“Agriculture 4.0” supported by drones and AI in Guizhou Province
On an area of 5,000 mu (approximately 333.3 hectares) with an average altitude of more than 2,200 meters at Wei Ning Yi Hui Miao Autonomous County, engineers seek lead technologies for vegetable production such as Chinese or white cabbage and radish. 5G-supported drones with multispectral equipment monitor crop growth, soil moisture and weather conditions and make decisions using an AI judgment system. Remote operation maintenance and quality tracing will be installed in Guiyang city. If the “smart farm” trial is successful, 400,000-mu (approximately 26,700 hectares) vegetable bases will also be built in all prefectures.
Japan JST China news, January 21, 2020
Beijing Center for Genomics completes gene expression profile of human digestive tract
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...
CAS DICP improves process for electrocatalytic reduction of CO2
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...
Study shows high contamination of Chinese lakes by microplastics
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...
Sino-US team improves rice yields by 31 % using CRISPR/Cas methods
A team of scientists from Purdue University around ZHU Jian-Kang and the CAS Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology has used CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology to develop a variety of rice that produces 25-31 percent more grain. The team made mutations to 13 genes...
China will recruit more foreign-born scientists
China’s Ministry of Science and Technoloty (MOST) issued new guidelines to recruit more international researchers. They will be involved in strategy-making, research, program management and assessment, and encouraged to collaborate with Chinese counterparts in joint...
A moderate sunbath may improve learning and memory – at least in mice
XIONG Wei and HUANG Guangming of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) o have uncovered a novel sunlight-activated biosynthetic pathway in the mouse brain. Using the rotarod performance test, mice without prior UV exposure required 1/3 longer...
BGI introduces BGI online, the first industry-based cloud computing service for gene sequencing
BGI has invested heavily in R&D and innovation of new sequencing devices, including an independent IT platform which provides professional and easy-to-use biometric information cloud services for research institutions, hospitals and other users. BGI has also certified...
Haier BioMedical creates big-data based contact platform 5U
Haier Biomedical in Qingdao promotes 5U (U-Blood, U-Biobank, U-Vaccine, U-Reagent, U-Stemcell), an IoT Contact Network linking medical institutions and home users for sharing medical and life sciences big data. The Haier U-Blood network is already implemented in...
China starts its own mobile satellite phone service
The service was started two years after launching its Tiantong-1 01 mobile communications satellite into orbit. The goverment decided to develop their own satphone service after a major earthquake hit Sichuan province in 2008. The quake put an end to all ground...
CAS National Institute of Biomedicine develops automatic stem cell induction equipment
The automatic stem cell induction and cultivation equipment covers an area of 25 square meters and consists of six modules: automated incubator, automated liquid processing system, microscopic online observation system, high-accuracy clone picker, culture dish...
CAS Institute of Metal Research reports progress on transparent single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCT)
Transparent conductive films (TCFs) are an important component of touch screens, smart windows, liquid crystal displays, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), and organic photovoltaic cells. CHENG Huiming and LIU Chang at CAS Institute of Metal Research have...
China to install manned deep-sea research submersible by 2020
China's new mother vessel for the manned deep-sea research submersible Jiaolong will be named Shenhai Yihao (Deep Sea No. 1). Jiaolong, which is undergoing a major maintenance check at the base, will start a global deep-sea scientific exploration mission in 2020. The...