It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Few questions have captivated humankind more than the origin of life on Earth. How did the first living cells come to exist? How did these early protocells develop the structural membranes necessary for cells to thrive and assemble into complex organisms?
New research from the lab of University of California San Diego Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Neal Devaraj has uncovered a plausible explanation involving the reaction between two simple molecules. This work appears in Nature Chemistry.
Life on Earth requires lipid membranes – the structure of a cell that houses its interior mechanics and acts as a scaffold for many biological reactions. Lipids are made from long chains of fatty acids, but before the existence of complex life, how did these first cell membranes form from the simple molecules present on Earth billions of years ago?
Scientists believe that simple molecules of short fatty chains of fewer than 10 carbon-carbon bonds (complex fatty chains can have nearly twice that many bonds) were abundant on early Earth. However, molecules with longer chain lengths are necessary to form vesicles, the compartments that house a cell’s complicated machinery.
While it may have been possible for some simple fatty molecules to form lipid compartments on their own, the molecules would be needed in very high concentrations that likely did not exist on a prebiotic Earth – a time when conditions on Earth may have been hospitable to life but none yet existed.
“On the surface, it may not seem novel because lipid production happens in the presence of enzymes all the time,” stated Devaraj, who is also the Murray Goodman Endowed Chair in Chemistry and Biochemistry. “But over four billion years ago, there were no enzymes. Yet somehow these first protocell structures were formed. How? That’s the question we were trying to answer.”
To uncover an explanation for these first lipid membranes, Devaraj’s team started with two simple molecules: an amino acid named cysteine and a short-chain choline thioester, similar to molecules involved in the biochemical formation and degradation of fatty acids.
The researchers used silica glass as a mineral catalyst because the negatively charged silica was attracted to the positively charged thioester. On the silica surface, the cysteine and thioesters spontaneously reacted to form lipids, generating protocell-like membrane vesicles stable enough to sustain biochemical reactions. This happened at lower concentrations than what would be needed in the absence of a catalyst.
“Part of the work we’re doing is trying to understand how life can emerge in the absence of life. How did that matter-to-life transition initially occur?” said Devaraj. “Here we have provided one possible explanation of what could have happened.”
Full list of authors: Christy J. Cho, Taeyang An, Alessandro Fracassi, Roberto J. Brea and Neal K. Devaraj (all UC San Diego); Yei-Chen Lai, Alberto Vázquez-Salazar and Irene A. Chen (all UCLA).
This research was supported, in part, by National Science Foundation (EF-1935372) and the National Institutes of Health (R35-GM141939).
Protocells by spontaneous reaction of cysteine with short-chain thioesters
NO GOD!
Tuesday, November 05, 2024
Reconstructing ancient climate provides clues to climate change
New research from Case Western Reserve University also challenges timing of Andes mountains uplift
Case Western Reserve University
CLEVELAND—As the Earth faces unprecedented climate change, a look into the planet’s deep past may provide vital insights into what may lie ahead.
Knowledge of the natural world millions of years ago is fragmented, but a 15-year study of a site in Bolivia by an international team led by Case Western Reserve University provides a comprehensive view of an ancient ecosystem when the Earth was much warmer than today.
The site, known as the Quebrada Honda Basin (QHB) in the Andes mountains in southern Bolivia, encompasses a time period 13 million years ago during the Miocene Epoch. During the Miocene, the Earth’s climate rebounded from the cooling of the prior epoch, with global temperatures and mammal biodiversity markedly increasing.
Globally, temperatures were 3-4 degrees Celsius warmer than today. Understanding ecosystems of the past helps predict what might happen in the future due to human-related climate change.
“Sites like this one in Bolivia are essential for helping us calibrate climate models,” said Darin Croft, professor of anatomy at Case Western Reserve’s School of Medicine, who led the QHB team. “Our understanding of climate change is based on models, and those models are based on information from the past. We are getting into uncharted territory in terms of climate, and you have to go deeper in time to get conditions that are similar.”
The site is 11,500 feet (3,500 meters) above sea level. When its fossils accumulated, it was lower, but exactly how much has been a matter of debate. Previous studies using geochemistry concluded that the Miocene QHB was relatively high, close to 10,000 feet (3,000 meters).
But the current publication favors warmer temperature and lower elevation, likely less than 3,000 feet (1,000 meters), meaning the Andes uplift happened more recently in geologic time than previously thought.
