China Science & Technology Forum

[JSCh]

Construction company in Hunan shows new way to build houses

• Updated: 2015-12-28 11:19
• chinadaily.com.cn

A group of foreigners, including overseas students and experts, visited factories that seek environment-friendly solutions during a trip to understand how Changsha is transforming itself into a resource-conserving and environment-friendly society in Changsha, Hunan province, on Wednesday.

The foreign representatives showed a great interest in an enterprise which uses new technology and eco-friendly ideas in construction.

The Broad Homes Industrial International Co, Ltd advocates building houses like automakers build cars - separately constructing parts to improve the quality of the building and using less energy during the process.

The representatives visited the production line where many pieces are made as individual parts. According to the company, the walls are made first then the rooms take shape. The building, the company claims, built this way can last more than 100 years.

According to a staff member at the construction site, there is no dust, noise or wastage of water and material when the walls are build.

The company said the new method reduces the usage of five tons of construction waste to build one square meter of construction.

To build a 125-square-meter house with the new method, Broad claims it saves 70 percent of energy, 20 percent of materials, 80 percent of water, 60 percent of time and 20 percent of space compared to houses constructed in traditional way.

In March, Broad became famous when it completed a 57-storey skyscraper in 19 days in Hunan. Its time-lapse video of the construction and its innovative method left people amazed.

 

[JSCh]

Posted: Dec 28, 2015

Understanding the mechanism for generating electric current without energy consumption at room temperature

(Nanowerk News) A group of researchers in Japan and China identified the requirements for the development of new types of extremely low power consumption electric devices by studying Cr-doped (Sb,Bi)2Te3 thin films. This study has been reported in Nature Communications ("Carrier-mediated ferromagnetism in the magnetic topological insulator Cr-doped (Sb,Bi)2Te3").

At extremely low temperatures, an electric current flows around the edge of the film without energy loss, and under no external magnetic field. This attractive phenomenon is due to the material's ferromagnetic properties; however, so far, it has been unclear how the material gains this property. For the first time, researchers have revealed the mechanism by which this occurs. “Hopefully, this achievement will lead to the creation of novel materials that operate at room temperature in the future,” said Akio Kimura, a professor at Hiroshima University and a member of the research group.

Ferromagnetism mediated by Sb or Te atoms. (Image: Hiroshima University)
​

Their achievement can be traced back to the discovery of the quantum Hall effect in the 1980’s, where an electric current flows along an edge (or interface) without energy loss. However, this requires both a large external magnetic field and an extremely low temperature. This is why practical applications have not been possible. Researchers believed that this problem could be overcome with new materials called topological insulators that have ferromagnetic properties such as those found in Cr-doped (Sb,Bi)2Te3.

A topological insulator, predicted in 2005 and first observed in 2007, is neither a metal nor an insulator, and has exotic properties. For example, an electric current is generated only at the surface or the edge of the material, while no electric current is generated inside it. It looks as if only the surface or the edge of the material has metallic properties, while on the inside it is an insulator.

At extremely low temperatures, a thin film made of Cr-doped (Sb,Bi)2Te3 shows a peculiar phenomenon. As the film itself is ferromagnetic, an electric current is spontaneously generated without an external magnetic field and electric current flows only around the edge of the film without energy loss. However, it was previously unknown as to why Cr-doped (Sb,Bi)2Te3 had such ferromagnetic properties that allowed it to generate electric current.

“That’s why we selected the material as the object of our study,” said Professor Kimura.
Because Cr is a magnetic element, a Cr atom is equivalent to an atomic-sized magnet. The N-S orientations of such atomic-sized magnets tend to be aligned in parallel by the interactions between the Cr atoms. When the N-S orientations of Cr atoms in Cr-doped (Sb,Bi)2Te3 are aligned in parallel, the material exhibits ferromagnetism. However, the interatomic distances between the Cr atoms in the material are, in fact, too long to interact sufficiently to make the material ferromagnetic.

