Science
Beijing launches "rocket street" project to advance commercial space development
Beijing has launched a "rocket street" project, aiming to establish a national-level scientific research and production hub to support China's commercial space development.
"Beijing Rocket Street" project will be located in Beijing E-town, an economic and technological development area in the southeast of the capital city, with a total floor space of 140,000 square meters. A common technological platform, a high-end manufacturing center and an innovation research and development center are some of the major facilities. It also plans to build an interactive exhibition hall for science and technology that will offer visitors immersive virtual reality experiences.
Chinese lunar probe returns to Earth with world's first samples from far side of moon
The local government anticipates that the project will assist rocket enterprises in exploring new technologies and expanding their application scenario. Meanwhile, it has spearheaded a commercial space alliance, bringing together businesses, universities, institutions and cooperatives.
Beijing E-town hosts a cluster of over 70 aerospace companies including 75 percent of China's private rocket makers.
In 2023, the country's private commercial rocket enterprises, all headquartered in Beijing, carried a total of 13 space launches.
Since China's government work report earlier this year highlighted the inclusion of the commercial space industry as a significant driver for new growth, many regions such as Shanghai, Hunan and Sichuan have also released development plans to boost the industry.
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Data shows that China's commercial space market has experienced rapid growth since 2015, with an average annual increase of over 20 percent from 2017 to the first half of this year. This year, the country's commercial space market is expected to be worth 2.34 trillion yuan (about 328 billion U.S. dollars).
Chinese lunar probe returns to Earth with world's first samples from far side of moon
China's Chang'e 6 probe returned on Earth on Tuesday with rock and soil samples from the little-explored far side of the moon in a global first.
The probe landed in northern China on Tuesday afternoon in the Inner Mongolian region.
“I now declare that the Chang’e 6 Lunar Exploration Mission achieved complete success," Zhang Kejian, Director of the China National Space Administration said shortly in a televised news conference after the landing.
China prepares for return of lunar probe with moon samples
Chinese scientists anticipate the returned samples will include 2.5 million-year-old volcanic rock and other material that scientists hope will answer questions about geographic differences on the moon's two sides.
The near side is what is seen from Earth, and the far side faces outer space. The far side is also known to have mountains and impact craters, contrasting with the relatively flat expanses visible on the near side.
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While past U.S. and Soviet missions have collected samples from the moon's near side, the Chinese mission was the first that has collected samples from the far side.
The moon program is part of a growing rivalry with the U.S. — still the leader in space exploration — and others, including Japan and India. China has put its own space station in orbit and regularly sends crews there.
China lunar probe sheds light on the 'dark' side of the moon
China's leader Xi Jinping sent a message of congratulations to the Chang'e team, saying that it was a “landmark achievement in our country's efforts at becoming a space and technological power.”
The probe left earth on May 3, and its journey lasted 53 days. The probe has drilled into the core and scooped rocks from the surface.
The samples “are expected to answer one of the most fundamental scientific questions in lunar science research: what geologic activity is responsible for the differences between the two sides?” said Zongyu Yue, a geologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in a statement issued in the Innovation Monday, a journal published in partnership with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
China in recent years has launched multiple successful missions to the moon, collecting samples from the moon’s near side with the Chang’e 5 probe previously.
They are also hoping that the probe will return with material that bear traces of meteorite strikes from the moon’s past. With the successful reentry of the probe, scientists will begin studying the samples.
African elephants call each other by unique names, new study shows
African elephants call each other and respond to individual names — something that few wild animals do, according to new research published Monday.
The names are one part of elephants’ low rumbles that they can hear over long distances across the savanna. Scientists believe that animals with complex social structures and family groups that separate and then reunite often may be more likely to use individual names.
“If you’re looking after a large family, you’ve got to be able to say, ‘Hey, Virginia, get over here!’” said Duke University ecologist Stuart Pimm, who was not involved in the study.
It’s extremely rare for wild animals to call each other by unique names. Humans have names, of course, and our dogs come when their names are called. Baby dolphins invent their own names, called signature whistles, and parrots may also use names.
