This year, we are heading towards the peak of science

Time flies, and the seasons flow. In a blink of an eye, 2023 has come to an end. This year has left us with too many memorable moments: Chinese scientists successfully prepared and verified the true entanglement of 51 superconducting quantum bits, fully demonstrating the excellent scalability of the superconducting quantum computing system; the Mozi Survey Telescope started its sky survey and encountered the Andromeda Galaxy for the first time; the world's first non-human primate interventional brain-computer interface experiment was successfully completed, and the future of brain-computer interface has arrived...

Looking back, our scientific researchers have climbed to new heights and set new records. Looking forward to the future, they will reap more surprises by pursuing cutting-edge technologies and advocating innovation!

Achieving 100-Mbit/s Quantum Key Distribution

The international record of bit rate has been improved by an order of magnitude

Based on the basic principles of quantum mechanics, quantum key distribution can achieve unconditionally secure confidential communication in principle. Chinese scientists have developed key technologies such as high-fidelity integrated photonics quantum state control and high-counting rate superconducting single photon detection, and have achieved real-time quantum key distribution at a 100-megabit rate for the first time in the world. The experimental results have increased the previous code rate record by an order of magnitude. On March 14, this achievement was published online in the international academic journal Nature Photonics.

Quantum key distribution can be generally understood as adding an extra link to the network. Both parties pass password verification to ensure security before transmitting information. Improving the code rate is crucial to the practical application of quantum key distribution. A high code rate can provide services to more users and realize applications with high bandwidth requirements such as big data sharing and distributed storage encryption.

Previously, the highest real-time coding rate in the world was 10 megabits per second over a 10-kilometer standard optical fiber channel. Chinese scientists have achieved a key rate of 115.8 megabits per second over a 10-kilometer standard optical fiber channel, an order of magnitude higher than the previous record, by making breakthroughs in technologies such as high-speed and high-fidelity polarization state modulation on integrated photonic chips. The system has been running stably for more than 50 hours, with a code rate of more than 200 bits per second over a transmission distance of 328 kilometers.

Realizing real-time key distribution at a bit rate of 100 megabits per second will create new opportunities in areas with high data security requirements, promote the large-scale practical application of high-bandwidth communications and future quantum communications, and make quantum key distribution technology a reality.

Ultrafast hydrogen-ion conductor developed at room temperature

Can be used for the development of new batteries

In April, Chinese scientists proposed a new material design and development strategy. Through mechanochemical methods, they deliberately created a large number of defects and nanocrystals in the lattice of rare earth hydride, lanthanum hydride, and developed the first ultrafast hydrogen anion conductor at room temperature. The relevant research paper was published in Nature on April 5.

Hydrogen ions have strong reducing properties and high redox potential, and are a promising hydrogen carrier and energy carrier. Hydrogen ion conductor materials that exhibit superionic conduction at room temperature will provide great opportunities for building new all-solid-state hydride batteries and fuel cells, and are expected to achieve a series of technological innovations in the future.

As early as the 20th century, researchers discovered in the study of color-changing glass that lanthanum hydride has the ability to quickly migrate hydrogen, but its electronic conductivity is also very high. In recent years, researchers have introduced oxygen into the lanthanum hydride lattice to form oxyhydride to inhibit its electronic conduction, but the introduction of oxygen also significantly hinders the conduction of negative hydrogen ions. Previously reported negative hydrogen ion conductors can only achieve ultrafast conduction at around 300°C, while the innovative work of Chinese scientists has achieved ultrafast ion conduction under mild conditions (temperature range of -40°C to 80°C). In addition, the researchers also achieved the discharge of a room temperature all-solid-state negative hydrogen ion battery for the first time, confirming the feasibility of this new secondary battery.

The material structure modulation method established by the researchers has a certain degree of universality and is expected to open up new prospects for the research and development of hydrogen anion conductors. The reviewers of Nature commented that this work demonstrated a very interesting and novel research method.

Non-human primate interventional trial successful

Promote brain-computer interface from laboratory to application

The future of brain-computer interface has arrived, and the symbiosis between humans and artificial intelligence may not be far away. On May 4, the world's first non-human primate interventional brain-computer interface experiment was successfully carried out in Beijing. The experiment realized the interventional brain-computer interface brain-controlled robotic arm in the monkey's brain. The interventional EEG sensor passed through the jugular vein, entered the sagittal sinus, and reached the monkey's motor cortex brain area. After the operation, it successfully collected and identified the interventional EEG signals of non-human primates. This experiment realized the active control of the robotic arm by the animal.

