國(guó)際科技信息

世界銀行今日發(fā)布報(bào)告稱，由于在教育和科研方面存在缺陷，東亞的大學(xué)在推動(dòng)本國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)的進(jìn)程中沒能起到它們應(yīng)起的作用。

該報(bào)告分析了造成此現(xiàn)象的原因，其中最重要的是職工對(duì)高級(jí)技能的需求與高校所提供的培訓(xùn)不匹配。此外，研究小組還發(fā)現(xiàn)大學(xué)研究并沒有為工業(yè)和商業(yè)技術(shù)

國(guó)際科技信息

Hubble telescope captures new 'maps' of dark matter--But on this evidence, we may just have to take their word for it

Hubble's Cluster Lensing and Supernova Survey- CLASH - is charting the distribution of dark matter in 25clusters.

The Hubble scientists are scanning cluster galaxies, the most massive objects in the universe held together by gravity, to see if light is distorted by the dark matter inside the clusters.

The astronomers say the distortions produced by MACS 1206is evidence that the galaxies are largely 'made' of dark matter.

The distortions shown in the images would be far weaker if the only mass in MACS 1206was the mass of the stars and planets we can see.

CLASH uses the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field Camera 3, the CLASH survey to covers a broad wavelength range, from ultraviolet to near infrared. Astronomers need the diverse colors to estimate the distances to lensed galaxies and study them in more detail.

These maps are being used to test previous results that suggest that dark matter is more densely packed inside clusters than some models predict.

MACS 1206lies 4.5billion light-years from Earth.

The era when the first clusters formed is not precisely known, but is estimated to be at least 9billion years ago and possibly as far back as 12billion years ago.

If most of the clusters in the CLASH survey are found to have excessively high accumulations of dark matter in their central cores, then it may yield new clues to the early stages in the origin of the universe.

哈勃望遠(yuǎn)鏡獲取迄今最精確暗物質(zhì)分布圖

借助哈勃空間望遠(yuǎn)鏡和宇宙引力透鏡效應(yīng)，科學(xué)家們?nèi)涨俺晒Φ孬@取了一個(gè)巨型星系團(tuán)中暗物質(zhì)迄今最精確的分布圖。

暗物質(zhì)是一種神秘莫測(cè)的不可見物質(zhì)，它幾乎占據(jù)了宇宙1/4的物質(zhì)和能量，但是除了引力作用之外，它們和“常規(guī)”物質(zhì)不發(fā)生任何相互作用。科學(xué)家們之所以知道宇宙中存在暗物質(zhì)，并不是因?yàn)樗麄儭翱匆姟绷税滴镔|(zhì)，而完全是通過看不見的暗物質(zhì)對(duì)可見物質(zhì)施加的引力影響間接地獲得關(guān)于它們的信息。

當(dāng)大量暗物質(zhì)聚集，就像常規(guī)物質(zhì)組成的星系團(tuán)中會(huì)包括數(shù)百甚至數(shù)千的星系一樣，聚集的暗物質(zhì)會(huì)產(chǎn)生巨大的引力作用，使其背后遙遠(yuǎn)星系發(fā)出的光線在經(jīng)過其附近時(shí)發(fā)生彎曲，從而形成類似透鏡的效應(yīng)。地球上的天文學(xué)家已經(jīng)拍攝到多幅同一個(gè)星系在引力中心四周形成多幅圖像和假象的現(xiàn)象，這稱為“引力透鏡效應(yīng)”。引力透鏡效應(yīng)可以作為我們很好的測(cè)量工具，用以估算一個(gè)星系中暗物質(zhì)的多少，但到目前為止，天文學(xué)家們對(duì)于暗物質(zhì)具體到底存在于哪個(gè)位置還是一無所知。

但是這次不同，借助哈勃空間望遠(yuǎn)鏡搭載的先進(jìn)巡天相機(jī)(ACS)，天文學(xué)家們已經(jīng)找出了一個(gè)叫做阿貝爾1689(Abell 1689)的星系團(tuán)中暗物質(zhì)分布的具體位置。

