Some types have near-identical peak brightness, but in recent years a new class of superluminous supernovae has been found. Dong et al.y report the discovery of ASASSN-15lh (SN 2015L), the most luminous supernova yet found by some margin. It appears to originate in a large quiescent galaxy, in contrast to most super-luminous supernovae, which typically come from star-forming dwarf galaxies. The discovery will provide constraints on models of superluminous supernovae and how they affect their host galaxies.

Science, this issue p. 257

Abstract
We report the discovery of ASASSN-15lh (SN 2015L), which we interpret as the most luminous supernova yet found. At redshift z = 0.2326, ASASSN-15lh reached an absolute magnitude of Mu,AB = –23.5 ± 0.1 and bolometric luminosity Lbol = (2.2 ± 0.2) × 1045 ergs s–1, which is more than twice as luminous as any previously known supernova. It has several major features characteristic of the hydrogen-poor super-luminous supernovae (SLSNe-I), whose energy sources and progenitors are currently poorly understood. In contrast to most previously known SLSNe-I that reside in star-forming dwarf galaxies, ASASSN-15lh appears to be hosted by a luminous galaxy (MK ≈ –25.5) with little star formation. In the 4 months since first detection, ASASSN-15lh radiated (1.1 ± 0.2) × 1052 ergs, challenging the magnetar model for its engine.

ASASSN-15lh: A highly super-luminous supernova | Science

 

[JSCh]

Public Release: 13-Jan-2016
Physicists propose the first scheme to teleport the memory of an organism
Science China Press

Quantum teleportation between two microorganisms is shown. The internal state (an electron spin) or the center-of-mass motion state of a microorganism on an electromechanical oscillator can be teleported to a remote microorganism on another electromechanical oscillator assisted with superconducting circuits.
Credit: ©Science China Press​

In "Star Trek", a transporter can teleport a person from one location to a remote location without actually making the journey along the way. Such a transporter has fascinated many people. Quantum teleportation shares several features of the transporter and is one of the most important protocols in quantum information. In a recent study, Prof. Tongcang Li at Purdue University and Dr. Zhang-qi Yin at Tsinghua University proposed the first scheme to use electromechanical oscillators and superconducting circuits to teleport the internal quantum state (memory) and center-of-mass motion state of a microorganism. They also proposed a scheme to create a Schrödinger's cat state in which a microorganism can be in two places at the same time. This is an important step towards potentially teleporting an organism in future.

In 1935, Erwin Schrödinger proposed a famous thought experiment to prepare a cat in a superposition of both alive and dead states. The possibility of an organism to be in a superposition state dramatically reveals the profound consequences of quantum mechanics, and has attracted broad interests. Physicists have made great efforts in many decades to investigate macroscopic quantum phenomena. So far, matter-wave interference of electrons, atoms, and molecules (such as C60) have been observed. Recently, quantum ground state cooling and the creation of superposition states of mechanical oscillators have been realized. For example, a group in Colorado, US has cooled the vibration of a 15-micrometer-diameter aluminum membrane to quantum ground state, and entangled its motion with microwave photons. However, quantum superposition of an entire organism has not been realized. Meanwhile, there have been many breakthroughs in quantum teleportation since its first experimental realization in 1997 with a single photon. Besides photons, quantum teleportation with atoms, ions, and superconducting circuits have been demonstrated. In 2015, a group at University of Science and Technology of China demonstrated the quantum teleportation of multiple degrees of freedom of a single photon. However, existing experiments are still far away from teleporting an organism or the state of an organism.

In a recent study, Tongcang Li and Zhang-qi Yin propose to put a bacterium on top of an electromechanical membrane oscillator integrated with a superconducting circuit to prepare quantum superposition state of a microorganism and teleport its quantum state. A microorganism with a mass much smaller than the mass of the electromechanical membrane will not significantly affect the quality factor of the membrane and can be cooled to the quantum ground state together with the membrane. Quantum superposition and teleportation of its center-of-mass motion state can be realized with the help of superconducting microwave circuits. With a strong magnetic field gradient, the internal states of a microorganism, such as the electron spin of a glycine radical, can be entangled with its center-of-mass motion and be teleported to a remote microorganism. Since internal states of an organism contain information, this proposal provides a scheme for teleporting information or memories between two remote organisms.

