On January 18, the 2021 China Top Ten Science and Technology Progress News and the World's Top Ten Science and Technology Progress News voted by academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering were announced in Beijing. Tianwen "fire exploration", The Chinese space station, carbon dioxide to starch from de novo synthesis and other achievements were selected as China's top ten scientific and technological progress news; the world's first "self-replicating" living robot was born, nuclear fusion to "ignition" a big step forward and other achievements were selected as the world's top ten scientific and technological progress news.
In China's top ten scientific and technological progress news, "the first Mars exploration mission on the mainland has been a complete success", "the Chinese space station has opened an era of long-term residence", "The important research results of the Chang'e-5 sample have been released", and other three important achievements in China's aerospace field have been selected, showing the chinese figure in the universe.
"The mainland realizes the de novo synthesis of carbon dioxide to starch", "the mainland team won the 2021 Gordon Bell Award" for breaking the supercomputing application of 'quantum hegemony'", "mainland scientists observed the highest energy photon so far", "heterogeneous tetraploid wild rice rapidly domesticated from scratch and obtained a new breakthrough" and other major scientific and technological progress were also selected at the same time, reflecting the achievements of Chinese scientists to achieve original breakthroughs and break the monopoly of technology.
The selection was hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and hosted by the Working Bureau of the Faculty of The Chinese Academy of Sciences, the General Office of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the China Science Newspaper. This annual selection activity has been held 28 times so far, so that the public can further understand the dynamics of scientific and technological development at home and abroad, and has played a positive role in popularizing science and technology.
Top 10 Science and Technology Progress News in China in 2021
1. The first Mars exploration mission on the mainland was a complete success
On June 11, the China National Space Administration held the unveiling ceremony of the first batch of scientific image maps of the Tianwen-1 probe landing on Mars in Beijing, and announced the panoramic landing site, Mars topography, "China imprint" and "group photo" taken by the Zhurong rover. The release of the first batch of scientific image maps marks the complete success of the first Mars exploration mission on the mainland. It is reported that the first Mars exploration mission on the mainland was fully launched in 2013 and approved in January 2016. On July 23, 2020, the Tianwen-1 probe was successfully launched in Wenchang, Hainan, and went through the stages of ground fire transfer, Mars capture, Mars berthing, de-orbit landing and scientific exploration, and the engineering mission was carried out smoothly as planned.
2. The Chinese space station opens the era of long-term presence
On June 17 and October 16, Shenzhou 12 and Shenzhou 13 manned spacecraft were successfully launched, successfully sending astronauts into space. Shenzhou 12 docked with the Tianhe core module to form a combination, 3 astronauts stationed in the core module, carried out a three-month stay, carried out a series of space science experiments and technical experiments, and verified the key technologies of space station construction and operation such as long-term astronaut stay, regeneration and life protection, space material replenishment, out-of-space activities, extravehicular operations, and on-orbit maintenance. After Shenzhou 13 entered orbit, it completed an autonomous and rapid rendezvous and docking with the Tianhe core module and the Tianzhou-2 and Tianzhou-3 combinations, and the three astronauts began a 6-month on-orbit residency, during which they will carry out robotic arm operations, outgoing activities, module transposition, space science experiments and technical experiments, etc., to further verify a series of key technologies such as astronauts' long-term on-orbit residency, regeneration and life protection, and the era of long-term presence on the Chinese space station has arrived.
3. The mainland realizes the de novo synthesis of carbon dioxide to starch
Starch is the most important carbohydrate in "porridge rice", the main ingredient of flour, rice, corn and other grains, and an important industrial raw material. Its main synthesis method is carried out by green plants by photosynthesis to fix carbon dioxide. For a long time, researchers have been working hard to improve the life process of photosynthesis, hoping to improve the conversion rate of carbon dioxide and the efficiency of light energy utilization, and ultimately improve the production efficiency of starch. Researchers at the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences proposed a subversive starch preparation method, without relying on plant photosynthesis, using carbon dioxide and hydrogen produced by electrolysis as raw materials to successfully produce starch, which realized the de novo synthesis of carbon dioxide to starch for the first time in the world, making it possible to transform starch production from traditional agricultural planting mode to industrial workshop production mode, and achieving original breakthroughs. The results of the research were published online in the journal Science on September 24.
