The Nobel Prize for Physics 2017 was divided, one half awarded to Rainer Weiss, the other half to Barry Clark Barish and Kip Stephen Thorne, for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves. In this paper we introduce the academic experiences of these scientists, and interpret the scientific significance of this important discovery from theory, experiment and data analysis.

The 2017 Nobel Prize for Chemistry was awarded to three scientists (Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson) for developing cryo-electron microscopy for high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solutions. This commentary describes the development of cryo-electron microscopy, three-dimensional reconstruction of macromolecules, major technology breakthroughs leading to the recent uprising of cryo-electron microscopy, and the future perspective of the field.

The 2017 Nobel Prize for Chemistry was awarded to three scientists (Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson) for developing cryo-electron microscopy for high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solutions. In this paper their work on the development of cryo-electron microscopy technique is briefly introduced and an outlook for the future development of this technique is also presented.

The 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson for their contributions to the development of cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) in determining the solution structures of biomolecular assemblies. In this article, we briefly introduce the history of cryo-EM and comment on the essential roles these three scientists have played in realizing this cutting-edge technique. We also present a summary of recent research breakthroughs that were made by Chinese scientists.

Circadian rhythm, with a period of approximately 24 hours, is one of the most popular biological rhythms or biological clocks in nature. Three American scientists, Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young, won the 2017 Nobel Price in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm. Their work uncovered the molecular mechanisms of a fundamental biological phenomenon and shed lights on the interactions between living organisms and their environments and provided bases for developing therapeutic methods to treat circadian rhythm-related diseases. This article summarizes the history of the circadian rhythm research, describes the molecular mechanisms of circadian rhythm, and discusses the future research of biological rhythm and its potential application in medicine and agriculture.

In the present study, a pilot-scale process of anaerobic hydrolysis-acidification with pulse water allocation (PHA) and anoxic/oxic (A/O) reactors was developed to treat actual petrochemical wastewater. The effective volume of PHA and A/O reactor was 2.6 m³ and 3.9 m3, respectively. The impulse frequency of the pulse tank was 10 times per hour. The sludge retention time of A/O reactor maintained at 25 d. The sludge from the settling tank was recycled into the anoxic tank with a recirculation ratio of 100%. The temperatures of the system ranged 15~32℃. The results during nearly 7-months operation showed that the removal efficiency of COD and ammonium remained stable although the influent COD and ammonium fluctuated. At the influent COD concentration of (458 ±107) mg·L^-1, the COD removal efficiency reached 80% on average, in which the PHA reactor contributed around 29% COD removal. The average ammonium removal was 86% at the influent ammonium concentration of (35.9 ±11.3) mg·L^-1. The removal efficiency of UV₂₅₄ and TN was around 58%. The TP removal could reach 86%. The PHA reactor exhibited good mixing of wastewater and sludge and a higher efficiency of acidogenic fermentation. The VFA levels in the PHA effluent were higher nearly twice than that in the influent. The ratio of BOD₅/COD of PHA effluent increased by 35% compared to that in influent, indicating that the biodegradability of the petrochemical wastewater was improved by PHA treatment. Results of Ilumina Miseq pyrosequencing demonstrated that Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were highly enriched in the system with abundance of more than 50% at the phylum levels. The predominant genera in PHA and A/O tanks were Anaerolineaceae and Clostridiales, Flexibacter, Thiobacillus, Nitrosomonadaceae and Nitrospira, respectively. The complex petrochemical wastewater was degraded efficiently owing to combined contribution of different bacteria in each tank. The above results demonstrate that the PHA-A/O process is a promising technique to treat petrochemical wastewater and could be applied in the treatment of other industrial wastewater.

Quantum computer is the combination of quantum mechanics and computing problem. It is a hot research topic of recent years and receives much attention from the society. In this paper we briefly review the principle and development of quantum computer. First, we introduce quantum algorithms and computing models, and explain physical implementation of quantum computer by taking ion trap and superconducting circuit as examples. Then we introduce quantum codes used to overcome decoherence. We also discuss quantum supremacy with Boson sampling as example. As we look into the future of quantum computers, we think quantum supremacy may be demonstrated in a few years and then quantum simulators to solve special problems. As for universal quantum computer, however, it may still need a long time.

Precision medicine is a highly personalized medicine mode that relies on large amount of personal health data to conduct diagnosis and treatment. The personal health data consist of genomics, phenotype, and environmental information. The latter two need to be captured by mobile devices with capability of continuous monitoring. This paper introduces the concept of precision medicine and reveals that dynamical medical monitoring can be best achieved by flexible electronics technology. Then it summarizes flexible electronics technology concerning materials, design, integration methods and data transmission, and demonstrates some applications in precision medicine. Finally, the paper points out that flexible medical monitoring system can offer better service for precision medicine by optimizing system performance in terms of power supply, integration, complexity, and in-depth research of chemical signal measurement.

For green development, novel technology for biowaste treatment is urged in China. Recent development of engineered biomass pyrolysis allows separation, differentiation and valorized utilization of resources associated with waste biomass, with safe reduction of potential pollutants. Such novel green technology has competitive privileges in carbon-saving, environmental safety and overall recycling over the conventional technologies. Further development of viable engineered systems for various types of biowastes will bring about a new sector of biochar-based novel biomaterial manufacture including bioenergy, biochar fertilizers and bio-nanomaterial. Such a new sector will play the roles of natural organic matter from structure to functionality, soil aggregation, and biochar as an ecosystem engineer. The development will serve the green development of China's agriculture and environment with large amount of biochar and associated biomaterials for chemical fertilizer substitution, environment pollution control and soil improvement. A potential biochar production of 0.3 billion ton per year is anticipated in the near future, which demands new science and technology of biomass and biochar, new standardization of biowaste treatment and biomaterial as well as novel production systems. Support is urged from the central government to push science and technology development so as to lead the global trend of the new bioeconomy for green development in 21^st century.

