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SCMP

We have put together stories from our coverage on science from the past two weeks to help you stay informed. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.
1. China solves F-22’s stealth coating cracks with 3,000-year-old silk weaving tech

While US stealth fighters like the F-22 Raptor grapple with delaminating radar-absorbent coatings – a vulnerability likened to “moulting cicada wings” – China claims to have found an ancient solution for its fifth-generation jets.
2. Chinese maths star Wang Hong solves ‘infamous’ geometry problem

Chinese mathematician Wang Hong has solved an “infamous” geometry problem called the Kakeya conjecture within three dimensions. It is considered a breakthrough that could have implications for imaging, data processing, cryptography and wireless communication.
3. Another DeepSeek moment? China’s kung fu bot goes open source

From stiff-limbed dances to Bruce Lee-style whirlwind kicks, China’s humanoid robotics race just took a cinematic turn. Unitree Robotics, the Hangzhou-based firm behind the viral G1 robot, has open-sourced its cutting-edge algorithms and hardware designs, mirroring the collaborative ethos that propelled AI breakthroughs such as DeepSeek’s open-source models.
4. Princeton nuclear physicist, fusion energy expert Liu Chang leaves US for China

After more than a decade in the United States, nuclear physicist Liu Chang, whose research has been crucial in the journey to achieve fusion energy, has left Princeton University for a position at Peking University in Beijing.
5. Scientists find genetic link between Attila’s Huns and empire that fought Han China

Scientists have discovered a genetic link between the Huns who ravaged Europe in the latter years of the Western Roman Empire and the Xiongnu confederacy that lived on the Mongolian steppe before their eventual defeat by the Chinese Han empire hundreds of years earlier.
6. In an innovation arms race, China blitzes as the US retreats

As federal funding cuts put the US at risk of losing its long-held scientific leadership, China launched an all-out innovation offensive – turbocharging its R&D budget to unprecedented levels, attracting top-tier global talent, and executing a systematic strategy to dominate the technologies of the future.
7. China’s thorium survey finds ‘endless energy source right under our feet’

China could be sitting on top of enough thorium to power its energy needs almost forever, a national survey has revealed. This one radioactive metal alone could revolutionise global energy production, ending the worldwide dependence on fossil fuels, an expert has said.


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China hosts Trump at Temple of Heaven; Hong Kong sushi parasite video: SCMP’s 7 highlights

Xi-Trump summit day 1: everything you need to know from the meeting in Beijing

China’s Silk Road Express, best things to do in Nanjing: 7 Lifestyle highlights

SCMP Highlights

China’s innovation blitz, kung fu bot goes open source: 7 science highlights

America’s F-22 jets are known to suffer coating cracks, but China is now using ancient weaving techniques to create a more advance type of coating to solve the problem. Photo: AFP

A Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor flies during a flight demonstration in Seongnam, South Korea on October 18, 2023. Photo: AFP

Chinese mathematician Wang Hong is an associate professor at the New York University Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. Photo: Handout

Unitree’s humanoid robots’ abilities are advancing in literal leaps and bounds after the company made its G1 robot open source. Photo: AFP

Nuclear physicist Liu Chang, who is conducting research that is considered crucial to achieving viable nuclear fusion energy, has left Princeton University for a position at Peking University in Beijing. Photo: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

The Hunnic empire reached its zenith under Attila, “the scourge of god”. Photo: Shutterstock

The sun rises near the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Beijing and Washington this week signaled vastly different priorities over their spending on science. Photo: Kyodo

A survey has revealed there could be enough thorium at the Bayan Obo mine to power China for 60,000 years. Photo: Reuters

China’s missile breakthrough, Unitree’s Wang Xingxing: 7 science highlights

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft experienced helium leaks which stranded two Nasa astronauts at the International Space Station. Now Chinese scientists have used the situation to come up with a scientific breakthrough. Photo: Nasa via AP

Fudan University is one of several institutions coming up with innovative ways to attract overseas Chinese students, amid funding cuts and admissions pauses in the US. Photo: Xinhua

Wang Xingxing, CEO of Unitree Robotics, posing with the company’s humanoid robots. Photo: Weibo

China’s cold seep ecosystem research facility is expected to be operational by around 2030. Photo: Shutterstock

Chien-Shiung Wu, who was born in China in 1912, was a physics professor at Columbia University when her experiment confirmed the existence of what Albert Einstein called “spooky action at a distance”. Photo: Wikipedia

Top chip designer leaves US, ‘ghost particle’ detector: 7 science highlights

Chinese scientists have placed detectors in the South China Sea, as they plan to build a huge underwater observatory in a bid to observe neutrinos, and discover the origin of cosmic rays. Photo: The Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Scientists say their new low-methane hybrid rice could address a rise in rice-related emissions because of global warming and an increasing global population. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese institutions dominate the top 10 in Nature Index’s ranking for high-quality physics. Photo: Shutterstock

China’s ‘artificial sun’, breast cancer vaccine tests, DeepSeek: 7 science highlights

Chinese researchers at the EAST nuclear fusion test facility were able to maintain super-heated plasma for more than 17 minutes, surpassing the previous record of 403 seconds, which was also set by EAST in 2023. Photo: Xinhua

Nanovaccines derived from cell membranes are an emerging type of vaccine. Photo: Shutterstock

The robot dog can carry loads of up 100kg and operate in extreme cold. Photo: CCTV

Solar stations in space, tiny cat fossil found, Cambodia canal risks: 7 science highlights

A Long March-5 rocket is seen at the Wenchang Space Launch Centre in southern China. The much larger Long March-9, a reusable heavy-lift rocket, will be used to realise plans for the solar power station in space. Photo: Xinhua 

A farmer carries harvested rice in Daoxiang Village of Suihua City, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province. Photo: Xinhua

An artist’s impression of the tiny species leopard cat whose remains were uncovered in Anhui province, eastern China. Illustration: X/@HodariNundu

Chinese high-speed rail, 3000-year-old city, Covid-19’s origins: 7 science highlights

China’s next-generation Fuxing bullet train, the CR450, was seen travelling from Tianjin to Beijing on Wednesday. Photo: Weibo/龙龙井拿铁

Research on board China’s orbiting Tiangong space station has included  a range of weightlessness protection experiments to ensure the physical well-being of astronauts during their missions. Photo: CMSA

A groundbreaking mobile 5G base station for military applications has been created by Chinese scientists. Photo: CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

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From an ancient solution to a stealth jet issue to a problem-solving maths star, here are some highlights from SCMP’s recent science reporting


From an ancient solution to a stealth jet issue to a problem-solving maths star, here are some highlights from SCMP’s recent science reporting.


China’s innovation blitz, kung fu bot goes open source: 7 science highlights

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}From an ancient solution to a stealth jet issue to a problem-solving maths star, here are some highlights from SCMP’s recent science reporting

1. China solves F-22’s stealth coating cracks with 3,000-year-old silk weaving tech

From an ancient solution to a stealth jet issue to a problem-solving maths star, here are some highlights from SCMP’s recent science reporting