Brain-computer interface technology is a revolutionary human-computer interaction technology, which bypasses peripheral nerves and muscles and directly establishes a new communication and control channel between the brain and external devices. It has the function of monitoring, replacing, improving/restoring the output and input of damaged or impaired natural central nervous system.

At present, most of the research on brain-computer interfaces is in the basic research stage, and some clinical results have been achieved. In 2022, American researchers completed the world's first bilateral implantation of brain-computer interfaces in human trials. A subject who had been paralyzed for 30 years successfully controlled the machine through EEG signals, completing the delivery of cakes and eating independently. In my country, Shanghai Ruijin Hospital has been using brain-computer interfaces and deep brain electrical stimulation to treat refractory depression since 2020.

The research results of the interventional brain-computer interface experiment conducted in the brains of non-human primates have promoted the advancement of interventional brain-computer interfaces from laboratory prospective research to clinical application, which is of great significance to the promotion of research in the field of brain science, and indicates that my country's brain-computer interface technology has become an international leader. In the future, this technology will have broad market prospects in the field of medical rehabilitation of brain diseases.

Monkeys from other mountains help solve the mystery of human evolution

Better understanding of “what makes people human”

How did humans originate? How did social behavior develop? How did a smart brain evolve? When solving important mysteries about humans, scientists have turned their attention to humans' "close relatives" - non-human primates. On June 2, 11 papers on the origin and evolution of non-human primates were published in international journals such as Science, Science Advances, and Nature Ecology & Evolution, bringing humans one step closer to solving the mystery of life evolution.

These 11 papers are closely related to the Primate Genome Project led by Chinese scientists. The Primate Genome Project was initiated by Chinese scientists. At present, the research has achieved many results and new discoveries, including the inference that the most recent common ancestor of all primates appeared about 68.29 million to 64.95 million years ago, very close to the mass extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period 65.5 million years ago, which means that "the evolution of primates may be affected by mass extinction events"; revealing the molecular mechanisms of the formation of primate forelimbs and the disappearance of the tail of apes; reinterpreting the origin of human chromosome 8...

The major scientific breakthroughs achieved by the Primate Genome Project will enable us to better understand the entire evolutionary process from early primates to modern humans, thereby formulating policies for the protection of primate diversity and the development and utilization of genetic resources.

Breaking the record for the number of truly entangled bits in a quantum system

Achieved the preparation of 51 superconducting quantum bit cluster states

In this year's popular science fiction movie "The Wandering Earth 2", the intelligent quantum computer MOSS left a deep impression on the audience. In July, researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China and other institutions successfully prepared and verified 51 superconducting quantum bit cluster states, breaking the world record for the number of truly entangled bits in all quantum systems, making science fiction a reality. The relevant research paper was published online in Nature on July 12.

Superconducting quantum computing is widely considered to be one of the most likely solutions to realize practical quantum computing first. The qubit is the basic unit of quantum computing. Unlike the classical bit that is either "0" or "1", it can be in a superposition state of "0" and "1" at the same time, that is, a "quantum coherent superposition state". When people extend quantum superposition to a multi-qubit system, it naturally leads to the concept of quantum entanglement. Once multiple qubits achieve coherent superposition, the state space they represent will grow exponentially as the number of qubits increases, thereby achieving a quantum computing acceleration effect.

For many years, achieving large-scale multi-qubit entanglement has been the goal pursued by scientists from all over the world. Chinese scientists have made a series of important achievements in the preparation of multi-body entanglement of superconducting qubits. Since 2017, they have completed the preparation of 10-bit, 12-bit, and 18-bit true entangled states.

This research has significantly broken the record of the number of truly entangled bits in a quantum system from the original 24 to 51, fully demonstrating the excellent scalability of superconducting quantum computing systems. This is of great significance for studying multi-body quantum entanglement, realizing large-scale quantum algorithms, and measurement-based quantum computing.

Large-scale multi-qubit entanglement will help us gain a deeper insight into the mysteries of the quantum world. In the future, in the era of quantum information, entanglement will serve as a unique resource to bring safer communications, faster calculations, and more precise measurements to human society...

