EurekAlert! Chinese Academy of Sciences - News Releases from CAS Headquarters

News from CAS Headquarters

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 20-Oct-2026 18:16 ET (20-Oct-2026 22:16 GMT/UTC)

Wind plays an overlooked role in ecosystem water-use efficiency

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Wind does more than sway trees. It also plays an important role in determining an ecosystem’s water-use efficiency—defined as the amount of carbon an ecosystem absorbs per unit of water lost. Water-use efficiency is an important measure of how ecosystems balance growth and water availability. A research team led by Prof. FU Zheng at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has revealed a previously overlooked role for wind in regulating ecosystem water-use efficiency.

Journal: Nature Climate Change

Wetland reclamation brings limited agricultural gains but high flood exposure

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research team led by Prof. DONG Jinwei from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with international collaborators, has mapped global croplands reclaimed from wetlands from 2000 to 2022 and evaluated their crop production performance and flood exposure risk.

Journal: Nature Sustainability

Study calls for locally tailored wastewater reuse in China

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Wastewater reclamation is increasingly regarded as an alternative water source to mitigate water scarcity in China. However, expanding wastewater treatment capacity alone may not be enough to ease this scarcity, since wastewater supply, treatment facilities, and reuse demand are not always geographically aligned. These findings were highlighted in a new study led by Prof. SHEN Lei from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which was published in Nature Water.

Journal: Nature Water

Not all early birds evolved toward better flight, Jurassic fossil suggests

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study published in Nature discusses the newly discovered species, Yuezhuornis yangyuanensis, which lived during the Late Jurassic period (150–148 million years ago). The research suggests that the evolution of the avian body plan was not a straightforward progression toward improved flight capabilities, but a complex process involving the exploration of different ecological niches, including some that did not require flight.

Journal: Nature

New spatial genomics technology probes higher-order chromatin architecture

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research team led by Prof. LI Xiang from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has developed SpaceA, a spatial 3D genomics technology that enables high-confidence, in situ profiling of long-range chromatin interactions within tissue sections.

Journal: Developmental Cell

New topological microscope tip reveals evidence of 2D altermagnetism

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers have fashioned a layered topological material into a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip that senses spin-related electronic states at atomic resolution. The research team used this probe to obtain converging evidence for two-dimensional d-wave altermagnetic order on the surface of KV₂Se₂O.

Journal: Nature

Scientists create 3D map of rice development

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Rice is one of the world’s most familiar staple foods, but how does a single cell develop into a rice plant with specialized tissues and organs? A new study offers a detailed look at this process through a three-dimensional (3D) spatiotemporal atlas covering 10 organs and 61 developmental stages across the rice lifecycle, from seed to seed.

Soft robotic fish combines high-speed swimming with 3D maneuverability

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from the Shenyang Institute of Automation (SIA) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed an electrohydraulically actuated soft robotic fish that can swim at high speeds and perform agile three-dimensional (3D) maneuvers. The soft robotic fish addresses a longstanding design challenge by combining a rigid–flexible coupled propulsion system with dynamic buoyancy regulation. This allows for fast propulsion without sacrificing maneuverability.

Journal: IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics

Genomic and fossil evidence sheds new light on the early evolution of winged insects

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study by Professor CAI Chenyang's team from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor ZHOU Changfa's team from Nanjing Normal University combining genomic analyses and fossil evidence sheds light on the century-old "Palaeoptera Problem," a longstanding debate over the evolutionary relationships among major groups of winged insects.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Human activity can both fuel and fight fires: study

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Reduced human mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a 12.3% decline in global fire incidence, but fires increased in some countries. A study led by WANG Jianghao and GE Yong at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences helps explain this contrast: people can both ignite fires and keep them under control. The study appears in Cell Reports Sustainability on October 9, 2026.

Journal: Cell Reports Sustainability

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