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HKU Science Faculty website made a hat-trick by receiving its third international recognition – the W³ Silver Award

  New face of Faculty of Science website has just made a hat-trick by receiving the W³ Silver Award in the 14th Annual W3 Awards – its third recognition in international awards following its Award of Distinction at the 25th Annual Communicator Awards and University Standard of Excellence award at the WebAward 2019. The website is also recognised as a “Friendly Website” under the Web Accessibility Recognition Scheme (2018/19). The new Faculty website has a new face with global outlook by the smart use of graphically-impressive images and layout design. It simultaneously neatly presents all the text information and making it a user-friendly website and accessible for all stakeholders and general public. It allows readers easily search and acquire the content with a pleasant reading of the website with magazine-like style, at the same time demonstrating our commitment in teaching and research excellence, knowledge exchange, alumni networking and more. The W³ Awards celebrates digital excellence and is the first major web competition to be accessible to the biggest agencies, the smallest firms, and everyone in between. In its fourteenth year, the W³ Awards received over 5,000 entries. In determining winners, entries are judged based on a standard of excellence as determined by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA), according to the category entered.

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Emmy Noether looks at the deconfined quantum critical point

A research team led by Dr Ziyang Meng from the Department of Physics has established an interesting connection between the classical Noether’s theorem in physics to the most modern quantum many-body research [1].   The German scientist Emmy Noether (1882 – 1935), perhaps the greatest female physicist and mathematician, has discovered an important theorem—Noether's theorem [2] —which relates symmetries with conservation laws. The theorem states that for every continuous symmetry generated by local actions, there corresponds a conservation law.   Applications of the theorem are everywhere in science, physics, chemistry, biology, such as the space-time translation symmetry gives rise to momentum-energy conservation, the rotation symmetry gives rise to angular momentum conservation, etc. However, over the years people turn to unconsciously relate the fundamental law of physics like Noether's theorem to classical and text-book examples, and rarely expect the immediate application of them in the frontier of research which is beyond any established paradigms.   In a recent research work [1], to one’s surprise, a team led by HKU physicist Dr Ziyang Meng establishes an interesting connection between the Noether’s theorem and the most modern quantum material research. In the work, Dr Ziyang Meng, Dr Nvsen Ma from the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Dr Yi-Zhuang You from University of California at San Diego, demonstrated an explicit application of the Noether's theorem in identifying the emergent continuous symmetry in an exotic quantum phase transition–the deconfined quantum critical point (DQCP), which is the quantum phase transition beyond the conventional paradigm of phases of matter. The work was published in the recent issue of Physical Review Letters. (link of the article).   Fig.1 Emmy Noether (1882 – 1935) was a German mathematician who made important contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics. She was described by Pavel Alexandrov, Albert Einstein, Jean Dieudonné, Hermann Weyl and Norbert Wiener as the most important woman in the history of mathematics. As one of the leading mathematicians of her time, she developed the theories of rings, fields, and algebras. In physics, Noether's theorem explains the connection between symmetry and conservation laws [2] (From Wikipedia). In the research work [1], a team lead by HKU physicist establishes an interesting connection between the Noether’s theorem and the most modern quantum material research.   In quantum many-body systems, the manifestation of symmetry can be much richer than that in their classical counterparts, new symmetry that does not exist in the microscopic model could emerge at low energy and lead to emergent conservation law. A great platform to test these ideas is the deconfined quantum critical point (DQCP). As schematically shown in Fig. 2, the DQCP is an exotic quantum critical point between two spontaneous symmetry breaking phases: the antiferromagnetic phase (AFM) and the valence bond solid (VBS) phase. Deconfined degrees of freedom, such as fractionalized spinons and emergent gauge fluctuations, appear at and only at DQCP. The fractionalization generally enlarges the scaling dimension of order parameters and makes other symmetry breaking terms irrelevant, which paves the way for larger symmetry to emerge.   Fig.2. Schematic plot of the phase diagram of J-Q model with AFM and VBS phases and the deconfined quantum critical point (DQCP). At the DQCP, spin excitation at the momentum point X=(pi,0) is the conserved current of the emergent O(4) symmetry, therefore its scaling dimension is an integer value only related with space-time dimension of the model, and such conservation is identified from quantum Monte Carlo simulations in Ref. [1].   The research team investigated the two dimensional easy-plane JQ model as shown in Fig.2. According to the Noether’s theorem, every continuous symmetry of a physical system is associated with a corresponding conservation law, the conservation law further manifests itself in the form of a conserved current. Therefore, the observation of a conserved current in a physical system is the direct evidence of the existence of the associated continuous symmetry. At the DQCP shown in Fig. 2, the generators of emergent O(4) symmetry rotate between the AFM and VBS order parameters, the detection of its associated conserved current (the AFM-VBS current) would provide strong support for the emergent symmetry and hence the field theory description of the DQCP.   To test the proposition, the team performed large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations. They measured the dynamical spin correlation functions at the corresponding momenta, and found that its scaling dimension is indeed converged to the integer only related with the space-time dimension of the problem – the unique property of conserved current operator – precisely consistent with the requirement of the conservation law. Therefore the simulation results in Ref. [1] confirm the emergent O(4) symmetry at DQCP by measuring the associated emergent conserved current in the spin excitation spectrum.This study demonstrated an elegant yet practical approach to detect emergent symmetry by probing the spin excitation, which could potentially guide the ongoing experimental search for DQCP in quantum magnets. Moreover, the idea of employing conserved current to detect the emergent continuous symmetry in quantum many-body systems has also inspired several recent works [3,4,5]. It was expected that the research would further motivate active search and future experimental detection of quantum magnets that belong to the materials in new paradigms of quantum matter.   Acknowledgement The large-scale simulations are performed on the Tianhe-1A platform at the National Supercomputer Center in Tianjin and Tianhe-2 platform at the National Supercomputer Center in Guangzhou, the authors acknowledge the technical support and generous allocation of CPU time from these centers. The authors also thank the funding support from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China through the National Key Research and Development Program (2016YFA0300502), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB28000000), the National Science Foundation of China (11574359,11674370) and the DFG research unit FOR1807 and Mercator Fellow.   The authors would like to thank the support from the “Computational Initiative – Towards Next-Generation Scientific Computing via Neuromorphic-AI Accelerators” at the Faculty of Science, the University of Hong Kong.   Journal Reference [1] Role of Noether’s Theorem at the Deconfined Quantum Critical Point, Nvsen Ma, Yi-Zhuang You, and Zi Yang Meng, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 175701 (2019), https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.175701   [2] Noether, Emmy (1918), "Invariante Variationsprobleme", Nachr. D. Koenig. Gesellsch. D. Wiss. Zu Goettingen, Math-phys. Klasse, 1918: 235–257 Translated in Noether, Emmy (1971). "Invariant variation problems". Transport Theory and Statistical Physics. 1 (3): 186. arXiv:physics/0503066. doi:10.1080/00411457108231446   [3] Quantum phases of SrCu2(BO3)2 from high-pressure thermodynamics, Jing Guo, Guangyu Sun, Bowen Zhao, Ling Wang, Wenshan Hong, Vladimir A. Sidorov, Nvsen Ma, Qi Wu, Shiliang Li, Zi Yang Meng, Anders W. Sandvik, Liling Sun, arXiv:1904.09927   [4] Emergent Symmetry and Conserved Current at a One Dimensional Incarnation of Deconfined Quantum Critical Point, Rui-Zhen Huang, Da-Chuan Lu, Yi-Zhuang You, Zi Yang Meng, Tao Xiang Phys. Rev. B 100, 125137 (2019) Editors' Suggestion   [5] Signatures of a Deconfined Phase Transition on the Shastry-Sutherland Lattice: Applications to Quantum Critical SrCu2(BO3)2, Jong Yeon Lee, Yi-Zhuang You, Subir Sachdev, Ashvin Vishwanath arXiv:1904.07266

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Decoding a new sign in chromatin maze: HKU chemical biologists identify a new histone mark that regulates chromatin structure during gene expression and DNA repair

A research team led by Dr Xiang David Li, Associate Professor from the Department of Chemistry, in collaboration with Dr Karen Wing Yee Yuen from the School of Biological Sciences and Dr Jason Wing Hon Wong from the School of Biomedical Sciences, revealed a new fundamental mechanism by which a cell can make necessary changes in its chromatin structure in response to different DNA-associated processes such as gene expression and DNA damage repair. The findings were recently published in the prestigious scientific journal Molecular Cell.   Imagine, for a moment, that you are now living in the centre of an ever-shifting maze: paths moving about and breaking apart, wide, straight roads curling up and shrinking into tight, winding tracks, new roads appearing from what used to be dead-ends. Travelling through this labyrinth, the only thing guiding you on the way is various road signs (e.g., “STOP”, “SLOW”, “ONE WAY” and “DO NOT ENTER”) that indicate whether and how you may traverse different paths.   One such maze lies within our every cell: the chromatin, in which DNA is packaged with proteins called histones. Packaging of DNA can be tighter or looser in different regions of chromatin. While a loose packaging indicates an “active” or a gene “ON” region, a tight compaction means a “silent” or a gene “OFF” region. Interestingly, the chromatin also contains various “road signs” in the form of chemical modifications to histones (or histone marks) that indicate the active, inactive or damaged regions of the chromatin and give order to various chromatin-associated machineries in the regulation of gene expression, DNA replication and damage repair. While some well-known chromatin ”road signs” such as lysine acetylation (Kac) and methylation (Kme) have been well characterised, the biological meanings of many other “signs”, particularly those newly identified histone marks, remain mysterious.   In a search for new chromatin “road sign”, Dr Li’s team discovered a novel histone mark, lysine glutarylation (Kglu) at histone H4, Lysine-91 (H4K91glu) from human cells. “I was so excited to find this new histone mark. Now imagine that in the maze you come across a new sign that you’ve not seen before. Who puts it there? What does it mean?” said Dr Xiucong Bao, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr Li’s lab and the first author of the study, but she also notes the great challenge to uncover these mysteries, for which she has spent more than five years on the project. The researchers finally found that this mark is especially abundant in promoter regions of active, “open” chromatin where genes are highly expressed – equivalent to a road sign in the maze showing “expressway”. “We believe that H4K91glu is a “sign” for activation of gene expression,” said Dr Li. “And this ‘sign’ seems to be conserved in evolution, as we found it in not only human but also mouse, fly, worm and even baker's yeast cells.”   Besides marking the active genomic region, H4K91glu in fact directly contributes to the formation of the more open accessible chromatin structure facilitating gene expression. Dr Li’s team found in this study that H4K91glu destabilizes nucleosome, the basic repeating unit of chromatin, and leads to activation or “opening” of chromatin. “It makes perfect sense if you know chemistry, as the mark puts a negative charge on an originally positively charged lysine residue. It therefore causes a charge-charge repulsion within the nucleosome and makes it more prone to falling apart,” says Dr Li.   Image 1. Chromatin maze with various histone modifications as “road signs”. Dr. Li’s team discovered a new histone modification, glutarylation at histone H4 lysine 91, that locates at ‘open’ chromatin where genes are highly expressed – equivalent to a road sign in the maze showing ‘expressway’.   Much like the ever-shifting maze, chromatin packaging is highly dynamic. A compacted region of chromatin at this moment can quickly change to a relaxed one at the next moment, which allows fast switching between gene ON and OFF states. Meanwhile, when chromatin structure is changed at a specific region, the old “road signs” (i.e., histone marks) are taken off and the new ones are installed by enzymes called histone mark “erasers” and “writers”, respectively. “To understand a histone mark, it is key to find its “writer” and “eraser”, says Li, whose team further identified the enzymes that “write” and “erase’”= the H4K91glu mark: KAT2A, working together with the α-ketoadipate dehydrogenase (α-KADH) complex, adds the H4K91glu mark, while SIRT7 works to remove it. The researchers went on to demonstrate that H4K91glu must be removed by SIRT7 such that the open chromatin region could be inactivated and condensed during cell division or at local DNA damage site.   In summary, Dr Li’s study identified H4K91glu as a novel histone mark and unraveled its regulation and function in chromatin structure and dynamics, putting us one step closer towards deciphering the yet mysterious chromatin maze. The findings from this study also laid the foundation for elucidating how this novel histone mark contributes to human health and disease and will open opportunities for development of therapeutic agents for the treatment of human diseases associated with mis-regulation of histone H4K91glu and chromatin structure.   This research is supported by General Research Fund, Collaborative Research Fund and the Area of Excellence Scheme from Hong Kong Research Grants Council, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.   Click hereFor more information about the paper “Glutarylation of Histone H4 Lysine 91 Regulates Chromatin Dynamics” at Molecular Cell.   Click hereFor more information about Dr Xiang David Li and his research group.

