News on China's scientific and technological development.

AssassinsMace

AssassinsMace

Lieutenant General
In world first, Chinese researchers create pig stem cells

The main interest lies in fundamental medical research, as it offers the hope of using the pig as a test bench for disease and a source of transplant material, Xiao said.
by Staff Writers
Paris (AFP) June 3, 2009
Chinese researchers said on Wednesday they had created versatile stem cells from pigs, a ground-breaking achievement that could open up new paths for combatting human disease.
Doctors led by Lei Xiao, of the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, took adult cells taken from a pig's ear and bone marrow and reprogrammed them so that they became so-called pluripotent stem cells.

These are cells that, like the coveted stem cells found in embryos, can differentiate into any type of cell in the body.

It is a technical exploit because until now, no-one has been able to achieve reprogramming using somatic cells -- cells that do not come from sperm or eggs -- from a hooved animal.

But the main interest lies in fundamental medical research, as it offers the hope of using the pig as a test bench for disease and a source of transplant material, Xiao said.

The pig is close to the human in many biological functions and with some organs that are similar in size.

"We could use embryonic stem cells or induced stem cells to modify the immune-related genes in the pig to make the pig organ compatible to the human immune system," he said in a press release.

"Then we could use these pigs as organ donors to provide organs for patients that won't trigger an adverse reaction from the patient's own immune system."

Another possibility would be to modify genes in lines of pig stem cells so that they replicate flaws in human genes that cause diabetes and other diseases, he suggested.

The modified stem cells could then be used to generate pigs with the same disorder, thus providing researchers with a model on which to test new therapies.

The Chinese team tucked a basket of reprogramming genes inside a virus to infect the adult cells and return them to their naive, versatile state.

Tests on the cells showed they were capable of differentiating into the three fundamental layers of tissue in an early embryo.

The paper is published in the Journal of Molecular Cell Biology.

Work on similar lines is being carried out on human cells, first achieved in 2007 by Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University.
 
AssassinsMace

AssassinsMace

Lieutenant General
Bacteria From The Deep Can Clean Up Heavy Metals

by Staff Writers
London, UK (SPX) Jun 12, 2009
A species of bacteria, isolated from sediments deep under the Pacific Ocean, could provide a powerful clean-up tool for heavy metal pollution.
Writing in the current issue of the journal, Microbiology, Professor Gejiao Wang and his colleagues from Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, PR China describe how a particular strain of Brachybacterium, strain Mn32, proved to be highly effective in removing manganese from solutions, converting it into insoluble manganese oxides.

Not only did the bacterium directly oxidize the manganese but the resulting oxides themselves also absorbed the metal from the culture solution, making Brachybacterium sp Mn32 a potentially useful candidate for use in bioremediation and cleaning up pollution.

As well as removing manganese from its environment, the Brachybacterium also absorbed significant amounts of zinc and nickel. All of these metals are found as pollutants in water and soils contaminated by heavy industries such as steel-making.

Manganese oxides can be manufactured chemically and are known to absorb zinc and nickel; but the oxides produced by this bacterium absorbed two- to three- times more metal.

Professor Wang's team showed that the crystal structure of the bacterial manganese oxides is different to that of the chemically produced ones, with a greater surface area which enables more of the metal ions to be absorbed.

Describing the work, Professor Wang said, "The next stage of our research is to immobilize this bacterial strain into a bioreactor to test its ability to remove manganese and other heavy metals in such a system. If successful it could provide a more efficient way to clean up heavy metal pollutants."
 
AssassinsMace

AssassinsMace

Lieutenant General
From The Sunday TimesJune 7, 2009

China cracks the electric car
A Chinese firm says its four-seater battery car can cover 250 miles - a claim that appears to be almost feasible

(Ryan Pyle)
Ben Younkman test drives the Zhong Tai

Ben Younkman
In the week that General Motors filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, ending a century of global dominance, the centre of gravity of the world’s car industry shifted perceptibly towards China. Here, some of the biggest strides in motor engineering are being made, including one shown to The Sunday Times on an industrial estate in Hangzhou, 90 miles southwest of Shanghai. This is where engineers for New Power have beaten western rivals to achieve what they claim is the first production-ready, all-electric car to offer a range comparable to petrol-powered vehicles.