The proposed setup is also a quantum-limited magnetic resonance force microscope. It not only can detect the existence of single electron spins (associated to protein defects or DNA defects) like conventional MRFM, but also can coherently manipulate and detect the quantum states of electron spins. It enables some isolated electron spins that could not be read out with optical or electrical methods to be used as quantum memory for quantum information.

Li says "We propose a straightforward method to put a microorganism in two places at the same time, and provide a scheme to teleport the quantum state of a microorganism. I hope our unconventional work will inspire more people to think seriously about quantum teleportation of a microorganism and its potential applications in future." Yin says "Our work also provides insights for future studies about the effects of biochemical reactions in the wave function collapses of quantum superposition states of an organism."

###

The related article "Quantum superposition, entanglement, and state teleportation of a microorganism on an electromechanical oscillator" was published in Science Bulletin. This research was funded by Purdue University and National Basic Research Program of China (2011CBA00300 and 2011CBA00302), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11105136 and 61435007).

See the article: Tongcang Li, Zhang-Qi Yin. Quantum superposition, entanglement, and state teleportation of a microorganism on an electromechanical oscillator. Science Bulletin, 2016(2). DOI:10.1007/s11434-015-0990-x

This article was published online, in the Science Bulletin, by Science China Press and Springer.

Physicists propose the first scheme to teleport the memory of an organism | EurekAlert! Science News

 

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Chinese scientists make Ebola breakthrough
Source: Xinhua 2016-01-15 14:24:14

BEIJING, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Scientists have discovered how the Ebola virus enters cells and infects humans, marking a major breakthrough in the battle against the virus after the deadly outbreak in West Africa in March 2014.

The research, published by the scientific journal "Cell", provides a theoretical basis for the prevention and control of Ebola, offering a new direction for drug development.

Ebola is like influenza and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which uses the host cells to initiate the life cycle of the virus, said Gao Fu, researcher with the Institute of Microbiology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, who led the research team.

NPC1, an endosomal protein, has been identified as a necessary entry receptor for Ebola entering cells, but the trigger of the fusion process remained a mystery for scientists.

"Previous research has revealed four manners of viruses entering cells. But we've found the fusion between Ebola and host cells does not follow the known ways. It's a fifth type," said Gao.

Based on the new discoveries, researchers will be able to develop small-molecule or polypeptide inhibitors targeting the fusion trigger, preventing Ebola entry at the very beginning, said Gao.


Chinese scientists make Ebola breakthrough
- Xinhua | English.news.cn


Article
Ebola Viral Glycoprotein Bound to Its Endosomal Receptor Niemann-Pick C1
Han Wang10, Yi Shi10, Jian Song10, Jianxun Qi10, Guangwen Lu, Jinghua Yan, George F. Gao

http://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(15)01708-0

 

[cirr]

China will fly to the dark side of the Moon in 2018 in a world first

JANUARY 15, 20164:52PM

New frontier ... the dark side of the waning crescent moon. Picture: Casey Bishop

Network writers and wiresNews Corp Australia Network

CHINA will launch a mission to land on the dark side of the Moon in two years’ time, state media reported, in what will be a first for humanity.

The Moon’s far hemisphere is never directly visible from Earth and while it has been photographed, with the first images appearing in 1959, it has never been explored.

China’s Chang’e-4 probe — named for the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology — will be sent to it in 2018, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

“The Chang’e-4’s lander and rover will make a soft landing on the back side of the Moon, and will carry out in-place and patrolling surveys,” it cited the country’s lunar exploration chief Liu Jizhong as saying on Thursday.

Beijing sees its military-run, multibillion-dollar space program as a marker of its rising global stature and mounting technical expertise, as well as evidence of the ruling Communist Party’s success in transforming the once poverty-stricken nation.

MORE: NASA spots strange ‘spiders’ on Mars

New mission ... China will send a probe to the undiscovered side of the Moon.Source:Supplied

But for the most part it has so far replicated activities that the US and Soviet Union pioneered decades ago.

“The implementation of the Chang’e-4 mission has helped our country make the leap from following to leading in the field of lunar exploration,” Liu added.