The team found fossils of many different types: bones and teeth of mammals and other vertebrates, microscopic plant remains, ancient soils and tracks and traces of insects and other invertebrates. Cold-blooded animals found at the site—a giant tortoise, a side-necked turtle and a very large snake—suggest the site's elevation when these animals lived was less than 1,000 meters, based on modern-day distributions of closely related species.
The team concluded that the QHB was a dry forest or wooded savanna with palms and bamboos—which grow at lower elevations—with no similarity to any modern ecosystem. First author Caroline Strömberg, biology professor at the University of Washington, studied fossilized phytoliths, microscopic pieces of silica found in the cell walls of plants, characteristic of the types of vegetation they come from. She compared the fossilized phytoliths with those found in contemporary vegetation to identify the mix of plants at the site.
Layers of volcanic ash and magnetic signatures in rocks allowed the fossils to be accurately dated. The diversity of preserved material allowed Croft’s team to make detailed reconstructions of the plants and animals and their living conditions. The team named 13 new species of fossil mammals based on remains from the site, including marsupials, hoofed mammals, rodents and armadillos. Most of the species have not been found anywhere else in South America and have no modern descendants.
“Nature has a wide variety of body plans, often much greater than the limited variety we see today,” said Russell Engelman, a Case Western Reserve biology graduate student who worked on the mammal fossils.
Other coauthors include: Beverly Saylor, professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences at Case Western Reserve; Angeline Catena, geology professor at Diablo Valley Community College in Pleasant Hill, Calif.; Daniel Hembree, professor of earth and planetary sciences at the University of Tennessee; and Federico Anaya, geology professor at Universidad Autonóma Tomás Frías in Potosí, Bolivia.
Between 2007 and 2017, Croft and Anaya led six international teams to the QHB, funded primarily by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Six years after Croft’s second NSF grant ended, the findings are still yielding data and publications.
“Field paleontology is a really good investment for the NSF, because the dividends far outweigh the costs,” said Croft, who’s seeking funding to study another Bolivian Miocene site of a similar age but over a longer time-period.
###
An artist's rendering of a new mammal species, hemihegotherium, found at Quebrada Honda.
Credit
By Velizar Simeonovski, copyright Darin Croft
Journal
Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
The flora, fauna, and paleoenvironment of the late Middle Miocene Quebrada Honda Basin, Bolivia (Eastern Cordillera, Central Andes)
Article Publication Date
1-Nov-2024
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Geoscientists confirm 'dripping' of Earth's crust beneath Türkiye's Central Anatolian Plateau
Artist’s impression of two types of lithospheric drip: one produces thickening and uplift of Earth’s crust, while the other results in the formation of a basin at the surface without horizontal deformation. Credit: Julia Andersen / University of Toronto
Recent satellite data reveal that the Konya Basin in the Central Anatolian Plateau of Türkiye is continually being reshaped over millions of years, according to a new analysis led by Earth scientists at the University of Toronto.
The researchers say experimental simulations—combined with geological, geophysical and geodetic data—explain the enigmatic sinking of the basin within the rising plateau interior and further suggests a new class of plate tectonics that has implications for other planets that do not have Earth-like plates, such as Mars and Venus.
The study, published in Nature Communications, shows the sinking in the region is due to multi-stage lithospheric dripping—a phenomenon named for the instability of rocky material that makes up Earth's crust and upper mantle. As dense rock fragments beneath the surface detach and sink into the more fluid layer of the planet's mantle, major landforms such as basins and mountainous folding of the crust form at the surface.
"Looking at the satellite data, we observed a circular feature at the Konya Basin where the crust is subsiding or the basin is deepening," says lead author Julia Andersen, a Ph.D. candidate in U of T's department of Earth sciences in the Faculty of Arts & Science. "This prompted us to look at other geophysical data beneath the surface where we saw a seismic anomaly in the upper mantle and a thickened crust, telling us there is high-density material there and indicating a likely mantle lithospheric drip."
The results echo a similar investigation by the researchers into the formation of the Arizaro Basin in the Andes Mountains of South America, suggesting the phenomenon can occur anywhere on the planet, and explain tectonic processes typically found within mountain plateau regions.
Past studies show the Central Anatolian Plateau has risen by as much as one kilometer over the past 10 million years because of the lithospheric dripping phenomenon.
