浙江黄岩晚侏罗世硅化木的发现与研究

本文介绍了在我国浙江黄岩市首次发现上侏罗纪西山头组（J3x）地层中的硅化木。硅化木位于黄岩城西南约12km的大魏头山的火山岩地区,具体岩性为英安质晶屑玻屑凝灰岩,硅化木顺层呈似层状、透状、镶嵌状,平卧在凝灰岩层中,它与浙江新昌发现的硅化木有着重大区别。（1）前者产出层位是陆相火山爆发相的凝灰岩,后者是河湖相沉积岩;（2）前者是晚侏罗世,后者是早白垩世,前者要比后者早5～6千万年;（3）前者成因机理相对复杂。黄岩硅化木的发现为侏罗世时期大型植物化石提供了新材料,对这一时期地层古生物、古生态研究提供了重要实物证据,为侏罗世地质研究提供了基础。     

Humphry Davy: science and social mobility

Humphry Davy (1778–1829) was one of the first professional scientists, earning his living and rising spectacularly from an impoverished upbringing in Cornwall to be President of the Royal Society and a baronet. He owed his rise to patronage as well as to his range of abilities: as a lecturer, as a chemical theorist and as a very early applied scientist. But his exalted position brought him little happiness, for he could not satisfy all the hopes put upon him as the successor to Sir Joseph Banks. Admired rather than loved, he became unpopular and was seen as haughty. In his last two years, spent wandering lonely and sickly in Italy and the Alps, he sought to make sense of his life, writing dialogues as his bequest to the new generation.     

朝阳市古生物化石保护与利用问题研究

朝阳古生物化石蕴藏着自然世界万物造化的天然信息密码,是科学、艺术和文化价值的统一体,是全世界、全人类共同的宝贵财富。本文所要探讨及研究的是如何保护和利用好古生物化石,如何用科学发展观去指导保护与利用朝阳古生物化石的科学、文化价值,如何提高朝阳化石保护与利用的发展战略,从而大力发展文化创意产业,使古生物成为打造成朝阳未来经济发展的支柱产业。     

Richard Owen and the sea-serpent

The well known naturalist, Richard Owen, had a career long engagement with monstrous creatures. In the 1830s he famously christened large fossil reptiles, Dinosauria. He investigated fossil marine reptiles as well as the giant moa. He also looked into the sea-serpents and sea monsters then drawing wide public attention. He actively collected letters and analyzed correspondence on the topic, consulted with the admiralty on reports of Royal Navy encounters and sightings, and commented in the public press. He concluded that such reports were based upon misidentifications of whales and other large marine mammals, and not run-ins with mythological creatures. His work on the sea-serpent shows that rather than discount the idea out of hand, a number of high profile naturalists were intrigued by monsters and attempted to understand what they were. His work is key to understanding the skepticism over monsters held by modern mainstream science. This skepticism opened the field to later amateur investigators.     

Poles apart: Scott, Amundsen and science

One hundred years ago, teams led by Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott may have been heading in the same direction but they were poles apart in the way they sought their goals. Amundsen led a five-person team of expert Nordic skiers and dog-sledders with a single goal: getting to the South Pole first. He planned and executed the effort brilliantly. Scott, in contrast, led a complex and multi-faceted Antarctic expedition with 33 explorers and scientists, many of whom were focused on ambitious and often taxing scientific research projects that had nothing whatsoever to do with reaching the Pole. Although Scott failed to reach the South Pole first and died with four men on the return trip, his expedition made significant contributions to Antarctic science. Indeed, at least some of Scott's failure to reach the Pole first and the subsequent death of his polar party on the return trip can be attributed to burden of trying to do too much and not focusing on reaching the pole.     