“使用其他方法，研究者只能是通過很多觀測(cè)數(shù)據(jù)去拼湊一個(gè)暗物質(zhì)的質(zhì)量分布情況，找出一種最符合觀測(cè)數(shù)據(jù)的分布模型，”美國(guó)宇航局噴氣推進(jìn)實(shí)驗(yàn)室(JPL)的天文學(xué)家丹科爾(DanCoe)在一次新聞發(fā)布會(huì)上表示，“但如果使用我們的方法，研究者將可以直接獲得暗物質(zhì)的質(zhì)量分布圖，而不必去猜測(cè)和拼湊。”

阿貝爾1689星系團(tuán)距離地球22億光年，含有大約1000個(gè)星系和10000億顆恒星。通過對(duì)比哈勃的圖像和之前早先的觀測(cè)數(shù)據(jù)，研究人員從中挑選出了42個(gè)不同背景星系的135張不同照片?！鞍l(fā)生引力透鏡效應(yīng)的天體照片就像是一個(gè)大大的迷宮，”科爾說。“我們所做的，就是第一次對(duì)阿貝爾1689星系團(tuán)的內(nèi)部質(zhì)量進(jìn)行排布，以便找到某種質(zhì)量分布模式，在這種模式下將產(chǎn)生我們所觀測(cè)到的背景星系引力透鏡效應(yīng)?！?/p>

科爾和同事們?cè)诠h(yuǎn)鏡的圖像上疊加上暗物質(zhì)的位置信息(即題圖中的藍(lán)色物質(zhì))。這一結(jié)果已經(jīng)發(fā)表于11月10號(hào)的《天體物理學(xué)報(bào)》，在這一份研究論文中，科爾和同事們確認(rèn)了阿貝爾1689星系團(tuán)中的暗物質(zhì)量要比先前研究人員們根據(jù)其星系規(guī)模做出的估算值要高。

這一多出的物質(zhì)量說明星系團(tuán)在宇宙早期形成的年代要早于天文學(xué)家們?cè)鹊墓烙?jì)。暗物質(zhì)的引力作用使物質(zhì)聚集，但這一過程卻受到另一種更加神秘的強(qiáng)大力量的阻礙，這就是“暗能量”它的主要效應(yīng)是將物質(zhì)推開。一旦早期宇宙中暗能量扮演了重要角色，星系團(tuán)要想聚集在一起難度就會(huì)大得多。

“因此，星系團(tuán)的形成應(yīng)當(dāng)在此之前數(shù)十億年便開始形成，以便形成我們今天所看到的宇宙?！笨茽栒f。“在早期宇宙中，宇宙空間更小，暗物質(zhì)的密度也更高。阿貝爾1689星系團(tuán)似乎在誕生初期就聚集了大量周遭的物質(zhì)。在那之后，這個(gè)星系團(tuán)便一直帶著這多余的質(zhì)量，直到今天被我們觀測(cè)到?！?/p>

這一研究成果是一個(gè)名為“哈勃星系團(tuán)透鏡和超新星巡天”(CLASH，縮寫意為“撞擊”)的一部分。在接下來的三年時(shí)間內(nèi)，該計(jì)劃還將利用哈勃空間望遠(yuǎn)鏡觀測(cè)25個(gè)星系團(tuán)，總觀測(cè)時(shí)長(zhǎng)將達(dá)一個(gè)月。

Sun's 11-year cycle means we're in for Arctic freeze this winter, say scientists

It's been a lovely Indian summer - but it could come back to bite us.

That's what scientists predict after working out the first ever pattern of activity for the sun.

According to research, the sun runs on an 11-year cycle -and this affects winter weather over the northern hemisphere.

The study says low solar activity can contribute to cold winters in the UK, northern Europe and parts of America.

Which is bad for us - because the sun is just emerging from a so-called solar minimum, when solar activity is at its lowest.

It means after a baking hot September, we could be in for a repeat of last year's big freeze.

But the study also raises the possibility that weathermen can predict cold winter weather over the northern hemisphere using the solar cycle.

Dr Adam Scaife, from the Met Off ce, one of the study's authors, said: 'Our research establishes the link between the solar cycle and winter climate as more than just coincidence.

'We've been able to reproduce a consistent climate pattern, conf rm how it works, and quantify it using a computer model.

'This isn't the sole driver of winter climate over our region, but it is a signif cant factor and understanding it is important for seasonal to decadal forecasting.'

