Interview with Axel Mosig： ＂To expect the unexpected＂

The German Axel Mosig has spent more than five years at the CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology （PICB）, a joint effort of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the German Max Planck Society. He studied computer science at the University of Bonn, where he also received his Ph.D. in 2004. In 2005, he became one of the first scientists at the newly established PICB in Shanghai. Two years ago, he returned to Germany and was appointed Professor at Ruhr University Bochum. The current focus of his research is computational bioimaging and RNomics.     

MPS／CAS Partner Group on the Development of Mechanical Knowledge in China

China's long and continuous cultural tradition offers scholars the special opportunity for cross-cultural studies in the long-term development of science. The Partner Group focuses on an exemplary case of such long-term development, the development of mechanical knowledge in China from antiquity to the early modern period. Research within the Partner Group is guided by a number of specific research questions, in particular the question of the interaction between practical and theoretical knowledge and the interaction between domestic and external knowledge traditions over a period of more than a millennium. In order to establish a cross-cultural perspective on the emergence and development of experiential science, the research is being coordinated with the current research project on the history of mechanical thinking at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science.     

CAS to set up a free-electron laser facility in Shanghai

CAS has decided to establish a soft X-ray free-electron laser （SXFEL） experimentfacility and an RF superconducting accelerator unit in Shanghai, according to a presentation made by Prof. ZHAO Zhentang, vice directorgeneral of the CAS Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics （SINAP）, at the 122nd session of the Eastern Forum of Science and Technology held on 11 and 12 December, 2008, in Shanghai.     

Arrestin＇ insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes

A group of biologists at the Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology （SIBCB） under .the CAS Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences （SIBS） reported on 5 Jan, 2009 in Nature that deficiency or dysfunction of a protein called β-arrestin-2 might contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes, hence inspiring research on potential new therapies for this notorious health threat.     

Experts call for increasing support to superconducting technology studies

The Chinese government should launch a major research project on superconducting technology, as it is of significant importance for ensuring national energy security, raising energy efficiency and reducing emissions, urged experts at a workshop held at the CAS Institute of Electronic Engineering on 6 and 7 March in Beijing.     

Living Matter in Crash Test： How Biomolecules Respond to Mechanical Forces

<正>The Group on Protein Mechanics and Evolution at the CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology,Shanghai,was established in January 2007 and headed by Dr.Frauke Gr?ter.The Klaus Tschira Lab has continued the eff orts of this former Independent Junior Research Group,since Dr.Gr?ter took up a position at the Heidelberg Institute of Theoretical Studies(HITS)in Heidelberg,Germany,in     

A revisit to Peking Man—— An older and cooler Peking Man refuels a debate lasting for decades

Peking Man, whose emergence from suburban Beijing in the 1920s and 1930s first revealed the existence of early humans in northeastern Asia, has remained at the center of a hot debate for decades. The mysterious absence of the fossil skulls of this Homo erectus （H. erectus） during the World War II added to the complexity of the story and, the difficulty of unraveling the enigma of its age. Because of the lack of an accurate dating technique suitable for the sediments at this site, the chronological niche for the Peking Man has long been obscured with the sands in the cave. A large-scale multidisciplinary investigation was conducted from 1978 to 1984 under the leadership of the CAS Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology （IVPP） and with the participation of Chinese scientists from 16 prestigious universities and research centers across this country. This study temporarily closed the debate by nailing down the age of Peking Man as between 0.7-0.3 million years （Myr） from today. As a well recognized research achievement, this dating has been written into textbooks in China.     

High-temperature superconductivity up to 223 K in the Al stabilized metastable hexagonal lanthanum superhydrideOA

As compressed hydrides constantly refresh the records of superconducting critical temperatures(T_c) in the vicinity of room temperature, this further reinforces the confidence to find more high-temperature superconducting hydrides. In this process, metastable phases of superhydrides offer enough possibilities to access superior superconducting properties. Here we report a metastable hexagonal lanthanum superhydride(P6₃/mmc-LaH₁₀) stabilized at 146 GPa by introduci...     

Support Quake Rescue Operation with Remote Sensing Technology

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Lushan County of Ya＇an in south China＇s Sichuan Province at 08：02 Beijing Time on April 20, 2013. With a solid foundation of science and technology and a lofty sense of mission, the newly established CAS Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth （RADI） rapidly started its emergency response system with remote sensing technology and built up a space-air-ground ＂sky-eye＂ system for the disaster monitoring. Its remote sensing airplane took off to conduct disaster monitoring tasks only 108 minutes after the earthquake.     

