分类： science

A landmark 2025 analysis from global energy think tank Ember has revealed a defining turning point in the world’s transition away from fossil fuels: for the first time in modern history, clean renewable energy sources accounted for more than one-third of the entire global electricity mix, and expanded fast enough to fully outpace total growth in worldwide electricity demand.

Released after midnight London time on Tuesday, Ember’s report draws on aggregated electricity data from 215 countries, with verified 2025 data from 91 nations covering 93% of global electricity demand. According to the analysis, total clean power generation expanded by 887 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2025, easily exceeding the 849 TWh rise in overall global electricity demand. When aggregated across solar, wind, hydropower and other zero-emission sources, total renewable generation hit 10,730 TWh last year, pushing its global market share to 33.8% – a historic first. In a parallel milestone, coal-fired power generation dropped enough to push its share of global electricity below one-third for the first time in modern history, falling 0.6 percentage points to 32.9% at 10,630 TWh.

Record-breaking solar expansion, concentrated in China and India, was the single biggest driver of this shift. Solar generation grew 30% globally in 2025, enough to meet 75% of the entire net rise in global electricity demand on its own. When combined with wind power, the two renewable sources covered 99% of 2025’s new electricity demand. Last year also marked the first time solar overtook wind power in total global generation, and Ember projects both wind and solar will overtake nuclear generation in 2026.

Parallel to the solar boom, global battery storage capacity expanded 46% in 2025, spurred by a 45% drop in battery costs. The think tank estimates that 2025’s new battery storage capacity is enough to shift 14% of the year’s new solar generation from peak midday output to other hours of the day, solving a key challenge of solar energy’s intermittent nature.

For the first time this century, both China and India – the world’s two most populous nations and historically the largest growth markets for fossil fuel power – saw absolute declines in fossil fuel generation in 2025. China cut fossil generation by 0.9% (56 TWh), while India reduced fossil output by 3.3% (also 56 TWh). China led the global solar boom, accounting for more than half of all new solar capacity and generation added worldwide last year, and also contributed the largest share of global wind growth, adding 138 TWh of new wind generation. India posted record increases in both solar and wind generation alongside strong hydropower output, with slower-than-average demand growth reversing years of post-pandemic fossil fuel expansion.

Across other major markets, the U.S. added 85 TWh of new solar generation and Europe added 60 TWh, despite small increases in U.S. fossil generation driven by the Trump administration’s policy push to expand coal, oil and gas production and roll back support for renewables. Even with policy headwinds in the U.S. and global energy market volatility exacerbated by the U.S.-Iran war, the global energy transition continues to advance, the report confirms.

Fossil fuel generation overall stalled in 2025, falling by 0.2% or 38 TWh – one of only a handful of times this century that fossil output has not increased year-over-year. Nicolas Fulghum, senior data analyst at Ember and lead author of the report, noted that the 2025 results mark a stark break from decades of past trends. “We’re coming from a period over the last few decades where new electricity demand growth meant growth in fossil generation,” Fulghum explained. “We’re now moving into a world where that’s no longer the case.”

While the historic milestones are cause for cautious optimism, Fulghum emphasized that the transition is still in its early stages. “Milestones like renewables overtaking coal mark an occasion, but they don’t tell us everything about the story in the power sector,” he said. The biggest shift from 10 or 15 years ago, he added, is that government pledges to build out renewables are now far more credible than they once were. Looking ahead, Fulghum argued that clean energy is now positioned to structurally meet growing demand from electrification trends, including the expansion of electric vehicles, heat pumps and industrial electrification. “Despite the accelerated growth and electricity demand that comes with added electric vehicle build out, of heat pumps, industrial sector electrification, clean power will be able to structurally meet that increase in demand going into the next few years, before then bending the curve and reducing the amount of fossil generation we’re using,” he said. “And that is a stark departure from the last few decades.”

Alexis Abramson, dean of the Columbia University Climate School who was not involved in the study, noted that current volatile oil prices driven by the U.S.-Iran war have reinforced the national security case for accelerating renewable adoption. “As we’re seeing the cost of oil be incredibly volatile right now because of the war, I think more and more people are looking to that national security argument as a reason to think about how we electrify more and how we’re able to take advantage of additional solar and wind, which does not rely on other countries,” she said.