Up until now, researchers have only managed to see a weak link between solar activity and winter weather.

It was understood that when the sun is less active, we're more likely to see weak westerly winds during the winter in the northern hemisphere.

This pattern suggests that easterly winds could bring cold weather from the continent to the UK.

But scientists have struggled to incorporate these ultraviolet (UV) signals into climate models.

Today's f ndings, published in Nature Geoscience, used satellite measurements from NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) to reveal that differences in UV light reaching the Earth during the 11-year solar cycle are larger than previously thought.

The satellite, launched in 2003, is the first ever to measure solar radiation across the entire UV spectrum.

Professor of atmospheric physics, Joanna Haigh from Imperial College London, said: 'The instrument on the SORCE satellite divides UV light up into small wavelength regions, providing good spectral resolution.

'Before this, climate models used broad spectral bands, so couldn't reveal the solar signal.'

Using this new information in a Met Off ce climate model, researchers from the Met Off ce and the University of Oxford demonstrated that it's possible to reproduce the effects of solar variability which show up in climate records.

It seems that in years of low UV activity, unusually cold air forms over the tropics in the stratosphere, around 30miles up.

This is balanced by a more easterly f ow of air over the mid latitudes – a pattern which then makes its way down to the Earth's surface, bringing easterly winds and cold winters to northern Europe.

But when solar activity is higher than usual – around the peak of the 11-year solar cycle – the opposite happens: strong westerly winds bring warm air and so milder winters to Europe.

Lead author Sarah Ineson, from the Met Office, said: 'What we're seeing is UV levels affecting the distribution of air masses around the Atlantic basin.

'This causes a redistribution of heat – so while Europe and the US may be cooler, Canada and the Mediterranean will be warmer, and there is little direct impact on global temperatures.'

太陽(yáng)活動(dòng)影響地球天氣北半球?qū)⒂瓉砗?/p>

科學(xué)家表示太陽(yáng)的11年活動(dòng)周期能夠影響北半球的冬季天氣。研究指出較弱的太陽(yáng)活動(dòng)與英國(guó)、歐洲北部和美洲部分地區(qū)的寒冷有關(guān)。目前，太陽(yáng)正進(jìn)入所謂的“太陽(yáng)活動(dòng)極小期”。這也就意味著，在經(jīng)歷了9月的酷暑之后，北半球?qū)⒃俅斡瓉?010年那樣的寒冬。

這項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)提高了天氣預(yù)報(bào)人員利用太陽(yáng)活動(dòng)周期預(yù)測(cè)北半球冬季天氣的可能性。研究論文作者、英國(guó)氣象局的亞當(dāng)·斯凱菲博士表示：“我們的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)太陽(yáng)活動(dòng)周期與冬季氣候之間的聯(lián)系并不是一種巧合。我們能夠找到一個(gè)可靠的氣候模式，確定其如何運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)并通過電腦模型進(jìn)行量化。太陽(yáng)活動(dòng)并不是影響我們地區(qū)冬季氣候的唯一因素，但卻是一個(gè)重要因素。加深對(duì)太陽(yáng)活動(dòng)影響的了解對(duì)預(yù)測(cè)天氣非常重要?！?/p>

直到現(xiàn)在，研究人員仍只發(fā)現(xiàn)太陽(yáng)活動(dòng)與冬季天氣之間存在較弱的聯(lián)系。太陽(yáng)活動(dòng)較弱時(shí)，北半球的冬季更有可能出現(xiàn)較弱的西風(fēng)。在這種氣候模式下，東風(fēng)能夠?qū)⒋箨懙暮涮鞖鈳У接?guó)。

一直以來，科學(xué)家便很難將紫外線信號(hào)融入氣候模型。根據(jù)刊登在《自然·地球科學(xué)》上的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，研究人員利用美國(guó)宇航局“太陽(yáng)輻射和氣候?qū)嶒?yàn)”衛(wèi)星(SORCE)的測(cè)量數(shù)據(jù)，揭示出11年的太陽(yáng)活動(dòng)周期中抵達(dá)地球的紫外線變化情況，所存在的差異超出此前的預(yù)計(jì)。這顆衛(wèi)星2003年發(fā)射升空，是第一顆在整個(gè)紫外光譜測(cè)量太陽(yáng)輻射的衛(wèi)星。

