INSIDE a smart greenhouse in Chengdu, the capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province, two robots, swiftly zipping through ridges between fields, were taking patrol training. With their high-definition cameras, these robots can snap real-time shots of crops’ growth and send images straight to the cloud.
“After integrating with the DeepSeek large model, our team trained the robots through tens of thousands of images to improve their pest identification accuracy, which has exceeded 80 per cent,” said Wu Yuanqing, the robots’ developer.
INSIDE a smart greenhouse in Chengdu, the capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province, two robots, swiftly zipping through ridges between fields, were taking patrol training. With their high-definition cameras, these robots can snap real-time shots of crops’ growth and send images straight to the cloud.
“After integrating with the DeepSeek large model, our team trained the robots through tens of thousands of images to improve their pest identification accuracy, which has exceeded 80 per cent,” said Wu Yuanqing, the robots’ developer.
Once the accuracy is improved, these robots can help farmers increase their decision-making precision in planting and efficiency of agricultural production, Wu added.
The rise of AI-powered agriculture in China highlights the government’s continued efforts to modernize its agricultural sector to accelerate rural revitalization, which profoundly impacts the lives of over 460 million people in rural areas.
The Chinese government has introduced multiple policies to promote smart agriculture development for years. In this document for 2025, Chinese policymakers have, for the first time, identified the development of “new quality productive forces in agriculture” as a top priority.
The document underscores the need to increase support for smart agriculture and calls for expanding the use of technologies such as AI, big data and low-altitude systems in agricultural production.
Maoming, a well-known lychee-growing city in south China’s Guangdong Province, is a premium example of how age-old practices meet with cutting-edge technologies to create a smarter, more efficient, precision-driven local industry.
In February, the city completed deploying the DeepSeek model into its local AI assistant platform, integrating more than five million data points, including a lychee disease prevention database and detailed local meteorological records.
So far, 69 sets of 5G-powered Internet of Things sensors have been installed across 20 lychee-growing towns in Maoming, according to Xu Hong, an official with Maoming’s agricultural and rural affairs bureau. These facilities monitor everything from soil moisture to air temperature, generating real-time insights that allow farmers to anticipate and mitigate risks before adverse weather takes a toll.
Farmers in Maoming also dived into learning and applying AI technologies in lychee cultivation. Zhang Xianfeng, a local farmer, has recently turned to an AI-powered assistant for guidance as persistent wet and chilly weather threatened Zhang’s lychee. Within seconds, the system provided a tailored management plan for her.
“In the past, we relied entirely on experience to determine the flowering period of crops. Fertilizers were applied by instinct, and we often reacted too late to disease outbreaks,” Zhang said. “Now, solutions provided by AI help us tackle these challenges immediately and accurately.” — Xinhua
Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar
INSIDE a smart greenhouse in Chengdu, the capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province, two robots, swiftly zipping through ridges between fields, were taking patrol training. With their high-definition cameras, these robots can snap real-time shots of crops’ growth and send images straight to the cloud.
“After integrating with the DeepSeek large model, our team trained the robots through tens of thousands of images to improve their pest identification accuracy, which has exceeded 80 per cent,” said Wu Yuanqing, the robots’ developer.
Once the accuracy is improved, these robots can help farmers increase their decision-making precision in planting and efficiency of agricultural production, Wu added.
The rise of AI-powered agriculture in China highlights the government’s continued efforts to modernize its agricultural sector to accelerate rural revitalization, which profoundly impacts the lives of over 460 million people in rural areas.
The Chinese government has introduced multiple policies to promote smart agriculture development for years. In this document for 2025, Chinese policymakers have, for the first time, identified the development of “new quality productive forces in agriculture” as a top priority.
The document underscores the need to increase support for smart agriculture and calls for expanding the use of technologies such as AI, big data and low-altitude systems in agricultural production.
Maoming, a well-known lychee-growing city in south China’s Guangdong Province, is a premium example of how age-old practices meet with cutting-edge technologies to create a smarter, more efficient, precision-driven local industry.
