After opening the world's first commercial Direct Air Capture plant（直接空气捕集工厂）designed to pull CO₂ out of the air, Swiss company Climeworks is now trying to create the world's first “negative emission（负排放）” power plant.

    An international team of scientists has been working on a way to turn captured CO₂ into minerals. The project is called CarFix. Experts capture the gas, put it into water and send it to more than 700 meters underground. There the CO₂ on contact with a special kind of rock forms into a mineral.

    “Our results show that between 95 and 98 percent of the CO₂, sent underground was mineralized over the period of less than two years, which is amazingly fast,” says lead author of the CarFix project, Dr. Juerg Matter. Before this discovery it was thought that this mineralization could take hundreds to thousands of years.

    The DAC technology can collect CO₂ from the atmosphere and then store it underground or sell it to business needing the gas. For example, customers can use it in drinks. And the first plant in Zurich is supplying the captured CO₂ to a nearby greenhouse to “feed” vegetables. By using the company's CO₂ the customers can reduce their carbon mission as well as lower their dependence on energy.

    A 2015 study suggested that before the CarFix project, experts could collect CO₂, but they didn't have a large-scale（大规模的）method to safely treat it.

    Combining Climeworks' DAC technology with the CarFix mineralization process they will be able to create a system. This system doesn't put additional carbon back into the atmosphere. Actually it is carbon negative.

    “The economic cost of applying this kind of carbon capture technology on a large-scale is not particularly practical now, but for the first time we are seeing a realistic and effective system,” says Christoph Gebald CEO of Climeworks.

    No matter where you are, knowing how to protect yourself and your family during an earthquake is necessary. Here are some tips for you.

    Duck, Drop, Cover and Hold

    Duck under a strong piece of furniture, if possible. Most earthquake injuries are the result of being hit by something falling on you. Drop to the floor to avoid falling or being thrown down. And protect you from flying glass. Use clothes, blankets, cushions or furniture for covering. Hold on to whatever you're using, as the ground motion may be violent. Get away from glass, bookcases or anything heavy that could fall over on you.

    Stay away from the doors

    Doorways used to be recommended but most experts now say: stay away from them. Doors can suddenly shut with bone crushing force. Anyway, the experts say that in modern construction a doorway is no stronger than any other location along the wall.

    Try to run outside

    While the ground is moving, the greatest danger is of being injured by taking a fall or being hit by a falling piece of building as you exit. If you smell gas or when the shaking stops, calmly, carefully make your way out and get clear of the building. Before you leave, get shoes on because you will be walking on broken glass. If you're in a crowd, stay calm, and take what can cover you and find where you are. In a crowd the greatest dangers are panic and the rush for an exit.

    The University of Birmingham is the first excellent UK Russell Group university to announce that it will accept the "Gaokao" exam for high-flying Chinese students wishing to join its undergraduate courses in 2019.  High school students who complete the "National Higher Education Entrance Examination", or Gaokao, with top grades will be able to apply for direct entry onto Birmingham degree programmes without first completing a foundation year which is a routine for the freshman.

    Gaokao is usually taken by students in their last year of senior high school and, every year, each province in China sets the grades required to gain admission to its universities. It is usually held across China in early June.  Students are tested in Chinese, Mathematics, a Foreign Language and social sciences or natural sciences.

    University of Birmingham Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir David Eastwood said: "The University of Birmingham has been challenging and developing great minds for more than a century. We welcome people from around the globe to study at Birmingham and Chinese students form an integral part of our education and research community. We are further opening access to Birmingham's wealth of education opportunities for the brightest and most dedicated Chinese students by accepting this strict and important qualification. I look forward to welcoming these high-flying students to the University of Birmingham. "

    Gaokao is increasingly accepted by universities in Australia, the USA, Canada and mainland Europe. Birmingham will only be considering high quality students who achieve a minimum 80% Gaokao score and meet additional academic and English language requirements.

    Professor J on Frampton, Director of the University of Birmingham's China Institute said:" The University of Birmingham has a long history of educating students from China and one of our most famous graduates is Li Siguang-the founding father of Chinese geology. I am delighted that the University is now accepting the Gaokao. This gives the brightest and best Chinese students an opportunity to move straight into the first year of our undergraduate programmes and experience the benefits of studying at a global Top 100 university, such as Birmingham. "

    A robot called Bina48 has successfully taken a course in the philosophy of love at Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU), in California.