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HKU Chemist Professor Xuechen Li elected to the HK Young Academy of Sciences

Professor Xuechen Li has been recently elected to Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences.   Professor Li is honoured for his achievements and contributions for his innovative basic studies and translation research. His research group pioneered the new methods and strategies for chemically synthesizing biologics including glycans and proteins which are inaccessible by other means. In addition, he has made significant contributions to the cyclic peptide-based antibiotics development, with completion of the total synthesis of daptomycin and teixobactin.   Professor Li received his PhD from Harvard University in 2007. After postdoctoral work at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, he joined the Department of Chemistry in 2009, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2014 and Professor in 2018. Professor Li was the recipient of Wuxi PharmaTech Life Science and Chemistry-Scholar Award (2014), Distinguished Faculty Award by Chinese-American Chemistry & Chemical Biology Professor Association (CAPA) (2016), Croucher Senior Research Fellowship (2017), Outstanding Researcher Award by the University of Hong Kong (2018), and the Rao Makineni Award by American Peptide Society (2019).   To learn more about Professor Li's research, please click here.   Professor Li and his teixobactin project-team

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What colour were fossil animals? HKU palaeontologists evaluate fossil colour reconstruction methods to propose new study framework

Dr Michael Pittman of the Vertebrate Palaeontology Laboratory, Department of Earth Sciencesled an international study with his PhD student Mr Arindam Roy that evaluates fossil colour reconstruction methods to propose a new study framework that improves and expands current practice. The paper was recently published in the journal Biological Reviews. “People are fascinated by the colour and pattern of dinosaurs and other extinct animals because these aspects can tell you so much about an animal. Just think of a zebra and a peacock. We evaluated everything we know about fossil and modern animal colour and used that knowledge to propose a framework to improve how we reconstruct fossil colour in the future.” said Dr Pittman. Colour and patterns are critical to understanding the life, ecology, physiology and behaviour of animals. These colours are produced when light interacts with pigments and the structure of animal tissue. Common naturally-occurring animal pigments include melanin, carotenoids, porphyrins pterins, flavins and psittacofulvins which produce colours ranging from black and grey to yellow, orange and green (Figure 1). Feathered dinosaur fossils instrumental to understanding the origin of birds were the first animal fossils to yield evidence of melanin, the colour pigment we also have in our eyes and hair (Figures 2, 3). In the last ten years, colour patterns have been reconstructed in over 30 fossil animals including birds, non-avialan dinosaurs and mammals, providing a unique opportunity to test ecological and behavioral hypotheses that were previously out of reach. Unfortunately, our knowledge of other pigments is scarce in the fossil record as these non-melanin pigments are more difficult to fossilise. This incomplete knowledge and the lack of a standard study approach have been prevailing challenges to the reconstruction of colour in fossil animals. Co-author Dr Evan Saitta of the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, USA said, “We are in the golden age of multidisciplinary techniques in palaeontology. This is the first comprehensive study that not only critically evaluates the currently available methods, but also provides a reliable and repeatable framework that covers all vertebrate pigment systems not just melanin alone.” The new palaeocolour reconstruction framework proposed by Dr Michael Pittman, Mr Arindam Roy and their international team (Figure 4) comprises four main steps: (1) Map the known or suspected extent of preserved colour and patterns in the specimen; (2) Search for pigment-bearing microstructures using electron microscopy e.g. microstructure shape can be used to identify melanin-based colours like black, grey and brown); (3) If melanin-based colours are not detected, use high-end chemical analysis techniques to detect biomarkers of other pigments (4) Use reconstructed colours and patterns to test fundamental hypotheses related to animal physiology, ecology and behaviour. The new framework overcomes past challenges by incorporating the chemical signatures of different pigments, large and small-scale anatomical details visible in fossils as well as the potential for different pigments to fossilise. This framework provides background context for the evolution of colour-producing mechanisms and is expected to encourage future efforts to reconstruct colour in more fossil animals including non-dinosaur reptiles and mammals. Mr Roy, the study’s first author and a Hong Kong PhD Fellow said, “I am really excited by the course we have charted in this review study as I will be tackling many of the key issues we identified during my PhD studies at HKU.” The paper: A Roy, M Pittman, E T Saitta, T G Kaye and X Xu. Recent advances in amniote palaeocolour reconstruction and a framework for future research. Biological Reviews.   Link to journal article   Figure 1. Distribution of different colour-producing pigments among vertebrate animals. Covers fishes, amphibians, mammals, lizards, snakes, crocodilians and extinct archosaurs including non-avialan dinosaurs and birds. Dotted lines indicate stem groups; bold lines indicate crown groups.   Figure 2. A pristine specimen of the feathered dinosaur Anchiornis huxleyi showing its colour patterns. Melanin was first identified from an animal from this species. Image Credit: Xiaoli Wang).   Figure 3. A life reconstruction of the feathered dinosaur Anchiornis huxleyi based on fossil evidence of its colour and patterning. This evidence included inferences about melanin pigments. Image credit: HKU MOOC / Julius T Csotonyi / Michael Pittman.   Figure 4. (A) New framework for reconstructing fossil colour in animals. Solid lines indicate confirmed steps; dashed lines indicate potentially useful steps that deserve further investigation. (B) Sediment-encased maturation is method of producing artificial fossils that helps to better understand how fossils are preserved. Abbreviations: ESI-MS, electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry; FIB-TEM, focused ion beam-transmission electron microscopy; FT-ICR-MS, Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry; HPLC-MS, high performance liquid chromatography; LSF, Laser-Stimulated Fluorescence; MLR, multinomial logistic regression; NMR, nuclear magnetic resonance; PCA, principal components analysis; PPC, peak probability contrast; Py-GC-MS, pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy; synchotron-LDPI, laser desorption-ionisation; TDCA, thiazole-4,5-dicarboxylic acid; TOF-SIMS, time of flight secondary-ion mass spectroscopy; UV, ultra-violet light.    

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HKU Distinguished Visiting Professor Luk Kam Biu named laureate of prestigious China's Future Science Prize – China’s “Nobel Prize”

Professor Luk Kam Biu, Hung Hing Ying Distinguished Visiting Professor in Science and Technology, HKU Professor Luk Kam Biu, a Hung Hing Ying Distinguished Visiting Professor in Science and Technology and an alumnus of the Department of Physics at the University of Hong Kong, has been chosen as a laureate of China's 2019 Future Science Prize. Professor Luk is currently a Professor of the University of California at Berkeley and a Senior Faculty Scientist of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The Future Science Prize is considered China's "Nobel Prize”. It is the first Chinese non-governmental science award jointly initiated by groups of scientists and entrepreneurs aiming at supporting original and innovative research in foundational science, and awarding scientists with splendid contributions in the Greater China Region. The Prize is given in three categories: Life Science Prize, Physical Science Prize, and Mathematics and Computer Science Prize. Four scientists are awarded this year. Professor Luk won the prize in physical sciences jointly with Professor Wang Yifang, director of the Institute for High-Energy Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, for their leadership in the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino experiment and contributions to the discovery of a new type of neutrino oscillation, which opens the door for new physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics and holds the key for understanding the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. The Daya Bay project, launched in 2003 and co-led by CUHK, HKU and 40 universities and research institutions, is a collaboration involving more than 200 scientists from five regions and countries. The Daya Bay experiment in 2012 produced the first definitive measurement of a non-zero value for the θ13 angle of the neutrino mixing matrix. This precise measurement consolidates the understanding of the neutrino oscillation and paves the way for future understanding of matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. Professor Luk said: “I feel really grateful for this prize. The remarkable achievements of the Daya Bay experiment are built upon the dedication and excellent teamwork of the entire collaboration. This honour truly belongs to all members. HKU has played a special role in this endeavor. It was through the first meeting held in the Physics Department at HKU that the Daya Bay project was launched. The generous support of the HKU administration during the early stage of the initiative undoubtedly seeded the success of the experiment. In addition, HKU has served as a hub for bridging the East and West in the collaboration by hosting meetings. Of course, the participation of faculty and students from HKU also made a difference.” HKU Vice-President (Research) Professor Andy Hor congratulated Professor Luk for the prestigious award. He said: “His prize is testimony of the importance of fundamental science (neutrino physics). It also inspires our people to investigate other areas of nuclear and high-energy physics and their potential applications in medicine, energy and environment. It further fuels the belief that if we are committed in advancing deep new knowledge, we won’t be too far from having a HK borne-and-bred Nobel Prize winner in HKU! We are also deeply grateful of the generous support of Hung Hing Ying and Leung Hau Ling Charitable Foundation which enables Professor Luk to visit and work with our young staff and students.” Professor Luk and collaborators’ work on neutrino oscillation received another international prestigious award in 2016 - the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, in recognition of scientific advance. Using part of the Breakthrough prize, he has established the "Luk Kam-Biu Prize in Experimental Physics” in the HKU Department of Physics to encourage students to specialize in experimental physics which is underrepresented in Hong Kong.   A group photo of the research team taken during the Daya Bay experiment's collaboration meeting which took place at HKU in 2015. Professor Luk (7th person from right on front row)   Professor Luk (middle at back) and HKU members visited the Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Lanzhou earlier this year

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HKU Science Faculty website received University Standard of Excellence in the WebAward 2019 and being recognised as a “Friendly Website”

Following the good news in May about being honoured the Award of Distinction in the Communicators Awards 2019, HKU Science Faculty website received another recognition by winning the WebAward 2019 – University Standard of Excellence, and being recognised as a “Friendly Website” under the Web Accessibility Recognition Scheme (18/19) in this Fall. The new Faculty website presents a graphically-impressive image, with fresh and global outlook. Yet apart from the focus on the appearance, the website also strives to be a user-friendly website and make it accessible for all stakeholders and general public. By achieving the above, prospective students, researchers, alumni and the public could easily acquire the information they need and get to know more about our commitment and achievements in teaching, research and knowledge exchange, while at the same time having a pleasant experience of surfing on our magazine-like website. The Award is selected by Web Marketing Association, which was founded in 1997 to help set a high standard for Internet marketing and development of the best websites on the World Wide Web. The Association is the producer of the WebAward Competition, and this programme is now the longest-running annual website award competition dedicated to naming the best Web sites in 96 industries while setting the standard of excellence for all website development.    