Abramson called the 2025 results an important milestone for global climate action. “We’ve really crossed this important threshold that clean energy now can meet rising demand economically and at the same time really help address national security concerns,” she said. “The next challenge is really turning that into a steady decline of fossil fuel use as well. So it’s a great step in the right direction.”

The report arrives as the world grapples with accelerating climate change driven by decades of fossil fuel combustion to power economic growth, population expansion and rising electrification. The findings offer cautious optimism that the global energy transition is now moving past the planning stage and delivering measurable, structural change to the world’s power sector.

On Saturday, a landmark international agricultural research collaboration took a major step forward in Chongqing’s Beibei District, as China inaugurated two joint citrus research laboratories alongside partners from Brazil and Montenegro. The new facilities were launched as part of a broader global push to strengthen cross-border cooperation in the citrus sector, addressing shared threats that hamper production worldwide.

The opening ceremony unfolded during a two-day international symposium focused on citrus pest and disease management, which gathered leading experts from six nations: China, Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Italy, and Montenegro. Beyond the unveiling of the labs, the symposium brought together global stakeholders to advance collaborative research on emergent pest and disease outbreaks, refine evidence-based control measures, and drive sustainable, high-quality growth of the global citrus industry.

Officially named the China-Brazil Joint Laboratory for the Prevention and Control of Major Citrus Diseases and Pests, and the China-Montenegro Joint Laboratory for Sustainable Control of Crop Pests, the two facilities are tasked with developing cutting-edge strategies for disease-resistant citrus breeding and cross-border disease transmission prevention. The overarching goal of the work conducted at the labs is to advance long-term sustainable development of the global citrus sector.

Nelson Arno Wulff, chief scientist in biotechnology and diagnostics at Fundecitrus — Brazil’s leading non-profit organization dedicated to citrus plant protection — emphasized the transformative potential of the new partnership. He noted that the collaborative research will help nurture robust, productive citrus cultivation practices, directly support growers across global markets, and strengthen the entire global citrus supply chain.

As two of the world’s top citrus producing nations, China and Brazil face overlapping, high-stakes challenges in the sector. One of the most pressing shared threats is citrus greening disease, a devastating incurable pathogen that gradually kills infected citrus trees and has caused widespread production losses across major growing regions globally.

Chongqing has long been a core hub of China’s domestic citrus industry, and local data underscores this significance. Liu Chenglong, vice-chairman of the Chongqing Association for Science and Technology, shared that the city currently maintains more than 256,667 hectares of citrus orchards, with an annual total output reaching 5.3 million tons and an annual industrial output value exceeding 50 billion yuan, equivalent to roughly $7.33 billion.

Beibei District, the host of the new laboratories, holds an especially critical position in China’s citrus supply chain. Lyu Jun, deputy head of Beibei District, explained that the region supplies more than half of all virus-free container-grown citrus seedlings used across China, solidifying its status as the country’s largest production base for high-quality citrus planting material.

The symposium, which featured keynote presentations and technical discussions from global experts, was hosted by Southwest University and the Beibei District government. The event forms part of the broader Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle development initiative, with co-organization support from the science and technology bureaus of Beibei District in Chongqing and Mianyang City in neighboring Sichuan Province.

A team of marine biologists from Shanghai Ocean University’s College of Fisheries and Life Science has made a notable addition to global biodiversity records, confirming the discovery of a previously undocumented diatom species in the waterways of Shanghai’s Chongming Island. The new finding, formally published in the peer-reviewed international botanical journal Phytotaxa, marks a meaningful contribution to algal taxonomy and freshwater ecological research in the Yangtze River Delta region.

The new species, officially named *Tryblionella chongmingensis* after its place of discovery, was first collected during a systematic regional ecological field survey carried out by the research team in August 2024. Scientists encountered the previously unknown algal specimen while sampling water and sediment in the Nanheng Diversion Canal and the interconnected small tributaries that crisscross Chongming Island, a major ecological conservation zone located at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

Taxonomic analysis confirmed that *Tryblionella chongmingensis* holds a set of unique morphological characteristics that set it apart from all other recorded species within the Tryblionella genus. Its defining features include a longitudinal undulating valve structure with the lowest elevation positioned on the proximal side, and the complete absence of an axial sternum. These distinct traits form the diagnostic basis for classifying the new species within the aphyletic Tryblionella group. Additionally, the new species is marked by a comparatively larger cell size than its close relatives, further distinguishing it from similar known taxa.

