Great news! A salt-tolerant rapeseed has emerged? | Expo Daily

my country has made a breakthrough in developing new salt-alkali tolerant rapeseed varieties

Experts from the Oil Crops Professional Committee of the Chinese Society of Crop Science organized a one-time mechanized harvesting and yield measurement on a demonstration field of "Huayouza 158R", a new salt-tolerant and drought-resistant rapeseed variety bred by Huazhong Agricultural University, in severely saline-alkali land in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The actual rapeseed yield per mu harvested by mechanized harvesting reached 157.9 kilograms.

The demonstration site is located in Jibuku Town, Qitai County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The average annual temperature is 5.5°C and the lowest temperature is -32°C. It is a chloride-sulfate saline-alkali land. The average total salt content before sowing was measured to be 12.31‰ and the pH value was 8.35, which is a severe saline-alkali land.

After the on-site investigation, the experts unanimously agreed that "Huayouza 158R" is highly resistant to salt and alkali, low temperature, disease and lodging, has good early maturity and outstanding yield, and is suitable for winter rapeseed cultivation in northern Xinjiang. It is recommended to promote and apply it on a large scale.

"Huayouza 158R" has a high oil yield and can adapt to the production requirements of salt-alkali resistance, early maturity, high yield and water conservation in the northern Xinjiang region. In addition to being used for oil, it can also be used as a vegetable, feed, fertilizer, etc.

The yield measurement results indicate a major breakthrough in the breeding of new salt-tolerant and drought-resistant rapeseed varieties in my country, which is of great strategic significance for improving and utilizing the severely saline-alkali land in Northwest my country, promoting the expansion and increase of rapeseed production, and ensuring the safety of national edible oil.

Image source: pixabay

The watch knows our heart rate,

It's not measured by pulse measurement...

Smart watches have various functions because they have multiple built-in sensors and chips that work together to provide the basis for realizing health monitoring functions.

Take heart rate detection as an example. Common smart watches use electrocardiogram (ECG) or photoelectric capacitance (PPG) sensors to detect heart rate. When the human heart is moving, it will produce potential changes, commonly known as electrocardiogram (ECG). ECG can capture changes in ECG through the electrodes on the smart watch in contact with the body surface, and then calculate the number of heartbeats per minute after algorithm restoration.

PPG is a photoelectric measurement method. The LED light on the back of the watch emits green light to the skin. Since blood is red, it reflects red light and absorbs green light. The blood flow in the arteries changes periodically with the contraction and relaxation of the heart, and the intensity of the green light reflection also changes accordingly. During contraction, the hemoglobin density is high and more green light is absorbed; during relaxation, the hemoglobin density is low and more green light is reflected. The watch can calculate the heart rate based on the intensity of the reflected light.

Similar to heart rate monitoring, blood oxygen monitoring is also achieved using PPG, except that it uses red light and infrared light instead of green light. The two light sources are alternately irradiated onto the skin at different time intervals. Since the hemoglobin in the blood has different absorption abilities for the two lights, the watch can calculate the blood oxygen saturation by measuring the amount of light absorbed.

Image source: veer gallery

Why is cramming before an exam useless?

Mainly because of staying up late...

A study published in the journal Nature suggests that when rats are sleep-deprived, a key brain signal associated with long-term memory, called sharp wave ripples, is weakened, and even a normal night of sleep afterwards is not enough to repair this brain signal.

Neurons in the brain are highly interconnected, and they often fire together in regular or repetitive patterns, and spike wave ripples are one of these firing patterns.

Such sharp wave ripples occur in the hippocampus, a key part of the brain where memories are formed. These discharge patterns facilitate communication with the neocortex, where long-term memories are stored. Sharp wave ripples occur both when awake and in deep sleep, but bursts of sharp wave ripples during sleep seem to be more helpful in converting short-term memories into long-term memories.

By recording the brain activity of rats while they explored a maze, the research team found that sleep-deprived rats had decreased discharge intensity and organization of sharp wave ripples. Even in subsequent sleep, these brain signals failed to fully recover. This suggests that sleep is not only essential for the initial formation of memory, but also plays an important role in the subsequent processing and long-term storage of memory.

The study explains why last-minute cramming before an exam is often ineffective, as lack of sleep hinders the memory consolidation process. In addition, the study found that disrupted sleep may help prevent long-term memory storage, which provides new ideas for treating diseases such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Sleep deprivation and EEG recording

That's even more annoying.

It turns out that termites and cockroaches are close relatives!

The hot and humid season is the peak mating season for termites. The huge "army" of termites appears in groups, giving people who are afraid of insects and crowds (such as the editor) goose bumps.

Although there are more than 3,000 species of termites, their living habits and distribution ranges vary greatly. For example, the soil-dwelling fungus-cultivating group, which feeds on the fungi they cultivate and brings delicious food to humans, is a relatively "sensible" group.

But wood-dwelling species feed directly on wood. Human wooden floors or furniture are considered delicacies to them. They have to build nests while eating, which makes them look disgusting in comparison.

Although both termites and ants have the word "ant" in their names, they are different. Ants belong to the order Hymenoptera and are close relatives of bees.

Termites belong to the order Blattagia (Blattella are the familiar cockroaches), and are a special type of social insects.

Image source: Southwest Insect Museum

The content is compiled from China Science Popularization Expo Weibo, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Natural History Museum, and China Science Daily

This article was first published on China Science Expo (kepubolan). Please indicate the source of the public account for reprinting