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Each of these naming species also possesses the ability to learn to pronounce unique new sounds throughout their lives — a rare talent that elephants also possess.
For the study in Nature Ecology & Evolution, biologists used machine learning to detect the use of names in a sound library of savanna elephant vocalizations recorded at Kenya’s Samburu National Reserve and Amboseli National Park.
The researchers followed the elephants in jeeps to observe who called out and who appeared to respond — for example, if a mother called to a calf, or a matriarch called to a straggler who later rejoined the family group.
Analyzing only the audio data, the computer model predicted which elephant was being addressed 28% of the time, likely due to the inclusion of its name. When fed meaningless data, the model only accurately labeled 8% of calls.
“Just like humans, elephants use names, but probably don’t use names in the majority of utterances, so we wouldn’t expect 100%,” said study author and Cornell University biologist Mickey Pardo.
Elephant rumbles include sounds that are below the range of human hearing. The scientists still don’t know which part of the vocalization is the name.
Researchers tested their results by playing recordings to individual elephants, who responded more energetically, ears flapping and trunk lifted, to recordings that contained their names. Sometimes elephants entirely ignored vocalizations addressed to others.
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“Elephants are incredibly social, always talking and touching each other — this naming is probably one of the things that underpins their ability to communicate to individuals,” said co-author and Colorado State University ecologist George Wittemyer, who is also a scientific adviser for nonprofit Save the Elephants.
“We just cracked open the door a bit to the elephant mind.”
10 candidates selected for China's fourth batch of astronauts
Ten candidates, including eight space pilots and two payload specialists, have been selected for China's fourth batch of astronauts, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced on Tuesday.
Of the two payload specialists, one is from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the other is from the Macao Special Administrative Region, said the CMSA. It added this is first time it has selected payload specialists in Hong Kong and Macao, a move which has garnered strong support and enthusiastic participation from local communities.
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These candidates will undergo comprehensive and systematic training at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center.
The selection of the fourth batch of Chinese astronaut candidates began in the second half of 2022.
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China selected 14 astronauts from air force pilots in 1998 and an additional seven in 2010. In 2020, it completed the selection of the third batch of 18 astronauts, which included space pilots, flight engineers and payload specialists.
The CMSA said that China's astronaut selection and training system has become more sophisticated and well-established. As international cooperation in crewed space exploration deepens, foreign astronauts will be invited to participate in the selection and training process, and subsequently carry out missions in China's space station.
China sends its youngest-ever crew to space as it seeks to put astronauts on moon before 2030
Chinese scientists prove early insulin therapy effective for type 2 diabetes
Chinese scientists have demonstrated the effectiveness of early insulin therapy for newly diagnosed patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), which can reduce the risks of stroke and hospitalization due to heart failure compared to those who have not received the treatment.
A joint research team led by Professor Weng Jianping from Anhui Medical University, and scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China, Southern Medical University, and Peking University, conducted a 24-year observational study on the treatment of 5,424 T2D patients across the country.
They found that newly diagnosed T2D patients who underwent the therapy experienced a 31 percent reduced risk of stroke and a 28 percent lower risk of hospitalization due to heart failure.
China's spacecraft carrying rocks from the far side of the moon leaves the lunar surface
This study further demonstrates the effectiveness of early insulin therapy in improving biomarkers related to low-grade inflammation and endothelial function, which are known indicators of cardiovascular risk, in newly diagnosed T2D patients.
This provides compelling evidence for adopting early insulin therapy as a first-line treatment option for newly diagnosed patients.
The findings were published in the international journal of Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy in early June.
China's spacecraft carrying rocks from the far side of the moon leaves the lunar surface
China says a spacecraft carrying rock and soil samples from the far side of the moon has lifted off from the lunar surface to start its journey back to Earth.
The ascender of the Chang’e-6 probe lifted off Tuesday morning Beijing time and entered a preset orbit around the moon, the China National Space Administration said.
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The Chang’e-6 probe was launched last month and its lander touched down on the far side of the moon Sunday.
Xinhua News Agency cited the space agency as saying the spacecraft stowed the samples it had gathered in a container inside the ascender of the probe as planned.