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Mathematics teachers and students participated in the 8th International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians

Led by Professor Tuen Wai NG, Head of Department of Mathematics, our Science undergraduate and postgraduate students gained valuable experience from Chinese and overseas mathematicians by engaging in the 8th International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians (ICCM 2019), which was jointly hosted by Yau Mathematical Science Center (YMSC) and Department of Mathematical Sciences of Tsinghua University in Beijing during June 9 - 14, 2019.            

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Remote sensing: A tool for Earth and space exploration

Remote sensing is the discipline of acquiring and interpreting aerial images of the earth or other planets using sensor-based technology. Those images, covering subjects like the earth’s surface, the atmosphere, oceans, objects and phenomenon, are then analysed to provide precise data that would not be possible to obtain easily by other means. Dr Joseph Michalski from the Department of Earth Sciences uses remote sensing to study the mineralogy and geology of planets at the Planetary Mineralogy and Spectroscopy Laboratory.   [Video highlights]     Remote sensing is the discipline of acquiring and interpreting aerial images of the earth or other planets using sensor-based technology. Those images, covering subjects like the earth’s surface, the atmosphere, oceans, objects and phenomenon, are then analysed to provide precise data that would not be possible to obtain easily by other means.   While the term "remote sensing" was coined in the 1960s, the first aerial photographs were taken in the 1850s, following the invention of the camera. Using a hot air balloon French photographer Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, also known as Nadar, took the first successful aerial photograph of a French village in 1858.   Today, remote sensing is a specialist field, done using state-of-the-art sensors and cameras attached to planes, space craft and robotic vehicles that detect and monitor the physical characteristics of an area by measuring its reflected and emitted radiation.   The data interpreted from those images is used in numerous fields by, amongst others, mining companies searching for minerals, environmentalists looking for micro-plastics and space agencies scanning the Moon, Mars and other planets.   “Remote sensing is an incredibly powerful tool that allows us to understand, big, complex systems on this planet, Dr Michalski said. “Looking toward the future, remote sensing will only become a bigger part of how we see our own planet, and how we map distant worlds.”   Part of Dr Michalski’s research is focussed on how the geology of the early Earth led to the origin of life on this planet, and whether life might have formed elsewhere in the Solar System.   “When NASA sends rovers to Mars, they use instrumentation to look at the detail mineralogy of samples at very high resolution,” he said. “We're doing that in our laboratory to prepare for China's mission to Mars, and for future missions to the moon and other planets.”   Using the latest FTIR spectrometer equipped with multiple detectors and beam splitters, Dr Michalski and his team are able to analyse geological and biological materials of all parts of the spectrum from wavelengths of 350 nanometers to 35 micrometers. They plan to use infrared measurements of hydrothermal minerals as a basis to interpret the detection of important minerals on Mars.   To know more about Dr Michalski's research. Please click here  

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Dr Moriaki Yasuhara received the 20th Biwako Prize for Ecology

Congratulations to Dr Moriaki Yasuhara from the School of Biological Sciences for his receiving of the 20th Biwako Prize for Ecology awarded by the Ecological Society of Japan. This prestigious award was to recognise Dr Yasuhara's outstanding research achievements and societal contributions in the field of aquatic ecology.   This is the third time for our professorial staff to receive this international honour; Professor David Dudgeon and Professor Kenneth M Y Leung were recipients of this award in 2000 and 2017 respectively.      

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Best paper award at the 53rd US Rock Mechanics / Geomechanics Symposium

The US Rock Mechanics / Geomechanics Symposium annually organised by the American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA) is one of the most important and appealing events in the fields of rock mechanics, rock engineering, and geomechanics. This year, the 53rd conference was held during 23 - 26 June in New York City, USA. Dr Louis Wong (co-authored with his current PhD student Yahui Zhang) from the Department of Earth Sciences won the best paper award, for the paper “Numerical investigation of micro-mechanisms of thermal strengthening in rock”. Rocks are typically weakened upon heating. Their research however suggests and explains why rock would be strengthened rather than weakened in a not so high temperature regime (25-175°C). This discovery has significant scientific and social contributions, in particular to most underground engineering and energy projects which are operated in mildly heated rocks. Congratulations to Dr Louis Wong and Yahui Zhang!               

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In loving memory of former Dean of Science Dr Kam-Tim LEUNG

It is with deep sadness that we mourn for the passing away of Former Dean of Science Dr Kam-Tim Leung on 23 June 2019, at the age of 87. We honour the memory of Dr Leung in many aspects, be it his contributions for the Faculty development, or his relentless commitment in advancing mathematics education in the local community.   Dr Leung joined The University of Hong Kong as a Senior Lecturer in 1960, and retired in 1995 after his long services at the Faculty of Science for 35 years. In 1974-1976, he served as the Dean of Science, leading the Faculty to make positive changes in teaching. Putting academic quality at the top of his priorities, he spent great efforts in overseeing the newly introduced unit structure for undergraduate programmes.   As an important figure of the Department of Mathematics, Dr Leung’s dedication to mathematics curriculum brought high impacts to the society. The book he co-authored with Dr Doris Chen on set theory had been used by generations of local secondary school students. Dr Leung had been influential to the mathematics education in Hong Kong. He was the Vice-Chairman of the Advanced-Level Examinations Board before the Hong Kong Examination Authority took over the examinations from the university. For many years, he was an advisor of the subject committees of the Curriculum Development Council and Examination Authority. He had also established close connection with high schools for decades.   Dr Leung will be dearly missed for his passion for education, devotion in Mathematics, care for his colleagues, students and friends. With deep regret and profound sorrow, we offer our condolences to his wife Cosette and his family.   With best regards, Matthew Evans Dean of Science

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Smash and Grab: A heavyweight stellar champion for dying stars

Dying stars that cast off their outer envelopes to form the beautiful yet enigmatic “planetary nebulae” (PNe) have a new heavy-weight champion, the innocuously named PNe “BMP1613-5406”. Massive stars live fast and die young, exploding as powerful supernovae after only a few million years. However, the vast majority of stars, including our own Sun, have much lower mass and may live for many billions of years before going through a short lived but glorious PNe phase. PNe form when only a tiny fraction of unburnt hydrogen remains in the stellar core. Radiation pressure expels much of this material and the hot stellar core can shine through. This ionizes the previously ejected shroud creating a PNe and providing a visible and valuable fossil record of the stellar mass loss process (PNe have nothing to do with planets but acquired this name because their glowing spheres of ionized gas around their hot central stars resembled planets to early observers). PNe theoretically derive from stars in the range 1-8 times the mass of the Sun, representing 90% of all stars more massive than the sun. However, until now, PNe have been proven to derive from stars born with only 1-3 times the mass of our Sun. Professor Quentin Parker, Department of Physics and Director of The Laboratory for Space Research, The University of Hong Kong and his PhD student Miss Fragkou Vasiliki, in collaboration with University of Manchester and South African Astronomical Observatory, have now officially smashed this previous limit and grabbed the proof that a PNe has emerged from a star born with 5.5 times the mass of our Sun. Their journal paper “A high-mass planetary nebula in a Galactic open cluster” has just been published on the Nature Astronomy's website. But why is this important?  Firstly, PNe provide a unique window into the soul of late stage stellar evolution revealed by their rich emission line spectra that are excellent laboratories for plasma physics. PNe are visible to great distances where their strong lines permit determination of the size, expansion velocity and age of the PN, so probing the physics and timescales of stellar mass loss. They can also be used to derive luminosity, temperature and mass of their central remnant stellar cores, and the chemical composition of the ejected gas.  Secondly, and key here, is that this is an unprecedented example of a star whose proven original “progenitor” mass is close to the theoretical lower limit of core-collapse supernova formation. Our results are the first solid evidence confirming theoretical predictions that 5+ solar mass stars can actually form PNe. This unique case therefore provides the astronomical community with an important tool for fresh insights into stellar and Galactic chemical evolution.  But how did the team from The University of Hong Kong and the University of Manchester claim the heavyweight crown?  The key was the discovery of the PNe in a young, Galactic open cluster called NGC6067. Finding a PNe residing in an open cluster is an extremely rare event. Indeed, only one other PNe, “PHR1615-6555” has ever been previously proven to reside on an open cluster but whose progenitor star had considerably lower mass. Interestingly, this was an earlier discovery from the same led team as here. The proven location of a PN in a cluster provides key and important data that is difficult to acquire otherwise. This includes an accurate distance and a cluster “turn off” mass estimate (i.e. the mass a star must have had when it was born to now be seen evolving off the main sequence in the cluster of known age). High confidence in the PN-cluster association comes from their highly consistent radial velocities (to better tan 1km/s) in a sight-line with a steep velocity-distance gradient, common distances, common reddening and projected and close physical proximity of the PN to the cluster centre. In summary our exciting results are solid evidence confirming theoretical predictions that 5+ solar mass stars can form planetary nebulae and are, as expected, Nitrogen rich. The PN’s cluster membership provides fresh and tight constraints on the lower mass limit for the progenitor mass of core-collapse supernovae and also for the intermediate to high mass end of the white dwarf Initial to Final Mass Relation (IFMR). It also provides an empirical benchmark for evaluating nucleosynthetic (element creation) predictions for intermediate-mass stars. PN BMPJ1613-5406 and its cluster NGC6067 will provide the astronomical community with important insights into stellar and Galactic (chemical) evolution. Digital object identifier (DOI) number 10.1038/s41550-019-0796-x    A VPHAS+ combined u g r multi-band “RGB” colour image centred on the planetary nebula central star (CS) candidate. The image is 55 x 55 arcseconds in size and the CS is obvious as the sole blue star in the middle of field, located at RA:16h13m02.1s and DEC:-54o06’32.3” (J2000). A current plot from cluster WDs for the latest IFMR estimates from Cummings et al (2018), together with our estimated point for BMP1613-5406 plotted as a red circle. The only other point from a known OC PN is plotted as a yellow circle (Parker et al 2011). The errors attached to our point reflect the errors in the adopted cluster parameters and the spread of the estimated CS magnitudes.

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HKU Science delegates visited Institute of Oceanology, China Academy of Sciences to discuss on collaboration opportunities

Dean of Science Professor Matthew Evans, Director and Associate Director of HKU Swire Institute of Marine Science (SWIMS) Professor Gray Williams and Dr Bayden Russell visited Institute of Oceanology, China Academy of Sciences in early June to discuss on the possible collaboration opportunities on marine science research. The group also visited the Marine Biological Museum, Marine Science Big Data Centre and Marine Biological Laboratory during the visit.

