Finishing | Zhou Shuyi, Wangxiang
1935.3 grams! The world's first lunar back sample has arrived
According to the China National Space Administration, at 14:07 on June 25, 2024, the Chang'e-6 returner accurately landed in the predetermined area of Siziwangqi in Inner Mongolia and worked normally, marking the complete success of the Chang'e-6 mission of the lunar exploration project and achieving the world's first sample return on the far side of the moon.
After completing the necessary ground processing work, the recovered Chang'e-6 returner was airlifted to Beijing to open the cabin and take out the sample container and carry. On the afternoon of June 26, the opening of the Chang'e-6 returner was held at the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. At the ceremony, researchers opened the Chang'e-6 returner to test the completion of key technical indicators. Representatives of the Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center, Ground Application System, and Probe System signed the handover letter.
On June 28, the China National Space Administration held a handover ceremony for lunar samples from the Chang'e-6 mission of the lunar exploration project in Beijing. According to preliminary calculations, the Chang'e-6 mission collected 1,935.3 grams of samples from the far side of the moon. Subsequently, the researchers of the ground application system will carry out sample storage, analysis and research related work as planned.
At the ceremony, researchers opened the Chang'e-6 returner to check the completion of key technical indicators Xinhua
Li Deren and Xue Qikun won the 2023 National Science and Technology Award
According to Xinhua News Agency, the 2023 National Highest Science and Technology Award was announced in Beijing on June 24, and Academician Li Deren and Academician Xue Qikun won high honors in China's science and technology community.
Li Deren is a well-known photogrammetry and remote sensing scientist, who has been committed to improving the level of land observation in mainland surveying, mapping and remote sensing. He has overcome the core technology of global high-precision positioning and mapping of satellite remote sensing, solved a series of problems in high-precision processing of remote sensing satellite images, led the team to develop a fully automatic high-precision aerial and ground measurement system, and made outstanding contributions to the construction of high-precision and high-resolution earth observation system in the mainland.
Xue Qikun is a well-known scientist in the field of condensed matter physics and has made a number of leading and important scientific breakthroughs. He led his team to observe the quantum anomalous Hall effect for the first time, which had a significant academic impact in the world. The discovery of interface-enhanced high-temperature superconductivity in heterojunction systems has opened a new research direction in the field of international high-temperature superconductivity.
Li Deren said that he would donate all the 8 million yuan in bonuses. Among them, 5 million yuan will be given to the "Wang Zhizhuo Innovative Talent Scholarship" of Wuhan University, and 3 million yuan will be given to the "Zhu Yubi Medical Award" of Wuhan University. He said: "Supporting the cultivation of innovative talents is what should be done!" ”
Passed the defense but couldn't get a doctorate? The school acknowledges the misunderstanding policy
Recently, a number of doctoral students with the same academic ability of China Medical University posted a request for help, saying that more than 60 people in the school temporarily received a notice from the school after passing the defense of the doctoral dissertation of the same academic ability: in order to obtain a degree certificate, they also need to "obtain the provincial and ministerial science and technology progress award and publish high-quality articles". It is understood that the school does not have relevant regulations or requirements in the enrollment stage, and it is difficult for graduates to accept such a standard suddenly set.
On June 26, staff from the Graduate Enrollment Management Office and the Degree Management Office of China Medical University said in an interview that the above situation did occur because the university "misunderstood" the Ministry of Education's documents when recruiting equivalent doctoral students. All graduating students are now required to re-examine their qualifications, and there are two basic conditions that need to be met for graduation.
China Medical University | The official website of China Medical University
"In March this year, the Ministry of Education issued us a rectification request, and we also handled it as required. Doctoral graduates with the same academic ability need to publish high-level papers or monographs, and there must be provincial and ministerial science and technology awards. Taking into account the actual situation, there is no limit to the time of graduation, and when the requirements are met, an application for the award of a degree can be submitted. If graduates can't wait to get their degree certificates, they can also voluntarily choose to apply for a refund of tuition fees. ”
Refund Application Form | Top News
According to the Regulations of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council on Conferring Master's and Doctoral Degrees to Persons with Equivalent Academic Qualifications after Graduation from Graduate Studies, which was deliberated and adopted by the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council on June 18, 1998, the application and conferment of doctoral degrees with equivalent academic qualifications shall be subject to qualification examination. Its scientific research achievements have won awards at or above the national or provincial level.