In February, the city completed deploying the DeepSeek model into its local AI assistant platform, integrating more than five million data points, including a lychee disease prevention database and detailed local meteorological records.
So far, 69 sets of 5G-powered Internet of Things sensors have been installed across 20 lychee-growing towns in Maoming, according to Xu Hong, an official with Maoming’s agricultural and rural affairs bureau. These facilities monitor everything from soil moisture to air temperature, generating real-time insights that allow farmers to anticipate and mitigate risks before adverse weather takes a toll.
Farmers in Maoming also dived into learning and applying AI technologies in lychee cultivation. Zhang Xianfeng, a local farmer, has recently turned to an AI-powered assistant for guidance as persistent wet and chilly weather threatened Zhang’s lychee. Within seconds, the system provided a tailored management plan for her.
“In the past, we relied entirely on experience to determine the flowering period of crops. Fertilizers were applied by instinct, and we often reacted too late to disease outbreaks,” Zhang said. “Now, solutions provided by AI help us tackle these challenges immediately and accurately.” — Xinhua
Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar
Russia and Myanmar closely cooperate in the energy area and they are addressing expansion of this partnership, through projects in the sector of renewable energy among other things, Russian President Vladimir Putin said following talks with Prime Minister of Myanmar Min Aung Hlaing.
Russia and Myanmar closely cooperate in the energy area and they are addressing expansion of this partnership, through projects in the sector of renewable energy among other things, Russian President Vladimir Putin said following talks with Prime Minister of Myanmar Min Aung Hlaing.
"Energy is a strategic area of bilateral cooperation. Russia reliably provides required energy resources to the republic. Last year more than 90% of oil was supplied to the market of Myanmar from Russia. We are developing possibilities to cooperate in the energy sector in other areas as well, including in the use of renewable resources of energy," Putin said.
The new joint statement confirms the key principles of the partnership between the two countries, the president stressed. "The issue is about further deepening of cooperation in the area of trade and investment. Last year trade turnover added around 40% and roughly amounted to $2 bln. We are ready to address expansion of mutually beneficial trade," he added.
Source: TASS
Russia and Myanmar closely cooperate in the energy area and they are addressing expansion of this partnership, through projects in the sector of renewable energy among other things, Russian President Vladimir Putin said following talks with Prime Minister of Myanmar Min Aung Hlaing.
"Energy is a strategic area of bilateral cooperation. Russia reliably provides required energy resources to the republic. Last year more than 90% of oil was supplied to the market of Myanmar from Russia. We are developing possibilities to cooperate in the energy sector in other areas as well, including in the use of renewable resources of energy," Putin said.
The new joint statement confirms the key principles of the partnership between the two countries, the president stressed. "The issue is about further deepening of cooperation in the area of trade and investment. Last year trade turnover added around 40% and roughly amounted to $2 bln. We are ready to address expansion of mutually beneficial trade," he added.
Source: TASS
IN the marbled halls of a luxury hotel, leading experts are discussing a new approach to an age-old problem: how to make it rain in the UAE, the wealthy Gulf state that lies in one of the world’s biggest deserts.
Decades of work and millions of dollars have been ploughed into easing endless drought in the oil-rich UAE, whose mainly expatriate population is soaring undeterred by a dry, hostile climate and hairdryer summer heat.
Despite the United Arab Emirates’ best efforts, rainfall remains rare.
IN the marbled halls of a luxury hotel, leading experts are discussing a new approach to an age-old problem: how to make it rain in the UAE, the wealthy Gulf state that lies in one of the world’s biggest deserts.
Decades of work and millions of dollars have been ploughed into easing endless drought in the oil-rich UAE, whose mainly expatriate population is soaring undeterred by a dry, hostile climate and hairdryer summer heat.
Despite the United Arab Emirates’ best efforts, rainfall remains rare.
But at last month’s International Rain Enhancement Forum in Abu Dhabi officials held out a new hope: harnessing artificial intelligence to wring more moisture out of often cloudless skies.
Among the initiatives is an AI system to improve cloud seeding, the practice of using planes to fire salt or other chemicals into clouds to increase rain.
