In a breakthrough experiment, physicists have captured a surprising excess of gamma‑ray radiation coming from more than a dozen short‑lived atomic nuclei that sit near the “doubly magic” isotope tin‑132. In nuclear jargon, a magic number means a completely filled shell of protons or neutrons, and tin‑132 boasts both, making it a benchmark for studying how atomic nuclei behave. Using a single fission reaction, the team produced a suite of unstable isotopes and measured the tiny flashes of gamma radiation each emitted as they decayed. The data revealed that several of these exotic nuclei give off more gamma rays than existing theories predict. This excess hints at subtle changes in the way protons and neutrons arrange themselves when they are packed close to a magic configuration. The significance of the work lies in its ability to compare many different nuclei under the same experimental conditions, providing a cleaner, more reliable picture of nuclear structure. By pinpointing where current models fall short, the findings open the door to refined theories that could improve everything from nuclear energy design to our understanding of stellar processes that forge heavy elements in the cosmos.
Read moreChina’s artificial‑intelligence sector is moving from a promising new variable to a major engine of growth. Home‑grown language models such as DeepSeek, Tongyi Qianwen and Doubao are now ranking among the world’s best, while domestic chip makers have rolled out thousands of high‑performance clusters. The AI‑related industry has swelled past the one‑trillion‑yuan mark, and AI tools are now embedded in more than 80 % of the country’s key industries, from manufacturing to finance. The shift began with the 14th Five‑Year Plan, when China moved from simply copying foreign AI to building its own foundations—new algorithms, independent software, and cutting‑edge hardware. Experts say the nation’s computing power has leapt ahead, now sitting second only to the United States with an estimated 1,882 EFLOPS of intelligent‑computing capacity. Shanghai will host the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and a high‑level global‑governance summit from July 17‑20, providing a stage for international cooperation and trust‑building. Looking ahead to the 15th Five‑Year Plan, policymakers see AI as a “strong increment” that will drive high‑quality economic development, turning the technology from a niche advantage into a cornerstone of China’s future prosperity.
Read moreIn the first half of 2024, China’s trade in computing‑power hardware—everything from chips to computer parts—jumped 56.6% year on year, topping 5.13 trillion yuan. The surge is being driven by a global rush into artificial‑intelligence (AI) projects, and China’s semiconductor sector is quickly becoming a key piece of the worldwide supply chain. Goldman Sachs recently warned that China now enjoys a rare mix of massive government backing, exploding global demand and a home‑grown AI‑chip ecosystem that most investors still overlook. While outsiders often focus on China’s low‑cost, open‑source AI models, the real story is a quietly built, end‑to‑end industrial chain that covers everything from design software and RISC‑V cores to wafer fabs, packaging equipment and AI‑chip production. After years of assembling foreign designs, Beijing has been forced by U.S. export bans since 2018 to develop its own tools and materials, turning a weakness into a strategic advantage. Three “windows of opportunity” are now converging: the physical limits of Moore’s Law give late‑comers a chance to leapfrog; sanctions are spurring rapid innovation in domestic chip gear; and China’s massive markets for electric cars, smart factories and AI applications provide a huge testing ground. The result is a shift from being a low‑cost assembler to a full‑stack system builder—a transformation that Goldman Sachs calls the most compelling growth story in tech today. With policy support, market scale and years of R&D, China’s semiconductor industry is entering what many see as its golden era, poised to reshape the global tech landscape.
Read moreAt the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai (July 17‑20, 2026), Shanghai Bu Chou Quantum Technology announced the launch of “Liang Chou One,” China’s first atomic‑quantum AI foundation, or Q‑Cub. The system pushes quantum computing beyond laboratory demos into a full‑stack, application‑ready platform. Built on breakthrough research from Professor Li Xiaopeng’s team—published in *Physical Review Letters* and praised by Austrian Academy of Sciences member Hans J. Briegel—the device uses a random‑enhanced quantum neural network that drives learning errors down to 10⁻¹⁰. In practice, the hardware houses more than 1,500 neutral‑atom qubits with single‑qubit fidelity of 99.9 % and Rydberg‑gate fidelity above 99 %, while keeping atom loss under 0.1 %. The architecture fuses three computing powers: a neutral‑atom quantum processing unit for quantum acceleration, a GPU cluster for simulation and AI training, and a classical CPU for business logic, all coordinated by the proprietary “Liang Chou Scheduling” layer. A six‑layer software stack (hardware → execution engine → compiler → API → algorithm library → applications) offers ready‑to‑run quantum algorithms in fields such as weather forecasting, robotics, new‑material design, and quantum error correction. Early tests show a nine‑qubit quantum reservoir beating a 10,000‑node classical model in meteorological predictions, and a quantum‑optimized solution for a 7‑DOF robot arm achieving sub‑millimeter accuracy in under 50 ms. Bu Chou Quantum also announced a joint Neutral‑Atom Quantum Intelligence Laboratory with Fudan University and Shanghai Zhiqi Research Institute to advance quantum error correction, reservoir computing, and fault‑tolerant quantum AI.
Read moreQinghai is turning its endless sunshine and salty desert lands into a powerhouse of clean energy by fast‑tracking solar‑thermal projects. The province’s flagship 50 MW tower plant at the Gonghe Yuyuan Solar Thermal Power Station, with a 228‑metre absorber tower and more than 30,000 mirrors, has already generated close to 100 million kWh since it joined the grid in 2019. Today, Qinghai boasts 710 MW of solar‑thermal capacity and another 1.35 GW under construction, making it the nation’s most concentrated hub for this technology. What sets solar‑thermal apart from wind and photovoltaic power is its built‑in heat‑storage ability. Molten‑salt tanks keep the sun’s heat for 6‑14 hours—or even a full day—allowing plants to deliver steady electricity, provide grid inertia, and smooth out the fluctuations of wind and PV farms. This makes solar‑thermal a natural “system stabilizer” that can keep lights on when the wind dies down or the sun sets. Qinghai’s advantages are hard to beat: over 3,000 sunshine hours a year, vast stretches of Gobi desert ideal for large‑scale mirrors, and nearby salt lakes that supply the molten‑salt medium. Backed by strong policy support and home‑grown technology—such as China General Nuclear Power’s world‑record molten‑salt trough collector—the province is also gearing up for the 350 MW Golmud tower project, slated to start full‑capacity operation by late 2027. In short, solar‑thermal is Qinghai’s answer to a reliable, high‑quality renewable future.
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