科学史学与科学哲学互动的本土化探索——从方以智的科学史治学特点说起

方以智“函雅故,通古今”和“尊疑”、“求实”的科学史治学特点。对其科学哲学思想的提出有着重要的帮助,而且他还能以自己提出的科学哲学思想来指导科学研究及科学史工作。这一案例对启发科学史学与科学哲学互动的本土化探索以及促进和加强这两门学科的建设都具有重要的启发意义。     

Adelard of Bath and Roger Bacon: early English natural philosophers and scientists

The image of Roger Bacon as a 'modern' experimental scientist was propagated as historical truth in 19th century scientific historiography. Twentieth century criticisms attacked this tradition, arguing that Bacon was primarily a medieval philosopher with 'medieval' scientific interests. However, recent scholarship has provided a more careful and critical account of Bacon's science, and identifies his greatest achievement in terms of his successful attempt to assimilate the worlds of Greek and Islamic optics. It can be justly claimed that Roger Bacon was the first Western thinker in the middle ages to have mastered most of the Greek sources and the central Islamic source in optics. He made this scientific domain understandable for a Western Latin-reading audience. Yet, Bacon himself acknowledged Adelard of Bath, whose translations and commentary of Euclid's Elements set the foundations for a science of optics, as the true pioneer.     

冷杉属植物叶角质层内表面的观察及其系统学意义

 在扫描电镜下,比较观察了冷杉属全世界36种2变种的叶角质层内表面的结构特征,根据叶角 质层内表面胞间凸缘特征的显著差异,将冷杉属植物归为4类:(1)直且发达的单凸缘;(2)双凸缘; (3)不发达的单凸缘;(4)弯曲且发达的单凸缘。并发现这四种凸缘类型在冷杉属中的分布格局与该 类植物的地理分布具有相关性。根据所观察的结果和前人的属下分类系统以及化石资料,认为北美西部是现代冷杉属植物的一个多样性中心。     

The 2006 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry presented to Samuel J. Danishefsky, Ph.D.

Organic synthesis of natural products began in 1828 with Wohler's synthesis of urea, the first time a substance derived from a living organism had been produced by combining inorganic materials. Progress in the field was slow at first, due to the limited purification and analytical methods. Advances in those areas gave rise to rapid progress in synthesis, as chemists could now focus their energies on devising new approaches to the preparation of increasingly complex molecules. While it is possible to prepare many molecules by using known chemistry in new combinations, real progress has been the result of keen insight and creativity on the part of only a few individuals.Professor Samuel J. Danishefsky established himself early on as a leader in this field when he recognized that a well-known ring forming reaction could be greatly extended by adding chemical functionality to one of the components. He then found that these new reactive components could react with heretofore unreactive components to produce new rings containing oxygen atoms both in the ring and as attachments to the ring. These products were very similar to naturally occurring sugars. Danishefsky realized that he could develop this chemistry further to produce precisely defined polysaccharides as well. Some of these polysaccharides occur on the surface of cancer cells. Using the chemistry he developed, he was able to prepare these cancer cell markers, and after combining them with certain proteins, showed that the resulting molecules behaved as cancer vaccines. Several have entered clinical trial.Danishefsky has synthesized many other natural products, but he is particularly interested in those that may be useful in treating cancer. His syntheses allow for the modification of the final product in ways that improve both safety and efficacy. Several of these compounds have also entered clinical trials. Thus his work has not only advanced the art and science of organic synthesis, but stands to make dramatic advances in the treatment of cancer as well.     

Brain morphology of Homo Liujiang cranium fossil detailed with 3-D CT scan

Hominin fossils are the most important materials to explore human origins and evolution. Since most hominin fossils unearthed so far are incomplete, or filled with a heavy calcified matrix, it is difficult or often impossible to reconstruct the endocast in a real fossil without destroying it. Accordingly, traditional methods limit the study of human brain evolution.     

东昆仑沙松乌拉地区发现的早寒武纪异源类及地质意义

东昆仑沙松乌拉地区发现的寒武纪异源类化石,其组合为Leiosphaeridia sp.（光面球藻）、lophosphaeridium sp,（瘤面球藻）Trachysphaeridium sp.（鲛面球藻）、Heliosphaeridium sp.（射棘球藻）Pterospermella sp.（翼球藻）Brocholaminaria nigrita Ouyangetal. （黑色穴面膜片）,根据所获的疑源类化石组合,其时代应当为早寒武世.早寒武世异源类化石的发现进一步证明了早寒武世沙松乌拉组在东昆仑南坡俯冲增生杂岩带中的存在,对研究东昆仑地区中新元古代和早古生代的地质构造演化史具有重要意义.     