“It’s pretty much finished,” said Luca Delle Monache, deputy director of the Centre for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
“We’re doing the final touches.” However, Delle Monache conceded that AI was not a “silver bullet” for the UAE, which like other countries has pursued cloud seeding for decades.
Cloud seeding works by increasing the size of droplets, which then fall as rain. It’s estimated to increase rainfall by 10-15 per cent, Delle Monache said.
But it only works with certain types of puffy, cumulus clouds, and can even suppress rainfall if not done properly.
“You’ve got to do it in the right place at the right time. That’s why we use artificial intelligence,” he added.
Prayers, applause The three-year project, funded with $1.5 million from the UAE’s rain enhancement programme, feeds satellite, radar and weather data into an algorithm that predicts where seedable clouds will form in the next six hours.
It promises to advance the current method where cloud-seeding flights are directed by experts studying satellite images. Hundreds of such flights occur annually in the UAE.
KEY POINTS:
- An AI system predicts seedable clouds, aiming to improve the precision of cloud-seeding flights.
- Experts caution that AI is not a perfect solution, as data limitations and the need for human judgment remain critical.
- Rain, a rare occurrence, even artificial rain, is considered a novelty, and when it does occur, it can cause significant flooding.
- The UAE’s substantial investment in rain enhancement reflects its commitment to overcoming water scarcity.
Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar
IN the marbled halls of a luxury hotel, leading experts are discussing a new approach to an age-old problem: how to make it rain in the UAE, the wealthy Gulf state that lies in one of the world’s biggest deserts.
Decades of work and millions of dollars have been ploughed into easing endless drought in the oil-rich UAE, whose mainly expatriate population is soaring undeterred by a dry, hostile climate and hairdryer summer heat.
Despite the United Arab Emirates’ best efforts, rainfall remains rare.
But at last month’s International Rain Enhancement Forum in Abu Dhabi officials held out a new hope: harnessing artificial intelligence to wring more moisture out of often cloudless skies.
Among the initiatives is an AI system to improve cloud seeding, the practice of using planes to fire salt or other chemicals into clouds to increase rain.
“It’s pretty much finished,” said Luca Delle Monache, deputy director of the Centre for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
“We’re doing the final touches.” However, Delle Monache conceded that AI was not a “silver bullet” for the UAE, which like other countries has pursued cloud seeding for decades.
Cloud seeding works by increasing the size of droplets, which then fall as rain. It’s estimated to increase rainfall by 10-15 per cent, Delle Monache said.
But it only works with certain types of puffy, cumulus clouds, and can even suppress rainfall if not done properly.
“You’ve got to do it in the right place at the right time. That’s why we use artificial intelligence,” he added.
Prayers, applause The three-year project, funded with $1.5 million from the UAE’s rain enhancement programme, feeds satellite, radar and weather data into an algorithm that predicts where seedable clouds will form in the next six hours.
It promises to advance the current method where cloud-seeding flights are directed by experts studying satellite images. Hundreds of such flights occur annually in the UAE.
KEY POINTS:
- An AI system predicts seedable clouds, aiming to improve the precision of cloud-seeding flights.
- Experts caution that AI is not a perfect solution, as data limitations and the need for human judgment remain critical.
- Rain, a rare occurrence, even artificial rain, is considered a novelty, and when it does occur, it can cause significant flooding.
- The UAE’s substantial investment in rain enhancement reflects its commitment to overcoming water scarcity.
Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar
AN ABANDONED lifeguard cabin, a rusty pier and mangled umbrellas are all that is left of Ein Gedi, once Israel’s flagship beach drawing international tourists to float in the world-famous waters of the Dead Sea.
Now, this lush desert oasis at the lowest point on Earth sits in ruins beside the shrinking sea, whose highly salty waters are rapidly retreating due to industrial use and climate change, which is accelerating their natural evaporation.
AN ABANDONED lifeguard cabin, a rusty pier and mangled umbrellas are all that is left of Ein Gedi, once Israel’s flagship beach drawing international tourists to float in the world-famous waters of the Dead Sea.
