【每日阅读训练第四期——速度越障5系列】【5-16】科技

CHRISTINE2010

【计时1】
Diseased Trees New Source of Climate Gas

ScienceDaily (Aug. 7, 2012) — Diseased trees in forests may be a significant new source of methane that causes climate change, according to researchers at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies in Geophysical Research Letters.
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Sixty trees sampled at Yale Myers Forest in northeastern Connecticut contained concentrations of methane that were as high as 80,000 times ambient levels. Normal air concentrations are less than 2 parts per million, but the Yale researchers found average levels of 15,000 parts per million inside trees.

"These are flammable concentrations," said Kristofer Covey, the study's lead author and a Ph.D. candidate at Yale. "Because the conditions thought to be driving this process are common throughout the world's forests, we believe we have found a globally significant new source of this potent greenhouse gas."

The estimated emission rate from an upland site at the Yale forest is roughly equivalent to burning 40 gallons of gasoline per hectare of forest per year. It also has a global warming potential equivalent to 18 percent of the carbon being sequestered by these forests, reducing their climate benefit of carbon sequestration by nearly one-fifth.

"If we extrapolate these findings to forests globally, the methane produced in trees represents 10 percent of global emissions," said Xuhui Lee, a co-author of the study and Sara

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【计时2】

Shallenberger Brown Professor of Meteorology at Yale. "We didn't know this pathway existed."

The trees producing methane are older -- between 80 and 100 years old -- and diseased. Although outwardly healthy, they are being hollowed out by a common fungal infection that slowly eats through the trunk, creating conditions favorable to methane-producing microorganisms called methanogens.

"No one until now has linked the idea that fungal rot of timber trees, a production problem in commercial forestry, might also present a problem for greenhouse gas and climate change mitigation," said Mark Bradford, a co-author and Assistant Professor of Terrestrial Ecosystem Ecology at F&ES.

Red maple, an abundant species in North America, had the highest methane concentrations, but other common species, including oak, birch and pine were also producers of the gas. The rate of methane emissions was 3.1 times higher in the summer, suggesting that higher temperatures may lead to increasing levels of forest methane that, in turn, lead to ever-higher temperatures.

"These findings suggest decay in living trees is important to biogeochemists and atmospheric scientists seeking to understand global greenhouse gas budgets and associated climate change," said Covey.

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New Metamaterials Device Focuses Sound Waves Like a Camera Lens

ScienceDaily (Aug. 7, 2012) — In a cover article in The Journal of Applied Physics, a team of Penn State researchers has designed and computationally tested a type of humanmade metamaterial capable for the first time of manipulating a variety of acoustic waves with one simple device. This invention will benefit almost all current sonic and ultrasonic applications, such as ultrasonic nondestructive evaluations and ultrasonic imaging. The device should also provide more accurate and efficient high-intensity focused ultrasound(HIFU) therapies, a non-invasive heat-based technique targeted at a variety of cancers and neurological disorders.
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Optical metamaterials have been widely studied in the past decade for applications such as cloaking and perfect lenses. The basic principles of optical metamaterials apply to acoustic metamaterials. Artificial structures are created in patterns that bend the acoustic wave onto a single point, and then refocus the acoustic wave into a wider or narrower beam, depending on the direction of travel through the proposed acoustic beam aperture modifier. The acoustic beam aperture modifier is built upon gradient-index phononic crystals, in this case an array of steel pins embedded in epoxy in a particular pattern. The obstacles (steel pins) slow down the acoustic wave speed in order to bend the acoustic waves into curved rays.
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According to post-doctoral scholar and the paper's lead author, Sz-Chin Steven Lin, while other types of acoustic metamaterials also could focus and defocus an acoustic beam to achieve beam aperture modification (although prior to this work no such beam modifier has been proposed), their device possesses the advantage of small size and high energy conservation. Currently, researchers and surgeons need to have many transducers of different sizes to produce acoustic waves with different apertures. This is analogous to having to swap out lenses on a camera to change the lens's aperture. With this invention, by changing the modifier attached to the transducer the desired aperture can be easily attained.
"Design of acoustic beam aperture modifier using gradient-index phononic crystals," by Lin, Bernhard Tittmann, and Tony Jun Huang, is the first design concept for an acoustic beam aperture modifier to appear in the scientific literature, and no acoustic beam modifier device is available in the market. As a result, the authors expect their device could have wide applications across several important acoustic fields, from medical ultrasound to higher sensitivity surface acoustic wave sensors to higher Q factor resonators. The team is currently making a prototype based on this design.
Support for their research came from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director's New Innovator Award, and the Penn State Center for Nanoscale Science (MRSEC).
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Dyslexia Caused by Faulty Signal Processing in Brain; Finding Offers Clues to Potential Treatments