"As the lithosphere thickened and dripped below the region, it formed a basin at the surface that later sprang up when the weight below broke off and sank into the deeper depths of the mantle," says Russell Pysklywec, a professor in the department of Earth sciences and a co-author of the study.
"We now see the process is not a one-time tectonic event and that the initial drip seems to have spawned subsequent daughter events elsewhere in the region, resulting in the curious rapid subsidence of the Konya Basin within the continuously rising plateau of Türkiye."
Andersen adds that the new findings suggest a connection between plateau uplift and basin formation events through the evolution of primary and secondary lithospheric removal. "Essentially, subsidence is occurring alongside the ongoing uplifting of the plateau."
Andersen and study co-authors, including colleagues at Istanbul Technical University and Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University in Türkiye, arrived at their findings after recreating the dripping process in laboratory experiments and analyzing their observations.
They built laboratory analog models to establish how the process may have unfolded based on the data provided by the new measurements, filling a plexiglass tank with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)—a silicone polymer fluid approximately 1,000 times thicker than table syrup—to serve as Earth's fluid lower mantle, adding a mixture of PDMS and modeling clay to replicate the upper-most solid section of the mantle, finishing with a sand-like layer on top made from ceramic and silica spheres to serve as Earth's crust.
The researchers activated the model by inserting a high-density seed into the PDMS and modeling clay layer to initiate a drip that was subsequently pulled downward by gravity. A set of cameras was positioned above and beside the tank to record any changes over time, capturing a high-resolution image roughly every minute.
"Within 10 hours, we observed an initial phase of dripping, which we call a primary drip. After that primary drip touched the bottom of the box, we saw a second drip had begun to sink to the bottom after 50 hours," says Andersen. "Both the primary and secondary drip were not causing any horizontal deformation in our artificial crust, which we expect is typically associated with a mantle lithospheric drip."
The researchers already knew that the primary drip had caused changes in surface topography of the experiment, and wanted to know if the secondary drip would have any effect on the surface since it was a smaller sized drip than the primary drip.
"What we noticed was that over time, this secondary drip did pull the crust downward and started to create a basin, despite no horizontal movements in the crust at the surface," Andersen says. "The findings show these major tectonic events are linked, with one lithospheric drip potentially triggering a host of further activity deep in the planetary interior."
More information: A. Julia Andersen et al, Multistage lithospheric drips control active basin formation within an uplifting orogenic plateau, Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52126-7
Development of latent fingerprints. Representative images on stainless steel are shown, illuminated by and viewed under visible light (a) before development and (b) after development with MCM-41@Ch@DnsGly NPs. Corresponding images generated by illumination with UV light (λex = 365 nm) after MCM-41@Ch@DnsGly NP development are shown on (c) stainless steel, (d) glass, (e) plastic and (f) unfired brass cartridge case substrates.
Innovative nanomaterials have the potential to revolutionise forensic science, particularly in the detection of latent (non-visible) fingermarks, following research conducted at Diamond’s labSAXS instrument (P38).
Researchers created a fluorescent nanoparticle using a combination of materials (MCM-41, chitosan and dansylglycine) to examine latent fingermarks. These nanoparticles have special properties that make them adhere well to fingerprint residues, even old ones. The nanoparticles work on various surfaces, including metal, plastic, glass and complex objects such as polymer banknotes. They have the potential to be used directly at crime scenes without lab facilities, which is a significant advantage over some previous reagents. They produce high-quality fingerprint images, with the vast majority of those tested meeting the UK Home Office standards for a successful identification. This new method captures the finer details of a fingermark, making it easier to identify individuals and is expected greatly to aid in forensic investigations.
The research was published in a Royal Society of Chemistry paper, highlighting that the new nanomaterial has proven to be a versatile and effective tool for visualising fingermark evidence. Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) techniques at Diamond provided useful data to validate these results.
The research team includes scientists from the Technical and Scientific Section of Alagoas, Federal Police, Brazil; the National Institute of Criminalistics of the Federal Police, Brazil; the University of Leicester’s School of Chemistry; the Federal University of Alagoas, Brazil; and the UK’s national synchrotron, Diamond Light Source.