倫敦帝國(guó)學(xué)院大氣物理學(xué)教授喬安娜·海赫指出：“SORCE衛(wèi)星攜帶的設(shè)備能夠?qū)⒆贤饩€分割成小波長(zhǎng)區(qū)，提供出色的光譜分辨率。在此之前，氣候模型使用較寬的光譜帶，無法揭示出太陽(yáng)信號(hào)?！蓖ㄟ^將這些新信息融入氣象局的氣候模型，氣象局和牛津大學(xué)的研究人員證明“復(fù)制”太陽(yáng)活動(dòng)變化產(chǎn)生的影響具有可行性。

研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在紫外線較弱的年份，距地面30英里(約合48公里)的熱帶同溫層形成異乎尋常的冷空氣。與此同時(shí)，中緯度地區(qū)上空出現(xiàn)更多東風(fēng)，進(jìn)而達(dá)到一種平衡。這種現(xiàn)象隨后向地球表面移動(dòng)，為歐洲北部地區(qū)帶來東風(fēng)并迎來寒冬。當(dāng)太陽(yáng)活躍程度超過正常水平時(shí)——處于11年活動(dòng)周期峰值左右——便會(huì)出現(xiàn)相反的現(xiàn)象，強(qiáng)烈的西風(fēng)帶來暖空氣，讓歐洲迎來溫冬。

研究論文主執(zhí)筆人、氣象局的莎拉·伊納森表示：“根據(jù)我們的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，紫外線水平影響大西洋盆地周圍的氣團(tuán)分布，導(dǎo)致熱量重新分配。也就是說，在歐洲和美國(guó)出現(xiàn)低溫天氣時(shí)，加拿大和地中海卻較為溫暖。這種現(xiàn)象只能對(duì)全球溫度產(chǎn)生極少的直接影響?！?/p>

How Black Death Kept Its Genes but Lost Its Killing Power

In f ve years, Black Death wiped out an estimated 30to 50percent of Europe's population. This medieval plague was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which still circulates among humans. Genetic clues as to what might have made it so deadly, however, had remained interred with the tens of millions of victims.

After careful extraction of genetic material from victims' teeth, a team of researchers has sequenced 99percent of the Plague's genome—the f rst whole-genome reconstruction of a disease from skeletal remains. The draft genome is described online October 12in Nature. (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.)

The 660-year-old plague DNA was isolated from four victims, who had been exhumed from London's East Smithf eld Cemetery in the 1980s by the Museum of London Archaeology. To get samples from the skeletal remains, physical anthropologist Kristen Bos of McMaster University in Ontario and a colleague found themselves "wiggling the teeth out of the skulls at the Museum of London," she said in a Tuesday press brief ng about the new study.

After carefully extracting genetic material from the inner pulp chamber of the teeth (so as not to damage their exteriors), the team created what Bos called a genetic "f shing rod," baited with molecules from modern-day Y. pestis. With that as a lure, "we were able to essentially f sh out the small preserved fragments of Yersinia pestis DNA" and separate it from the stew of human, bacterial and other genetic material that had accumulated during centuries in the soil. (The team described the actual method, which uses high-throughput DNA sequencing and microRNA enrichment, in an August Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper.)

The genome now gives researchers a sort of "fossil" to start to map out the bacterium's phylogenetic tree. They discovered that the Black Death that devastated Europe between 1347and 1350was likely close to the common ancestor of all extant Y. pestis strains, (which likely arose—from the soil bacterium Yersinia pseudotuberculosis—between 1200and 1340).

If this was "the first big pandemic with disseminated Yersinia pestis in humans," as Johannes Krause, of the University of Tübingen's Institute for Archaeological Sciences, asserted at the briefing, then previous plagues, such as the sixthcentury Plague of Justinian, were either caused by a completely different pathogen or by a strain of Y. pestis that proceeded to go completely extinct.

The new family tree can also help researchers examine related groups, such as the types of plagues that currently affect only rodents (such as Microtus strains and those that have been found in Chinese marmots)—and what genetic changes might need to occur to allow them to infect humans.