Now, this lush desert oasis at the lowest point on Earth sits in ruins beside the shrinking sea, whose highly salty waters are rapidly retreating due to industrial use and climate change, which is accelerating their natural evaporation.
The beach has been closed to the public for five years, mainly due to the appearance of dangerous sinkholes, but also because the dramatic recession of the sea’s level has made it tricky to reach its therapeutic waters, known for extraordinary buoyancy that lets bathers float effortlessly.
The increasingly exposed shoreline and the sinkholes, caused by a flow of freshwater dissolving layers of salt beneath the Earth’s surface, are not new.
In fact, the Dead Sea, nestled where Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian territory meet, has famously been dying for years. Now, with war raging in the Middle East, efforts to tackle this ever-worsening ecological disaster appear to have dissolved too.
“Regional cooperation is the key... to saving the Dead Sea,” said Nadav Tal, a hydrologist and water officer for the Israel office of Eco-Peace, a regional environmental nonprofit that has long advocated for finding a solution.
“Because we are living in a conflict area, there is an obstacle,” he said, describing how the sea has been declining more than one metre (three feet) per year since the 1960s.
‘Ecological disaster’
The evaporation of the salty waters in a time of rapid climate change and in a place where summer temperatures can reach upward of 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) has been exacerbated by decades of water diversions from the sea’s main source -- the Jordan River -- as well as various tributaries that begin in Lebanon and Syria.
The water is also being pumped out by local factories extracting natural minerals -- potash, bromine, sodium chloride, magnesia, magnesium chloride and metal magnesium -- to sell to markets across the world.
“The consequences of this water diversion is what we see around us,” Tal told AFP, pointing to a nearby pier that was once submerged in water but now stands firmly on dry land.
“It is an ecological disaster,” he emphasised, adding that “the declining of the Dead Sea is a disaster for Israeli tourism”.
The only remaining Israeli resorts are on the man-made evaporation ponds south of the surviving Dead Sea itself. Recently, 22-year-old Yael and her friend Noa were looking for a place to dip their toes into the soothing waters.
Relaxing beside one of the water-filled sinkholes, Yael recalled how her parents once enjoyed going to a public beach near here. “It was like their beach on the Dead Sea, and nowadays you pass by there and it looks like, I don’t know... a shipwreck,” she told AFP.
“It’s hallucinatory, the destruction caused by this thing (the drying up of the sea), and it’s just such a special landscape.”
Call for joint effort
Although some efforts have been made to address the Dead Sea disaster, including past agreements signed by Israel and Jordan, the wars raging in Gaza and beyond have brought regional tensions to an all-time high, meaning tackling cross-border environmental issues is no longer a priority for governments in the region.
At Israel’s environment ministry, Ohad Carny has been working on the issue for years. He said the government was looking into several solutions, including building a desalination facility and forging a canal from either the north or the south to address the general water shortages in the region, including the Dead Sea.
“It doesn’t make economic or environmental sense to desalinate water and bring it directly to the Dead Sea, because then it’s a waste of drinking water and the region needs desperately more drinking water and more water for agriculture,” he said.
Carny said that while his focus was on the Israeli side, “we are hoping for collaborations”.- AFP
Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar
AN ABANDONED lifeguard cabin, a rusty pier and mangled umbrellas are all that is left of Ein Gedi, once Israel’s flagship beach drawing international tourists to float in the world-famous waters of the Dead Sea.
Now, this lush desert oasis at the lowest point on Earth sits in ruins beside the shrinking sea, whose highly salty waters are rapidly retreating due to industrial use and climate change, which is accelerating their natural evaporation.
The beach has been closed to the public for five years, mainly due to the appearance of dangerous sinkholes, but also because the dramatic recession of the sea’s level has made it tricky to reach its therapeutic waters, known for extraordinary buoyancy that lets bathers float effortlessly.
The increasingly exposed shoreline and the sinkholes, caused by a flow of freshwater dissolving layers of salt beneath the Earth’s surface, are not new.
