Historical retrospects and evolutionary characteristics of paleogenomic science and technology

Paleogenomics is a discipline in which the extraction and analysis of DNA from ancient biological remains are studied to understand the evolutionary history of past organisms.Research on this topic has revealed the evolutionary history of humans and other species,traced human migrations and genetic changes,and investigated ancient diseases and environmental influences due to its uniqueness.This paper reviews the scientific and technological history of the development of paleogenomics,including the molecular cloning era,the polymerase chain reaction(PCR)technique era,the genomics era,and the bio-data analysis era.This field explores the key technological development processes and effects of significant scientific discoveries,ranging from gene cloning technology and sequencing technology to breakthroughs and applications in big data analysis,addressing challenges such as sample contamination and trace collection analysis in paleogenomics research.

The Present Research and Prospect of Chinese Geosciences History

It has been over a hundred years since the birth of research on Chinese geosciences history, which was accompanied by the continuous progress of Chinese geosciences. For hundreds of years, it has grown out of nothing to brilliant performance by several generations of Chinese geologists committing their hearts and minds with the spirit of exert and strive without stop to promote the process of China＇s industrialization and to produce the significant impact on serving the society. The study of Chinese geosciences history reflects objectively and historically the history of geosciences in China, which has recorded, analyzed and evaluated the dynamic process sitting in the background and clue of the history of Chinese geosciences development. The study of the history of geological science has roughly experienced two stages in China. The first stage is the study of individual researchers. It spanned approximately 70 years from the early 20th century to the end of the 1970s. The research contents were mainly based on the evolution of geological organizations, the development and utilization of individual mineral species, the history of deposit discovery and the research of geological characters. The main representatives are Zhang Hongzhao, Ding Wenjiang, Weng Wenhao and Li Siguang, Ye Liangfu, Huang Jiqing, Yang Zhongjian, Xie Jiarong, Gao Zhenxi, Wang Bingzhang and etc. The most prominent feature of this period is the accumulation of a very valuable document for the study of the history of China＇s geological history and lays a foundation for the exchange of geological science between China and foreign countries. The second stage is organized group study. It took around 60 years from the 1920s to 1980s. It includes the history of Chinese geology, the history of geological organizations, the history of geological disciplines, the history of geological education, the history of geological philosophy, the history of Chinese and foreign geological science communication, the history of geologists and etc. The most chief feature of this stage is the birth of academic research institute--the establishment of the Commission on the History of Geology of the Geological Society of China.

On the Compilation Modes of Local History of Science and Technology——A Case Study of the History of Ba-Shu Science and Technology

The contents of"Ba-Shu History of Science and Technology"take up a single volume of A General History of Ba-Shu Culture.This paper attempts to explore compilation modes of the history of local science and technology by analyzing the compilation of"Shu History of Science and Technology".There are three approaches available,i.e.a general history-based approach,a discipline-based approach and an integrated approach,also known as a discipline-specific approach based on general history.This paper considers the integrated approach to be the most feasible as it elaborates Ba-Shu culture as a sub-culture of Chinese culture,the connotations of Ba-Shu achievements in science and technology,the special significance of the history of Ba-Shu science and technology,as well as the latest progress in studying the history of Ba-Shu science and technology.This paper also puts forward a possible choice to better approach the compilation of the history of local science and technology,reveals areas worth improving,and indicates a proper direction to move towards.

Subjectivities of the Scientific Endeavor:Noting the Illusion of Objectivity in the History of Science and Medicine

The history of science and medicine has long been steeped in the notion that they are objective(untainted by the philosophical and ideological ebbs and flows of society)and utilitarian(doing what is best for the greater good).Because of this,scientific and medical epistemologies and praxis are often held to an esteem that is unquestioned,celebrated,and occasionally unchecked.A closer look at the history of science and medicine,however,readily reveal the extent to which the milieu of society has informed scientific and medical endeavors.As such,an understanding of how the subjectivities of scientific and medical endeavors situate within our contemporary disciplines and practices is significant to one’s ability to truly understand said disciplines.Likewise,such an evaluation will provide insight into our role in perpetuating the illusion of objectivity in these fields.With this in mind,this paper provides a philosophical and historical examination of the concept of objectivity(in contrast to subjectivity)in science and medicine.

HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND MODERN SCIENCES

Using examples in biology and mathematics, the mutual reinforcement correlation between the history of science and modern sciences in respect to the method of thinking is expounded in this article. The great value of historical materials to modem sciences is explained by citing instances in astronomy, earth sciences and engineering. The importance of the study of the external history of science (i.e. the sociological history of science) to personnel training and policy formulation is stressed. This article also seeks to make clear that the history of science itself is a modern discipline, which has just taken shape in the world during the 20th century, and that the discipline demands prompt development in China in view of its even later start.

