Month: May 2021

Nanjing Agricultural University succeeded to breed pigs of different genders using a somatic cell mixed cloning technology.From a total of four pigs, one male and one female, somatic cells of the ear tissue were cultured and stored. From the oocytes of a female pig, the cell nuclei were removed by microscopic surgery, cultured in vitro, and somatic cells of two different genders were injected. Finally, the reconstructed embryos were transplanted into the oviduct of surrogate mothers, in total more than 1,000 embryos. 3 out of 5 female pigs gave birth to 14 sows piglets, of different genders, the heaviest was 1.5 kg and the lightest 0.335 kg. According to associate professor HOU Reimei, this is the first time in China that a female cloned piglet has been born. Japan JST China news, May 10, 2021

In the middle of the rice planting season, a smart rice transplanter with automatic operation is deployed in a smart agriculture model area of ​​Hongwei Farm Co., Ltd., Heilongjiang Province, and is performing precise rice planting work. The autonomous driving rice transplanter applies the Beidou satellite positioning system, can automatically avoid obstacles, make U-turns, and make curves during farm work. In addition, the camera attached to the car body transmits the rice planting situation to the smart agricultural center in real time by 5G signal. China Science and Technology News, May 10, 2021

According to Egypt’s Health Minister Hala Zayed, Egypt will start locally producing China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine in June at the plants of the Egyptian Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA). The vaccine produced in Egypt will be dubbed Sinovac-Vacsera. So far, Egypt has reported 236,272 COVID-19 cases, including 13,845 deaths and 176,363 recoveries. Xinhua news release, May 10, 2021

YU Ziniu and colleagues of CAS South China Sea Institute of Oceanology have completed the whole genome sequencing of Nautilus. Its genome is only 730.59 Mb and encodes 17,170 genes. Nautilus’s eyes lack a lens and use small hole imaging to adjust vision, forming a unique pinhole eye in nature, providing valuable materials and clues for exploring the evolution of the eye. Nautilus retains only the simplest optical signal transduction pathway and the only photosensitive molecule is r-opsin, indicating that it lacks the ability to distinguish colors. Nautilus is the only cephalopod with a shell. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the inner shell of nautilus was mainly composed of aragonite crystals (Aragonite). The shell protein identification results support the hypothesis that there is an ancient and conservative shell matrix protein “toolkit” in mollusks. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-021-01448-6

The share of core papers from China ranks second in the world, and the areas of competitive advantage cover nanotechnology, computer and engineering, environmental governance, but they account for a relatively small share in medicine, social sciences, economics and business, and biological sciences. The United States publications dominate in life sciences, medicine and environmental ecology. CAS news release, May 10, 2021

The newly launched Shanghai Immune Therapy Institute is the latest example of the city’s efforts to build world-class immunology research hubs. It will focus on three research areas: tumor immunotherapy, chronic inflammatory diseases and transplantation immunology, and infectious diseases and vaccines. CAS news release, May 5, 2021

On May 11th, Xinhua News reported the results of the 7th national population census. In the newly released data from the results, China’s population at mainland reaches 1.41 billion. Compared with the sixth national census data in 2010, an increase of 72.06 million people, an increase of 5.38%, with an average annual growth rate of 0.53%. The population with university education was 218.36 million, compared with 2010, the number of people with university degree per 100,000 people rose from 8,930 to 15,467, the average years of education for people aged 15 and above increased from 9.08 to 9.91, and the illiteracy rate dropped from 4.08% to 2.67%. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-05/11/c_139938769.htm http://www.xinhuanet.com/2021-05/11/c_1127431340.htm

China’s future space sation Tianhe (“Heavenly Palace”) Tianhe is the largest spacecraft developed by China so far, with a total length of 16.6 meters, a maximum diameter of 4.2 meters and a take-off mass of 22.5 tonnes. When the construction is completed, the space station will be T-shaped, with the core module at the center and a lab capsule on each side. The three-module station will offer astronauts more than 100 cubic meters of room for living and working, providing six zones for work, sleep, sanitation, dining, healthcare and exercise. The dining zone features a retractable dining table and equipment to heat or refrigerate food, as well as supplying drinking water, while a space treadmill and a space bike can be found in the exercise zone. Thanks to the WIFI technology used in the core module, controlling cabin lighting and checking the inventory in the station will become easy for astronauts. They will be able to make use of space-Earth communication links, including two-way video calls and email messages. https://www.163.com/dy/article/G8SH15BE05299DNE.html