Dr. Xijun Ni and his colleagues, of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of CAS, reported an euprimate skull discovered from the deposits of about 5500 million years ago, in a Letter to Nature on January 1, 2004, titled An Euprimate Skull From the Early Eocene of China, which made a breakthrough on the study of origin and evolution of euprimates.

The new euprimate fossil, represented by a nearly complete skull found in Hengdong of Hunan Province, is a representative of Omomyidae, an extinct group of primitive euprimates. It is recognized as a new species and named Teilhardina asiatica. It is a remote relative of living primates including monkeys and human being. Analysis of the fossil shows that Teilhardina asiatica is the remote relative of living primates including monkeys and human being. Analysis of the fossil shows that Teilhardina asiatica is the most primitive form of Omomyidae, which provides new evidence for the Asian origin of euprimates. In addition, the morphological features of the earliest known euprimate skull indicate that the distinct cranial characters of living euprimates appeared early in about 5500 million years ago.

Novel Progress in the Area of Organic Electroluminescent Materials at Institute of Chemistry

The research workers at the Key Laboratory of Organic Silod, Institute of Chemistry, CAS fabricated unsolvated single crystal of bis(2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)benzothiazolate)zinc (Zn(BTZ)2) by vacuum sublimation. The results indicated that the molecular structure of the material in single crystal, powder, and amorphous vacuum-deposited thin film is dimer [Zn(BTZ)2]2. The researchers found that this zinc complex appears to have a better electron-transport property than that of the well established electron transporter tris (8-hydroxyquinolinato) aluminum. The progress is important to study the affect of the molecular structures on the properties of organic optoelectronic materials and application of organic functional materials in optoelectronic devices. The research results have been published in J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003，125(48), 14816-14824.

First International Workshop on Continental Margin Tectonics and Gas Hydrates Held

The First International Workshop on Continental Margin Tectonics and Gas Hydrates was held recently in Beijing. Eighty scientists attended the workshop, of which 10 were from Japan, the United States, Korea and Portugal.

The workshop brought together marine geologists, geophysicists and geochemists in foreign countries and China to exchange views on the scientific problems, key technologies and new research results of continental margin tectonics and gas hydrates, and to promote the multi-lateral cooperation, among participating countries.

Continental margins are active tectonic and earthquake occurrence belts with rich resources of petroleum, natural gas and gas hydrates, etc. They are important in the aspects of energy, disaster and environment. Scientists in the world pay much attention to the research of continental margin tectonics and gas hydrates.