宇宙中的上帝之手

美国宇航局最近放出了一张美轮美奂照片，一只巨大的“手”在太空中大放光芒。

钱德拉X射线太空望远镜拍摄到一颗动力非常强大但垂死的微小脉冲星，脉冲星疯狂旋转，常常用其可怕的光芒照亮了周围区域。这颗脉冲星被命名为PSR B1509-58，很早之前便因燃料耗尽而变成了一个直径仅为12英里(约合19公里)的球体。结果形成了如此奇特的场景。

在这张由钱德拉X射线太空望远镜拍摄的照片中，PSR B1509-58脉冲星周围星云释放出高能X射线，这些X射线呈现绿色，而脉冲星以每秒7周的速度高速旋转，不断向周围环境释放能量，从而形成了魔幻景象——此景看上去就像是一只手伸向红色的宇宙光芒。

红色光芒其实是邻近一朵称为RCW 89的气云，天文学家认为是PSR B1509-58脉冲星的“宇宙之手”的手指照亮了它。此景覆盖周围150光年的区域，距离地球1.7万光年远，所以，我们看到的一幕其实发生在1.7万年前，只不过红色光芒刚刚抵达地球。

Huge Hand In the Space

Recently NASA released a new photon taken by Chandra X-ray Observatory. Tiny and dying but still-powerful stars called pulsars spin like crazy and light up their surroundings, often with ghostly glows.

High-energy X-rays emanating from the nebula around PSR B1509-58 have been colored blue to reveal a structure resembling a hand reaching for some eternal red cosmic light.

The red light actually a neighboring gas cloud, RCW 89, energized into glowing by the fingers of the PSR B1509-58 nebula, astronomers believe.

The scene, which spans 150 light-years, is about 17,000 light years away, so what we see now is how it actually looked 17,000 years ago, and that light is just arriving here.

会说话的IPOD Shuffle

仅高 45.2 毫米，厚 7.8 毫米

控制按键从 iPod shuffle 的机身处移到了耳机线上的耳塞下方，iPod shuffle 因此变得更小，但功能却完全不受影响。控制按键的位置十分恰当，使用起来非常方便。

强大的 VoiceOver

有了 VoiceOver 的全新语音功能，iPod shuffle 的音乐之声更加美妙动人。比如说你正在听一首歌曲，想知道歌曲名称或者是表演者名字，只需轻轻按一下按键，VoiceOver 便会用中文普通话为你读出来，并同时降低音乐的音量。它还能读出播放列表的名称。电池需要充电时，它同样会以语音通知你。

你的音乐收藏，随身携带

过去有限的存储空间意味着你无法将海量音乐随身携带，现在 iPod shuffle 的存储容量高达 4GB，给你充足的空间存放喜爱的音乐 - 多达 1,000 首歌曲*以及多个播放列表。

科技型格，时尚配饰

新款 iPod shuffle 就连背后的小夹子都星味十足，它用不锈钢材料制成，可以夹在衬衫、夹克、健身服甚至是背包上。银、黑两色的阳极电镀铝合金外壳精致耐用，让 iPod shuffle 成为你衣橱中的必备单品。没错，如此玲珑的身形仍然有足够空间刻上你的个性信息。

The New IPOD Shuffle

1.8" tall by 0.3" thin to be exact.

To create the world’s smallest music player, the controls are moved from iPod shuffle to the earbud cord. This allowed us to make the new iPod shuffle dramatically smaller. It’s also easier to use, with the controls located where you can access them quickly.

Introducing VoiceOver.

Musically speaking, the new iPod shuffle is brilliant, thanks to an exciting new feature called VoiceOver. Say you’re listening to a song and want to know the title or the artist. With the press of a button, VoiceOver tells you as the music dips down. It even announces the names of your playlists. And when your battery needs charging, VoiceOver tells you that, too.

Your music library.

There was a time when limited storage meant you had to leave a lot of your songs on the sync-room floor. But now that iPod shuffle has 4GB of storage, you have plenty of room to store hours and hours of music — up to 1,000 songs.* With room for multiple playlists, too.

Fashion tech-cessory.

Even the iPod shuffle clip gets the rock star treatment. Now forged in stainless steel, the clip attaches securely to your shirt, jacket, workout gear, even your backpack. And the sleek, durable anodized aluminum case — available in silver or black — makes iPod shuffle a wardrobe essential. And yes, there’s still room for personalized.

New year, New beginning~ First issue in 2009!!!