Biodiversity surveys of freshwater microalgae play a key role in understanding regional aquatic ecosystem health, particularly in ecologically critical areas like Chongming Island, which functions as an important ecological barrier for Shanghai and the lower Yangtze basin. This discovery adds new data to global diatom diversity research and provides a foundational reference for future studies on algal evolution, aquatic environmental monitoring, and biodiversity conservation in eastern China.

As global energy systems grapple with the dual challenge of meeting rising power demand and cutting greenhouse gas emissions, a team of Chinese researchers has introduced a groundbreaking new approach to coal-based power generation that promises near-zero carbon dioxide output. The innovation, led by Xie Heping, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor at Shenzhen University, was officially published in the academic journal *Energy Reviews* on Thursday, according to an official statement released on the university’s website.

Traditional coal-fired power generation relies on thermal combustion to heat water into steam, which then drives turbines to produce electricity. This centuries-old approach is inherently inefficient, and it releases massive volumes of carbon dioxide that drive climate change. By contrast, the new zero-carbon-emission direct coal fuel cell (ZC-DCFC) technology skips the combustion step entirely. Instead, it converts the chemical energy stored in coal directly into electrical power through a controlled electrochemical oxidation reaction, eliminating the carbon emissions associated with burning fuel.

For decades, coal has remained the backbone of global energy supply, meeting roughly one-third of the world’s total energy demand even as renewable energy capacity expands rapidly. Current leading advanced coal power technologies, such as Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC), top out at energy conversion efficiencies of around 45 percent, and still produce more than 800 grams of CO2 for every kilowatt-hour of electricity generated, according to the research team’s analysis.

The research team began developing the ZC-DCFC concept in 2018, and over eight years of iterative development, they have delivered key breakthroughs in three critical areas: high-performance reaction materials, specialized pre-treatment for coal fuel, and optimized electrode design that enables stable, efficient power output. Beyond cutting emissions, the technology opens new possibilities for utilizing coal resources that were previously considered uneconomical or high-impact to develop. As easily accessible shallow coal reserves are gradually depleted around the world, the innovation could unlock deep underground coal deposits while transforming coal from a major climate liability into a fundamentally cleaner energy source to support the global energy transition.

A new El Niño event, defined by anomalously warm sea surface temperatures across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, has a high likelihood of developing in the coming months, potentially intensifying to moderate or stronger levels by the end of 2026, according to China’s National Climate Center. This development will amplify the risk of elevated global temperatures and an increase in extreme weather events across the planet.

Recent ongoing monitoring from the center confirms that sea surface temperatures in the key equatorial Pacific region have continued a steady upward trend, a defining early indicator that El Niño is already in the early stages of formation. Projections from the center indicate the Pacific will transition into official El Niño conditions around May 2026, with a moderate or stronger event expected to take shape between summer and autumn, persisting at minimum through the end of the calendar year.

The forecast comes amid widespread viral online speculation claiming the world could face the most intense El Niño event in 140 years, paired with predictions of unprecedented record-breaking global heat this year that has drawn broad public concern. However, Chen Lijuan, chief forecaster at the National Climate Center, emphasized that it is far too early to confirm that 2026 will see all-time high global temperatures.

“Taking into account the well-documented lagging effect of El Niño, it remains premature to conclude that the planet will hit a new extreme heat record this year. That said, the associated risks are clearly increasing,” Chen explained.

El Niño forms when sea surface temperatures across large swathes of the tropical Pacific rise far above long-term average levels. This ocean warming releases massive quantities of heat stored deep in the ocean into the atmosphere, driving a measurable rise in global average temperatures. When this additional warming overlays the long-term, human-caused trend of global warming, it makes heat waves more frequent, more intense, and longer-lasting, the center noted.

The full warming impact of an El Niño event typically emerges with a delay, with peak influence most often felt in the calendar year following the event’s formation. “For this reason, we cannot yet confirm whether 2026 will see record-breaking heat,” Chen added.