The sequenced strain has some 4.7million base pairs. When compared with the modern version (based on 17different genomes), there are just 90genetic substitutions. That such few genetic changes occurred over the years, Krause said, was "really surprising."

Among these changes, none obviously explains ancient Black Death's virulence, Hendrik Poinar, also of McMaster, said during Tuesday's prepublication brief ng. "There's no particular smoking gun."So if the slight genetic differences in the disease were not responsible for its drastic change, what did make it so deadly in the 14th century that, as Bos described it, "people honestly thought it was the end of the world"?

Much of the mortality might be explained by situational factors, Poinar explained. Cooler climatic conditions and an excess of rain had led to failed crop harvests and widespread hunger, in addition to large numbers of people living in crowded—and already pathogen-filled—medieval cities. "You probably had an immunocompromised population, living under very stressful conditions," Poiner said. Add to that a "population being hit by Y. pestis maybe for the first time," and "Black Death was the perfect storm."

Humans have also adapted to the disease. The global population has likely built up some immunity from centuries of exposure to the pathogen. And even before the modern era, virulence was likely quelled by cultural adaptations, Krause noted. During the first outbreak, no one knew what kind of disease it was nor how to treat it, he said. During subsequent outbreaks, however, "people had already developed some kinds of adaptations—they had developed quarantines, they had developed first aid to treat patients with the symptoms."

加拿大科學(xué)家主導(dǎo)成功破解黑死病基因密碼

加拿大

麥克馬斯特大學(xué)“古代DNA中心”主管波拿亞和德國(guó)圖賓根大學(xué)克勞斯領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的研究小組成功破解黑死病基因密碼，成果報(bào)告見于12日出版的《自然》期刊上。

波拿亞表示，即使是一年前，想要取得這種級(jí)數(shù)的基因資料，可以說是發(fā)白日夢(mèng)。

他表示，他跟同事估計(jì)黑死病有如此殺傷力，可能是該種病原首次入侵人類，亦不會(huì)有人有抗生素作保護(hù)，加上當(dāng)時(shí)的環(huán)境令疾病快速傳播，包括房屋和城市非常擠迫、欠缺衛(wèi)生設(shè)備、人們普遍營(yíng)養(yǎng)不良以及尚未發(fā)現(xiàn)抗生素和抗病毒藥物等。

波拿亞指出，曾研究基因組的抗生素專家相信，將治療今天瘟疫的藥物用于14世紀(jì)，應(yīng)該同樣有效。

在英國(guó)倫敦東部的倫敦塔附近一個(gè)大規(guī)模的黑死病死者墓穴中，從掘到的人類牙齒發(fā)現(xiàn)了DNA破片，讓科學(xué)家得以完成這種古代鼠疫桿菌的完整序列。研究人員是從4副顎骨的牙齒取得DNA，4名死者中，兩人是成年女性，另1人是未能確定性別的青少年，至于第4人的性別和年齡均無法識(shí)別。他們利用現(xiàn)代鼠疫桿菌基因序列做樣本，得以完成14世紀(jì)瘟疫的基因排列。

波拿亞表示，仍未能肯定基因排列的正確順序，若能掌握或許有助解釋古代細(xì)菌為何如此致命。

研究人員亦跟美國(guó)的科學(xué)家協(xié)作嘗試尋找該等基因的改變。

科學(xué)界對(duì)于自1347年到1351年肆虐的黑死病成因，長(zhǎng)期爭(zhēng)論不休。部份科學(xué)家認(rèn)為是一種病毒性出血熱引致，這種引發(fā)瘟疫的流行病學(xué)模式跟今天的瘟疫明顯有別。

波拿亞的研究開創(chuàng)性地將肆虐多個(gè)世紀(jì)的一種前所未見、殺傷力極大的細(xì)菌的演化繪成圖表。時(shí)至今日，這種細(xì)菌仍在發(fā)展中國(guó)家局部地區(qū)肆虐。

據(jù)此間的星島日?qǐng)?bào)13日?qǐng)?bào)道，14世紀(jì)中期歐洲發(fā)生長(zhǎng)達(dá)5年的黑死病恐慌期，大約造成5000萬人死亡。

East Asia's Universities Need To Play Bigger Economic Role, Says World Bank

low and should be increased, preferably through performance-Universities in East Asia aren't giving their countries the economic boost they should because of educational and research shortcomings, concludes a report released today by the World Bank. In Putting Higher Education to Work: Skills and Research for Growth in East Asia, a team of bank experts says reforms and better funding could position universities and postsecondary vocational schools to improve economic productivity and competitiveness particularly in the developing countries of Southeast Asia, China, and Mongolia.

