The Chinese Academy of Sciences launches the "Scientific Frontier Extreme Breakthrough Program": the first batch deploys major tasks such as "new element synthesis," relying on large scientific facility clusters to push the limits of nuclear physics and materials science

On September 29, the Chinese Academy of Sciences held a press conference in Beijing, announcing the official launch of the Scientific Frontier Extreme Breakthrough Program and unveiling the first batch of launched projects. The program is based on the advantages of national major science and technology infrastructure clusters and a comprehensive disciplinary institutional framework, launching a systematic scientific expedition in the directions of the extremely macroscopic, extremely microscopic, extreme conditions, and extreme comprehensive interdisciplinarity (the "four extremes"). Zhou Qi, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, stated that the program aims to break the traditional single-point breakthrough model through the open and combined use of major science and technology infrastructure and the deep empowerment of artificial intelligence (AI for Science), building a systematic research paradigm for tackling key problems in the context of great power competition. In the released layout of the "four extremes" breakthrough tasks, the first...

2026-09-30

Major Scientific Facility Enables Breakthrough in New Energy Materials: IHEP Leverages Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility to Reveal High-Efficiency Crystallization Mechanism of Perovskite, Sub-module Photoelectric Conversion Efficiency Reaches 22.9%

Recently, the research team at the Multidisciplinary Research Center of the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, has made important progress in the study of the microscopic mechanisms of perovskite solar cell materials. The research team innovatively introduced Prussian Blue (PB) nanoframes with a high degree of lattice matching to perovskite, and leveraged a national major scientific and technological infrastructure——the Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility (BSRF)——to conduct multi-dimensional in-situ synchrotron radiation characterization. From the two perspectives of transient crystallization kinetics evolution and microscopic local coordination structure, they systematically elucidated for the first time the physicochemical mechanism by which Prussian Blue regulates perovskite nucleation and crystallization and suppresses ion migration. Large-area perovskite photovoltaic modules fabricated via wet...

2026-09-30

Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics Makes Important Progress in Electrolyzer Design and Electrocatalytic Materials Research

Recently, the National Key Laboratory of Thorium-based Nuclear Fission Energy at the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has made important progress in the fields of membrane-divided electrolyzer design and electrocatalytic materials. Researchers combined electrolyzer reactor design with electrocatalytic material innovation to develop an anion exchange membrane-divided H-type electrolysis system based on nonporous metal-organic framework (MOFs) materials, achieving efficient electrochemical recovery of uranium resources and complete degradation of organic ether solvents in uranium-containing organic ether wastewater. The related results, titled "Nonporous Metal-Organic Framework Enables Record-High Uranium Extraction and Complete Diglyme Degra...

2026-09-30

KAERI and IAEA Jointly Hold Research Reactor Ageing Management Training Workshop

On September 28, SPIC's first fully independent full-scope simulator and related independent technologies were released in Beijing, marking that State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) has mastered complete full-scope simulator R&D and supply capabilities. A full-scope simulator is like a mirror of a nuclear power plant; operators performing control actions in the full-scope simulator can obtain realistic feedback in real time. With the help of this digital nuclear power plant that poses no nuclear accident hazard, operators repeatedly hone their daily operation control and accident handling skills, becoming professionals who safeguard the safe and efficient operation of real nuclear power plants. To ensure the training quality of main control room operators at nuclear power plants, the Central Research Institute of SPIC took the lead, together with SNERDI, SNST...

2026-09-28

Breakthrough in High-Energy Nuclear Physics Research: Chinese Research Team Leverages CERN's Large Hadron Collider to Reveal How Nuclear Geometry Influences Matter Flow

Relying on the A Large Ion Collider Experiment (ALICE) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the research team led by Professor Li Xiaomei at the National Key Laboratory of Nuclear Data, China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE), in international collaboration with the team led by Professor Zhou You at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, conducted research. The joint team studied the Oxygen-16 (Oxygen-16, $^{16}\text{O}$) and Neon-20 (Neon-20, $^{20}\text{Ne}$) light-nucleus collision system and achieved important progress regarding collective flow phenomena dominated by nuclear structure, confirming that the spatial geometric configuration of atomic nuclei can directly regulate the laws of matter flow in high-energy nuclear collisions, providing key experimental constraints for improving relativistic heavy-ion collision theory and resolving microscopic nuclear structure.