Wang Yaqi, a senior engineer at the National Climate Center, pointed out that stronger El Niño events carry far-reaching negative impacts across global economies, energy infrastructure, and public health, as they are closely linked to more frequent extreme heat, severe droughts, and intense heavy rainfall events. For example, extreme flooding triggered by intense El Niño-driven rainfall can force hydropower facilities to reduce generation or shut down entirely, while prolonged drought conditions can also cut electricity output sharply across multiple generation types.

In the public health sector, shifts in rainfall and temperature patterns tied to El Niño can increase the transmission rate of a range of infectious diseases. Additionally, drought and sustained extreme heat raise the risk of destructive wildfires in vulnerable regions, Wang explained.

Crucially, the risks associated with El Niño do not stem from the climate pattern alone. Instead, harmful impacts typically emerge from the interaction of multiple overlapping climate factors, with El Niño acting as a triggering event within a broader climate system already altered by long-term global warming.

Climate science confirms that for every 1 degree Celsius increase in global average atmospheric temperature, the maximum moisture capacity of the air rises by roughly 7 percent. This basic physical effect means higher temperatures accelerate evaporation, worsening drought conditions in dry regions, while also increasing the probability of extreme rainfall and destructive flooding when precipitation does occur.

Looking ahead, the combination of long-term background global warming and additional warming driven by El Niño will raise the likelihood of compound extreme weather events, including more intense heat waves and abrupt, destructive shifts between prolonged drought and sudden heavy rainfall, Wang concluded.

In a groundbreaking paleontological discovery announced Friday by the Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Geological Survey and Exploration, a minuscule fossilized dinosaur egg recovered from East China’s Jiangxi province has earned official Guinness World Records certification as the smallest non-avian dinosaur egg ever documented by science.

Discovered alongside five other eggs in a fossilized nest uncovered in Meilin Township, Ganzhou, back in 2021, the record-breaking specimen measures just 29.93 millimeters at its maximum length — smaller than the average thumbnail of an adult human. The entire fossil nest dates to the Late Cretaceous period, pushing the origins of this find back more than 80 million years.

After years of collaborative study involving researchers from the Jiangxi institute, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) and multiple other academic institutions, the team formally classified the eggs as belonging to an entirely new genus and species, which they have named *Minioolithus ganzhouensis*.

To uncover key details about the ancient eggs, the research team deployed cutting-edge analytical tools including scanning electron microscopy to examine the fine microstructure of the eggshells. Their analysis confirmed that the eggs were laid by a non-avian theropod, a group of bipedal, mostly carnivorous dinosaurs that includes well-known species such as Tyrannosaurus rex and Velociraptor.

This new measurement shatters the previous world record for the smallest non-avian dinosaur egg. The prior title holder, a fossil recovered in Japan in 2020, measured approximately 45 millimeters in length, making the new Ganzhou specimen nearly 33% smaller than the former record. Researchers note that the discovery of such a tiny fossil egg offers unprecedented new insights into the reproductive biology and diversity of small non-avian theropods that roamed southern China during the final days of the Cretaceous period, filling a critical gap in the global fossil record of dinosaur reproduction.

For millions of people living with persistent chronic pain worldwide, the search for an effective pain management solution free from dangerous dependency and tolerance has remained one of modern medicine’s most pressing unmet needs. Now, a research team from Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, has announced a groundbreaking advance that could transform this landscape: two newly engineered chemical compounds that retain cannabis’s proven pain-relieving properties while fully eliminating the side effects of addiction, cognitive impairment, and tolerance that have long restricted the drug’s medicinal use. Published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell on April 13, 2026, the study marks a potential turning point for patients seeking safer alternatives to opioids, a class of painkillers that drives a global public health crisis of overdose and addiction.

Cannabis has been used for therapeutic purposes for millennia, from ancient Roman healing practices to contemporary clinical settings. Despite this long history, legal and medical regulators have strictly limited its widespread medical adoption, due to the core challenge researchers call “dissociating toxicity from efficacy,” according to Li Xiaoming, lead researcher and vice-president of Zhejiang University. Put simply, the scientific community has struggled for decades to separate cannabis’s therapeutic pain-relieving effects from its harmful side effects, which include addiction, altered cognitive function, and the development of drug tolerance that reduces effectiveness over time.