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HKU partners with TCL to set up “HKU-TCL Joint Research Centre for AI”: Fostering research development in Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Caption: MoU Signing of “HKU-TCL Joint Research Centre for AI” with Dr Tomson Li (Chairman and CEO of TCL), Dr Xiaolin Yan (Chief Technology Officer and President of Corporate Research of TCL), Professor Andy Hor (HKU Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research)), Professor Matthew Evans (Dean of HKU Science), Professor Billy Chow (Associate Dean of HKU Science (Development and External Relations)), Professor Yuguo Li (Associate Dean of HKU Engineering (Research)) and Professor Tak Wah Lam (Head of HKU Department of Computer Science).   In this digital era, artificial intelligence (AI) re-positions and re-writes the meaning of digital hardware, creating infinite possibilities to shape human life. HKU Faculty of Science and Faculty of Engineering received HK$30 million from TCL Corporation (TCL), which will be used to support artificial intelligence research undertaken at the “HKU-TCL Joint Research Centre for AI” for five years. HKU Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Andy Hor and TCL CTO and President of TCL Research Dr Xiaolin Yan represented the two institutions at the signing ceremony for Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on June 14.   This collaboration aims to synergise top-notched research and strength of enterprise, foster mutual exchange and translate research knowledge to creative and pioneering applications. Detailed terms of collaboration are under discussion, yet both parties agree to work on research areas of artificial intelligence based on the aforementioned framework. This agreement echoes TCL’s mission to transform creativity into cutting-edge technology, it also demonstrates the determination of HKU to enhance its competitiveness in the global realm of research.   Professor Andy Hor, HKU Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research), believed that the collaboration can consolidate the leading position of HKU. “As the development of artificial intelligence is becoming a global trend, we are very pleased to have a partner who shares the same vision as us. Together, we will grasp every opportunity to explore the research and application aspects of artificial intelligence and in-depth learning, with a view to maintaining our leading position in Asia, as well as our competitiveness in the academic spectrum across the globe,” said Professor Hor.   Professor Matthew Evans, Dean of HKU Science, expressed his gratitude of the unfailing support of TCL to HKU in the past two years. “TCL has been supporting our Faculty in research projects and training of talents and experts since 2017, promoting research excellence and creating research atmosphere. We are grateful to welcome another collaboration with them and HKU Faculty of Engineering, to join hands and foster research on AI and create a win-win outcome for three parties.”   Professor Yuguo Li, Associate Dean of HKU Engineering (Research), is also pleased to see the opportunities that this collaboration brings along. "We hope this innovative research centre can inject new power and novel thinking, turn creative ideas into wisdom, and pave avenue for more opportunities for artificial intelligence research in the future," said Professor Li.   Dr Tomson Li, Chairman and CEO of TCL, shows eminent support to this collaboration. “It will help us sharpen our technical competitiveness in semiconductor display and consumer electronics, further our innovation in artificial intelligence and grooming of talents; establishing this joint research centre with HKU is indeed a paramount component of TCL’s strategies in artificial intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT), which fosters the technological transformation and product upgrading in TCL, creating a brand new industry ecology,” stated Dr Li.   Dr Xiaolin Yan, Chief Technology Officer and President of Corporate Research of TCL, is very positive to this collaboration. “TCL always holds the visions of respecting technology and emphasising basic research; in recent years there is consistent increase of investment in technological research and development, a joint laboratory in new display materials ‘HKU-TCL joint laboratory for New Printable OLED Materials and Technology’ has been set up with HKU last year, and this joint research centre will be a milestone of more intense collaboration with HKU, demonstrating a new mode of industry-academic collaboration, also providing a secured platform for knowledge transfer of scientific research.”   Dr Dahai Yu, General Manager of AI Institute, TCL Corporate Research HK, echoed that “such collaboration is a remarkable one for Hong Kong-Greater Bay Area technological collaboration in artificial intelligence. We hope, through this collaboration, to scale higher with HKU in a wide range of aspects such as basic scientific research, application innovation and talent grooming; we believe there will be plentiful of collaboration with HKU in the future, facilitating the strategic development in artificial intelligence of TCL.”        

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Discovery about elephants using their sense of smell to compare quantities of food

A new study co-authored by HKU Assistant Professor Hannah Mumby has found that elephants can use their sense of smell to compare quantities of food —believed to be the first time such an ability has been demonstrated by any species, including humans. Animals’ capacity to differentiate between more and less can be critical to their decision making regarding social relationships, territory and food, and like humans, many species usually make these distinctions visually.  Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), the study of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) determined that they lead with their “noses” much more than humans do; elephants, we now know, can distinguish quantities purely through their olfactory sense. This conclusion, obtained through an imaginatively designed experiment, has exciting implications for further research into animals’ sensory experience of their worlds. In experiment, six elephants from the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation in Chiang Saen, Chiang Rai, Thailand, were presented with two different buckets with perforated lids, each containing a different number of sunflower seeds, which elephants consider a treat. The elephants were given ten seconds to engage with the buckets with their trunks; though they could smell the contents, the opaqueness of the buckets and covers prevented the animals from seeing inside. The buckets were then briefly retracted, and presented again — simultaneously so as not to provide unintended cues — this time with openable lids so the elephant could choose a bucket and access the food inside.  With statistically significant frequency, the elephants chose the bucket with more seeds in it, indicating that they could smell the larger quantity. Indeed, the elephants’ ability to choose the larger quantity improved when the differences between the two bucketed amounts were greater. But even with small differentials, the elephants were frequently able to determine the larger quantity – with differences as slight as 4 grams. “Remarkably, some of the elephants were able to distinguish between 150 and 180 sunflower seeds, a difference that would be hard for you or me to determine by sight,” said Dr Plotnik, lead author of the study. “While we have known that elephants have a remarkably acute sense of smell, their ability to distinguish between such subtle differences in quantity introduces new questions about how elephants may otherwise be using this powerful sense.” Previous research has assessed animals’ abilities to differentiate between quantities of food by sight, and many species perform well in selecting the larger amount. But there has been very little research on how animals might make such determinations and decisions using their other senses, which may simply reflect human’s vision-centric bias and projecting it on animals.  “The exciting thing about these experiments was thinking in terms of how elephants experience the world, rather than the way I do as a human,” said Dr Mumby. “The ability of elephants to distinguish small differences is interesting when comparing them to other taxa, as detecting food sources and collecting other information from scents and chemical signals is a widespread trait.”   Co-authors on the international team of researchers working in the United States, Hong Kong, England, Germany, and Thailand were Joshua Plotnik, Daniel L. Brubaker, Rachel Dale, Lydia N. Tiller, Hannah S. Mumby, and Nicola S. Clayton.

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HKU conservation biologists urge for needs of win-win strategies to tackle proximal and horizon threats to biodiversity

With an ever-growing list of threats facing biodiversity on multiple scales, conservationists struggle to determine which to address. A common reaction is to prioritise their efforts on threats to individual species or management areas, HKU conservation biologists argue that this narrow-minded approach is detrimental to the overall goal of saving species and ecosystems worldwide. Instead, in an article published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution on May 23, they urge for the needs of large-scale, long-term collaboration to tackle proximal and horizon threats to biodiversity.   "We are in a pivotal moment when we cannot just protect species from immediate and localised threats," said Dr Louise Ashton from the School of Biological Sciences of The University of Hong Kong (HKU), "We also need to prepare for future threats and protect against threats that function at large spatial scales." However, the limited resources available in conservation disciplines hinder the ability for broader collaboration with other scientists as well as between local, regional, and international agencies. In fact, it is not uncommon that due to limited resources, conservation biologists must downplay the importance of other research to secure funding for their own.   The authors including Dr Louise Ashton, Dr Timothy Bonebrake, Dr Caroline Dingle from the School of Biological Sciences, HKU, Dr David Baker from the School of Biological Sciences and Swire Institute of Marine Science, HKU, Ms Fengyi Guo from the School of Biological Sciences, HKU and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University and Professor Roger Kitching from Environmental Futures Research Institute and School of Environment and Science, Griffith University warn that this lack of collaboration is of particular concern as interactions between local and global-scaled threats, when left unacknowledged, can combine and become much more difficult to manage. In coral reefs, for example, the reef's health may be reduced by local stressors like nutrient run-off from agriculture or localised overfishing. Then, when global stressors come in to play, like ocean warming and acidification, the result is more devastating than what would be observed in a healthy reef. Such cascading effects, the authors said, could be better prevented by multi-regional, coordinated conservation efforts.   Space–Time Templet to Identify Proximal and Horizon Threats to Biodiversity The templet is an example of how to conceptualize multiple threats across different time/space scales and identify the most appropriate level of intervention for each threat (local, regional, national, and international). The placement of each threat in this templet may shift according to circumstances – for example, pollution may occur across multiple spatial scales (indicated by the grey background) – and the best level of response will shift accordingly. These threats to biodiversity (as well as others not included in this figure) will also interact with each other, compounding and accelerating loss of biodiversity. Source: Trends in Ecology & Evolution   "To get away from the compartmentalised approach to conservation, we need to re-evaluate funding and publishing models to find ways to encourage integrative research that considers current and future threats," said Dr Timothy Bonebrake from the School of Biological Sciences, HKU. "This means involving social scientists, local stakeholders, and political leaders as well."   Although climate change is center stage as the current worldwide threat to biodiversity, other challenges of equal magnitude are looming on the horizon. Hazards like nitrogen pollution and the impacts of soil microplastic residues top that list, the authors write.   "Ultimately, if we can aim for win-win conservation interventions, which mitigate the impacts of multiple threats, then it doesn't matter which threat is perceived to be the biggest," said Dr Ashton.   About the Research Paper Journal: Trends in Ecology and Evolution Title: Integrating Proximal and Horizon Threats to Biodiversity for Conservation Authors: Timothy Bonebrake (HKU), Caroline Dingle (HKU), David Baker (HKU), Louise Ashton (HKU), Roger Kitching (Griffith University), Fengyi Guo (HKU and Princeton University)   Link of the research paper  

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Professor Guochun Zhao and Professor Min Sun received the 2018 Natural Science Award (First Class) of Chinese Education Ministry

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HKU earth scientists discovered century-scale deep-water circulation dynamics in the North Atlantic Ocean throughout the last 20,000 years