For years, engineers in Europe, America and Japan have struggled to achieve the perfect balance: a battery that is small and light enough to fit in a family car, yet capable of storing enough energy to keep it going for a practical range between top-ups. The Reva G-Wiz, Britain’s bestselling electric vehicle, has a range of no more than 48 miles between charges; the Smart ED, on trial in the UK, beats it by only 14 miles; and although the electric Mini claims a range of 150 miles, it is only a two-seater (the huge battery taking up the back seat), and BMW has no plans to put it into production.

New Power, by contrast, claims to have developed an electric four-seater with a range of 250 miles and plans to bring it to the UK “within the next couple of years”. Known as the Zhong Tai (the name translates roughly as “peace and safety for the people”), it has lithium-ion batteries that can be recharged in 6-8 hours from a conventional socket, or in two hours from a high-power recharging point. With a top speed of 75mph and an estimated price tag of between £16,300 and £20,500 in Britain, the Zhong Tai could be both practical and affordable enough to make drivers part with their internal combustion engines for good.

The Sunday Times was the first western publication to put New Power’s claims to the test. On first impressions the Zhong Tai looked anything but remarkable. The car’s basic bodywork and chassis are based on a 2006 Daihatsu Terios, a compact 4x4, the licence for which was bought and adapted for Chinese production, originally as a petrol car. The electric version looks identical to a conventional Terios from the outside, with the recharging point where the petrol cap should be and only the absence of an exhaust pipe giving the game away.

The interior feels a little dated but that reflects how much standards of comfort have advanced in the past three years. The dashboard display flashed up speed, distance travelled and the percentage charge left in the batteries — 75% when we first stepped into the car.

At New Power’s spartan headquarters, Mao Zhong, the company’s general manager, outlined how his car could “solve the emissions problems” plaguing both China — where the number of cars is predicted to hit 150m by 2020 — and the rest of the world. On paper, it seems astonishing that such a small operation, with a staff of just 30, should have produced China’s first production-ready all-electric car. But the Zhong Tai has been in development for six years, backed by Zotye, a mainstream car maker, of which New Power is a “green” subsidiary.

Chinese industry has put huge efforts into battery development, a fact that was reinforced last month when Volkswagen said it would be collaborating with BYD, a Chinese manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries, to develop its first hybrid vehicles.

Still, New Power’s claims of a 250-mile range were remarkable so we were intrigued to find out how the vehicle would perform. Tipping the scales at 1.2 tons, the Zhong Tai sounds like a cumbersome beast. Its battery alone weighs about 660lb. It is housed under the car, although in the model I tried, a further auxiliary battery took up a good proportion of the boot space.

The claimed acceleration rate is 0-60mph in 12sec and the car is, indeed, quite spritely. When I pressed hard on the accelerator, the car leapt from 18mph-54mph in just 5sec, but then alarms started screeching and the engine had to be restarted. There was another worry. Accidentally touching the battery in the boot resulted in a mighty electric shock, although the company insisted this was a minor fault and rectified it within minutes.

And what of that all-important 250-mile range? Unfortunately, we couldn’t cover that distance in the time available for the test but by keeping an eye on the charge monitor it was possible to get an idea as to the veracity of New Power’s claims. At the start of the test the car had a three-quarters charge; 120 miles of reasonably hard driving later, it was showing a 42% charge. Assuming the power meter was accurate and proportional, the company’s claim is not unfeasible.

On an open road, at an average speed of 60mph, the car’s range drops to about 170 miles, according to New Power. Reduce average speed to 48mph and the company claims an average range of 218 miles. In “city driving with stops and starts”, the company reckons it can reach its maximum range of about 250 miles.

The Chinese government has announced plans to set up a 10 billion yuan (£890m) fund to promote alternative energy and is offering generous grants towards the production of electric vehicles, stating that all car companies should be producing one green vehicle by 2011.

The Zhong Tai is set to go into production next year, eventually building towards annual production of 20,000 vehicles. Wu Aibing, public relations director for New Power, claims the company is “in conversations about co-operation for overseas distribution” in the UK and US.

The company has been in touch with Electric Village, a London-based marketing company specialising in electric vehicles, about promoting the car in Britain. “The new vehicle is game-changing in the rapidly emerging electric car sector,” says Stewart McKee, the chief executive of Electric Village. “Hence we are looking at a distribution and sales strategy for the UK market.”