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The container will be transferred to a reentry capsule that is due to return to Earth in the deserts of China’s Inner Mongolia region about June 25.
Missions to the moon’s far side are more difficult because it doesn’t face the Earth, requiring a relay satellite to maintain communications. The terrain is also more rugged, with fewer flat areas to land.
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Xinhua said the probe's landing site was the South Pole-Aitken Basin, an impact crater created more than 4 billion years ago that is 13 kilometers (8 miles) deep and has a diameter of 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles).
It is the oldest and largest of such craters on the moon, so may provide the earliest information about it, Xinhua said, adding that the huge impact may have ejected materials from deep below the surface.
The mission is the sixth in the Chang’e moon exploration program, which is named after a Chinese moon goddess. It is the second designed to bring back samples, following the Chang’e 5, which did so from the near side in 2020.
The moon program is part of a growing rivalry with the U.S. — still the leader in space exploration — and others, including Japan and India. China has put its own space station in orbit and regularly sends crews there.
The emerging global power aims to put a person on the moon before 2030, which would make it the second nation after the United States to do so. America is planning to land astronauts on the moon again — for the first time in more than 50 years — though NASA pushed the target date back to 2026 earlier this year.
Can pink noise enhance sleep and memory?
You may have heard of white noise used to mask background sounds. Now, it has colorful competition.
There’s a growing buzz around pink noise, brown noise, green noise — a rainbow of soothing sounds — and their theoretical effects on sleep, concentration and the relaxation response.
The science is new with only a few small studies behind it, but that hasn’t stopped thousands of people from listening to hours of these noises on YouTube and on meditation apps that provide a palette of color noises with paid subscriptions.
WHAT IS PINK NOISE?
To understand pink noise, start with white, the most familiar of the color noises.
White noise is similar to static on a radio or TV. Sound engineers define it as having equal volume across all the frequencies audible to the human ear. It gets its name from white light, which contains all the visible color wavelengths.
But the high frequencies of white noise can sound harsh. Pink noise turns down the volume on those higher frequencies, so it sounds lower in pitch and more like the natural sound of rain or the ocean.
Brown noise sounds even lower in pitch, giving it a pleasing, soothing rumble.Pink and brown, like white, have standard definitions to audio experts. Other color noises are more recent creations with very flexible definitions.
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE BEHIND COLOR NOISES?
White noise and pink noise may provide small benefits for people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, according to a recent review of limited ADHD studies. In theory, it wakes up the brain, said ADHD researcher and co-author Joel Nigg of Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.
“The noise provides stimulation to the brain without providing information, and so it doesn’t distract,” Nigg said.
White noise has been used to treat ringing or buzzing in the ear, called tinnitus.
Scientists at Northwestern University are studying how short pulses of pink noise can enhance the slow brain waves of deep sleep. In small studies, these pink-noise pulses have shown promise in improving memory and the relaxation response.
Pink noise has a frequency profile “very similar to the distribution of brain wave frequencies we see in slow-wave sleep because these are large, slow waves,” said Dr. Roneil Malkani, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
If Northwestern’s research pans out, it could lead to a medical device to improve sleep or memory through personalized pulses of pink noise. But many scientific questions remain unanswered, Malkani said. “There’s still a lot of work we have to do.”
IS THERE ANY HARM IN TRYING COLOR NOISES?
If color noises feel calming and help you drown out distractions, it makes sense to use them. Keep them at a quiet level, of course, to prevent hearing loss and take “plenty of breaks for the ears to rest,” Nigg said.
Solar storm puts on brilliant light show across the globe, but no serious problems reported
A powerful solar storm put on an amazing skyward light show across the globe overnight but has caused what appeared to be only minor disruptions to the electric power grid, communications and satellite positioning systems.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said extreme geomagnetic storm conditions continued Saturday, and there were preliminary reports of power grid irregularities, degradation of high-frequency communications and global positioning systems.
But the Federal Emergency Management Agency said that, so far, no FEMA region had reported any significant impact from the storms. The U.S. Department of Energy said Saturday it is not aware of any impact from the storms on electric customers.