In fact, the Dead Sea, nestled where Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian territory meet, has famously been dying for years. Now, with war raging in the Middle East, efforts to tackle this ever-worsening ecological disaster appear to have dissolved too.
“Regional cooperation is the key... to saving the Dead Sea,” said Nadav Tal, a hydrologist and water officer for the Israel office of Eco-Peace, a regional environmental nonprofit that has long advocated for finding a solution.
“Because we are living in a conflict area, there is an obstacle,” he said, describing how the sea has been declining more than one metre (three feet) per year since the 1960s.
‘Ecological disaster’
The evaporation of the salty waters in a time of rapid climate change and in a place where summer temperatures can reach upward of 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) has been exacerbated by decades of water diversions from the sea’s main source -- the Jordan River -- as well as various tributaries that begin in Lebanon and Syria.
The water is also being pumped out by local factories extracting natural minerals -- potash, bromine, sodium chloride, magnesia, magnesium chloride and metal magnesium -- to sell to markets across the world.
“The consequences of this water diversion is what we see around us,” Tal told AFP, pointing to a nearby pier that was once submerged in water but now stands firmly on dry land.
“It is an ecological disaster,” he emphasised, adding that “the declining of the Dead Sea is a disaster for Israeli tourism”.
The only remaining Israeli resorts are on the man-made evaporation ponds south of the surviving Dead Sea itself. Recently, 22-year-old Yael and her friend Noa were looking for a place to dip their toes into the soothing waters.
Relaxing beside one of the water-filled sinkholes, Yael recalled how her parents once enjoyed going to a public beach near here. “It was like their beach on the Dead Sea, and nowadays you pass by there and it looks like, I don’t know... a shipwreck,” she told AFP.
“It’s hallucinatory, the destruction caused by this thing (the drying up of the sea), and it’s just such a special landscape.”
Call for joint effort
Although some efforts have been made to address the Dead Sea disaster, including past agreements signed by Israel and Jordan, the wars raging in Gaza and beyond have brought regional tensions to an all-time high, meaning tackling cross-border environmental issues is no longer a priority for governments in the region.
At Israel’s environment ministry, Ohad Carny has been working on the issue for years. He said the government was looking into several solutions, including building a desalination facility and forging a canal from either the north or the south to address the general water shortages in the region, including the Dead Sea.
“It doesn’t make economic or environmental sense to desalinate water and bring it directly to the Dead Sea, because then it’s a waste of drinking water and the region needs desperately more drinking water and more water for agriculture,” he said.
Carny said that while his focus was on the Israeli side, “we are hoping for collaborations”.- AFP
Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar
If we want to rely on nuclear fusion to power the world's homes, the first step is making reactors that can run as hot and as long as possible.
Now, China's 'artificial sun' reactor – officially called 'Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak' (EAST) – has set a new world record, bringing the goal of limitless clean energy ever closer.
If we want to rely on nuclear fusion to power the world's homes, the first step is making reactors that can run as hot and as long as possible.
Now, China's 'artificial sun' reactor – officially called 'Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak' (EAST) – has set a new world record, bringing the goal of limitless clean energy ever closer.
The reactor, located in Hefei in Anhui province, generated a steady loop of plasma for 1,066 seconds at 180million°F (100million°C) – seven times hotter than the sun's core.
It surpasses the previous world record of 403 seconds, also set by EAST in 2023.
EAST could be a precursor to the first ever fusion power plants that supply power directly to the grid and electricity to people's homes.
These power plants could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the power-generation sector by diverting away from the use of fossil fuels like coal and gas. Fusion differs from fission (the technique currently used in nuclear power plants), because the former fuses two atomic nuclei instead of splitting one (fission).
Unlike fission, fusion carries no risk of catastrophic nuclear accidents – like that seen in Fukushima in Japan in 2011 – and produces far less radioactive waste than current power plants, its exponents say.
China's 'artificial sun' is operated by the Institute of Plasma Physics (ASIPP) at Hefei Institutes of Physical Science on behalf of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The new world record, achieved on Monday, marks a critical step toward a functional fusion reactor, according to ASIPP director Professor Song Yuntao.