Ridge patterns on fingertips remain unchanged during and beyond a person’s life. They provide the primary method of personal identification in criminal investigations. When an object’s surface is touched by a finger, sweat and oily substances are transferred and deposited onto the surface, resulting in the formation of a mark. Most fingermarks are invisible to the naked eye and are referred to as latent fingermarks.
The international collaboration of researchers developed the new nanostructured hybrid material, MCM-41@chitosan@dansylglycine, to visualise latent fingermarks. This material combines mesoporous silica nanoparticles with a fluorescent dye (dansylglycine) and chitosan, a polysaccharide derived from the exoskeletons of shrimps, crabs and lobsters.
Latent fingermarks require physicochemical development techniques to enhance their visibility and make them interpretable for forensic purposes. Traditional methods for developing fingerprints include optical, physical, and chemical processes that involve interaction between the developing agent (often a coloured or fluorescent reagent) and the fingermark residue. These methods have limitations in recovering high-quality results in certain conditions.
Recently, new methods using mass spectrometry, spectroscopy, electrochemistry, and nanoparticles have improved the development of latent fingermarks. These techniques offer better contrast, sensitivity, and selectivity, with low toxicity. The ability to adjust nanomaterial properties further enhances the detection of both fresh and aged fingermarks.
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have attracted significant interest since the discovery of the M41S family of molecular sieves, which encompasses MCM-41, MCM-48, and SBA-15. These nanoparticles are characterised by their controlled particle size, porosity, high specific surface area, chemical stability, and ease of surface functionalisation.
Profa. Adriana Ribeiro, Federal University of Alagoas comments: “There are few studies employing chitosan for detection and enhancement of latent fingerprints and, to the best of our knowledge, no reports of the use of hierarchically structured MSNs modified with chitosan (MSN@Ch) for such applications – which was our strategy in this research. We exploited the MCM’s desirable characteristics – notably high surface area and surface modification – for the case of MCM-41 to enhance the interaction between the development reagent and fingerprint residue.”
The team added dansyl fluorophores which exhibit intense absorption bands in the near UV region and emit strong fluorescence in the visible spectrum with high emission quantum yields.
Professor of Physical Chemistry, Robert Hillman, University of Leicester concludes: “The overarching aim of this study was to create a versatile and effective latent fingermark visualisation material based on MSNs, chitosan and dansyl derivatives. These nanoparticles were applied as latent fingermark developers for marks on surfaces of diverse chemical composition, topography, optical characteristics and spatially variant nature, typical of forensically challenging evidence. For quality assessment of the enhanced fingermarks, we analysed the developed images using the UK Home Office scale, forensic protocols and, in terms of their constituent features, (minutiae), specialist forensic software. Across a substantive collection of marks deposited on chemically diverse surfaces and subject to complex environmental and temporal histories, the overwhelming majority of the enhanced images presented sufficient minutiae for comparison with model dactyloscopy images.”
Diamond Light Source CEO Prof. Gianluigi Botton adds: “It is pleasing to see that Diamond’s unique analytical tools once again have delivered outstanding science. Our network of international users is key to making sure our science delivers results. This advance in nanomaterials could be a step change in how forensics may be applied in the future.”
Development of latent fingerprints. Representative images on stainless steel are shown, illuminated by and viewed under visible light (a) before development and (b) after development with MCM-41@Ch@DnsGly NPs. Corresponding images generated by illumination with UV light (λex = 365 nm) after MCM-41@Ch@DnsGly NP development are shown on (c) stainless steel, (d) glass, (e) plastic and (f) unfired brass cartridge case substrates.
For further information on the research: Federal University of Alagoas, Campus A. C. Simões, Maceió, AL, Brazil E-mail:aribeiro@qui.ufal.br
School of Chemistry, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK E-mail:arh7@leicester.ac.uk
For further information: please contact Diamond Communications: Lorna Campbell +44 7836 625999 or Isabelle Boscaro-Clarke +44 1235 778130 Diamond Light Source: www.diamond.ac.uk X/Twitter: @DiamondLightSou
Diamond Light Source provides industrial and academic user communities with access to state-of-the-art analytical tools to enable world-changing science. Shaped like a huge ring, it works like a giant microscope, accelerating electrons to near light speeds, to produce a light 10 billion times brighter than the Sun, which is then directed off into 33 laboratories known as ‘beamlines’. Additionally, Diamond offers access to several integrated laboratories including the world-class Electron Bio-imaging Centre (eBIC) and the Electron Physical Science Imaging Centre (ePSIC).