2026-09-24

Scientists Reveal the Chemical Secrets of the Nanoscale Iridescent Effect in 9th-Century Islamic Ceramics

A scientific team led by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) has successfully revealed the nanoparticle chemical reactions that created the distinctive shimmering iridescent effect in 9th-century Islamic ceramic painting. The related research findings have been published in the academic journal Science Advances. Centuries before the rise of modern nanotechnology, 9th-century Abbasid potters were already able to produce ceramics with vivid colors such as gold, red, brown, or yellow and a metallic luster. This technique for creating the iridescent effect originated in the Near East during the Abbasid period and subsequently spread throughout the entire Islamic world.

2026-09-16

Iron-60 Found Again in Antarctic Ice Core Samples from 40,000 to 80,000 Years Ago

An international research team recently analyzed trace radioactive elements in ancient Antarctic ice layers and discovered an important clue recording the solar system's cosmic journey over the past 80,000 years. The researchers believe that the stardust buried deep in the ice proves that Earth has long been receiving material from interstellar space, and that this material may help scientists unveil the mystery of the formation history of the interstellar environment surrounding the solar system. At the core of the research is a rare radioactive isotope called iron-60. Iron-60 is not produced in large quantities in Earth's natural environment; it is typically born inside massive stars and ejected into cosmic space when those stars undergo supernova explosions. Therefore, iron-60 has long been...

2026-09-14

Brookhaven National Laboratory Develops Integrated X-ray Imaging Tool for Nuclear Materials Research

A research team at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory has recently developed and built a new experimental apparatus that integrates four X-ray computed tomography techniques into a single instrument, enabling multiscale, comprehensive studies of next-generation nuclear reactor materials. The related technical achievements and capability demonstration have been published in the Journal of Synchrotron Radiation. The apparatus is located at the X-ray Powder Diffraction (XPD) beamline of the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) and was commissioned jointly by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy's Nuclear Science User Facilities program, Brookhaven National Laboratory's Nuclear Science and Security Department, and NSLS-II. Researchers said that next...

2026-09-12

Japan's Monju Fast Breeder Reactor Sodium Coolant Overseas Transport Planned to Start in Fiscal 2028

Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology plans to include 23.7 billion yen in its fiscal 2027 budget request to advance decommissioning work for the Monju fast breeder reactor in Tsuruga City, Fukui Prefecture, including preparation costs for overseas transport of sodium coolant. The amount represents an increase of 4.9 billion yen over the previous fiscal year's budget, including supplementary budgets. Under the plan, overseas transport of sodium coolant from the Monju reactor will begin in fiscal 2028. Unlike conventional light water reactors, Monju uses metallic sodium rather than water as a coolant to remove heat from the reactor. Sodium has a boiling point of approximately 880 degrees Celsius and does not easily pressurize at high temperatures, but it can burn upon contact with water or air, making handling and management highly difficult...

2026-09-11

Shanghai Jiao Tong University's "Luoshu" Ultra-Long Neutron Small-Angle Scattering Spectrometer Officially Commissioned

On September 2, the launch ceremony for Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Luoshu Ultra-Long Neutron Small-Angle Scattering Spectrometer was held at the China Mianyang Research Reactor. Yang Zhenbin, Secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Huang Ming, Vice President of the China Academy of Engineering Physics, and other leaders attended the event to jointly witness the official commissioning of this major scientific research facility. At the launch ceremony, Yang Zhenbin and Huang Ming jointly lit up the Luoshu Ultra-Long Neutron Small-Angle Scattering Spectrometer, marking its official commissioning. The Luoshu spectrometer was jointly built and collaboratively developed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the China Mianyang Research Reactor, with multiple core indicators reaching internationally advanced levels. It can broadly support research in fields such as aerospace, nuclear power and energy, biomedicine, new materials, and basic sciences, providing...

2026-09-10

NASA's Chandra Telescope Discovers 84 Mysterious Supersoft X-ray Sources

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory recently announced that researchers using the observatory's publicly available observation data discovered 84 mysterious celestial objects known as supersoft X-ray sources in 6 galaxies. The related research was published in Nature Astronomy. Image credit: X-ray: NASA. These objects emit X-rays with unusually low energy and may be accompanied by strong high-energy ultraviolet radiation. The research team stated that the behavior of these objects is clearly different from previously observed known celestial bodies and may provide new clues for explaining the origin of Type Ia supernovae and the electron-stripping mechanism in the intergalactic medium. The 6 galaxies covered by this search include two spiral...

