News on China's scientific and technological development.

SamuraiBlue said:

Down side of stem cells I hear is it can easily transform to cancer cells.
One of the things to overcome for this method to become mainstream I am guessing.

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Hmmmm?! Stem cells can become whatever cells they want to. That's why they are called "stem" cells. Every type of tissue naturally contain high levels of stem cells, ready to differentiate into any kind of cells they need to be. In fact, ALL stem cells used in research have been isolated from patient volunteers.

Getting oncogenic mutations in stem cells has the exactly same probability as any other kind of cells. No more, no less.

Understanding what makes stem cells transform into the kind of tissue cells they are destined is absolutely crucial to understanding of any kind diseases.

Stem cell IS mainstream. No doubt about it. Stem cell research is getting along full steam ahead on every aspect imaginable. The only issue associated with stem cell work HAD been the use of embryonic stem cells. That's mainly an ethical issue, not scientific. We don't use embryonic stem cells now. We now use adult stem cells, which are donated by patients just like how people donate blood, with full compliance.

China's advancement in science & technology are going "great guns". I know this first hand, as I have observed during the past 3 years of Competition among the young enthusiastic University IB Student-Teams of Southern China (Guangdong Province) and Macau SAR. I have just returned from being one of the judges of the Annual APCEA International Biz Communication Competition. The Undergraduate Teams are very conversant with the use of hi-tech in Marketing & Tourism Promotion, and they speak excellent English too. Always a pleasure to observe the young Chinese generation who are focused on China's advancement.

vesicles said:

Stem cell IS mainstream. No doubt about it. Stem cell research is getting along full steam ahead on every aspect imaginable.

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I remember a poster in the Toronto Sunnybrooke hospital talking about how they treated a man's burns with stem cell therapy, so it's no longer just research, it's being used to treat patients already.

solarz said:

I remember a poster in the Toronto Sunnybrooke hospital talking about how they treated a man's burns with stem cell therapy, so it's no longer just research, it's being used to treat patients already.

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Yep! Stem cell is maturing quite nicely, but only in the small stuff. We will still need to figure out the hard parts, like neurodegerative diseases and cancer.

t2contra said:

I wish the US government could provide more incentives to the Chinese researchers to stay because then they could stand to accumulate more knowledge and would contribute more to China when they return in their middle age.

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Whenever I read about Li-ion research in the US, I tend to mistake Li for the Chinese name.

t2contra said:

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Whenever I read about Li-ion research in the US, I tend to mistake Li for the Chinese name.

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Just speculation on my part, but I wonder if those Chinese scientists might also be motivated by the witch hunt against Chinese scientists from a few years back?

My musing: Unless you are in the field of physics, there is less incentive to move back. If you a medical specialist or biologist, you can contribute to China and mankind from afar. A hat tip to my vesicles.

t2contra said:

My musing: Unless you are in the field of physics, there is less incentive to move back. If you a medical specialist or biologist, you can contribute to China and mankind from afar. A hat tip to my vesicles.

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Much appreciated!!

To be honest, there is very little incentive for me to go back. My parents spent most of their lives doing research in China. My maternal grandfather was a medical doctor in China (he was the president of a major hospital in a major Chinese city for almost 40 years). They know the Chinese academic culture inside and out. I've been in biological/medical research in the US all my life. I'm pretty familiar with the American system. Both have pros and cons.

My conclusions from listening to my parents talking about their experiences and comparing it with mine: the Chinese science culture does not suit me. My parents always say that, if I stayed in China, I would not be able to even get into college. And I agree with them. I was and still am very rebellious. When someone tells me something cannot be done, I see it as a challenge. And I saw a lot of challenges when I was little back in China, and eventually became a challenge to my teachers... I was never a good student back in China when I was a kid because I was always a troublemaker. I think I spent close to 1/3 of school time standing in the back corner of the classroom (sort of like detention time). I was never a bad student, well, because of the brain that my parents gave me... At the end of a semester, my teacher would always leave comments on the last page of my report card. And it's always about how I never listened to the teachers and always a troublemaker.

When I moved to the US, all of a sudden I became "creative" to my teachers. I got a second place at my high school's science fair just because of my "crazy" idea... In college, grad school and postdoc, my advisors encouraged and even pushed me to think outside the box. In grad school, I disproved my mentor's theory. To my pleasant surprise, he was so proud and kept telling everyone that his own student disproved his theory. I did it again as a postdoc. And my postdoc mentor, who is one of the leading experts in the field, again was very excited about it and made sure I got a chance to present my findings on the podium at the biggest medical conference in the world. And while at the conference during a dinner with some of his best friends, one of which was a Nobel Laureate, he specifically introduced me to them and said "he's the one that I've been telling you guys about. He disproved my theory."

Now as a young professor, I make sure that I push my students and postdocs to think outside the box. I make sure they know that they leave my theories at the door when they formulate their own hypotheses. At beginning, I can tell that some of them were nervous when presenting unexpected data at lab meetings. I keep telling them that they should be excited to have unexpected data. That's what makes science exciting. If everything goes as expected, it becomes boring. Plus, unexpected means no one knows, which means breakthroughs, which means high impact publications and boat load of funding... Now I can tell that my students and postdocs are excited when they get unexpected data. And some of them email me their crazy ideas at 2am. This is so exciting to me.

Maybe I have been lucky to have met some of the most supporting and open-minded mentors. I enjoy this kind of environment and believe that I can thrive and have thrived in this environment. Based on what I have heard from my parents, Chinese academic culture is very different. And from many visiting scholars who are professors in China and came to the US recently, such culture has not changed much. I know that the way I do things simply would not fit. It would be insane for me to abandon an environment that has allowed me to thrive.

according to DefenseNews China to open a drone factory in Saudi Arabia

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China will construct a new facility to produce unmanned aerial vehicles in Saudi Arabia, following a recent visit from Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz.

The King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia’s national center for all things science and tech, signed a partnership with China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation on March 16,

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.

CASC produces China’s CH-4 unmanned aerial vehicle, a drone similar to the

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. Saudi Arabia, which already operates CH-4 drones, has expressed a desire to grow its fleet. In addition to expanding the Saudi fleet, the new facility can operate as a hub for manufacturing and servicing for other CH-4 operators in the Middle East, including Egypt, Iraq and Jordan.

The CH-4 can carry AR-1 missiles, capable of hitting soldiers, tanks and small boats within 1.5 meters of the target. The Saudi facility will be CASC’s third CH-4 factory outside of China, with facilities in Pakistan and Myanmar.

In 2014, a deal fell through between the two nations when the Saudis sought China’s DF-21D “carrier killer” ballistic missile.

“The DF-21 deal was turned down as a result of strong opposition in the international community amid the Iran nuclear crisis in the region,” Macau-based military observer Antony Wong Dong told the South China Morning Post. “Beijing may want to use the CH-4 drone as a substitute project in a bid to please an old friend,” he added.

The Saudi King signed a deal worth $65 billion with Chinese President Xi Jinping, promoting stronger ties between the two nations.

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source:

vesicles said:

Based on what I have heard from my parents, Chinese academic culture is very different. And from many visiting scholars who are professors in China and came to the US recently, such culture has not changed much. I know that the way I do things simply would not fit. It would be insane for me to abandon an environment that has allowed me to thrive.

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We mentioned the environment as an American advantage previously, but China's advantage in language and culture is also extremely powerful. It's probably not hard to imagine that to many scientists who grew up in China, the American academic culture would be very difficult to get used to. Given comparable offers from both Chinese and American institutions, the "comforts of home" might tip the balance quite a bit!