Diamond serves as an agent of change, addressing 21st century challenges such as disease, clean energy, food security and more. Since operations started, more than 16,000 researchers from both academia and industry have used Diamond to conduct experiments, with the support of approximately 760 world-class staff. Almost 12,000 scientific articles have been published by its users and scientists.
Funded by the UK Government through the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), and by the Wellcome Trust, Diamond is one of the most advanced scientific facilities in the world, and its pioneering capabilities are helping to keep the UK at the forefront of scientific research.
Diamond was set-up as an independent not for profit company through a joint venture, between the UKRI’s Science and Technology Facilities Council and one of the world’s largest biomedical charities, the Wellcome Trust - each respectively owning 86% and 14% of the shareholding.
The University of Leicester is led by discovery and innovation – an international centre for excellence renowned for research, teaching and broadening access to higher education. It is among the Top 30 universities in the Times Higher Education (THE)’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 rankings with 89% of research assessed as world-leading or internationally excellent, with wide-ranging impacts on society, health, culture, and the environment. In 2023, the University received an overall Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023, making it one of a small number of institutions nationally to achieve TEF Gold alongside a top 30 REF performance. The University is home to more than 20,000 students and approximately 4,000 staff.
Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL) Located in the city of Maceió, the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL) is the major University in coastal state Alagoas. It is currently considered one of the main research centers in the Brazilian Northeast region. The Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL) is a national reference in teaching, research and extension activities, establishing itself as an excellent support for the demands of society. It is the largest public higher education institution in the state of Alagoas and was ranked 49th among the best universities in Brazil in the 2023 edition of the World University Rankings (CWUR). One of the reasons for reaching this level was the impact of institutional support and investment in research. All of this is the result of the prioritization of research at the University over the last four years, which is reflected in quality teaching and service. UFAL has 82.1% of its publications with national and international collaboration. And most of the citations were from works produced with researchers from other countries.
More on : www.ufal.br, Instagram: @ufaloficial, Facebook: @ufaloficial, X (twitter): @ufaloficial Youtube: @ufaloficial
Aerial view of Diamond Light Source, the UK's national synchrotron
In a Cantonese cuisine restaurant in a newly-developed area in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwestern China, Uygur cashier Parida Abdukeyum was busy handling diners' payments and answering phone calls during dinner time, speaking in Mandarin to Han customers and in Uygur to her Uygur co-workers.
The 23-year-old girl comes from Akto, one of the last counties in Xinjiang that were lifted out of absolute poverty in late 2020. She studied in a vocational college in Urumqi and found the job after graduation.
"I like living and working here in Urumqi," said Parida. "In my hometown, life would be marrying someone in the early twenties and then taking care of children at home."
"That is the life of some of my childhood friends. They are married. They stay at home without a job, taking care of their children," she said. "They kind of envy me because I am in a big city, free to live a life that I like."
Parida is one of the tens of thousands of young Uygur women in Xinjiang who have been pursuing a life of their own wish as socioeconomic progress has brought changes to the Uygur community where people believed women should stay at home instead of pursuing their own career.
Female employees operate at a workshop of Xinjiang Middle Hoshine Silicon Industry in the suburb of Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Aug. 29, 2024. (Xinhua/Gao Han)
"I WANT TO RETURN TO WORK"
To encourage young Uygurs to find a job and create opportunities for them to seek a better life, Xinjiang local governments have been engaged in helping them to be employed in companies either in their hometown or in cities inside and outside Xinjiang.
However, the program was labeled as "forced labor" by the United States, which has in the past two years imposed sanctions on dozens of Chinese companies on the allegations.
Instead of "protecting human rights," the unilateral sanctions have severely undermined the rights of Uygurs, particularly young Uygur women.
Aminam Tulladin, a 26-year-old girl in Shache, the most populous county in Xinjiang, is among those who lost their income due to the U.S. sanctions.
In 2017, with the help of her vocational high school, Aminam went to work as an intern in a textile company in the eastern Chinese coastal city of Qingdao.
"The first time I got a salary, I was extremely happy as it was earned by my own hand," said Aminam. "During the internship, sometimes I sent part of my salary back to my family, but most of it was spent for myself on items that girls like, such as clothes and cosmetics."
