https://www.scmp.com/rss/512325/feed Ling Xin is a science journalist based in Ohio. She mainly covers physics, astronomy and space. Her writing has appeared in Science, Scientific American, MIT Technology Review and other English and Chinese outlets. She was a visiting journalist at Science magazine in Washington, and has a master's degree in journalism from Ohio University. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Ling Xin Ling Xin Scientists in Xinjiang have created the world’s first crystal that can produce the ultraviolet light needed for future thorium nuclear clocks, which could one day guide submarines and deep-space probes without GPS. The fluorinated borate compound could push laser light to a record 145.2 nanometres (nm) – a wavelength short enough to meet a key requirement for these ultra-precise, portable clocks being developed in the United States, China and elsewhere, the team reported in Advanced Materials in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3349477/chinese-crystal-paves-way-gps-free-thorium-clock-navigation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3349477/chinese-crystal-paves-way-gps-free-thorium-clock-navigation?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Apr 2026 14:00:09 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin China plans to launch its first rocket from open waters in the South China Sea, in a display of a more flexible, long-range maritime launch capability. The 31-metre (102-foot) tall, solid-fuelled Jielong-3 is expected to lift off at 7.30pm on Saturday from the Dong Fang Hang Tian Gang, a converted barge operating in international waters, according to a leaked schedule circulating on Chinese social media. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all the islands and rock features in the South China... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3349638/china-about-launch-rocket-south-china-sea-international-waters?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3349638/china-about-launch-rocket-south-china-sea-international-waters?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Apr 2026 08:02:37 +0000 Ling Xin,Khushboo Razdan Ling Xin,Khushboo Razdan Chinese semiconductor researcher Wang Danhao died at the University of Michigan last month, shortly after being questioned by US federal law enforcement. Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington, confirmed to the South China Morning Post in an email on Monday that Wang had taken his own life. “We are deeply distressed by this tragedy,” Liu wrote, adding that the US had “overstretched” the concept of national security and subjected Chinese students and scholars to unwarranted... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3349211/chinese-embassy-us-confirms-death-semiconductor-researcher-wang-danhao?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3349211/chinese-embassy-us-confirms-death-semiconductor-researcher-wang-danhao?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Apr 2026 12:00:08 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin A senior Chinese scientist has outlined the potential military applications of space-based solar power technology, offering a rare glimpse into how energy beamed from orbit could also support surveillance and electronic warfare. Duan Baoyan, a leading architect of China’s “Zhuri” space solar power initiative, wrote in a paper published in Scientia Sinica Informationis last month, that his team had revamped the design of the giant orbital infrastructure. In addition to energy transmission, the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3348871/china-reveals-military-capabilities-new-space-solar-power-plant-design?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3348871/china-reveals-military-capabilities-new-space-solar-power-plant-design?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000 Ling Xin,Victoria Bela Ling Xin,Victoria Bela China’s attempt to launch its most powerful privately developed rocket failed on Friday after the vehicle suffered a flight anomaly. The Tianlong-3 rocket is being developed in hopes of breaking a key bottleneck in the country’s roll-out of internet satellite megaconstellations to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink. The Tianlong-3, built by Beijing-based start-up Space Pioneer and seen as China’s answer to the US company’s workhorse, the reusable Falcon 9, lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3348908/china-launches-heavyweight-rocket-challenge-spacexs-falcon-9-it-fails?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3348908/china-launches-heavyweight-rocket-challenge-spacexs-falcon-9-it-fails?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 Apr 2026 06:04:04 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin Chinese researchers say they have built an 11-satellite network for a jam-resistant, high-accuracy optical navigation system, designed to provide positioning where GPS is unavailable or disrupted, for everything from self-driving cars and drones to deep-space missions. Optical navigation has also been used in the ongoing US-Israeli war with Iran, helping drones developed by companies such as Asio Technologies and General Atomics operate in environments where GPS signals are jammed. While... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3348318/lighthouses-space-chinese-jam-proof-satellite-network-fill-gps-gaps?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3348318/lighthouses-space-chinese-jam-proof-satellite-network-fill-gps-gaps?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Mar 2026 02:01:05 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin Chinese researchers have shown that a silicon quantum chip can carry out a full set of error-detecting logical operations – the first time this has been done and a key step towards building reliable quantum computers. The study, published in Nature Nanotechnology on Monday, found the device could process quantum information with built-in error checks – something previously achieved in platforms like superconducting circuits but not with silicon. According to the team from the Shenzhen... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3348091/china-team-builds-first-silicon-chip-elements-fault-tolerant-quantum-computing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3348091/china-team-builds-first-silicon-chip-elements-fault-tolerant-quantum-computing?