News from CAS Headquarters

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 21-Oct-2026 00:16 ET (21-Oct-2026 04:16 GMT/UTC)

25-Jun-2026

Scientists use novel crystal strategy to enhance zero-thermal-expansion materials

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team led by Prof. LIN Zheshuai from the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry (TIPC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has successfully designed a material with an exceptionally broad zero-thermal-expansion temperature window.

Journal

Nature Chemistry

Funder

National Key Research and Development Program of China

25-Jun-2026

 

Lamprey brain atlas uncovers ancestral blueprint of the vertebrate brain

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team of researchers led by SU Bing from the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with collaborators from BGI-Research and Liaoning Normal University, built the first three-dimensional, single-cell atlas of an entire lamprey brain, which is essentially a high-resolution map showing the location of every cell and which genes are active in each cell.

Journal

Science

24-Jun-2026

Natural hallucinogens may have evolved as ecological tools, not chemical accidents

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers led by Prof. WANG Xiaohui from the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have proposed that natural hallucinogens may have primarily evolved as ecological tools that help organisms survive, defend themselves, and interact with other species.

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

21-Jun-2026

 

New 3D photothermal structure enables efficient solar desalination and crop irrigation

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from the Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Shenzhen University have developed a new three-dimensional (3D) photothermal structure that greatly improves solar evaporation efficiency.

18-Jun-2026

Researchers uncover "intelligent molecular module" for rice chilling recovery and nitrogen use efficiency

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team led by Prof. CHONG Kang from the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has identified what it calls an "intelligent molecular module," <i>Chilling Phoenix</i> (<i>CHPO</i>), which coordinates chilling resilience and nitrogen use in rice by automatically changing its function depending on environmental conditions.

Journal

Nature

17-Jun-2026

Chinese scientists propose "First principle of drug design" and introduce "Pulsatile activation" concept for drug design

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers led by H. Eric Xu and LI Jia from the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica have proposed what they call the "first principle of drug design"—designing drugs whose delivery mimics the body's physiology—to create a new type of FXR agonist. They have designed and synthesized a non-bile-acid FXR agonist—a novel drug candidate, Linafexor.

Journal

Nature

15-Jun-2026

Novel generative AI model enables atomic-scale prediction of protein–protein interactions

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have made an important advance in the atomic-scale prediction of protein–protein interactions by developing Void-X, a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model that designs protein interfaces from the bottom up.

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

15-Jun-2026

Thermochemical mantle plume identified as the likely origin of Earth's largest oceanic plateau

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology revealed that the Ontong Java Plateau in the western Pacific Ocean, known as the largest oceanic plateau on Earth, may have been formed by a thermochemical plume.

Journal

Nature Geoscience

14-Jun-2026

Chinese scientists explain formation of global seamounts

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Over 40,000 seamounts are scattered across the ocean floor. Some form linear chains, others appear randomly. But what creates them? By reconstructing the dynamic evolution of Earth's interior over the past 270 million years, a recent study reveals that all seamounts — whether they form linear age-progressive hotspot chains or appear as scattered, isolated cones — are produced by deep plume-related activity.

Journal

Nature Geoscience

11-Jun-2026

 

First physics result of Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory published in Nature

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

JUNO's first physics result was published in Nature. Through the analysis of valid data collected over 59 days from August 26 to November 2, 2025, the JUNO Collaboration made the high-precision measurement of the two key oscillation parameters, reducing the associated uncertainties by a factor of 1.6 compared to the combined experimental results in the past decades.

Journal

Nature