The characteristics of thermal discharges and their ecological impacts for 18 American nuclear power plant (NPP) sites in coastal regions (31 units) were analyzed. It was found that, for the designs of thermal discharge systems, most American NPPs use offshore discharge systems which also increase the flow velocities at the discharge points. Other NPPs' thermal discharge systems are designed in accordance with local conditions, such as using buffer pool to decrease water temperatures before discharges, designing three weirs to create mixing of the thermal discharges with air; arranging thermal discharge points upstream from withdrawal points; when necessary, using closed-cycle cooling systems. The adverse impacts of thermal discharges on aquatic organisms are small for most American NPPs in coastal regions. As the Chinese NPPs' site has more units, the larger amounts of heated water were discharged into the receiving water, and the adverse impacts of thermal discharges on aquatic organisms may be more obvious. Chinese NPPs have following main problems in the designs of thermal discharge systems:the near shore discharge systems don't have mixing promotion measures; landscape optimization in the design of discharge canals is not considered enough; In order to meet the requirements of the coastal functional areas, some NPPs set up diversion facilities which hinder the heat dissipations. Therefore, we need to make guidelines for thermal discharge evaluations, optimize the designs and constructions of NPPs thermal discharge systems, and minimize the possible adverse effects of thermal discharges on aquatic organisms.

A series of copper manganese oxides are synthesized using a simple redox method by controlling the molar ratio of Cu and Mn and calcination temperature. The optimum conditions are determined by investigating the effects of synthesis conditions on crystal phase, morphology and catalytic activity of catalysts. The relationship between structure and activity of catalyst is revealed by combining X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and other characterizations. The results show that more oxygen vacancy generated by the addition of copper may promote the oxygen species mobile, which leads to a lower reduction temperature and strong ability of oxidation reduction. The amorphous type of copper manganese oxide with poor crystallinity is also beneficial to the increase of oxygen vacancy, which facilitates the catalytic oxidation of formaldehyde. The catalyst with copper and manganese molar ratio of 1:2 and calcination temperature of 300℃ exhibites the best catalytic performance and can completely decompose formaldehyde at 90℃.

To investigate the effects of magnetic-mediated hyperthermia(MMH) in combination with Aidi injection on human lymphoma Daudi cells in vitro, the biocompatibility and temperature rising behavior of selected magnetic media are studied. Then cell proliferation in culture is studied in human lymphoma Daudi cell lines exposed to MMH and Aidi separately and in combination. The cell apoptosis and cycle of Daudi cells are analyzed by flow cytometry. Theoretical calculations indicate that the biocompatibility of MMH magnetic media is satisffactory. In vivo experiments it also generates heat effectively. The survival rate of Daudi cells exposed to MMH (300 kHz, 40 Gs, 30 min) is (78.48±0.95)%, but significantly decreases to (9.25±2.05)% (P<0.01) when being exposed to the combination of MMH and Aidi. MMH in combination with Aidi can promote Daudi cells apoptosis, but the change in cell cycle is not obvious. The MMH magnetic media is feasible to Daudi cells in vitro. MMH alone could induce apoptosis of Daudi cells and significantly enhance anti-tumor effect with Aidi injection.

The title compound spiro[indoline-3,3'-pyrrolizin]-2-one C₂₇H₂₄ClN₃O₂ is synthesized by the one-pot multicomponent reaction of chalcone, 5-methylisatin and proline in trace amounts of methanol under stirring at 60℃. Its structure is determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The crystal is monoclinic, space group P₂(1)/c, with M_r=504.01, a=0.84907(6) nm, b=1.07072(9) nm, c=2.9121(4) nm, V=2.6415 (5) nm³, Z=4, D_c=1.267 mg/m³, μ=0.180 mm^-1, and F(000)=1064. The structure is solved by direct methods and refined by full-matrix least squares method to the final R=0.0657 and ω_R=0.1376. X-ray analysis reveals that the newly formed ring of tetrahydropyrrole in the crystal structure is of envelope conformation.

In order to take the advantages of new technologies such as blockchain, smart contract and Internet of Things, and improve the informatization level of supply chain, a supply chain prototype system, which is based on blockchain, smart contract and Internet of Things, is developed. With the help of two-dimensional code, RFID and NFC in the Internet of Things, automatic uploading of the supply chain data is implemented. The system uses blockchain and smart contract to completely save the data of the whole supply chain, thus it ensures the data is transparent, traceable and cannot be tampered with. Meanwhile it takes protection of privacy data into account and provides data query functions at different levels for users. Through these improvements, the supply chain system is more automated, safer and more reliable, and makes traceability easy.

Since 2012 there has been much controversy in building the super collider in China. The debate relates to scientific knowledge, scientific community internal and external, and social factors at many other levels. Sociology of scientific knowledge shows that the essence of the debate involves the inherent social attributes of scientific knowledge including scientific ontology, scientific cognition, and scientific intrinsic value. The internal sociology of scientific community shows that the debate involves scientific norms, scientific priorities, peer review and other topics. The external sociology of scientific community shows that the debate involves the scientific and social functions of value considerations, science and technology operation of social resource allocation, science and technology public policy choices, etc. At the same time, it associates with the previous two levels of implication. The social factors of these scientific arguments constitute the theoretical dimension of their sociological analysis.