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Science
Latest news on research and breakthroughs by Chinese scientists, as the country ramps up investment in science and innovation as part of its ambitions to become a world-leading power by 2035, and other developments worldwide.
Thorium is a radioactive element that is abundant in the Earth’s crust. Illustration: Shutterstock
Mainland China

‘No quick wins’: China has the world’s first operational thorium nuclear reactor

Team working on project reportedly achieves milestone by completing fuel reloading while experimental molten salt reactor was running.

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Hong Kong

Chinese scientists use AI to help visually impaired to ‘see’, explore the world

Animals

‘So beautiful’: colossal squid caught on camera for first time in the deep sea

China technology

China’s new tech boosts sub hunt capabilities near Alaskan waters

Scientists develop highly accurate underwater acoustics technology for depth detection in challenging and strategically important Beaufort Sea.

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A breakthrough in underwater acoustics has helped Chinese scientists achieve near-perfect depth discrimination in difficult oceanographic conditions. Photo: Xinhua

From MIT to PKU: rising Chinese scholar Wang Jiangtao comes home

Tsinghua University alumnus known for research breakthroughs is now principal investigator, doctoral adviser at top institution.

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Donald Trump

Nianli Ma, wife of cyber expert Xiaofeng Wang, speaks out over FBI raids

Ma says lack of due process by Indiana University is devastating after she and Wang were dismissed within days of each other.

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The Chinese AI scientists dying in the pursuit of greatness

Military artificial intelligence, computer vision and medical tech fields lose leading minds to accidents or illness.

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Sun Jian, chief scientist at Beijing-based AI company Megvii Technology, is among a handful of Chinese artificial intelligence experts whose untimely deaths have rattled the industry. Photo: Handout

‘Arginine factories’ turn breast cancer cells aggressive, Chinese team finds

Findings could open up new avenue for precision therapy for the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women that killed 670,000 in 2022 alone.

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US-China relations

Exclusive | Questions remain 5 years after death in US of Chinese scientist Nongjian Tao

Amid China Initiative era and pressure on Chinese research community, police report concluded Tao died by suicide amid ‘work-related stress’.

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Food and Drinks

Physicists discover how to make a stronger coffee using less coffee grounds

Researchers in the US reveal how the way you pour hot water, and with what sort of kettle, affects flavour when making pour-over coffee.

Researchers in the US reveal how the way you pour hot water, and with what sort of kettle, affects flavour when making pour-over coffee. Photo: Shutterstock
Mainland China

Trump’s tariffs put Chinese science to the test, but US labs may be harder hit

Washington’s experiment with tariff trade torment makes lab costs soar; ‘it’s like doubling the price tag’, US researcher says.

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While both China and the United States will be impacted by the trade war, experts predict the latter will take a harder hit because, unlike China, the US is also locked in tariff battles with dozens of other countries. Photo: Shutterstock

Wilczek’s Multiverse | Photons and crayons: the quantum world’s gift inside our eyeballs

The science behind the colours of a rainbow is a reminder of the wonders of the original quantum designer.

China’s innovative solution to tackling toxic and damaging oil spills

Chinese researchers have found a cost-effective solution to cleaning up toxic oil spills which can threaten wildlife and human health.

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Chinese scientist dies aged 41 amid concern over ‘insane’ workload of academics

Li’s death has again put the health and workload of university researchers under the spotlight.

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Chinese materials scientist Li Haibo died at the age of 41 on Tuesday, according to mainland media reports. Photo: QQ.com

After decades in the US, star Chinese mathematician couple returns home

Chen Min has left Purdue University to join EIT, a new university in Ningbo, and her husband, Shen Jie.

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Mathematicians Chen Min and Shen Jie have joined new research university EIT, Ningbo, which opened its doors to students this year. Image: Handout
Medicine

Pig kidney removed from US woman after record-setting 4 months

Towana Looney’s body eventually rejected the animal organ, but previous recipients of such transplants did not survive past two months.

Taiwan

Denisovans first discovered in Russia reached Taiwan Strait, fossil suggests

The discovery of archaic human jawbone shatters assumptions about the geographic limits of the Denisova hominin.

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China’s fatigue-free alloy breakthrough paves way for aerospace revolution

Study shows Chinese scientists have cracked ‘impossible triangle’ of metal materials to combine strength, plasticity and stability.

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Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Metal Research have developed a process that transforms the internal structure of metal materials without altering their appearance. Photo: CCTV
Iran

US decouples from China in war on cancer, denying access to research databanks

National Institutes of Health issues security update one day after its new director takes office amid Washington’s anti-Beijing policies.

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Artificial intelligence

First encounter: Chinese AI meets quantum power and gets smarter, faster

Hefei team use China’s superconducting quantum computer Origin Wukong to fine-tune a large language model, researcher says.

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Neanderthals made their home in China, not just Europe, Stone Age find suggests

Artefacts unearthed in Yunnan province display key features of toolmaking technology associated with Neanderthals much further west.

The find “not only demonstrates the existence of a Middle Paleolithic technology in the region but also shows large-scale analogies with Neanderthal behaviours in western Europe”, a recently published paper says. Illustration: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

Grand Theft Auto Shanghai? Chinese scientists build a virtual city – for police

A hyperrealistic rendering of China’s largest city may look like a video game setting, but it has a much more serious purpose.

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A virtual version of Shanghai, accurate down to the last manhole cover, may be reminiscent of hit game Grand Theft Auto VI, pictured, but is helping police patrol the city. Photo: Rockstar Games
2025 Myanmar earthquake

Magnitude 8 earthquake risk on rise in China, surrounding regions, study warns

As the world reels from the aftermath of the Myanmar earthquake, seismologists have warned there is a heightened danger of further disasters.

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China's military weapons

China flexes military muscles with rare, large-scale missile test in Gobi Desert

Unprecedented scale of test signals Beijing’s growing confidence in its capacity to counter advanced threats and project dominance.

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China’s molecular ‘elevator’ boosts immunity 150-fold, scientists say

Supercharged immunity solves ‘last-mile’ vaccine delivery challenge that could transform battles against cancer, pandemics, scientists say.

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Chinese researchers say their experiments have shown that a powerful new vaccine booster has shown excellent preventive and therapeutic effects against rapidly mutating coronaviruses and malignancies. Photo: Shutterstock
Semiconductors

World’s first 1-nanometre RISC-V chip made in China with 2D materials

China’s chip industry has reached a major milestone after scientists developed the world’s most complex semiconductor microprocessor.

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Chinese scientists have had a breakthrough in 2D chip development. Photo: Shutterstock
Music

How ‘cheap trick’ helps monkeys yodel better than humans

Human yodellers can switch up and down an octave, but monkeys have a 3½-octave range. Researchers have just discovered why that is.

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Space

Huge asteroid that briefly threatened Earth may smash into moon

Asteroid 2024 YR4 was predicted at one point to have a 3.1 per cent chance of smacking Earth in 2032.

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