The "rice popcorn" that the birds in the trees love to eat, don't try it blindly｜Expo Daily

The sky is crowed and the rice flowers are blooming, but you cannot taste the seeds of the Chinese tallow tree!

"The moon sets, crows cry, and frost fills the sky. The maples on the river bank and the fishing fires make me sleepy." "Mapes on the river bank" refers to the Chinese tallow tree, which not only corresponds to "fishermen's fires", but also corresponds to "crows crying," which refers to the cry of crows.

The seeds hanging on the branches of the Tung tree are round, plump, small and white, just like grains of popcorn, so the Tung tree has another nice name, "Rice Flower Tree".

These "rice flowers" cannot be eaten by humans, but they provide sufficient food for overwintering birds. In the city, they are an important food source for many passerine and columbiformes birds such as yellow finches, spotted doves, blackbirds, and magpie robins for overwintering.

Birds like to eat the seeds of Chinese tallow tree because they are rich in lipids and can provide birds with high-calorie fatty acids. There are also different opinions about which part of the seeds birds eat.

Once again, it is recommended not to pick up and eat the seeds of Chinese tallow tree, as the seeds contain natural alkaloids, which may cause discomfort to the human body. In this picturesque season, let's first appreciate the beauty brought by Chinese tallow tree!

Solid-state batteries are expected to be mass-produced

Recently, the team of Li Feng and Sun Zhenhua, researchers at the Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has made progress in the research field of polymer solid electrolytes.

Solid-state batteries have high energy density and high safety, becoming an important development direction for the next generation of batteries. Polymer solid electrolytes are expected to increase the energy density of batteries and promote large-scale production due to their light weight, low cost, high flexibility and easy processing.

This study discovered the adaptive diffusion of ions in highly crystalline polyethylene oxide (PEO) bulks and developed a steady-state measurement method, overcoming the limitation of traditional electrochemical impedance spectroscopy that is difficult to measure the ion conductivity of highly crystalline pure PEO materials, and quantified the ion diffusion coefficient of PEO bulk materials at different temperatures.

The study showed that the PEO material still maintained high crystallinity after adaptive diffusion and formed a continuous ion transport channel. Furthermore, the study proposed a solid electrolyte strategy using highly crystalline PEO blocks as the intermediate layer, which suppressed the soft short circuit of solid-state batteries caused by lithium filament growth and improved battery performance.

This achievement deepens scientists' understanding of the ion transport mechanism in highly crystalline polymers and provides new insights for the development of safer and more efficient energy storage systems. The relevant research results were published in Energy Storage Materials under the title of Adaptive ion diffusion in a highly crystalline pure polymer for stable solid-state batteries.

Image source: Adaptive ion diffusion in a highly crystalline pure polymer for stable solid-state batteries

Premature whitening makes people worried and heartbroken, is it because melanocytes are on strike?

Why can't hair turn black? In an article published in Nature magazine, scientists found that melanocytes in hair follicles do move around in the hair follicles like they are going to work.

As hair continues to grow and fall out, the stem cells of these cells, also known as melanocyte stem cells, become trapped in an area called the bulge, where they cannot further differentiate into mature melanocytes as they do in the hair matrix (hair germ), where hair grows out.

Interestingly, scientists also performed repeated hair plucking and hair regeneration to promote hair aging. They found that doing so would increase the number of melanocyte stem cells in the bulge area from 10% to 50%, but so many stem cells could no longer migrate to the hair matrix area and differentiate into melanocytes that can produce melanin.

This article also opens up a new idea for turning white hair black, which can activate these melanocyte stem cells, so that the hair can turn black. Of course, it is easy to say, but it is very difficult to transform it into a practical application. At least for now, hair dye manufacturers do not have to worry about losing their jobs.

Image source: Stills from "The Legend of Zhen Huan"

Is it true that cooking oil turns into asphalt when heated?

Recently, the phenomenon of "cooking oil turning black when burning" has been mistakenly reported by many people as a problem with the quality of the cooking oil, causing panic among everyone.

The main component of edible oil is triglyceride, which is composed of glycerol and fatty acids. Fatty acids can be divided into saturated fatty acids and unsaturated fatty acids.

When cooking oil is heated to a certain temperature, triglycerides begin to oxidize and crack, producing some small molecular volatile substances, commonly known as oil smoke. If it continues to be heated to more than 300 degrees, it will reach the ignition point of the oil and the cooking oil will burn.

Combustion is essentially a violent oxidation reaction. Triglycerides contain three elements: carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. They can be completely burned in the presence of sufficient oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water.

When the combustion is incomplete, blackening and black colloids will appear. This has nothing to do with the quality of the oil itself. The final "asphalt-like" black colloid has a higher ignition point. If the temperature is further increased, these colloids can also be completely burned and disappear. This is the same as the incomplete combustion of wood to form charcoal and the black smoke sometimes emitted by motor vehicles.

Image source: Zhejiang Hangzhou Market Supervision Administration

The content is compiled from China Science Expo Weibo, Shanghai Natural History Museum, Museum, Life Times, People's Daily Health Client, Zhejiang Hangzhou Market Supervision and Administration Bureau

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