The problem stems from a number of what the report calls "disconnects." The most important is a mismatch between the advanced skills needed in the workforce and the training provided at universities and other post-secondary institutions. The team also found that university research was not contributing to the technological advancement of industry and commerce. Other gaps include a lack of interaction between universities and national research institutes and inconsistent secondary schooling.

Universities are now operating in isolation, the authors argue, instead of as part of an integrated system designed to meet strategic needs. Specific recommendations start with increasing funding for higher education and encouraging more students to go beyond secondary schools—particularly in science, technology, engineering, and math—by providing scholarships and loans. The report notes that with the exception of several more advanced countries—Korea, Japan, and China—spending on R&D as a share of GDP is relatively based funding such as competitively awarded grants. And few of these countries have university technology licensing efforts, public-private matching research funding programs, or other schemes to forge university-industry ties. The team also concludes that most of the region's universities would benef t from better management and governance and greater autonomy.

For most of these challenges, the report provides examples of best practices drawn from within the region. "We don't want to preach" to educational and government leaders, James Adams, World Bank's regional vice president, said at the report's launch today in Tokyo. Rather, the goal is to provide comparative information for decision-makers to work with.

世界銀行報(bào)告稱東亞各大學(xué)應(yīng)發(fā)揮更大經(jīng)濟(jì)作用的提升做出貢獻(xiàn)。其它因素則包括大學(xué)與國(guó)家科研機(jī)構(gòu)之間缺乏交流，以及中學(xué)教育與大學(xué)教育脫節(jié)等。

世界銀行今日發(fā)布報(bào)告稱，由于在教育和科研方面存在缺陷，東亞的大學(xué)在推動(dòng)本國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)的進(jìn)程中沒能起到它們應(yīng)起的作用。

該報(bào)告分析了造成此現(xiàn)象的原因，其中最重要的是職工對(duì)高級(jí)技能的需求與高校所提供的培訓(xùn)不匹配。此外，研究小組還發(fā)現(xiàn)大學(xué)研究并沒有為工業(yè)和商業(yè)技術(shù)

在這份名為《高等教育的實(shí)際應(yīng)用：東亞發(fā)展所需要的技術(shù)與科研》的報(bào)告中，研究小組表示，對(duì)于許多國(guó)家——特別是東南亞發(fā)展中國(guó)家、中國(guó)以及蒙古而言，對(duì)高校進(jìn)行改革并提供更多資助，能使其在提高經(jīng)濟(jì)生產(chǎn)力和競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力方面發(fā)揮積極作用。

該報(bào)告建議加大對(duì)高等教育的資金投入，并且提供獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金和助學(xué)貸款以鼓勵(lì)更多學(xué)生接受高等教育——尤其是在科技、工程和數(shù)學(xué)領(lǐng)域。報(bào)告還指出，除韓國(guó)、日本和中國(guó)等較發(fā)達(dá)國(guó)家之外，其他東亞國(guó)家在科研發(fā)展領(lǐng)域的投入較少、所占國(guó)內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值的比重相對(duì)較低，所以應(yīng)當(dāng)加大投入，最好能以學(xué)術(shù)表現(xiàn)作為經(jīng)費(fèi)資助的基準(zhǔn)，通過提供競(jìng)爭(zhēng)性獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)等方式實(shí)現(xiàn)。報(bào)告還總結(jié)認(rèn)為，一套好的管理制度以及更多自主權(quán)，將有利于大多數(shù)區(qū)域性大學(xué)的發(fā)展。

IBM Exhibit Visualizes Today's Urban Problems--and Potential Solutions

At first glance the mammoth screen running down a former parking ramp at Lincoln Center looks like something on loan from Times Square, about a dozen blocks to the south. But this 37.5- by 4.3-meter digital data-visualization wall, parked in the heart of Manhattan, is offering much more than enticements to buy snacks or the latest cologne.