Even if New Power’s reliability and range claims hold up under further testing, there are still question marks about the car’s potential success, particularly in foreign markets.

Chinese exports, such as the Jiang-ling Landwind, a large petrol-powered SUV, have failed European safety tests. Aside from safety, the Zhong Tai’s retro looks may not appeal to image-conscious westerners.

However, with most mainstream European car manufacturers putting off electric car production until 2011 or later, and current options offering a range of no more than about 50 miles, this car could lead the way to a practical all-electric automotive future.
 
bladerunner

bladerunner

Banned Idiot
AssassinsMace said:
From The Sunday TimesJune 7, 2009

China cracks the electric car
A Chinese firm says its four-seater battery car can cover 250 miles - a claim that appears to be almost feasible

(Ryan Pyle)
Ben Younkman test drives the Zhong Tai

Ben Younkman
In the week that General Motors filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, ending a century of global dominance, the centre of gravity of the world’s car industry shifted perceptibly towards China. Here, some of the biggest strides in motor engineering are being made, including one shown to The Sunday Times on an industrial estate in Hangzhou, 90 miles southwest of Shanghai. This is where engineers for New Power have beaten western rivals to achieve what they claim is the first production-ready, all-electric car to offer a range comparable to petrol-powered vehicles.

For years, engineers in Europe, America and Japan have struggled to achieve the perfect balance: a battery that is small and light enough to fit in a family car, yet capable of storing enough energy to keep it going for a practical range between top-ups. The Reva G-Wiz, Britain’s bestselling electric vehicle, has a range of no more than 48 miles between charges; the Smart ED, on trial in the UK, beats it by only 14 miles; and although the electric Mini claims a range of 150 miles, it is only a two-seater (the huge battery taking up the back seat), and BMW has no plans to put it into production.

New Power, by contrast, claims to have developed an electric four-seater with a range of 250 miles and plans to bring it to the UK “within the next couple of years”. Known as the Zhong Tai (the name translates roughly as “peace and safety for the people”), it has lithium-ion batteries that can be recharged in 6-8 hours from a conventional socket, or in two hours from a high-power recharging point. With a top speed of 75mph and an estimated price tag of between £16,300 and £20,500 in Britain, the Zhong Tai could be both practical and affordable enough to make drivers part with their internal combustion engines for good.

The Sunday Times was the first western publication to put New Power’s claims to the test. On first impressions the Zhong Tai looked anything but remarkable. The car’s basic bodywork and chassis are based on a 2006 Daihatsu Terios, a compact 4x4, the licence for which was bought and adapted for Chinese production, originally as a petrol car. The electric version looks identical to a conventional Terios from the outside, with the recharging point where the petrol cap should be and only the absence of an exhaust pipe giving the game away.

The interior feels a little dated but that reflects how much standards of comfort have advanced in the past three years. The dashboard display flashed up speed, distance travelled and the percentage charge left in the batteries — 75% when we first stepped into the car.

At New Power’s spartan headquarters, Mao Zhong, the company’s general manager, outlined how his car could “solve the emissions problems” plaguing both China — where the number of cars is predicted to hit 150m by 2020 — and the rest of the world. On paper, it seems astonishing that such a small operation, with a staff of just 30, should have produced China’s first production-ready all-electric car. But the Zhong Tai has been in development for six years, backed by Zotye, a mainstream car maker, of which New Power is a “green” subsidiary.

Chinese industry has put huge efforts into battery development, a fact that was reinforced last month when Volkswagen said it would be collaborating with BYD, a Chinese manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries, to develop its first hybrid vehicles.

Still, New Power’s claims of a 250-mile range were remarkable so we were intrigued to find out how the vehicle would perform. Tipping the scales at 1.2 tons, the Zhong Tai sounds like a cumbersome beast. Its battery alone weighs about 660lb. It is housed under the car, although in the model I tried, a further auxiliary battery took up a good proportion of the boot space.

The claimed acceleration rate is 0-60mph in 12sec and the car is, indeed, quite spritely. When I pressed hard on the accelerator, the car leapt from 18mph-54mph in just 5sec, but then alarms started screeching and the engine had to be restarted. There was another worry. Accidentally touching the battery in the boot resulted in a mighty electric shock, although the company insisted this was a minor fault and rectified it within minutes.