In 2013, China landed a rover dubbed Yutu on the Moon and the following year an unmanned probe completed its first return mission to the earth’s only natural satellite.

Beijing has plans for a permanent orbiting station by 2020 and eventually to send a human to the moon.

Space flight is “an important manifestation of overall national strength”, Xinhua cited science official Qian Yan as saying, adding that every success had “greatly stimulated the public’s ... pride in the achievements of the motherland’s development.” Clive Neal, chair of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group affiliated with NASA, confirmed that the Chang’e-4 mission was unprecedented.

The Moon’s surface transmitted to earth by China’s Chang'e-3 probe carrying its first lunar rover prior to landing on the moon on December 14, 2013. Picture: AFP

“There has been no surface exploration of the far side,” he told AFP. It is “very different to the near side because of the biggest hole in the solar system — the South Pole-Aitken basin, which may have exposed mantle materials — and the thicker lunar crust”.

The basin is the largest known impact crater in the solar system, nearly 2,500 kilometres wide and 13 kilometres deep.

“I am sure the international lunar science community will be very excited about this mission,” he told AFP. “I know I am.”

China's space mission

 

[JSCh]

Green Light for LHAASO: China Approves Cosmic Ray Physics Exploration Project
Jan 04, 2016

The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planning body, approved the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) project on December 31, 2015. The LHAASO project is designed to explore physics goals in gamma ray astronomy and cosmic ray physics.

The main scientific objectives of LHAASO are to search for the origin of high energy cosmic rays, to study the evolution of the universe and high energy celestial bodies, and to push forward the frontier of new physics. Statistical samples of various gamma ray sources will be accumulated through an all-sky gamma ray source survey and precise measurement of gamma ray energy spectra. Internationally, LHAASO will be a key frontier project for cosmic ray research.

Work on the project started in 2008, when scientists at the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) initiated a pre-study and conducted extensive field surveys in China's high-altitude areas. In 2014, the highlands at Daocheng County, Sichuan, where there is an average altitude of 4400 meters, was selected as the observation station site. In August 2014, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Sichuan provincial government signed a framework agreement to build the LHAASO project, marking the establishing of a scientific base in Sichuan for the international forefront of cosmic ray research.

Over one hundred scientists from more than 20 Chinese research institutions and researchers from Italy, France, Russia and other countries have joined LHAASO. The total cost of the project is projected at 1.2 billion yuan, with an estimated construction time of four years.

Layout of LHAASO Project (Image by IHEP) ​

(Editor: CHEN Na)​

 

[JSCh]

China Exclusive: Chinese scientists develop bioartificial liver
Source: Xinhua 2016-01-16 20:44:53

SHANGHAI, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists have developed a new bioartificial liver that can help liver failure patients survive long enough for an organ transplant.

Designed to be attached outside a patient's body, the bioartificial liver is based on human liver cells, according to research findings published in the new issue of international science magazine Cell Research on Friday.

In its first clinical use last week, the device saved a 61-year-old woman who was dying from acute liver failure, said Prof. Ding Yitao, a member of the research team, which comprised scientists from the Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences and doctors from Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital.

They are planning more clinical tests in Shanghai and the neighboring cities this year.

A bioartificial liver can help recover patients' liver functions and prolong their lives so they can wait for suitable donor livers for a transplant, which is currently the only solution to critical cases.

Prof. Ding said Chinese researchers have been using artificial livers since 1998, and earlier devices used liver cells from pigs.

"The new device is based on cells taken from human skin, fat or other tissues and reprogrammed into [liver] cells," he said. "It is safer and less likely to cause a rejection reaction."

Tests on lab animals found pigs with acute liver failures had an average 80 percent survival rate after they were treated with the new bioartificial liver, whereas untreated pigs died in about three days.

The researchers believe the artificial liver is a blessing for China, which has a lot of patients with hepatitis B and liver cancer.

The country has more than 100 million people infected with the hepatitis B, according to official figures.

Editor: Luan​

 

[JSCh]

Two-in-one packaging may increase drug efficacy and reduce side effects
2016-01-12 09:31:21

A new device creates tiny capsules filled with multiple inner droplets by funneling different ingredients through two inner needles. As all the ingredients exit the needles through a single nozzle, a high-speed gas forces the liquids into a narrow stream that breaks up into individual droplets. Credit: Ronald Xu/The Ohio State University​

　 　
　 　Chemotherapy often comes with powerful side effects, and one of the reasons for this is that the drugs used to kill cancer cells can also damage other fast-growing cells in the body, like hair follicles. But one possibility for reducing these side effects may be if the chemotherapy drugs only become toxic when they reach the tumor.