The group found that the non-magnetic element atoms, such as the Sb and Te atoms, mediate the magnetic interactions between Cr atoms and serve as the glue to fix the N-S orientations of Cr atoms that face one direction. In addition, the group expects that its finding will provide a way to increase the critical temperature for relevant device applications.

The experiments for this research were mainly conducted at SPring-8. “We would not have achieved perfect results without the facilities and the staff there. They devoted themselves to detecting the extremely subtle magnetism that the atoms of non-magnetic elements exhibit with extremely high precision. I greatly appreciate their efforts,” Kimura said.

• Source: Hiroshima University

 

[JSCh]

Oldest Hoabinhian site discovered in SW China
Xinhua, December 30, 2015

Xiaodong Rockshelter [Photo/Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Yunnan]​

The oldest Hoabinhian culture, an important technological adaptation by hunter-gatherers to the humid tropical and subtropical environments of southeast Asia some 43,500 years ago, was identified in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Discovered at Xiaodong Rockshelter, it is the first-ever Hoabinhian site to be found in China, according to a research team at the Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.

The Hoabinhian culture was first discovered in the 1920s in the northern Vietnam's Hoa Binh Province by French scholar M. Colani, who defined it in 1932 at the First Conference for Prehistoric Archaeologists in the Far East.

The Hoabinhian technocomplex is characterized by large and elongated adze-like unifacial cobble tools, which are thought to be used for woodworking in forested habitats, including the hilly limestone landscapes where the Xiaodong Rockshelter is located.

Leading researcher Ji Xueping said most known Hoabinhian sites have been dated to between 25,000 to 5,000 years ago, with the oldest about 29,000 years from today.

As a technological adaptation practiced by the latest hunter-gatherers to cope with the humid environments of southeast Asia, Hoabinhian sites provide significant clues for understanding the surviving strategies of hominids, and the transition from nomadic populations to more settled agricultural communities, Ji said.

The Xiaodong Palaeolithic site was first found in 1981. In 2004, archaeologists conducted the first systematic investigation in the Xiaodong Cave and collected stone artifacts, which made them realize the value of the site.

From 2007 to 2015, further investigations were carried out at the site. A soil layer containing more than four meters of cultural deposits was excavated. Collected samples confirmed the Hoabinhian affinity of Xiaodong after comparisons with other materials in southeast Asian countries.

The carbon 14 dating method shows the site was occupied some 43,500 to 24,000 years ago. The bottom layer may even be older.

"Xiaodong can be regarded as a typical early Hoabinhian site, the first such site found in China and currently the oldest in Asia as well," Ji said, adding the new discovery may indicate the origins of the widespread Hoabinhian sites in southeast Asia are likely to be in the upper valley region of the Lancang-Mekong river system of southwest China.

"The study shows that the Lancang River valley is a possible home for the Hoabinhian culture and a source of migration for modern humans and the transmission of their culture to southeast Asia," Ji said. "The early Hoabinhian adaptation in southwest Yunnan played an important role in the Late Palaeolithic and Early Neolithic cultures in southeast Asia and south China."

The research team has spent nearly ten years on field investigations that covered tens of thousands of kilometers, and paid several visits to southeast Asian countries for comparative studies. Scholars from France and South Africa also participated in the study.

The finding results have been published online in the journal "Quaternary International" on Dec. 23.

 

[JSCh]

Mysterious radio signals from space discovered to be a much better test of Einstein's General Relativity theory
December 30, 2015

Limits on the differences of the γ values for three FRB observations. Credit: Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 261101 – Published 23 December 2015. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.261101 ​

A new way to test one of the basic principles underlying Einstein's theory of General Relativity using brief blasts of rare radio signals from space called Fast Radio Bursts is ten times, to one-hundred times better than previous testing methods that used gamma-ray bursts, according to a paper just published in the journal Physical Review Letters. The paper received additional highlighting as an "Editor's Suggestion" due to "its particular importance, innovation, and broad appeal," according to the journal's editors.

