Academic headlines: The third largest Martian meteorite auction on Earth, the largest galaxy to date, the human brain speed began to slow down at the age of 60

The latest research from the University of Hong Kong: the new crown virus may reduce male fertility

Recently, the Department of Microbiology of the University of Hong Kong found that the new crown virus may cause hypogonadism and fertility decline in male patients, and patients will still be affected after recovery. The findings have been accepted for publication in the medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. Yuen Kwok-yong, chair professor in the Department of Microbiology at HKU, who led the study, said that when caring for male patients recovering from the new crown virus, it is necessary to pay attention to the possibility of reduced fertility, and vaccination with the new crown vaccine can prevent this complication.

The third largest Martian meteorite auction on Earth

Christie's Auction House held an online auction of meteorites and related items from the 9th to the 23rd of this month, and one of the meteorites from Mars is estimated to have the highest estimated value of $800,000. According to Christie's, the meteorite weighs about 9.1 kilograms and is the material that fell off the surface of Mars after being hit by an asteroid and eventually landed on Earth. People from a nomadic tribe in Mali discovered this meteorite from Mars in the Sahara Desert in December 2018, which experts identified as the third largest Martian meteorite found on Earth. The auction totaled 66 items, most of which were meteorites, but also some meteorite-related items, such as a kennel that had been hit by a meteorite, with an estimated value of $200,000 to $300,000.

Spanning 16.3 million light-years! The largest galaxy discovery to date

According to the website of the American magazine "Fun Science", scientists at the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands reported that the largest galaxy observed so far is 3 billion light-years away from Earth and spans 16.3 million light-years. Further research on it will help to figure out how galaxies grow and grow larger. They named the new galaxy after the ancient Greek mythic giant "Alcuonius", a cosmic "behemoth" 16.3 million light-years wide and 160 times the diameter of the Milky Way, and four times the largest known galaxy, IC1101 (3.9 million light-years wide). According to the researchers, the "Alcuonius" galaxy is a large and typical radio galaxy.

The latest study calls Antarctica man-made pollution or accelerated snowmelt

Recently, a new study suggests that black carbon pollution near tourist arrival points and expedition facilities in Antarctica may increase snowmelt in these areas. In the most affected areas, black carbon may cause a 23 mm reduction in snowpack (snow accumulated on the ground) each summer. The burning of fossil fuels and biomass produces black carbon, which absorbs light and warms up the atmosphere. If black carbon falls on the snow, the heat cannot be dissipated and the snow melt increases. The study authors estimate that an average of 53,000 visitors arrive in Antarctica during the 2016-2020 tourism season, and believe that the amount of black carbon each tourist contributes may cause about 83 tons of snow to melt each summer.

Scholars have discovered the world's first fossil of crocodile footprint feces

Recently, Deng Tao's research team from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and multinational scholars jointly reported the world's first case of crocodile footprint feces. The study of fecal fossils has attracted widespread attention in recent years and has established an academic system. As a new thing in the field of paleontology, fecal fossils are already a very important part of the study of relic fossils. Researchers have found a rare fossil footprint of feces in the material of the Neosocene-Oligostarian Nayang Formation— a footprint fossil preserved on the surface of fecal fossils. This unique combination of fossil types of relics has not been previously documented.

Researchers have developed new materials that are strong and elastic

Recently, researchers have used ultraviolet light to co-aggregate acrylic acid and acrylamide in 70% of the ionic liquid solution. The resulting gel has an average level that is superior to the above two monomer materials, and it is better than cartilage in terms of toughness. In addition, the ionic gel has self-healing and shape memory properties. For example, when exposed to 60 °C, it can return to its original shape in just a few tens of seconds.

Clean chemistry solves the mystery of "water and oil are not compatible"

According to research published in the journal Chemical Sciences, Flinders University in Australia completed a major scientific challenge: they invented a vortex jet device (VFD) that used this "clean chemistry" method to solve the mystery of "water and oil incompatibility" and achieve the mixing of "non-mixable things". In the future, the innovation will be widely used in a range of industries, from food processing and nutraceuticals to cosmetics to research and development such as capsule drug delivery.

There are "singing neurons" in the human brain.

There are parts of the human brain that respond to a variety of music, but how these brain regions encode their responses to music is unclear. In a new study, scientists combined different brain activity detection techniques to discover an area in the auditory cortex that selectively responds to singing sounds. The study has been published in Contemporary Biology.

Scientists use molecular explosions to capture molecular images

Recently, a study published in Nature Physics used the world's largest X-ray laser and microscopic imaging spectrometer to capture clear images of complex iodopyridine molecules at the atomic level. This is the sharpest image taken of complex molecules to date. These images are important for future recording of molecular changes, and high-resolution videos can provide specific details of chemical or physical changes.

Artificial neurons can communicate with flytrap biological cells to allow leaves to close

A new biotechnology paper published in Springer Nature's academic journal Nature Communications says that an artificial neuron can successfully communicate with the biological cells of flycatchers and also allow flycatchers to close their leaves. The results of this study may have important implications for the development of brain-computer interfaces and soft robots in the future. The researchers had the printed artificial neurons and synapses fully mimic the signal transduction characteristics of biological systems, which use ion migration-mediated firings to communicate, and then successfully connect these artificial neurons to a flycatcher's biological system. The demonstration results show that these artificial neurons can induce flycatchers to close their leaves under electrical stimulation.