And what of that all-important 250-mile range? Unfortunately, we couldn’t cover that distance in the time available for the test but by keeping an eye on the charge monitor it was possible to get an idea as to the veracity of New Power’s claims. At the start of the test the car had a three-quarters charge; 120 miles of reasonably hard driving later, it was showing a 42% charge. Assuming the power meter was accurate and proportional, the company’s claim is not unfeasible.

On an open road, at an average speed of 60mph, the car’s range drops to about 170 miles, according to New Power. Reduce average speed to 48mph and the company claims an average range of 218 miles. In “city driving with stops and starts”, the company reckons it can reach its maximum range of about 250 miles.

The Chinese government has announced plans to set up a 10 billion yuan (£890m) fund to promote alternative energy and is offering generous grants towards the production of electric vehicles, stating that all car companies should be producing one green vehicle by 2011.

The Zhong Tai is set to go into production next year, eventually building towards annual production of 20,000 vehicles. Wu Aibing, public relations director for New Power, claims the company is “in conversations about co-operation for overseas distribution” in the UK and US.

The company has been in touch with Electric Village, a London-based marketing company specialising in electric vehicles, about promoting the car in Britain. “The new vehicle is game-changing in the rapidly emerging electric car sector,” says Stewart McKee, the chief executive of Electric Village. “Hence we are looking at a distribution and sales strategy for the UK market.”

Even if New Power’s reliability and range claims hold up under further testing, there are still question marks about the car’s potential success, particularly in foreign markets.

Chinese exports, such as the Jiang-ling Landwind, a large petrol-powered SUV, have failed European safety tests. Aside from safety, the Zhong Tai’s retro looks may not appeal to image-conscious westerners.

However, with most mainstream European car manufacturers putting off electric car production until 2011 or later, and current options offering a range of no more than about 50 miles, this car could lead the way to a practical all-electric automotive future.
Click to expand...

While I have no doubt Chinese engineers can solve the technical problems of any product, the cosmetics has yet to be mastered.
Anyway what use is a electric car for shopping when the spare space in the boot is taken up for the battery?
 
M

Mashan

New Member
bladerunner said:
While I have no doubt Chinese engineers can solve the technical problems of any product, the cosmetics has yet to be mastered.
Anyway what use is a electric car for shopping when the spare space in the boot is taken up for the battery?
Click to expand...

The back seat :)
 
AssassinsMace

AssassinsMace

Lieutenant General
China begins maglev train run test
Last Updated(Beijing Time):2009-06-17 09:40

w020090617348722424286.jpg

China's first low- to medium-speed magnetic levitation (maglev) train

China's first low- to medium-speed magnetic levitation (maglev) train with full proprietary intellectual property rights began to run tests on June 15.

The train came off the production line and underwent debugging at CNR Tangshan Railway Vehicle Company. It marks that China has acquired the industrial manufacturing capacity to produce low- to medium-speed maglev trains.

Maglev train overcomes gravity by electromagnetic force which enables the train to suspend over the track, and is driven by Linear motors.

Compared with wheel-rail trains, the maglev train produces less noise and vibration. It has more flexible conditions and a lower construction cost to lay the railway line, and is easier to implement and maintain.
 
crobato

crobato

Colonel
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China's Software Exports Up 54.2% In First Five Months Of 2009
June 29, 2009 |

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has published a report on the country's software industry and states that China's software exports increased by 54.2% in the first five months of 2009 over the previous year.

Statistics show that from January to May 2009, China's software industry realized accumulated revenue of CNY329.14 billion, a year-on-year increase of 23.3%, but the growth rate was 5.7% lower than that of the last year.

From January to May 2009, revenue from software products was CNY115.22 billion, accounting for 35% of the total revenue of the software industry. The software products revenue increased by 24.2% year-on-year, but the growth rate was 0.8 percentage points lower than that of the last year.

Revenue from software technology service increased by 28.2% year-on-year to CNY65.93 billion, accounting for 20% of the total revenue.

In addition, China's software exports reached USD6.56 billion from January to May 2009, increasing 54.2% compared with the same period of last year. Of the total, the exports of software outsourcing services was USD670 million, a year-on-year increase of 59%.
 
