China science, technology news summary — March 8

BEIJING, March 8– The following is a summary of published science and technology news of China. Chinese researchers have explored a new cancer-treating strategy that uses fluorescent functional materials, according to Lanzhou University Second Hospital. Researchers from Lanzhou University Second Hospital and Nanchang Hangkong University jointly…

BEIJING, March 8 (Xinhua) — The following is a summary of published science and technology news of China.

PREDICT QUAKES

Many people, when asked to picture a Tibetan woman, will think of a weaver, a shepherdess or someone who performs folk dancing in music videos. However, Zeren Zhima does not conform to any of these stereotypes.

This slender woman is often spotted carrying a heavy laptop with complicated diagrams and curves displayed on the screen. She spends hours every day typing computer code and processing mass data received from a satellite 500 km away. Despite her origins in a remote area of the Tibetan countryside, Zeren now works at the cutting edge of modern science, specializing in the physics of the Earth and space.

Working at the National Institute of Nature Hazards, Zeren is the chief designer of the application system for China’s first seismo-electromagnetic satellite, the Zhangheng 1. In service for five years, the satellite, which was named after an ancient Chinese seismograph inventor, has provided a large amount of scientific data on earthquakes around the globe.

FLUORESCENT FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS

Chinese researchers have explored a new cancer-treating strategy that uses fluorescent functional materials, according to Lanzhou University Second Hospital.

Researchers from Lanzhou University Second Hospital and Nanchang Hangkong University jointly carried out the study, which proposes a new, cost-effective and efficient therapy for cancer.

NEWLY DISCOVERED COMETS

Chinese astronomers have made new discoveries regarding their research on the activity of the first two comets discovered by the country, according to the Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The comets, coded 62P/Tsuchinshan 1 and 60P/Tsuchinshan 2, were spotted by the observatory in January 1965 and confirmed as new short-period comets after being reported to the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center.

A research team from the PMO observed 60P/Tsuchinshan 2 from November 2018 to March 2019 through a high precision telescope and found a spiral structure in its inner coma, according to the study paper published in The Astrophysical Journal. Enditem