Gene stacking in transgenic plants--the challenge for 21st century plant biotechnology

One of the major technical hurdles impeding the advance of plant genetic engineering and biotechnology is the fact that the expression or manipulation of multiple genes in plants is still difficult to achieve. Although a small proportion of commercial genetically modified (GM) crops present 'stacked' or 'pyramided' traits, only a handful of products have been developed by introducing three or more novel genes. On the research front, a variety of conventional and more novel methods have been employed to introduce multiple genes into plants, but all techniques suffer from certain drawbacks. In this review, the potential and problems of these various techniques and strategies are discussed, and the prospects for improving these technologies in the future are presented.     

Evolutionary biology: a basic science for medicine in the 21st century

Evolutionary biology was a poorly developed discipline at the time of the Flexner Report and was not included in Flexner's recommendations for premedical or medical education. Since that time, however, the value of an evolutionary approach to medicine has become increasingly recognized. There are several ways in which an evolutionary perspective can enrich medical education and improve medical practice. Evolutionary considerations rationalize our continued susceptibility or vulnerability to disease; they call attention to the idea that the signs and symptoms of disease may be adaptations that prevent or limit the severity of disease; they help us understand the ways in which our interventions may affect the evolution of microbial pathogens and of cancer cells; and they provide a framework for thinking about population variation and risk factors for disease. Evolutionary biology should become a foundational science for the medical education of the future.     

21世纪植物化学生态学前沿领域

植物和其它有机体通过次生物质为媒介的化学作用关系近年引入注目,其中植物的诱导化学防御,植物的化学通讯,植物次生物质和进化的关系,植物与人类的化学关系和海洋植物化学生态学是21世纪植物化学生态学值得关注的前沿领域。植物化学生态学前沿领域的进展将为实现21世纪的持续,发展是在生态安全条件下提高农业产量并达到对病虫草害的有效控制方面具有重要意义。     

Education and data-intensive science in the beginning of the 21st century

Data-intensive science will open up new avenues to explore, new questions to ask, and new ways to answer. Yet, this potential cannot be unlocked without new emphasis on education of the researchers gathering data, the analysts analyzing data and the cross-disciplinary participants working together to make it happen. This article is a summary of the education issues and challenges of data-intensive sciences and cloud computing as discussed in the Data-Intensive Science (DIS) workshop in Seattle, September 19-20, 2010.     

Technology and data-intensive science in the beginning of the 21st century

This article is a summary of the technology issues and challenges of data-intensive science and cloud computing as discussed in the Data-Intensive Science (DIS) workshop in Seattle, September 19-20, 2010.     

Communication and data-intensive science in the beginning of the 21st century

The advent of data-intensive science has sharpened our need for better communication within and between the fields of science and technology, to name a few. No one mind can encompass all that is necessary to be successful in controlling and analyzing the data deluge we are experiencing. Therefore, we must bring together diverse fields, communicate clearly, and build crossdisciplinary methods and tools to realize its potential. This article is a summary of the communication issues and challenges as discussed in the Data-Intensive Science (DIS) workshop in Seattle, September 19-20, 2010.     

Physiological ecology in the 21st century: advancements in biologging science

Top pelagic predators such as tunas, sharks, marine turtlesand mammals have historically been difficult to study due totheir large body size and vast range over the oceanic habitat.In recent years the development of small microprocessor-baseddata storage tags that are surgically implanted or satellite-linkedprovide marine researchers a novel avenue for examining themovements, physiology and behaviors of pelagic animals in thewild. When biological and physical data obtained from the tagsare combined with satellite derived sea surface temperatureand ocean color data, the relationships between the movements,behaviors and physical ocean environment can be examined. Tag-bearingmarine animals can function as autonomous ocean profilers providingoceanographic data wherever their long migrations take them.The biologging science is providing ecological physiologistswith new insights into the seasonal movements, habitat utilization,breeding behaviors and population structures in of marine vertebrates.In addition, the data are revealing migration corridors, hotspots and physical oceanographic patterns that are key to understandinghow organisms such as bluefin tunas use the open ocean environment.In the 21st century as ecosystem degradation and global warmingcontinue to threaten the existence of species on Earth, thefield of physiological ecology will play a more pivotal rolein conservation biology.     

