Sci-Tech

Aussie Scientists to Assist China in Developing Worlds Largest Single-dish Telescope

Australian scientists have teamed up with Chinas National Astronomical Observatories （NAOC） of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to develop crucial technology in the worlds largest single-dish telescope. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization （CSIRO） revealed that it would offer a significant contribution to the 500-Meter Aperture Spherical Telescope （FAST） project， with its scientists set to build the telescopes 19-beam receiver. The receiver is a key component of the telescope and will be built and designed in Australia before being shipped to China for use in the FAST project.

As Chinas largest astronomic project， the RMB 1.2-billion construction will be completed in September 2016. The Chinese telescope is set to dwarf the current largest single-dish telescope in Puerto Rico， and will be the most sensitive ever built， allowing the NAOC to detect the faintest radio signals from deep in the universe.

According to Douglas Bock， the CSIROs acting director of Astronomy and Space Science， most radio telescopes use receivers that can only scan one piece of sky at a time， but the CSIROs receivers use many separate， simultaneous beams， making it more practical for FAST to search a larger portion of the sky for “faint and hidden galaxies.”

“Global collaboration is an integral part of CSIROs Strategy 2020， as it maps out our desire to deliver science， technology， and innovation to new customers and markets， while also delivering benefits back to Australia，” said CSIRO Chief Executive Larry Marshall. “This is a really exciting project and builds on 40 years of CSIRO collaboration with Chinese industry and research organizations.”

China Completes Building Mother Ship for New Submersible

The mother ship for a new deep-sea submersible was delivered to its owner， the Chinese Academy of Sciences （CAS）， on May 5 in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. It will sail from Guangzhou to Sanya， Hainan Province for off-shore tests.

Originally designed as an ocean engineering vessel， it was rebuilt in March 2015 and extended into a deep-sea scientific investigation ship. The 94.45-meter Tansuo-1 has a full-load displacement of 6，250 tons， a range of 10，000 nautical miles， and a self-supplying capacity of over 60 days. It is equipped with over 10 permanent research labs for geology， physics， chemistry， and biology， as well as two removable labs.

The ship will serve as the mother ship for a new submersible currently under development and for future CAS expeditions of seafloor trenches. If all goes well， the ship will sail on to the Mariana Trench for a research mission in the near future. The new manned submersible， which can reach a depth of 4，500 meters， is likely to go through off-shore testing in the first half of next year.

Chinas First Security Robot Debuts

Chinas first robot security guard debuted at the China Chongqing Hi-Tech Fair in late April. Breakthroughs in low-cost autonomous navigation and positioning as well as intelligent video surveillance have contributed to the design of the robot， which was developed by the National University of Defense Technology. The 1.49-meter-tall， 78-kg“AnBot” has a maximum speed of 18 km per hour. It can patrol at a speed of one km per hour and has a battery capacity of eight hours.

The security robot is capable of autonomous patrol， intelligent monitoring， emergency calls， auto recharging and has optional modules for environmental monitoring， biochemical detection and clearing explosives， said Xiao Xiangjiang， director of the Institute of Electromechanical Engineering and Automation of the National University of Defense Technology， who is also the project leader.

Other highlights of the robot include its ability to react during emergencies. An electrical anti-riot device can be activated through remote control if a threat is detected. Shouting for help in the patrol area or pushing the robots emergency button will alert the police immediately.

Worlds Longest Insect Discovered in China

A long silhouette found wriggling on a mountain road in South China has proved to be the worlds longest insect.

Zhao Li， with the Insect Museum of West China （IMWC） in Chengdu， found the 62.4-cm-long stick insect during a field inspection in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in 2014， breaking the record for length of all 807，625 insects discovered so far， according to the IMWC. The previous record holder was a stick insect found in Malaysia in 2008. It measured 56.7 cm and is currently an exhibit at the Natural History Museum in London.

Zhao Li said he had expected to find the insect since a field inspection in Guangxi in 1998， when locals told him they had seen a half-meter-long “huge insect” as thick as a mans index finger. Zhao assumed a giant stick insect might exist， but had never sighted one until two years ago.

“I was collecting insects on a 1，200-meter-tall mountain in Guangxis Liuzhou City on the night of August 16， 2014， when a dark shadow appeared in the distance， which looked like a tree twig，” Zhao recalled. “As I went near， I was shocked to find the huge insects legs were as long as its body.”

Zhao took the insect back to the IMWC， and it laid six eggs. After hatching， Zhao found the smallest of the young insectsbodies measured at least 26 cm， almost twice the size of those at the Natural History Museum.

The insect has been named Phryganistria chinensis Zhao， and a paper on it is soon to be published.

Stick insects are adept at disguising themselves as twigs or leaves， making them hard for predators to spot. More than 3，000 kinds of stick insects have been discovered so far.