Do rural highways narrow Chinese farmers’ income gap among provinces?

To achieve complete poverty alleviation, the improvement of infrastructure and living conditions is fundamental. Promoting the flow of factors through infrastructure investment, thereby reducing the income gap among residents, has become an important focus of poverty alleviation. Because of the high amount of investment in transportation infrastructure, greater attention has been paid to the income distribution effect it brings, but few studies have analysed the effect of rural highways on the income gap of farmers. Based on the panel data pertaining to 30 provinces in China from 1993 to 2013, this paper uses a fixed-effect model to test the impact of rural highways supply on the income gap of farmers. The empirical results show that:(1) The effect of Chinese rural highways on the farmers' income gap among provinces is "U-shaped".(2) Chinese national and provincial trunk highways are helpful in narrowing the farmers' income gap among provinces.(3) The level of education, household productive fixed assets investment, level of urbanization, and level of regional economic development have multiple effects on the farmers' income gap among provinces. Then, based on the empirical analysis, the paper analyzes the mechanism of rural highways affecting the income gap of farmers from a theoretical perspective and focuses on the causes of the "U-shaped" relationship between rural highways supply and farmers' income gap.     

Neuroscience. An antibiotic to treat Alzheimer's?

An antibiotic once used to treat traveler's diarrhea might battle Alzheimer's disease as well, researchers announced here last week at the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting. The drug dissolves Alzheimer's-like plaques in mouse brains, apparently by trapping the copper and zinc that stud these deposits. A clinical trial to test whether the drug helps people with Alzheimer's is already under way.     

An ice-free cretaceous? Results from climate model simulations

We have quantitatively investigated the mechanisms that could explain the warm, equable climate that is believed to have been typical of the mid-Cretaceous (100 million years ago). By performing simulations with a climate model based on zonal energy balance, we demonstrate that past changes in geography were important in bringing about climatic change. However, the meridional distribution of Cretaceous temperatures cannot be successfully simulated unless additional physical "feedback mechanisms" are included in the model. These mechanisms may involve cloud and meridional heat transport changes. We also conclude that paleoclimatologists should reexamine carefully both existing data and their interpretations with regard to reconstruction of Cretaceous tropical and polar surface temperatures.