Dr Moriaki Yasuhara, Dr Hisayo Okahashi, and Dr Huai-Hsuan May Huang from HKU School of Biological Sciences and Swire Institute of Marine Science, in collaboration with scientists in Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Duke University, and US Geological Survey have recently reported their discovery on a key driver of past and perhaps future abrupt climate change that is deep-water dynamics in the North Atlantic Ocean in the journal Geology.   Since the proposal of “conveyor belt” paradigm by Wallace S Broecker, in 1980s, the deep ocean circulation, now known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), has been widely regarded as an important driver of global climate changes. The AMOC is a process that cold and salty surface water sinks into deep ocean in the highlatitude North Atlantic Ocean, the lower limb deep water (known as North Atlantic Deep Water: NADW) flows southward (Image 1), and eventually upwells to the surface in the North Pacific Ocean. The strength of this circulation is known to affect global heat flow and regional climates. To study this circulation dynamics, the North Atlantic Ocean is especially important, because it is the place that deep water is formed through cooling surface water in the high latitude.   The lower (deeper) part of NADW below 2,500 meters is well studied, but upper NADW (intermediate water) behavior is poorly understood for the last deglaciation, that is, the transitional period from the last ice age to the warmer contemporary interglacial climate state. Furthermore, NADW dynamics for the past ~11,700 years (known as the Holocene) remain equivocal. Dr Yasuhara and his collaborators showed that subtropical North Atlantic intermediate-water temperature varied significantly during both of these time periods, based on trace element geochemistry of calcified shells of deep-sea microcrustacean Ostracoda in a sediment core (Image 2). Their reconstructions reveal a series of multi-century-scale abrupt deep-water warming events likely caused by the reduction deep-water circulation. The authors also discovered that many of these weakening events of deep-water circulation can be widely recognized in the western North Atlantic. These deglacial–Holocene deep-water-circulation dynamics are important for understanding present and future trends in Earth's climatic system because warming and resulting polarice melt can change the deep-water circulation. Recent United Nations IPBES (The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) report indicated that ~1 million species are now are threatened with extinction (link), changes in Earth's climatic system is an important part of the reason of this.   Lead author of the study Dr Yasuhara said "Holocene deep-water circulation was more dynamic than previously thought. There is increasing evidence that this circulation change in the North Atlantic affects climates of remote places including East Asia and also marine and terrestrial ecosystems. As recently discovered by scientists including my HKU colleagues Drs Benoit Thibodeau and Christelle Not, this global deep-water circulation has substantially weakened during the last century1. If further weakening happened in the future, there may be unexpectedly broad implications not only on our atomospheric and ocean systems but also on Earth's ecological systems and our society".   “Quantifying the intensity of North Atlantic Circulation in the past is one of the grand challenge of our field. In order to better understand the magnitude and significance of the 20th century weakening trend in the circulation1 we need more reconstruction of its intensity in the past, like the one provided by the study of Dr Yasuhara and colleagues.” mentioned Dr Thibodeau in the Department of Earth Sciences.   About the Research Paper Journal: Geology Title: North Atlantic intermediate water variability over the past 20,000 years Authors: Moriaki Yasuhara (HKU), Peter B. deMenocal (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University), Gary S. Dwyer (Duke University), Thomas M. Cronin (US Geological Survey), Hisayo Okahashi (HKU), and Huai-Hsuan May Huang (HKU)   To view the research paper   1 Supplemental reading: Last century warming over the Canadian Atlantic shelves linked to weak Atlantic Meridional Overturning circulation. Thibodeau B, Not C, Zhu, J, A Schmittner, D Noone, C Tabor, J Zhang & Z Liu, Geophysical Research Letters, 45 (22), 12376-12385. (link)   Image 1: Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio (link)   Also see this youtube movie (link)   Images 2a & b: Calcitic shells of deep-sea ostracod genus Krithe. Shells of this genus were used for geochemical analysis. Note that these are just for illustration purpose and not the specimens from the studied area. Photo credit: Moriaki Yasuhara

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HKU Science Faculty website won Award of Distinction in an international website contest

  In light of HKU Science Oak Anniversary, a website was launched in January 2019. This new face has recently been awarded the Award of Distinction in the Communicators Awards 2019. The new Faculty website aims to present a fresh look with global and international image, simultaneously serves as a user-friendly gateway for prospective students, researchers, alumni and the public to better understand our commitment in teaching and research. We hope this magazine-like style of reading could bring comfortable experience of users visiting our website, and to make it accessible for all. The Communicator Awards is the leading international awards program founded over two decades ago. The 25th Annual Communicator Awards received over 6,000 entries from a wide range of agencies and firms of creativity and production, making it one of the largest awards of its kind in the world. The Communicator Awards are judged and overseen by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA), based on creative work, quality of craft, excellence in marketing and communications.

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HKU biologists discover cell division requires a balanced level of non-coding RNA for chromosome stability

Our genetic code is stored in chromosomes that are composed of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). To make sure the genetic code is maintained accurately in all the cells, our cells must replicate precisely and distribute its chromosomes equally to its two daughter cells during every cell cycle. Errors in chromosome separation result in cells with an abnormal number of chromosomes, which may cause spontaneous abortion, genetic diseases or cancers. One chromosomal element that is important for proper chromosome segregation is the centromere, a unique region of DNA on the chromosome that directs chromosome movement during cell division.   Dr Karen Wing Yee Yuen and Dr Yick Hin Ling, Assistant Professor and and Postdoctoral Fellow respectively from the School of Biological Sciences, discovered that centromeric DNA is used as a template to produce a non-protein coding, centromeric RNA (ribonucleic acid), that is essential for chromosome stability. If there is too much or too little centromeric RNA (cenRNA), the centromere will be defective and chromosomes will be lost. The findings were recently published in one of the top multidisciplinary journals, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) (link). This research article is recommended by F1000Prime, whose members selected approximately the top 2% of all published articles in the biology and medical sciences each year, and the recommended Faculty commented that this PNAS article is of special significance and an emerging frontier in the centromere biology field.   The DNA of our chromosomes codes for about 20,000 proteins. When the cell needs to produce a particular protein, such as insulin, the segment of DNA molecule coding for insulin, known as a gene, is first used as a template to copy into a RNA molecule. That RNA then serves as a recipe for directing the cells to make the specific protein. However, only 2% of our DNA is protein-coding. Yet, another 70% of our DNA is still copied into RNAs, which are not recipes to make proteins. Those are called non-coding RNA. These non-coding RNAs are once considered as “junk”. In recent years, however, researches have revealed vital roles of non-coding RNA, such as in gene regulation and maintaining chromosome structure.   Dr Karen Yuen, who leads HKU’s Chromosome Biology Laboratory in the School of Biological Sciences, said, “Our current study is performed in single-cell organism, the baker’s yeast, but non-coding RNA copied from the DNA of the centromere is also found in multicellular organisms such as humans, mice and flies, suggesting that centromeric RNA (cenRNA) is a fundamentally important molecule that is commonly used by nature to control cell division.”   Dr Yuen added, “Our lab often uses simple model organisms, including the soil-living microscopic roundworm and single-cell baker’s yeast, which we also use for baking bread and making beer, to understand basic, important cellular processes. The mechanism of cell division is strikingly similar in many forms of life. These little organisms allow us to do experiments that are difficult to perform in humans or mammalian cells. Many applied, clinical researches began by studying the cellular processes in these model organisms. Important cell biology researches using yeast have been awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine recently in 2013 and 2016.”   The first author of the work, a former PhD student and current Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Yick Hin Ling from Dr Yuen’s lab, said, “Recent research shows abnormally high expression of centromeric RNA in some cancers like ovarian cancers. Mis-regulation of cenRNA in the cell might contribute to cancer progression. Further study is required to test this.” For disease diagnosis and therapies, Dr Ling said, “We will try to see if cenRNA could be used as a cancer biomarker. If the cancer cells release a high level of cenRNA to the blood, it could be used for early detection or for monitoring the malignancy of the tumor.”   Dr Karen Wing Yee YUEN (right) and Dr Yick Hin LING (left) studying the function of centromeric RNA in maintaining chromosome stability using baker’s yeast.   Centromere, a specialized region of DNA on the chromosome, directs chromosome movement during cell division. Courtesy of Jasmine Lau, an undergraduate student helper in Yuen’s Lab.   Two types of RNA in our cell: Coding RNA directs cells to make proteins; Non-coding RNA performs a wide range of activities including gene regulation and maintaining chromosome structure. Courtesy of Jasmine Lau.  

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Monte Carlo study led by HKU physicist reveals the parent state of quantum phases

Teaser Numerical simulations provide the first concrete evidence of 2D (U1) deconfined matter, an exotic phase whose existence has been hotly pursued by both condensed-matter and high-energy physicists.   About the research  An international research team, led by Dr Zi Yang Meng, Associate Professor from the Department of Physics and the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, comprised of Dr Xiao Yan Xu from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Dr Yang Qi from Fudan University, Dr Long Zhang from Kavil Institute of Theoretical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Cenke Xu from University of California, Santa Barbara and Professor Fakher Assaad from University of Wuerzburg, have made a substantial discovery in novel state of quantum matter via large-scale Monte Carlo simulations and field theoretical analysis. The research work is published in the latest issue of Physical Review X – the leading journal of American Physical Society – (link). Below is a brief description of their story:   An exotic two dimensional state of matter known as a U(1) Dirac spin liquid could help condensed-matter physicists explain perplexing observations of many high-temperature superconductors and frustrated magnets. High-energy physicists are also interested in these spin liquids as they might be a key to understand predictions from quantum electrodynamics of a “deconfined” state of matter, one where elementary particles split from a conventional description of particles or fields. And yet neither community knows whether this phase even exists. Here, the aforementioned team use computer simulations, performed on the two of world largest supercomputers Tianhe-1A and Tianhe-II in the National Supercomputer Centers in Tianjin and Guangzhou, China, to provide for the first time concrete evidence of its existence.   The emergence of a U(1) Dirac spin liquid (or “deconfined matter”, in the parlance of high-energy physics) depends on two ingredients: a (U1) gauge field and a spinon. A spinon is a “fractional” spin of a fermion, whereas the (U1) gauge field mediates interactions between spinons. It is thought that a spin liquid arises when spinons and their gauge field are put on a 2D square lattice. To explore this possibility, they designed a model by discretizing U(1) gauge fields into a space-time lattice that interacts with fermions, see Fig.1 for schematic description of the model and the U1 Dirac spin liquid state.   Fig.1. Schematic plot of the lattice model of fermion fields coupled with U1 gauge fields and the deconfined state in which the fermions (spinons) form the so-call Dirac cones (the blue cones with their linear dispersion) and coupled with the flucutations U1 gauge fields (the yellow waves). [Image by Leran Liu]   Using state-of-the-art quantum Monte Carlo simulations, performed on two of the world largest supercomputers (Tianhe-1A and Tianhe-2 in the National Supercomputer Centers in Tianjin and Guangzhou, respectively), they simulated the model with various fermion species and found, in all cases, a smoking gun signature of 2D U(1) deconfined matter. By tuning coupling constants in the model, they also observed continuous transitions between deconfined and confined states. One particular fermion species (4) also exhibits a novel type of quantum critical point – the deconfined quantum critical point – which is also under intensive investigations from other areas in condensed matter and high-energy physics. It is believed that the richness of the phase diagram and firm existence of the U(1) deconfined state of matter will trigger a number of future investigations on the numerical and analytical fronts in the condensed-matter and high-energy communities.   Acknowledgement The large-scale simulations are performed on the Tianhe-1A platform at the National Supercomputer Center in Tianjin and Tianhe-2 platform at the National Supercomputer Center in Guangzhou, the authors acknowledge the technical support and generous allocation of CPU time from these centers. The authors also thank the funding support from the HKRGC through HKUST3/CRF/13G and C6026-16W, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China through the National Key Research and Development Program (2016YFA0300502, 2018YFA0305802), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB28000000, XDPB08-4, XDB28040200), the National Science Foundation of China (11574359, 11674370) and the DFG research unit FOR1807.   Journal Reference Monte Carlo Study of Lattice Compact Quantum Electrodynamics with Fermionic Matter: The Parent State of Quantum Phases, Xiao Yan Xu, Yang Qi, Long Zhang, Fakher F. Assaad, Cenke Xu, and Zi Yang Meng, Phys. Rev. X 9, 021022 (2019) (link of the paper)

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HKU and Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinse Academy of Sciences (CAS SIMM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to foster research collaborations

HKU Dean of Science Professor Matthew Evans and Director General of CAS SIMM Professor Jia Li signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Shanghai on April 18, 2019. Professor Chi-ming Che, Head of Chemistry and Zhou Guangzhao Professorship in Natural Sciences, representatives from the Department including Professor Hongzhe Sun, Norman and Cecilia Yip Professorship in Bioinorganic Chemistry, Professor Pauline Chiu, Dr Xiaoyu Li, Dr Ying Li and Dr Edmund Tse and two Academicians from CAS SIMM Professor Kaixian Chen and Professor Jianmin Yue also attended the Signing Ceremony.   The agreement does not only foster research collaborations and joint laboratory establishment, but also enhances students’ learning experience by offering student exchange opportunities and joint training at graduate levels.