ScienceDaily (Aug. 7, 2012) — Many children and adults have difficulties reading and writing, and the reason is not always obvious. Those who suffer from dyslexia can exhibit a variety of symptoms. Thanks to research carried out by Begoña Díaz and her colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, a major step forward has been made in understanding the cause of dyslexia.
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The scientists have discovered an important neural mechanism underlying dyslexia and shown that many difficulties associated with dyslexia can potentially be traced back to a malfunction of the medial geniculate body in the thalamus. The results provide an important basis for developing potential treatments.
People who suffer from dyslexia have difficulties with identifying speech sounds in spoken language. For example, while most children are able to recognise whether two words rhyme even before they go to school, dyslexic children often cannot do this until late primary school age. Those affected suffer from dyslexia their whole lives. However, there are also always cases where people can compensate for their dyslexia. "This suggests that dyslexia can be treated. We are therefore trying to find the neural causes of this learning disability in order to create a basis for improved treatment options," says Díaz.
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Between five and ten percent of the world's children suffer from dyslexia, yet very little is know about its causes. Even though those affected do not lack intelligence or schooling, they have difficulties in reading, understanding and explaining individual words or entire texts. The researchers showed that dyslexic adults have a malfunction in a structure that transfers auditory information from the ear to the cortex is a major cause of the impairment: the medial geniculate body in the auditory thalamus does not process speech sounds correctly. "This malfunction at a low level of language processing could percolate through the entire system. This explains why the symptoms of dyslexia are so varied," says Díaz.
Under the direction of Katharina von Kriegstein, the researchers conducted two experiments in which several volunteers had to perform various speech comprehension tasks. When affected individuals performed tasks that required the recognition of speech sounds, as compared to recognize the voices that pronounced the same speech, magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) recordings showed abnormal responses in the area around the medial geniculate body. In contrast, no differences were apparent between controls and dyslexic participants if the tasks involved only listening to the speech sounds without having to perform a specific task. "The problem, therefore, has nothing to do with sensory processing itself, but with the processing involved in speech recognition," says Díaz. No differences could be ascertained between the two test groups in other areas of the auditory signalling path.
The findings of the Leipzig scientists combine various theoretical approaches, which deal with the cause of dyslexia and, for the first time, bring together several of these theories to form an overall picture. "Recognising the cause of a problem is always the first step on the way to a successful treatment," says Díaz. The researchers' next project is now to study whether current treatment programmes can influence the medial geniculate body in order to make learning to read easier for everyone in the long term.
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【越障】
Nanoparticle Discovery Opens Door for Pharmaceuticals

