BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The following is a summary of published science and technology news of China.
OXYGEN CONTENT CHANGES KEY TO ANIMAL EVOLUTION
A team of paleontologists from China, Britain and Russia recently discovered that the oxygen content changes of the atmosphere and ocean were key factors affecting the Cambrian evolutionary explosion of animals 540 million years ago.
The Cambrian Explosion is a mystery that has puzzled the scientific community since Darwin's time. It refers to the sudden appearance in fossil records of complex animals which were precursors to most modern animals.
SECRET OF PLANT REGENERATION
No pain no gain, which is the reality of people's lives, is also true for plant growth. According to a recent Chinese study published in the journal Nature Plants, scientists have found the mechanism of how the wounds in plants trigger regeneration.
After being cut down, many plants can regenerate a new and complete plant from a shoot segment or a single leaf.
Scientists believe the phenomenon shows that it is the wounds that induce plant regeneration. However, the molecular basis behind the phenomenon has been unclear.
LIVER PROTEIN
Chinese scientists have identified a liver-secreted protein in mice that stimulates the fat formation in other organ and exacerbates obesity, a finding which will provide new strategies for treating obesity and related disorders.
Researchers from the Wuhan University based in China's Hubei Province observed in experiments that when mice displayed less lipid formation in the metabolic organ liver, they produced increased fatty acid synthesis in fatty tissue, showing that there may be some liver-secreted factor that contributes to obesity. Enditem