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Are brown dwarfs failed stars or super-planets?

Brown dwarfs are celestial bodies that are less massive than stars and more massive than planets. It remains unclear whether they all form like stars in interstellar gas clouds or they can also form like planets in disks of gas and dust around young stars. A team of astronomers that includes Dr Man Hoi Lee from the Department of Physics and Department of Earth Sciences and former postdoctoral fellow Dr Trifon Trifonov in his team discovered that the star v Ophiuchi is orbited by two brown dwarfs in a 6:1 orbital resonance configuration. The orbital periods of the two brown dwarfs are 530 and 3185 days, which means that the brown dwarf closer to v Ophiuchi orbits its star six times while the more distant brown dwarf completes one orbit. This system is the first to have two brown dwarfs in orbital resonance, and the period ratio of the resonance is also the largest discovered so far for a pair of brown dwarfs or planets orbiting a star. This 6:1 resonant configuration strongly indicates that these brown dwarfs formed like planets in a disk around the star and underwent migration due to interactions with the disk. The finding has just been published as a highlighted paper in the 2019 April issue of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.    Link to the paper   棕矮星是失敗的恆星還是超級行星？ 棕矮星是一類質量在較重的恆星和較輕的行星之間的天體，目前尚不清楚它們是否都像恆星一樣在星際氣體雲中形成，或者它們也可能像行星一樣在圍繞原恆星的氣體和塵埃盤中形成。一個包括來自香港大學的李文愷博士和前任博士後研究員 Trifon Trifonov的天文學家團隊發現了圍繞蛇夫座v恆星的兩顆棕矮星是在一個6：1共振軌道結構。這兩顆棕矮星的公轉周期分別為530和3185天，意味著當靠近蛇夫座v星的棕矮星繞其恆星運行六次，較遠的棕矮星便完成一個軌道運行。這個系統是第一個有一對棕矮星在軌道共振中，並且共振的周期比率也是在已知的圍繞恆星的棕矮星或行星中最大的一對。這種6：1的共振軌道結構強烈地表明這兩顆棕矮星像行星一樣在圍繞原恆星的氣體和塵埃盤中形成，並且由於與原行星盤的相互作用而進行遷移。這一結果剛剛在2019年4月的《天文和天體物理》期刊上作為重點論文發表。   論文連結  

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Thirteen new ant species discovered in Hong Kong

"If you believe that all life surrounding you in Hong Kong has been discovered, then you'll realise that you just need to look a bit closer… not for big things, but for ants and other insects walking at your feet, to find a plethora of new creatures," said Dr Benoit Guénard from the School of Biological Sciences.   In two separate articles recently published in Zookeys and Asian Myrmecology, Dr Guénard and his team expanded the knowledge on Hong Kong ants by adding 13 species to the 174 species officially recorded.   Among those are three new species of the genus "Strumigenys", also known as miniature trap-jaw ants, new to Science and thus far known only from Hong Kong. As their name indicates, these species are tiny, measuring only 2 to 4mm long but are astounding predators of the small arthropods living in the forest leaf-litter. They can open their mandibles widely and snap their prey with the fast-closing movement of their mandibles.   The new species described by a recent HKU graduate student Wilfred Kit Lam Tang, and the researchers Mr Mac Pierce and Dr Benoit Guénard, are named Strumigenys hirsuta, in reference to its hairy appearance; Strumigenys lantaui, as this extremely rare species is known only from a single locality on Lantau Island; and Strumigenys nathistorisoc, in honour of the Hong Kong Natural History Society who funded this research through the Name an Ant Program (https://benoitguenard.wordpress.com/name-an-ant/) which invites donors to support scientific research on biodiversity in exchange for having a species named after them.   Profile (top), dorsal (bottom left) and head (bottom right) views of Strumigenys hirsuta, one of the three new ant species described from Hong Kong for the first time.     Profile (top left), antennal (top right), dorsal (bottom left) and head (bottom right) views of Strumigenys lantaui, one of the three new ant species described from Hong Kong for the first time.   Profile (top left), mandibular (top right), dorsal (bottom left) and head (bottom right) views of Strumigenys nathistorisoc, one of the three new ant species described from Hong Kong for the first time.   Ken Bradley, Chairman of the Hong Kong Natural History Society (www.hknhs.org) said that the Society readily supports Dr Guénard's research which is line with the Society's objective of "encouraging the study of Natural History in general and in particular in Hong Kong". "There are still many species in Hong Kong to be discovered and the support and involvement from the community in this endeavour is absolutely fundamental," said Dr. Guénard.   Dr Benoit Guénard and Ken Bradley, Chairman of the Hong Kong Natural History Society. New ant species Strumigenys nathistorisoc is named in honour of the Society which funded this research   Another five species of Strumigenys are newly recorded from Hong Kong but had already been described from other Asian regions. One of them, Strumigenys formosa, was known only from Taiwan where only two queens had been collected since its discovery in 1988. For the first time, the worker caste is thus described from a single specimen collected in Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve; enhancing our knowledge on this species' distribution and its importance for conservation. Other species recorded were previously known from South East Asia, Japan, Taiwan or other provinces of China. Finding these new, and for some of them rare species, is a good thing for Hong Kong and its biodiversity, but other discoveries are more worrisome.   Head (left), profile (middle) and dorsal (right) views of four new exotic ant species detected in Hong Kong; (A-C) Strumigenys hexamera, (D-F) S. membranifera, (G-I) S. nepalensis, and (J-L) S. rogeri.   Indeed, five of the species newly recorded are non-native to Hong Kong, four belonging to the Strumigenys genus, and one, Brachymyrmex patagonicus, here recorded for the first time from mainland Asia. This latter is an urban pest well-known for its ability to enter and establish nests within a wide range of buildings, like hospitals, hotels, schools, and houses, and colonise various rooms such as kitchens, offices, and laundry rooms, but also more sensitive areas such as infirmary and neonatal units. In some American states, where it is also introduced, it has become the species causing the most frequent intervention from pest control companies. If the population in Hong Kong, currently known only from Hung Hom, was to proliferate, it would most likely induce an increase in pest management costs; and more harmful for the environment and populations, a more frequent use of pesticides.   The discovery of five more exotic species in Hong Kong, like the fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) in the early 2000's, highlights the regional importance of Hong Kong in importing species, some with important consequences for human populations and local biodiversity. It also indicates the need to deploy efficient survey and monitoring programmes to quickly detect these species after their arrival so targeted actions to suppress them or limit their spread through Hong Kong and beyond can be activated.   Monitoring Hong Kong insects can thus reveal both beautiful and alarming discoveries. With probably several hundreds, if not thousands of species waiting to be found, it shows the fantastic diversity that the city still has to offer if protected sufficiently. In parallel, it also represents an important step for uncovering more alarming species, in particular exotic ones for which early detection represents a key requirement to ensure success in the limitation of their spread and negative impacts. Links of journals: Tang K.L., M.P. Pierce, & B. Guénard (2019). Review of the genus Strumigenys (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmicinae) in Hong Kong with the description of three new species and the addition of five native and four introduced species records. Zookeys 831, 1-48. https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/31515/ Guénard B. (2019) First record of the emerging global pest Brachymyrmex patagonicus Mayr 1868 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from continental Asia. Asian Myrmecology 10: e010011. (link)  

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Science Teachers Received the HKU Excellence Awards 2018

Congratulations to our teachers for their being honored at the HKU Excellence Awards Presentation Ceremony 2018. The Faculty is very proud of their achievements and would like to join the university to pay tribute to the outstanding work of our exceptional teachers and researchers.   Outstanding Teaching Award 2017-18 Professor Alice S T WONG, School of Biological Sciences more   Outstanding Researcher Award 2017-18 Professor Xuechen LI, Department of Chemistry more   Outstanding Young Researcher Award 2017-18 Dr Benjamin R KANE, Department of Mathematics more

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Ancient birds out of the egg running

The ~125 million-year-old Early Cretaceous fossil beds of Los Hoyas, Spain have long been known for producing thousands of petrified fish and reptiles (Fig 1.). However, one special fossil stands unique and is one of the rarest of fossils — a nearly complete skeleton of a hatchling bird. Using their own laser imaging technology, Dr Michael Pittman from the Department of Earth Sciences and Thomas G Kaye from the Foundation for Scientific Advancement in the USA determined the lifestyle of this ~3cm long hatchling bird by revealing the previously unknown feathering preserved in the fossil specimen (Fig. 2).   Chickens and ducks are up and about within hours of hatching, they are “precocial” (Fig. 3). Pigeons and eagles are “altricial”, they stay in the nest and are looked after by their parents. How do you tell if a hatchling came “out of the egg running” or was “naked and helpless in the nest”? Feathers. When precocial birds hatch they have developed down feathers and partly developed large feathers and can keep warm and get around without mum’s help. “Previous studies searched for but failed to find any hints of feathers on the Los Hoyas hatchling. This meant that its original lifestyle was a mystery,” says Dr Pittman.   Michael Pittman and Thomas Kaye brought new technology to the study of Los Hoyas fossils in the form of a high power laser. This made very small chemical differences in the fossils become visible by fluorescing them different colours, revealing previously unseen anatomical details. They recently had tremendous success with the first discovered fossil feather which they disassociated from the famous early bird Archaeopteryx by recovering the chemical signature of its fossil quill, a key part of the feather’s identification that had been previously unverified for ~150 years. The new results on the hatchling bird finally answered the question about its lifestyle as it did indeed have feathers at birth (Figs. 2, 4) and was thus precocial and out of the egg running. The feathers were made of carbon which has low fluorescence using Laser-Stimulated Fluorescence (LSF), but the background matrix did glow making the feathers stand out in dramatic dark silhouette (Fig. 2). “Previous attempts using UV lights and synchrotron beams failed to detect the feathers, underscoring that the laser technology stands alone as a new tool in palaeontology” added Tom Kaye, the study’s lead author.   This discovery via new technology demonstrates that some early birds adopted a precocial breeding strategy just like modern birds. Thus, in the time of the dinosaurs, some enantiornithine bird babies had the means to avoid the dangers of Mesozoic life perhaps by following their parents or moving around themselves. “One of the feathers discovered was of a substantial size and preserves features seen in other hatchlings. It indicates that our hatchling had reasonably well-developed flight feathers at the time of birth”, says Jesús Marugán-Lobón, a co-author from the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid, Spain (Figs. 2B, 4). This and other “illuminating” discoveries are adding to our knowledge of ancient life with details surviving in the fossil record that were never thought possible even a couple decades ago.   The paper: ‘Fully fledged enantiornithine hatchling revealed by Laser-Stimulated Fluorescence supports precocial nesting behavior’ by T. Kaye, M. Pittman, J. Marugán-Lobón , H. Martín Abad , J. Sanz & A. Buscalioni in Scientific Reports.    Link to journal article   Figure 1. Las Hoyas, Spain is known for spectacular fossils preserved in 126+ million-year-old rocks deposited in a lake environment. Image Credit: HKU MOOC / HKU Vertebrate Palaeontology Laboratory.   Figure 2. Feathers revealed in a ~125 million-year-old fossil of a bird hatchling shows it came “out of the egg running”. Specimen MPCM-LH-26189 from Los Hoyas, Spain is preserved between two slabs of rock: (a) ‘counter’ slab under normal light (b) Laser-Stimulated Fluorescence (LSF) image combining the results from both rock slabs. This reveals brown patches around the specimen that include clumps of elongate feathers associated with the neck and wings and a single long vaned feather associated with the left wing. (c) Normal light image of the main slab. Scale is 5mm. Image Credit: Kaye et al. 2019   Figure 3. Chickens are up and about within hours of hatching, they are “precocial’ birds that were already known in the age of dinosaurs. Image licensed from Shutterstock.com   Figure 4. A bird hatchling leaving its nest shortly after birth ~125 million years ago. This baby bird lived in a lake environment and may have been born on the ground like some other extinct enantiornithine birds. Image Credit: Julius T Csotonyi / HKU Vertebrate Palaeontology Laboratory.

