分类： science

A research team based at Jiangxi Agricultural University has marked a notable breakthrough in ornamental rapeseed cultivation, adding five brand-new flower colors to push the total number of available distinct hues to 80. This innovation is designed to reinvigorate rural rapeseed-focused agritourism and drive more integrated, sustainable development across China’s rural regions.

Leading the project is Fu Donghui, a researcher from the university’s School of Agricultural Sciences. He explained that prior to this year’s development, the team had successfully cultivated 75 unique rapeseed colors by 2025. The five new additions expand the visual range of ornamental rapeseed varieties, opening up new possibilities for scenic agricultural attractions.

For decades, vast rapeseed fields across China have drawn millions of spring tourists every year, drawn by their iconic vivid golden yellow blooms. These seasonal floral displays have grown into one of the most popular rural tourism draws, supporting countless local small businesses from accommodation to catering. However, the universal single yellow color has long created unaddressed challenges for the tourism sector. Fu notes that the lack of visual variation can quickly lead to aesthetic fatigue for repeat visitors, shortening the seasonal tourism window and limiting long-term industry growth.

To solve this problem, Fu’s team spent years refining targeted breeding techniques. Working with pollen samples provided by a research collaborator in Shifang, Sichuan Province, the scientists used a combination of crossbreeding, backcrossing and self-pollination methods to rearrange and recombine flower color genes from a wide range of existing rapeseed materials. After years of deliberate, selective breeding, the team successfully stabilized five completely new, distinct color combinations that can be reliably reproduced for commercial planting.

The breakthrough is expected to extend the appeal of rapeseed tourism, creating more visually diverse scenic attractions that can draw visitors for longer seasons. Beyond tourism, the development of multi-colored ornamental rapeseed varieties also creates new income streams for rural farmers, supporting broader rural revitalization efforts across China by linking agricultural production with leisure tourism.

As Vietnam prepares to debut its first domestic carbon trading exchange, a new collaborative academic work has emerged to unpack and compare carbon market frameworks in both China and Vietnam, offering targeted insights to support the Southeast Asian nation’s emerging climate market buildout. Titled *China-Vietnam Carbon Market*, the new book is the product of a cross-border research partnership between Vietnamese scholar Duong Thi Thanh — a long-time specialist in forest carbon sinks — and her doctoral advisor, Professor Zhang Ying from Beijing Forestry University (BFU). More than just an academic analysis, the publication stands as a tangible example of joint Sino-Vietnamese collaboration between research institutions and industry stakeholders, designed to deliver evidence-based academic backing for cross-border climate governance under the Belt and Road Initiative. Long before she enrolled in the doctoral program at BFU’s School of Economics and Management, Duong identified a critical gap in existing research: Vietnam’s forest carbon sink market had remained largely unexamined and understudied by the academic community. With a national forest coverage rate of 42 percent, spanning 14.7 million hectares of forest land that sequester an estimated 69.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year, Vietnam holds enormous untapped potential in forest-based carbon mitigation. “This vast green asset gives Vietnam a strong foundation to develop a thriving forest carbon sink market,” Duong explained. She emphasized that establishing a standardized, scientific carbon accounting methodology is an essential first step to attract greater private and public investment into forest conservation and sustainable forest management. Through her doctoral research at BFU, Duong found that China’s decades-long journey building forestry carbon sink markets — from launching early regional pilot projects to rolling out a unified national carbon market — has generated a wealth of actionable expertise. Lessons from China’s work on carbon credit development, trading rule design, and market regulation carry direct, practical reference value for Vietnam, which is currently navigating the early stages of constructing its own national carbon market. The collaborative study not only addresses a key knowledge gap in regional climate governance research but also strengthens academic and environmental ties between the two neighboring countries, laying groundwork for future cross-border carbon cooperation under the BRI.

The 5th International Conference on Regenerative Medicine for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has concluded its 2026 iteration, co-hosted across Macao and the neighboring Guangdong province’s Hengqin New Area by the University of Macau (UM), the institution confirmed in an official media briefing this Monday, April 21. Drawing close to 400 attendees spanning the global scientific and healthcare community, the gathering brought together top-tier academic researchers, practicing clinical specialists, biotech industry leaders, early-career scientists and graduate students from dozens of countries to exchange cutting-edge insights in the fast-growing field.

Centered around the core theme “Decoding Pluripotency and Reshaping Therapy,” this year’s conference centered its discussions and collaborative workshops on three key focus areas: advances in pluripotent stem cell research, breakthrough innovations in regenerative medicine, and the growing importance of cross-sector interdisciplinary collaboration to move the field forward. Unlike many single-venue academic events, the dual-site format across Macao and Hengqin was designed to reflect the integrated development agenda of the Greater Bay Area, facilitating cross-jurisdictional exchange of knowledge, talent and innovative resources.

In his opening remarks at the event, UM Vice-Rector Ge Wei emphasized that the annual conference has evolved into a foundational regional platform for driving research progress and innovation in regenerative medicine across the Greater Bay Area. He noted that the successful organization of the cross-border conference serves as a tangible example of how the Greater Bay Area is advancing deep integration, enabling the free dynamic flow of talented researchers, groundbreaking ideas, and innovative development resources across its constituent regions.

Xu Renhe, Associate Dean of UM’s Faculty of Health Sciences and co-chair of the 2026 conference, highlighted the event’s unique strategic focus: closing the long-standing gap between foundational laboratory research and real-world clinical use. By creating dedicated spaces for conversation between basic scientists and clinical practitioners, the conference aims to speed up the translation of promising early-stage research outcomes into life-changing clinical therapies and accessible medical applications that can benefit patients globally.

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.