The Regulations of China Medical University for Accepting In-service Personnel to Apply for Doctoral Academic Degrees with Graduate Equivalent Academic Ability in 2021 only stipulates in the column of degree awarding that the training plan and degree awarding conditions for in-service personnel who apply for doctoral academic degrees with the same academic ability as graduate students are the same as those for doctoral students. According to the "2024 Unified Examination Doctoral Enrollment Regulations of China Medical University", the university's unified enrollment doctoral students must complete the prescribed content of the education and teaching plan within the specified study period, pass the grades, pass the graduation thesis defense, and be allowed to graduate, and the school will issue a graduation certificate. Students are not required to win scientific and technological progress awards at or above the provincial level and publish high-quality articles.
In this regard, the staff of the Propaganda Department of China Medical University said, "The school handles this in order to effectively ensure the quality of the degree conferring of doctoral personnel with the same academic ability, and it is also in accordance with the relevant requirements of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council." At present, this work is being carried out gradually, and there is no final result. ”
The return of the Boeing "Starliner" to the ground has been postponed again
On June 21, local time, NASA announced that the Boeing "Starliner" spacecraft carrying two astronauts from the International Space Station back to Earth was postponed again from June 26 in order to fully assess whether the technical problems encountered were properly resolved. A new date for the spacecraft's return to Earth has not yet been determined, and it will be July at the earliest.
登机前 | Joe Skipper/Reuters
On the 5th of this month, as the final step in obtaining certification from NASA as flyworthiness for conventional commercial space missions, the Boeing Starliner took off with two American astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, for the first manned test flight. The spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station on the 6th and was initially scheduled to leave the International Space Station on the 14th and return to Earth, but later encountered problems such as thruster failure, and the return time was postponed to June 26.
"Mission managers are evaluating the possibility of a return trip to Earth after two spacewalks on June 24 and July 2, after which the space station is scheduled to complete two spacewalks," NASA said in its latest statement. ”
According to the BBC, there were three major problems with the Starliner.
The first is the leakage of the helium valve, and a total of 5 leaks of varying severity have been found. One of them was detected before take-off, and the leak was minor and was not thought to affect the mission. But after the spacecraft lifted off, technicians began to find more signs of leaks. Starliner's engine uses a pressure-fed cycle, and helium pressurizes the fuel and oxidizer, pushing it into the combustion chamber. Second, 5 of the 28 engines of the "Starliner" failed, and 4 of them are now back to normal. The third is that the oxidant valve is stuck and cannot be closed completely.
NASA said the service module where the fault was located was in the lower part of the spacecraft and would have burned up during re-entry. Therefore, the engineers wanted to analyze the data and find the root cause of the failure before the spacecraft returned.
According to The Guardian, all manifold valves are now closed normally to prevent further helium leaks. The return flight takes about 7 hours, and "the helium remaining in the tank is currently sufficient to support 70 hours of free flight".
According to Reuters, Steve Stich, head of NASA's commercial manned program, said that the Starliner could dock at the International Space Station for up to 45 days starting June 6. According to sources, the latest expected return date within NASA is July 6.
After boarding | NASA
Negative emotions may deprive the brain of "energy".
"Smile, ten years less." Many studies have shown that a positive mood and a good mental state can help delay cognitive decline, reduce the risk of brain diseases such as Alzheimer's disease in old age, and even prolong life. But what are the specific physiological mechanisms at play, from mental state to brain health?
A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) shows that the less psychological stress experienced in life, the more metabolic mitochondria in brain cells will be, and mitochondria may be the key to protecting the brain.
Mitochondria are organelles in eukaryotic cells that are enclosed by a bilayer of highly specialized unit membranes. It is some linear, rod-like, or granular structure. The main function is to synthesize adenosine triphosphate (ATP) through oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos), which provides energy for various physiological activities of cells, and is called the "power factory" of cells.
论文作者 | Columbia University Irving Medical Center
The new study analyzes mitochondrial phenotypes in the brains of older adults and compares them to their daily mental states. The study included 447 older participants in three cohorts, ROS, MAP, and BLSA, obtained detailed psychosocial information about the first two decades of their lives, and then created rating scales that converted their reported psychosocial factors into specific scores (positive factors: social network size, social activity in later life, life goals, perception of time remaining in life, and well-being; Negative factors: adverse childhood experiences, negative life events, social isolation, depressive symptoms, negative emotions, and perceived stress). By donating brains after the participants' deaths, the researchers obtained multiomic data that reflected the state of brain cells and scored the mitochondrial gene network into seven different aspects.
