Fifty years of solvent denaturation

The author has worked in the area of solvent denaturation and stabilization, off and on, for approximately 50 years. This paper is a personal view of the progress which has been made since 1950. The topic is limited to the development of thermodynamic molecular models for the interpretation of the unfolding and stabilization of protein structures. The story starts with the work in Kauzmann's laboratory shortly after World War II and proceeds through models for multisite binding, the linear denaturation curve, the special considerations required for understanding weak solvent exchange and a new model for the balance of solvent contact interactions and excluded volume.     

Fifty years of X-inactivation research

The third X-inactivation meeting 'Fifty years of X-inactivation research', which celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of Mary Lyon's formulation of the X-inactivation hypothesis, was an EMBO workshop held in Oxford, UK, in July 2011. This conference brought together the usual suspects from the field, as well as younger researchers, to discuss recent advances in X-inactivation research. Here, we review the results presented at the meeting and highlight some of the exciting progress that has been made. We also discuss the future challenges for the field, which aim to further our understanding of the developmental regulation of X inactivation, the randomness (or skewing) of X inactivation, and the diverse strategies used by mammalian species to mediate X inactivation.     

Fifty years of Bird Study

Capsule Field ornithology is alive and well, and in the future can contribute much more in Britain and elsewhere.

Aims To review the progress of field ornithology in Britain in the context of Bird Study and the British Trust for Ornithology.

Methods An overview was taken of the main subject areas published in Bird Study to characterize progress over 50 years. Some quantification of data on the main bird organizations was performed.

ResultsKnowledge of status and trends of British birds has moved from the qualitative to generally well detailed quantitative over the past 50 years. Causes of distribution and changes are increasingly well understood in terms of habitat and of population processes. Behaviour and ecology have grown to be separate disciplines in their own right although birds have been major subjects of study within them. Migration studies have lagged somewhat in Britain but advanced elsewhere in recent decades. Amongst the main bird organizations, the BTO still has a growing membership, that of the RSPB has reached an astonishing level but may be nearing a plateau while the BOU's membership is clearly in decline.

Conclusions Field ornithology has made a large contribution to the environmental debate and the future is set for further integration across disciplines in answering large-scale questions. Great public interest has supported the growth of ornithology with a big switch from amateur to professional workers. There is a major challenge to exploit the value of birds in promoting interest in the environment and delivering sound facts to support the biodiversity debate elsewhere on Earth. Fifty years of history in Britain indicate what is possible.     

回顾在生理学界半个世纪的生涯

编者按 姚泰教授是我国著名生理学家.他半个世纪致力于生理学的教学、科研和管理工作,付出了不懈的努力,做出了重要贡献.本文通篇丝丝入扣,展现出笔者丰富的工作历程,读来耐人寻味.姚教授高度的责任感和满腔热忱勤奋拼搏的精神,令人深受教育.     

我国文昌鱼研究50年

文昌鱼是研究脊椎动物起源与进化十分珍贵的模式动物。近50年来,我国在文昌鱼生物学研究方面取得很大进展。本文系统介绍了我国学者在文昌鱼发育、免疫和进化方面所取得的研究成果。     

Fifty years of hydrobiological research in India

The paper provides an overview of the developments in hydrobiological studies in India during the past fifty years, and links them with a historical perspective of the pre-independence studies. Hydrobiological studies which were well developed in the beginning of this century, gained momentum soon after independence as all kinds of aquatic habitats were investigated for the assessment, conservation and optimum utilization of inland fishery resources of the country. However, the environmental issues which dominated since the 1972 Stockholm Conference, and growing realization of the problem of water pollution, resulted in a rapid proliferation of hydrobiological studies which tend to focus on correlation between the distribution of various organisms and degree of water pollution or the effects of various organic and inorganic pollutants. A sampling of published literature reveals that long-term, analytical and experimental studies of the whole ecosystems (natural or experimental), and studies of population interactions, biomanipulation, food chain dynamics, and energy flows are wholly lacking. The paper calls for the strengthening of field and laboratory facilities, and establishment of regional and national institutes of aquatic ecology which will be necessary for the management of both the water quality and aquatic biological resources for sustainable development.     

Fifty years of progress in water relations research

Many of the basic concepts dealing with soil and plant water relationships were in existence 50 years ago, but were inadequately presented in the textbooks of that time. There has been a marked increase in the amount of work done in this field during recent decades, but much of it involves advances in understanding the concepts already in existence. Three of the most important advances in the field of water relations are: (a) acceptance of the term, water potential, to describe the free energy status of water in soil and plants; (b) marked improvement in methods of measuring water potential and stomatal resistance; and (c) use of the concept of water flow in the soil-plant system as analogous to flow of electricity in a conducting system.