Ling Xin

1 week ago | scmp.com | Ling Xin

For the first time since the homes of computer science professor Xiaofeng Wang were raided by the FBI last month, Nianli Ma has spoken out publicly to question Indiana University’s decision to terminate both her and her husband Wang without due process. The couple drew national attention after FBI agents searched their residences in Bloomington and Carmel, Indiana, and seized boxes of materials on March 28.

1 week ago | scmp.com | Ling Xin

Shaopeng Wang, a biomedical nanoscientist at Arizona State University, went into shock in March 2020 when he was told that his postdoctoral mentor and long-time collaborator, Nongjian Tao, had been found dead outside a four-storey parking garage on campus after an apparent fall. Just hours earlier, Tao had emailed Wang and other team members about candidates for a new faculty position at the Centre for Bioelectronics and Biosensors, which Tao had led since 2008. Everything had seemed normal.

2 weeks ago | scmp.com | Ling Xin

Chinese researchers say they have achieved a global first in using a real quantum computer to fine-tune an artificial intelligence (AI) model with 1 billion parameters, showing the potential of quantum computing to help better train large language models.

3 weeks ago | scmp.com | Ling Xin

China has announced a milestone in the development of its next-generation “artificial sun”, marking another step towards harnessing controlled nuclear fusion. For the first time, the Huanliu-3 (HL-3) tokamak reactor in Chengdu has achieved a plasma state with ion temperatures of 117 million degrees Celsius and electron temperatures of 160 million degrees, edging closer to the extreme conditions required to ignite fusion – the same process that powers the Sun – according to researchers.

3 weeks ago | scmp.com | Ling Xin

China and New Zealand have led the world’s first crewed expedition to the depths of the remote Puysegur Trench, which cleaves through the floor of the south Tasman Sea, in a milestone mission hailed as a triumph of oceanic exploration. However, the expedition – an unprecedented collaboration of 68 scientists from eight countries – sparked unease in nearby Australia, underscoring the geopolitical tensions that are simmering beneath the waves.