Engineering toxins for 21st century therapies

'Engineering Toxins for 21st Century Therapies' (9-10 September 2010) was part of the Royal Society International Seminar series held at the Kavli International Centre, UK. Participants were assembled from a range of disciplines (academic, industry, regulatory, public health) to discuss the future potential of toxin-based therapies. The meeting explored how the current structural and mechanistic knowledge of toxins could be used to engineer future toxin-based therapies. To date, significant progress has been made in the design of novel recombinant biologics based on domains of natural toxins, engineered to exhibit advantageous properties. The meeting concluded, firstly that future product development vitally required the appropriate combination of creativity and innovation that can come from the academic, biotechnology and pharma sectors. Second, that continued investigation into understanding the basic science of the toxins and their targets was essential in order to develop new opportunities for the existing products and to create new products with enhanced properties. Finally, it was concluded that the clinical potential for development of novel biologics based on toxin domains was evident.     

21st century zoo design

A review of Conservation Centres for the New Millennium. Proceedings of the 5^th International Symposium on Zoo Design, edited by Amy B. Plowman and Peter M.C. Stevens. Paignton, Devon, U.K.: Whitely Wildlife Conservation Trust, 1999, 181 pp., paperback.     

21世纪害虫管理的一些特征展望

分析了近年来国内外IPM研究的进展 ,认为未来的害虫管理是以作物的控害作用为中心 ,以农田生态系统或区域性生态系统为对象 ,以大量信息管理为基础 ,以发展新技术 (转基因作物和昆虫性信息素 )和农民参与为重点 ,以生态调控为手段 ,以持续发展为方向。从而使害虫管理提高到一个新的境界     

Evidential statistics as a statistical modern synthesis to support 21st century science

During the 20th century, population ecology and science in general relied on two very different statistical paradigms to solve its inferential problems: error statistics (also referred to as classical statistics and frequentist statistics) and Bayesian statistics. A great deal of good science was done using these tools, but both schools suffer from technical and philosophical difficulties. At the turning of the 21st century (Royall in Statistical evidence: a likelihood paradigm. Chapman & Hall, London, 1997 ; Lele in The nature of scientific evidence: statistical, philosophical and empirical considerations. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 191–216, 2004a ), evidential statistics emerged as a seriously contending paradigm. Drawing on and refining elements from error statistics, likelihoodism, Bayesian statistics, information criteria, and robust methods, evidential statistics is a statistical modern synthesis that smoothly incorporates model identification, model uncertainty, model comparison, parameter estimation, parameter uncertainty, pre-data control of error, and post-data strength of evidence into a single coherent framework. We argue that evidential statistics is currently the most effective statistical paradigm to support 21st century science. Despite the power of the evidential paradigm, we think that there is no substitute for learning how to clarify scientific arguments with statistical arguments. In this paper we sketch and relate the conceptual bases of error statistics, Bayesian statistics and evidential statistics. We also discuss a number of misconceptions about the paradigms that have hindered practitioners, as well as some real problems with the error and Bayesian statistical paradigms solved by evidential statistics.     

Some physics aspects for 21st century biologists

The hypothesis that the movement of biological molecules by diffusion and their interaction by chemical laws will provide the sufficient as well as a necessary cause of all cellular mechanisms is obsolete. Biologists will have to reformulate many problems in terms of the collective and nonlinear phenomena now well known to physics.     

Tropical medicine for the 21st century.

The specialty of tropical medicine originated from the needs of the colonial era and is removed from many of the health care requirements of tropical countries today. Tropical medicine concentrates on parasitic diseases of warm climates, although other infections and diseases related to poverty rather than climate dominate medicine in developing countries challenged by population pressure, civil strife, and migration. In the new century, tropical medicine would best be absorbed into the specialty of infectious diseases, which should incorporate parasitic diseases, travel medicine, and sexually transmitted diseases. Pressing questions for health care and research in developing countries concern the provision of appropriate services for problems such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases, and injuries. The question of how to provide appropriate clinical care in resource poor settings for the major causes of morbidity and premature mortality has been neglected by donors, academic institutions, and traditional tropical medicine.