Have you ever thought of watching video when playing games in full screen on one computer? Do you often complain that Windows Vista slows your computer? Do you know that last year we human did the most significant experiment to find out what is the source of mass?
Read the latest Science Tour Magazine and you will know more about the world you are living.

Download link: http://www.brsbox.com/filebox/down/fc/6981cdece9fced39dad994518fa6a7c9/rand/803658470

Chicken droppings could help clear up oil spills

Chicken droppings may be one answer to cleaning up soil contaminated with crude oil, according to researchers in China.

Soil that has been ploughed with chicken manure breaks down 50 per cent more crude oil than soil lacking the manure, according to a team led by Huiwen Ma, a professor of biochemistry at China's Wuhan University.

The contamination of soil by crude oil is a growing problem as China accelerates its exploitation of oil reserves to meet rising energy demands. The fifth largest oil producer in the world, China produced 190 million tons of crude oil in 2008.

But the environment has paid a huge price. The Zhongyuan oilfield in Henan has polluted over 1,700 hectares of adjacent farmland, according to a preliminary calculation by Henan Agricultural University in 2002.

Previously, scientists have applied chemical fertilisers to the soil to encourage microbes to degrade the oil. But the fertilisers are expensive, can threaten the environment themselves and also cause the soil to harden and become less fertile.

In their laboratory experiment Ma's team found that a Bacillus species found in chicken manure is the most effective oil-removing microbe.

The manure decreases the acidity of soil, creating an environment ideal for the bacterial degradation.

The chicken farms that have sprung up over China in recent years have made accumulating chicken manure a more realistic prospect, said Zhang Zhongzhi, a professor of biochemical engineering from the China University of Petroleum. Ma's research offers a pragmatic approach to biodegradation, he told SciDev.Net.

But Ma said that, in the field, the manure will take longer to work because of differences in oxygen supply and fluctuating temperatures.

The study was published in the International Journal of Environment and Pollution in February.

鸡粪可以清除污土壤的原油

中国科学家说，鸡粪可能成为清洁受原油污染的土壤的一种解决方案。
　 根据中国武汉大学的微生物学教授马辉文领导的一个团队，耕地时加入鸡粪的土壤能够比没有鸡粪的土壤多分解50%的原油。
　 随着中国加速开采其石油储备从而满足日益增加的能源需求，原油污染土壤越来越成为一个问题。中国是全世界第5大产油国，在2008年开采了1.9亿吨原油。
但是环境为之付出了巨大代价。根据河南农业大学2002年的初步计算，中原油田污染了附近1700多公顷的农田。
　 此前，科学家在土壤中施用化肥从而促进微生物降解原油。但是化肥很贵，而且本身可能威胁环境，而且还导致了土壤硬化和肥力下降。
　　鸡粪能减少土壤的酸性，创造出细菌降解的理想环境。
在实验室进行的实验中，马辉文的团队发现，在鸡粪中发现的一种杆菌是最有效的清除石油的微生物。
中国石油大学的生物化学工程教授张忠智说，近年来中国的养鸡场蓬勃发展，这让不断积累鸡粪变得更为现实。他告诉本网站说，马辉文的研究提供了一种务实的生物降解方法。
但是马辉文说，由于氧气供应和温度的变化，鸡粪在田间需要更长的时间才能见效。
　 该研究发表在2月出版的《国际环境与污染杂志》上。

“Science Tour Magazine” Volume. 3 (ST0812) has landed on earth!!!

The third volume of Science Tour Magazine for Dec. 2008 came out today. In this volume we will guide you through our paper airplane contest which was held by our Science Tour Magazine club. By reading this you will know clearly about how a paper airplane or a real plane works. The next generation of the U.S. cargo launcher is be covered in this volume as well. The structure will be introduced and it will be compared with other cargo launchers. Nanotechnology and spiders are also talked in this volume. Besides, we started to publish a scientific fiction on our magazine. By the way, do you know that microsoft has lowered the hardware requirements of windos vista? You will get the detail in our magazine.
Hope you will like it.
To down load it, press the link below
http://www.box.net/shared/h2e193kx0j
We ensure you that there is no virus in our magazine.
Science Tour Magazine

《科学之旅》第三期12/2008降临地球！！！

我们又回来了！这次我们带来了美国最新研制的火箭，比以往的任何火箭都要强大。我们还将揭秘毛茸茸的蜘蛛，以及纳米技术的材料。我们还将带你直击我们的纸飞机比赛。这是由我们杂志社举办的一个活动。在阅读之后，你会清楚地知道飞机和纸飞机是如何工作的。从本期开始，我们开始连载一部科幻小说。纵览天文地理，横观物理化学，尽在《科学之旅》
下载地址：http://www.brsbox.com/filebox/down/fc/9c348d07e309db6d6929cfd4f7b510c2

本杂志社向读者保证，杂志中无任何病毒。
《科学之旅》

Obama says “we should double global health spending”

The US should double its expenditure on global health as a mainstay of its foreign policy, leading US medical specialists said on 15th December.