ScienceDaily (Aug. 7, 2012) — What a University of Central Florida student thought was a failed experiment has led to a serendipitous discovery hailed by some scientists as a potential game changer for the mass production of nanoparticles.
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Soroush Shabahang, a graduate student in CREOL (The College of Optics & Photonics), made the finding that could ultimately change the way pharmaceuticals are produced and delivered.
The discovery was based on using heat to break up long, thin fibers into tiny, proportionally sized seeds, which have the capability to hold multiple types of materials locked in place. The work, published in the July 18 issue of Nature, opens the door to a world of applications.
Craig Arnold, associate professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University and an expert in laser material interactions who did not work on the project, said no one else in the field has been able to accomplish this feat.
With a new non-chemical method of creating identical particles of any size in large quantities, "the possible applications are up to your imagination," Arnold said.
The most immediate prospect is the creation of particles capable of drug delivery that could, for example, combine different agents for fighting a tumor. Or it could combine a time-release component with medications that will only activate once they reach their target-infected cells.
"With this approach you can make a very sophisticated structure with no more effort than creating the simplest of structures," said Ayman Abouraddy, an assistant professor at CREOL and Shabahang's mentor and advisor. Abouraddy has spent his career, first at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and now at UCF, studying the fabrication of multimaterial fibers.
The technique relies on heat to break molten fibers into spherical droplets. Imagine water dripping from a faucet. Glass fibers are perhaps best known as the cylindrical cables that transmit digital information over long distances. For year, scientists have been looking for ways to improve the purity of glass fibers to allow for faster, disruption-free transmission of light waves.
Shabahang and fellow graduate student Joshua Kaufman were working on just such a project, heating and stretching glass fiber on a homemade tapering machine. Shabahang noticed that instead of the desired result of making the center of the cable thinner, the material actually broke apart into multiple miniature spheres.
"It was kind of a failure to me," Shabahang said.
However, when Abouraddy heard what had happened he knew right away that this "mistake" was a major breakthrough.
While at MIT, Abouraddy and his mentor, Yoel Fink, a professor of materials science and current director of MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics, said they were told by a theoretician that molten optical fiber should align with a process known as Rayleigh instability, which explains what causes a falling stream of fluid to break into droplets.
At the time, the MIT group was focused on producing fibers containing multiple materials. The team produced fibers by heating a scale model called a "preform" and stretching it apart much the way taffy is made. The process is known as thermal drawing.
Shabahang's experiment shows that by heating and then cooling multimaterial fibers, the theoretical became reality. Uniform particles that look like droplets are produced. Moreover, Shabahang demonstrated that once the spheres form, additional materials can be added and locked into place like LEGO building blocks, resulting in particles with sophisticated internal structures.
Especially significant is the creation of "beach ball" particles consisting of two different materials melded together in alternating fashion, similar to the stripes on a beach ball.
Kaufman, Shabahang and Abouraddy contributed to the Nature article in addition to Guangming Tao from CREOL, UCF; Esmaeil-Hooman Banaei from the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, UCF; Daosheng S. Deng, Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT; Xiangdong Liang, Department of Mathematics, MIT; Steven G. Johnson, Department of Mathematics, MIT; and Yoel Fink from MIT.
Some of the funding for the project was made available by the National Science Foundation, the Oak Ridge Associated Universities through a Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
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wjjlily

1'46
diseased trees emit more greenhouse gas
1'17
old and diseased trees emit more methane, red maple has the highest concentration of methane. hihger temperature leads to greater emission of greenhouse gas.
2'02
the underlying theory of optical metamaterials
2'04
acoustic beam aperture modifier
1'24
the cause of dyslexia and it will help treatment
2'17
a experiment, recognize the problem exiting in processing the speech recognition, further study
5'37
a failed experiment leads to a breakthrough...
难以达到1分钟看250字呀，并且看科技文总是无法理解。。

xjbb

占位～谢谢lz！

1'18
Introduce a test of Yale lab about the emission of methane by Yale forest, the writer emphasized that methane is the crucial member of greenhouse gases.
1'21
The methane was released by old diseased trees, which were eaten by fungus from inside.
2'
Introduce a device that can change the direction of the sound wave, make sound waves gather into one point. This can be used in medical treatment.
1'36
The advantage of the device and some improvement proposal at this stage.
1'31
People who suffer from disease D can not read and write normally. Scientists are studying at neural level to find how to cure it.
2'22
Scientists are still on their way studying the cause of D. Different patients have different symptom. Some hypothesis about the disease.
5'35
The method of 'thermal drawing' came from a 'failed' test.
The principle and the significance of the discovery.
It promotes the drug producing industry.
How the method was discovered.
The result of the experiment was not as the tester's expectation.
More details about the process.

今天的读后感：
不知从什么时候开始，我的阅读陷入了误区：试图从技术和原理层面理解文章中阐述的内容，如果理解不了，就认为自己没有读懂。
然而对于强专业性文章来说，不理解其理论几乎是必然的，因为缺乏在该专业上的基础素养。
然而阅读的初衷是什么？是专注于其中的内容，还是要从更高的行文、结构、目的、观点方面去理解？答案显然应该是后者。
如果我不能克服这一误区，那么我的速度不可能提高上去。必须引以为戒。

icyseason

计时：
1′06
1′23
1′17
1′19
1′20
越障：
   shabahang发现了通过加热，复合纤维可以分解成单个元素。在这之前，shabahang在做实验的过程中，发现它通过加热，没有得到将纤维变细的结果，而是使纤维分裂成各个部份，他以为这个实验失败了，其实，这个实验成功的促成了新发现。此后，各个大学的一些教授等也着力研究相关方面的问题。