Read more at: Mysterious radio signals from space discovered to be a much better test of Einstein's General Relativity theory

Editors' Suggestion
Testing Einstein’s Equivalence Principle With Fast Radio Bursts

• Jun-Jie Wei, He Gao, Xue-Feng Wu, and Peter Mészáros
• Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 261101 – Published 23 December 2015

Abstract

The accuracy of Einstein’s equivalence principle (EEP) can be tested with the observed time delays between correlated particles or photons that are emitted from astronomical sources. Assuming as a lower limit that the time delays are caused mainly by the gravitational potential of the Milky Way, we prove that fast radio bursts (FRBs) of cosmological origin can be used to constrain the EEP with high accuracy. Taking FRB 110220 and two possible FRB/gamma-ray burst (GRB) association systems (FRB/GRB 101011A and FRB/GRB 100704A) as examples, we obtain a strict upper limit on the differences of the parametrized post-Newtonian parameter γ values as low as [γ(1.23  GHz)−γ(1.45  GHz)]<4.36×10−9. This provides the most stringent limit up to date on the EEP through the relative differential variations of the γ parameter at radio energies, improving by 1 to 2 orders of magnitude the previous results at other energies based on supernova 1987A and GRBs.

DOI: Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 261101 (2015) - Testing Einstein's Equivalence Principle With Fast Radio Bursts

© 2015 American Physical Society
​

 

[JSCh]

20,000 items and counting at Haihunhou

• 2015-12-31 16:34
• CNTV

The Han Dynasty burial site of Haihunhou is one of the great archaeological finds of all time. It has been a huge story in China's cultural scene. Five years of excavation have unearthed more than 20,000 pieces, even surpassing the star site known as Ma Wangdui.

Dating from the western Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago, Haihunhou is the probable resting place of Liu He. He was the grandson of famed emperor Wu, but, apparently lacking either talent or morals, was deposed after only 27 days on the throne himself. He was then named Marquis of Haihun State, a small kingdom to the west of today's Jiangxi province.

Since excavations began in March 2011, archaeologist have unearthed more than 20,000 items including gold, bronze, iron, jade, lacquerware, textiles, pottery, bamboo slips, and wooden tablets. Such findings from the period are extremely rare.

"What's on the wooden tablets are letters to the royal court sent by the Marquis of the Haihun State. The bamboo tablets haven't been read through and analyzed by experts, but going by our experience of archaeology of the period, we think they might be books of medicine, agriculture, and calendars," said Xin Lixiang, an archaeologist.

Some 2 million bronze coins, together weighing some 10 tons, have been dug up. They shed light on the monetary system of the period.

"Previously we thought 'one thousand coins making one Guan' started during the Song Dynasty, but now we know it began in the Western Han Dynasty, which is a thousand years earlier," said Zhang Zhongli, an archaeologist.

Chariots, pots, distillers, a chess board, and many musical instruments have also been excavated from the corridors of the tomb.

Digging on the main rooms of the tomb started in mid November. In the western chamber, a folding screen was found with an image thought to be of Confucius, along with biographical inscriptions.

On December 20, the outer coffin was opened to reveal 285 gold pieces, the largest number ever found in a Han-Dynasty tomb.

All in all, Haihunhou has stunned the archaeological world with the quantity and quality of finds.

 

[JSCh]

China identifies new dinosaur with bow-shaped hip bone

• 2016-01-01 08:28
• Xinhua

​

Paleontologists in east China's Shandong Province have named a new dinosaur species in the genus Leptoceratops after its unique hip bone.

The partial skeleton of Ischioceratops zhuchengensis, which lived during the Cretaceous Period, the last dinosaur era, was found in the world's largest dinosaur fossil field at Zhucheng, according to the local dinosaur research center

Leptoceratops are small, herbivorous dinosaurs that walked on four legs but could probably stand or walk on their hind legs alone. The new species features a recurve bow-shaped ischium (back and lower part of the hip bone), which has an obturator process in the middle part and an axehead-shaped expansion at the distal end.