NOAA predicted that strong flares will continue through at least Sunday, and a spokeswoman said via email that the agency's Space Weather Prediction Center had prepared well for the storm.
On Saturday morning, SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service said on its website that service had been degraded and its team was investigating. CEO Elon Musk wrote on the social platform X overnight that its satellites were “under a lot of pressure, but holding up so far.”
Brilliant purple, green, yellow and pink hues of the Northern Lights were reported worldwide, with sightings in Germany, Switzerland, China, England, Spain and elsewhere.
In the U.S., Friday’s solar storm pushed the lights much farther south than normal. The Miami office of the National Weather Service confirmed sightings in the areas of Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers, Florida. Meteorologist Nick Carr said another forecaster who lives near Fort Lauderdale photographed the lights and was familiar with them because he previously lived in Alaska.
People in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and other Midwestern states were able to capture photos of bright colors along the horizon.
With the solar storm persisting through the weekend, Saturday night offered another chance for many to see the spectacle.
NOAA issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated.
The agency alerted operators of power plants and orbiting spacecraft, as well as FEMA, to take precautions.
“For most people here on planet Earth, they won’t have to do anything,” said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.
“That’s really the gift from space weather: the aurora,” Steenburgh said. He and his colleagues said the best views may come from phone cameras, which are better at capturing light than the naked eye.
Snap a picture of the sky, and “there might be actually a nice little treat there for you,” said Mike Bettwy, operations chief for the prediction center.
The most intense solar storm in recorded history, in 1859, prompted auroras in central America and possibly even Hawaii.
This storm poses a risk for high-voltage transmission lines for power grids, not the electrical lines ordinarily found in people’s homes, NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl told reporters. Satellites also could be affected, which in turn could disrupt navigation and communication services here on Earth.
An extreme geomagnetic storm in 2003, for example, took out power in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa.
Even when the storm is over, signals between GPS satellites and ground receivers could be scrambled or lost, according to NOAA. But there are so many navigation satellites that any outages should not last long, Steenburgh noted.
The sun has produced strong solar flares since Wednesday, resulting in at least seven outbursts of plasma. Each eruption, known as a coronal mass ejection, can contain billions of tons of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona.
The flares seem to be associated with a sunspot that is 16 times the diameter of Earth, NOAA said. It is all part of the solar activity ramping up as the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle.
First person to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant dies nearly 2 months later
The first recipient of a genetically modified pig kidney transplant has died nearly two months after he underwent the procedure, his family and the hospital that performed the surgery said Saturday.
Richard “Rick” Slayman had the transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital in March at the age of 62. Surgeons said they believed the pig kidney would last for at least two years.
The transplant team at Massachusetts General Hospital said in a statement it was deeply saddened by Slayman's passing and offered condolences to his family. They said they didn't have any indication that he died as a result of the transplant.
The Weymouth, Massachusetts, man was the first living person to have the procedure. Previously, pig kidneys had been temporarily transplanted into brain-dead donors. Two men received heart transplants from pigs, although both died within months.
Slayman had a kidney transplant at the hospital in 2018, but he had to go back on dialysis last year when it showed signs of failure. When dialysis complications arose requiring frequent procedures, his doctors suggested a pig kidney transplant.
In a statement, Slayman's family thanked his doctors.
“Their enormous efforts leading the xenotransplant gave our family seven more weeks with Rick, and our memories made during that time will remain in our minds and hearts,” the statement said.
They said Slayman underwent the surgery in part to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive.
“Rick accomplished that goal and his hope and optimism will endure forever,” the statement said.
Xenotransplantation refers to healing human patients with cells, tissues or organs from animals. Such efforts long failed because the human immune system immediately destroyed foreign animal tissue. Recent attempts have involved pigs that have been modified so their organs are more humanlike.
More than 100,000 people are on the national waiting list for a transplant, most of them kidney patients, and thousands die every year before their turn comes.
Boeing is on the verge of launching astronauts aboard new capsule, the latest entry to space travel
After years of delays and stumbles, Boeing is finally poised to launch astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA.