'A fusion device must achieve stable operation at high efficiency for thousands of seconds to enable the self-sustaining circulation of plasma, which is essential for the continuous power generation of future fusion plants,' he said.
Global scientists have worked for more than 70 years on trying to achieve this feat, according to a release from State Council Information Office, central propaganda department of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
Gong Xianzu, head of the division of EAST physics and experimental operations, said they have upgraded several EAST systems since the last round of experiments.
For example, the heating system, which previously operated at the equivalent of nearly 70,000 household microwave ovens, has now doubled its power output.
'The ultimate goal of an artificial sun is to create nuclear fusion like the sun, providing humanity with an endless, clean energy source,' the release says.
Fusion – generally considered the holy grail of energy – could also enable 'space exploration beyond the solar system', by providing rockets with more powerful propulsion systems.
At the heart of EAST and other fusion reactors around the world is a tokamak, a doughnut-shaped device initially conceptualised in the 1950s by Soviet physicists.
Inside, under the influence of extreme heat and pressure, gaseous hydrogen fuel becomes a plasma – a hot, electrically charged gas.
Plasma is often referred to as the fourth state of matter after solid, liquid and gas, and comprises over 99 per cent of the visible universe, including most of our sun.
In the tokamak, the plasma is trapped and pressurised by magnetic fields until the energised plasma particles start to collide.
As the particles fuse into helium, they release enormous amounts of energy, mimicking the process that occurs naturally in the centre of stars like our sun. The only by-products of fusion reactions are small amounts of helium, an inert gas which can be safely released without harming the environment.
As a result, fusion reactors have long been touted as the best clean energy source – although the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists claims they are 'far from perfect'.
As yet, the energy input required to produce the temperatures and pressures that enable significant fusion reactions in hydrogen isotopes don't justify the fusion energy that's actually being generated, the nonprofit organization points out.
It's worth bearing in mind that EAST, as the name suggests, is China's 'experimental' reactor project – and may yet pave the way for the first nuclear fusion power plants.
Chinese experts say: 'The mission of the EAST project is to develop an advanced fully superconducting tokamak so as to establish solid scientific and technological bases for the future continuous operation of tokamak fusion devices.'
Of course there are already nuclear power plants around the world, but they use nuclear fission, which has the disadvantage of generating unstable nuclei, some of which are radioactive for millions of years.
Fusion, on the other hand, does not create any long-lived radioactive nuclear waste but instead helium, which is an inert gas. Fusion fuel is made up of deuterium and tritium, which are isotopes of hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, giving scientists hopes of 'unlimited energy'.
The Chinese team plan to use the nuclear fusion reactor in collaboration with scientists in France working on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).
The Provence-based ITER project is expected to begin delivering power in 2035, and will become the world's biggest reactor once completed.
Mail Online
Source: Myawady Daily Newspaper
If we want to rely on nuclear fusion to power the world's homes, the first step is making reactors that can run as hot and as long as possible.
Now, China's 'artificial sun' reactor – officially called 'Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak' (EAST) – has set a new world record, bringing the goal of limitless clean energy ever closer.
The reactor, located in Hefei in Anhui province, generated a steady loop of plasma for 1,066 seconds at 180million°F (100million°C) – seven times hotter than the sun's core.
It surpasses the previous world record of 403 seconds, also set by EAST in 2023.
EAST could be a precursor to the first ever fusion power plants that supply power directly to the grid and electricity to people's homes.
These power plants could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the power-generation sector by diverting away from the use of fossil fuels like coal and gas. Fusion differs from fission (the technique currently used in nuclear power plants), because the former fuses two atomic nuclei instead of splitting one (fission).
Unlike fission, fusion carries no risk of catastrophic nuclear accidents – like that seen in Fukushima in Japan in 2011 – and produces far less radioactive waste than current power plants, its exponents say.
