China in Africa

Tianjin will build a university dedicated to nuclear technology research to meet the talent demands of the country’s nuclear industry. The university will be supported by China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC), one of China’s largest nuclear enterprises

CAS news release, June 21, 2018

One of the first civilizations to make ceramics about 10,000 years ago, China is now developing technology to manufacture ceramics in space. Potential uses of this technology are to build bases on the Moon, Mars or other planets, or to make vessels such as tea cups from lunar dust or Martian soil. Scientists at the CAS Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization have completed the world’s first ceramic manufacturing experiment under microgravity aboard a European parabolic flight aircraft in Switzerland. As fine particles are difficult to control as they float easily in a microgravity environment, the scientists developed a technology to mix the powder into a resin to form a paste, and then solidified it with digital light processing. The long-term goal is to develop intelligent machines for 3D printing that can work on the Moon or Mars.

CAS news release, June 20, 2018

WANG Zhigang, the minister of science and technology, said the foundation should focus on supporting projects that can solve major and key challenges regarding China’s socioeconomic development and national security. The NNSF should pay greater attention to basic research, optimize institutional management, strengthen social services using new technologies and uphold academic honesty. Training innovative talents will be a priority for the foundation, alongside a mechanism that links basic research, applied research and commercialization. The foundation’s budget grew from 16.1 billion yuan ($2.49 billion) in 2013 to 26.7 billion yuan in 2017 and has supported more than 739,000 researchers throughout China. Globally, the foundation has funded 4,398 science projects and has partnered with more than 91 scientific foundations from 49 countries and regions.

CAS news release, June 20, 2018

The city located in Jiangsu province started in 2016 on an overall facility of 200,000 m². A China-Germany vocational education and scientific innovation service center was also launched. So far, nearly 150 German enterprises have invested in Changzhou in various fields like machinery, electronics and textiles, according to the local government.

CAS news release, June 20, 2018

Studies of ZHOU Qi and HU Baoyangshowed that implanted human embryonic stem cell-derived neurons survived for two years and further matured. There was no immune rejection or other serious adverse reaction. Apparent behavioral improvement were observed in most monkey models. Clinical experiments in humans are now considered as a next step.

CAS news release, June 19, 2018

Cellulose nanopaper (CNP) has potential application in the fields of electronic devices, visual display substrates, batteries, etc., due to its light-weight, low thermal expansion, excellent mechanical and optical properties. However, CNP is sensitive to moisture due to the hydrophilic nature of cellulose, leading to a loss of strength and durability. The group of LI Bin at QIBEBT has used organic acid hydrolysis plus homogenization in dimethylacetamide to extract lignin-containing cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) in a one-step process. The CNFs were directly used to fabricate strong, flexible, and water resistant CNP without any complex chemical modification. In the obtained CNP, the residual lignin was found to act as a reinforcing agent between CNFs. The tensile strength and toughness of the lignin-containing CNP were much higher compared with the one without lignin. The water-resistance of CNP was also greatly improved, and its maximum wet tensile strength reached up to 83 MPa, the highest value yet reported.

CAS news release, June 15, 2018

The group of JIANG Heqing at QIBEBT designed a 3D thermal film containing artificial photothermal cones with a polypyrrole (PPy) coating via chemical vapor deposition polymerization (CVDP). Absorbance was around 99 % in the entire solar spectrum, comparable to the performances of super-black materials. In actual seawater tests in Jiaozhou Bay the 3D hollow cone thermal film showed good stability, and 3.5 times the evaporation efficiency of natural evaporation.

China Bio news release, June 14, 2018

In a pilot program led by Guangdong Provincial Institute of Precision Medicine Application, 2000 newborns will obtain DNA-based electronic birth certificates. Markers are STRs (short tandem repeats) which are highly polymorphic. The program is meant to counteract baby trafficking. The data will be stored in the National Human Genetic Resource Bank.

China Bio news release, June 11, 2018

The land-based rig, jointly developed by Jilin University and Sichuan-based Honghua Group, did the drill in the Singliao basin in northeast China. It can dig as deep as 10 km and plans are to increase drilling capacity to 15 km depth.

CAS news release, June 5, 2018

WANG Huaiyu at CAS SIAT in Shenzhen and CHU Paul K from Hong Kong City University have developed a new concept for antibacterial surface materials. After they had doped capacitive titania nanotubes with carbon (TNT-C) and charged this material, they observed antibacterial activity toward four types of bacteria. The surface worked well with both direct and alternating current (DC, AC), and the higher discharging capacity in the positive DC group led to better antibacterial performance.

CAS news release, June 1, 2018

The group of ZHAO Zongbao has performed multi-omic analyses of the oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides to shield lights on Pi-limitation-induced lipid accumulation. In total, 7970 genes, 4212 proteins, and 123 metabolites were identified. It was found that NADPH, the key cofactor for fatty acid biosynthesis, is limited due to reduced flux through the pentose phosphate pathway and transhydrogenation cycle and that this can be overcome by over-expression of an endogenous malic enzyme.

CAS news release, May 31, 2018

A doctoral study at the CAS Wuhan Botanical Garden showed that contamination of microplastics in Dongting Lake and Honghu Lakewas as high as 900-2800 and 1250-4650 particles/m3, accounting for more than 60% of suspended matter. The ratio of colored microplastics was over 70%, and Raman spectroscopy identied polyethylene and polypropylene as the main microplastic polymer types.

CAS news release, May 29, 2018

SHI Zhongjun, China’s ambassador to UN, announced in Vienna on May 28 that all member states of the United Nations are welcome to cooperate with China to jointly utilize its future China Space Station (CSS), saying that CSS belongs not only to China, but also to the world”. Interested public and private organizations, including institutes, academies, universities and private enterprises with scientific orientations, can identify their appropriate models of cooperation on board CSS, may it be the growth of a space plant, or even the accommodation of an astronaut. CSS, expected to be launched by 2019, and complete and brought into operation by 2022, will be the world’s first space station that is developed by a developing country and open for cooperation with all UN member states.”

CAS news release, May 29, 2018

TANG Fuchou and colleagues at Beijing’s Advanced Innovation Center for Genomics (ICG) have completed a systematic study of the development paths and gene expressions profiles of the human oesophagus, stomach, small intestine and large intestine in both embryonic and adult stages, mapping the genes of 5,277 individual cells and identifying 40 cell types in organs from human embryos, as well as the large intestine of adults.

CAS news release, May 29, 2018

The group of Xinhe BAO and colleagues succeeded in preparing a porous Ni-N-doped porous carbon material that is monodispersed by pyrolyzing a zinc/nickel bimetallic zeolite imidazole skeleton (ZIF-8). CO Faradaic efficiency was maintained between 92.0% and 98.0% in a wide potential range from -0.53V to -1.03V (vs. RHE). The CO current density increased with the increase of overpotential.

CAS news release, May 29, 2018