Science in the Week: The number of people with pollen allergies in my country may exceed 200 million

We believe that the future is bright and the haze will eventually dissipate. May spring come and the epidemic subside, and the country and the people live in peace. The following are the most popular or discussed scientific hotspots we selected from Weibo and Baidu's hot search list this week:

1. Why is Qingming Festival the only holiday among the 24 solar terms?

Among the 24 solar terms in my country, Qingming is the only one with a holiday. As both solar terms, why can Qingming be "upgraded" to a holiday? Qingming was originally a solar term, usually around April 5th of the Gregorian calendar every year. At this time, the weather is clear, the temperature is warm, and the rainfall increases. It is a good time for spring ploughing and planting. At this time, people will arrange farming, sericulture and other activities, so Qingming is an important solar term for ancient agricultural production. The date of Cold Food Festival is very close to Qingming. The main customs during the Cold Food Festival are to ban fire and cold food and worship tombs. Since the ancient Chinese attached great importance to worshiping their ancestors, they would take time to sweep tombs during the Cold Food Festival. In the Tang Dynasty, both scholars and civilians regarded tomb sweeping during the Cold Food Festival as a ritual of returning to their roots. Since Qingming is very close to the Cold Food Festival, people often postpone tomb sweeping until Qingming. At that time, the court, considering that it had become a custom for the people to hold Cold Food and Qingming together, formally stipulated in the form of official documents that when Qingming came, it could be a holiday together with the Cold Food Festival. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Qingming Festival gradually absorbed the ancestor worship tradition of Cold Food Festival as well as the original characteristic customs and activities (such as Cuju, swinging on a swing, and breaking willows), and evolved from an agricultural solar term attached to the Cold Food Festival to a traditional festival for respecting heaven and ancestors, and remembering the dead.

Hotspot sources:

https://s.weibo.com/

The editor has something to say: The Yangtze River's back waves push the front waves, and the front waves die on the beach

2. The number of people with pollen allergies in my country may exceed 200 million

As the temperature rises in spring, various seasonal flowers bloom collectively. However, while enjoying the beautiful scenery, everyone should also pay attention to pollen allergies.

Pollen allergy, also known as "hay fever" or "hay fever", is an allergic disease caused by inhaling external pollen antigens. There are two time periods each year when pollen allergy is most prevalent, one is spring and the other is summer and autumn. Relatively speaking, the symptoms of symptoms caused by pollen allergy in spring are milder and last shorter, while in summer and autumn, not only are the symptoms more severe, but they also last longer (usually up to two months), and 50% of patients may develop asthma.

In terms of the source, allergens include insect-pollinated pollen (such as peach blossoms, apricot blossoms, rape blossoms, tulips, etc.) and wind-pollinated pollen, among which wind-pollinated pollen is the "main culprit". As the name suggests, wind-pollinated pollen refers to pollen that is spread by wind. For example, pollen from common trees in the spring, such as sycamore, poplar, pine, cypress, and calamus, all belong to this category. This kind of pollen generally has small particles (about 30~50um), light weight and large quantity. Therefore, when they drift in the air with the wind, they are easily inhaled into the respiratory tract by people, especially for people who are allergic to pollen, who will have an allergic reaction after inhalation.

The reason why pollen causes human allergies is mainly because pollen particles carry antigenic substances that can trigger allergic reactions, usually water-soluble proteins or glycoproteins with a molecular weight of 10-70kDa. When it encounters antibodies in the human nasal cavity, an allergic reaction may occur, causing cell membrane detachment and the release of allergic mediators. Allergic mediators can cause smooth muscle contraction, capillary dilation, increased permeability, mucus secretion and tissue damage, thereby triggering allergic diseases.

Hotspot sources:

People's Daily Weibo

The editor has something to say: warning! Pollen concentration has increased dramatically

3. Employees use company servers for mining

Recently, there were reports that employees of a certain automobile company used the company’s server resources to mine and seek personal gain.

According to the understanding of most friends, "mining" generally refers to the process of extracting useful minerals from the earth's surface (including the ocean), but now, "mining" also refers to a way to obtain virtual currency. At present, most virtual currencies are based on blockchain technology, that is, a chain composed of one block after another. Each block stores certain information, and for virtual currency, each block is equivalent to a "ledger" that records certain transactions, and this block is the so-called "mine".

As the number of transactions increases, more new blocks (ledgers) are needed to record them. This is when miners come on the scene. They perform a lot of calculations using specific algorithms, trying to package new transaction records into new blocks and attach them to the blockchain. During this period, the blockchain system will give a hash value without a fixed algorithm. Miners will rely on the computing power of their computers to perform random hash value collisions. Whoever solves it first will have his or her recorded blockchain recognized. This process is called "mining."

Hotspot sources:

https://s.weibo.com/

The editor has something to say: A little trick for going to jail every day

4. A green peony worth 100,000 yuan was stolen by a tourist

(Photo source: Screenshot of video taken by netizens)

On April 5, a whistleblower claimed that a green peony flower "worth 100,000 yuan" was picked by a tourist in Wangcheng Park in Luoyang, Henan. After verification by the staff, it was confirmed that this was true.

This variety of green peony is Chunliu (artificially cultivated), which is one of the representative varieties of green peony. Due to its characteristics of "blooming early and withering late", the flowering period of green peony can reach more than 20 days.

In addition, during the entire flowering period, the buds will show three colors: emerald green when they first bloom, green at the ends of the petals, light blue in the middle, pink at the base, and sometimes white when they bloom. This peculiar color also makes the spring willow peony a celebrity on the Internet. As the saying goes, "People are afraid of being famous, and pigs are afraid of being fat." As the spring willow peony becomes popular, its price has also been hyped up to a very high level, and it is even rumored that it costs "100,000 yuan per flower." But in fact, it is not that outrageous. Compared with the common red peony, the spring willow peony is indeed rare. Their seedlings are generally sold at 200 to 400 yuan per plant, which is two to three times the price of ordinary varieties. The rumor that it costs 100,000 yuan per plant is false.

Hotspot sources:

https://top.baidu.com/

The editor has something to say: We don’t believe in rumors or spread them

In conclusion:

① Qingming Festival combines the two ancient festivals of Cold Food Festival and Shangsi Festival. Ancestor worship and tomb sweeping have become its most unique and distinctive cultural symbols;

② Hay fever has a very special and iconic symptom, which is an itchy nose. If you experience this during the pollen season, it is best to go to the hospital for a check-up as soon as possible;

③ The act of hijacking other people’s computers for “mining” using programs without the consent of computer users is essentially the use of other people’s computer hardware resources and power resources to obtain rare electronic data resources;

④ The survival rate of the Spring Willow Peony variety is not very high, with only 1 to 2 flowers blooming each year. These flowers are destroyed before they fully grow out, so everyone should still appreciate the flowers in a civilized manner.

References:

[1] Anonymous. How did Qingming become a festival from a solar term? [J]. Chinese Folk Customs, 2015(5):2.

[2] Yang Qiongliang, Ouyang Ting, Yan Hong, et al. Research progress on pollen allergy[J]. Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin, 2015, 31(24):5.

[3] Lin Shengchao. Criminal Law Regulation of Malicious "Mining" Behavior under the Background of Blockchain Technology[C]// National Computer Security Academic Exchange Conference. 2018.

The pictures without marked source are from copyright gallery, and the pictures are not authorized for reprinting.

Author: Fish

Source: Interesting Science