News on China's scientific and technological development.

Chinese BCI Startup NeuroXess Hails Breakthrough in Mind Control of Smart Devices

NeuroXess has successfully implanted patients with the Chinese brain-computer interface startup's self-developed invasive devices, allowing them to carry out "dialogue" with and control smart devices using their minds.

Thanks to the efficient collection and real-time analysis of high-throughput, high-quality, and large-scale electroencephalogram data across brain regions, patients can conduct motor and language decoding tests two days after getting an invasive BCI and control smart devices in Chinese using their minds within two weeks, said Tao Hu, founder of Shanghai-based NeuroXess.

Compared with achieving "mental dialogue" between patients and smart devices, achieving "mind manipulation" of devices is more difficult and marks a breakthrough in NeuroXess's real-time Chinese language decoding technology, Tao noted.

You should avoid swimming in a lake if you can, because of the risk of brain infection by ameba, which enters the brain through the nose. Currently, there is no specific medications for the treatment of such infection, as a result, the mortality rate can be up to 90%. A Chinese pharmaceutical company developed a novel drug to treat this condition, and it was approved by CDC to be used in some regions of the US on a trial basis.

Huawei with new type of smart home camera that uses 8 megapixel camera module and AI support

The saga continue..

Biomathematician Hu Yijuan among Chinese scientists leaving US for China​

The renowned biostatistician has left Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia for a full-time post with her prestigious alma mater in Beijing​

Renowned biomathematician Hu Yijuan has returned to China and joined the prestigious Peking University – her alma mater – after nearly two decades in the United States.

Hu took up a full-time post at the Beijing International Centre for Mathematical Research at the university in July, after leaving Emory University School of Public Health, where she was a professor of biostatistics.

A blog that covers academic news in China said on Monday that Hu – who is also part of the university’s biostatistics department – made the move last year, a report that appears to be supported elsewhere online.

China will test 10Gb passive fiber-optic network this year. "Passive" means that only the devices of the sender and receiver need electrical power, but the intermediate components don't.

Chinese researchers discovered a new hormone that regulates glucose metabolism, potentially increasing the treatment options for diabetes.

Breakthrough in stem-cell therapy for Parkinson's disease:

"Chinese researchers have just simulated a human brain using 86 billion neurons and trillions of synapses."

"Although China is currently limited by USA’s ridiculous sanctions on chips, their team created a clever technique to avoid this problem by distributed learning with their own GPUs."

The Centrifugal Hypergavity and Interdisciplinary Experiment Facility on Jan 3. Expected to start trial operations this March.

Chinese scientists from CAS developed and improved the electrokinetic mining (EKM) technique for higher rare earth elements (REE) recovery efficiency and lower impact on environment. In a test to extract REE from 5000 tons of ore, they achieved 95% recovery efficiency while reduced 95% of ammonia emissions in the process. With the traditional approach, recovery efficiency would have been only from 40% to 60%.



Owing to their irreplaceable role in several essential technologies, rare earth elements (REEs) are critical raw materials for the global economy. However, the supply of REEs raises serious sustainability concerns due to the large environmental footprint of conventional mining processes. We previously proposed an electrokinetic mining (EKM) technique that could enable green and selective extraction of REEs from ores. Here we further develop this technique to industrial scale by addressing challenges related to electrode reliability and flow leakage and evaluate its mining efficiency, environmental footprint and economic performance. Moreover, a voltage gradient barrier strategy based on electroosmosis is developed to facilitate electrokinetic REEs mining. As a result, we successfully achieved a high REE recovery efficiency of 95% on a 5,000-ton REEs ore. A rigorous environmental risk assessment revealed a 95% reduction of ammonia emissions, indicating a notably reduced environmental footprint. A comparative technoeconomic analysis between the conventional and the EKM techniques demonstrates the economic viability of the EKM technique. This work validates a new sustainable path for REEs mining, paving the way to a greener resources supply.



一项研究提出，生产智能手机和电动汽车所需要的稀土元素可以通过人为制造“电场”更加环保地从地下提取。1月6日，相关研究成果发表于《自然-可持续》。

如今，电子产品中的大多数稀土元素都是通过使用有毒化学物质从矿石中开采并提取的。在开采过程中，会产生数千吨化学废弃物，污染附近的地下水和土壤。然而，如果使用“人造电场”将这些元素集中到一起，就可以减少对环境有害的化学物质的需求。

“想象一群人被定向灯引导穿过迷宫的场景，稀土元素也可以从矿石中被电场驱赶到特定的收集点。”论文作者、中国科学院广州地球化学研究所研究员朱建喜说，“这一方式不仅确保了高效开采，而且对环境的破坏较小。”

为此，中国科学院院士何宏平与朱建喜带领团队开发了柔性片状塑料电极，每个电极宽10厘米，长度可定制，由可以导电的非金属材料制成。在中国南方的一个稀土矿床，他们将176个这样的电极插入岩石22米深的单个钻孔。

接下来，他们将硫酸铵注入矿石孔中，以溶解和分离出的稀土元素作为带电离子激活电极，在带正电和带负电的电极之间产生电场。电场使稀土元素向带正电的电极移动并聚集在一起。然后，他们将这些元素转移到处理池中，进行额外的纯化及分离。

研究人员发现，这种方法能够大大减少提取稀土元素时使用的有害化学物质数量，相关的氨排放量减少了95%。这有助于防止稀土开采活动污染附近的水和土壤环境。

朱建喜说，该研究结果显示，从5000吨土方规模的稀土矿中提取稀土元素的效率达到了95%以上，而通过化学方式提取通常只能达到40%～60%。

Cell releases 12 best of 2024 papers! Chinese team research occupies 8 seats