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HKU Faculty of Science Laboratory for Space Research gains access to mainland national observatory facilities for the entire Hong Kong astronomer community

The Laboratory for Space Research (LSR) of HKU Faculty of Science strives to play an important role in strategically positioning astrophysics, space and planetary research of both HKU and Hong Kong SAR to a higher level. A senior LSR delegation led by Prof. Quentin Parker recently opened the avenue for collaboration with the Mainland National Astronomical Observatories and embarked on several other key initiatives during its visit to elite Chinese institutes and Universities in Beijing and Shanghai in early March. This succeeded well beyond the team’s expectations with agreements and opportunities galore!   The LSR believes there will probably never be a better time for HKU to push forward on Space and Planetary Sciences than now. This is given the massive Mainland expansion and expenditure in this area and shift in focus to major science missions in space. The science and engineering opportunities available and possibilities for HK SAR and HKU are significant. “Timing is important. This all comes at a period when there is also very strong upstream pressure for Mainland engagement with HK, Macau and the Greater Bay Area. We do not underestimate the importance of this. Our trip solidified existing initiatives and secured other excellent opportunities,” said Professor Quentin Parker, Director of LSR.   At its visit to Beijing Institute of Space Mechanics and Electricity (BISME), the team finalised an important MoU with them – BISME are responsible for manufacturing the NJU-HKU No.1 satellite due for launch as early as October 2019. At the visit to the National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC), the LSR finalised an MoU both parties have been working on together for nearly a year. This MoU has far-reaching and strategically important consequences. The most important is that the MoU includes access rights for the first time for all HK astronomers to all ground based Mainland facilities and those available via international agreements. So now HK SAR based astronomers can apply for time in open competition with their Chinese peers on any telescope that China has access to, just like for Mainland universities. HKU LSR negotiated this on-behalf of the entire HK SAR astronomical community in all tertiary education establishments (there are currently around 60 active astronomy researchers in HK SAR across HKU, HKUST, CUHK that could benefit including postdoctoral fellows and research postgraduate students, including around 25 at HKU). This is a highly significant, positive development for HK scientists and astronomers and demonstrates our open-handed, collaborative approach.   HKU was also invited to become a member of the NAOC-led Chinese participation in the International Thirty Metre Telescope project (TMT: see www.tmt.org). Chinese membership of this consortium is a flagship science project of national significance. We are hoping for HK SAR government and HKU can support us to participate and lead HK astronomers in this wonderful opportunity.   Another highlight was our visit to Shanghai to talk with Shanghai government officials and senior directors and representatives from the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technologies (SAST). An MoU was signed and HKU (under the auspices of the LSR) was invited to become a full member of the SAST led Joint Innovation Centre for Space Science (JICSS) that was established in May 2018. We will be joining 17 top Mainland universities in an endeavor that is expected to lead all major Chinese-led space science satellite missions in the future. HKU has an opportunity to lead such a future mission via the JICSS. Finally, Shanghai and Hong Kong have a joint innovation commission between our two great cities and it was suggested by the government officials that Space Science could form a key part of this initiative for high-tech endeavours both at HKU-ZIRI (www.ziri.hku.hk) and in the GBA.   About LSR The LSR is well situated in a dynamic region of Asia to foster links with the space science community in China and globally as is already occurring. The LSR’s interdisciplinary research launches various bids to exploit and access the emerging Mainland funding and research environment. We plan to develop multilateral and strategic partnerships with world-leading space science institutes, and participate in large, international, high-impact space missions. We see this as an effective means to better position the LSR, the Departments of Physics and Earth Sciences, the newly established Research Divisions of the Faculty of Science and so HKU, as a serious node of knowledge, expertise and capacity in space science and related disciplines. Website: www.lsr.hku.hk   LSR-BISME group photo MoU Signing with NAOC Beijing March 7th with deputy NAOC director Prof. Xue Suijian and NAOC director of International relations plus Prof. Quentin Parker, Dr Meng Su and Dr Pablo Saz Parkinson   SAST-LSR MoU signing, Shanghai March 8th with senior representatives from Shanghai Government and directors from SAST

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New Endowed Professorships established in Faculty of Science

Two Endowed Professorships of Faculty of Science were inaugurated on March 20, 2019. May we congratulate Professor Hongzhe SUN on being conferred “Norman and Cecilia Yip Professorship in Bioinorganic Chemistry”, and Professor Guosheng YIN on succeeding “Patrick S C Poon Professor in Statistics and Actuarial Science”. In celebration of Faculty’s 80th Oak Anniversary, “Norman and Cecilia Yip Professorship in Bioinorganic Chemistry” was established for catalysing the study of bioinorganic chemistry, with the hope to bring impacts on human lives. The professorship was conferred to Professor Hongzhe SUN, Chair of Chemistry at HKU. Professor Sun’s research interests lie in the frontier of inorganic chemistry and biology, and medicine. He and his team recently made a medical breakthrough in developing a drug that can be used to paralyse multi-resistant superbugs. He was the recipient of a Croucher Senior Research Fellowship (2010-11) and numerous renowned awards, as well as the editor of international journals. Professor Guosheng YIN is the Head and Professor of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at HKU. Professor Yin’s main research areas cover clinical trial methodology, adaptive design, deep learning, big data, data mining and machine learning, Bayesian methods, change-point, and survival analysis. He was among the world’s top 1% of scientists ranked in one of the 22 subject fields of Thomson Reuters according to Essential Science Indicators in 2015. He has published over 140 peer-reviewed papers in top-tier statistical journals and received numerous international awards. Congratulations again to Professor SUN and Professor YIN for being conferred the above Endowed Professorships.   For more information about the professorships, please click the links below: About Patrick S C Poon Professorship in Analytics and Innovation About Norman and Cecilia Yip Professorship in Bioinorganic Chemistry      

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Ecology students won Sustainable Development Promotion Award

A team of Science undergraduate students majoring in Ecology & Biodiversity won the top prize "The Outstanding Project Award" at the second Sustainable Development Promotion Award (SDPA) for Students of Higher Education Institutions, with their project entitled "Criss Cross Country Parks".   The competition, organised by the Council for Sustainable Development (CSR) of the Hong Kong SAR Government, was to encourage participants to organize projects for applying sustainable practices in daily lives and spreading the messages to their peers, families and the community. At the prize presentation ceremony, the Chairman of CSR said that he was impressed with the high standard of the entries, which proved that the SDPA could inspire wisdom, passion, creativity and commitment among university students.   Congratulations to our students for their distinguished performance in the competition.   For more information, please visit: https://bit.ly/2W41VF2

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Laughter Filled the Air at the Launch of Oak Anniversary Celebrations

The Faculty of Science is celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2019, and its official launch at the Opening Ceremony cum Homecoming Day on March 9, 2019 marks the commencement of a host of year-long celebration activities. The event was attended by more than 200 alumni, friends and members of HKU Science family. Professor Xiang ZHANG, President and Vice-Chancellor of HKU, appreciated the continuous efforts of the Faculty in creating new frontiers in scientific research. ‘HKU Science has long been a forerunner in education and research, striving to inspire the next generation and benefit the mankind through pioneering research. This unfailing quest for knowledge of HKU Science community echoes with the anniversary motto “Science Founds Sapientia; Oak Sprouts Virtus”, derived from the symbolic meaning of oak, the chosen gift for 80th anniversary. I hope this Faculty oak grow lush, vibrant and strong and reaches far to the community.”   Professor Matthew EVANS, Dean of Science, was delighted to see the solidarity and opportunities for meeting old friends that will be brought by the 80th anniversary. ‘This auspicious occasion allows the Faculty to highlight its notable contributions, to reconnect with our generations of alumni and feature their achievements. We hope this reunion brings memories of joy and laughter for all, and through fun-filled games, exhibits, campus tours and the chance to mingle with faculty members and students, our alumni can reminisce about their fond memories of university life and get to know about the latest developments of the Faculty. To add meaning to the oak anniversary, we also invite our guests to witness the planting of our anniversary oak today and its growth over the coming years.’   While reiterating the Faculty’s vision ‘being pre-eminent in Hong Kong, leading in Asia and highly competitive globally across research, teaching and knowledge exchange’ at its launch of anniversary celebration, Professor EVANS hoped that the establishment of the Faculty Oak Anniversary Fund could provide eye-opening learning experiences for students, facilitate the development of new innovative research, and furnish the central research facilities in the new science building and the expansion of Swire Institute of Marine Science.   On its 80th birthday, the Faculty would also like to take the opportunity to promote science literacy. “We would like to further enhance the linkage of science to the community and reconnect our alumni and friends,” Professor EVANS said. “The Faculty endeavours to engage the public in a wide range of knowledge exchange activities, making scientific knowledge accessible to enhance human and environmental well-being,” he added.   Oak Anniversary emphasises the “connect” message among generations of HKU Science family.  In light of this, we are collecting 80 Science stories. We hold the belief that via sharing, Science family could reconnect and exchange. Our alumni may step into different industries after graduation and live diversely, but undoubtedly they share the same starting point — HKU Science; our teachers, students and staff may come from various backgrounds and have their own past, but undeniably their present and future attach to HKU Science. We wish these stories could arouse resonance among HKU Science community and together we grow the Oak tree. Video: https://youtu.be/gMEmsQHQ9nY Photo gallery: https://www.scifac.hku.hk/photo-gallery/openingcere Guests toasting at the happy occasion The HKU Science family President Xiang ZHANG and Dean of Science Matthew EVANS planting the oak tree for the Faculty of Science 80th Anniversary Distinguished alumni and guests witnessing the planting of the oak tree Current students celebrating the 80th birthday party of the Faculty Students demonstrating “HKU Cheers” to generations of alumni, recalling their fond memories of the good old days  

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HKU Science continues ranking high in QS World University Rankings by Subject 2019

