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"Bottoming" marine fish "mimesis master"
▲ Science Advances reported on this latest research in the form of a cover paper
The latest scientific research results led by Lin Qiang, a researcher at the South China Sea Institute of Oceanography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, reveal the evolutionary mechanism of leaf formation and tooth loss of the grass sea dragon, and for the first time elucidate the production and evolution of sex-determining genes in the sea dragon family. Recently, the relevant research was published in the form of a cover paper in Science Advances.
The extremely alternative biological features of being males who can get pregnant and eat meat but do not have teeth make the evolutionary mechanism of the sea dragons an interesting topic of "out of the circle". Sea dragons, including seahorses and sea dragons, with their rich and diverse morphological characteristics and unique male parenting behaviors, have been a popular subject for research on the evolution of marine organisms and species conservation.
——China Science News
2
Broad-spectrum monoclonal antibody against COVID-19 can cope with existing variant strains
On August 19, it was learned from the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that researchers from the Institute and other units collaborated to develop a blocking monoclonal antibody h11B11 that can target a variety of coronavirus invasion receptorSAC2, which can effectively prevent and treat the infection of the new coronavirus and its mutant strains with host cells and model animals, and show good safety in non-human primates. At the same time, as an antagonist of the new crown virus invading the host receptor, the antibody exhibits superior broad spectrum and neutralizing activity, which can cope with the various variants currently circulating. The results were published online in the journal Nature Communications.
Variants of the novel coronavirus are emerging and spreading faster and faster. This poses a huge challenge to the prevention and control of the new crown virus, and there is an urgent need to develop effective therapies that can cope with various variants of the virus. Neutralizing antibody therapy has been shown to be effective, but when variant strains appear, the monoclonal antibody at a single site will inevitably fail, and the research and development of broad-spectrum neutralizing antibodies must be put on the agenda.
——Science and Technology Daily
3
The Sino-foreign joint team has made important progress in the research of polarized radical optics
The team of Professors Li Peining and Zhang Xinliang of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, together with personnel from the National University of Singapore, the National Center for Nanoscience, the State University of New York and other scientific institutions, has made a breakthrough in the existence of "ghost" bibolic polarized excitation electron waves in traditional birefringent crystals. This achievement has innovated the "textbook" definition of polarized radical basic physics, and has important guiding significance for basic original research in the fields of condensed matter physics, photophysics, and electromagnetism. Nature, the world's leading journal, published the new findings on August 18.
——Xinhua Net
4
SARS survivors react more strongly to antibodies to the COVID-19 vaccine
Recently, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that people who were infected with the SARS virus nearly 20 years ago developed a strong antibody response after receiving the new crown vaccine. Their immune system can fight off the coronavirus and its variants, as well as related coronaviruses found in bats and pangolins.
The authors say the findings offer hope for the development of a vaccine to prevent all variants of the new coronavirus, as well as possible future epidemics.
5
Mammals diversified rapidly after the extinction of the dinosaurs
From left to right, conacodon hettingeri, Miniconus jeanninae, and Beornus honeyi are. Source: Banana Art Studio
In a paper published Aug. 18 in the Journal of Systems Paleontology, American scientists have discovered three new species of ancient mammals that left their footprints in North America in the early Paleocene, just a few hundred thousand years after the Cretaceous-Paleogene dinosaur mass extinction event. The discovery suggests that mammals evolved much faster than previously thought after the dinosaur mass extinction.
The newly discovered biological names are Miniconus jeanninae, Conacodon hettingeri and Beornus honi. They vary in size, with different tooth characteristics for each organism. Beornus Honi is named in honor of the Hobbit movie character Bion, as this species has swollen teeth like Bion.
6
Live immune cells in corals and star anemones were first discovered
▲ Image source: Prospect Network Baijia Number
According to the Physicists Organization Network reported on August 17, American scientists have found immune cells for the first time in the body of antler cup corals and star anemones, which can help them deal with infections. The findings help to better understand how reef-building corals and other reef animals protect themselves from alien invaders, such as bacterial viruses inside and around coral reefs, and to develop diagnostic tools to assess coral health.
To discover these particular immune cells, scientists at the University of Miami's Rosenstir School of Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences and Ben Gev ben Gurion University exposed the antler cup-shaped corals and star anemone bodies to foreign particles such as bacteria and fungal antigens in the lab, and then they used a fluorescently activated cell sorting method to distinguish between different cell populations.
Source: Today's WeChat public account of the Association for Science and Technology
Organizations at all levels of the China Association for Science and Technology should adhere to the responsibility positioning of serving scientific and technological workers, serving innovation-driven development, serving to improve the scientific quality of the whole people, and serving the scientific decision-making of the party and the government, and promote the construction of open, hub-type, and platform-based science and technology association organizations. Take up the long arm, take root in the grass-roots level, unite and lead the vast number of scientific and technological workers to actively march into scientific and technological innovation, organize and carry out innovative scramble actions, promote the prosperity and development of science and technology, promote the popularization and popularization of science, and truly become a people's organization that unites and links the vast number of scientific and technological workers under the leadership of the party, and become an important force in scientific and technological innovation. ——Xi Jinping