Epitome of Research on the History of Science and Technology in China:A Review of the Book Series History of Science and Technology in Pre-Modern China in Comparison with Needham’s Science and Civilisation in China

The early twenty-first century witnessed the publication of the book series Zhongguo kexue jishu shi中国科学技术史(History of science and technology in pre-modern China),which was initiated and organized by the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences,Chinese Academy of Sciences,and compiled by a multitude of Chinese scholars.In comparison with Science and Civilisation in China by Dr.Joseph Needham,Zhongguo kexue jishu shi is superior in the layout characteristics,literature collection,research and explication,field investigation,and simulation experiments.

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.

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.

A Preliminary Study on the Spherical Bombs(Huolei)of the Southern Song Dynasty,Unearthed in Chongqing

The military situation of the thirteenth century required that the Song and the Mongols construct a great number of defensive works,relying on the mountains or facing the rivers,in the mountainous Sichuan Province and Chongqing.In recent years,a special kind of explosive firearms,huolei火雷(bombs),was unearthed in the large-scale excavations of the site of Diaoyu Fortress钓鱼城in Hechuan District合川and the Baidicheng白帝城in Fengjie County奉节,both of which were defensive works constructed in this mountainous area during the Southern Song dynasty.In addition,the ruins of kilns and the clay molds that were relevant to the casting of iron huolei have been discovered at the site of Baidicheng,indicating that these huolei might have been produced locally.The Southern Song iron huolei unearthed in Chongqing are the most direct evidence of the evolvement of gunpowder and firearms,and are of great significance to the history of science and technology,in particular the history of military technology.

Creating technical heritage object replicas in a virtual environment

The paper presents innovative informatics methods for creating virtual technical heritage replicas, which are of significant scientific and practical importance not only to researchers but to the public in general. By performing 3D modeling and animation of aircrafts, spaceships, architectural-engineering buildings, and other technical objects, the process of teaming is achieved while promoting the preservation of the replicas for future generations. Modem approaches based on the wide usage of computer technologies attract a greater number of young people to explore the history of science and technology and renew their interest in the field of mechanical engineering.