China's thorium reactor, AI scientists dying in pursuit of greatness: 7 science highlights
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Chinese scientists have achieved a milestone in clean energy technology by successfully adding fresh fuel to an operational thorium molten salt reactor, according to state media reports.
Chinese scientists used a 2kg bomb to generate a fireball that lasted 15 times longer than an equivalent TNT blast, according to a new study. Photo: 705 Research Institute
Chinese researchers have successfully detonated a hydrogen-based explosive device in a controlled field test, triggering devastating chemical chain reactions without using any nuclear materials, according to a study published last month.
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South China Morning Post
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- South China Morning Post
Chinese scientists transplant human brain cells to mice, boosting pleasure levels
Chinese scientists have found a way to turn human stem cells into dopamine-producing brain cells, transplanting them into mice and helping reduce depressive behaviour and boost pleasure. When the engineered neuron-like cells were grafted into depression-model mice, they helped lessen symptoms like anxiety and resignation while increasing feelings of enjoyment. The development has the potential to be employed as a therapy to treat neuropsychiatric disorders by directly targeting and repairing parts of the brain involved in mood regulation. 'This study provides proof-of-concept evidence supporting the use of cell therapy to treat psychiatric disorders by specifically reconstructing dysfunctional neural circuits,' the researchers said in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell Stem Cell on August 11. Major depressive disorder ranks among the top contributors to global disease, affecting hundreds of millions of people around the world. Dopaminergic neurons are a special type of cell that produce and release dopamine, a neurotransmitter involved in motivation, reward and movement. Photo: Shutterstock Some experience treatment-resistant depression, which is associated with symptoms like anhedonia, or an inability to experience enjoyment from once pleasurable activities. Anhedonia can persist even after mood symptoms are alleviated.
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- South China Morning Post
Seeing double: Chinese twins achieve identical gaokao scores
A pair of twin brothers in eastern China have gained attention for achieving identical scores in the national university entrance exam. Both brothers scored 666 points, earning each a place in the same programme at the same university. Zeng Zichong and Zeng Ziyi are from Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang province. People online have described them as having 'god-level synchronicity'. This is when events happen at the same time, and it does not seem like it is by chance. The pair have never separated since kindergarten. In lower secondary school, their academic performance was nearly the same. When the results of the Chinese national university entrance examination, or gaokao, were released, the twins were at a driving lesson. Their father saw the score notifications on his phone, and their mother quickly shared the coincidence in the family group chat. The news stunned even the brothers themselves.
South China Morning Post
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China urged to boost space solar power technology efforts
China has been urged to speed up the development of solar power in space to gain a stronger footing in the new energy sector and the space race. Ge Changchun, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, called in an article for a top-down strategy to speed up efforts to develop the technology and narrow the gap with the United States in sectors such as materials and precision control. Space solar power facilities are designed to be built and operated in orbit, where they convert solar energy directly into electricity before transmitting the power to Earth via microwaves or lasers. Unlike ground-based solar plants, space stations are not affected by the weather or nightfall. Solar radiation in space is also far more intense than on Earth, making the technology a more efficient way of continuously generating power. China's research in this field relies primarily on efforts by universities and research institutions, but Ge wrote in an article for China Science Daily that they 'lack the capacity to support such a vast, complex systems project'. Compared with the United States, which conducted solar energy transmission experiments as early as the 1970s, China was relatively late in developing space solar power.