China's 'artificial sun' is operated by the Institute of Plasma Physics (ASIPP) at Hefei Institutes of Physical Science on behalf of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The new world record, achieved on Monday, marks a critical step toward a functional fusion reactor, according to ASIPP director Professor Song Yuntao.
'A fusion device must achieve stable operation at high efficiency for thousands of seconds to enable the self-sustaining circulation of plasma, which is essential for the continuous power generation of future fusion plants,' he said.
Global scientists have worked for more than 70 years on trying to achieve this feat, according to a release from State Council Information Office, central propaganda department of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
Gong Xianzu, head of the division of EAST physics and experimental operations, said they have upgraded several EAST systems since the last round of experiments.
For example, the heating system, which previously operated at the equivalent of nearly 70,000 household microwave ovens, has now doubled its power output.
'The ultimate goal of an artificial sun is to create nuclear fusion like the sun, providing humanity with an endless, clean energy source,' the release says.
Fusion – generally considered the holy grail of energy – could also enable 'space exploration beyond the solar system', by providing rockets with more powerful propulsion systems.
At the heart of EAST and other fusion reactors around the world is a tokamak, a doughnut-shaped device initially conceptualised in the 1950s by Soviet physicists.
Inside, under the influence of extreme heat and pressure, gaseous hydrogen fuel becomes a plasma – a hot, electrically charged gas.
Plasma is often referred to as the fourth state of matter after solid, liquid and gas, and comprises over 99 per cent of the visible universe, including most of our sun.
In the tokamak, the plasma is trapped and pressurised by magnetic fields until the energised plasma particles start to collide.
As the particles fuse into helium, they release enormous amounts of energy, mimicking the process that occurs naturally in the centre of stars like our sun. The only by-products of fusion reactions are small amounts of helium, an inert gas which can be safely released without harming the environment.
As a result, fusion reactors have long been touted as the best clean energy source – although the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists claims they are 'far from perfect'.
As yet, the energy input required to produce the temperatures and pressures that enable significant fusion reactions in hydrogen isotopes don't justify the fusion energy that's actually being generated, the nonprofit organization points out.
It's worth bearing in mind that EAST, as the name suggests, is China's 'experimental' reactor project – and may yet pave the way for the first nuclear fusion power plants.
Chinese experts say: 'The mission of the EAST project is to develop an advanced fully superconducting tokamak so as to establish solid scientific and technological bases for the future continuous operation of tokamak fusion devices.'
Of course there are already nuclear power plants around the world, but they use nuclear fission, which has the disadvantage of generating unstable nuclei, some of which are radioactive for millions of years.
Fusion, on the other hand, does not create any long-lived radioactive nuclear waste but instead helium, which is an inert gas. Fusion fuel is made up of deuterium and tritium, which are isotopes of hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, giving scientists hopes of 'unlimited energy'.
The Chinese team plan to use the nuclear fusion reactor in collaboration with scientists in France working on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).
The Provence-based ITER project is expected to begin delivering power in 2035, and will become the world's biggest reactor once completed.
Mail Online
Source: Myawady Daily Newspaper
China on Friday defended its plan to build the world's largest dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, saying the project will not negatively affect lower riparian states and that safety issues have been addressed through decades of studies.
China on Friday defended its plan to build the world's largest dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, saying the project will not negatively affect lower riparian states and that safety issues have been addressed through decades of studies.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning played down apprehensions about the massive project to dam the Brahmaputra River, which is called Yarlung Zangbo in Tibet. The project estimated to cost around $ 137 billion is located in the ecologically fragile Himalayan region, along a tectonic plate boundary where earthquakes occur frequently.
Mao said China carried out in-depth studies for decades and took safeguard measures.
China has always been responsible for the development of cross-border rivers, Mao told a media briefing here in response to a question on the concerns related to the dam. She said the hydropower development there has been studied in depth for decades, and safeguard measures have been taken to ensure the project's security and ecological environment protection.
The project will not negatively affect the lower reaches, she said referring to the concerns in India and Bangladesh which are the lower riparian states.
China will continue to maintain communication with countries at the lower reaches through existing channels and step up cooperation on disaster prevention and relief for the benefit of the people by the river," she said.
