China ramps up space ambitions with record launch schedule

China has ambitious plans for its space industry in 2024, with     1     (approximate) 100 launch missions scheduled, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC), the nation’s leading space contractor. The announcement of this record-high number of launch plans     2     (make) during a news conference in Beijing on Monday.

CASC will be responsible for nearly 70% of the planned missions,     3     (arrange) over 290 spacecrafts into orbit, said Ma Tao, deputy head of the company’s space program planning department. Notable spaceflights for the year include two     4     (crew) journeys and two unmanned missions to the Tiangong space station.

Experts highlight that     5     (significant) mission in 2024 will be Chang’e 6, tasked with bringing back     6     first-ever samples from the little-known far side of the moon. The majority of planned     7     (launch) will be conducted by CASC’s Long March rocket family, with additional ones by the company’s secondary rocket series named Smart Dragon, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp’s Kuaizhou fleet, and several models from private companies.

In 2023, China was the second-ranking country in terms of launch numbers, having carried     8     67 rocket launching missions, with 47 conducted by the Long March rocket family, all of     9     were successful.

The company laid     10     (emphasize) on its contionuous efforts in the research, development and construction of over 200 spacecrafts to be launched in the coming years.

3 . Tears, often associated with human emotions, have sparked curiosity regarding their presence in nonhuman animals. While humans have long been recognized as the only species to produce tears in response to emotions, recent studies delve into the possibility of similar occurrences in other creatures.

Tears serve various purposes across species. The primary function of tears can maintain eye health, while reflex tears combat external irritants. Emotional tears, however, remain a subject of debate. Historically, societies deemed emotional crying as uniquely human, association it with expressions of sadness or vulnerability.

Although scientific consensus still favors emotional tears as a human trait, recent investigations suggest otherwise. A study published in 2022 observed tear secretion in dogs during positive emotional encounters, such as reuniting with their owners. This phenomenon, triggered by the hormone oxytocin, potentially strengthens the bond between humans and dogs.

Moreover, observations of domestic pigs and rats have revealed tear-like secretions when in a state of tension, indicating a possible emotional response. These findings challenge the notion of emotional tears being exclusive to humans.

Despite anecdotal evidence of animals displaying signs of sadness, such as elephants, gorillas, and wolves, scientific backing remains rare. Professionals working with animals have reported no instances of emotional crying. Anecdotes often lead to anthropomorphism, attributing human behaviors to animals without solid evidence. The viral video of a “crying” bison gained widespread attention, yet experts suggest a more reasonable explanation, such as irritation from dust or wind. While ancient depictions, like the bi son painting in the Chauvet cave, hint at tear-like imagery, concrete evidence is lacking.

In conclusion, while emotional tears remain primarily associated with humans, emerging research suggests the possibility of similar phenomena in certain animal species. Further studies are needed to uncover the complexities of emotional responses across the animal kingdom.

4 . Since the African Union first launched Great Green Wall in 2007, the initiative has struggled to make headway. Made up of local efforts across 11 countries, it has reached just 16% of its overall goal. But last month, the project, which analysts estimate will cost at least $30 billion, got a major boost: a total of $14 billion in funding over the next 5 years from a union of international development banks and governments.

Environmental restoration and community development specialists welcomed the news. But many are also apprehensive. In recent years, research by ecologists and social scientists has shown that many forestry projects in Africa have failed because they didn’t adequately address fundamental social and ecological issues.

The project leaders often planted species in places where they didn’t belong, and did little to help the young trees survive. “Tree planting is often viewed as the simple act of digging a hole,” forest scientist Karen Holl said. “But this short-term view has resulted in large quantities of money being spent on efforts that have failed almost entirely.”

In Africa, the adoption of one approach called Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), is credited with regreening a notable portion of the Sahel. The low-cost restoration technique took off in Niger in the 1980s and has since spread to other nations. It relies on farmers to protect and nurture trees that grow from existing root systems and seeds in the soil. Over decades, FMNR has led to greater tree cover and other ecological benefits, such as higher soil carbon content, researchers have found.

But many efforts, particularly those not led by local communities, stumble (蹒跚而行). Newly planted trees can die of neglect when planners don’t engage communities from the start in discussions about which species to plant, as well as whether residents are willing and able to provide the water, fertilizer, and protection from grazing animals that trees need. “The farmers are often busy and have their own priorities; they will not manage trees that they do not value,” forest specialist Abayneh Derero wrote in a study.

8 . July was the hottest month on record globally. High temperatures and serious wildfires have swept across the Northern Hemisphere. Oceanic heat waves are damaging the world’s third-largest coral reef off Florida. And as the levels of greenhouse gases continue to increase, it means many even hotter summers lie ahead.

Last week, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres coined a new term. The time of “global warming” has ended, he announced, and the time of “global boiling” has arrived.

But critics have strongly disagreed with the phrase. At one level, “global boiling” is clearly an overstatement, but “global warming” is now far too weak a description. Many climate scientists have pushed for the term “global heating” to be used in preference. Similarly, phrases such as “climate crisis” haven’t received enough attention. That’s because many of us still feel we haven’t seen this crisis with our own eyes.

But that is changing. In the past few years, extreme weather and relevant events have struck many countries. Australia’s Black Summer brought wildfires that burned an area the size of the United Kingdom. Germany suffered serious flooding in 2021. The 2022 flood in Pakistan flooded large parts of the country. China has seen both droughts and floods. Terrible droughts have hit the Horn of Africa for many years. India has stopped rice exports due to damage from heavy rain.

Critics of climate action often complain about what they see as the overuse of “crisis talk”. If everything is a crisis, nothing is a crisis.

When Guterres uses deeply impactful phrases, he’s not inviting us to imagine a Hollywood-style disaster. What he’s hoping is to make people listen and act — now we can see what climate change looks like.

Are there better phrases to describe this? Possibly. Take the challenge yourself: can you think up a brief, correct phrase to cover worsening local-and-regional-scale droughts, fires, typhoons and floods; damage to crops and food safety; water shortages; existential threats to coral reefs and low-lying communities? You can see how hard it is.

10 . Cut into the trunk of a pine tree, and you will see a familiar series of concentric (同中心的) rings. But not all trunks tell the same story. A study published in November reveals that the world’s oldest trees had a very different structure.

Some 370 million years ago, cladoxylopsid trees stood at least eight meters tall, covered by branches instead of leaves. Today their rare remains reveal little about their insides; in most cases their inner structures had rotted before the trees fossilize, and storms had filled them with sand. But the recent find of two well-preserved fossils in China has exposed the trees’ inner workings — which are like no other species studied before.

The cladoxylopsid tree was empty inside. Around the edges were thick, vertical strands (缕) containing xylem (木质部), a plant tissue that conducts water and mineral salts from the roots to all other parts. Modern trees add new layers of multiple xylem as they grow, creating a woody trunk with a single set of concentric rings. But in cladoxylopsids, “each strand of xylem had its own growth rings,” says scientist Christopher M. Berry of Cardiff University in Wales.

Over a tree’s lifetime the strands would weave and cross. “It’s just incredibly complex,” Berry says. He likens these networks of flexible tissues and structures to the Eiffel Tower—if tower could grow, extend and split itself apart over time.

Although the cladoxylopsid tree has no living descendants today, it is very important. Brigitte Meyer-Berthaud, a scientist, explains that these trees were among “the major carbon reservoirs of the Paleozoic”, a time period from 542 million to 251 million years ago. Cladoxylopsids made up our planet’s first forests, capturing carbon from the atmosphere and playing a part in adjusting Earth’s climate. Given this fact, maybe we should study these trees for the forests.