介绍:
This is Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.
A clinical trial of a gene-editing technique on advanced lung cancer patients in China has aroused world attention in medical circles.
The potentially revolutionary CRISPR technique allows scientists to selectively edit genome parts and replace them with new DNA stretches, in the hope that certain diseases including cancer could be cured.
CRISPR is a collection of DNA sequences that direct a certain gene where to cut and paste. The gene can edit DNA, allowing the alteration of genetic patterns by genome modification.
The trial began in late October as a group of oncologists at the West China Hospital of Sichuan University started injecting genetically modified cells into a patient with aggressive lung cancer.
The editing therapy treatment will last from eight to 13 weeks, while the whole trial could last more than a year.
Experts around the globe have been discussing the pros and cons of the groundbreaking medical technology.
Carl June, a clinical researcher in immunotherapy at the University of Pennsylvania, told the journal Nature that the Chinese scientists' trial is "an exciting step forward".
The United States is also planning trials that would use CRISPR for cancer treatment. U.S. experts applauded the work of the Chinese scientists and hoped that China's research, as well as the healthy competition worldwide, could improve modern medical science and finally benefit patients.
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Renowned Chinese developer of hybrid rice Yuan Longping has set a new world record. A hybrid rice project headed by Yuan has achieved an annual yield of 22 tonnes per hectare of farmland.
According to authorities in south China's Guangdong Province, the amount of the double-cropping rice is equal to that produced over three seasons in the past, marking a big breakthrough.
An academic at the Chinese Academy of Engineering told the Xinhua News Agency that this is the fifth generation of hybrid rice technology, and the quality of the rice is as good as Japan&`&s renowned Koshihikari rice.
Known as China's "father of hybrid rice", Yuan began theoretical research around 50 years ago and continued to set new records in the average yields of hybrid rice.
The Ministry of Agriculture officially launched a hybrid rice breeding program in 1996.
Around 65 percent of Chinese people depend on rice as a staple food.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
The International Space Station has gained three new residents, including the oldest and most experienced woman to orbit the world.
A bit of Mars also arrived, courtesy of a Frenchman who brought along a small piece of a Mars meteorite.
Launched from Kazakhstan, the Russian capsule docked at the 250-mile-high outpost and delivered a U.S. astronaut, a French astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut. They joined three men already on board, one American and two Russians.
This is the third space station mission for NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson who, at 56, is older than each of her crewmates.
She already holds the record for the most time spent in space for a woman, almost 400 days during her various missions. By the time she returns next spring, she should have broken the record for any American, man or woman.
A biochemist by training, Whitson will celebrate her 57th birthday in the orbiting lab in February. Until Thursday, no woman older than 55 had traveled into space.
November 20 marked the 18th anniversary of the launch of the first space station piece. Now the space station is as big as a football pitch, with a mass of 1 million pounds and eight miles of electrical wiring. Whitson and company represent its 50th full-time expedition crew.
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Scientists in the United States have hacked a plant&`&s genes to make it use sunlight more efficiently, a breakthrough that could eventually dramatically increase the amount of food grown.
Scientists say photosynthesis is how plants convert sunlight, carbon dioxide and water into food. But it&`&s a very inefficient process, using less than 1 percent of the energy available.
By genetically modifying part of the plant&`&s protective system, which kicks into gear when too much sunlight beams down, scientists were able to increase leaf growth between 14 and 20 percent in experiments with tobacco plants. The study has been published in the journal Science.
Lead author the study Stephen Long said it won&`&t be too difficult to do it with other crops too; and if the technology is applied to crops around the world, it would increase the yield of many millions of tons of food.
Long said that&`&s still at least 15 years away, but this is the first time scientists have been able to do something like this.
An agriculture professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln said the study makes sense, but cautioned the yield might not be quite so high for conventional food crops. But he added that still, the study remains a breakthrough.
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Shanghai will implement stricter tobacco control rules, banning smoking in all indoor public places, workplaces and public transport from March next year.
The Standing Committee of the Shanghai People&`&s Congress, the local legislature, has passed an amendment to existing smoking control regulations that took effect six years ago.