The results showed that the higher a person's psychosocial score—the more positive the mood and the greater the sense of well-being—the higher the amount of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, or protein required for energy conversion, in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for higher cognitive tasks; Conversely, individuals with a negative and low sense of well-being have lower levels of related proteins. A combination of psychosocial factors can explain the 18% to 25% difference in OxPhos complex I abundance.
This may be why long-term psychological stress and negative experiences are harmful to the brain – they can impair mitochondria's energy conversion processes in key brain regions of the body. Taking it a step further, do mitochondria change mood, or does emotion change mitochondria? Researchers say the effect is likely to go both ways. "These mechanisms may be mutually reinforcing, and long-term stress can alter a person's mitochondrial function, which in turn can affect his perception of social activities, making stress even worse."
Related papers: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2317673121
Ancient Egyptian "high-level white-collar workers" also had occupational diseases
描绘古埃及政要Nefer和他妻子的雕像 | Martin Frouz
According to an archaeological study, the ancient Egyptian scribes' years of copying may have caused them to suffer from "occupational diseases". In ancient Egypt, scribes were men of high status who were able to write and perform administrative duties. Studies have shown that they sit cross-legged or kneel for long periods of time, copying endlessly, resulting in an overload on the jaw, neck, and shoulders.
书吏的工作姿势,左为Nefer雕像 | Brukner Havelková, P., Dulíková, V., Bejdová, Š. et al.
The researchers analysed the remains of 69 adult males, 30 of whom were scribes, who were buried between 2700 BC and 2180 BC at the Abu Sir necropolis in Egypt. It was found that degenerative joint lesions were more likely to be found in the remains of scribes than in the remains of men engaged in other professions. Lesions occur in the joint that connects the jaw to the skull, the right clavicle, the top of the right humerus (where it joins the shoulder), the first metacarpal bone of the right thumb, the bottom of the thigh (where it meets the knee), and the entire spine, especially in the top region.
Brukner Havelková, P., Dulíková, V., Bejdová, Š. et al.
The researchers believe that the degenerative lesions of the scribe's spine and shoulders may be due to their prolonged sitting cross-legged, head tilted forward, spine curvature, and lack of arm support. However, changes in the knees, hips, and ankles suggest that the scribe may have preferred to sit on his knees or cross-legged with his left leg bent and his right leg bent with his knee facing up. The wall decorations of ancient Egyptian statues and tombs depict both poses as they worked.
In addition, the deterioration of the jaw joint may be due to the scribe chewing on the end of the corduroy stem to form a brush-like head of grass for writing, and the degeneration of the thumb may be caused by long-term pinching of the pen. (China Science News)
Related papers: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-63549-z
OpenAI discontinued service in China
On June 25, AI giant OpenAI informed API (Application Interface) users via email that from July 9, API traffic from countries and regions that are not on the supported list will be blocked, and that if you want to continue to use OpenAI's services, you need to access it in a supported region.
OpenAI announced in March 2023 that it would open APIs that allow third-party developers to integrate ChatGPT into their applications and services through APIs. Currently, a total of 188 countries and regions support access to API services, and accessing OpenAI API services outside of supported regions may result in account bans.
This also means that OpenAI will stop China's API services that are not on the list. This is believed to be the result of a combination of factors such as legal compliance.
The first weekly formulation of GLP-1RA for long-term weight management was approved in China
On June 25, Novo Nordisk announced that the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) approved the marketing application of Wegovy, semaglutide injection for long-term weight management, developed and produced by the company, in China. According to Novo Nordisk, this is the world's first and currently the only weekly formulation of a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1) for long-term weight management.
According to Novo Nordisk, Novo Nordisk was able to achieve an average weight loss of 17% (16.8kg) and brought multiple health benefits to patients beyond weight loss, and its safety has been widely proven. The approval of the innovative drug will provide a breakthrough healthy weight management solution for patients with overweight and obesity (initial BMI greater than or equal to 30kg/m^2; or between 27kg/m^2 and 30kg/m^2 with at least one weight-related comorbidity).
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