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Scientists mark 60th anniversary of nuclear program
A museum to commemorate the "Two Bombs and One Satellite", referring to China's first atomic bomb, intercontinental ballistic missile and satellite, has been renovated and reopened to public on Oct 16, 2024. [Photo/CCTV News]
Scientists and their families gathered Wednesday at an old rocket research site in Beijing's Huairou district to commemorate the 60th anniversary of China's first atomic bomb test and reflect on the historic "Two Bombs and One Satellite" program.
The milestone marked China's rise as the fifth nation to possess nuclear weapons, following the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and France.
Hou Jianguo, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the development of the Two Bombs and One Satellite program — encompassing China's first atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb and satellite — was a monumental effort that required national unity and resilience.
"The success was a great feat achieved through the concerted efforts of the entire country," Hou said. "Many outstanding scientists answered the call of the Communist Party and the State, working in remote, harsh conditions to forge the spirit of the program."
Hou Xun, a CAS academician and researcher at the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics in Shaanxi province, recalled the early challenges workers faced in setting up the program.
The academician was involved in the development of Two Bombs and One Satellite program.
"We had almost no equipment when the institute was first established," he said. "In Xi'an, there was no gas, so we had to build our own combustible gas supply system from scratch."
The Yanqi Lake campus of the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which houses China's first rocket research and testing base, has preserved key facilities related to the project. This year, the university renovated its memorial hall dedicated to the Two Bombs and One Satellite programs, displaying items such as China's first satellite and high-speed cameras.
Open to the public since 2015, the hall documents the stories of 17 key figures involved in the program and over 10,000 research and testing personnel. It has welcomed more than 430,000 visitors to date.
Recent additions to the exhibit include manuscripts, clothing worn during historic moments and models of crucial scientific instruments.
Pan Yiyao, a UCAS student and memorial hall guide, emphasized the importance of the legacy.
"The spirit of Two Bombs and One Satellite — love for the motherland, selfless dedication, self-reliance and daring exploration — continues to inspire us as we strive to build a world-class scientific and technological power in the new era," Pan said.
Source: China Daily
Editor: GAO Yuan
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Research News
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Human Temporal Resolution of Odor is Shorter than Thought: Study
When we inhale, airborne chemicals enter our nose, creating the “odor” we detect. These chemicals are then expelled when we exhale. Each breath lasts 3–5 seconds, which seems to limit how quickly we can perceive odors. Chemical changes that occur within a single breath appear to be combined into one odor. Because of this, our sense of smell, or olfaction, is often considered a slow sense.
Now, however, researchers led by Dr. ZHOU Wen from the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have challenged this view. Their new study, published in Nature Human Behaviour, shows that human olfactory perception can detect fine chemical changes within the duration of a single sniff.
Dr. ZHOU’s team developed a unique sniff-triggered device that controls odor delivery with a precision of 18 milliseconds—about the duration of a frame on a regular LCD display (60 Hz). Using this device, the team created temporal odor mixtures, presenting two odors one after the other with precisely measured delays. They tested 229 participants across five experiments to see if they could distinguish these mixtures.
The researchers found that when two odor compounds, A and B, were presented in different orders (A before B and B before A), participants could tell the difference when the delay between the compounds was just 60 milliseconds—about a third of the time it takes to blink. For comparison, the frequency at which flickering green and red lights appear continuous is around 10–20 Hz (50–100 ms resolution).
Participants’ ability to distinguish the odors improved with longer delays between the compounds and did not depend on knowing the correct order. They could distinguish “A before B” from “B before A” by smell, even if they couldn’t identify the order. This ability was not influenced by factors like odor intensity, pleasantness, pungency, or the total amount of odorant molecules in a sniff.
These findings support the existence of a temporal code for odor identity. By providing precise control over odor delivery that aligns with natural sniffing dynamics, this research opens new avenues for studying the temporal aspects of olfactory perception and developing olfactory displays.
“A sniff of odors is not a long exposure shot of the chemical environment that averages out temporal variations. Rather, it incorporates a temporal sensitivity on par with that for color perception,” said Dr. ZHOU, the study’s corresponding author.
This study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation.
Airborne chemical compounds are drawn into the nose with each sniff we take. Our olfactory apparatus resolves their fine dynamics within each sniff, forming a temporal code that gives rise to our varying odor perceptions over time. CREDIT: WU YULI & ZHOU WEN
COPYRIGHT: Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Editor:6 GAO Yuan
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