Hi-tech Olympics
By Daisy


Bird's Nest, the main stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympic games

在科技领跑的当今世界, 科技的触角无处不在. 正卯足了劲儿 备战2008年奥运的北京提出了"科技奥运"的口号, 决心借助高科技将这届奥运办得完美无暇. 2008奥运的科技含量到底有多高呢? 今天让您一"读"为快.

Plans for the 2008 Beijing Olympics involve fresh air, broad highways, 24/7 reporting and advanced architecture. All of these are captured by the slogan "Hi-tech Olympics". As the date approaches, details of the plan have begun to emerge.


a bird view of the Bird's Nest

Bird Nest and Water Cube

The Olympic flame will be lit in the Bird's Nest, the main stadium for the track and field events. It is an enormous curved structure, unique in its design and construction, according to the chief of China Science and Technology Museum (CSTM), Mr. Wang Yusheng. Construction of the Bird 's Nest makes up about 50% of the Hi-tech project.

The Water Cube - a nickname for the National Swimming center - will be the official site for the swimming events. The bubble based architecture, which has never been used before in China, is capable of absorbing more vibration than traditional structures. The Water Cube will also contain the largest swimming pool in the world.

Nine other stadiums, including the Olympic Center Sports Stadium, Yingdong Swimming Pool, Workers' Stadium and Capital Stadium, will be started by the end of 2006.


night view of the Bird's Nest

Weather forecasting

A trial version of Hong Kong Observatory's Nowcasting System, which will support the specialized weather forecasting service for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, will be shipped to Beijing this summer for a preliminary demonstration. To support the Olympic equestrian events in Hong Kong, the observatory has also developed a system to monitor a horse's heat stress, and will collect the necessary climatological data beginning this summer.

Although August is not the rainy season for Beijing, to ensure the Olympics will not be affected by bad weather, the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Science is working on an artificial rain project to disperse any clouds that should appear. "The technique works for showers, but it's hard to tell now whether it works for heavy rain," claimed the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Science.


China Science and Technology Museum

Science and Technology Museum

One of the side projects for the 2008 Olympic Games, the building for the Museum will be completed before the Games, and will open in September 2009. It will be a center for leisure, entertainment and tourism as well as for education. When complete, the structure will present a dynamic vision of light and shade as the seasons change and light in each new day flows over it.
When construction is complete, the CSTM will have the largest Dome movie theatre in the world, which can also be used to demonstrate astronomical phenomena. In addition to the Dome theatre, the IMAX cinema will also be a record holder on account of its size.

There will be areas covering to new technology, information systems, biology, energy, nanometer technology and many others. The museum will also have interactive items on display in a newly designed Children's Science Park.

Vocabulary
observatory 天文台
preliminary 预备的
climatological 气候的
Meteorological 气象的
nanometer 纳米

Science & technology round-up

Next generation DVDs ready
新一代DVD即将上市
Toshiba is planning the launch of the first next-generation, high-definition optical disc recorder based on the HD DVD format on July 14 in Japan. The new recorder RD-A1 is much like existing digital video recorders but with high-definition support. There's 1TB of hard disk storage space for day-to-day recording and the HD DVD drive allows users to store TV shows they wish to keep.

Software for robot design
微软推出机器人设计软件
Microsoft has released a preview version of its first software toolkit for robotic applications, aiming to seize the robot market just as it did the PC market two decades ago. The software, named Robotics Studio, is based on Microsoft's Windows operating system, which has been installed in some 90% of PCs all over the world.

China to launch moon orbiter
中国计划发射月球卫星
China's plans to launch its first lunar orbiter in 2007 are on schedule. The orbiter is named "Chang'e 1" after a female character from Chinese mythology who lived on the moon. The moon orbit project, the first step in China's lunar exploration program that began in 2004, is proceeding smoothly, according to Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist on the moon probe program and an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.



New fiber for bullet- proof vests
超强纤维防弹衣
Hong Kong researchers have developed a new technology to enhance the strength of bullet-proof vests. Researchers at HK University of Science and Technology have developed a new technology that can greatly enhance the strength of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fiber by adding carbon nanotubes to pristine high-strength fiber.



No evidence to show spread of H5N1 among humans
尚无证据表明H5N1禽流感可在人体间传染
There exists no conclusive evidence to show that the current avian influenza virus H5N1 can be spread between humans, but the evolution of the virus is unpredictable, according to a senior official from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Suspected cases of human-to-human transmission in Indonesia have set off international alarm bells. Six family members from a remote farming village on Sumatra died after testing positive for the H5N1 virus, in the world's largest reported family cluster.