THE National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) announced the country’s top 10 scientific advances for 2025 during the opening ceremony of the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum in Beijing on Wednesday, recognizing progress in basic research.

The advances include the discovery of lunar farside basalts originating from an extremely depleted mantle source, revealing that giant impact events may have triggered melt extraction from the lunar mantle. Based on the first-ever lunar farside samples brought back by the Chang’e 6 mission, Chinese scientists have provided key evidence for understanding the moon’s hemispheric dichotomy.

Last year, a Chinese research team reported the world’s first case of transplanting a gene-edited pig liver into a human body, overcoming key barriers regarding immune rejection and functional compatibility in xenotransplantation. This breakthrough provided critical data and technology for clinical translation.

Other recognized advances include progress in critical areas such as materials science, controllable nuclear fusion, deep-sea exploration, chipmaking and solar cells.

Dou Xiankang, director of the NSFC, said the selection, held annually since 2005, aims to encourage researchers to overcome bottlenecks and produce more original achievements in basic research, while fostering public understanding, attention, and support for the field.

The advances for 2025 were selected from more than 600 basic research projects through expert screening, real-time online voting, and committee deliberation — a process that fully demonstrates transparency and broad participation.

The Zhongguancun Forum, often referred to as China’s premier platform for technological innovation and global collaboration, was founded in 2007. With the permanent theme of “Innovation and Development”, the forum has evolved into a global, comprehensive, open, and high-level international event for enhancing global innovation in science and technology. With the annual theme of “Full Integration Between Technological and Industrial Innovation,” this year’s forum runs until Sunday.

(SD-Agencies)