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Mar 2026 04:59:45 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin A Chinese commercial satellite has completed a refuelling test in low Earth orbit using a flexible “octopus tentacle” robotic arm, advancing efforts to extend spacecraft lifespans and develop in-orbit servicing abilities. The Hukeda-2, or Yuxing-3 06, demonstration satellite used its flexible arm to carry out compliance control and refuelling tests after blasting off from Jiuquan in China’s northwestern Gansu province last week, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Tuesday. The arm can curl, twist... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3347888/chinese-satellite-performs-landmark-refuelling-test-low-earth-orbit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3347888/chinese-satellite-performs-landmark-refuelling-test-low-earth-orbit?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Mar 2026 01:31:00 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin China has joined the global top-tier timekeeping club with a new optical clock that could help it play a leading role in redefining the second. A team, led by Pan Jianwei at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, has built a strontium optical clock that would lose or gain less than one second over about 30 billion years – more than twice the age of the universe. The clock’s key parameters, known as stability and uncertainty, both surpassed the level of 10 to the power of... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3347101/made-china-clock-loses-second-twice-age-universe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3347101/made-china-clock-loses-second-twice-age-universe?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Mar 2026 06:00:21 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin China has followed last year’s secretive high-orbit satellite-to-satellite refuelling test with another in-orbit servicing mission that is aimed at advancing docking and refuelling technologies, while also testing ways to speed up the disposal of satellites at the end of their usefulness. Hukeda-2, which lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi Desert on Monday, is China’s first commercial test satellite equipped with a flexible robotic arm to capture other spacecraft, the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3347156/can-china-commercial-satellites-octopus-tentacle-pass-low-orbit-refuel-test?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3347156/can-china-commercial-satellites-octopus-tentacle-pass-low-orbit-refuel-test?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Mar 2026 01:00:13 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin Fang Daining, a key scientist in China’s hypersonic weapons programme, has died at the age of 68, according to an image of an obituary notice that began circulating on Chinese social media last week. Early online discussions included claims that Fang, who was also a Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) member, the country’s highest academic title in science and technology, suffered an unexpected medical episode during a work trip to South Africa. The South China Morning Post could not confirm the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3346904/controversy-haunts-death-chinas-lead-hypersonic-weapons-expert-fang-daining?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3346904/controversy-haunts-death-chinas-lead-hypersonic-weapons-expert-fang-daining?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Mar 2026 01:00:13 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin Chinese researchers have proposed a semi-humanoid robot mounted on a wheeled platform as part of key infrastructure for the country’s lunar research station slated to take shape by 2035. Combining mobility with humanlike dexterity, the robot is designed to move across the lunar surface while carrying out delicate operations, from construction and maintenance to scientific experiments, sampling and analysis, according to researchers from the Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering. Its... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3346317/weird-looking-humanoid-robot-could-help-china-conquer-moon-scientists?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3346317/weird-looking-humanoid-robot-could-help-china-conquer-moon-scientists?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Mar 2026 12:00:09 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin China should not follow SpaceX in launching artificial intelligence data centres into orbit, but instead focus on more practical near-term space-based computing, a senior researcher has said. Gao Wen, a computer scientist at Peking University and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said on Thursday that electricity demand was not a major bottleneck for AI data centres in China, meaning there was little reason to move them into space. In a Sina News interview during the annual “two... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3345685/china-cant-buy-elon-musks-theory-space-based-ai-centres-experts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3345685/china-cant-buy-elon-musks-theory-space-based-ai-centres-experts?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Mar 2026 15:30:08 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin Chinese scientists have reported a milestone in space laser communications, sustaining a high-speed, hours-long laser link with a satellite more than 40,000km (25,000 miles) above the Earth. The capability is seen as critical to future deep-space networks. According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Optics and Electronics, which led the project, researchers used a 1.8-metre (6-foot) aperture telescope in Yunnan province to lock onto a geostationary satellite within four... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3345369/china-teams-space-laser-breakthrough-takes-communication-speeds-high-orbit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3345369/china-teams-space-laser-breakthrough-takes-communication-speeds-high-orbit?