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Published online 17 December 2008 |
Nature
456,
844-845
(2008)
| doi:10.1038/456844a
Corrected online: 14 January 2009
News
News 2008
The year in which …
The LHC starts up, then stops
Near Geneva, Switzerland, physicists switched on the world's largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Nine days later the US$5-billion machine broke down (see page 862.
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In your segment, ?Asia ?s space race heats up?, you ignore several facts. A critical analysis of the Chinese manned space programme will reveal it is based on the 1960s vintage hardware which the Chinese bought (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/534960.stm) from the Russians. Thus what the Chinese have done is duplicate what the Soviet Union did in the 1960s. Also may I add the success of China ?s first lunar mission, the Chang'e-1 is suspect. While the Indian lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 has been a great success, this is more than evident by the openly available data (http://www.isro.org/pslv-c11/videos/tmca.htm) which this mission is generating. Also in the process India became the fourth country after the US , Russia and Japan to plant its flag on the lunar surface. What I do agree with is that a competition between a democracy, India and a totalitarian state, China has begun, not only in space but in most areas and let us see who emerges as the winner!
Vimla, competition between India and China is not necessarily a zero sum game. Both would gain from cooperation rather than conflict. I am rooting for Indian democracy, but would point out that the triumph of rule of law in India is not yet guaranteed. I also disagree with your implication that Chinese space technology may be inferior to Indian efforts. Indian space tech is a huge achievement and there may indeed by sectors in which Indian technology is better, but overall the Chinese scientific and technical base is clearly ahead of India. Again, this is not a nationalistic argument in favor of one country or the other, its just a statement of fact.
The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) greatly appreciates being included in Nature's News 2008 compilation. However, we need to correct some of the information in the article. The total budget for the first five years of EOL is $50 million. In 2007 the Sloan Foundation awarded $2.5 million to the project and the MacArthur Foundation $10 million; renewal proposals for equivalent amounts will be submitted to these foundations in 2009. The remaining $25 million is being raised by the EOL cornerstone institutions.
News 2009 The year that the Earth future for the next 1000 years will be decided?. we don't Know when we will reach to climate tipping point but from Jim Hansen et el it is some were between 350-550 ppm. today we are at 386.34 ppm. In december at Copenhagen should be the decision on emissions for the next decade or more. Kyoto Protocol is from 97 and the next Protocol will have effect on emissions only after some years. Meanwhile Climate feedback report "Frozen tundra bursting with gas" So I'm afraid that there is a chance that 2009 will be the last option to stop catastrophic climate change. PS small proposal for the next nobel prize within the field of physics will be for geophysics for climate research. "prizes to those who, ... , shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind" from Alfred Nobel will
It is tough to say who is ahead India or China in space sciences in totality at present, considering there are many specific disciplines of these sciences, such as cryogenic technology, remote sensing, etc. What is clear to even a layman is that 1.3 billion Chinese have yet to produce a single Nobel Prize from the Chinese soil. Two Chinese citizens have won the Nobel Prize namely, Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao (T.D.). Both of them came to the U.S.A. in the 1940s (there was no communist China then) for doctoral degrees and then received the Nobel Prize for their work done in the U.S.A. Please do not forget also like any communist country (or a closed state) much of the data coming out of Communist China has to be taken with a pinch of salt, since most communist countries have a strong propaganda machinery.
I review the comments above and find that China is the special topic. The science has no boundary. The unknown world need us to explore together. The global change need us to face together. As a Chinese science worker, I want to contribute myself to the science.
Barack Obama, the next US president suggests that science in the United States will change in many ways. Now what about in other countries? Do science changes its objective way to more subjective way? to more holistic way? Now students are attracting towards engineering or managment than science. Is scientific thoughts are poluting the human mind and thoughts just like envornmental pollutions?
I do care about the global climate changes... rather than those who first (second or third...) put a small flag on the surface of moon. To all human beings and other creatures on the earth, actually catastrophic climate changes make troubles whereas people who were labeled on 'communist' didn't. So please let all the scientists in this planet trully collaborate with each other and fight for a true peaceful and safe world.