Watch the animated screen a little longer, though, and you will learn something—about the city's largely untapped potential to collect solar energy, the amount of water from New York State's reservoirs wasted before it ever reaches urban residents, and the patterns in traffic and air quality that change hourly. You are seeing data that have been harvested by IBM from 100sensors throughout the city, analyzed for patterns and rendered into visualizations to create a more complete picture of the city's oft-ignored problems and potential solutions.

"Think," a free exhibit on display at Lincoln Center through October 23, consists of three parts: At the lower end of the ramp, visitors move past the digital wall into a small theater f lled with 20massive video columns, each 2.4meters tall and 1.2meters wide. The columns are covered front and back by video screens that, when dark, resemble the primordial monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. They are arranged in clusters that immerse the audience for a 10-minute film highlighting scientific and technological progress in areas including space exploration, personalized medicine, traff c management and agriculture around the world. At the conclusion of the f lm, all 40video screens convert into large interactive touch panels. This lets the audience drill down on different topics via maps, timelines and images.

View a slide show of IBM's Think exhibit.

As visitors leave the theater they can see the f nal part of the exhibit—a timeline of key IBM milestones from the past century. Starting with the events leading up to Thomas J. Watson's founding of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. in June 1911from the merger of four firms to the company's name change to International Business Machines in 1924all the way through the recent success of the company's Watson artif cial intelligence program on the game show Jeopardy!.

Think is one of several ways IBM is celebrating its centennial anniversary this year. The exhibit however, is curiously light on advertising for "Big Blue"—as the company was previously nicknamed—and focuses more on what the company's technology is doing behind the scenes to address health care, resource conservation, food production and other 21st-century concerns. Short interactive videos in the exhibit's theater feature IBM researchers such as David Ferrucci (who led the development of Watson) as well as scientists such as Howard-Yana Shapiro, global director of plant science and external research at Mars Inc.

"We wanted to do something that would be open to the public," says IBM's Lee Green, vice president of brand experience and strategic design. "IBM hasn't done anything like this since probably 1964when Charles and Ray Eames designed the IBM exhibition at the World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, New York." That exhibit, much less subtle, featured a dome resembling a company innovation, the electric typewriter ball, albeit with only the letters I, B and M.

"What they did so well was take the complexity of math, science and technology and simplif ed it," Green says. "We wanted to do the same thing, [telling] stories about what it is possible to achieve today through science and technology." IBM plans to tour the exhibit to science museums and educational institutions when it completes its stay at Lincoln Center.

New form of superhard carbon observed

Carbon is the fourth-most-abundant element in the universe and takes on a wide variety of forms, called allotropes, including diamond and graphite. Scientists at Carnegie's Geophysical Laboratory are part of a team that has discovered a new form of carbon, which is capable of withstanding extreme pressure stresses that were previously observed only in diamond. This breakthrough discovery will be published in Physical Review Letters.

The team was led by Stanford's Wendy L. Mao and her graduate student Yu Lin and includes Carnegie's Hokwang (Dave) Mao, Li Zhang, Paul Chow, Yuming Xiao, Maria Baldini, and Jinfu Shu. The experiment started with a form of carbon called glassy carbon, which was first synthesized in the 1950s, and was found to combine desirable properties of glasses and ceramics with those of graphite. The team created the new carbon allotrope by compressing glassy carbon to above 400,000times normal atmospheric pressure.

This new carbon form was capable of withstanding1.3 million times normal atmospheric pressure in one direction while confinedu n d e r a p r e s s u r e o f600,000 times atmosphericlevels in other directions.N o s u b s t a n c e o t h e rthan diamond h a s beenobserved to withstand thistype o f p ressure s t re s s,indicating t h a t t h e newc a r b o n a l l o t rope m u s tindeed be very strong.

However, unlikediamond and other cry stalline for msofcarbon, the structure of this new material is not organized in repeating atomic units. It is an amorphous material, meaning that its structure l a c k s t h e l o n g-r a n g e order of cr ystals. This amorphous, superhard carbon allotrope would have a potential advantage over diamond if its hardness turns out to be isotropic-that is, having hardness that is equally strong in all direwcions. In contrast, diamond's hardness is highly dependent upon the direction in which the crystal is oriented.