4. The mainland team won the 2021 "Golden Bell Award" for the supercomputing application that broke the "quantum hegemony"
At the Global Supercomputing Conference (SC21) held in St. Louis, Missouri, on the afternoon of November 18, the International Computer Association (ACM) awarded the 2021 "Gordon Bell Award" to the Chinese supercomputing application team. This joint research team composed of researchers from Zhijiang Laboratory and National Supercomputing Wuxi Center won this honor based on the application of the new generation of Shenwei supercomputers, "Real-time Simulation of Ultra-large-scale Quantum Stochastic Circuits" (SWQSIM). In this work, the researchers introduced a system design process that covers the algorithms, parallelization, and system architecture required for simulation. Using a new generation of Sunway supercomputers, the research team effectively simulated a 10x10 (1+40+1) stochastic quantum circuit with a depth of 10x10. Compared with google's quantum computer "Planewood" in 200 seconds to complete the million 0.2% fidelity sampling task, the "vertex" takes ten thousand years to complete the same complexity of the simulation, the team's SWQSIM application can get a million higher fidelity associated samples in less than 304 seconds, get the same number of unrelated samples in a week, breaking its claimed "quantum hegemony" in one fell swoop.
5.1400 trillion electron volts! Mainland scientists have observed the highest energy photons to date
The international cooperation group led by the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, relying on the national major scientific and technological infrastructure "High Altitude Cosmic Ray Observatory (LHAASO)", discovered 12 ultra-high-energy cosmic ray accelerators in the Milky Way, and recorded gamma photons with an energy of 1.4 beats of electron volts (PeV, beats = quadrillion), which is the highest energy photon observed by mankind so far, breaking through the traditional understanding of particle acceleration in the Milky Way. It revealed the ubiquity of cosmic ray accelerators in the Milky Way that can accelerate particles to more than 1PeV, ushering in the era of "ultra-high-energy gamma astronomy" observations. The results were published in Nature on May 17.
6. The important research results of the Chang'e-5 sample have been released successively
On October 19, the Chinese Academy of Sciences released the latest research results of Chang'e-5 lunar research samples. Led by the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Astronomical Observatory, a number of research institutions jointly reported the breakthrough progress made around important scientific issues of lunar evolution through 3 Nature papers and 1 National Science Review paper. In the latest research, researchers used ultra-high spatial resolution uranium-lead (U-Pb) dating technology to analyze more than 50 uranium-rich minerals (oblique zircon, perovskite zircon, and shizune stone) in the basalt chips of the Chang'e-5 lunar sample, and determined that the basalt formation age was 2.030 ±0.04 billion years, indicating that the moon still had magmatic activity until 2 billion years ago, which was about 800 million years longer than the magmatic activity defined by the previous lunar samples. The study shows that the Basalt of the Chang'e-5 lunar sample was not involved in the "Klipu material" enriching potassium, rare earth elements and phosphorus when it was initially melted, and the characteristics of the Chang'e-5 lunar sample enriching the "Kripu material" were due to the enrichment of the residual part after a large number of mineral crystals solidified in the later stage of the magma. This result excludes the dominant hypothesis that the initial magma melting heat source of the rocks in the Chang'e-5 landing zone came from radioactive thermogenic elements, revealing the process of late magmatic activity on the Moon. It is reported that the dating and isotopic analysis technology of ultra-high spatial resolution used in this study is at the international leading level, which provides new technical methods for the study of precious extraterrestrial sample chronology.
7. Heterologous tetraploid wild rice has rapidly domesticated from scratch to obtain a new breakthrough
With the rapid growth of the world's population, food production may increase by 50% by 2050 to fully meet demand. At the same time, in recent years, the intensification of world climate change, global warming, frequent extreme weather and so on have brought great challenges to food security. In this context, how to further increase crop yields has become a serious problem that needs to be solved urgently. Academician Li Jiayang's team from the Institute of Seed Innovation/Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences proposed for the first time a new strategy for rapid de novo domestication of heterologous tetraploid wild rice, aiming to eventually breed new polyploid rice crops, thereby greatly improving grain yields and increasing the adaptability of crop environmental changes. This study proposes a new and feasible strategy for the future response to the food crisis, opening up a new direction of crop breeding. The relevant research results were published in Cell on February 4.