China''''s first intense beam proton linac

China's first intense beam proton linear acceleratorhas been built at the CAS Institute of High Energy Physics in Beijing, marking a major progress in research into the accelerator-driven system for developing clean nuclear energy in this country.     

First Botanical Garden in Central Desert

CAS researchers have suc-ceeded in establishing a botanicalgarden at the center of the immenseTaklimakan Desert. This success isthe first of its kind in the world.CAS researchers participating in theS&T project for highway construc-tion in the Taklimakan Desert havelong cherished a desire to afforestthe desert oilfield at the center ofthe desert. Since 1994, with supportfrom the China National PetroleumCorporation, scientists from the CASXinjiang Institute of Ecology andGeography have …     

Application Research Completed for a 75m HTS AC Power Cable

A75-meter-long, 3-phase and 10.5 kV/1.5kA high temperature superconducting (HTS) power cable, a brainchild of researchers from the CAS Institute of Electrical Engineering (IEE), has been operating stably and reliably over 7,000 hours in a power distribution grid.     

China’s first intense beam proton linac

China’s first intense beam proton linear accelerator has been built at the CAS Institute of High Energy Physics in Beijing, marking a major progress in research into the accelerator-driven system for developing clean nuclear energy in this country.     

Systems Biology Research of Photosynthesis for Greater Crop Yields

<正>Offi cially set up in 2008 by Dr.ZHU Xinguang at the Partner Institute for Computational Biology,the Plant Systems Biology Group focuses on systems biology research of photosynthesis with the goal of improving photosynthetic effi ciency for greater crop yields.The group at MPG in cooperation with this team is the Systems Regulation Department led by Prof.Mark Stitt at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology.     

Crystallize in CAS-MPG Chemistry

<正>Supported by the CAS-MPG Doctoral Promotion Programme, FENG Xianjuan and FAN Jing, both Ph.D. students from the CAS Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, studied for some years at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids(MPI-CPfS) in Dresden. FENG, now a postdoctoral researcher at the MPI-CPfS, defended her thesis last September and received her Ph.D. Degree in last Jan; FAN just defended her thesis in April and will be granted with the Degree in the upcoming June. Let's hear in this interview(given in Feb 2014) what they would say about their study and life in Germany and envision how this experience will impact their future.     

A Plasma-arc pyrolysis system for hazardous waste treatment

Alaboratory system for the treatment of medical and hazardous wastes via AC plasma-arc pyrolysis was recently built up by a research team led by Prof. SHENG Hongzhi at the CAS Institute of Mechanics （IMECH） in Beijing.     

CPT atomic frequency standard established in Wuhan

CAS scientists from the Wuhan Institute of Phys- ics & Mathematics have recently developed a prototype for the Coherent Population Trapping (CPT) atomic frequency standard. The gadget is capable of mak- ing miniature versions of the fre- quency standards which have been a common dream so long cherished by many research units in this country. But, the Wuhan scientists are the first group of researchers succeeding in developing it after being engaged in this poser as a result of the more th…     

WU Yueliang： New chief of the.CAS Institute of Theoretical Physics

Prof. WU Yueliang (Yue-Liang Wu), a theoretical physicist, has been appointed the new director of the CAS Institute of Theoretical Physics (ITP) in Beijing. He also serves as director of the newly established Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics China (KITPC) at CAS.     

Historical records of ＇plum rains＇ since 1736

To have a better understanding of current global climate change, some researchers turn to historical records to reconstruct climate history over past few centuries. A research team headed by Prof. GE Quansheng with the CAS Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research has made encouraging progress in this aspect by using historical documents of the Qing Dynasty （1644- 1911）. They have been successful in reconstructing a record of the duration and intensity of Melyu.     

Friendship Tied with the Milky Way

<正>"The MPG-CAS Partner Group led by Prof.HAN Jinlin from the Nationa Astronomical Observatories of China(CAS)has achieved great success in the determination of the magnetic fields o the Milky Way.The basis of this success was a cryogenic receiver with a polarim eter that was installed in China at the25m Nanshan Radio Telescope of the Urumqi Observatory.The receiver was a copy of a system installed in the 100m Effelsberg radio telescope of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn,Germany.A very lively exchange of researchers at all levels took place.On