The discovery has been published in the U.S. journal PLOS ONE.

More than ten new dinosaur species have been discovered and named at Zhucheng.

 

[Martian2]

Taiwan's AUO develops indigenous zero-liquid-discharge process technology for TFT-LCD production

CTIMES News - Taiwan’s First Locally Made Water Full-recycling System Launches at AUO’s Lungtan Site

 

[JSCh]

Public Release: 29-Dec-2015

Scientists variable vectoring technique for propeller powered unmanned aerial vehicles
Science China Press

The proposed variable thrust direction mechanism is shown in Fig.1, a conventional propeller engine is mounted on a two dimensional rotate disk, which is driven by two servo actuators. By combining the linear motions of the actuator, both the azimuth and the altitude angle of the disk with respect to the fuselage can be controlled, and thus changing the thrust direction of the propeller. Credit: ©Science China Press

The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) designed for plateau missions are usually installed with high span chord ratio wings, which provides more lifting force at a relatively low airspeed. The UAVs employ high span chord ratio wings, however, tend to lose their maneuverability. Hence, they usually need larger turning radius and unable to maintain the altitude during sharp slope turning as the lifting force produced by the wings decrease dramatically when the bank angle is large. The discarding of the flight performances may risk the safety of the flight in plateau mountain regions. Variable thrust direction (VTD) technology is a type of thrust vectoring control (TVC) approach that allows to manipulate the directions of thrust to the fuselage of the aircraft.

Most of the existing works are designed for jet engines, which cannot be applied to the conventional propeller engine aircraft. In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Information Sciences recently, researchers develop a novel VTD mechanism to the conventional propeller engine UAV, which allows redirecting parts portion of the thrust from the propeller engine to other directions rather than normal axial direction. A combination flight controller for the VTD enhanced UAV is then proposed to coordinate the VTD controlled forces and aerodynamic surfaces forces.

The proposed variable thrust direction mechanism is shown in Fig.1, a conventional propeller engine is mounted on a two dimensional rotate disk, which is driven by two servo actuators. By combining the linear motions of the actuator, both the azimuth and the altitude angle of the disk with respect to the fuselage can be controlled, and thus changing the thrust direction of the propeller.

By the introduction of the VTD capability to the conventional propeller UAV, the maneuverability of the UAV has been greatly enhanced, since the VTD engine enables direct force control of the aircraft. The newly developed VTD UAV was applied to implement plateau missions, which demonstrates the usefulness of the proposed technique.

###

See the article:

Research on Variable Thrust Directional Control Technique for Plateau Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Yin WANG & Daobo WANG
College of Astronautics, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China;
College of Automation Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
SCIENCE CHINA Information Sciences, DOI: 10.1007/s11432-015-5505-5
Research on Variable Thrust Directional Control Technique for Plateau Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Scientists variable vectoring technique for propeller powered unmanned aerial vehicles | EurekAlert! Science News

 

[JSCh]

Watch this space: Telescope releases mass of data

• Updated: 2016-01-04 08:35
• By CHENG YINGQI(China Daily)

A file photo of the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope, also known as the Guo Shoujing Telescope. XINHUA

Astronomers in China working with one of world's largest optical telescopes released a huge collection of data over the new year holiday, increasing the chances of "significant findings" in space exploration, experts say.
The latest update to the National Astronomical Observatories' sky survey, conducted using the LAMOST telescope, includes some 4.62 million spectral data relating to the structure, formation and evolution of the Milky Way.

LAMOST－short for Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope－has been used to carry out a massive sky survey since September 2012. So far, it has collected more data than all previous sky surveys combined, according to the NAO.

"As more and more data are released, there will be more significant findings," said Yan Jun, director of the NAO.