　 　The search for such targeted drug delivery options for chemotherapy and other treatments inspired a team of researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China and The Ohio State University to develop a new way to package two or more ingredients into a single capsule. If the ingredients must be mixed for the drug to work, doctors could trigger the mixing in targeted area of the body, boosting drug efficiency while reducing side effects.

　　The researchers report their method for multi-ingredient encapsulation and triggered mixing in a new paper in the journal Applied Physics Letters. While the work has shown promise because it allows the researcher to produce micro capsules, they have not yet used the technique to encapsulate cancer treatments. If such capsules can be made, they will have to prove safe and effective in clinical trials before becoming widely available to treat cancer.

　　"One of the limitations of chemotherapy is that less than 5 percent of the drugs typically get to the tumor, while the rest can be absorbed by other organs," said Ronald Xu, a professor in biomedical engineering at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. One possible way to address the problem could be to make the drugs non-toxic when injected into the body and trigger mixing that would produce a toxic product only near the tumor site.

　　For such drugs to work on a large scale, there must be a way to quickly, controllably, and cost-effectively produce capsules with two or more active ingredients. If the drugs are to be injected and spread through the body via the bloodstream, the capsules should also be small.

　　 Xu and his colleagues from the University of Science and Technology of China developed a device that can produce tiny capsules approximately 100 microns across (about the size of a speck of dust) with multiple inner ingredients. Ting Si, the first author on the paper and an expert in fluid mechanics, also developed mathematical models that show the relationship between process parameters, like flow rate and needle diameter, and the size of the final capsules. The models were used to achieve the designated capsule sizes.

　　The device works by funneling different ingredients through two inner needles. The inner needles run parallel to each other and are both enclosed in a larger outer needle, which contains an ingredient for making the outer shell of the capsule. As all the ingredients exit the needles through a single nozzle, a high-speed gas forces the liquids into a narrow stream that breaks up into individual droplets. An electric field stabilizes the flow so that uniform droplets are created. Depending on the relative flow rates, each droplet may contain two or more smaller inner droplets made from the ingredients in the inner needles.

　 　The researchers tested their device with colored paraffin wax - red in one needle and blue in the other. The outer shell was made from sodium alginate - a material extracted from seaweed that turned gelatinous when the droplets fell into a calcium chloride solution.

　 　Depending on the experimental conditions, the team was able to produce between 1,000 to 100,000 capsules per second, and nearly 100 percent of the inner liquids were incorporated into the capsules without any waste. Once encapsulated, the two colors of wax did not mix, because of surface tension, but the team demonstrated that they could force the red and blue wax to merge by vibrating the capsules. The team also demonstrated that they could release the inner droplets by dissolving the outer shell.

　　The key features of the new device are its high efficiency and yield, and the fact that the size of the droplets can be uniformly controlled, Xu said. By further fine-tuning the device's operation Xu predicts that the team could make capsules that are 3-5 microns across, about the size of a red blood cell. The process can also be easily scaled up by building an array of nozzles and could be modified to encapsulate 3 or more active ingredients by adding additional inner needles.

　　 While Xu and his colleagues were motivated by drug delivery, their device might also find wider use in a range of applications that require controlled reactions, such as regenerative medicine, and nuclear and chemical engineering, Xu said.

　　More information: "Steady cone-jet mode in compound-fluidic electro-flow focusing for fabricating multicompartment microcapsules," is authored by Ting Si, Chuansheng Yin, Peng Gao, Guangbin Li, Hang Ding, Xiaoming He, Bin Xie and Ronald X. Xu. It will be published in the journal Applied Physics Letters on January 11, 2016. DOI: 10.1063/1.4939632

　　Journal reference: Applied Physics Letters

 

[JSCh]

Advanced seawater treatment plant cuts energy use

• Updated: 2016-01-19 07:55
• By Zheng Caixiong in Guangzhou(China Daily)

A new desalination system that can produce more than 60,000 liters of fresh water a day has recently been put into operation on Guishan, an island in the Zhuhai special economic zone, Guangdong province.