The team’s breakthrough centers on a better understanding of cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1), a specialized protein found on the surface of brain nerve cells. In biological terms, receptors act as molecular “locks” on cell surfaces: when a matching chemical “key” — such as the active compounds found in cannabis — binds to the lock, it triggers a signal cascade inside the cell that alters brain function. Li’s team uncovered a previously unclarified structural detail of the CB1 receptor: it acts like a molecular fork in the road, capable of sending signals down two entirely separate cellular pathways. One pathway produces the desired therapeutic effect of pain relief, while the second is responsible for triggering all of the unwanted side effects, from addiction to tolerance.

Traditional cannabis-based medications act as non-specific molecular keys that unlock both pathways at once, leading to unavoidable side effects. To overcome this limitation, the research team leveraged artificial intelligence models to design so-called “biased” chemical compounds, precision-engineered to bind to CB1 in a configuration that only activates the pain-relief pathway. Li characterized this cutting-edge development as a form of highly precise “chemical surgery,” where molecules are tailored at the atomic level to avoid the problematic side-effect mechanism entirely.

The newly developed compounds underwent rigorous preclinical laboratory testing, where they demonstrated significant effectiveness against two major types of persistent pain: inflammatory pain caused by injury or tissue swelling, and neuropathic pain, a debilitating chronic condition triggered by nerve damage. Most critically, test subjects showed no evidence of addictive behavior, no reduction in the drugs’ pain-relieving effectiveness over extended testing periods, and fewer negative impacts on motor function and body temperature compared to traditional cannabis-derived pain treatments.

This advance builds on the team’s foundational 2023 discovery, when they first mapped the full atomic structure of CB1 bound to the signaling protein responsible for triggering side effects. By decoding the exact molecular mechanism of the harmful pathway, the team was able to design compounds that avoid interacting with that mechanism entirely. Currently, the researchers are refining the molecular structure of the two lead compounds and conducting additional preclinical safety validation, in preparation for human clinical trials. Li emphasized that the team’s ultimate goal is to translate this basic scientific discovery into a widely accessible new class of pain medications that can meaningfully improve quality of life for millions of chronic pain patients around the globe.

After five months of grueling, groundbreaking fieldwork in one of the harshest environments on Earth, five polar researchers from Wuhan University’s Chinese Antarctic Center of Surveying and Mapping have returned home, capping their contribution to China’s 42nd national Antarctic expedition. On Monday, the university hosted a press event welcoming the team back, bringing together regional and national media outlets to hear first-hand accounts of the expedition’s challenges, key scientific accomplishments, and unforgettable moments working on the icy southern continent.

The five Wuhan University scholars were part of a broader 550-strong team of Chinese scientists that departed China on November 1 last year to carry out a full season of research across multiple Antarctic research stations. Each researcher was assigned to a different Chinese facility to conduct location-specific scientific work: Center professor Pang Xiaoping, associate researcher Zang Lin, and postdoctoral fellow Liu Mingliang were based at China’s first Antarctic research outpost, Great Wall Station; research assistant Hu Changhong carried out his duties at Zhongshan Station; and research assistant Yu Liang was posted to the relatively newer Qinling Station.

According to official updates from Wuhan University, the team delivered meaningful progress on a suite of high-priority scientific and infrastructure projects during their five months on the ice. Core tasks included routine maintenance of tide gauges operated under the control of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), critical hardware upgrades to the on-site Beidou satellite observation network, and systematic long-term environmental monitoring of local Antarctic ecosystems. These projects not only advance China’s independent polar research capabilities but also contribute to global scientific understanding of Antarctic climate change, ice sheet dynamics, and satellite positioning accuracy in the polar region.

The expedition comes as polar research has grown in global importance, with scientists around the world tracking rapid environmental changes in Antarctica that have far-reaching impacts on global sea levels and climate systems. Work like the upgrades to Beidou’s polar observation infrastructure also expand the coverage and reliability of Chinese satellite navigation services for international research and maritime operations in the southern ocean.