Chu Yaoquan, deputy director of operations and development at LAMOST, described the survey as like a census of the stars. "The project gives us a large sample of stars. With the large sample－say, a few million－we can know more about the past and present of the galaxy," he explained in an earlier interview.

The first phase of the survey is to collect more than 5 million star spectra by September this year. The data, which will be used to create a "digital galaxy" for research on the Milky Way, will be shared with 31 colleges and institutes in China and overseas.

Previous surveys have provided long-lasting resources. For example, Chen Xuelei, a researcher with the NAO, recently reported a fast radio burst spotted by Green Bank Telescope in the United States' West Virginia.

Working together

"Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are bright bursts of radiation that usually last for only a fraction of a second before disappearing. Sometimes we joke they are aliens tying to talk to us, but the fact is we have no idea what they are," he said.

An international team made up of scientists from China, the US, Canada and South Africa, among other countries, carried out 700 hours of surveys using the Green Bank Telescope and accumulated a large database. When they started to analyze the data, they found the radio bursts and reported the discovery to Nature magazine in December.

"FRBs take place a few thousand times a year, but it's very difficult to see them," Chen said. "We accumulated mass data, which has increased our chances of observing FRBs."

Meanwhile, Gou Lijun and his students, also with the NAO, have been collaborating with US scientists to measure a black hole named X-ray Nova Muscae 1991 in the Milky Way using data collected in 1991 by the Japanese satellite GINGA.

The size of the black hole is comparable to the size of Beijing: It is about 60 kilometers across. It also weighs roughly 11 times more than the sun, and travels at a speed of about 387 rotations per second.

Scientists have identified 19 black holes in the Milky Way but so far have managed to measure only six of them.

 

[JSCh]

Chinese researchers find flavonoids in cotton petals to treat Alzheimer's

• English.news.cn
• 2016-01-03 18:56:37

URUMQI, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- A new drug to treat Alzheimer's disease that uses flavonoids found and extracted by Chinese researchers from cotton petals has entered clinical trial.

Researchers at Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry under the Chinese Academy of Sciences said this week that they had discovered flavonoids capable of improving animals' learning ability in a study that began in 2003.

These flavonoids were found to improve the memory of mice with dementia and that of naturally aged mice.

Researchers then identified the 20 flavonoid compounds in the petals and made tablets that can produce a similar effect at small dosages.

The research institute signed a deal with a pharmaceutical marker to apply the research finding.

The white and pink cotton-petal blossom bloom before the cotton bolls. Xinjiang is a major cotton production base in China. Previously these petals were discarded but after their medicinal property were uncovered, they now sell for around 15 yuan per kilogram in the market.

Editor: Mengjie​

 

[Martian2]

China's Pebble-bed nuclear reactor technology advances

Pebble-bed nuclear reactor technology is safe. It can't melt down. Normal air circulation is sufficient to keep it cool.

"HTR-10 is a 10 MegaWatt prototype pebble bed reactor at Tsinghua University in China. Construction began in 1995, achieving its first criticality in December 2000, and was operated in full power condition in January 2003."

"In 2005, China announced its intention to scale up HTR-10 for commercial power generation. The first two 250-MWt High Temperature Reactor-Pebble-bed Modules (HTR-PM) will be installed at the Shidao Bay Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Rongcheng in Shandong Province, and together drive a steam turbine generating 200 MWe.
...
Construction finally began at the end of 2012,[5] with the pour of the concrete basemat occurring in April 2014.[6] It is expected to begin operating around 2017.[6]"
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Simulator delivered for China's HTR-PM | World Nuclear News

"The demonstration plant's twin HTR-PM units will drive a single 210 MWe turbine. It is expected to start commercial operation in late 2017. Eighteen further units are proposed for the Shidaowan site, near Rongcheng in Weihai city.

A proposal to construct two 600 MWe HTRs at Ruijin city in China's Jiangxi province passed a preliminary feasibility review in early 2015. The design of the Ruijin HTRs is based on the smaller Shidaowan demonstration HTR-PM. Construction of the Ruijin reactors is expected to start in 2017, with grid connection in 2021."

