The creation of prehistoric man. Aimé Rutot and the Eolith controversy, 1900-1920

Although he died in obscurity, the Belgian museum conservator Aimé Rutot (1847-1933) was one of the most famous European archaeologists between 1900 and 1920. The focus of his scientific interest was stone flints, which he claimed to be the oldest known human tools, so-called eoliths. Skeptics maintained that the flints showed no marks of human workmanship, but Rutot nevertheless managed to spread his "Eolithic theory" in an important part of the scientific community. This essay demonstrates how material objects--series of stone flints and sets of statues that purported to reconstruct prehistoric "races"--were given scientific meaning by Rutot. Rutot diffused his ideas by disseminating his stones and statues, thus enlarging his networks of influence. For a time he managed to be at the material center of a trade network as well as at the intellectual center of archaeological debate. The essay shows how Rutot achieved this status and how he eventually fell from favor among serious scientists.     

Research sheds light on treatment of inflammation

The latest research breakthrough on the molecular mechanism and treatment of inflammation, contributed by scientists from the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences (SIBS) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and their American collaborators, was reported online by Nature Immunology on July 16, 2007.     

潜水艇

“隐蔽的船”在1719年,莫斯科近郊伯克洛村里的一个农奴叶非姆·尼柯诺夫,在他呈遞给沙皇彼得一世的请求书中写道:他——叶非姆·尼柯诺夫,“将要制造一艘轻便的船,用来在战时对付敌人,这隻船在海里将会在寂静无声的时候发射炮弹至少可以击毁一、二十艘敌舰。”尼柯诺夫报告沙皇,他发明的“隐蔽的船”,可以秘密地袭击敌人的海军,同时他又确定,这种船“能够在水下隐蔽地航行,并且能从军舰底下经过。”此外,发明家自己还愿意负责建造这艘奇怪的船。曾经一手创建起我国海军的彼得大帝,对於这个非凡的设计感到兴趣。根据沙皇的命令,把所需要的材料都     

A declaration on the notion of science

While constantly revealing the laws of the objective world and of mankind itself, science, and technology, whose development is based on the former, have greatly advanced the productive forces of society and brought about changes to people's modes of production and life in general.     

秦始皇兵马俑博物馆室内含硫颗粒物的SEM-EDX研究

本文对秦始皇兵马俑博物馆室内采集的长短期降尘、大气悬浮颗粒物和彩绘漆层进行了SEM-EDX研究，在大气悬浮颗粒、短期和长期降尘中，含硫颗粒的粒径分别为0.9～22.8μm、1.0～29.0μm和1.2～37.7μm，多为石膏与粘土或石英以内部混合的状态存在。降尘中的附着型絮状硫酸钙多于大气悬浮颗粒物中，显示降尘和大气中的二氧化硫发生了累进的化学反应。彩绘漆层表面的坑和裂隙附近观察到原位生长的硫酸钙晶体，显示漆层材料或降尘颗粒物与大气二氧化硫之间的酸化学反应，可能是彩绘漆层表面受侵蚀形成微小坑和裂隙的原因之一。     

上只青蛙七条腿？

童话中可爱的青蛙王子在现实生活中却长着一只鼓鼓的眼睛、五条甚至七条长短不一的腿，模样丑陋，令人作呕。究竟是什么原因使这些对环境敏感的小精灵发生了变化?它们生活的环境到底发生了什么事?     

精神分裂症新解读

今天，“精神分裂症”这个词，会让人想起Nash和Yates这些名字。Nash是奥斯卡获奖影片《美丽心灵》(A Beautiful Mind)的主人公，他显露出了数学天赋，因为他的前期工作，他最终获得了诺贝尔奖。Nash年轻时深受脑病的折磨，为此丢掉了学术职业，挣扎数年才康复。Yates是一位有5个孩子的母亲，同时患了抑郁症和精神分裂症，她因为要“把孩子们从魔鬼那里救出来”而将孩子溺死在浴缸里，现正在坐监。     

精制煤

煤層和煤粉——这是煤炭的全部开采量的大半往哪里使用煤層呢?廢料中的宝貝能量的濃縮非煉焦煤——不!冶金爐的新食料無烟和高發热值装这煤炭無損耗燃气輪机中的煤棒矿石煤炭团塊 在我們的地球上,煤的藏量确实是龐大的。在地下,煤要比石油多到100倍。煤是优良的燃料和貴重的化学原料。煤相当容易加工成为各种品質优良的冶金用与动力用燃料,加工成为各种發动机用液体燃料,加工成为工業和日常生活用气体燃料。从煤中可以制得用来合成一系列極其重要的化学产品的原料。可是,煤的使用在目前是極不合理的。采出的煤大半仍然是沒有經过任何預先加工,就在鍋爐里燒掉。燃料目前的使用形式是不适应現代技术水平的,因此这种使用形式会导致大