【推荐1】Datong, a major coal producer in north China’s Shanxi Province 300 km from Beijing, was notorious for its polluted air. However，the situation has changed in recent years as the city promotes an energy revolution with the focus on encouraging new-energy vehicles and developing wind and solar power.

Datong has advantages for developing the solar industry since it enjoys 2,800 hours of sunshine on average annually. Also, it has rich land resources including sunken land, the remains of coal mining. The solar panels in the sunken area are widely spaced with bushes planted in between to conserve water and soil and promote ecological protection.

In addition, its strong power grid(输电网)can transmit the electricity produced by solar power to Beijing, Tianjin and some cities in neighboring Hebei Province. Datong also has a science and technology park to promote scientific new ideas and appearance of industries such as high-end equipment manufacturing, e-commerce, culture, tourism and ecological agriculture.

However,the energy revolution is not meant to end the use of coal but to promote clean and efficient consumption.

The Datong Coal Mine Group has built a circular economy park to promote green，diversified and low-carbon coal use. A circular economy is an economic system to reduce waste generation and make full use of resources.

The transformation of energy structure has promoted the development of tourism in the ancient city with a wealth of historical and cultural sites. Today,even in the off-season of November and Decemberf many tourists still go sightseeing or recuperation (疗养). A hiRh-Hpeed railway will be completed this year, reducing the travel time between Beijing and Dutong to 100 minutes,which is expected to promote the number of visitors.

【推荐3】Starch (淀粉) is the main component of flour, rice and corn among others, while carbon dioxide makes up the vast majority of greenhouse gases. One day, humans may be able to “eat” carbon dioxide, and global warming could be “eaten away” by carbon lovers. Although it sounds wild, the day is coming.

Chinese scientists have created starch using carbon dioxide, hydrogen and electricity, according to a study published in Science in September, 2021.

“Plants create starch through photosynthesis (光合作用), which is a complex and inefficient (效率低得) process,” Ma Yanhe, the director of the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told China Daily. He added that it would take a plant about 60 steps to turn carbon dioxide, water and sunlight into starch.

“Our breakthrough shows that making starch is achievable in a lab. This method makes it possible to produce food in factories and there are many industries that can benefit from this technology,” Ma told China Daily.

The team has been working on the process for 6 years. “The first step of the method is to convert carbon dioxide and hydrogen into methanol (甲醇), which is a molecule (分子) that contains a single carbon atom,” Cai Tao, one of the first authors of the study, told China Daily.

Scientists then piece these single-carbon molecules into bigger and more complex molecules. With the help of super computing, Chinese scientists have simplified the natural starch-making process from about 60 steps into 11.

“The new process has made it possible to turn starch production from traditional agricultural farming to industrial production. And it may be possible to satisfy our needs without farming in the future. This will not only help save water, fertilizer and land but also help recycle carbon dioxide to deal with climate change,” a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Sciences told the Global Times.

The study can also benefit space exploration in the future. The starch may provide a secure food source for astronauts as they travel long distances in space by simply turning the carbon dioxide they breathe out into food.

【推荐3】Entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla and Space X, Elon Musk may have a little more time on his hands, as he’s leaving his position on the board of the Open AI, according to a blog post.

The departure is likely the result of Tesla’s moving into the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which he said in 2017 would be the “best in the world” and would even be able to “predict your destination.” Musk will continue to “donate and advise the organization,” Open AI said in a blog post on Feb. 20, adding that “As Tesla continues to become more focused on AI, this will avoid a potential future conflict for Elon.”

Musk and Y Combiner CEO Sam Altman co-founded the nonprofit enterprise in December 2015, its mission is to develop safe artificial general intelligence and ensure those developments are made public. Open AI researchers published a paper on the site ArXiv. Org, detailing the possible secure threats that come with “malicious” AI. In fact, Musk has heard of the “evil AI” alarm several times. On Aug. 11, 2017, he warned that artificial intelligence poses a bigger threat to humanity, and he told a gathering of state governors that the government needs to regulate AI before robots start “killing people.”

Musk’s departure from the Open AI board could mean big things for Tesla. As Elon Goodbye, a financial reporter, noted on Futurism, the move “could signal that Tesla is more deeply committed to their own AI projects than we thought.” He added, “Those who have had their ears to any rumors that Tesla is ready to deliver vehicles capable of Level 5 autonomy could take this new Open AI development as a sign that the company is inching closer to that unapproachable goal.” No company has reached that level of autonomy, which means that a driverless car could navigate any road under any conditions and that all the human “driver” would need to do is to input a destination.