 

[Martian2]

Taiwan develops 'X-ray eyes' system for surgeons | Tech | FOCUS TAIWAN - CNA ENGLISH NEWS

 

[JSCh]

Scientists identify "fear switch" neurons in mice
2016-01-05 15:53:58

HANGZHOU, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists have discovered two types of neurons that can arouse or suppress innate fear induced by odor.

Innate fear, which include things like fear of height and insects, is a basic animal instinct to avoid danger, but in excess it can lead to anxiety and even mental disease. Understanding its neuron mechanism can benefit therapy for fear-related disorders, said Duan Shumin with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

By exposing mice to the odor of their predator's feces and recording fear-related responses such as frozen movement, shaking and accelerated heart rate, Duan's team studied how such fears were related to their somatostatin-positive neurons and parvalbumin-positive (PV) neurons.

When their PV neurons were inhibited, the mice remained bold and continued to act normally despite the threat of a predator, while activation of the somatostatin neurons produced the same effect, said Wang Hao from Zhejiang University, who also participated in the research.

"These neurons are like fear switches. Even without the odor, the neurons can generate a fear response in mice, such as fleeing, increased heart rate and incontinence," Wang said.

The study was published in the latest issue of Nature Neuroscience.

Editor: Tian Shaohui​

 

[JSCh]

01.05.2016 14:21

Banking on Gene Power for 'Precision Medicine'
Genome sequencing companies, including niche service providers, are at the heart of a new health care initiative backed by the Chinese government


By staff reporter Wang Qionghui

(Beijing) – The Chinese government is powering a homegrown "precision medicine" initiative aimed at improving patient treatment for chronic ailments such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes.

Officials have declared precision medicine – a customized form of health care based on genome-sequencing technology – as one of the nation's foremost science and technology projects under the 13th Five-Year Plan for the 2016-20 period.

A document published after a March meeting hosted by the Ministry of Science and Technology says the central government plans to spend 20 billion yuan to support precision medicine research by 2030, matching an anticipated 40 billion yuan in private investment. Moreover, the top public health authority, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, is drafting a strategic plan for promoting precision medicine's development nationwide.

Companies that expect to benefit from the initiative include Shenzhen-based BGI Genomics Co., Hangzhou's Berry Genomics Co. and Beijing Biomarker Technologies. Although young, the genetics services sector in the country is already diversifying, with firms staking claims in specialties such as prenatal care and niche services like disease and cancer detection through genetic testing.

BGI, the nation's leader in genome sequencing, is a 16-year-old company that bought U.S. medical equipment maker Complete Genomics in 2012 and last October rolled out its first homegrown genome sequencing machine. Berry, established in 2010, is China's second-largest genome sequencer and the developer of non-invasive prenatal testing procedure that's been offered since 2011. Beijing Biomarker, founded in 2009, serves research institutions with genetic analyses and testing services.

The precision medicine movement has also won the attention of Internet and computer companies. In October, the U.S. chip maker Intel Corp. and China's e-commerce leader Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. announced a three-way partnership with BGI. The firms said they will collaborate to build a cloud-based online platform allowing clinics to access genetic data and other precision medicine services.

"Precision medicine requires sharing an individual's genetic data and comparing it to huge amounts of data from similar patients," said Li Yingrui, chief executive of BGI Tech Solution Co., a subsidiary of BGI. Health specialists then use those comparisons "to find differences and similarities to work out precise treatment regimes for individual patients."

The Next Step

China's initiative parallels a similar movement in the United States. In January 2015, U.S. President Barack Obama mentioned the field in his State of the Union address, calling for the government to spend US$ 215 million in fiscal 2016 to support precision medicine and build a national genome register. The effort would be coordinated by the National Cancer Institute and other agencies.