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Mar 2026 13:30:09 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin China should accelerate development of a space-based solar power station, as the technology could one day do far more than beam clean energy to Earth, it might even help tame typhoons, according to a senior Chinese engineer. Duan Baoyan, the lead scientist behind the ambitious “Zhuri” project – which aims to hold a megawatt-class demonstration in the Earth’s orbit by 2030 – said microwave beams generated by such a station to transmit electricity back to Earth could potentially be directed to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3345240/change-typhoon-intensity-and-path-china-team-mulls-hitting-cyclones-space-beam?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3345240/change-typhoon-intensity-and-path-china-team-mulls-hitting-cyclones-space-beam?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Mar 2026 09:00:10 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin China’s top research body has banned its scientists from using government funds to publish in some pricey Western journals, as the country rethinks how much it will pay for foreign prestige. A number of employees of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the world’s largest research institution, said they were notified of changes to publication and reimbursement rules just before the Chinese New Year break. “For high-fee journals such as Cell Reports, Nature Communications and Science Advances,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3345039/how-much-foreign-prestige-china-says-no-some-western-science-journal-fees?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3345039/how-much-foreign-prestige-china-says-no-some-western-science-journal-fees?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Mar 2026 06:00:10 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin Andre Geim, the 67-year-old Nobel Prize-winning physicist known in China as the “father of graphene”, will join the University of Hong Kong as a chair professor in April, according to the university. Geim, who led a team at the University of Manchester to isolate graphene – the world’s thinnest and strongest material, consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms – using adhesive tape in 2004, is set to leave Britain after spending more than two decades of his career there. Geim said he was... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3344703/father-graphene-andre-geim-leaves-britain-chair-professorship-hku?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3344703/father-graphene-andre-geim-leaves-britain-chair-professorship-hku?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Feb 2026 09:31:17 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin A US judge has refused to throw out a lawsuit accusing Northwestern University of mistreating Chinese-American neuroscientist Jane Wu before her suicide, allowing the case to move ahead. The ruling on Tuesday rejected the university’s request for dismissal and means one of the most consequential cases related to the now-defunct “China Initiative” will proceed into a more substantive phase, with the next hearing set for mid-May. Wu’s family alleges the former Dr Charles L. Mix research professor... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3344623/suicide-lawsuit-against-china-born-scientist-jane-wus-us-university-proceed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3344623/suicide-lawsuit-against-china-born-scientist-jane-wus-us-university-proceed?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Feb 2026 13:00:08 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin Zhu Ziqiang, one of the world’s leading experts in electric motor engineering, has left his four-decade career in Britain to take up a full-time position at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In his new role as chair professor of electrical machines and control systems, Zhu will continue his long-standing work on high-efficiency permanent magnet motors, according to his faculty page on the PolyU website. Zhu spent 38 years at the University of Sheffield, where he eventually established what was... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3344399/world-leading-ev-motor-expert-joins-hong-kong-polyu-after-38-years-britain?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3344399/world-leading-ev-motor-expert-joins-hong-kong-polyu-after-38-years-britain?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Feb 2026 06:00:09 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin Researchers in China have been excluded from the European Union’s most advanced collaborative technology programmes. However, specialists in the sectors affected say the impact of the ban may be limited because some areas of collaboration are already at a historic low. The EU has barred organisations based in China from applying for its €93 billion (US$110 billion) Horizon Europe grants in “critical areas”, citing concerns over research security and potential military use. Effective this year,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3344199/eu-bans-chinese-bodies-critical-tech-programmes-including-ai-and-chips?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3344199/eu-bans-chinese-bodies-critical-tech-programmes-including-ai-and-chips?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Feb 2026 10:00:09 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin Steve Durst, a US space entrepreneur who spent decades building rare bridges with China’s space sector despite restrictions on official cooperation, has died aged 82. Durst, who founded the non-profit International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA), was publishing on China’s astronaut training as early as 1980, when the country’s human space flight ambitions were still little known to the outside world. He died at his home in California last month, shortly after attending a workshop in Chiang... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3343571/steve-durst-us-citizen-space-diplomat-who-reached-out-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3343571/steve-durst-us-citizen-space-diplomat-who-reached-out-china?