8. Mainland China successfully developed -271 °C super flow helium large-scale low-temperature refrigeration equipment
On April 15, the national major scientific research equipment development project "Development of Large-scale Low-Temperature Refrigeration System from Liquid Helium to Superflow Helium Temperature Zone" undertaken by the Institute of Physical and Chemical Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences passed the acceptance and appraisal of results, marking that the mainland has the ability to develop liquid helium temperature (minus 269 degrees Celsius) kilowatt-class and super-flow helium temperature (minus 271 degrees Celsius) large-scale low-temperature refrigeration equipment, which can meet the urgent needs of national strategic high-tech development such as large scientific engineering, aerospace engineering, and helium resource development. The successful implementation of the project has also led to the rapid development of high-end helium screw compressors, low-temperature heat exchangers and cryogenic valves in the mainland, improved the core competitiveness of a number of high-tech manufacturing enterprises, enabled the relevant technologies to achieve the upgrading from scratch, from low-end to high-end, and initially formed a low-temperature industrial cluster with complete functions and a clear division of labor in the mainland.
9. Functional gene transfer from plant to animal was first confirmed
After 20 years of follow-up research, Zhang Youjun's team at the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences found that the only "super pest" smoker lice, identified by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), has a skill similar to "spear of the child, shield of the attacker": it obtains defensive genes from the host plant. This is the first time in more than 100 years since the birth of modern biology that studies have confirmed the phenomenon of horizontal transfer of functional genes between plants and animals. The relevant scientific research results were published online in Cell on March 25 and published on April 1 as the cover article of Cell. This is the first paper in the field of agricultural pest research in mainland China in the journal Cell, revealing how insects use horizontal transfer genes to overcome host defenses, opening up a new perspective for exploring the evolution of insect adaptability, and providing new ideas for the research and development of a new generation of targeted gene-oriented whitefly field precision green control technology.
10. Rare earth ions realize multi-mode quantum relay and 1-hour optical storage
The law of quantum unclonability gives quantum communication security based on the principles of physics. This law also determines that photon transmission loss cannot be overcome using traditional amplifiers, making long-range quantum communication one of the core problems of today's quantum information science. Quantum relay and removable quantum storage are two viable solutions for remote quantum communication, and their common requirement is high-performance quantum memory. In terms of quantum relay, international experimental research has focused on the architecture of emission memory, which cannot meet the two key technical needs of deterministic luminescence and multimodal multiplexing at the same time. In terms of removable quantum storage, the maximum optical storage time in the world is only 1 minute, which cannot meet the needs of the hourly storage time of removable quantum storage. The research group of Academician Guo Guangcan of the University of Science and Technology of China, Li Chuanfeng and Zhou Zongquan, developed a high-performance solid-state quantum memory based on rare earth ion-doped crystals, and made important progress in the above two technical routes, realizing a multi-mode quantum relay based on absorbent memory, and successfully increasing the optical storage time to 1 hour. The results were published in Nature Newsletter on 22 April and in Nature on 2 June.
