Since being a member of UNESCO’s „Man and the Biosphere“ MAB program for 40 years, China claims the registration of 34 biosphere protected areas placing it 4th in the world. Surveys have changed from patrol workers to drones and IR cameras, e. g., for registration of snow leopards in Sichuan Province. This year feces, hair, etc. will be collected in order to identify the DNA, gender etc. of individual snow leopards, analyzing their food composition, in order to understand the overall situation for snow leopard survival.

Japan JST China news, August 1, 2018

The group of Tianling REN at the school of information science and technology of Tsinghua University has developed a graphen-based electronic tattoo which can be used for detecting multiple functions such as breathing, heart rate, sleep analysis and vocalization. The team applied graphene oxide by wet stripping and reduced it to graphene by laser irradiation, resulting in an ultra-thin layer which could be personalized as a tattoo during the irradiation process. The graphene layers respond to the stretching and compression of the skin surface resulting in changes of electric resistance for readout devices. In addition to skin, graphene tattoo were transferred to other substrates such as leaves, and silk.

Tsinghua University news release, July 31, 2018

In pursuit of China’s plan to promote the establishment of a polar commercial route, the polar vessel “Snow Dragon” arrived on July 30 at the Arctic Circle and raised China’s flag. The crew carried out observation activities such as marine weather, marine hydrological messages, marine environmental radionuclides, etc., and launched the underwater glider “sea wing” for the first time in the Bering Sea.

Japan JST China news, July 31, 2018

The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Kyoto University and the China Science and Technology Information Research Institute have succeeded in the joint development of a Chinese-Japanese scientific technology paper translation system. The translatable proportion reached 97%. Both sides first constructed a high quality medium-to-medium language material bank of more than 5 million phrases based on scientific technology papers and then learned these data using a neural network translation engine developed by Japanese scientists.

Japan JST China news July 31, 2018

The group of CAO Yu used the capsid protein (HaCP) of Baculovirus expressed by E. coli and found by cryo-electron microscopy that a variety of exogenous proteins expressed at the N-terminus of HaCP could be directly fused and displayed on the outer surface. HaCP had two forms of assembly in vitro: one with a small diameter named N-tube, and another with a relatively large diameter, named W-tube. The N-tube is a helical structure similar to the TMV capsid, with 111/3 protein subunits arranged in a spiral along each circle. The W-tube is a stack of disc structures consisting of 12 protein subunits with a 11.25° rotation between adjacent discs. The interaction between the HaCP nanotube subunits was tunable, leading to high flexibility of the resulting nanotubes. HaCP nanotubes thus allow to accommodate larger guest compounds compared to assembled subunits of TMVs and thus might be  evolved into nanoscale functional molecules.

CAS news release, July 30, 2018

LIU Feng and WANG Chao of the CAS Institute of Mechanics propose a theoretical framework to make use of electrical conductivity of 3D graphene foams. They combined a model of conductance between graphene sheets with a second model of the network structure of 3D graphene foams as studied by molecular dynamics simulation, and extracted geometric features such as average contact areas and contact densities. They found that as the number of layers of graphene sheets increases, the conductivity first increases and then decreases, an observation which now will be exploited experimentally.

CAS news release, July 30, 2018

A group around Xuetong ZHANG at CAS Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics (SINANO)  has developed a novel type of smart fibre by combination of graphene aerogel fibre, phase change material (PCM) and fluorocarbon (FC) resin coating. The fibre is flexible and self-cleaning, it responds to multi-stimuli (photo/electric/heat), and is capable of thermal energy conversion and storage. It could be woven into fabric with intelligent and integrative functions and holds promise for applications in wearable fabrics and portable electrical devices.

CAS news release, June 28, 2018

Interdigital micro-supercapacitors are a promising miniaturized energy source. A research team led by WU Zhongshuai and BAO Xinhe from the CAS Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has reported a new-type of all-solid-state flexible planar lithium ion micro-capacitors. They were fabricated via layer-by-layer mask-assisted deposition of graphene (EG) and electrode materials, without metal current collector, additive and polymer binder. The resulting patterns of sandwich-like electrode structures showed outstanding uniformity, mechanical flexibility, and high electrical conductivity. Cycling stability was 98.9% of capacitance retention after 6000 cycles, and there was high electrochemical stability at 80 °C.

CAS news release, June 28, 2018

According to a post of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), jointly issued with the Ministry of Finance, China will rapidly expand the present number of 220 national key laboratories. Major efforts will be made in research fields such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, geoscience, biology and medical science, and in cutting-edge fields such as stem cells, synthetic biology, and brain science. By 2025, China will have completed its national key laboratory system, boosting its scientific research level and international influence.

 CAS news release, June 27, 2018

The leading food delivery company has started an unmanned delivery service in Beijing by a vehicle called小袋v2. Speed of the vehicle is 20 km/h, and the box is equipped with a highly sensitive temperature control system. Furthermore, even under complicated road conditions, obstacles can be automatically avoided and routes can be automatically planned.