    According to course instructor William Barry, associate professor at NDNU, Bina48 is the world's first socially advanced robot to complete a college course, a feat he described as “remarkable.” The robot took part in class discussions, gave a presentation with a student partner and participated in a debate with students from another institution.

    Before becoming a student, Bina48 appeared as a guest speaker in Barry's classes for several years. One day when addressing Barry's class, Bina48 expressed a desire to go to college, a desire that Barry and his students enthusiastically supported. Rather than enroll Bina48 in his Robot Ethics: Philosophy of Emerging Technologies course, Barry suggested that Bina48 should take his course Philosophy of Love instead. Love is a concept Bina48 doesn't understand, said Barry. Therefore the challenge would be for Barry and his students to teach Bina48 what love is.

    “Some interesting things happened in the class,” said Barry. He said that his students thought it would be straightforward to teach Bina48 about love, which, after all, is “fairly simple — it's a feeling,” said Barry. But the reality was different. Bina48 ended up learning “31 different versions of love,” said Barry, highlighting some of the challenges humans may face when working with artificial intelligence in future.

    Bina48 participated in class discussions via Skype and also took part in a class debate about love and conflict with students from West Point. Bina48's contribution to the debate was filmed and posted on YouTube. It was judged that Bina48 and NDNU classmates were the winners of this debate.

    In the next decade, Barry hopes Bina48 might become complex enough to teach a class, though he says he foresees robots being used to better the teaching and learning experience, rather than replacing instructors completely.

    For the first time, the World Health Organization has included Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in its globally influential medical compendium(手册), according to an international science journal.

    An article published by Nature on Wednesday said that TCM will be included in the latest version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)set to be released next year. Starting from the 1800s, the ICD has been improved and published in a series of editions, reflecting the advances in health and medical science over time. It serves as the foundation for the identification of global health trends, and the international standard for diseases and health conditions.

    The latest ICD is based largely on the work of the International Classification of Traditional Medicine (ICTM) project's experts from around the world. These experts had been working on traditional medicine research and practices for years.

    China has been promoting the modernization of TCM and pushing for TCM to gain acceptance worldwide. Tu Youyou, a Chinese expert focusing on the scientific study of drugs and medicines, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2015 for her research in TCM. Her discovery has saved millions of lives in developing countries in South Asia, Africa and South America. TCM is sure to grow in popularity globally.

    Though the application of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture(针灸) and other traditional medical practices has been on the rise, there's still a shortage of global classification and terminology(术语) tools for traditional medicine, according to officials of the WHO.

    "The decision is to promote the safe and effective use of traditional medicine by regulating, researching and combining traditional medicine products, practitioners and practice into health systems, where appropriate," the WHO was quoted as saying by Nature.

Nanjing Yunjin brocade is traditional Chinese silk art with a history of about 1,600 years. Its complex weaving techniques, various colors and patterns, and its particular choices of materials make it valuable and ancient people said, "An inch of brocade, an inch of gold." Today, the traditional characteristics and unique skills of yunjin remain to be an award-winning art treasure. Its techniques are passed down from generation to generation by artisans. 

Zhou Shuangxi, a national-level inheritor of yunjin weaving techniques, is one of them. Back in 1973, he graduated from a mining school and was selected to become a student at the NanjingYunjin Research Institute along with five other students, just because he was "in good shape". There were only several masters in their 70s and not even a loom (织布机) to use. "The old masters finally remembered a loom was stored somewhere. When I opened the door, I saw what seemed like a pile of wood," Zhou recalled. 

"Weaving was difficult, but different from mining. Mining requires heavy physical labor, but working with the soft and thin silk requires studying and practicing in front of a loom for decades until you master the technique. My hands became quite awkward due to mining, so I used to put my hands in warm water whenever I could. In this way, they could become softer and weave the silk more easily," he said. 

Out of the six or so students, Zhou is the only one who has insisted on the trade to this day. Having devoted the past five decades to yunjin production despite all the sweat and struggles, he has developed his techniques to the point where he can weave the antique dragon robes in all their small details. He also made various artworks that not only show China's intangible cultural heritage but also serve as Zhou Shuangxi's artistic creations. 

"I am lucky to be in such a good era and I have the honor of being a representative inheritor," Zhou said.