BEIJING, Sept. 25 (Xinhuanet) – The following is a summary of published science and technology news from China.
EXPENDITURE ON R&D
China’s research and development (R&D) spending hit a record high of 2.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020, 0.16 percentage points more than last year, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
China’s total research and development spending was 2.4 trillion yuan (about $ 377.7 billion) last year, up 10.2 percent or 224.95 billion yuan compared to 2019, so one jointly from the NBS, the Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Finance.
DELTA VARIANT
The virus strain behind the recent COVID-19 infections in Harbin, capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, has been identified as the Delta variant, local authorities said on Friday.
The finding was based on gene sequencing of the virus from the city’s first group of COVID-19 patients in the recent resurgence that occurred Tuesday, according to the city’s COVID-19 Prevention and Control Center.
SYNTHESISING STRENGTH
Chinese scientists have developed an artificial method of synthesizing starch from carbon dioxide, which is the first of its kind in the world.
The research team has developed an artificial starch synthesis pathway that consists of only 11 nuclear reactions and achieves a complete synthesis of carbon dioxide into starch molecules in the laboratory for the first time, said Ma Yanhe, director general of the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology.
The structure of synthetic starch is the same as that of natural starch, said Ma, who is also the corresponding author of the study.