What made Aminam even happier was that the company she worked with later set up a plant in her hometown. In March 2018, Aminam became a formal employee of the company, working in its Shache plant.
A skilled worker, Eminem became a section chief in 2019. "At that time, I can keep some of my salary for myself and give the rest to my family, especially for supporting my younger brother's schooling."
Just as Aminam and the other several hundred Uygur women were embracing their new life, the company was sanctioned by the U.S. administration for hiring these Uygur women.
Its plant which once created nearly 1,000 jobs for locals in Shache now hires less than 100 workers.
"We didn't want our employees to bear the cost. We tried our best, but it was much too tough. We used to have a number of European and American customers, but they had since stopped dealing with us for fear of the U.S. sanctions," said the manager of the Shache plant.
Aminam lost her job and soon after that she got married and had a child. The whole family is supported by her husband, who works as a chef.
"When I was working, I didn't have to ask for money. For the money I earn by myself, I could spend it as I like. Now of course my husband gives me money, but I don't feel good," said Aminam. "I want to earn money by myself. I don't want to ask for it. I want to return to work."
Tuersun Aibai, an associate professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, Xinjiang University, who previously worked in a village in southern Xinjiang, noted that going for work can help Uygur women have relatively stable wage income, enhance their family status and empower them to live a life of their own wish.
"For a family, the complementarity of economic income between husband and wife is conducive to their enjoyment of equal family status," the Uygur scholar said. "Meanwhile, working is beneficial for Uygur women to understand modern production technology, lifestyle and concepts, and could promote their awareness of their right to make choice, and enhance their ability to pursue a better life."
The textile company Aminam once worked with is not the only one plagued with the U.S. sanctions.
Zheng Liang, director of the Institute for Communication and Borderland Governance at Jinan University, who grew up in Urumqi, has studied some cases.
Zheng told Xinhua that a company, whose name he asked not to be disclosed, in the southern province of Guangdong, one of China's economic powerhouses, had to dismiss several hundred Uygur workers due to economic losses inflicted by the U.S. sanctions.
"Those Uygur workers, most of them women, were so upset when they were told the company could no longer hire them. They had been paid a good salary, much higher than what they could get in their hometowns. They wanted to stay," Zheng said.
ECONOMIC COERCION
Unilateral sanctions must not be used as a foreign policy tool and means of economic coercion, said an independent UN expert, referring to the U.S. sanctions.
"During my visit I received numerous reports on the unilateral sanctions' adverse impact and the consequent socioeconomic implications affecting peoples' lives," the UN Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, Alena Douhan, said in May following her 12-day official visit to China.
She said the decline in business activities and the significant loss of global markets caused by the unilateral sanctions led to job losses, with consequent disruptions in social protection schemes, by disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable, particularly in labour-intensive sectors, including women.
"Xinjiang is particularly affected, with key economic sectors and cross-border and international supply chains being disrupted for fear of primary or secondary sanctions for alleged commercial or production ties with this region," said Douhan, who visited cities in Xinjiang as well as Beijing and Shenzhen, a metropolis in Guangdong.
"I wish to reiterate the illegality of extraterritorial application of unilateral sanctions," said the expert. "The unilateral sanctions against China do not conform with a broad number of international legal norms and are introduced to apply pressure on the state."
The Special Rapporteur will present her country visit report to the UN Human Rights Council in September.
Female employees enjoy TV series during break time at their dormitory room of Xinjiang Middle Hoshine Silicon Industry in the suburb of Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Aug. 29, 2024. (Xinhua/Gao Han)
Tuersun Aibai said the sanctions were part of the U.S. strategy of "using Xinjiang to contain China" and have seriously infringed upon the rights of enterprises and Uygur workers, "having created forced unemployment."
"It should be noted that women often find themselves in a disadvantaged position in the job market. The sanctions imposed by the U.S. have caused more challenges for Uygur women, resulting in a decrease in economic income, family status and education level, which is a blatant violation of human rights," said Tuersun.
Zheng Liang noted the U.S. sanctions had nothing to do with the alleged human rights concerns. The purpose, he said, is to crush Xinjiang's economy, cause mass unemployment and undermine social stability. Zheng urged sanctioned Chinese companies to take legal actions to defend rights of themselves as well as their Uygur employees. "WE WON'T LAY OFF ANY ETHNIC EMPLOYEES"
Hoshine Silicon Industry, a leading Chinese company in silica-based products, which was sanctioned by the United States in mid-2021, has been fighting through legal means.
