Science and Technology News | Scientists discover a new generation of anti-aging substances

【Today’s cover】

On the afternoon of December 7, the China Astronaut Research and Training Center held a meeting between the Shenzhou XII crew and reporters at the Beijing Space City. This was the first time that the Shenzhou XII crew had officially met with the media and the public after returning. At the meeting, the Shenzhou XII crew also brought the beautiful photos they took in space for the public to feast their eyes on! Image source: China Astronaut Research and Training Center, photo by Nie Haisheng

News Station

●At 12:12 Beijing time on December 7, 2021, the Ceres-1 Yao-2 carrier rocket was successfully launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, sending five small satellites, including Tianjin University-1, Lize-1, Baoyun, Golden Bauhinia-5, and Golden Bauhinia-1 03, into the predetermined orbit. The launch mission was a complete success. (Source: Science and Technology Daily)

●On December 7, in response to some voices in society in recent years questioning the phenomenon of students from prestigious universities going abroad for further studies, and worrying about the outflow of talents and the situation of preparing wedding clothes for others, Wei Shiqiang, director of the Department of Ideological and Political Work of the Ministry of Education, pointed out that we should fully understand the study abroad policy, have confidence in the students who go abroad, and also broaden our horizons, and pay attention to both the number of people going abroad and the number of people returning home. At the same time, in terms of what kind of people to cultivate, how to cultivate people, and for whom to cultivate people, the Ministry of Education has also explored from multiple aspects, including online and offline cultivation, leading by example, and letting students go out of campus to experience, and guide students to transform their patriotism into a journey of serving the country. (Source: China News Network)

●The General Administration of Customs released data on December 7, showing that in the first 11 months of this year, the total value of my country's import and export of goods was 35.39 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22% and a year-on-year increase of 24%, exceeding the level of 32.16 trillion yuan for the whole of last year. (Source: Xinhuanet)

Pure Technology

●On December 7, Sun Yu's research group at the Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, published a research paper online in the journal Nature Metabolism. The study screened from the natural medicine library and found that grape seed extract (GSE) has the function of clearing senescent cells, and its component PCC1 can selectively induce apoptosis of senescent cells. Combining a variety of mouse models, the research group fully revealed the significant effects and mechanisms of PCC1 in clearing senescent cells in mice, improving the treatment efficiency of aging-related diseases, and prolonging the lifespan of elderly mice. The study shows that PCC1 is a new generation of anti-aging substances with high medical transformation value. (Source: Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

●Recently, under the guidance of Academician Jiang Lei from the Center for Bionic Intelligent Interface Science of the Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wen Liping's research group developed a bionic hierarchical porous adsorption membrane based on intrinsic microporous polymers, which can achieve efficient uranium extraction from seawater. This microstructure design can also be extended to a large class of microporous polymer adsorbent designs to achieve sustainable supply of nuclear energy raw materials. (Source: China Science Daily)

New findings

●According to the latest news from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, the ongoing national wild orchid resource special survey project has achieved important phased results. At present, the species and distribution of wild orchids in 16 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities with key orchid distribution, such as Yunnan, Guangxi and Tibet, have been identified. 31 new species, such as Gongshan Xiaohongmen Orchid, Milin Tongue-lip Orchid, and Chinese Coral Orchid, 12 new Chinese record species, such as Striped Bilip Orchid and Wide Ellipse Oxtooth Orchid, and 1 new mainland record genus, Pseudo-Spider Orchid, have been discovered. (Source: Science and Technology Daily)

Image source: CCTV News Client

● According to the news from the Cultural Heritage Affairs Center of Hengshan County, Hunan Province on December 7, 57 tombs from the Qing Dynasty were excavated in Group 4 of Yangtian Village, Changjiang Town, Hengshan County, the earliest of which dates back to the 41st year of Emperor Kangxi's reign (1702). 105 cultural relics including ceramics, bronzes, and glassware were unearthed, including 92 glazed pottery jars, 1 blue-and-white dish epitaph, 2 glass earrings, 2 brick epitaphs, 7 copper buttons, and 1 copper pipe. Currently, the local cultural relics management department is cooperating with the Hunan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology to carry out cultural relics restoration and protection work. (Source: CCTV News Client)

See the world

●Recently, a study led by Washington State University in the United States found that most of the current sequencing of animal genomes is focused on animals similar to humans. Currently, the genomes of nearly 3,300 animal species have been sequenced, but compared with the 1.66 million animal species in the world, this number is still small, and vertebrates account for the vast majority of the current sequences. (Source: China Science Daily)

● According to the Russian Satellite Network, the Russian State Committee approved on the 7th to send two Japanese tourists to the International Space Station. One of the Japanese tourists, billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, will try various interesting things on the space station, including bringing back air from the space station, playing yo-yo, blowing bubbles, doing puzzles, trying to photograph the aurora, doing backflips, playing badminton, etc. The rocket and spacecraft are scheduled to ignite and launch at 10:38 Moscow time on December 8, and return at 6:18 on December 20. (Source: China News Network)

Editor: Zhang Shuang

Review: Julie

Final review: Liu Haiying

Science and Technology Daily