Hugo de Vries on heredity, 1889-1903. Statistics, Mendelian laws, pangenes, mutations.

The essay describes the development of Hugo de Vries's thinking on heredity from the publication of his Intracellulare Pangenesis in 1889 to the publication of Die Mutations-theorie, Volume 2, in 1903. De Vries's work in the 1890s can be characterized as an attempt to defend his theory of pangenes, especially the fundamental and controversial idea that different characters have different material hereditary carriers. Hybridization experiments served his goal. Recently discovered research notes on hybridization from 1896 suggest that, though he was unaware of Mendel's work, De Vries used the laws of dominance and recessiveness, segregation, and independent assortment to explain the 75:25 ratio in the second generation. He had discovered these laws by applying insights from probability theory to his research. In Die Mutationstheorie De Vries combined central concepts of intracellular pangenesis and his mutation theory by modifying the meanings of important terms and introducing new states of pangenes. In his attempts to describe Mendelian crossings in terms of pangenes and mutations, he became entangled in a number of contradictions. Some of his remarks suggest that he was aware that the Mendelian laws and his own theories of pangenes and mutations could not be made consistent.     

被子植物起源研究中几种观点的思考

对被子植物起源研究中的几种观点进行了讨论。(1)由于被子植物存在着一组共同的性状,它们不可能是从不同祖先起源的,而是有着共同的祖先。被子植物是一个单源起源的类群。现存被子植物分类系统是依据包括形态学(广义)、分子系统学、古植物学和植物地理学等的综合性状建立的,只能表示出现存类群的亲缘关系并且追溯到它们最近的祖先。人们现在还不可能建立一个包括全部已绝灭的类群和现代生存类群的谱系发生系统。因此,现存被子植物分类系统只能看作是“亲缘”系统。(2)分析了用于推测被子植物起源时间的分子、化石和地理分布证据。我们认为,要确定被子植物起源时间,植物化石是一类重要证据,但化石只能说是植物本身可保存部分和当时当地所提供的化石条件的综合反映,它们不可能就是植物类群或种的起源时间。人们还必须考虑到化石本身的演化历史。应用分子钟也是一种手段,但误差比较大。如果我们除了利用上述两种资料之外,根据植物类群的现代分布格局及其形成,把植物的演化同地球的历史和板块运动联系起来,以推断它们起源的时间,这无疑会增加其可信度。通过对56个种子植物不同演化水平的重要科属地理分布的研究结果,我们曾提出被子植物的起源时间可能要追溯到早侏罗世,甚至晚三叠世。(3)分析了基于分子证据所提出的被子植物基部类群——ANITA成员(包括无油樟科Amborellaceae、睡莲科Nymphaeaceae、八角目Illiciales、早落瓣科Trimeniaceae、木兰藤科Austrobaileyaceae)的性质,讨论了ANITA成员在现代几个被子植物分类系统中的系统位置的不同观点,评价了它们的形态学(广义)性状。指出ANITA的成员由于包含大量的祖征,是属于原始的类群。但由于它们的共有衍征很少,如花粉球形,说明它们在被子植物演化早期就分道扬镳了,沿着不同的传代线分化。因此ANITA是一个源于不同传代线的复合群。     

哥白尼货币理论初探

哥白尼在他的三篇经济学论文和写给财政大臣的信中完整地阐述了他的货币理论,他对劣币驱逐良币这一货币现象理解全面而深刻,发现了劣币将良币驱逐出市场的三条途径:熔化良币获利,收藏良币不用和良币流出国外,他认为导致这一现象的根本原因在于不同价值的货币同时流通。此外他还是货币数量论的开创者,是第一个发现货币的价值不但取决于货币所含的贵金属,还和货币的数量有关的学者。哥白尼通过分析货币市场的历史数据,对滥发货币导致的通货膨胀和币制混乱提出了一揽子的解决方案,主要是收回铸币权,统一币制,货币直接与黄金挂钩,这是金本位的雏形。     

The 2003 Benjamin Franklin Medal in computer and cognitive science presented to John McCarthy (Stanford California). John McCarthy's multiple contributions to the foundations of artificial intelligence and computer science