According to a statement from the Guangzhou Institute of Advanced Technology, an affiliate of the Chinese Academy of Science, the desalination system is the first on the Chinese mainland to use waste heat from diesel generators to produce fresh water.

The water it produces is sufficient to meet the daily needs of 150 to 300 people, the statement said. And lab tests have shown that the water it makes fully meets national safety standards and is potable without any further treatment.

Compared with other desalination systems, which usually consume high amounts of energy, the new system, developed by the institute in Guangzhou, uses little energy and requires only relatively low heat that can be produced easily by diesel generators, said the statement published on the institute's website.

The system has a patent on it method of removing salt and other harmful elements from seawater using the heat produced by a 1,000 kilowatt diesel generator. It complies with the most advanced technological standards, according to the statement

The system will be a significant tool in resolving China's shortage of fresh water. The Chinese mainland has a long coastline, with many large islands, and an abundant source of fresh water will help in the development of tourism and related industries on remote islands, the statement said. It could also benefit the mainland's northern and inland provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions that have water shortages.

Deng Disi contributed to this story.

zhengcaixiong@chinadaily.com.cn

日产60吨淡水的柴油机余热海水淡化示范系统(珠海桂山岛)​

 

[JSCh]

Chinese find world's largest canyon below Antarctic

• Updated: 2016-01-19 14:50
• (People's Daily Online)

Researchers from China's 32nd scientific expedition to the Antarctic discovered a 1,000 kilometer-long canyon beneath an Antarctic ice sheet. The canyon exceeds the US Grand Canyon in size; it is now the largest known canyon on the earth's surface, Xinhua News reported on Monday. [Photo/Xinhua]​

Researchers from China's 32nd scientific expedition to the Antarctic discovered a 1,000 kilometer-long canyon beneath an Antarctic ice sheet. The canyon exceeds the US Grand Canyon in size; it is now the largest known canyon on the earth's surface, Xinhua News reported on Monday.

Discovered near the Princess Elizabeth Land, the canyon is more than 1,000 kilometers in length and 1,500 meters in depth. The maximum width at the top of the canyon is 26.5 kilometers. This is the first time that any large canyon has been found in the region.

According to data collected on the site, Chinese scientists have made three major scientific discoveries there, said Sun Bo, vice director of China's 32nd Antarctic expedition team.

The first big discovery is the world's largest canyon, which was beneath an Antarctic ice sheet near the Princess Elizabeth Land.

The second big discovery is that there are numerous subglacial lakes and subglacial water channels, also beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. These lakes and bodies of water are interconnected. The width of one of the lakes reaches 26.5 kilometers, and another was formed in a location where the thickness of the ice is over 4,000 meters. This discovery will play an important role in future research.

The third key finding is that the temperature of deep ice in Princess Elizabeth Land is noticeably higher than in other regions, which makes it easier for ice to melt, meaning that lakes and other water systems form more easily.

Since late November 2015, China's 32nd scientific expedition to the Antarctic has been using new equipment, including the first polar airplane (named Snow Eagle 601), to conduct large-scale scientific probes around Princess Elizabeth Land, covering an area of 866,000 square kilometers. [Photo/Xinhua]​

 

[JSCh]

Chinese unmanned helicopter completes South Pole flight
Source:Xinhua Published: 2016-1-19 23:22:28

An unmanned Chinese helicopter has completed its maiden flight from the Great Wall Station in the South Pole and has photographed fauna and flora in the area.

"Polar Hawk-2," which was developed by the Beijing Normal University, can operate for about one hour at a time at an altitude of up to 1,500 meters. The lithium-battery powered aircraft is highly efficient, quiet and has low emissions, according to Cheng Xiao, head of the research team.

During the hour's flight on Monday, the helicopter took over 350 high-quality photos. Since the station is located in the Fildes Peninsula, which is known for its changeable weather, there is a lack of clear satellite photos of the station, while pictures taken by the helicopter clearly show the station, said Cheng.

China currently has four Antarctic research stations -- Taishan, Great Wall, Zhongshan and Kunlun.