carina2yong

1＂ Scientists emphasis on the amount of mechane from trees.Additionally, they hope to find another way against greenhouse gas.
52' The every trees how long to over its production of methane. The factors to impact on the time of methane.
51' introduce a new mechanics
1" The explicit introduction n acoustic meta materials , such as how it work. The second para introduce the usage of that device.
57' The problem is about their neutral mechanics. Additionally, this situation could be improved.
余下的也看了~真心记不住，看不懂那些术语啊= =
1"31' Scientists explain why people have various symptoms, then experiment help recognize the problem.
Scientists will make efforts to recognize the case.
最后那片实在说做研究的事情吧，然后同伴有助于激发想象，做实验的人得到了别人的帮助加资金。#。# 看得很烂啊。。。继续加油！！

maggiexu0325

1，1' The emission of mathen of diseased trees is another way causing the greenhouse gas.
        The author used the sufficient data and the experiments in the passage.
2, 1'15'' It is normal that trees produce gas. it produced even more in summer.
3,1'30''用声谱的新技术治疗的相关介绍。
4，1'30'' 使用声谱原理像照相机的光圈调节那么容易。
5，1'15''D脑疾的症状和治疗。
6，4'30''
一个什么科技技术，形成水滴了，但是被认为是一个breakthrough。然后进行的一系列研究。

再背单词和杨鹏难句吧，总感觉在快速读文章的时候，看的时候全明白，再回想，记得的就寥寥无几了。

yqhpsyche

谢谢LZ~

1‘05
1'07
1‘19
1’23
1‘10
1’43

越障  4‘48
A new research on nanoparticles. Based on heating and breaking up long, thin fibers into tiny seeds that can hold multiples locked in place. If this research can be done, there would be a huge change in the way medicine is formed. Although earlier researchs have ended with failures, scientists said in this area, they should use their imaginations. An example of glass fiber is cited. Former scientists did an experiment, which they thought wa a failure. But it did throw up a light on the later study of improving the purity of glass fiber in order to improve the speed it transferring messages.

只能记住这么多...科技文好无力

chengzaaaa

1’22
Study at Yale has found that diseased trees contain methane, contributing to almost 10% of world’s emission.
1’01
Old trees are hollowed out inside the trunks, infected by some methane-making insects, thus producing an awful lot of methane. Produce more in summer. Could be related to temp. These findings are important to learn abt global warming.
1’24
Some new metamaterial device has been invented and could be applied to various uses. Explained how this thing works. Didn’t really get it……beam..blah….
1’33
The advantages of this device over others are that its small size and energy conservation. Hopefully it could be applied to a lot of fields.
1’30
Some symptoms of people suffering from dyslexia: having difficulties in recognizing sounds, writing and reading. The cause of dyslexia has been tracked and it was some malfunctions in the brain. Based on the study, we could be studying into some treatments for dyslexia.
2’13
They conducted an experiment. The cause of dyslexia is in the processing part of the whole function, not the sensory part.
4’34
A failed experiment led to a big discovery in nanoparticle.
Using heat to break fibers to very small, tiny seeds.
This finding could be applied to we don’t know how many fields.
Could change the way pharmaceuticals are produced and delivered.


补昨天的。。
谢谢lz！！！辛苦！

spencerX

谢谢楼主的文章。辛苦了

54’’
58’’
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59’’
1’43

6’05
Main Idea: Because SS invented the method to break fiber into droplets, he will changed the way that how P is produced and delivered.
1. What did SS do: SS made possible long thin fiber converted into tiny proportional seeds, which can contain multiple materials.
2. Other people’s commendation: CA: No one has achieved such feat, and the accomplishment made by SS can change the world.
3. Usages: By synthesize multiple materials into the fiber, people can deal with many diseases, such as tumor.
4. How: heat ? break molten fibers into droplets.
5. SS found that the experiment he and his colleagues did cannot make fiber into thinner cable, but into droplets. SS once thought this founding is the mistake they did. However, after all, this is the breakthrough of their research. By make heat fiber into a cool one, SS demonstrated that fiber can be changed into droplets, which can sustain many materials. SS also found that extra materials can be added and locked into the fiber, just like doing so with Lego toys.
6. Odds and ends.

我发现记完整的笔记似乎并不适合我，看了第二遍之后发现这次的回忆很糟糕…

单身学文

53“
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50“
53”
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2‘33