Since the mid-1950s, John McCarthy has made seminal contributions to a remarkably diverse range of important areas in computer science. In this report, we examine several of these contributions: As one of the fathers of artificial intelligence, he originated the logic-based paradigm of artificial intelligence (AI) research, arguably both the most productive approach to AI problems to date and the most promising for the future. He invented the time shared use of computer systems for the interactive development of software, a technique that allowed a single computer of large capacity to appear to a large number of simultaneous users as if that machine were theirs alone. He invented the LISP programming language, creating a program language design for the first time that was based on mathematical foundations rather than a partial abstraction away from the underlying computer hardware. The practical impact of his work has been enormous. Functional programming languages, of which LISP was the first, remain widely used, and the programming language constructs he invented remain the basis of modern programming control structures. The notion of time sharing, which he invented, remains a principle paradigm for the use of large computers even today. McCarthy's use of logic was among the primary intellectual sources of logic programming and automated theorem proving, and of many of their important applications.     

Applications of chemical imaging techniques in paleontology

Chemical imaging techniques, based on a combination of microscopy and spectroscopy, are designed to analyse the composition and spatial distribution of heterogeneous chemical complexes within a sample. Over the last few decades, it has become an increasingly popular tool for characterizing trace elements, isotopic information and organic biomarkers (molecular biosignatures) found in fossils. Here, we introduce the analytical principle of each technique and the interpretation of the chemical signals, followed by a review of the main applications of these techniques in paleontology. We also demonstrate that each technique is associated with pros and cons, and the current limitations and obstacles associated with the use of each specific technique should be taken into account before being applied to fossil samples. Finally, we propose that, due to the rapid advances in the available technology and overall trends towards more multi-disciplinary studies in paleontology, chemical imaging techniques can be expected to have broader applications in paleontology in the near future.     

Linnaeus' herbarium cabinet: a piece of furniture and its function

The Swedish 18th-century naturalist Carolus (Carl) Linnaeus is habitually credited with laying the foundations of modern taxonomy through the invention of binominal nomenclature. However, another innovation of Linnaeus' has largely gone unnoticed. He seems to have been one of the first botanists to leave his herbarium unbound, keeping the sheets of dried plants separate and stacking them in a purpose built-cabinet. Understanding the significance of this seemingly mundane and simple invention opens a window onto the profound changes that natural history underwent in the 18th century.     

不同依托单位支持程度下科学基金资助与项目绩效关系研究

通过从理论层面分析科学基金资助、依托单位支持及项目绩效的相互关系,选取国家自然科学基金委169位面上项目负责人作为实证研究对象,验证三者之间的关系.研究结果表明:科学基金资助可以分为外部和内部聚焦资助活动两个维度,都对项目绩效有显著的正向影响;依托单位支持对科学基金外部聚焦资助活动与项目绩效关系有调节作用,而对内部聚焦资助活动与项目绩效关系没有调节作用.     

The effects of the English libel laws on medicine and research – a personal view

Dr Peter Wilmshurst is a consultant cardiologist. He is a leader in his field, and also a whistleblower, drawing attention to that which he believes to be wrong. He was presented with the HealthWatch Award 2003. Peter Wilmshurst has clashed with universities, editors, the medical establishment, and – perhaps inevitably – with the pharmaceutical industry. It is this last encounter that has taken him to court and that has made explicit and very public the relevance of the UK's libel laws to scientific research.     

柳宗元的苦与乐——《小石潭记》教后感

永贞革新失败后,柳宗元一贬再贬,宦海沉浮,命运坎坷。谪居生活的悲凉与凄苦折磨着柳宗元,也造就了中国文学史上具有独特地位的山水游记名篇——《永州八记》。贬官后的柳宗元内心是极度痛苦的,为排遣苦闷,永州的山山水水成为他亲近与探访的对象。《小石潭记》就是在这种背景下写的。既然《小石潭记》的情感轴心是苦闷,那么怎样理解文中所写的＂乐＂呢？大自然特立独出的山水令作者冰释抑郁沉疴;柳宗元的＂乐＂不仅是暂时的,也是被动的;以乐写哀,哀更见其深,苦中作乐,苦更见其重。其实柳宗元完全应该感到快乐：其一,永贞革新具有历史进步性;其二,柳宗元的坎坷经历造就了山水精品——《永州八记》。