science

China Startup Starts Selling Spaceflights at $430,000 a Seat

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

As China’s private space sector moves toward tourism, a Beijing-based company is taking reservations for suborbital flights planned for 2028.

Li Xin

Among China’s Oldest, Vegans Less Likely to Reach 100: New Study 

Vegetarianism is widely seen as a way to prevent cardiovascular disease and obesity. A new study reveals that for older people, the relationship between diet and health is more complex.

Chen Yiru

China Begins Clinical Trials of Its First Acne Vaccine

The recombinant, protein-based vaccine is one of only a handful of acne vaccines worldwide promising alternative treatment.

Jiang Xinyi

Brain Implant Trial in China Leaves Patients with Gambling, Sexual Urges

Participants in a deep brain stimulation trial for drug addiction say the implants triggered compulsive behavior that upended their lives.

China Takes a Shot at Pet Obesity — Using Weight-Loss Drugs

Pharma giants in China are racing to adapt GLP-1 drugs for pets, among others, betting that health-conscious owners will pay up.

Ancient Fossil in China Rewrites Story of Early Animal Migration

The discovery of a new dicynodont species suggests early land animals moved across Pangaea later and more widely than previously thought.

China Puts CO2-Based Power Generation Into Commercial Use

The new system uses carbon dioxide instead of steam to generate electricity from industrial waste heat.

New Chinese Study Links City Childhood to Early Puberty in Girls 

Based on brain scans and survey data from nearly 3,000 young women, researchers used age at first menstruation and personality tests to examine how urban childhood environments shape development.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.