Pangolins a probable intermediate host of Corona virus: South China Agricultural University
According to LIU Yahong, president of the university, a research team analyzed more than 1,000 metagenome samples of wild animals and found pangolins as the most likely intermediate host. Sequence analysis of coronavirus strains assembled from metagenomes revealed that Betacoronavirus occurred in 70% of the pangolins analyzed, and the sequence was 99 percent identical to that of infected people in the recent coronavirus outbreak. The virus structure obtained by electron microscopy was also very similar.
Xinhua news release, February 7, 2020
CAS Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology uses in-vitro multi-enzyme cascade to achieve complete conversion of cellulose
Aresearch team led by researcher YU Wei, a researcher at the In Vitro Synthetic Biology Center of CAS Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, designed an enzymatic phosphate pathway for the stoichiometric conversion of cellulosic biomass using an in vitro...
CAS team finds bamboo shoot fibers to improve insulin sensitivity in mice on a high-fat diet
The group of ZHANG Ping at CAS Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden has studied body weight gain in mice fed with isoenergenic high-fat diets and containing bamboo shoot fiber (BSF) from eitherD. hamiltonii or D. latiforus. They found that bamboo shoot fibers...
New sensing material detects mercury pollution in real time
A team around YANG Jintao from Zhejiang University of Technology and colleagues from the AS Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering have developed a hydrophilic fluorescent hydrogel‐coated flexible paper/textile film chemosensor which displays a...
CAS DICP achieves 80 % selectivity for coupling of methanol and CO to produce aromatic hydrocarbons
LIU Zhongmin and ZHU Wenliang, at the CAS Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics have developed a metal-modified H-ZSM-5 zeolite which showed excellent selectivity for preparing aromatics by coupling methanol and carbon monoxide. China has abundant coal reserves and is...
CAS Institute of Chemistry achieves electrocooling using new organic thermoelectric materials
Electrocooling can be achieved by the Peltier effect with appropriate materials.Using poly(Ni-ett) thin-film devices, a temperature difference of > 40 degrees Celsius was achieved, allowing for electrocooling of organic thermoelectric devices. It is predicted that...
China boosts science literacy by science museums
The China Association for S&T (CAST) held a World Conference on Science Literacy in Beijing which was attended by over 1,000 scientists and representatives from 38 countries and regions, as well as 23 international scientific organizations and 58 national...
CAS Xishuangbanna Tropical Gardens and others develop “AI Botanical Garden Plan”
The plan involves several botanical gardens throughout China and is first implemented as a test point in Shanghai Botanical Garden, which offers a test base during the 2018 World Artificial Intelligence Competition. Visitors can obtain knowledge about plants by using...
China opens “virtual satellite ground stations” in 10 countries along the “belt and road”
The Institute of Aerospace Information Research has opened “virtual ground stations” in Mongolia, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Thailand, Venezuela and Belgium. In these 10 countries, the institute's self-developed virtual ground stations...
China plans for juvenile health improvement using big data
Beijing recently held a symposium on child nutrition and health, and experts agreed that nutritional deficiencies still exist, and the obesity rate continues to rise. Nationwide data are now covered in a public database which include information on average height,...
Amazon and other internationals will establish AI-related innovation centers in Shanghai
At the World AI Conference 2018 in Shanghai, several technology giants announced to establish AI-related centers in Shanghai. Thus, Amazon Web Services, the cloud services platform of Amazon, will establish the Amazon Web Services AI Research Institute here, to...
Team at China University of Science and Technology prepares high performance conductive hydrogel fiber inspired by spider silk
The group of MA Mingming research group of the University of Science and Technology of China have coated sodium polyacrylate (PAAS) with a polymetacrylate (PMA) waterproof layer forming a PMA-PAAS with a core-shell hydrogel fiber (MAPAH fiber). In the MAPAH fiber, the...
China’s unmanned submersible dives to 5,630 m
China's unmanned submersible Hailong 11000 („Sea Dragon“) has recently set a record by diving 5,630 m during tests in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. Carried by the Chinese research vessel Dayang Yihao, or Ocean No.1, the submersible has also completed a series of...