https://www.scmp.com/rss/524374/feed The latest news and top stories on National Natural Science Foundation of China. A Beijing-based governmental research foundation, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) is dedicated to supporting basic research fostering scientific talent and promoting scientific and technological progress. Its main areas of focus include providing grants for a wide range of scientific disciplines talent development and research infrastructure. Established in 1986 the NSFC is recognised as... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Dannie Peng Dannie Peng Zhang Jinshui, a pioneering scientist in remote sensing who led major research and development programmes in China and was instrumental in boosting the country’s food security with satellite technologies, has died at the age of 47. Zhang, a professor and doctoral supervisor in the Faculty of Geographical Science (FGS) at Beijing Normal University, died in Beijing on March 9 following “unsuccessful medical treatment”, according to multiple Chinese media reports. The faculty held a memorial... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3347119/leading-chinese-remote-sensing-scientist-zhang-jinshui-dies-47?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3347119/leading-chinese-remote-sensing-scientist-zhang-jinshui-dies-47?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Mar 2026 06:00:13 +0000 Emiliano Martínez Viademonte Emiliano Martínez Viademonte China and Uruguay have forged a new scientific alliance by signing more than 20 cooperation agreements, targeting critical fields from cancer treatment and water management to fighting crop-destroying pests. The development signals a step forward in ties, moving beyond a decade mainly defined by trade in products like wood pulp, soybeans and beef. “China is a good partner for us, especially in basic sciences,” Alvaro Brunini, president of Uruguay’s National Agency of Research and Innovation... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3345791/beyond-beef-china-and-uruguay-team-science-target-cancer-pests-and-robotics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3345791/beyond-beef-china-and-uruguay-team-science-target-cancer-pests-and-robotics?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Mar 2026 08:02:08 +0000 Dannie Peng Dannie Peng In the run-up to this year’s ‘two sessions’ – the annual meetings of China’s top legislature and political advisory body – high-level policymakers have stressed the need to defuse financial risks and root out political corruption, two of President Xi Jinping’s long-term priorities. As part of a series, Dannie Peng looks at the fight against corruption in academia. As science and technology become national priorities in China, Beijing has turned its sweeping corruption crackdown on academia,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3345414/why-chinas-anti-corruption-drive-academia-vital-its-science-and-tech-ambitions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3345414/why-chinas-anti-corruption-drive-academia-vital-its-science-and-tech-ambitions?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Mar 2026 22:00:08 +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 Chloe Loung Chloe Loung This series is based on our reporting on TCM: its history, treatments and growing acceptance around the world. This is the seventh instalment. In the world of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), few remedies carry the legendary status – or the hefty price tag – of Angong Niuhuang Wan, often referred to as the “miracle pill”. The old formula, consisting of 11 herbs and minerals, has long been revered as a top-grade emergency medicine, historically used to treat those who have had a stroke or may... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3344680/how-tcms-miracle-pill-used-treat-strokes-experts-urge-caution?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3344680/how-tcms-miracle-pill-used-treat-strokes-experts-urge-caution?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Feb 2026 23:15:08 +0000 Dannie Peng Dannie Peng Xia Xian, a virologist who was formerly a project scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, has left the United States to take up a position studying highly pathogenic viruses – those with a strong ability to cause severe disease or illness – at his alma mater, Wuhan University, in central China. According to the university’s website, Xia became a full-time research professor and principal investigator in November at the College of Life Sciences and the State Key Laboratory of... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3341795/ucla-virologist-xia-xian-joins-wuhan-lab-studying-highly-pathogenic-virus?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3341795/ucla-virologist-xia-xian-joins-wuhan-lab-studying-highly-pathogenic-virus?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Feb 2026 02:00:15 +0000 Shi Huang Shi Huang The year was 2015, and New York University professor Debra Laefer sat at her desk in Brooklyn reviewing yet another stack of research papers on remote sensing. As she scanned the authors’ affiliations, she paused – the same journals that once overflowed with names from American universities and Nasa labs had begun to publish discoveries from Beijing, Wuhan and Shanghai. Over the next few years, the drips became a wave – and then a tsunami. Back in the 1990s, the United States dominated remote... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3333093/88-9-stark-data-shows-us-decline-chinas-rise-remote-sensing-research?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3333093/88-9-stark-data-shows-us-decline-chinas-rise-remote-sensing-research?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Nov 2025 22:00:10 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin World-renowned neurologist and consciousness research pioneer Steven Laureys has taken up a full-time university position in eastern China’s Zhejiang province. The 56-year-old Belgian scientist joined Hangzhou Normal University earlier this year as a professor at its school of basic medical sciences, according to a university statement. Before moving to China, Laureys spent decades in Europe and had a brief stint in North America. He is widely recognised as one of the first researchers to use... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3330992/belgiums-top-neurologist-steven-laureys-joins-chinas-hangzhou-normal-university?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3330992/belgiums-top-neurologist-steven-laureys-joins-chinas-hangzhou-normal-university?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Nov 2025 06:00:17 +0000 Dannie Peng Dannie Peng Academics and students have paid tribute to Liu Haolin, a leading computer scientist who died at the age of 37 after a sudden illness. An obituary published online said that Liu, a professor at Xiangtan University in the central province of Hunan, had died in a hospital in Changsha on Saturday. The obituary added that a memorial ceremony had been held the following day in the neighbouring city of Ningxiang. His university also published its own obituary and changed his profile picture on its... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3330505/leading-chinese-ai-researcher-liu-haolin-dies-aged-37-after-brief-illness?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3330505/leading-chinese-ai-researcher-liu-haolin-dies-aged-37-after-brief-illness?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Oct 2025 04:00:17 +0000 Dannie Peng Dannie Peng As China drafts its 15th five-year plan – the next entry in a line of expansive blueprints that have set the tone for the country’s development over more than seven decades – we explore why achieving equitable funding distribution is important for Beijing to break free from Western sci-tech containment and lead the world. For more stories in this series, click here. Yusufu Aibibula, a theoretical physicist from Xinjiang University in China’s west, decided to change careers to raising chickens... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3327238/unfair-funding-holding-back-science-china-can-beijing-fix-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3327238/unfair-funding-holding-back-science-china-can-beijing-fix-it?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Oct 2025 14:00:08 +0000 Kandy Wong Kandy Wong China’s largest government-backed research funder has begun accepting applications for the study of stablecoins and their cross-border monitoring systems, a move indicating Beijing’s growing interest - and wariness - towards the emerging digital asset. In a circular posted on its website last week, the National Natural Science Foundation of China – an affiliate of the Ministry of Science and Technology that manages hundreds of billions of yuan in annual funding – solicited proposals for the... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3324893/china-offers-funding-stablecoin-research-global-interest-grows?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3324893/china-offers-funding-stablecoin-research-global-interest-grows?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Sep 2025 23:00:09 +0000