Table of Content

25 August 2021, Volume 43 Issue 4

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Invited Special Paper

Muon: Portal to new physics

KHAW Kim Siang

2021, 43(4):  235-242.  doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2021.04.001

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On Apr. 7, 2021, the Muon g-2 collaboration at Fermilab announced the latest experimental result of the anomalous magnetic moment. After combining with the previous result at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, the new average of the experimental value is differing from the Standard Model prediction by 4.2 standard deviations, a strong hint of physics beyond the Standard Model. In this article, a history of the magnetic moment of elementary particle is first introduced, to facilitate readers to better understand the research of the muon anomalous magnetic moment and the research methods in high-precision frontiers. 



Review Article

Lakes—hotspots of microplastic pollution in inland water bodies

XIONG Xiong, WU Chenxi

2021, 43(4):  243-250.  doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2021.04.002

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 In recent years, more and more studies have been focused on the microplastic pollution status of inland water bodies. Lakes, due to their unique hydrodynamic characteristics, could be important sinks for microplastics in watersheds, and therefore lakes are the areas of focusing for microplastic pollution studies in inland water bodies. Currently, related studies have found microplastic pollution in high abundance in large and medium-sized lakes in North America, Asia, Europe, Africa and South America. Plastic wastes from human activities in the watershed are the main source of microplastic pollution in lakes and have an important impact on the distribution of microplastics in lakes. The abundance of microplastics is also higher in lakes and reservoir areas with intensive human activities. Microplastics in lakes can be transported horizontally within the lake by wind and lake currents, while the relatively hydrostatic and hydrodynamic conditions of the lake, the synergistic effects of biofilm and particulate matter, and the feeding of aquatic organisms also allow the vertical transport of microplastics from the water surface to the sediment surface in lakes. In the future, lake microplastic pollution needs to be further resolved in terms of sources of microplastic pollution with standardized investigation methods and to assess the toxic effects of lake microplastic pollution from an ecosystem perspective.



Research progress of microplastic pollution in the global rivers

WANG Zhaoqing, ZHANG Yulan, KANG Shichang, YANG Ling, GAO Tanguang

2021, 43(4):  251-258.  doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2021.04.003

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Microplastics are ubiquitous in the environment. As an emergent pollutant, microplastics are potentially harmful to the ecosystems and human health. Rivers play an irreplaceable role in the transmission of microplastics pollution. They are not only a temporary sink of microplastics, but also an important pathway for microplastics from land to the ocean. Through the overview of the previous studies on riverine microplastics globally, we found that the highest abundance of microplastics was from the Sinos River in Brazil, while for the riverine sediments, results from the Suzhou creek in China and the Jedara River in Tunisia were relatively higher. The microplastics in the rivers were mainly white fibers with a particle size of less than 1 mm. The microplastic pollution was significantly affected by human activities and land use types especially in industrial areas. The selection of sampling methods and experimental reagents will affect the concentration of microplastics, and result from large flow sampling were identified with more microplastics. However, the current researches on microplastics in rivers are mostly focused in urban areas, the related studies in remote areas should be strengthened. Meanwhile, due to the continuous changes of microplastic pollution in rivers, it is necessary to study the temporal and spatial variability of river microplastic pollution and establish a long-term real-time monitoring mechanism in order to grasp the status of microplastic pollution.



Research advances in microplastics in sea salt

CAO Jiong, ZHEN Yu, SHI Chenning, ZHANG Rui, LIU Chunguang

2021, 43(4):  259-266.  doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2021.04.004

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Since microplastics are found in sea salt, their health risks have attracted widespread attention. This paper reviews the sources, distribution, physical properties, chemical composition, detection techniques and related research advances of microplastics in sea salt, and provides perspectives on future studies. The microplastics in sea salt may come from seawater and processing, and the
abundance of microplastics in the sea salt produced in Asia is relatively high. The sizes of detected microplastics are mostly less than 500 μm, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene (PE), and polypropylene (PP) are the main components. The detection techniques of microplastics in sea salt mainly include optical microscopy, spectral analysis, and thermal analysis.




