Portrait of a molecule

The double helix is idealized for its aesthetic elegant structure, but the reality of DNA's physical existence is quite different. Most DNA in the cell is compressed into a tangled package that somehow still exposes itself to meticulous gene-regulatory control. Philip Ball holds a mirror up to what we truly know about the mysteries of DNA's life inside a cell.     

高斯杂波中距离扩展目标的模糊CFAR检测

为提高高分辨雷达的检测性能,提出了一种高斯杂波背景下距离扩展目标的模糊检测方法。该方法采用模糊恒虚警率(constant false alarm rate, CFAR)检测器代替传统的二进制CFAR检测器,将距离单元值转换成映射到虚警空间的模糊隶属函数值,然后采用模糊积累准则进行积累,得到检测统计量。研究了模糊代数积、模糊代数和两种积累准则,推导出这两种方法虚警概率的数学解析式。仿真结果表明,高斯杂波背景下模糊代数积积累较双门限二进制积累可获得近2 dB的性能改善。同时,模糊检测方法只采用单个检测门限,具有易于调节的优点。     

Cloned pigs produced by nuclear transfer from adult somatic cells

Since the first report of live mammals produced by nuclear transfer from a cultured differentiated cell population in 1995 (ref. 1), successful development has been obtained in sheep, cattle, mice and goats using a variety of somatic cell types as nuclear donors. The methodology used for embryo reconstruction in each of these species is essentially similar: diploid donor nuclei have been transplanted into enucleated MII oocytes that are activated on, or after transfer. In sheep and goat pre-activated oocytes have also proved successful as cytoplast recipients. The reconstructed embryos are then cultured and selected embryos transferred to surrogate recipients for development to term. In pigs, nuclear transfer has been significantly less successful; a single piglet was reported after transfer of a blastomere nucleus from a four-cell embryo to an enucleated oocyte; however, no live offspring were obtained in studies using somatic cells such as diploid or mitotic fetal fibroblasts as nuclear donors. The development of embryos reconstructed by nuclear transfer is dependent upon a range of factors. Here we investigate some of these factors and report the successful production of cloned piglets from a cultured adult somatic cell population using a new nuclear transfer procedure.     

中华绒螯蟹首次排卵后卵巢发育的组织学研究

利用组织切片技术,结合外观特征,在光学水平对江苏南通地区第一次排卵后18天内（即卵巢的二次发育）的中华绒螯蟹的卵巢发育进行组织学和细胞学的观察研究．本实验可以观察到卵细胞发育的四个不同时期：初级卵母细胞小生长期、初级卵母细胞大生长期、成熟期以及退化时期的卵细胞．排卵后的卵巢在营养贫乏的情况下,出现直接退化现象;而在营养丰富的情况下,处于大生长前期的卵细胞则会迅速生长,为二次排卵做好准备．     

超冷的水

又发现了两种新水。要是没有水,我们原本不会来到这个世界。水的热容量在-45℃时应该变成无穷大。水的其它特性似乎也变得一团糟,就像水经历了某种灾变一样,为什么？如果想象在太平洋之下11公里处的马里亚那海沟中即在海洋最深之处的高压之下,人还能生活,便会看到这是一个寂静的、永远黑暗的世界,压力高达1000个大气压。那是一座相当于洋底每平方米承受1000吨压力的海水之增。在如此恶劣的条件下,生存必定不易。然而现在有些物理学家相信在这样高的压力下甚至水本身可能也难于保持不变。他们认为如果在以上压力下水若能保持不变即仍…     

物理学阻止了克隆

无论存活与否 ,制造出与本身完全一致的复制品是不可能的     

The role of sex steroids in the acquisition and production of birdsong

Male birdsong is generally regarded as a secondary sexual characteristic under the control of gonadal steroids. Song typically waxes and wanes with the seasonal cycle of testicular growth and regression and decreases after adult castration. Testosterone therapy reinstates song, induces it in females, augments it in intact males, and spring testosterone profiles correlate with seasonal song production. Thus, testosterone has been viewed as a major factor in song acquisition and production acting either directly, or after aromatization within the brain. We show here, however, that song learning and early phases of the development of singing both take place in castrated male birds with no significant levels of testosterone in their blood plasma. Testosterone seems to be required for song crystallization, however. Oestradiol was unexpectedly still present after castration, evidently from a non-testicular source, throughout the period of male song acquisition.