2026-09-10

Russia's SKIF Synchrotron Considers Building Enterprise-Funded Experimental Stations

The Siberian Circular Photon Source (SKIF) synchrotron project in Russia is considering the construction of enterprise-funded experimental stations. Andrei Bukhtiyarov, Deputy Director of the SKIF Shared Use Center, stated that this idea is expected to advance after the first-phase experimental stations are put into operation and their operational capabilities are verified. According to reports, construction of the SKIF synchrotron was completed in June 2026. Once the facility becomes operational, it will help researchers obtain high-precision data on the internal structure and behavior of materials. The first phase of the SKIF project, located near Novosibirsk, plans a total of 7 experimental stations, all scheduled to become operational by August 2027, when research teams can begin conducting relevant experiments. Bukhtiyarov...

2026-09-09

National Major Science and Technology Infrastructure Project "High-Intensity Heavy-Ion Accelerator Facility" Passes Special Financial and Asset Acceptance

From September 6 to 7, the Bureau of Finance and Assets and the Bureau of Science and Technology Basic Capacity of the Chinese Academy of Sciences organized a financial expert group and an asset expert group to carry out special financial and asset acceptance work on the National Major Science and Technology Infrastructure—the High-Intensity Heavy-Ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF) project. The expert group consisted of 13 experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, research institutes, and universities. Figure: Acceptance meeting site. The expert group listened to reports on the project's construction, financial asset management, and investment completion. The financial acceptance expert group reviewed materials such as the financial summary report and the completion financial final accounts audit report, conducted on-site inspections of final account statements and account books, and spot-checked contracts and accounting vouchers, followed by on-site inquiries and discussions on the financial investment completion status. The asset acceptance expert group reviewed materials including the asset summary report and procurement ledgers, conducted on-site spot checks of process equipment for the High-Intensity Heavy-Ion Accelerator, experimental terminal systems, facility auxiliary equipment, and public supporting systems, and held on-site inquiries and discussions on asset delivery status.

2026-09-09

German BESSY II 3D Magnetic Field Experiments Reveal Mechanism of Weak Magnetic Field Control over Magnetic Textures

A team at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) in Germany has made progress in controlling magnetic textures in the magnetic material (Fe0.63Ni0.3Pd0.07)3P (abbreviated as FNPP) through 3D magnetic field experiments conducted at the BESSY II synchrotron facility. The research shows that a very small external in-plane magnetic field is sufficient to alter the magnetic stripe structure in this material, providing new experimental evidence for the development of functional magnetic materials for spintronics. FNPP is a magnetic material that exhibits complex magnetic structures at room temperature, making it a focus of spintronics research. Spintronics is considered promising for lower-energy data processing and novel data storage applications. However, to achieve practical applications, the key lies in...

2026-09-08

BESIII Experiment Achieves High-Precision Measurement of Charm Meson Semileptonic Decays and First Constraint on "Scalar Current"

Recently, the BESIII international collaboration utilized the world's largest near-threshold charm meson data sample to perform a combined measurement of four semileptonic decay channels: D⁰→K⁻e⁺νₑ, D⁰→K⁻μ⁺νμ, D⁺→K̄⁰e⁺νₑ, and D⁺→K̄⁰μ⁺νμ. The research team extracted the quark mixing matrix element |Vcs| with a precision better than 0.5%, determined the form factor zero-point value f₊(0) with a precision better than 0.2%, and verified lepton universality in the above processes at the 0.5% precision level. Beyond these precise determinations of Standard Model parameters, what is particularly noteworthy is that this experiment has, for the first time...

2026-09-08

U.S. Research Team Discovers Strong Ultrafast Optical Response Induced by Ionizing Radiation, Potentially Advancing Medical Imaging and Sensing Technologies

September 3 news, Stanford University and the U.S. Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory research team used ultrafast electron and laser pulses to observe a strong ultrafast optical response triggered by ionization processes in semiconductor materials. The related research has been published in Nature Photonics. The researchers believe this discovery could provide new insights for radiography and sensing technologies, and also offer experimental evidence for understanding the fundamental behavior of materials under high-energy particle interactions. Radiation detection is a key technology in particle accelerators, scientific instruments, medical imaging, and security screening equipment. Existing detectors typically face a trade-off between signal strength and response speed: processes with stronger signals tend to be slower, while those with faster response may produce weaker signals...