Ceramic Art Reality in the Context of Technology History

The art of ceramics originates from the basic activities of human beings,and uses the tools,following the methods,and the visual production activities combined with aesthetics.Modern technology has spawned new ceramic decoration methods and provided new ideas for artistic creation.Ceramic art relies on ceramic crafts.As the most technical form of many art categories,it is the representative of the“Combination of Art and Crafts”of arts and crafts,and it is the perfect embodiment of“Beauty”in the space-time carrier.The history of Chinese ceramic glaze shows that the study of the history of ceramic technology should rely on the aesthetics of ceramics,and the problems related to the interpretation of modern ceramic art cannot be separated from the context of the history of ceramic technology.

The History of Chinese Mathematics-the Founding of the IHNS(CAS)-and the True Story of a Wrong Diagram in SCC Volume 3

The Institute for the History of Natural Sciences in Beijing celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of its founding in 1957 with an international symposium devoted to“China and the World in the Global History of Science and Technology.”2 This contribution to that symposium focuses on the roles that historians of mathematics,East and West,have played in bringing the importance of mathematics in China to the attention of the world at large.It concludes by discussing a controversy surrounding the diagram and purported“proof”given in the ancient mathematical classic,the Zhoubi suanjing周髀算經(Mathematical classic of Zhou’s gnomon),of the gou-gu theorem that appeared in volume 3 of Joseph Needham’s Science and Civilisation in China,published in 1959.

The formation and development of Mongolian Medicine before the 20th century

This paper investigates the development process of Mongolian medicine,By the 13th century,Mongols had accumulated primitive medical knowledge and discovered and mastered early health care methods in its long struggle against nature,beasts,and disease.The early 13th century to the first half of the 19th century,on the basis of rich medical knowledge and experience,Mongolian medicine absorbed the medical theories of Han,Tibetan and Hui nationalities,and improved continuously in medical practice.

Gravitational Deflection of Particles of Light by the Earth and by the Sun: A Reconstruction of the Calculations Done by Soldner in 1801

In 1801, the year of the discovery of Ceres, Johann Georg von Soldner calculated with classical means the gravitational deflection of a lightray grazing the surface of the Sun as 0.84”. According to General Relativity (GR) and using present-day data the deflection amounts to 1.75”. The formula for the deflection is derived with a classical method, with GR and as done by Soldner. The GR formula gives twice as large a deflection as the classical formula. It is shown that the formula of Soldner is equivalent to the classical one. Soldner’s numerical calculation of the classical deflection by the Earth comes out a factor 6.9 larger than using present-day data. This discrepancy is for a factor 6.25 due to a mistaken value for the velocity of the grazing lightray. This factor 6.25 can numerically be accounted for by assuming Soldner made a conceptual mistake related to the Axial Tilt of the Earth. The remaining discrepancy is due to the use of data less accurate than the present-day data. Soldner’s numerical calculation of the deflection by the Sun comes out correctly to the data of those days. In case of the Sun he did not give any further information regarding the data he used. A reconstruction reveals that for the surface gravity of the Sun he used a value close to the present-day value.

Computational History:Challenges and Opportunities of Formal Approaches

We propose a program for a computational analysis,based on large scale datasets,of deep conceptual and formal structures,representing the mechanisms of historical transformations in different domains ranging from biological to social,cultural,and knowledge systems.We conceptualize such systems as consisting of complex multi-layer networks.Structural properties of such networks may explain the spreading of innovations.Temporal relations between the dynamics of interacting networks may help to identify causalities.Complex systems may show path and context dependencies.We illustrate our approach by case studies from all those types of systems.

Notes for a History of Gas Geochemistry

During ancient times,human interest in naturally-occurring gases was religious,while it was scientific in the historical age and industrial in modern times.Gases were also utilized for practical purposes and more than 3000 years before present day,Chinese populations made use of methane for salt extraction while in the 17th century it was observed that native Americans ignited methane seepages.The development of human thinking on gases followed the fundamental steps that characterized the natural sciences during the 18th century scientific revolution that was based on significant improvements in analytical methods.These improvements are still ongoing while present-day scientific publications evidence the spread of the field of interest and more cooperation with geophysical sciences to solve common interest problems.The existence of proper meetings and dedicated scientific journals confirms that gas geochemistry has ended this pioneering phase to enter a more mature condition.

The research works of Coulomb and Amontons and generalized laws of friction

The paper is devoted to the contributions of Coulomb and Amontons to the physics of friction from the viewpoint of current discussions and attempts to formulate generalized laws of friction.