science

Chinese Scientists Are Speaking Out Online. Is Anyone Listening?

Contributions from individuals with unique perspectives to share. Hear from everyone, from experts and commentators to those whose voices are often marginalized.

VOICES & OPINION

While Chinese scientists are held in high regard, their unwillingness to speak plainly, even on social media, has opened a window for misinformation.

Yang Zheng

Gender Gap in China’s Science Sector Narrowing, Report Suggests 

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

While more women researchers are in higher work positions than in the past decades, they’re still far fewer than their male counterparts.

Sixth Tone

Deadly Flood Sparks Debate Over ‘Wild’ Tourism Sites

Experts say platforms bear no legal responsibility for promoting unofficial tourism sites in flood zones — but users aren’t letting them off the hook.

Wu Peiyue

In Global Effort, Shanghai Astronomers Capture Milky Way’s Black Hole

It took five years for a team of scientists to construct the first-ever image of the invisible celestial object.

Ye Ruolin

The Hit New Film Pushing Chinese Sci-Fi Into Unexplored Territory

Articles that cut to the core of contemporary China. In-depth, informed, and carefully crafted, every piece is carried by the voices of the story’s participants.

FEATURES

Kong Dashan’s award-winning feature “Journey to the West” is generating huge buzz in China — and showing there is more to Chinese sci-fi than Liu Cixin.

Mathew Scott

Overlooked by Research, They’re Funding Their Own Search for a Cure

Neurofibromatosis is so rare it hasn’t even made it onto China’s list of rare diseases. With no one else paying attention, these patients organized to help themselves.

Ni Dandan

Zhu Jingyi

A Yunnan Researcher’s Plan for Plastic Waste: Feed It to the Fungi

Newly discovered fungi in Southwest China are voracious eaters of plastic and rubber. Scientists hope they can provide better ways of recycling plastics.

Li Pasha

IPCC Warns China Will Be Hit Hard by Climate Change

Water and food insecurity are among the biggest risks in a warmer future.

Yuan Ye

China Grants Conditional Approval to Pfizer COVID-19 Pill

The country’s drug regulators announced Saturday that they had approved Paxlovid for use on high-risk patients with mild to moderate symptoms.

Chinese Scientists Have Designed a 4-Minute COVID-19 Test

Polymerase chain reaction testing is currently considered the gold standard in diagnosing COVID-19, but results usually take hours.

No Proof Foreign Mail Infectious, Chinese Health Officials Say

The possibility that overseas packages could carry COVID-19 spurred cities to order recipients to get tested.

China Approves Its First COVID-19 Drug for Use

The antibody therapy, which was developed by a Chinese startup, was found to reduce coronavirus patients’ risk of hospitalization and death by 78% in international trials.

The West Now Has New COVID-19 Cures. How About China?

Drugs designed for the coronavirus could make infections less severe. Will they allow the country to open back up?

Through the Glass Ceiling, and Beyond

When astronomer Ye Shuhua fought for a men-only job in 1951, it turned out to be the first of many barriers she broke through.

Curbing Ammonia Could Help China Tackle Air Pollution, Study Says

Nearly 90% of the country’s ammonia emissions come from its agriculture sector.

Chinese Scientist Floats Idea of Harvesting Power From Ocean Waves

Research is currently underway on the technology that could provide an affordable and uninterrupted power supply.

Chinese Scientist Pitches Cell-Based Flu Shot to Manufacturers 

Influenza vaccine coverage in China has been hampered by lower uptake and limited production capabilities.

How the World’s Oldest Artwork Was Uncovered in Tibet

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

Q & A

Dr. David Dian Zhang discusses his groundbreaking discovery of a 200,000-year-old set of human handprints on the Tibetan Plateau — and how it could reshape our understanding of humanity’s ancient past.

Chinese Provinces Seek COVID-19 Booster Shots Amid New Outbreaks

While the central government hasn’t officially announced plans to administer additional vaccine doses, Zhejiang and Henan will provide them to “key groups.”

Follow-Up Study in Wuhan Shows Lingering COVID-19 Health Effects

Researchers find some 50% of recovered patients experience at least one persistent symptom a year on.