A team co-led by one of president-elect Barack Obama's scientific advisers also said that funds should be directed towards basic research into the diseases of poor countries; health systems research to improve access to and delivery of interventions and research into controlling the many non-communicable diseases found in impoverished settings.

The report, issued by the influential US National Institute of Medicine, argued that the US government "should act in the global interest, recognising that long-term diplomatic, economic, and security benefits for the United States will follow".

Leading the committee were Nobel prize-winner Harold Varmus — a former head of the National Institutes of Health as well as an adviser on science to Obama — and Thomas Pickering, under secretary of state for political affairs.

The committee called for the United States' annual global health funding to be doubled from US$7.5 billion in 2008 to US$15 billion by the end of Obama's first term in 2012.
It also noted that the United States conducts over half the world's health research but only eight per cent of this investment, public or private, goes towards global health.
　　
Much of this has funded HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria under schemes such as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)
　　
This should continue, says the report, but other areas should be added to the portfolio.

"These areas … have been underfunded relative to their importance globally, and the committee determined that the United States can make a substantial contribution in moving forward the research agenda in these critical areas," said Maria Freire, a committee member and president of the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, which funds biomedical research.
　　
The report also calls for more public-private partnerships to be pursued, more collaborations between developed and developing country researchers, and better access to modern digital technologies to enhance and record research in developing countries.
　
"Opportunities to engage with the public and private sectors in low- and middle-income countries continue to increase and the US government should be open to exploring novel ways to achieving success via these partnerships," said Freire.
　
To carry out such plans and ensure a central place for global health in US foreign policy, the report recommends the creation of an Interagency Committee on Global Health. Its chair would advise the White House on global health issues.

奥巴马:“应该让全球卫生开支加倍”

美国主要的医学专家在本月15号表示，美国应该把全球卫生的开支加倍，从而作为美国外交政策的一个支柱。
由当选总统巴拉克?奥巴马的科学顾问之一联合领导的一个委员会还说，应该把资金引向对穷国疾病的基础研究、研究卫生系统从而改善干预措施的获取和供给、以及对在贫困环境中发现的许多非传染病的控制的研究。
　 该报告是由有影响力的美国医学院发布的，它认为美国政府“应该在全球利益方面采取行动，认识到美国的长期外交、经济和安全利益将会因此随之而来”。
领导这个委员会的是诺贝尔奖获得者Harold Varmus——他是国立卫生研究院的前院长、也是奥巴马的科学顾问之一——和美国国务院负责政治事务的副国务卿Thomas Pickering。
该委员会呼吁美国将每年的全球卫生资助从2008年的75亿美元增加到2012年奥巴马首任结束时的150亿美元
。
它还指出，美国进行了全世界超过半数的卫生研究，但是只有8%的投资——无论是公共还是私人投资——进入了全球卫生领域。
这些资金的大部分根据诸如总统防治艾滋病紧急救援计划(PEPFAR)等项目资助了艾滋病、结核病以及疟疾研究。
该报告说，这种做法应该继续下去，但是其它的领域也应该加入到其中。
“这些领域……相对于它们的全球重要性而言得到的资助不足，该委员会认为美国可以在促进这些关键领域的研究议程方面做出显著贡献，”该委员会的委员、资助生物医学研究的Albert 和Mary Lasker基金会的主席 Maria Freire说。
　 为了执行这样的计划并确保全球卫生在美国的外交政策中占有核心位置，该报告建议成立一个全球卫生跨部门委员会。它的主席将为白宫就全球卫生问题提供建议。
　 “让中低收入国家的公立和私营部门参与的机会在不断增加，而美国政府应该坦率地探索通过这些伙伴关系从而实现成功的新方式。” Freire说
该报告还呼吁结成更多的公私合作伙伴关系、发达国家和发展中国家的科学家进行更多的合作，以及更好地获取现代数字技术从而促进和记录发展中国家的研究。

Waterproof rice passes international field tests

Scientists hope that the rice can make a major difference in Bangladesh and India where up to four million tons of rice per year — enough to feed 30 million people — are lost because of flooding.