While the existing version allows designated areas for smokers in indoor areas of hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues, as well as airports, trains and ports, the amendment closes such loopholes.
In addition, smoking will be prohibited outdoors at certain public venues visited by children, including schools, after-school education institutions and children&`&s hospitals. Outdoor auditoriums in stadiums are also subject to the ban.
China has 300 million smokers, with another 700 million exposed to second-hand smoke. Last year, more than 700,000 people in China were diagnosed with smoking-related lung cancer.
At least 16 Chinese cities, including Beijing, have passed their own tobacco control rules.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing. You can access the program by logging on to newsplusradio.cn. You can also find us on our Apple Podcast. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know by e-mailing us at mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. That&`&s mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. Now the news continues.
The island nation of Kiribati has established a large shark sanctuary that will help ensure the creatures are protected across much of the central Pacific.
Vice President Kourabi Nenem said at the sanctuary&`&s launch ceremony that his country was committed to protecting sharks from exploitation and overfishing.
Kiribati has banned commercial shark fishing in the sanctuary which is about the size of India.
Palau established the first shark sanctuary in the region in 2009, followed by the Marshall Islands, French Polynesia and other countries.
One hundred million sharks are killed each year by commercial fisheries. Sharks are vulnerable to overfishing because they&`&re slow to mature and reproduce.
Sharks are prized by some for their fins, which are used in shark fin soup.
Ben Namakin, who was born in Kiribati and has pushed for the sanctuary, said he first began to consult elders and community groups with the idea four years ago. He said some people were resistant at first because Kiribati has a tradition of catching and eating sharks.
But he said the elders didn&`&t like the way commercial operators were fishing for the creatures and understood their plight more when they were told of their unusual biology.
Namakin said they came to realize that the shark sanctuary was important to protecting their culture.
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In a ghost town of dead coral off a remote Pacific island, scientists have found a bit more life.
In excursions a year ago and then last April, scientists examined the normally stunning coral reefs around the island of Kiritimati and pronounced it mostly a bone yard of dead coral. Around 85 percent of the coral was dead, 10 percent was sick and bleached but still technically alive, and only 5 percent was doing OK.
The same scientists returned this month and found that 6 to 7 percent of the coral is alive and not bleached.
Many of the fish that rely on the reef and had been absent seem to be back.
Hot water, mostly from El Nino, the natural occasional warming of the Pacific that changes weather worldwide, and man-made global warming had made the area one of the worst hit coral spots in the world. Later, nearby Jarvis Island was even more damaged. And the death of 85 percent of the coral of the better known and much larger Great Barrier Reef has been reported.
Scientists say that despite the mass mortality, there are a few small signs of hope, and it is clear that coral reefs have great resilience and the coral there is trying to recover.
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The skeleton of a dodo bird is about to take flight, at least at an auction in the U.K.
Summers Place Auctions is selling what it describes as a rare composite skeleton of a dodo bird, a creature once found on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.
Sailors hunted the species into extinction in the 17th century and it has come to symbolize the harsh impact human beings can have on the world&`&s ecosystems. The bird&`&s name recognition was enhanced by Lewis Carroll, who included a dodo in "Alice&`&s Adventures in Wonderland".
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
The government of north China&`&s Shanxi Province has published a circular with details of more than 4,000 Great Wall sites in the region in an effort to enhance protection.
The circular includes the names, location, dates, and protection areas of the Great Wall sections, as well as areas where construction is strictly controlled. The sites are spread across 40 counties and districts in eight cities in the province.
Within the protected areas, no dismantling or reconstruction of the Great Wall is allowed. Construction projects and underground mining are also prohibited.
Within the construction control areas, construction projects should not affect the historical style of the Great Wall, and construction blueprints should be approved before projects begin.
The Great Wall was built between the third century B.C. and the Ming Dynasty that ended in 1644. With a total length of 9,000 kilometers, the existing sections of the Great Wall were mostly created during the Ming Dynasty some 400 years ago.
In 2006, a national regulation on Great Wall protection was released, but the sheer size of the structure has posed a challenge to enforcement. Less than 10 percent of the wall is considered well-preserved, while around 30 percent has disappeared.
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