"These findings open up possibilities for potential applications, including super hard anvils for high-pressure research and could lead to new classes of ultradense and strong materials," said Russell Hemley, director of Carnegie's Geophysical Laboratory.

IBM推出網(wǎng)游CityOne直指城市問題

IBM周一推出了一款名為“CityOne”的網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲，希望通過該游戲讓玩家體驗(yàn)當(dāng)前城市所面臨的一些問題，并啟發(fā)玩家尋求解決問題的方法。最終，IBM希望通過該款游戲來刺激公司的服務(wù)和軟件營(yíng)收。

IBM軟件業(yè)務(wù)副總裁南希皮爾森(Nancy Pearson)稱，用戶可以選擇四大行業(yè)：銀行、零售、水和能源，然后試圖解決相關(guān)問題。例如，監(jiān)控城市的水質(zhì)量，或者是能源的供應(yīng)情況等。

皮爾森稱，該游戲可提升人們對(duì)IBM新服務(wù)的意識(shí)和銷售額。當(dāng)前，IBM正在推行智慧地球(Smarter Planet)計(jì)劃，從而幫助企業(yè)和政府部門利用數(shù)字技術(shù)更好地進(jìn)行決策。IBM此前曾表示，到2015年該項(xiàng)技術(shù)可給IBM帶來100億美元的銷售額。

從周一起，用戶可免費(fèi)下載該款游戲。目前，已經(jīng)有7000多人注冊(cè)下載，其中包括大學(xué)、政府和企業(yè)會(huì)員。南希稱，如果有任何問題，用戶可以通過互聯(lián)網(wǎng)與IBM代表進(jìn)行交流。

美研發(fā)出非結(jié)晶新型碳結(jié)構(gòu)材料——應(yīng)付超強(qiáng)壓力的能力可能超過金剛石

據(jù)美國(guó)物理學(xué)家組織網(wǎng)10月11日?qǐng)?bào)道，碳是宇宙中儲(chǔ)量占第四的一種元素，其有幾種同素異形體，最常見的兩種單質(zhì)是高硬度的金剛石和柔軟滑膩的石墨。現(xiàn)在，美國(guó)科學(xué)家們制造出了一種新形式的碳，其應(yīng)付超強(qiáng)壓力的能力讓金剛石“自愧弗如”。該突破性發(fā)現(xiàn)將發(fā)表于《物理評(píng)論快報(bào)》雜志。

斯坦福大學(xué)的毛溫迪（音譯）和其研究生林宇（音譯）領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的科研團(tuán)隊(duì)與卡內(nèi)基研究所地球物理實(shí)驗(yàn)室的科學(xué)家們共同做出了這項(xiàng)發(fā)現(xiàn)。他們讓碳的一種——玻璃碳承受40萬倍的大氣壓力，制造出了這種新的碳的同素異形體。玻璃碳于上世紀(jì)50年代才被首次合成，其兼具玻璃、陶瓷和石墨烯的一些特質(zhì)，應(yīng)用范圍很廣。

科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)，新形式的碳在一個(gè)方向上能經(jīng)受130萬倍的大氣壓力，在其他方向上能承受60萬倍的大氣壓力。除了金剛石之外，沒有其他物質(zhì)能承受如此大的壓力，這表明，這種新的碳的同素異形體的確很堅(jiān)硬。

然而，與金剛石和其他形式的碳晶體不同的是，這種新材料是一種非結(jié)晶的物質(zhì)，這意味著它的結(jié)構(gòu)缺乏晶體的長(zhǎng)距離有序性。

如果這種非結(jié)晶的、超硬的碳的同素異形體各個(gè)方向的硬度一樣的話，其潛能優(yōu)勢(shì)比金剛石還強(qiáng)。金剛石的硬度主要取決于晶體的取向。

卡內(nèi)基研究所地球物理實(shí)驗(yàn)室的主任羅素·赫姆利說：“最新發(fā)現(xiàn)將有很多應(yīng)用領(lǐng)域?？茖W(xué)家們或能據(jù)此制造出高壓研究所需要的超硬鐵砧以及其他超致密、超硬的新材料。”