Chinese scientists have, for the first time, discovered rare-earth biomineralization in ferns — a breakthrough that could pave the way for a cleaner and more sustainable method of extracting rare-earth elements, the Global Times learned on Thursday. The research team, led by Zhu Jianxi from the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, achieved the milestone through phytomining — a green technique that uses hyperaccumulator plants to extract metals from soil — offering a potential solution to the environmental challenges of traditional rare-earth mining.

A new study has revealed that the Southern Ocean releases far more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere during the winter than previously estimated, with seasonal emissions potentially underestimated by as much as 40 percent. The study was led by researchers from the Ministry of Natural Resources' Second Institute of Oceanography and the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology (NIGLAS), and its results were published in the latest issue of Science Advances.

The human brain is by no means terra incognita. We’ve known for decades that memories form in the hippocampus and our fight-or-flight response stirs in the amygdala. But scientists are nowhere near a thorough inventory of our 86 billion neurons and roughly equivalent number of glial cells, much less a map of how different cell types join up into circuits to enable thought. A new global collaboration intends to chart that terrain in exquisite detail. On 20 September, scientists from around the world gathered at a conference here to launch the International Consortium for Primate Brain Mapping (ICPBM).

Sci-tech innovation is providing critical support for sustainable development in Belt and Road partner countries, according to scientists and senior officials at a recent international conference. Insights on the topic were shared during the ANSO (the Alliance of National and International Science Organizations for the Belt and Road Regions) General Conference on Science and Innovation, which concluded in Beijing on Wednesday. The conference was a key event held alongside the fourth ANSO General Assembly, gathering nearly 300 experts and scholars from over 50 countries and regions, including representatives of eight international organizations and 55 ANSO member institutions.

Footage of four mice living aboard China's space station has recently been transmitted back to Earth, revealing these small animals in good spirits and in an apparent state of well-being. After completing their orbital mission, the "mice astronauts" will return to Earth aboard the Shenzhou-20 spaceship for further analysis.

A team of Chinese scientists has completed the ground tests of an inflatable, reconfigurable module for a novel space manufacturing platform, in a significant step toward enabling large-scale industrial production in orbit. The breakthrough module, details of which were announced on Monday, has an innovative design that is intended for launch in a tightly folded configuration and inflates once in orbit to form a large, stable workspace, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

China's Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), a major piece of national scientific infrastructure which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), has announced a series of technological breakthroughs and a new data-release milestone. According to the NAOC, as of October 2025, LAMOST has released a total of 28.07 million spectra and 11.59 million sets of stellar parameters, retaining its status as the world's leading producer of astronomical data.

A Chinese research team has uncovered a collaborative dynamic in soil microorganisms during a study on the ecological restoration of tropical coral islands, offering a novel strategy for the optimization of vegetation in these fragile ecosystems. The results of the study, which was conducted by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' South China Botanical Garden, were published in the Soil Ecology Letters journal.

China has successfully achieved the first-ever thorium to uranium nuclear fuel conversion in a Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (TMSR), and obtained valid experimental data following thorium fuel loading, confirming the technical feasibility of thorium utilization in a molten-salt reactor nuclear energy system, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) on Saturday.

The Thematic Session on Digital Earth Supporting Sustainable Development convened during the 2025 World Science and Technology Development Forum (WSTDF) in Beijing on Tuesday, bringing together 70 leading figures and representatives from research institutes and universities of 19 countries and relevant UN agencies and international organizations to tackle the problems along niche opportunities brought by emerging science and technology trends, with consensus on the Digital Earth Initiative for the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Shenzhou-21 crew will bring 4 mice to the country's space station for scientific study, a highlight among a variety of new science and application projects to be carried out during their six-month stay in orbit, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said on Thursday. This will be the first time China conducts a scientific experiment involving rodent mammals in space, CMSA spokesperson Zhang Jingbo said at a press conference held one day prior to the launch of the Shenzhou-21 mission.

Chinese astronauts Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang will carry out the Shenzhou-21 crewed spaceflight mission, and Zhang Lu will be the commander, the China Manned Space Agency announced at a press conference on Thursday. The Shenzhou-21 crewed spaceship is scheduled to be launched at 11:44 p.m. Friday (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, said Zhang Jingbo, spokesperson of the agency.

A group of fossilized tunnels dug by animals about 550 million years ago, discovered in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in China, have offered new insights into how the earliest animal activities began to shape the seafloor environment. Researchers from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted a study on the Shibantan Biota, a treasure trove of ancient fossils in Hubei. This fossil biota dates back approximately 550 to 543 million years.

The world's largest full ion accelerator, the High Intensity heavy-ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF), successfully completed beam commissioning during testing on Tuesday in south China's Guangdong Province, according to the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Using an innovative data analysis method, a research team from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently demonstrated that the intense uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau since the Neogene (approximately 23 million years ago) has made northern China and Central Asia a core region for mammalian evolution in the Northern Hemisphere.

Thanks to the three-pronged strategy and the measures taken to protect and restore the Yangtze River, including the Yangtze River Protection Law and the 10-year fishing ban, the Yangtze finless porpoise population has rebounded in recent years.

A recent study has shed new light on how global warming has reshaped extreme rainfall and snowfall across the Northern Hemisphere over the past seven decades. The study, led by researchers from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been published in the journal Advances in Climate Change Research.

China is transitioning from being a user of space technology to a major contributor to humanity's cosmic understanding, said Wang Chi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and director of the CAS National Space Science Center who recently outlined China's latest advances in space science.