2026-09-08

Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute to Jointly Build Neutron Cultural Heritage Protection Laboratory

On September 2, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly advance the construction of the Neutron Cultural Heritage Protection Laboratory, promoting the deep integration of modern technology and cultural heritage conservation. Yang Zhenbin, Party Secretary of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Pu Xin, Deputy Director of the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Heritage Administration, delivered speeches respectively and jointly witnessed the signing. The collaboration focuses on the scientific research, conservation, and transmission of significant cultural heritage sites including Sanxingdui. The Sanxingdui site is a vital component of the Chinese Civilization Exploration Project. With the continuous advancement of archaeological excavations in recent years, a large number of precious artifacts have been unearthed, with increasingly complex structures and materials. How to accurately obtain their internal structure, material composition, manufacturing techniques, and preservation status without damaging the artifacts themselves has become a critical issue in cultural heritage conservation and archaeological research...

2026-09-08

CERN Accelerator Control Systems to Migrate to Debian 13

Representatives from the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) stated at the MiniDebConf conference that they plan to migrate over 2,200 industrial and embedded computers used to control their accelerator complex from RHEL to Debian 13 by the end of 2026. The systems involved include control computers for the Large Hadron Collider as well as several independent experimental facilities. CERN also clarified that this migration applies only to accelerator control-related equipment and will not affect data centers or experimental systems. Those data centers and experimental systems will continue to use RHEL/AlmaLinux. According to reports, CERN engineers had previously considered migrating the relevant systems to CentOS Stream, but...

2026-09-08

IAEA Technical Meeting on Data Requirements for Ion Beam Analysis Explores Prospects for Nuclear Track Emulsion Applications

From 24 to 28 August 2026, the International Atomic Energy Agency convened a Technical Meeting on Data Requirements for Ion Beam Analysis Experiments in Vienna, Austria, attended by scientists and experts from multiple nuclear physics research institutions. The meeting discussed the nuclear data requirements for current and future applications of ion beam analysis, with attention to new experimental methods and the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning in experiments and data processing. The meeting focused on assessing whether existing nuclear data can meet the needs of ion beam analysis applications, covering areas such as elastic recoil cross sections, nuclear reaction data, and gamma-ray spectrum analysis. Experts discussed the limitations that insufficient existing data impose on quantitative analysis and uncertainty assessment...

2026-09-08

BESSY II reveals early-stage copper oxidation: providing evidence for catalyst development and corrosion research on nuclear waste final disposal containers

Germany's BESSY II synchrotron facility has recently provided new experimental insights into the early-stage oxidation process of copper surfaces. The study shows that before the formation of pure copper oxides, copper and oxygen atoms first form complex surface superstructures, such as "29"CuₓO. The chemical state of such structures has long been debated, and the findings are of reference value for catalyst research as well as for corrosion protection studies of copper containers used for radioactive waste final disposal. Before the formation of pure copper oxide, complex superstructures composed of copper and oxygen atoms emerge—such as "29"CuxO. HZB In everyday environments, copper surfaces gradually lose their red metallic luster and form a greenish oxide layer. This layer structure can slow further corrosion over an extended period. Regarding the initial stages of this process, the core question researchers focus on is: to what extent are copper atoms actually oxidized once oxygen enters the copper surface. Since conventional spectroscopic methods struggle to clearly distinguish between pure copper and partially oxidized surfaces, such oxidation states have previously been difficult to determine directly.

2026-09-07

ORNL Neutron Imaging Technology Reveals Healed Rib Fracture in Tyrannosaurus Rex Fossil

Neutron imaging technology at the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has helped researchers from the University of Regina in Canada and other institutions observe rare healing signs inside the fossilized bones of a Tyrannosaurus rex, providing new insights into ancient life from approximately 66 million years ago. The subject of this study is a fractured rib from "Scotty," the largest Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever discovered. Researchers found that this rib preserved a wound-healing process rarely seen in the fossil record: after the fracture occurred, iron-rich blood entered the injured area and formed a network of blood vessels to promote healing; however, before the rib had fully healed, Scotty died and was preserved in a salt marsh environment, which slowed the decomposition of the remains...

2026-09-07