A new study reveals that a region in China’s Turpan-Hami Basin served as a refugium, or “Life oasis” for terrestrial plants during the end-Permian mass extinction, the most severe biological crisis since the Cambrian period.

A recent study by Chinese scientists has revealed the intricate molecular machinery driving energy exchange within chloroplasts, shedding light on a key event in the evolution of plant life. Led by FAN Minrui from the Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the research elucidates the structure and function of the ATP/ADP translocator—a crucial member of the nucleotide transporter (NTT) family of proteins—which facilitates the transfer of energy across chloroplast membranes.

Prof. HE Shunping's team from the Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), along with researchers from the Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering of CAS, Northwestern Polytechnical University, and BGI-Qingdao, have unveiled the evolutionary history and genetic mechanisms that enable deep-sea fish to survive in Earth's most extreme conditions, shedding new light on how life endures in such environments.

Chinese scientists have uncovered two major genes responsible for sorghum's double-grain spikelet, which dramatically enhance grain number and crop yield. A substantial 35.7-kilobase intrachromosomal inversion at the DG1 (Double-Grain 1) promoter drives the upregulation of DG1 expression, leading to the development of double-grain spikelets that remarkably increase sorghum grain number while illustrating the critical role of genomic structural variation in plant evolution.

A team of researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and its partners have made significant advancements in random quantum circuit sampling with Zuchongzhi-3, a superconducting quantum computing prototype featuring 105 qubits and 182 couplers.

A Chinese research team has developed a single-step femtosecond laser 4D printing technology that enables rapid and precise micro-scale deformation of smart hydrogels. This innovation, inspired by the hierarchical structure of butterfly wings, holds significant promise for applications in flexible electronics and minimally invasive medicine.

Chinese scientists from Prof. ZHOU Jianmin's team at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology revealed that a widespread plant defense metabolite may help combat bacterial diseases in crops.