China’s missile breakthrough, Unitree’s Wang Xingxing: 7 science highlights
From a breakthrough that could impact modern warfare to a new bat coronavirus, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent science reporting
1. Chinese scientists turn Boeing’s Starliner crisis into missile breakthrough
In an ironic twist of cosmic problem-solving, Chinese researchers have transformed a lingering Nasa headache into a revolutionary propulsion breakthrough that could redefine modern warfare and space travel.
2. America’s loss, China’s gain: Chinese universities welcome PhD refugees from US
China’s top universities are aggressively recruiting Chinese undergraduates abroad to skip traditional academic pathways and enrol directly into PhD programmes – as the US tightens funding for graduate studies and geopolitical tensions grow.
3. Chinese GPUs outdo Nvidia chips nearly tenfold in supercomputer task
Computer researchers in China using domestically made graphics processors have achieved a near-tenfold boost in performance over powerful US supercomputers that rely on Nvidia’s cutting-edge hardware, according to a peer-reviewed study.