It’s the first flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule with a crew on board, a pair of NASA pilots who will check out the spacecraft during the test drive and a weeklong stay at the space station.
NASA turned to U.S. companies for astronaut rides after the space shuttles were retired. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has made nine taxi trips for NASA since 2020, while Boeing has managed only a pair of unoccupied test flights.
Boeing program manager Mark Nappi wishes Starliner was further along. “There’s no doubt about that, but we’re here now.”
The company’s long-awaited astronaut demo is slated for liftoff Monday night.
Provided this tryout goes well, NASA will alternate between Boeing and SpaceX to get astronauts to and from the space station.
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A look at the newest ride and its shakedown cruise:
THE CAPSULEWhite with black and blue trim, Boeing’s Starliner capsule is about 10 feet (3 meters) tall and 15 feet (4.5 meters) in diameter. It can fit up to seven people, though NASA crews typically will number four. The company settled on the name Starliner nearly a decade ago, a twist on the name of Boeing’s early Stratoliner and the current Dreamliner.
No one was aboard Boeing’s two previous Starliner test flights. The first, in 2019, was hit with software trouble so severe that its empty capsule couldn’t reach the station until the second try in 2022. Then last summer, weak parachutes and flammable tape cropped up that needed to be fixed or removed.
THE CREWVeteran NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are retired Navy captains who spent months aboard the space station years ago. They joined the test flight after the original crew bowed out as the delays piled up. Wilmore, 61, is a former combat pilot from Mount Juliet, Tennessee, and Williams, 58, is a helicopter pilot from Needham, Massachusetts. The duo have been involved in the capsule’s development and insist Starliner is ready for prime time, otherwise they would not strap in for the launch.
“We’re not putting our heads in the sand,” Williams told The Associated Press. “Sure, Boeing has had its problems. But we are the QA (quality assurance). Our eyes are on the spacecraft.”
THE TEST FLIGHTStarliner will blast off on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It will be the first time astronauts ride an Atlas since NASA’s Project Mercury, starting with John Glenn when he became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. Sixty-two years later, this will be the 100th launch of the Atlas V, which is used to hoist satellites as well as spacecraft.
“We’re super careful with every mission. We’re super, duper, duper careful” with human missions, said Tory Bruno, CEO of ULA, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
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Starliner should reach the space station in roughly 26 hours. The seven station residents will have their eyes peeled on the approaching capsule. The arrival of a new vehicle is “a really big deal. You leave nothing to chance,” NASA astronaut Michael Barratt told the AP from orbit. Starliner will remain docked for eight days, undergoing checkouts before landing in New Mexico or elsewhere in the American West.
STARLINER VS. DRAGONBoth companies’ capsules are designed to be autonomous and reusable. This Starliner is the same one that made the first test flight in 2019. Unlike the SpaceX Dragons, Starliner has traditional hand controls and switches alongside touchscreens and, according to the astronauts, is more like NASA’s Orion capsules for moon missions. Wilmore and Williams briefly will take manual control to wring out the systems on their way to the space station.
NASA gave Boeing, a longtime space contractor, more than $4 billion to develop the capsule, while SpaceX got $2.6 billion. SpaceX already was in the station delivery business and merely refashioned its cargo capsule for crew. While SpaceX uses the boss’ Teslas to get astronauts to the launch pad, Boeing will use a more traditional “astrovan” equipped with a video screen that Wilmore said will be playing “Top Gun: Maverick.”
One big difference at flight’s end: Starliner lands on the ground with cushioning airbags, while Dragon splashes into the sea.
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THE FUTUREBoeing is committed to six Starliner trips for NASA after this one, which will take the company to the station’s planned end in 2030. Boeing’s Nappi is reluctant to discuss other potential customers until this inaugural crew flight is over. But the company has said a fifth seat will be available to private clients. SpaceX periodically sells seats to tycoons and even countries eager to get their citizens to the station for a couple weeks.
Coming soon: Sierra Space’s mini shuttle, Dream Chaser, which will deliver cargo to the station later this year or next, before accepting passengers.