  The Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject 2019 is just out. HKU Science continues ranking high among the world’s top universities. Our achievements are summarized as follows:   By disciplines Natural Science Ranking #31   By subjects Biological Sciences Ranking #48 Chemistry Ranking #34 Earth and Marine Sciences Ranking #41 Environmental Sciences Ranking #51-100 Materials Science Ranking #51-100 Mathematics Ranking #45 Physics and Astronomy Ranking #51-100   Statistics and Operational Research Ranking #34  

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港大化學學者成功研發新一類穩健金（III）配合物 展示其蒸鍍型有機發光二極管具有長壽命和可調發光顏色特性

香港大學化學系任詠華教授領導的研究團隊成功克服了設計穩健金（III）配合物的關鍵合成難題，並首次展示高效、長壽的金（III）有機發光二極管，其器件壽命半衰期可達83,000小時。任教授團隊的研究成果剛於1月在國際頂尖科學期刊《自然—光子學》(Nature Photonics) 中發表 (連結)）。   黃金是一種貴族金屬，自古以來就被廣泛應用於貨幣和裝飾珠寶，最近更在工業中被廣泛使用，以其惰性、低毒性、環保和良性特性而聞名。隨著中國擁有世界第二大黃金儲備，我們擁有強大的動力和優勢去開發金的有機金屬化學和含金新材料（如有機發光二極管的磷光發光材料）。通過不斷的研究努力和理性的鉗子和輔助配體結構設計，任教授團隊已經找到了配體配位環境的最佳平衡，克服了熱穩定性難題，創造出新一類含三齒C^C^N配體的金（III）配合物。這系列的金（III）配合物展示出可跨越整個可見光譜的全色色域，從天藍色到紅色，其固態光致發光量子產率更高達80%。這系列金（III）配合物亦能夠用作有機發光器件的磷光摻雜劑，器件的電流效率和外部量子效率高達72 cd/A 和 21.6%，壽命半衰期更長達83,000小時。這是首次展示長壽的金（III）有機發光二極管。這研究成果將為開發新型金屬磷光發光材料開闢一條新的途徑，不需依賴現時市面上使用的稀有的銥（III）體系，將為有機發光二極管市場打造革命性的改變。

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HKU chemists develop a new class of robust gold(III) complexes with promising device lifetimes and tunable emission colours for vacuum-deposited OLEDs

A team of researchers led by Professor Vivian Wing-Wah Yam, Philip Wong Wilson Wong Professor in Chemistry and Energy and Chair Professor of the Department of Chemistry, has overcome the key synthetic challenges for the design of robust gold(III) complexes and demonstrated for the first time highly efficient gold(III)-based organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) with long operational lifetimes, reaching half-lifetimes of up to 83,000 hours. The findings have been published in January in the leading scientific journal, Nature Photonics (link).   Gold, a noble metal that has been widely used as currency and ornamental jewellery since ancient times and more recently in industry, has been a metal well-known for its inertness, low toxicity, and environmentally friendly and benign nature. With China having the second largest gold reserve in the world, there is a strong motivation and advantage of developing the organometallic chemistry and novel materials of gold, such as phosphorescent emitters for OLEDs. Through dedicated efforts and rational design of pincer and ancillary ligands, the team has found the right balance for the ligand coordination environment to overcome the thermal stability challenge, generating a new class of robust gold(III) complexes with tridentate C^C^N ligands. This class of gold(III) complexes demonstrates full-colour gamut spanning across the visible region from sky-blue to red with high solid-state photoluminescence quantum yields of up to 80%. These complexes are also capable of serving as phosphorescent dopants for OLEDs; notably, extraordinarily high current efficiencies of up to 72 cd A-1 and external quantum efficiencies of up to 21.6% have been achieved. More importantly, long device half-lifetimes of up to 83,000 hours have been realised in these gold(III)-based OLEDs. This is the first practical gold(III)-based OLEDs with long device lifetime. The present work holds great promise and would open up a new avenue for the development of new classes of practical phosphorescent emitters based on metal centres other than the commercially used but rare iridium(III) system, paving the way towards the possible revolutionisation of the OLED market.    More information about Professor Vivian Yam. 

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HKU Vice-President and Chemistry scholar Professor Andy Hor elected Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences

Professor Andy Hor, Vice President (Research) and Chair Professor of Metallic Chemistry & Materials at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), has been elected a fellow of the European Academy of Sciences (EurASc). EurASc is a non-profit, non-governmental and independent organisation established in 2003 in Brussels, aiming to promote excellence in science and technology. It awards prestigious prizes including the Leonardo da Vinci Award and the Blaise Pascal Medal. It currently has about 600 fellows, over 10% of whom are Nobel Laureate and Fields Medalists from over 40 countries. Professor Hor is honoured for his achievements and contributions to academia in the area of structural metallic chemistry. He specialises in the design, synthesis and structural analysis of novel molecules. His research lies at the fundamental of molecular science – to analyse the molecular composition and structure as a means to understand the properties and activities of a molecule or molecular materials, and from such knowledge, design new molecules, as well as develop new functions and applications. “This is how new science can be developed, translated and eventually be applied as new technologies,” said Professor Hor, who is honoured and delighted to receive the award. Professor Hor refers to the simple doctrine which has guided his research – technology is most disruptive when its science is at its (creative) root and said: “This is also how international fellowship like that from the European Academy of Science and prestigious prizes like Nobel Prize and Fields medal are conferred.” Over the years, his team has investigated a range of systems in coordination and organometallic complexes, hetero- and polynuclear aggregates and clusters, as well as metal-organic frameworks and molecular materials. These are molecular substances that form the basis of industrial chemicals, pharmaceutical catalysis as well as a range of energy and environmental applications. Recently, he has teamed up with scientists at the Agency of Science, Technology & Research (A*Star) of Singapore to study metal-air and metal-sulfide batteries as the next-generation of green batteries. Professor Hor has published over 435 international papers with an average of 1,200 annual citations in 2017-8, filed several patents in battery materials and supervised over 100 PhD, MSc and other research students. Biography of Professor Andy Hor Professor Andy Hor is the Vice President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Chair Professor of Metallic Chemistry & Materials of the University of Hong Kong (HKU). He started his academic career at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in which he also served as Head of Chemistry and Vice Dean (Academic) of Science. He later served as the Executive Director of the Institute of Materials Research & Engineering of the Agency of Science, Technology & Research (A*Star) of Singapore for 5 years before joining HKU in September 2015. He is Fellow of the Singapore National of Chemistry, Singapore National Academy of Science, and Royal Society of Chemistry in the UK, and former President of the Singapore National Institute of Chemistry and Federation of Asian Chemical Societies. He has contributed significantly over four decades to the development of chemistry in Singapore, Asia and the world through his research programs and various community services and leadership in international conferences and academic journals, and won numerous teaching and research awards while in NUS and A*Star. For Professor Hor’s detailed biography, please visit: https://presidentoffice.hku.hk/smt/pvc-R.html. EurASc website: http://www.eurasc.org/  

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The Secretary for Innovation and Technology Mr Nicholas Yang visited Department of Chemistry

The Secretary for Innovation and Technology Mr Nicholas Yang visited Department of Chemistry on Dec 21, 2018. Head of Department and Zhou Guangzhao Professorship in Natural Sciences, Professor Chi-ming Che, firstly introduced the distinguished achievements of the department including ongoing frontier research projects, advanced collaborative projects with industry and international recognitions of their researchers. Professor Che then delineated the future development plans with creating strong impacts to the society as the focus to Mr Yang.   Followed by Professor Che’s introduction, researchers at the department introduced Area of Excellence Programmes, State Key Laboratory and frontier research projects in diverse areas to Mr Yang. Professor Che concluded the meeting by emphasising that the department would continuously strive for excellence in scientific research. He hoped that Innovation and Technology Bureau would continuously devote resources in facilitating scientific research.   Group photos of researchers of Department of Chemistry and Mr Nicholas Yang (fifth from the left).   Professor Vivian Wing-Wah YAM, Chair Professor and Philip Wong Wilson Wong Professor in Chemistry and Energy, introducing her frontier research.    

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Connection of children to nature brings less distress, hyperactivity and behavioural problems – now measurable with a novel scale developed by HKU scientist

City lifestyle has been criticised for being an important reason for children being disconnected from nature. This has led to an unhealthy lifestyle in regards to active play and eating habits. Even worse, many young children do not feel well psychologically – they are often stressed and depressed. 16 per cent of pre-schoolers in Hong Kong and up to 22% in China show signs of mental health problems (Kwok SY, Gu M, Cheung AP, 2017; Zhu J, et al. 2017).   Recent research shows that spending time in nature may bring many health benefits, and many environmental programmes around the world are trying to decrease ‘nature-deficit’ and ‘child-nature disconnectedness’ in order to improve children’s health. For example, the WHO, in order to monitor implementation of the Parma Declaration commitment to providing every child with access to “green spaces to play and undertake physical activity”, has set a 300-meter target. Interestingly, 90 per cent of the Hong Kong population lives within 400 metres of such areas. However, despite the extensive, adjacent greenness, families are not using these areas.   “We noticed a tendency where parents are avoiding nature. They perceive it as dirty and dangerous, and their children unfortunately pick up these attitudes. In addition, the green areas are often unwelcoming with signs like “Keep off the grass”, said Dr Tanja Sobko from the School of Biological Sciences. Until now, it has not been possible to measure connectedness to nature in preschool children, mostly due to the fact that they are too young to answer for themselves.   A new 16-item parent questionnaire (CNI-PPC) to measure “connectedness to nature’ in very young children has been developed by Dr Sobko and her collaborator Professor Gavin Brown, Director of the Quantitative Data Analysis and Research Unit at the University of Auckland. The questionnaire identified four areas that reflect the child-nature relationship: enjoyment of nature, empathy for nature, responsibility towards nature, and awareness of nature.   The study consisted of two parts: the initial interviews with the families and the subsequent development of the questionnaire. Altogether, 493 families with children aged between 2 and 5 have participated in the study. Finally the new questionnaire was tested against the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, a well-established measurement of psychological well-being and children’s behaviour problems. The results revealed that parents who saw their child had a closer connection with nature had less distress, less hyperactivity, & fewer behavioural and emotional difficulties, and improved pro-social behaviour. Interestingly, children who took greater responsibility towards the nature had fewer peer difficulties. The results give a new possibility for investigating the link between the outdoor environment and well-being in pre-school children.   The study is part of Dr Sobko’s research-based programme Play&Grow, which is the first in Hong Kong to promote healthy eating and active playtime with preschool children by connecting them to nature. Launched 2016, it has so far included almost 1000 families from all over Hong Kong. (https://foodnaturelab.org/page).   The findings have been published in multidisciplinary Open Access journal, PLOS ONE. The new scale has already attracted international attention and is being adopted by universities worldwide including Western Australia and Deakin Universities. In addition, the HKU-developed ‘Play&Grow’ programme is also on track to be conducted in Australia.   The next step is to further fine-tune future health promotion/disease prevention interventions, which Dr Sobko and the team are committed to. “We are grateful for the recognition of the Government, which has recently granted significant financial support to this important project”, said Dr Sobko. The new exciting extension of this work is to test the effect of the exposing children to nature and changes in their gut microbiota.   To view the journal paper "Connectedness to Nature Index - Parents of Preschool Children PlosOne", please click here.           

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