Jurassic terrestrial fauna "appears" in Fujian

Filling the space-time link of bird origin

According to a paper published online in Nature on September 6, after nearly three years of field excavation, researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and other institutions have discovered a new terrestrial biota, the Zhenghe fauna, in Fujian Province. This biota is the southernmost known Jurassic fauna that preserves bird-winged animals. It dates back 148 million to 150 million years, the latest period of the Jurassic.

At present, the academic community defines Avifauna as "the broadest group that includes all birds but does not include Deinonychus", while birds refer to modern birds and their close relatives. Birds diverged from non-avian theropod dinosaurs at least in the Late Jurassic. Therefore, Avifauna in the Jurassic is crucial to studying the origin, key morphology and evolution of biological characteristics of birds.

The only known Jurassic bird-like creatures are Anchiornis and its similar species. The species are rare and geographically distributed in a single area, mostly in the Yanliao Biota in northeast my country, which dates back 159 million years. This is a 30 million-year gap between the large number of birds that appeared in the early Cretaceous.

Since 2021, the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Fujian Institute of Geological Survey have jointly carried out large-scale field excavations in multiple Late Mesozoic basins in Fujian Province. On October 23, 2022, the research team discovered a nearly complete dinosaur fossil in the Late Jurassic strata in Zhenghe. After 8 months of restoration and research, the research team confirmed that the fossil belonged to the Avifauna and named it the strange Fujianosaurus. This is the first dinosaur fossil found in Fujian Province.

The study found that Fujianosaurus and Anchiornis constitute a monophyletic group and are the earliest divergent branch of Avifauna. The discovery of Fujianosaurus has increased the ecological diversity of primitive Avifauna and enhanced the academic community's understanding of the evolution of ecological habits at the beginning of the origin of birds.

Human mid-stage kidneys grow in pigs

Promoting solutions to the severe shortage of donor organs

On September 7, a research team from the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, published a cover article in the international academic journal Cell Stem Cell, reporting a strategy for successfully recreating human mesonephros in pigs using embryonic compensation technology.

Organ transplantation has become the only effective treatment for many terminal diseases, but the severe shortage of donor organs limits the widespread clinical application of this therapy. Stem cell-based organ xenogeneic regeneration in vivo will be an ideal way to solve this problem in the future.

In this study, researchers used a new type of human induced pluripotent stem cells, combined with an optimized embryonic compensation technology system, to achieve xenogeneic regeneration of humanized mesonephros in a kidney-deficient pig model. This is the first reported case of xenogeneic regeneration of humanized functional organs in vivo worldwide.

Researchers say that the humanized organs obtained through this approach not only have a more comprehensive range of cell types and more complete organ structure and function, but also because the donor cells come from the patient's own body, they can effectively avoid problems such as immune rejection that exist in xenogeneic or allogeneic organ transplantation.

The research team has conducted more than five years of exploration, optimized the human-pig embryo compensation technology system in all aspects, and finally determined the ideal embryo compensation technology process, successfully achieving the xenogeneic in vivo regeneration of humanized mesonephros. This achievement is the first to prove the feasibility of regenerating humanized functional solid organs in large xenogeneic animals based on stem cells and embryo compensation technology, and has taken a key first step in the xenogeneic in vivo regeneration of organs using large animal models of organ defects, which is of great significance to solving the problem of severe shortage of donor organs.

The Mozi Survey Telescope begins observations

“First Show” Encounter with the Andromeda Galaxy

The layers of blue-purple dust clouds radiate a soft and hazy glow. This is a "fresh" photo of the Andromeda Galaxy. It is a composite of 150 exposures of 30 seconds each, taken from the Mozi Survey Telescope. On September 17, the University of Science and Technology of China-Purple Mountain Observatory Large Field Survey Telescope-Mozi Survey Telescope officially started survey observations at the Lenghu Astronomical Base in Qinghai. Its "first show" encountered the Andromeda Galaxy, which is about 2.5 million light-years away from the Earth.

The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest and largest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way. Its structural characteristics and metallicity are similar to those of the Milky Way, making it an ideal research object for exploring the formation and evolution of the Milky Way and similar galaxies. This photo taken by the Mozi Survey Telescope reveals the distribution characteristics of the Andromeda Galaxy and its surrounding celestial bodies, from bright to dim starlight, which can be used to carefully depict the dynamic processes of interactions within galaxies and between galaxies.