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Feb 2026 12:00:07 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin China’s latest rocket test has put the country neck and neck with the US in the race to the moon, with crewed landings before 2030 a realistic goal for both nations, according to analysts. During Wednesday’s eight-minute flight from southern Hainan province, China successfully tested two major components of its crewed lunar system: a mid-air escape of the Mengzhou crew capsule and a full launch, re-entry and splashdown of the moon rocket’s core stage. Rand Simberg, an aerospace engineer and... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3343346/10-9-8-rocket-test-puts-china-neck-and-neck-us-moon-race?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3343346/10-9-8-rocket-test-puts-china-neck-and-neck-us-moon-race?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Feb 2026 13:00:13 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin After 30 years in the United States, world-leading computational biologist Bao Zhirong has taken up a full-time position at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen. Bao, who pioneered imaging technologies that allow scientists to track the behaviour of individual cells in real time as organs form and diseases emerge, has been a chair professor at SUSTech’s life sciences school since January, according to his new faculty profile. He was previously at New York’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3343210/world-leading-computational-biology-pioneer-bao-zhirong-returns-china-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3343210/world-leading-computational-biology-pioneer-bao-zhirong-returns-china-us?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Feb 2026 01:00:12 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin Chinese researchers have pushed the frontiers of quantum encryption, demonstrating a powerful new way to send secure information over more than 100km (62 miles) of optical fibre – without having to trust the equipment being used. A team led by Pan Jianwei at the University of Science and Technology of China used a pair of individual rubidium atoms, trapped in laser beams at two separate network nodes, as the foundation for their system, according to a paper published in Science this week. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3342478/china-achieves-tamper-proof-quantum-communication-over-100km-single-atoms?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3342478/china-achieves-tamper-proof-quantum-communication-over-100km-single-atoms?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Feb 2026 19:00:10 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin Leading chipmaking engineer Xu Zhenpeng said the United States no longer offered the freedom that researchers once expected – a key reason for his decision to continue his work in China. Xu, who joined Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) as a tenure-track assistant professor in January, left behind a team leadership role at Atomic Semi, a California start-up with high-profile backers that included OpenAI’s venture fund. Before his departure, Xu led a team that was developing a new kind of... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3342299/chinese-semiconductor-engineer-xu-zhenpeng-says-he-left-us-find-freedom?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3342299/chinese-semiconductor-engineer-xu-zhenpeng-says-he-left-us-find-freedom?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Feb 2026 23:00:37 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin Leading brain development and gene regulation researcher Gao Zhonghua has joined a newly established university in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen after more than two decades working in the United States. Gao became a full-time research professor at the Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology (SUAT) last month, according to the university website. Officially approved in 2024, SUAT is a research-focused institution aimed at training talent for cutting-edge industries such as biomedicine... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3342071/nih-funded-biomedicine-researcher-gao-zhonghua-leaves-us-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3342071/nih-funded-biomedicine-researcher-gao-zhonghua-leaves-us-china?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Feb 2026 04:01:42 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin Advanced chipmaking engineer Xu Zhenpeng has left the United States to take up a full-time position at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), one of China’s leaders in artificial intelligence hardware research. Before his return to China, Xu led a team at the California-based manufacturing start-up Atomic Semi, developing 3D printing techniques aimed at making chip production faster and cheaper than conventional methods that used bulky, multimillion-dollar machines. Investors in the company,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3341719/chipmaking-expert-xu-zhenpeng-leaves-openai-funded-start-shanghai-role?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3341719/chipmaking-expert-xu-zhenpeng-leaves-openai-funded-start-shanghai-role?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Jan 2026 02:00:17 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin A team of researchers in China has claimed that a recent near-miss between a Chinese satellite and one of SpaceX’s Starlink devices was behind the US company’s decision to move more than 4,000 of its satellites into lower orbit. The two satellites passed within about 200 metres (656 feet) of each other on December 10, shortly after a launch from northwestern China, according to a social media post last month by Michael Nicolls, SpaceX’s vice-president of engineering. Three weeks later, in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3341360/chinese-satellite-forces-4400-its-starlink-rivals-lower-altitude-study?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3341360/chinese-satellite-forces-4400-its-starlink-rivals-lower-altitude-study?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Jan 2026 14:00:11 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin A radically different kind of chip created by Chinese researchers can now handle real-world data tasks, potentially reshaping artificial intelligence systems’ reliance on power-hungry digital processors, its developers said. Building on work reported in October, the Peking University team’s ultra-fast, energy-efficient analogue chip has moved beyond solving basic mathematical problems and can now power applications such as personalised recommendation and image processing. In a paper published on... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3340939/chinas-analogue-ai-chip-runs-12-times-fast-1/200th-energy-digital-rivals?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3340939/chinas-analogue-ai-chip-runs-12-times-fast-1/200th-energy-digital-rivals?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Jan 2026 06:00:14 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin Tiny carbon nanotubes with walls just one atom thick found on the far side of the moon have provided the first confirmed evidence that a material long thought to require sophisticated human engineering could also be produced naturally. They were found in rocks collected by China’s 2024 Chang’e-6 mission, the first probe to land on the far side of the moon and bring samples back to Earth. Using high-resolution electron microscopes, a team from Jilin University in northeastern China detected the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3340724/china-found-something-strange-far-side-moon-no-one-ever-saw-occur-naturally?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3340724/china-found-something-strange-far-side-moon-no-one-ever-saw-occur-naturally?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Jan 2026 01:00:12 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin China’s Chang’e-7 mission this year will be the world’s first to attempt to sample and directly measure water on the moon, but just touching lunar ice could mean losing it, a team of scientists has warned in a new paper. The spacecraft is expected to touch down near the rim of Shackleton crater at the lunar south pole, where it will deploy a rover and hopper to search for ice. While water could support long-term human activity on the moon, from providing drinking water and oxygen to producing... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3340513/first-contact-quest-water-moon-chinese-team-flags-risk-touching-ice?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3340513/first-contact-quest-water-moon-chinese-team-flags-risk-touching-ice?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Jan 2026 05:59:06 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin Physicist You Chenglong has left the United States to take up a full-time position in China after working for more than a decade in the strategically important fields of quantum sensing and precision measurement. Previously based at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, You is regarded as a fast-rising researcher in his field. According to Chinese media reports, he joined the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) in Chengdu as a professor this month. UESTC has... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3340323/leading-quantum-physicist-you-chenglong-joins-cutting-edge-chinese-research-institute?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3340323/leading-quantum-physicist-you-chenglong-joins-cutting-edge-chinese-research-institute?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Jan 2026 04:00:17 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin As China pushes to take the global lead in building space-based solar power stations, a new study warns that powerful lasers beaming energy back to Earth could pose serious risks to other satellites in the increasingly crowded low-Earth orbit. If these beams miss their targets – because of tracking errors or system malfunctions – they could strike nearby spacecraft, overheat solar panels or trigger electrical discharges, according to a team from the Beijing Institute of Satellite Environment... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3339829/chinese-risk-study-finds-space-solar-power-stations-could-accidentally-zap-satellites?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3339829/chinese-risk-study-finds-space-solar-power-stations-could-accidentally-zap-satellites?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Jan 2026 06:00:13 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin Chinese researchers have released the world’s first software for lunar timekeeping, a tool designed to support precise navigation and landings as a new global race to the moon gathers pace. Clocks tick faster on the moon than on Earth due to weaker gravity – by about 56 millionths of a second per day. The effect, predicted by Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity, is tiny but accumulates over time, making Earth time increasingly unreliable for lunar operations. To address this, a team... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3339111/china-unveils-worlds-first-timekeeping-software-moon-where-clocks-ticks-faster?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3339111/china-unveils-worlds-first-timekeeping-software-moon-where-clocks-ticks-faster?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Jan 2026 04:00:11 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin China risks losing access to satellite tracking stations and other sensitive technology infrastructure in Venezuela after the United States seized control of the country’s leadership and snatched its president, Nicolas Maduro, taking him to New York for trial. Beijing’s embedded assets – from satellite ground stations to oilfield systems and telecommunications networks – could be compromised after US President Donald Trump said Washington would “run” Venezuela and “fix oil infrastructure” in the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3338844/chinas-sensitive-technology-risk-after-trump-abducts-venezuela-leader-maduro?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3338844/chinas-sensitive-technology-risk-after-trump-abducts-venezuela-leader-maduro?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Jan 2026 05:06:58 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin China is set to break its own record in hypergravity research with a colossal new centrifuge that can spin multi-tonne samples at unmatched intensities. The machine, known as CHIEF1900, was built by Shanghai Electric Nuclear Power Group and shipped to Zhejiang University in eastern China on December 22 for installation. Once up and running, it will allow researchers to compress space and time, recreating catastrophic events such as dam failures and earthquakes inside a laboratory, according to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3338193/china-builds-record-breaking-hypergravity-machine-compress-space-and-time?