Mainland scholars have revealed for the first time a new mechanism for the formation of the immune microenvironment of glioma

Recently, the team of Li Gang, a professor of neurosurgery at Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, published the latest research results online in the international oncology journal Molecular Cancer, revealing for the first time a new mechanism for glioma exosomes to promote the formation of tumor immune microenvironment, and elucidating the dual mechanism of action of cyclic RNA on glioma cells and their immunosuppressive microenvironment. This is also the first exosome-related non-ceRNA mechanism-mediated tumor immunity-related research in the field of cyclic RNA.

Scientists implement Hal random unitary matrices based on quantum random walking

Recently, the research group of Professor Jin Xianmin of the School of Physics and Astronomy of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and scholars from the University of Florence in Italy and Imperial College of Technology in the United Kingdom published a paper in the Physical Review Letters to verify that the quantum random walk on the three-dimensional light quantum chip meets the Hal measure, and for the first time, the Hal random unitary matrix based on quantum random walk is experimentally realized.

Studies have found new treatments for the relief of rheumatoid arthritis

Recently, the team of Professor Zhu Ping of the Department of Clinical Immunology of Xijing Hospital of air force military medical university published a research paper in the journal Nature Communications. Studies have found that in the progression of rheumatoid arthritis, tumor necrosis factor TNF is a key signal that regulates the resistance to iron death response of synovial fibroblasts. TNF promotes glutathione (GSH) biosynthesis in cells by activating NF-κB, protecting fibroblasts from escaping lipid peroxidation pressure and resisting iron death. The TNF antagonist etanercept can significantly enhance the killing effect of the low-dose iron death inducer IKE on fibroblasts, thereby alleviating joint inflammation and cartilage destruction, and inhibiting the progression of rheumatoid arthritis.

When people reach the flower nails, the brain slows down

A new study published Feb. 17 in Nature-Human Behavior found that people's ability to process information during decision-making does not decline until age 60. The study challenged previously widely believed belief that human thought speed began to decline in their 20s. The team used an established cognitive model based on previous research that slows down after age 20, possibly because as people age, they want more certainty before making decisions; visual information takes more time to travel from the eye to the brain; and people take longer to press a button. The analysis shows that people's thinking speed accelerates in their 20s and remains there until they are 60.

Ministry of Education: Colleges and universities shall not separately push and exempt high-level athletes

On the 22nd, the Ministry of Education of China issued the "Opinions of the Ministry of Education on Further Strengthening the Construction and Management of High-level Sports Teams in Ordinary Colleges and Universities" on its official website, which clearly states that colleges and universities may not give high-level athletes a separate quota or formulate a separate exemption method.

Zhang Guojie, tenured full-time professor at the University of Copenhagen, joined Zhejiang University full-time

According to the official news of Zhejiang University, Zhang Guojie, a tenured full professor at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, has joined Zhejiang University full-time from 2022. According to the announcement, Zhang Guojie, graduated from the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2010 with a doctorate, served as an assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark since 2012, and became a tenured full professor in 2017. It is worth mentioning that Zhang Guojie became the first assistant professor in Denmark to enter the tenure sequence in 2015, and was awarded the position of tenured associate professor in March 2017 and a tenured professor in September of the same year, becoming the first Chinese full professor in the history of the University of Copenhagen since its establishment more than 500 years ago. He has made internationally leading academic contributions to the frontiers of life sciences– biodiversity genomics and ecological evolutionary genomics.

Zou Weidong is the dean of Longyan College

A few days ago, after the study and decision of the Fujian Provincial CPC Committee, Comrade Zou Weidong was appointed deputy secretary of the LONGyan Academy Committee of the CPC and president of Longyan College. Zou Weidong, male, born in November 1968, Hubei Yang newcomer, doctor of science, second-level professor, master tutor, special allowance expert of the State Council. He is currently the deputy secretary of the party committee and the president of Longyan College. He is mainly engaged in the research of the magnetic mechanism of organic magnetic materials and the thermal conductivity of low-dimensional materials, and has published more than 20 SCI papers.

Fan Dacan, an expert in German literature, translator and professor at Peking University, passed away at the age of 88

According to the German Literature Research Branch of the Chinese Foreign Literature Society and the School of Foreign Chinese of Peking University, Mr. Fan Dacan, an expert in German literature research, translator and professor of the German Department of Peking University, died in Beijing on February 21, 2022 at the age of 88 due to ineffective medical treatment. According to public information, Fan Dacan was born in March 1934 in Qi County, Shanxi Province, and was admitted to the Department of Western Languages and Literatures of Peking University in September 1953, majoring in German. After graduating in July 1957, he stayed on to teach at the University of Leipzig in Germany, where he was promoted to professor in 1985. Mr. Fan Dacan has been teaching for more than 40 years and has cultivated a large number of outstanding professionals for the country, and is deeply respected and loved by teachers and students. His translations of goethe, Schiller and other writers are well received by readers and have won wide acclaim in the industry.