The Mozi Survey Telescope is located in Saishiteng Mountain, Lenghu Town, Mangya City, Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. It is the most powerful optical time-domain survey equipment in the northern hemisphere and the largest telescope in the telescope group of Lenghu Astronomical Base. It has a strong survey capability and can survey the entire northern celestial sphere once every three nights. It can monitor moving celestial bodies and light-variable celestial bodies, and is used for efficient search and monitoring of astronomical dynamic events. It is expected to achieve breakthrough original innovation results in the fields of high-energy time-domain astronomy, solar system celestial body survey, Milky Way structure and near-field cosmology.

Surveying the sky and observing the immortals, the pace never stops. In the future, the Mozi Sky Survey Telescope will reveal more secrets in the depths of the universe.

High-proportion embryonic stem cell chimera monkeys are born

New breakthrough in non-human primate disease models

The research team that once cultivated the first somatic cell cloned monkey has once again made a new breakthrough.

After five years of research, a joint team led by the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences successfully created a chimeric monkey that was born alive with a high proportion of embryonic stem cells for the first time in the world. The research results were published online in the international journal Cell on November 9.

Academician Pu Muming, academic director of the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, commented that this achievement is as important to biomedical research as monkey cloning technology and is a milestone in the construction of non-human primate disease models.

Embryonic stem cells are "seed" cells in the early stages of life development. They can not only replicate indefinitely in vitro, but can also be induced to differentiate into cells of different tissues by changing culture conditions. They play an important role in model animal construction, cell therapy, organ regeneration, and organoid models.

Previously, people have successfully constructed chimeras in mice and rats. However, it is not easy to form chimeras with classic human and monkey embryonic stem cells, and primate embryonic stem cells require more complex culture conditions than mice. Now, the birth of this high-proportion embryonic stem cell chimera monkey has given people a clearer understanding of related issues.

Academic colleagues believe that this research will open up new avenues for basic research and the generation of genetically modified models of non-human primates. The use of chimera monkey technology is expected to produce batches of disease monkeys without individual differences. This means that for diseases caused by single gene mutations, such as ALS, people can use disease model monkeys to better intervene and develop new drugs.

Accurately measuring the brightest "cosmic fireworks" in history

Bringing new insights into gamma-ray burst afterglows

In November, based on observation data from the high-altitude cosmic ray observatory "Laso", Chinese researchers accurately measured the high-energy radiation spectrum of GRB 221009A, the brightest gamma-ray burst ever observed by humans. They found that the radiation intensity of high-energy gamma photons did not decrease rapidly as predicted by theory, but remained at a high level. The relevant research paper was published online in Science Advances on November 16.

About 2 billion years ago, a star was about to "extinguish" after burning out its fuel, and its collapse instantly exploded into a huge fireball. The dazzling "flame" lasted for hundreds of seconds, like a huge cosmic firework. "Laso" on Haizi Mountain in Daocheng County, Sichuan Province, witnessed this gorgeous "cosmic firework" - GRB 221009A.

Scientists have inferred that the probability of such a bright gamma-ray burst sweeping across the Earth is once every 10,000 years. Humans are extremely lucky because GRB 221009A happens to fall within the optimal observation range of Lasso. On October 9, 2022, Lasso recorded the gamma photons produced by GRB 221009A, with a maximum energy of more than 10 trillion electron volts.

Theoretically, the higher the photon energy of high-energy gamma radiation, the faster its radiation intensity decays. However, Lasso's precise measurement of the radiation energy spectrum of GRB 221009A shows that the gamma-ray burst radiation does not decay rapidly, but extends to 13 trillion electron volts. This discovery challenges the traditional standard model of gamma-ray burst afterglows and reveals that the intensity of the cosmic background light in the infrared band is lower than expected, opening the door to new physics exploration.

Researchers have given two possible explanations for the phenomenon that the absorption of high-energy gamma photons by the cosmic background light is lower than theoretical expectations: there may be some new physical mechanism beyond the current standard model of particle physics, or there may be a new particle axion outside the standard model. In any case, the observation of the brightest "cosmic fireworks" in history by Lasso will prompt people to reconsider the formation and evolution of galaxies in the universe. (Reporter Sun Yu)