Japan JST China news, July 27, 2018

Through a share transfer agreement with Australia’s Macquarie and General Electric (GE) Financial Services, the Chineses company acquired 75% of shares of Europe’s largest onshore wind farm “North Pole” located in Pitea, Sweden. The plan calls to install 179 wind power generators with a capacity of 3.63 MW and to start operation after installation by the end of 2019. It will become Europe’s largest land-based wind power plant. The project meets the demand for electricity of 400,000 households and will reduce CO2 emissions by 750,000 tons annually. CGN, via its European operations based in France, has so far acquired over 1,000 MW of wind and solar power assets in Europe
Japan JST China news, July 27, 2018

A research and development (R&D) base for stem cells storage and application recently went into operation in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. The base can preserve three million stem cell samples extracted from, e. g., children’s lost baby teeth or umbilical cord. It covers 3.24 hectares, has cell production workshops operated under GMP, a quality inspection center and a global cooperation R&D center.

CAS news release, June 26, 2018

The headset system is based on noninvasive brain stimulation and regulation technology. Flexible electrode sensors are used to determine the change when brain waves perform various tasks in the brain and further stimulate with a weak current pulse by combination of electrodes. The stimulus reaches a specific area of ​​the brain, thereby changing the activity of the electroencephalogram and adjusting the activity state of neurons of the brain.The technology will be used for skill training of special people, rapid growth of learning and memory ability, and interference and relaxation to feeling frustration and tension in a strong stress environment. In the medical field, it can be expected to interfere with children’s hyperactivity, depression, dementia, aphasia, functional abnormalities such as Parkinson’s disease, physical disability and dementia.

Japan JST China news, July 25, 2018

The first LNG carrier to supply to China from the Yamar Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) field near the Arctic arrived at China’s East LNG station. The northeast passage departs from Sabetta, Russia, heading east and traveling south through the Cara, Laptev, Eastern Siberian, Chukchi and Bering Straits. The sailing distance is about 10,700 kilometers, about 14,400 km shorter than the way to the east via the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal. Navigation takes about 20 days on average, 20 days less than the conventional route. The Yamal Project is jointly operated by Nova Tech of Russia, China Oil, France Total and China Silk Road Foundation. Its natural gas reserves are 130 million cubic meters, and the amount of refined mineral oil (“white oil”) reserves is 60 million tons.

Japan JST China news, July 20, 2018

The Dragon Castle bookshop works on automatic face recognition and mobile payment. The customer scans the purchased book on a code reader available in many places of the store, and completes his payment upon a command “purchase” in the WeChat app. The article does not report about sorting and refilling the bookshelfs and details of security.

 Japan China information, July 19, 2018

The group around WU Zhongshuai reports on the development of a fully solid, planar integrated lithium ion micro battery. The miniature battery takes nano titanate nanospheres as the cathode, lithium iron phosphate microspheres as the anode, calcium carbide as the nonmetallic fluid, an ionic gel as the electrolyte, and works without the use of the traditional diaphragm and metal collecting fluid. It has the advantage of multidirectional mass transfer, showing a high volume energy density of 125.5mWh/cm3, excellent multiplier performance, super long cyclic stability, no attenuation after 3300 cycles, good mechanical flexibility, and an electrode performance which is not damaged under repeated bending or twisting.

CAS news release, July 18, 2018

Unit 5 is a domestically produced nuclear reactor of China’s 3d reactor generation ACPR 1000. It has widely enhanced safety features. Construction began in September 2013, and the first electricity transmission was realized in May 2018. Recent tests had the reactord in full operation for 168 hours.

Japan China news release, July 17. 2018

The 55 km long bridge was built in 3,2 years. Telecommunication facilities are located on the gates and public towers of the bridge. Due to the special climatic conditions, all of the equipment exposed to the outside of the bridge must have resistance to extremely strong winds and, being subject to corrosion, must be galvanized and painted.

Japan China news, July 19, 2018

A group of researchers at the CAS Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biologyhave subjected 5 different strains of mice to a variety of 30 different diets over 3 months, corresponding to 9 years in humans. Over 100,000 measurements were made of the mice’s body weight changes and their body fat was measured using a micro MRI machine. The result of this enormous study was unequivocal – the only thing that made the mice get fat was eating more fat in their diets. Carbohydrates, including up to 30% of calories coming from sugar, had no effect. Combining sugar with fat had no more impact than fat alone. There was no evidence that low protein (down to 5% of the total calories) stimulated greater intake, suggesting there is no protein target. The researchers believe that dietary fat caused weight gain because fat in the diet uniquely stimulated the reward centers in the brain, thus causing greater intake of calories.

CAS news release, July 13, 2018

According to the China Internet Development Report 2018 of the Chinese Internet Association, over 700 million people living in China used the internet on average 27 times a week. Livestreams were used 980 million times. The Chinese Internet market last year rose by 32.2 percent to 7 trillion yuan. There were close to 600 million online payments by mobile phone.

Japan China news, July 13, 2018