In February, Hoshine filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security in the U.S. Court of International Trade, requesting the revocation of the Withhold Release Order that has detained its shipments.
Hoshine's independent subsidiary in Xinjiang has four production bases, with more than 11,000 ethnic minority employees, nearly 60 percent of its local staff.
At Xinjiang Middle Hoshine Silicon Industry's base in a Urumqi suburb, several ethnic minority employees told Xinhua that they got their jobs through online applications or campus job fairs, slamming the "forced labor" allegations as totally ridiculous.
"My major in the university was polymer material and engineering. I applied for this job on the internet last year because my major matches the position and the company offered good pay," said test engineer Gulpari Abdursul, a 28-year-old Uygur woman. "Nobody was forced to work here. We are very angry about those rumors."
Adilijiang Alimu, a Uygur graduate from an engineering college in eastern China, who is now in charge of the green plants at the base, said he first learned about the company due to its giant production base in his hometown, Turpan. "I knew it was a big company. So when I saw its recruitment announcement on the internet, I was interested and I applied."
"Finding a job in Xinjiang, or more broadly in China, is a two-way selection process. We are in a law-based society, how could anyone be forced to work?" said Adilijiang.
Yeernaer Adierjian, a 22-year-old salesman of the Kazak ethnic group from Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture, said he got the job through a campus career fair. He became emotional when talking about the "forced labor" accusations.
"As a native of Xinjiang and an employee of a company sanctioned by the United States, I do have a say," Yeernaer said. "We know too well their purpose. Even if they won't be able to split Xinjiang from China, they will do whatever they can to make Xinjiang unstable and unable to develop as part of their efforts to contain our country. I challenge those who invented the false allegations and those who spread them to come to Xinjiang and to my company to have a look."
An aerial drone photo taken on Aug. 29, 2024 shows a view of Xinjiang Middle Hoshine Silicon Industry's base in the suburb of Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Gao Han)
Asked if the company would consider laying off its Uygur employees in exchange for the revocation of U.S. sanctions, Dai Tian, general manager of the Urumqi base at Xinjiang Middle Hoshine, said: "No. Absolutely not. We won't lay off any ethic employees. They have been making contributions to the development of our company, how could we abandon them?"
"We even invested more in Xinjiang after the sanctions," Dai said, adding that Hoshine has been adjusting its production structure and tackling technical challenges in response to the sanctions.
"We see safeguarding the great unity of our nation as our social responsibility. 'Forced labor' was merely an excuse to suppress the development of Chinese high-tech companies and to disrupt China's social stability and unity. So we should be even more united, and focus on developing and strengthening ourselves," Dai said.
Researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Suzhou Institute for Advanced Study have made a discovery in the field of water pollution control. They have developed a new technique using single-atom catalysts (SACs) within a Fenton-like catalytic system that significantly improves the efficiency of breaking down pollutants in water. Their findings have been published in the journal Nature Communications.
Single-atom catalysts are tiny, powerful tools in chemical reactions that can help clean water by breaking down harmful pollutants. However, their efficiency has been limited by the slow movement of reactants to the catalyst's surface and the high amount of oxidants needed. Previous research attributed efficiency improvements in nanoconfined SACs to the surface enrichment of pollutants and oxidants. However, the exact mechanisms were not fully understood.
The research team discovered that by confining these catalysts within tiny, nanometer-sized pores in silica particles, they could dramatically speed up the reaction and use oxidants more efficiently. Their experiments showed that, apart from the local enrichment of reactants, the catalytic pathway itself changed. Instead of relying on singlet oxygen (a reactive form of oxygen), the reaction shifted to a direct electron transfer process, which is much more efficient for breaking down pollutants.
This new method resulted in an astonishing 34.7-fold increase in the rate of pollutant degradation compared to traditional methods. The efficiency of oxidant use also improved significantly, from 61.8% to 96.6%. The system proved to be highly effective in degrading various electron-rich phenolic compounds, demonstrating robustness in different environmental conditions and maintaining high performance in real lake water tests.
This research provides a deeper understanding of how nanoconfined catalysts work and opens up new possibilities for developing low-carbon, efficient water purification technologies. It offers a promising direction for further innovations in advanced oxidation processes and other applications in environmental science.