The world's top ten scientific and technological progress news in 2021
1. The world's first "self-replicating" living robot was born
Scientists at the University of Vermont, Tufts University, and Harvard University's West Institute for Bio-Inspired Engineering have discovered a completely new way of biological reproduction and used it to create the first ever multi-generational living robot, Xenobots 3.0. It is only the size of a millimeter, and it is neither a traditional robot nor a known animal species, but a new, living, programmable organism that has never been seen on Earth. It is reported that the living robot may help a new breakthrough in medicine - in addition to being expected to be used for accurate drug delivery, its self-replication ability also makes regenerative medicine have a new helper, or can provide a pioneering solution to birth defects, anti-trauma, cancer and aging. On November 29, the relevant research results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
2. Nuclear fusion is a big step towards "ignition"
The reason why we can see sunlight and feel warmth on Earth stems from nuclear fusion that occurs in the core of the sun. Nuclear fusion refers to the process of releasing enormous amounts of energy when atoms merge together, a process that can continuously provide green energy with nearly zero carbon emissions. However, achieving fusion in the laboratory is not easy, and a major challenge is "ignition" (that is, the moment when the energy generated by the fusion reaction is equal to or more than the input energy). On Aug. 8, a new experiment was conducted at the National Ignition Device (NIF) at lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the United States. NiF's team of scientists recreated the extreme temperatures and pressures that exist in the sun's core, and NIF's powerful laser pulses triggered a fusion explosion in the fuel pellet, producing 1.35 megajoules (MJ) of energy — roughly equivalent to the kinetic energy of a car traveling at 160 kilometers per hour. This energy reaches 70% of the energy of the laser pulse that triggers the process, meaning that the near-fusion "ignition", i.e., the energy produced by the reaction is enough to make the reaction last, a big step on the road to unlimited fusion energy.
3. Scientists use AI technology to solve the problem of protein structure prediction
Scientists have long hoped that simply predicting protein shape through genetic sequences — if successful, would open up a new world of insight into the workings of life. The University of Washington in the United States and DeepMind in the United Kingdom have respectively announced the results of years of work: advanced modeling programs that can predict the precise three-dimensional atomic structure of proteins and some molecular complexes, and put these structures into public databases for free use by researchers around the world. According to a DeepMind report, its artificial intelligence program AlphaFold predicts 98.5% of human protein structure, which helps to better understand some key biological information and better carry out drug development. The highly accurate protein structure prediction program created by the University of Washington in the United States is called RoseTTAFold, which is based on deep learning, which can not only predict the structure of proteins, but also predict the binding form between proteins. In just ten minutes, RoseTTAFold can accurately calculate the protein structure using a gaming computer. The paper was published in Nature and Science on July 15.
4. "Genetic scissors" for the first time to treat genetic diseases
Traditionally, the use of CRISPR gene editing, known as "gene scissors," to treat genetic diseases, has required clearing a huge hurdle: injecting molecular scissors tools directly into the affected cells to achieve DNA cutting. Researchers at the University of London in the United Kingdom have found that CRISPR technology can inactivate a mutant gene. The study for the first time injected crispr drugs into the bloodstream of patients with a rare genetic disorder (transthyroxine protein amyloidosis) and found that the livers of 3 of them almost stopped producing toxic proteins. While it's uncertain whether CRISPR treatment will alleviate the symptoms of the disease, preliminary data have excited about the effectiveness of this one-off treatment. The findings were published May 28 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The new work is a critical first step in being able to inactivate, repair or replace disease-causing genes in any part of the body.
5. The coldest antimatter in history came out
The Makoto Fujiwara team at The National Particle Accelerator Centre of Canada and collaborators conducted a dehydrogen capture experiment called ALPHA-2 at the EURN Particle Physics Laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, demonstrating laser cooling of antihydrogen atoms, cooling samples to near absolute zero. Laser cooling is often used to measure the energy transitions of conventional atoms—electrons moving to different energy levels. The team developed a laser that emits particles of light called photons at the appropriate wavelength, thereby reducing the speed of antiatoms that are moving directly toward the laser. The researchers reduced the speed of antiatomics to less than 1/10. For the cooled antihydrogen atoms, the team obtained measurement accuracy almost 3 times that of the uncooled anti-atoms. The study produced antimatter that was colder than ever before and made possible a whole new kind of experiment that could help scientists learn more about antimatter in the future. The research results were published in Nature on March 31.