The photographing conducted by the aircraft also recorded the population of animals including penguins and skua, and it has helped inform estimates of the quantity of greenhouse gases over Philip Island, providing support for climate change studies, Cheng added.

Huang Huabing, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said China's research and development of unmanned helicopters is among the most advanced in the world.

Chinese unmanned helicopters have also conducted flights at the Svalbard archipelago in the North Pole and Zhongshan Station in the South Pole.

 

[JSCh]

Company claims to have developed air-purifying walls
Source: Xinhua 2016-01-20 23:22:03

HANGZHOU, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese enamel manufacturer claimed it has invented a new construction material that turns the exterior of buildings into air purifiers.

Kaier New Materials Co. Ltd., based in east China's Zhejiang Province, recently announced that it had developed a new kind of enamel block that can decompose air pollutants, including PM2.5, into carbon dioxide, mineral salt and water.

Shu Wenxiao, a researcher with the company, said, "We have added a highly oxidizing and hydrophilic nanometer material into the enamel. The new material will have a photosynthesis-like reaction with organic air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and sulfides."

PM2.5, airborne particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter, is made up of pollutants including organic matter, sulfates and nitrates.

Shu estimates that every 200 square meters of enamel block have a similar air purifying effect as 14 mature poplar trees. "If we cover a 100-meter tall building with 20,000 square meters of the material, the building will be able to purify air as efficiently as 1,400 poplar trees."

Shu Wenxiao said that the water produced from the chemical reaction can form a thin film on the outside of the buildings, which will mean the walls need not be washed.

According to the company, the self-cleaning ability was confirmed by a construction material testing center earlier this month, but the air-purifying function is waiting authentication.

"The material has been used on the exterior walls of our building for ten months as a trial and it has decomposed pollutants," he said. "However, we have no plans to bring the product to market just yet. Domestic testing institutions lack standards for such material, and we are looking for foreign organizations."

Doubts have been raised. Pan Liangjiang from a Zhejiang-based environmental protection technology developer said, "Technically speaking, it is possible for nanometer material to decompose organic matters using sunlight. However, the feasibility of actually using the material in construction is questionable. There are some issues to consider. For example, whether the mineral salt created will reduce the material's effectiveness life. Will reduced sunlight in smoggy weather affect the decomposition effect?"

 

[JSCh]

China Mobilizes HPC in Pursuit of Drug Discovery Says New Paper

___________________________________________
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Applying high performance computing in drug discovery and molecular simulation

1. Tingting Liu,
2. Dong Lu,
3. Hao Zhang,
4. Mingyue Zheng,
5. Huaiyu Yang,
6. Yechun Xu,
7. Cheng Luo,
8. Weiliang Zhu,
9. Kunqian Yu* and
10. Hualiang Jiang

+ Author Affiliations

1. State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China

1. ↵*Corresponding author. E-mail: yukunqian@simm.ac.cn

Abstract
In recent decades, high performance computing (HPC) technologies and supercomputers in China have significantly advanced, resulting in remarkable achievements. Computational drug discovery and design (CDDD), which is based on HPC and combines pharmaceutical chemistry and computational biology, has become a critical approach in drug research and development and is financially supported by the Chinese government. This approach has yielded a series of new algorithms in drug design, as well as new software and databases. This review mainly focuses on the application of HPC to the fields of drug discovery and molecular simulation at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, including virtual drug screening, molecular dynamics simulation, and protein folding. In addition, the potential future application of HPC in precision medicine is briefly discussed.

© The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of China Science Publishing & Media Ltd. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

Applying high performance computing in drug discovery and molecular simulation

 

[JSCh]

Tungsten/copper Plasma Facing Components Set New Records in High Heat Flux Tests
Jan 20, 2016

Several days ago, French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) / Magnetic Confinement Fusion Research Institute (IRFM) brought great news that two kinds of test mockups of tungsten/copper (W/Cu) plasma facing component (PFC), developed at Institute of Plasma Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP) for CEA’s Tungsten Environment in Steady-state Tokamak (WEST) project, presented outstanding performance in the high heat flux (HHF) tests which was carried out by CEA independently.

Read more -> Tungsten/copper Plasma Facing Components Set New Records in High Heat Flux Tests---Chinese Academy of Sciences