At the End of the Forecast: Looking Back at Biology toward the 21st Century—Predictions for 1991–2020
Author: Xiao Reviewer: Dongda Night of February 23, 2020 Opening Remarks This book was jointly edited by the cell biologist Wang Yahui and the Chinese Academy of Sciences researcher Wu Zhichun. In the early 1990s, they used questionnaires and expert panels to gather the views of more than 400 specialists in biology-related fields on the discipline’s development over the following thirty years. The experts considered the broad direction of biology, its likely peaks of development, major disciplinary questions, and its relationship with other fields. Looking back at the book in 2020 is particularly meaningful. The book also explains why biology matters: scientific progress has brought material civilization to a high level, yet cast a deep shadow over spiritual life, even causing spiritu ...
Fossils in the Milky Way
Author: Kon Reviewer: Nancy Modern cosmology holds that galaxies undergo many mergers between their initial formation and the present day. The details of the process are far too complicated for a complete analytical treatment, so the most common research method is to run direct numerical simulations of large numbers of point particles. Astronomy, of course, is ultimately an observational science. Researchers measure the properties of galaxies at different distances—the farther away a galaxy is, the older the universe and the younger the galaxy we see—and compare those measurements with numerical simulations to assess how well a theoretical model works. A numerical simulation of the universe's large-scale structure produced by the Max Planck Institute in Germany. The most highly magnif ...
A Brief History of Humankind: The Sapiens Flood (Part I)
Author: Zikongli Today we introduce the world’s deadliest animal, No. 1: Homo sapiens. Around 150,000 years ago—or 200,000 years ago, according to some accounts—Homo sapiens began the Cognitive Revolution. They then rapidly expanded from the African grasslands across Eurasia, wiping out most of their fellow species in the genus Homo along the way. Some of those populations’ DNA did manage to hitch a ride on the fast-moving Homo sapiens express. People across Eurasia today generally carry a small amount of Neanderthal DNA. For nearly the next hundred thousand years, our Homo sapiens ancestors roamed Eurasia, grinding through the wilderness, allocating skill points, and collecting gear. They also casually eliminated more of their fellow human species, and life was fairly easy. Before ...
The Remarkable History of the Chinese Wok: From Its Origins to the Tang and Song Dynasties
Author: Lai Yuan The Remarkable History of the Wok (Part I) Of all the tools in the kitchen, the wok is king: if it is not frying, it is braising. Three days to master an electric cooker, three years for the ladle, ten years to hone a cleaver, and a lifetime at the iron wok. Food goes in, wine is poured, and the whole village waits to be served. The fire starts, the spatula rises, and one wok can feed two tables. The dishes arrive, chopsticks are laid out, and friends and family tuck in. Today, almost every Chinese household has a pitch-black wok. As its Chinese name suggests, its main purpose is stir-frying. Stir-frying is arguably the dominant technique in Chinese cooking today. From ordinary roadside restaurants to five-star hotels, most dishes are prepared either by stir-frying or ...
The Novel Coronavirus 2019-nCoV
Author: Shenzhou Reviewers: DClean and Weiming The novel coronavirus outbreak (hereafter 2019-nCoV; claims circulating online that the virus had been named “SARI” were false) has drawn widespread attention across China. For ordinary members of the public, whether or not we live in an affected area or have spent time in one, we must stay alert, take proper precautions, and not assume that we will simply be lucky. We should wear a mask whenever we go out, avoid crowded places wherever possible, and refrain from indoor activities in enclosed or poorly ventilated spaces. Transmission and Protection Some reports suggest that 2019-nCoV originated in bats or other wild animals, but no official source has confirmed this. Because 2019-nCoV is a new virus, anyone who has not previously been ...
Do We Get Overtime Pay in a Leap Year?
Author: 斎藤信 Reviewer: 白烟 If I have counted correctly, this article will reach you on the first day of the Lunar New Year—or sometime afterward—making a conspicuous public appearance. Happy New Year to everyone! Publishing on the first day of the year is not easy. I will not ask for triple pay (or any pay at all); I only hope you will read carefully. A like, a comment, and a favorite—scratch that—and a share would be even better! Happy New Year, and may everyone enjoy good health! You have probably heard that 2020 is a “double leap year.” The Year of the Rat has 384 days, so we have to put in an extra month’s work—an intercalary fourth lunar month. I understand the arithmetic, but why the overtime? Today, then, we will talk about intercalation in calendars. First, let us look at wh ...
Tumors Explained
Author: 绿水青山 Reviewers: 食野; 未名 Most of us have encountered the word “tumor” in everyday life, but may not know its technical definition. The word often provokes an immediate sense of fear. Malignant tumors are generally difficult to cure and can have an enormous effect on a patient’s daily life. Today we will look at some basic facts about tumors. In biology, a tumor is a neoplasm formed through the abnormal proliferation of the body’s cells—in other words, a mass produced by the abnormal growth of body tissue. It commonly appears as a localized mass of abnormal tissue. Tumors form when various tumor-causing factors severely disrupt the regulation of cell growth. This definition tells us that a tumor should not exist when the body is functioning normally. What, then, characterizes ...
The Feathered Sprites of My Campus
Author: 蜗牛 Reviewer: 一毫秒的永恒 A winter morning is cold and quiet. The Sun has not yet laid its highlights across the surfaces around me, so everything retains its natural color. I like this hour: no noise, no distractions, no rush before the first class. I can leave home at an easy pace, clock in at work, and bring my binoculars along to see the birds on campus. Today begins well. Soon after leaving home, amid the calls of magpies in the small square by the water tower, I pick out a faint zi-zi among the sparrows’ chatter. Probably a tit. Through the binoculars, it looks like a great tit, though it could be a Japanese tit. I confuse those two every time I see them. Even familiar birds demand attention. Beyond the small central gate, the avenue of plane trees between the sports field ...
From Simple to Complex: Algebra, Part 1
Algebra is the branch of mathematics that studies numbers, quantities, relations, structures, and general methods for solving algebraic equations and systems, together with their properties. Elementary algebra is usually taught in secondary school. It introduces the subject’s basic ideas: what happens when we add or multiply numbers, what variables are, and how to construct polynomials and find their roots. Algebra studies not only numbers but all kinds of abstract structures. Author: delta Algebra is one of the most important branches of mathematics today. It has many branches of its own, including elementary algebra and higher algebra, while higher algebra divides into still more offshoots. If mathematics is Yggdrasil, then algebra is Asgard. Geometry is Vanaheim. Clearly, w ...
Sapiens: The Cognitive Revolution
Author: 自控力 Reviewer: Nancy The familiar “march of human evolution” is misleading. Human evolution was not the straight, single-track road shown in that image, but a flourishing tree with many branches. More than fifteen known species once belonged to the genus Homo. Neanderthals, Homo erectus, Homo floresiensis, and others shared the Earth with our ancestors, Homo sapiens, for long stretches of time. Where, then, did this deeply misleading linear image come from? It first appeared in the popular-science book Early Man, published in 1965. The book originally featured an elegant, elongated foldout showing hominins at different stages. Because the original illustration was so long, later layouts compressed and folded it to save space. The figures consequently looked as though they wer ...