Precision medicine is considered a step up from today's basic approach to medical treatment, which is based on the general idea that "one size fits all." Such an approach to diagnosis and treatment can mean curing some patients but not others.

Precision medicine revolves around customized disease prevention, diagnostics and treatment services based on a patient's unique biological, environmental and behavioral circumstances. Supporters say the approach gives health care specialists the tools they need to work out unique treatment strategies backed by genome sequencing.

Many medical experts are particularly excited about precision medicine's role as a powerful tool in the fight against cancer, particularly for its ability to help with early detection. Cancer is now a leading killer in China. A report by the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences said an average of six people in the country were diagnosed with cancer every minute in 2015, and five of those six would eventually die of the disease. Many tumor experts blame the nation's high cancer death rates on diagnoses that come too late.

The World Health Organization found that half of all newly diagnosed cancer patients worldwide in 2014 lived in Asia. China saw the biggest increase in cancer patients between 2013 and 2014.

A doctor who tells a patient that he or she is at risk of getting cancer, but does not use genome sequencing, usually offers no more than a "rough probability" diagnosis, said Cai Qiang, the founder of the health care consultancy Beijing Saint Lucia Hospital Management Consulting. But "probability sometimes is meaningless," he said.

"For instance, a 50 percent probability of breast cancer provides little in terms of references" that can help a patient decide whether or how to pursue treatment options, Cai said.

Li agrees that genetic testing can play a key role in precision medicine treatment for cancer patients. "With new technologies, we can accurately catch a tumor's DNA molecules in blood and detect mutations at early stages," he said.

Lucrative Market

Genome sequencing began in the United States in 1990 with the launch of the Human Genome Project. Scientists from around the world participated in what became a 15-year, US$ 3 billion program that ended with the first comprehensive catalogue of human genetic variations.

Genetic testing costs have fallen dramatically in recent years. Genome sequencing had fallen to about US$ 1,000 per person as of October, from about $100 million in 2001, says the National Human Genome Research Institute, a division of the U.S. government's National Institutes of Health. Sequencing a person's genome can now be completed in only two weeks.

Medical experts expect costs to continue to fall even as sequencing takes less time. Future testing will "get faster and cheaper," said BGI's CEO Yin Ye.

The business is also expected to become more lucrative. A Guolian Securities report said global revenues for genome sequencing services rose to US$ 4.5 billion in 2013 from US$ 7.9 million in 2007. That figure is expected to reach US$ 11.7 billion by 2018.

Companies that could benefit from the precision medicine movement include genetic services providers BGI, Berry and Guangdong Province-based DAAN Gene Co. Experts say companies that find niches in the growing market space will come to stand out.

"Profit margins are low for genome sequencing" companies, said Xu Junpu, chairman of Beijing ACCB Biotech Ltd., a sequencing provider. "The future points to profits in downstream businesses, where the competition will intensify,"

Genome sequencing's core technologies are controlled by a few upstream companies that, for example, make sequencing machines. Most of the world's genome sequencing relies on equipment made by the U.S. firm Illumina Inc., California-based Life Technologies Corp. and Switzerland's Roche Holding, which combine to control about 70 percent of the market, Li said.

"The most profitable part of the genome sequencing market is equipment manufacturing," said Li Tao, investment director at Huaxia Renhe Capital, a venture capital firm. "It will remain the most profitable business for quite some time."

In 2010, BGI bought 128 gene sequencing machines from Illumina. It was the manufacturer's largest order ever, and it helped BGI become the world's largest provider of genome sequencing services. Clients include international research institutions and pharmaceutical companies, the company says.

Like other precision medicine companies, BGI is looking for ways to expand genetic services into other areas of health care. For instance, BGI has rolled out a service that can be used to test a person's ability to tolerate alcohol. Other companies claim they can use sequencing to detect specific talents in a child.

The rise of precision medicine has raised questions about data access, patient privacy, and how companies and hospitals should share genetic data.