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3338193/china-builds-record-breaking-hypergravity-machine-compress-space-and-time?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 31 Dec 2025 04:00:10 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin Chinese researchers have taken a major step in the global race to build practical quantum computers, becoming the first team outside the United States – and the second in the world after Google – to cross a key threshold that determines whether these machines can work reliably at scale. A team led by Pan Jianwei at the University of Science and Technology of China said their superconducting quantum computer, Zuchongzhi 3.2, had reached the fault-tolerant threshold – a point where fixing errors... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3337742/chinas-new-quantum-computer-hits-stability-milestone-beating-google-efficiency?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3337742/chinas-new-quantum-computer-hits-stability-milestone-beating-google-efficiency?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Dec 2025 01:00:18 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin Chinese researchers have proposed a simple yet powerful theory to explain one of physics’ oldest puzzles: why time only moves forward and why travelling to the past remains impossible. Physicist Cai Qingyu and his team at Hainan University in southern China have developed a fresh explanation at the quantum level for why we cannot unscramble an egg or grow younger, even though the laws of physics perfectly allow time to go backwards. Unlike earlier theories, their framework does not rely on... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3337579/china-team-tackles-century-old-puzzle-physics-can-we-travel-back-time?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3337579/china-team-tackles-century-old-puzzle-physics-can-we-travel-back-time?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Dec 2025 01:00:12 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin The late Emperor Hirohito of Japan should be held accountable under international law for the crimes of Unit 731, according to Chinese scholars who say the wartime ruler authorised the infamous programme but was shielded from prosecution by US policy after World War II. The secret Japanese military unit in northeastern China, which was responsible for human experimentation, biological warfare and at least tens of thousands of civilian deaths, had been created by imperial order in 1936, said Zhou... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3337529/china-urged-sue-over-japanese-royals-role-unit-731-crimes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3337529/china-urged-sue-over-japanese-royals-role-unit-731-crimes?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Dec 2025 04:00:09 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin The US Congress passed its annual defence bill on Wednesday, easing concerns among researchers by dropping a controversial proposal targeting US-China scientific collaboration, even as it imposed new restrictions on Chinese biotechnology companies. The SAFE (Securing American Funding and Expertise from Adversarial Research Exploitation) Research Act would have denied federal funding to any US researcher working with scientists from China and several other countries, but it did not make it into... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3336886/us-lawmakers-killed-proposal-targeting-science-efforts-china-and-did-instead?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3336886/us-lawmakers-killed-proposal-targeting-science-efforts-china-and-did-instead?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Dec 2025 13:00:10 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin China is emerging as a rising powerhouse for scientific innovation at a time when scientific research in the United States faces growing funding instability, according to Belgian neurologist Steven Laureys. Laureys, a pioneer in detecting hidden awareness in patients with severe brain injuries, is expanding his global research network to China, working with Hangzhou Normal University. “There’s a wonderful opportunity for me to work with China. And I’m very happy that China is investing in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3336812/china-offers-wonderful-opportunity-scientists-says-leading-european-neurologist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3336812/china-offers-wonderful-opportunity-scientists-says-leading-european-neurologist?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Dec 2025 04:00:09 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin A top scientist has sharply criticised China’s increasingly resource-driven research culture, warning that a reliance on vast accumulated funding, manpower and data for scientific output is inefficient and actively undermines genuine innovation. Zhang Hong, a senior cell biologist at the Institute of Biophysics in Beijing and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, condemned what he called “a vicious cycle” in how life sciences research was increasingly done in China. Projects were inflated... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3336669/chinas-research-paper-boom-could-be-false-prosperity-academician-warns?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3336669/chinas-research-paper-boom-could-be-false-prosperity-academician-warns?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Dec 2025 02:00:10 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin The 2025 film Nuremberg ends with a sober line from British historian R.G. Collingwood: “The only clue to what man can do is what man has done” – a stark reminder that history repeats when justice does not. While the crimes of Nazi Germany were brought before an international tribunal 80 years ago, the atrocities committed by Japan’s secret Unit 731 in northeast China’s Heilongjiang province during the second world war – have never faced a comparable legal reckoning. The covert unit conducted... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3336112/china-urged-bring-japans-unit-731-court-crimes-against-humanity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3336112/china-urged-bring-japans-unit-731-court-crimes-against-humanity?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Dec 2025 04:00:10 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin A former Nasa administrator has warned that America’s plan to return astronauts to the moon is technically unworkable, urging a much simpler approach – similar to China’s – as the only realistic way to stay ahead. Mike Griffin, a 76-year-old aerospace engineer who led Nasa during the George W. Bush administration, told Congress that the Artemis programme “cannot work” because it relies on an overly complex design and many unproven technologies. Under the current plan, the Artemis III mission... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3335865/former-nasa-chief-calls-new-us-approach-moon-landing-much-chinas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3335865/former-nasa-chief-calls-new-us-approach-moon-landing-much-chinas?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Dec 2025 13:00:10 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin For the first time, scientists in China have faithfully recreated a thought experiment proposed by Albert Einstein nearly a century ago, showing that the quantum world behaves in ways the iconic physicist never fully accepted. Pan Jianwei – known as the country’s “father of quantum” – and his team at the University of Science and Technology of China built a device sensitive enough to register the tiny push of a single photon. Einstein laid out a modified version of the famous double-slit... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3335238/chinese-physicists-prove-einstein-wrong-and-put-century-old-debate-end?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3335238/chinese-physicists-prove-einstein-wrong-and-put-century-old-debate-end?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Dec 2025 14:30:17 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin The legal battle over the death of Chinese-American neuroscientist Jane Wu officially began in a Chicago courtroom this week – a case that has shaken the research community and focused intense scrutiny on Northwestern University’s conduct. A civil lawsuit filed by Wu’s family in June centres on how the university handled one of its most accomplished professors during the controversial “China Initiative”, alleging her suicide in July 2024 was a direct result of the school’s treatment amid the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3335096/jane-wu-lawsuit-us-university-seeks-dismiss-case-china-born-neuroscientist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3335096/jane-wu-lawsuit-us-university-seeks-dismiss-case-china-born-neuroscientist?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Dec 2025 12:59:50 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin The idea of launching a large-scale emergency rescue mission in space – involving thousands of engineers, scientists and government personnel in a matter of days – has been the stuff of movies. Films have dramatised such events as clock-ticking scenarios but in reality, even the most seasoned spacefaring nations have needed months to respond to in-orbit crises. China has revealed details of its emergency involving the damaged Shenzhou-20’s return capsule in November and how it pulled off its... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3334943/space-follower-first-responder-how-china-pulled-shenzhou-rescue-mission?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3334943/space-follower-first-responder-how-china-pulled-shenzhou-rescue-mission?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Dec 2025 12:59:05 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin China is launching a second satellite constellation to monitor objects in orbit to help commercial operators lower collision risks and ease the country’s long reliance on foreign tracking data. When complete, the Xingyan – or Star Eye – space situational awareness constellation will have 156 satellites up and running to identify the orbits of other satellites and debris, detect unusual movements, and provide collision warnings and maneuver advice every two hours. Its developer, Xingtu Cekong, an... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3334681/chinas-xingyan-star-eye-network-track-satellites-and-space-debris?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3334681/chinas-xingyan-star-eye-network-track-satellites-and-space-debris?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 Nov 2025 14:00:09 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin The race to launch China’s first reusable rocket is heating up, with three contenders now lined up at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the country’s northwest for flights that could make history. On the pads stand the state-owned Long March 12A, LandSpace’s Zhuque-3, and Space Pioneer’s Tianlong-3 – all three of which are expected to be used to build China’s massive internet satellite constellations and to compete internationally on low-cost, rapid-turnaround missions. Both the Long March... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3334321/china-has-3-reusable-rockets-lined-launch-they-vie-make-history?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3334321/china-has-3-reusable-rockets-lined-launch-they-vie-make-history?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Nov 2025 05:59:50 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin A tiny piece of debris triggered the most serious mishap at China’s Tiangong space station since it became operational three years ago. Earlier this month, a crack discovered on the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft’s window forced three Chinese astronauts to remain on board Tiangong for nine extra days and eventually borrow their newly arrived colleagues’ ship to return to Earth. The event underscores the growing threat posed by Earth’s ever-expanding cloud of orbital junk – a scare that could push China,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3333672/chinas-shenzhou-20-debris-crisis-catalyst-space-war-or-peace?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3333672/chinas-shenzhou-20-debris-crisis-catalyst-space-war-or-peace?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Nov 2025 13:00:08 +0000