1
Gastrodin may become a low-toxic and highly effective drug for the treatment of fatty liver
On July 23, the research group of Ding Yi, associate professor of the College of Animal Science and Technology and the College of Veterinary Medicine of Huazhong Agricultural University, published the latest research results online in Hepatology. By screening natural compounds for the treatment of steatohepatitis, the team found that gastrodin had good safety and anti-steatohepatitis effects, and further explored the mechanism of action of gastrodin.
——China Science News
2
The study found that Northeast China can support the survival of more than 300 Siberian tigers
▲ From January 2013 to December 2018, there were information sites for the emergence of Siberian tigers in China, as well as the current distribution area of Siberian tigers in China and Russia. (Courtesy of Northeast Forestry University)
29 July is World Tiger Day. A joint study by Professor Jiang Guangshun of Northeast Forestry University and the Feline Research Center of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, the World Society for Wildlife Biology, the World Wide Fund for Nature, the University of California and other institutions found that the population of wild Siberian tigers in China shows a growth dynamic and can support the survival of more than 300 Siberian tigers in the future.
According to reports, the study lasted 6 years, covering all the habitat landscape patches distributed by Siberian tigers in China, and a total of about 2400 automatic cameras were deployed. The study identified 55 wild Siberian tigers (including 20 juveniles) through image data recorded by automatic cameras. During this period, the average growth rate of the Siberian tiger population was 1.51%, and the number of wild Siberian tigers was multiplied compared with the 12 to 16 surveyed in 2000.
——Xinhua Net
3
A new "dynamic triatomic" hydrogenation catalyst with high density anti-carbon deposition is introduced
It was learned from the University of Science and Technology of China that Professor Lu Junling of the university, Professor Li Weixue, Professor Wei Shiqiang and other research groups, using metal-carrier interaction and atomic limits, designed for the first time a new non-noble metal catalyst with high density, carbon-resistant nickel-copper "dynamic triatoms", and made breakthroughs in the application of acetylene and selective hydrogenation of 1,3 butadiene in olefin-rich atmospheres. The results were published online on July 26 in Nature Nanotechnology.
——Science and Technology Daily
4
The study found that the vegetation driving force of grassland on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau changed
▲ Image recording of the main factor transformation of grassland on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau taken by Xiong Qin plough
Recently, Ecological Indicators published the research results of Xiong Qinli of the Project Team on Surface Processes and Ecosystem Management in the Field of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiao Yang, Associate Professor of Jishou University, and Liang Pinghan, Professor of Sun Yat-sen University. The grassland ecosystem possessed by the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is an important guarantee for curbing land desertification and soil loss, water conservation, carbon sequestration, and climate regulation, and is an important ecological barrier for the plateau and surrounding areas, which is extremely important for maintaining China's ecological security.
At present, the driving research of human disturbance and climate change on the ecosystem changes of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the large-scale spatio-temporal environment has become a hot topic. But the question of whether climate change or human disturbances are driving substantial changes in the grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau has not been accurately answered. The impact of a series of ecological protection projects and policies implemented by the state on the grassland ecosystem of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has not been systematically assessed.
5
Latest study: Lungfish-tetrapods were differentiated between 427 million and 416 million years ago
▲ The organic carbon isotope change curve of the Yiliang Dahe composite profile and the chemical formation comparison with the classic SDB profile at home and abroad. Courtesy of Zhao Wenjin
The Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Institute of Paleovertebrates of the Chinese Academy of Sciences) released a news release on July 27 that the institute's early vertebrate research team and experts from the University of Science and Technology of China and the State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology of Tongji University jointly completed the latest research results, saying that the differentiation between empty spiny fish and lungfish and lungfish - tetrapods should occur between 427 million and 416 million years ago.
The new progress paper by Chinese scientists in the field of the Silurian-Devonian Boundary (SDB) in South China on the "Minimum Time Constraint of the Divergence Point of the Silurian-Devonian Boundary and the Lungfish-Tetrapod Divergence Point" in Eastern Yunnan has recently been published online in chinese and English editions of Science in China: Earth Science. Zhao Wenjin, researcher of the Institute of Paleovertebrates of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Associate Professor Zhang Xiaolin of the School of Earth and Space Sciences of the University of Science and Technology of China are the co-first authors of the paper, and Zhu Min, researcher of the Institute of Paleovertebrates of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is the corresponding author of the paper.
——China News Network
6
The "feel-good" brain messenger can be controlled at will
▲ Image source: Author Conrad Foo et al
From the excitement of hearing an ice cream truck approaching, to the spikes in pleasure when tasting fine wine, neural messengers known as dopamine are widely described as "feeling good" chemicals in the brain that are associated with rewards and pleasure.
Dopamine is a ubiquitous neurotransmitter that transmits signals between brain cells, and its many functions involve multiple aspects of the cognitive process. Scientists have conducted extensive research on this chemical messenger from the perspective of external cues or "decisive" signals. But researchers at the University of California, San Diego, began studying lesser-known aspects related to spontaneous dopamine impulses. Their findings were recently published in Contemporary Biology, which shows that mice can manipulate these random dopamine pulses at will.
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