A new type of rice that can survive total submersion for more than two weeks has passed its field tests with "flying colours", say researchers, and is now close to official release.

'Sub1' rice is identical to the high-yielding varieties popular with both farmers and consumers across Asia, except that it contains a single gene that gives it 'waterproof' qualities.

The enabling gene, 'sub1A', was discovered 13 years ago in a traditional Indian rice variety by David Mackill — now head of the plant breeding, genetics and biotechnology division of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines — and Xu Kenong, his then graduate student.

Scientists inserted the gene into other rice varieties and found that it became switched on when a plant was submerged. It acts to make the plant dormant, allowing it to conserve energy until the floodwaters recede.

It also countermands the rice plant's normal strategy when submerged — to extend its stem and leaves in an attempt to escape the water.

"The potential for impact is huge," said Mackill, who collaborated on the project with the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, India's Central Rice Research Institute and Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology, also in India.

"Submergence-tolerant varieties could make major inroads into Bangladesh's annual rice shortfall and substantially reduce its import needs."

Crop scientists estimate that annual flooding leads to losses worth US$1 billion across South and South-East Asia.

Mackill said flooding is even beneficial to the rice, which produces five tons for each hectare submerged for up to two weeks. He added that an ordinary rice variety without the 'sub1A' gene produces less than one ton per hectare. 　

"Climate change will most likely result in more extreme weather events, including storms or heavy rainfall that causes flooding. We are continuing our research to increase the level of tolerance to flooding to a higher level," he said.

"Within the next two years, the varieties will be disseminated to small farmers in flood-prone areas."

The field trials mark the completion of a project funded for the past five years by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

耐淹水稻通过国际大田试验

　 科学家说，一种可以耐受完全淹没达两星期以上的新型水稻品种“大获全胜”，通过了大田试验并正在接近正式释放。
　　科学家希望这种水稻可以在孟加拉国和印度大显身手，在这些地区，每年至多400万吨的水稻——这足以养活3000万人——因为洪水而损失。
　 “Sub1”水稻和在亚洲的农民和消费者中间都很受欢迎的高产品种相同，只是它含有一个赋予了它“防水”性质的基因。
　　这个防水基因“sub1A”是13年前被David Mackill和许克农（Xu Kenong）在印度的一个传统水稻品种中发现的。Mackill现在是位于菲律宾的国际水稻研究所植物育种、遗传学和生物技术部门的负责人，而当时许克农是他的研究生。
　　科学家把这个基因插入了其他水稻品种中，结果发现当植株遭水淹没的时候该基因会启动。它让植株进入睡眠状态，让它保存能量，直到洪水退去。
　 在遭水淹的时候，它还会取消水稻植株的正常生长策略，也就是伸展茎叶从而试图逃离水淹。
　
　 “该研究影响的潜力是巨大的，”Mackill说。他与孟加拉国水稻研究所、印度的中央水稻研究所以及印度Narendra 农业和技术大学就这个项目进行了合作。
　 “耐淹品种可能在很大程度上改善孟加拉国每年的水稻短缺，并显著减少其进口需求。”
　 作物科学家估计洪水每年导致南亚和东南亚损失10亿美元。
　 Mackill说，洪水甚至对水稻有益，水淹长达2周的水稻每公顷可产稻米5吨。他还说没有“sub1A”基因的水稻品种每公顷产量不到1吨。
　 “气候变化将最可能导致更极端的天气事件，包括风暴或者导致洪水的大降雨。我们正在继续我们的研究，从而让耐淹能力达到更高水平，”他说。
　“在未来的2年里，洪水泛滥地区的小农将得到这些品种。”
　 这些大田试验标志着德国联邦经济合作与发展部在过去的5年时间里资助的一个项目的完成。

日本遗传学家成功复活死老鼠

今年，日本遗传学家成功对已经冷冻保存了16年的死老鼠进行了克隆，并最终培育出13只健康的活老鼠。科学家们在这方面的突破意味着在不久的将来，复活已经灭绝的物种如猛犸象，可能成为现实。尽管在此之前，这被一直认为是不可能的任务。只有在侏罗纪公园这样的电影里才会出现这样的场景。

这种技术的具体过程是，首先从死老鼠的大脑和血液中提取细胞核，然后注入到未受精的老鼠卵子帮助其发育成胚胎。

日本的科学家声称，这一技术非常难以操作。尽管死老鼠时被冷冻保存着的，可是，细胞仍然会以惊人的速度腐烂。看来电影中的场景在几年内还是不太可能出现在现实生活中，不过我们已经迈出了重要的一步。

Japanese Geneticists Revied Dead Rat

This year, Japanese Geneticists successfully cloned a rat that has been dead for 16 years. The dead rat was kept frozen. They cloned 13 living rats.

