science

China’s Cliff Coffins: DNA Ties a 3,000-Year-Old Enigma to the Living

Timely reports on issues and events from across China. Drawing on a vast range of sources, these succinct articles provide insights into the significance of each issue in a wider context.

NEWS

Suspending coffins on sheer cliffs is a mysterious and 3,000-year-old burial tradition. New genetic evidence shows how it may have spread in China and beyond.

Jiang Xinyi

China Performs First Brain Implant Procedure Under State Pricing

A patient has received a brain implant to help with hand function, the first BCI procedure billed through China’s new regulated pricing system.

Chen Yiru

Chinese Men More Likely to Cheat When Less Educated Than Wives: Study

A new analysis of more than 4,000 married Chinese adults found male infidelity rises sharply when wives are more educated and earn less.

Another Day of (Artificial) Sun: China Unveils Fusion Energy Project

The country has publicly announced the creation of a new tokamak to advance its fusion energy research and clean energy ambitions, and invited international scientists to collaborate.

Li Xin

Leapfrogging Ahead: Chinese Scientists Discover New Frog Species

Leptobrachella kungfu is the most recent discovery by a team of wildlife researchers in China’s southern Guangdong province, highlighting the region’s recent championing of biodiversity initiatives.

He Qitong

China’s Mice See Stars as Nation Sends Its First Rodents to Space

The mice launched on Oct. 31 and are currently aboard China’s Tiangong space station, where they are being studied for their behavioral response to the spatial environment.

China’s First Macaque Biobank Addresses Lab Monkey Shortage

Chinese scientists have analyzed the genomes and physical characteristics of nearly 1,000 macaques to provide domestic researchers with improved human disease modeling techniques.

China’s Paper Chase: ‘Paper Mills’ Help Academics Commit Fraud

A recent investigation has brought to light a network of underground firms helping doctors and researchers get ahead with ghostwritten publications.

China Makes HPV Vaccine Free for Girls in National Program

Beginning this year, the vaccine schedule will now protect young girls from the two strains of HPV accounting for most invasive cervical cancers, at no cost to families.

For a Team of Chinese Scientists, the Oyster Is Their World

Inspired by oysters’ natural grip, a team of researchers from Zhejiang have created a bio-glue to fuse shattered bones, a world first.

Shanghai Pilot Offers Grants to Help New Mothers Stay in Science

The city’s Chinese Academy of Sciences branch is offering one-time grants to new mothers in science, aiming to offset career setbacks from childbirth.

Samples From China’s Chang’e Mission Rewrite Moon’s Violent History

Analysis of rock samples brought back from the far side of the Moon in June 2024 suggests that our only natural satellite’s crater formation period began 100 million years earlier than previously believed.

The Chinese Neuroscientists Mapping Feelings Through Art

At Tsinghua University’s Neural Engineering Lab, researchers are using brain-computer interfaces to study how people respond to live art.

Breathe Easy: Chinese Device Offers No-Needle Diabetes Tracking

The device analyzes acetone in exhaled breath, offering a faster, noninvasive alternative to traditional blood tests.

Chinese Scientists Detect New ‘Super-Earth’ 2,500 Light Years Away

The breakthrough came using a cutting-edge observational method that detects unseen planets via subtle deviations in their orbit.

The Mother Line: Oldest Matrilineal Society Unearthed in China

An archeological site in Shandong province has provided evidence of a matrilineal society dating back to 2750 to 2500 BC, shattering previous assumptions.

Ding Rui

Chinese Scientists Use Gene Therapy to Cure Thalassemia in Children

Geneticists have used a cutting-edge DNA base editing treatment on several patients to cure thalassemia, a prevalent and severe genetic blood disease.

‘A Needle in a Haystack’: How a New Study Could Revolutionize Parkinson’s Treatment

Your questions, answered. In-depth interviews with the minds and makers shaping today’s China.

Q & A

Five years ago, Wu Kaimin was worried her dissertation proposal might not be approved. Now, her research could fundamentally alter how doctors treat Parkinson’s.

China’s Antarctic Outpost Swaps Fossil Fuels for Hydrogen, Wind

The renewable energy system ensures stable power in Antarctica’s extreme conditions, and is estimated to cut fossil fuel use by more than 100 tons annually.

Learning to Fly: How a Jurassic Fossil Decodes the History of Flight

Paleontologist Wang Min on the luck, science, and persistence behind a groundbreaking find.