Microplastic pollution in soil in China

YANG Ling, ZHANG Yulan, KANG Shichang, WANG Zhaoqing, WU Chenxi

2021, 43(4):  267-273.  doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2021.04.005

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Microplastic pollution in soil becomes a global environmental problem and attracts increasing attentions from scholars at home and abroad. This paper reviewed the progress of microplastics in soil environment in China, analyzed the pollution sources and environmental behaviors of microplastics in soil environment, and discussed the ecological and environmental effects of microplastics pollution. The results indicate that microplastic pollution is widespread in our soil. The abundance of microplastics detected in the soil can reach 10⁵ /kg. Microplastics detected in the soil environment show in different shapes, sizes, colors, and have a variety of chemical compositions and may carry other contaminants. These characteristics reflect the origin and experience of microplastics to some extent, and affect their environmental behaviors and ecological environmental effects. Exposure of microplastics can cause changes in the physical properties of the soil, and even affect the function and safety of the soil ecosystem. Microplastics can also be enriched in higher trophic organisms through soil organisms along the food chain. There are still many aspects in the quantification and estimation of microplastic emissions in regional soils, the influencing factors of microplastics concentration, and microplastics-carbon, which need to be further studied.



Invited Special Paper

Research progress of microplastics in the atmosphere  

LUO Xi, ZHANG Yulan, KANG Shichang, GAO Tanguang

2021, 43(4):  274-286.  doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2021.04.006

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Recent studies have shown that significant abundances of microplastics were detected in atmosphere of cities, remote mountainous areas and the pelagic areas. The atmosphere is an important carrier for the microplastics, especially for the global and long-distance transport, which profoundly changes the flux mechanism of microplastics between marine and terrestrial environments. In this paper, the physicochemical properties, potential sources, transport processes and toxicological effects on human beings of atmospheric microplastics are reviewed. The main shapes of atmospheric microplastics are fiber and fragment. The size of most atmospheric microplastics is concentrated in a narrow range (< 0.5 mm is dominant). The color is variable, mainly black, white and transparent. The types of polymers include more than 30 kinds of synthetic polymers and some natural polymers such as cellulose. Indoor emission is an important source of atmospheric microplastics. The transport and source appointment of atmospheric microplastics are mainly studied by model at current, but its application is less. At present, the research on atmospheric microplastics is in an early stage, and there is a lack of standard sampling and detection procedures. The global research on atmospheric microplastics and the toxicological effects of atmospheric microplastics on human needs to be further studied.



Progress

Vortex matter in superconductors

ZHANG Anlei, GE Junyi

2021, 43(4):  287-296.  doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2021.04.007

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Based on the two intrinsic properties, zero resistance and perfect diamagnetism, superconductors have great potential in the application of energy, public transportation, and medical area. A large number of scientists devote to this field. Moreover, the study of the superconductivity and behind microscopic mechanism have also boosted the progress of the strongly correlated system in condensed matter as well as the quantum mechanics. So far, ten scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize on Physics due to their contributions related to the study of superconductivity. In this paper, we will mainly discuss a minor quantum matter, the vortex, which is closely related to the macroscopic superconducting properties. This microscopic vortex matter can travel us around the unique properties of superconductivity and the frontier applications.



Physiological effects of jet lag, social jet lag and the treatments

GUO Jinhu, MA Xiaohong, GAN Xihui

2021, 43(4):  297-307.  doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2021.04.008

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The circadian clock regulates rhythms at the molecular, physiological and behavioral levels, to adapt to the daily cycles of environmental factors. Desynchronization of circadian rhythms with the external environmental cues causes circadian misalignment with detrimental effects on health and cognition. Rapid travelling across the time zones and social factors such as night work and shift work leads to jet lag and desynchronization between the central and peripheral clocks and between the internal rhythms with the environment. Owning to industrialization, more and more people experience travelling or social jet lag, the effects of circadian misalignment and its impacts on physiology, metabolism, immune and behavior should be taken into account. The advances in molecular mechanisms underlying circadian clock furthered our understanding jet lag, and a number of physical and pharmacological measures as well as social treatments regarding diet, sleep and rest management are developed to alleviate or counter the circadian misalignment and related symptoms. In this review, we summarized the comprehensive features of the circadian clock system, the effects of jet lag and social jet lag on health and performance, and the treatment strategies of jet lag.



Portrait

Stanley Cohen : Discoverer of epidermal growth factor

GUO Xiaoqiang

2021, 43(4):  308-312.  doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2021.04.09

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