AssassinsMace

AssassinsMace

Lieutenant General
From the Los Angeles Times
Researchers produce cells they say are identical to embryonic stem cells
Scientists in China use cells from adult mice to breed new mice. The breakthrough results are hailed as an advance toward eliminating the need for fetal stem cells in a variety of applications.
By Thomas H. Maugh II

11:16 AM PDT, July 23, 2009

Two groups of Chinese researchers have performed an unprecedented feat, it was announced today, by inducing cells from connective tissue in mice to revert back to their embryonic state and producing living mice from them.

By demonstrating that cells from adults can be converted into cells that, like embryonic stem cells from fetuses, have the ability to produce any type of tissue, the researchers have made a major advance toward eliminating the need for fetal cells in research and clinical applications.

Researchers first produced this new type of cell, called induced pluripotent stem, or iPS, cells, two years ago, but there have been lingering doubts about whether the cells are truly identical to embryonic cells or instead are capable of producing only some types of body cells.

The new results, published online today by the journals Nature and Cell Stem Cell, appear to erase those doubts. The results also open the door to a variety of applications beyond producing stem cells for medicinal purposes, including the production of endangered species and the reproduction of prized farm and other animals.

The reports "show that iPS cells are identical to embryonic stem cells," said biologist Kathrin Plath of UCLA's Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, who was not involved in the research. "It hadn't worked before, so it wasn't clear that it would ever work." The approach the teams used was "the gold standard because it is the only assay [test] that proves the cells are pluripotent."

The results are "comforting, because there has been a lingering concern that iPS cells had failed in this particular assay," added biologist Robert Blelloch of UC San Francisco's Broad Center for Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, who was not involved in the research. But he cautioned that the teams were ultimately successful in only a few out of many attempts. "What's missing, which will really be key, is whether there is anything about the cells that did pass the test that is different from those that didn't."

Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer at Advanced Cell Technology Inc. in Worcester, Mass., who was also not involved in the studies, cautioned that the results "revive many of the same ethical issues as reproductive cloning." Although generating fetuses with iPS techniques is technically different from cloning, the bottom line is the same -- the generation of an organism that is genetically identical to the source of the donor cells. "We have gone from science fiction to reality." Because the process works in mice, it should also work in humans, he added. "We now have the technology to create iPS cells from skin or hair follicles. Combine that with showing that they can actually create a living organism, and that's pretty scary. All the pieces are here for serious abuse."

Adds Plath: "That's an experiment that shouldn't be done" in humans.

The technique that the two teams of Chinese researchers used is called tetraploid complementation. When researchers first started studying iPS cells, they would assess their properties by injecting them into a blastocyst, a very early embryo. What they found in those studies was that the iPS cells and the host embryo's cells would contribute to the resulting animal, producing a chimera - a mosaic of genetically different cells.

More recently, researchers have fused the cells of the host blastocyst so that each cell contains double the number of chromosomes, making them tetraploid. When that is done, the host cells can form only the placental tissues; all the animal's tissues must come from the injected iPS cells. But researchers have never been able to produce living animals by this technique, creating doubts that the iPS cells were truly pluripotent.

In the new studies, "the method of producing iPS cells didn't change," Blelloch said. "They used the same methods and materials everybody else is using." He characterized their efforts as a "brute force effort" in which they simply looked at a large enough number of attempts to finally find one that succeeded.

The more successful of the studies, by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, created 37 iPS cell lines that could be grown in the laboratory. Three of these lines produced 27 live offspring by tetraploid complementation, Fanyi Zeng of the Shanghai University told a telephone news conference. Some of the mice have successfully mated and have produced second and third generations.

But Zeng cautioned that some of the first-generation living mice had abnormalities, although she did not say how many and what those abnormalities were. That, she said, will be the subject of a future paper.

The second team, from the National Institute of Biological Sciences in Beijing, achieved only four births, with only one mouse making it to adulthood.

Both teams emphasized the large number of failures required to achieve the few successes and argued that it would be unethical to attempt the technique with human cells.

[email protected]


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Copyright 2009 Los Angeles Times
 
Quickie

Quickie

Colonel
Jurassic Park? Or even mammoths and early homosapiens park? Rebirth of extinct animals or even important people? Sound far-fetched, but so did a lot of things previously. Current studies suggest that under the right condition, DNA material can survive for up to a million years. It may be more than that, since you never know what will be discovered in future. This is getting interesting, and even scary.
 
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