Some medical experts have urged the government to work with companies to build an information-sharing platform and make new rules for the sector. But others argue that the industry should not be forced into sharing information, since a genetic test's impact on a patient can be complicated.

Experts such as Yu Ying, a former emergency room doctor at Peking Union Medical College Hospital and a popular blogger of health care issue, noted that genetic testing may cause adverse effects for people with certain health conditions. "Not everyone is suitable for genome sequencing," she said.

"We have no idea whether a therapy to change a patient's gene with breast cancer risks will trigger Parkinson's disease," said Ketan Paranjape, general manager of Life Sciences and Analytics, Health Strategy and Solutions Group at Intel.

"With advanced technology, we can test a person's genome sequence at a very lost cost," said a genetics expert at Beijing's Tsinghua University who asked not to be named. "But there is still a wide gap between understanding a gene sequence and human life."

(Rewritten by Han Wei)

 

[JSCh]

Catalyst helps convert waste CO2 into fuel

• Updated: 2016-01-07 08:27
• By Zhu Lixin in Hefei and Cheng Yingqi in Beijing(China Daily USA)

There's a basic contradiction between modern lifestyles and environmental protection: The more we consume, the more we produce and the more damage we cause to the environment.

But what if carbon dioxide emissions could be recycled?

Since the 1990s, scientists have been working on making liquid fuel from carbon emissions. However, one of the major bottlenecks is finding the proper catalysts and how to use them.

On Thursday, scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China reported a new catalyst mechanism to create liquid fuel from carbon dioxide. The study was published by the British scientific journal Nature.

"Driven by increasing concerns about CO2-induced global warming and depletion of finite fossil fuel resources, developing renewable energy alternatives represents one of the major scientific challenges of the 21st century", said Xie Yi, a professor at the university and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"In this regard, electrochemical reduction of waste CO2 into useful energy-rich fuels is considered a potentially clean strategy for turning trash into treasure," she said.

Xie's team used cobalt, an element that usually exists in nature in chemically combined form, as a catalyst to convert carbon dioxide into formate, which can be used as liquid fuel.

"Cobalt has been considered nearly non-catalytic for this reaction before, but we have demonstrated it as a very active catalyst if placed in the correct condition," said Gao Shan, one of the nine authors of the paper.

Carbon dioxide reduction - the chemical process to convert CO2 into multiple chemical products, including those that can be used as liquid fuel - has required too much energy to be feasible.

The Chinese scientists evaluated the activity of cobalt in two different forms: pure cobalt metal and a mixture of cobalt metal and cobalt oxide.

"Carbon dioxide reduction to formate has never before been reported for cobalt, despite the long history of the field and numerous surveys of metallic electrodes by multiple authors," said an anonymous peer review comment provided by Nature.

The new catalysis results may cause many to rethink the accepted strategies for the reaction, according to the review.

Industrial applications of the technology still face a number of challenges besides the chemical reaction itself, such as collecting CO2 and gathering the produced fuel, according to Gao.

"There are several teams around the globe devoted to related research. It is hard to tell who is doing better, since each team has its own emphasis and so many trivial things need to be explored," he said.

Contact the writers at zhulixin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 01/07/2016 page5)
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http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v529/n7584/full/nature16455.html

Partially oxidized atomic cobalt layers for carbon dioxide electroreduction to liquid fuel

• Shan Gao,
• Yue Lin,
• Xingchen Jiao,
• Yongfu Sun,
• Qiquan Luo,
• Wenhua Zhang,
• Dianqi Li,
• Jinlong Yang & Yi Xie

Editor's summary

The production of useful fuels from carbon dioxide through electroreduction would be a clean way of replacing fossil fuels and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Shan Gao et al. have turned cobalt, a metal generally considered not active for this reaction, into a very efficient electrocatalyst by synthesizing it in the form of four-atom-thick layers. This finding, and the observation that partial oxidation of the surface boosts activity further, points to a general strategy for turning otherwise unreactive metals into efficient electroreduction catalysts.