6. The "sesame grain" large and small heart model came out
Sasha Mendjan, a biologist at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and his team used human pluripotent stem cells to grow a sesame-sized heart model, also known as a heart line. It can spontaneously organize, developing a hollow atrium without the need for experimental scaffolds. Mendjan's team activated all 6 known signaling pathways involved in embryonic heart development in a specific sequence, inducing stem cells to self-organize. As the cells differentiate, they begin to form different layers—structures that resemble the walls of the heart. After a week of development, these organoids self-organized into a 3D structure with a closed cavity, almost reproducing the spontaneous growth trajectory of the human heart. In addition, the team also found that the wall-like tissue of the heart can contract rhythmically, squeezing the fluid in the cavity. The team also tested how heart organoids respond to tissue damage. They used a cold steel rod to freeze part of the heart organoids and kill many cells in the area, and the study found that heart fibroblasts (a type of cell responsible for wound healing) began to migrate to the site of injury and produced proteins to repair the damage. The study, published May 20 in Cell, has allowed scientists to create some of the most authentic heart organoids to date, opening up the possibility for pharmaceutical companies to introduce more drugs into clinical trials.
7. Scientists use artificial intelligence to achieve two mathematical breakthroughs
One of the key goals of pure mathematical research is to discover laws among mathematical objects and use these connections to form conjectures. Beginning in the 1960s, mathematicians began to use computers to help discover laws and come up with conjectures, but AI systems were not yet widely used in theoretical mathematical research. On December 1, a paper published in Nature showed that DeepMind had developed a machine learning framework that would help mathematicians discover new conjectures and theorems. Previously, the framework has helped discover two new conjectures in different areas of pure mathematics. The researchers applied this method to two areas of pure mathematics, discovering a new theorem in topology (the study of the properties of geometric shapes) and a new conjecture in representation theory (the study of algebraic systems). The researchers say this is the first time computer scientists and mathematicians have used AI to help prove or propose new theorems in complex mathematical fields.
8. Scientists have successfully constructed early human embryonic-like structures in the laboratory
A team led by researchers at the University of Texas southwestern medical center in Dallas successfully used human pluripotent stem cell differentiation to induce early human embryonic-like structures. This structure has a similar structure to that of human blastocyst embryos, can correctly express the corresponding genes and proteins, and can develop in vitro for 2 to 4 days, forming amnioid sacs and other structures. The research results were published in Nature on March 17. According to reports, with the help of the early embryonic structure of human beings, researchers can deeply study the early development of embryos, better understand the miscarriages, deformed children, female fertility disorders and other phenomena caused by early major diseases of human beings, and find feasible solutions for them. In addition, researchers can also build drug screening models through this technology to provide safety simulation tests for pregnant women's drugs entering clinical applications.
9. Laser transmission is stable and free to set a world record
Researchers at the Australian International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) and the University of Western Australia (UWA) have set a world record for the most stable transmission of laser signals in the atmosphere. The team combined phase stabilization technology with advanced self-guiding optical terminals to achieve the most stable laser transmission this time. The new technology effectively eliminates atmospheric turbulence, allowing laser signals to be sent from one point to another without being disturbed by the atmosphere. The result is the most accurate global method of comparing the time flow between two different locations using a laser system transmitted through the atmosphere. The paper was published in Nature Communications on January 22. It is reported that this research has broad application prospects, can be used to accurately examine Einstein's general theory of relativity, or to find out whether the fundamental physical constants change over time. At the same time, the technology's ability to accurately measure has practical uses in earth science and geophysics, improving satellite studies or finding subsurface deposits about how the water table changes over time. In addition, the application of this technology in the field of optical communications can increase the rate of satellite-to-ground data transmission by several orders of magnitude, and the next generation of large-scale data collection satellites can transmit critical information to the ground more quickly.
10. Scientists "draw" the clearest atoms "close-ups"
Cornell University's Muller team captured the highest-resolution image of atoms to date, breaking the record it set in 2018. Using lamination imaging techniques, Muller's team irradiated scandyllum scandate crystals with X-rays and then used the angle of scattered electrons to calculate the shape of the atoms that scattered them. These advances have allowed the team to observe denser atomic samples and obtain better resolution. This latest form of electron lamination imaging analysis technology allows scientists to locate individual atoms in all three dimensions. Researchers will also be able to spot impurity atoms in anomalous structures at once and image them and their vibrations. The paper was published in Science on May 21.
Image source: North Evening New Vision
![What secrets does the moon "soil" hide?[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)