Former Party official Song Ping dies at 109

Song Ping, a former senior official of the Communist Party of China, passed away due to illness at the age of 109 on Wednesday in Beijing, an official statement announced. Song, who was a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 13th CPC Central Committee and a former state councilor, was praised as an excellent member and leader of the Party, a time-tested and loyal communist soldier, and an outstanding proletarian revolutionary and statesman.

Beijing district plans to build 100 science parks

Beijing's Chaoyang, one of China's largest districts in terms of GDP, revealed an ambitious plan to build 100 science and technology parks in the next five years. Nie Jieying, head of the district, announced on Tuesday at a quality development conference that by the end of the 15th Five-year Plan period (2026-30), the evolution of 100 parks will drive the district to become a model of new productive forces and an international science and tech innovation center. The new parks are expected to significantly expand and strengthen modern industries, including AI, industrial internet, technology services and smart wellness.

Satellite-ground laser communication tested

Chinese research institutions have successfully conducted a laser communication experiment between a high-orbit satellite and the ground, achieving two-way data transmission at 1 gigabit per second over a distance exceeding 40,000 kilometers, China Science Daily reported on Tuesday. The current research on satellite-ground laser communication is advancing in two main directions. One is the pursuit of downlink peak rates to meet the demand of data surges in specific scenarios. The other is the enhancement of long-duration, stable, two-way and real-time communication capabilities in high-orbit environments, which are the foundations of space-based systems and advanced interactive applications.

New method for brain imaging developed

Chinese researchers have created a new imaging system that allows for long-term, high-resolution imaging of the mouse brain in a noninvasive manner, penetrating the intact scalp and skull without the use of contrast agents, China Science Daily reported on Tuesday. A research team from the Southern University of Science and Technology, located in Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong province, has developed an integrated photoacoustic imaging system named PACMes. This system achieves synergistic optimization across three key dimensions: near-infrared optical excitation, low-frequency acoustic detection and computational reconstruction.

Xinhua - China Daily