Iman, the last Sumatran rhino(犀牛) in Malaysia, died in 2019 — bringing the endangered species one step closer to extinction. Now, Malaysian scientists are hoping to use tissues and cells from Iman and other dead rhinos to bring the population back.

“Before the three rhinos (the last survivors in Malaysia) died, we got their cells, and the cells are still alive — which is why I’m quite confident,” Dr. Lokman said. “If we don’ t have any cells, or have just tissue that isn’t living anymore, we wouldn’t be able to do anything. But now we have a living thing that we can use.”

The cells came from the rhinos’ hearts, lungs and brains. What is the most important is that the team collected stem cells (干细胞). One possible approach is to develop these stem cells into an egg（卵子）and sperm (精子), to create an embryo (胚胎) that will be placed into a surrogate mother (代孕母亲). She will likely be another rhino, either a Sumatran rhino from another country or another species. The other method is to take the egg of a surrogate animal, remove the nucleus (细胞核), and join it with a Sumatran rhino’s body cell. This technique was famously used to clone Dolly the sheep in 1996. Dr. Lokman and his colleagues are trying both ways. The team is still in the early stages; next, they need to find a suitable surrogate female.

Sumatran rhinos are listed as critically endangered by the World Wildlife Fund. There are less than 80 alive in Indonesia and Thailand. The fall in the population was first caused by hunting. Later, the situation was worsened by the loss of habitats and human activity. Unfortunately, there are now only five remaining rhino species worldwide, and all are threatened. Some sub-species have already died out; the western black rhino was declared extinct in 2013. And it is a pity that the last male northern white rhino died in 2019.

How wonderful would it be if new technology could help the physically challenged? A smart wearable device that enables people with speaking disabilities to communicate normally is giving hope to those without a voice.

Tao Luqi, a research fellow at Chongqing University, used a material called graphene (石墨烯) to produce an artificial throat with a tiny sensor (感应器) that allows people with speech impairments (障碍) to speak normally, according to a paper published in Nature Communications in 2017. Tao has continued his work on the device for the last four years.

“Although the speaking impaired people can’t speak, their throats can vibrate (振动) ,” Tao told The Paper. “If I put a device made of graphene into the throat of a person, it can detect the vibrations and make sounds using electrical signals.”

Even whispers, screams and coughs at different frequencies (频率) can be recorded and encoded (编码) by the device, and it can arrange them into groups. When the device detects the sounds in a particular group, it will reproduce the words, phrases or sentences, according to Tao.

“But the speaking impaired people need to classify their own language sounds in groups and memorize them, just like typing keys on a keyboard,” Tao said. Tao’s artificial throat has brought the possibilities of graphene to reality. It’s been 17 years since the discovery of graphene, and the world has been waiting for the “wonder material” to provide innovations (创新) . At only the width of an atom (原子), graphene is the thinnest material known to humans and also the strongest. The material is also an efficient conductor (导体) of heat and electricity, and is ultra-lightweight, China Daily reported.

“Graphene really does have fantastic properties and its potential is huge,” said Khasha Ghaffarzadeh, a director at UK-based research consultancy IDTechEx.

China has emerged as a key country for production. Around 3,000 Chinese companies are exploring uses for graphene, according to government statistics in 2018, while half of the world’s graphene-related patents (专利) have been filed in China, according to China Daily.

“It’s a brand-new science, and China is trying to take the lead,” said Neill Ricketts, chief executive at Versarien, a UK-based advanced material company.