The South China Morning Post’s latest science coverage presents a wide panorama of Chinese and regional advances, risks and controversies at the close of 2025, spanning frontier physics, nuclear technology, aerospace, biotechnology and history. Chinese researchers are developing a Chinese 6G smart surface that could allow stealth jets to use radar as a power source, a technology they say could power future communications systems and alter the balance of electronic warfare. Nuclear experts in China argue that Japan could build nuclear weapons in less than 3 years, reflecting ongoing regional security concerns, while China National Nuclear Corporation has hit a milestone in building the Beishan underground laboratory for managing nuclear waste after the team finished constructing a steep spiral ramp that will lead to a facility designed to secure nuclear waste for thousands of years. In the energy sector, engineers report that a year after a near total blackout, China has built what is described as the world’s largest smart transformer to guard against renewable energy shocks like a low wind swing that nearly shut down the national grid.
The reporting also tracks a series of headline grabbing breakthroughs and setbacks in transportation, computing and space. China’s military maglev project has achieved 0-700km/h acceleration in less than 2 seconds, a feat that researchers say puts the country in the global top tier of ultra high speed maglev technology and could open new avenues for hyperloop style transport. In quantum computing, a Chinese team says its new machine has reached a stability milestone and is the first outside the United States to cross a key threshold that determines whether practical quantum computers can operate reliably at scale, with the Zuchongzhi 3 superconducting system showcased at the University of Science and Technology of China. Space coverage details how Beijing has extended its lead in Mars missions and recounts a stranded crew’s return in a review of China’s year in space, set against a broader United States China race to bring back Martian rocks and reports of a tit for tat orbital stand off. At the same time, China’s launch sector is facing difficulties, with a second reusable rocket recovery failure in a month leading analysts to conclude that the country is 10 years behind the United States in this technology, highlighted by the debut failure of the Long March 12A, China’s first state owned reusable rocket.
Medical and life sciences stories focus on both cutting edge procedures and new interpretations of long held beliefs. In a world first, Chinese surgeons saved a patient’s ear by grafting it onto her foot after it was torn off in an industrial accident, later reattaching it to her scalp several months later, while a separate Chinese study suggests that lard can actually help keep people fit and more comfortable when consumed at moderate levels, challenging assumptions about animal fats. The region’s biotech influence is underscored by a flurry of billion dollar overseas licensing deals involving companies such as Jacobio, Coherent Biopharma and Harbour BioMed, as well as the return of leading mRNA immunologist Hu Haitao from the United States to the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Microbiology in Beijing, with Hu saying that China is catching up fast in mRNA related fundamental research and technological development. Social and ethical issues run through several items: top biotech scientist Chen Xiaoyuan denies harassment claims made after the National University of Singapore terminated his tenure, saying he will appeal; Chinese scholars urge legal action over a Japanese royal’s alleged role in Unit 731 wartime crimes, arguing Emperor Hirohito should be held accountable; and a targeted jamming incident in Nanjing that blinded GPS and BeiDou on phones and drones paralysed food delivery, drone control and ride hailing apps in a city of nearly 10 million, underscoring vulnerabilities in satellite navigation. The section also highlights Chinese research into time’s arrow and the question of time travel, archaeological discoveries from a Bronze Age red rice wine brewery and a 2,200-year-old four-lane Qin Straight Road, the migration of prominent foreign scientists to China in 2025, the acceleration of armour steel production by 30% as a United States Conshohocken plant shuts due to financial losses, and demonstrations of how a single word could let spies take control of a robot army, alongside a recap of seven major Artificial Intelligence breakthroughs in 2025 including DeepSeek’s rise and China’s robot boot camps.