This means that reviving extincted species like mammoth may be become possible in the future. Before that, this is always regarded as impossible. We can only see that in movies like 'Jurassic Park'.

The procedures are, first of all, cell nuclei are taken out from the dead rat's brain and blood. Then they are injected into eggs to form embryos.

They scientists claimed that this technique is really hard to operate as the cells of a dead rat will rot soon after it died even the cells are kept frozen. So the scene in the movie is not gonna happen in few years. But we've already made a huge progress.

烛火熄灭了!

思考：蜡烛除了用口吹熄外，还可以用什么其他的方法呢？
材料：蜡烛1支、小苏打若干、食用醋少许、火柴1盒、碗1个
实验步骤：
1 . 将点燃的蜡烛在碗的中央滴上几滴蜡油，将蜡烛固定在碗中
2 . 将苏打粉放在蜡烛的四周，倒一些食用醋于碗中
实验现象：
蜡烛被熄灭了
解释说明：
1、食用醋加上小苏打时，会产生二氧化碳气体。
2、产生二氧化碳气体后，烛火会熄灭。
拓展：
想一想，烛火熄灭要有什么条件？你还可以再想出几种方法熄灭蜡烛吗？

Flame of the candle goes out!

Thinking: What other ways can be used to put out the flame besides blowing it?
Materials: a candle, saleratus, some vinegar, a box of match, a bowl
Procedure:
1. Ignite the candle and drop some candle of molten state on the center of the bowl, and then fix the candle in the bowl.
2. Add some saleratus powder around the candle, add some vinegar into the bowl.
So, what happens?
The flame disappears.
Why?
Carbon dioxide will form when we combine saleratus powder with the vinegar.
Carbon dioxide will put out the flame.
What’s more?
Think it over, in which conditions can we put out the flame? Could you come up with some more ideas?

科学家拍下火山爆发视频

美国北卡罗来纳州大学地震学家乔纳森·里斯和他的同事通过拍到的危地马拉的圣地亚古多火山爆发时的场景，了解到了火山圆顶向上提升和喷发的方式。

这速度太快，根本无法用肉眼观察，但借助于视频录像，整个过程最终变得清晰起来。里斯说：“在地幔柱喷发前，火山圆顶一直在提升。此前，我们从没有发现这一点。”

图中的箭头代表正在向外喷发的火山圆顶粒子的速度和方向。通过这项研究，科学家对火山如何喷发的了解达到空前细致的程度，进而有能力解释与地震有关的喷发如何形成。

A Scientist Took A Video Of A Volcanic Eruption

By the help of the video of the the volcanic eruption of Volcano Santiaguito, Guatemala, Jonathan Lees, professor of University of North Carolina and his fellows knew the way that dome of volcano rising up and erupting.

The speed of it is really fast that the phenomena could not be observed unless video is used. Lees said,' Before the plume erupts, the volcanic dome keeps rising. We were not aware of that at all.'

The arrows in the picture stants for the direction of the movement of the particles. This will explain the formation of the eruption related to the earthquake.

全球5年融化2万亿吨冰川!!!

根据美国宇航局的卫星图片显示，全球在过去五年间，总共消融了2万亿吨冰山。包括了北极的格陵兰地区，南极以及美国的阿拉斯加地区。
美国宇航局的物理学家声称，根据重力恢复和气候实验（GRACE）的结果表示，格陵兰岛在过去的五年融化了一半的冰，形成的水可以装满11个切萨皮克湾。切萨皮克湾是美国最大的海湾，面积为16.5万平方公里。
现在格陵兰每年融化的冰可以使海平面升高0.5毫米，过去五年全球消融的冰释的海平面上升了0.5厘米。不可忽略的一个事实是，CO2的排放量仍在增加，因此科学家预测，到2030年，北极将变成“无冰地区”。
陆冰融化是过去五年海平面上升的主要原因，但科学家更担心未来海冰融化潜在的危险。它会使海平面急速的上升。而事实上，还并不仅正在变小，而且在变薄。
我们希望大家在读过这篇文章后都能认识到这个问题的严重性。