She said China's hydropower development in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River aims to speed up the development of clean energy and respond to climate change and extreme hydrological disasters.
China on Wednesday approved the construction of the world's largest dam, stated to be the planet's biggest infra project on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet close to the Indian border, raising concerns in India and Bangladesh.
The hydropower project will be built in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, the Tibetan name for the Brahmaputra River, an official statement here said.
The dam will be built at a huge gorge in the Himalayan reaches where the Brahmaputra River makes a huge U-turn to flow into Arunachal Pradesh and then to-Bangladesh.
Mao said China's hydropower development in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River aims to speed up the development of clean energy and respond to climate change and extreme hydrological disasters.
The total investment in the dam could exceed one trillion yuan ($ 137 billion), which would dwarf any other single infrastructure project on the planet, including China's own. Three Gorges Dam which is regarded as the largest in the world, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Thursday.
China has already operationalised the $1.5 billion Zam Hydropower Station, the largest in Tibet in 2015.
The Brahmaputra dam was part of the 14th Five Year Plan (2021-2025) and National Economic and Social Development and the Long -Range Objectives Through the Year 2035 adopted by Plenum, a key policy body of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2020.
Concerns arose in India as the dam besides empowering China to control the water flow could enable Beijing to release large amounts of water flooding border areas in times of hostilities because of its size and scale.
India too is building a dam over Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh.
India and China established the Expert Level Mechanism (ELM) in 2006 to discuss various issues related to trans-border rivers under which China provides India with hydrological information on the Brahmaputra and Sutlej Rivers during the flood seasons.
Data sharing of trans-border rivers figured in the talks between India, China Special Representatives (SRs) for border questions which NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held here on December 18.
The SRs provided positive directions for cross-border cooperation and exchanges including data sharing on trans-border rivers, a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs said.
The Brahmaputra Dam presents enormous engineering challenges as the project site is located along a tectonic plate boundary where earthquakes occur.
The Tibetan plateau, regarded as the roof of the world, frequently experiences earthquakes as it is located over the tectonic plates.
Source: Indian Defence Research Wing
https://idrw.org/wont-affect-lower-reaches-china-defends-plan-to-build-dam-on-brahmaputra/
China on Friday defended its plan to build the world's largest dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, saying the project will not negatively affect lower riparian states and that safety issues have been addressed through decades of studies.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning played down apprehensions about the massive project to dam the Brahmaputra River, which is called Yarlung Zangbo in Tibet. The project estimated to cost around $ 137 billion is located in the ecologically fragile Himalayan region, along a tectonic plate boundary where earthquakes occur frequently.
Mao said China carried out in-depth studies for decades and took safeguard measures.
China has always been responsible for the development of cross-border rivers, Mao told a media briefing here in response to a question on the concerns related to the dam. She said the hydropower development there has been studied in depth for decades, and safeguard measures have been taken to ensure the project's security and ecological environment protection.
The project will not negatively affect the lower reaches, she said referring to the concerns in India and Bangladesh which are the lower riparian states.
China will continue to maintain communication with countries at the lower reaches through existing channels and step up cooperation on disaster prevention and relief for the benefit of the people by the river," she said.
She said China's hydropower development in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River aims to speed up the development of clean energy and respond to climate change and extreme hydrological disasters.
China on Wednesday approved the construction of the world's largest dam, stated to be the planet's biggest infra project on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet close to the Indian border, raising concerns in India and Bangladesh.
The hydropower project will be built in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, the Tibetan name for the Brahmaputra River, an official statement here said.
The dam will be built at a huge gorge in the Himalayan reaches where the Brahmaputra River makes a huge U-turn to flow into Arunachal Pradesh and then to-Bangladesh.
Mao said China's hydropower development in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River aims to speed up the development of clean energy and respond to climate change and extreme hydrological disasters.
The total investment in the dam could exceed one trillion yuan ($ 137 billion), which would dwarf any other single infrastructure project on the planet, including China's own. Three Gorges Dam which is regarded as the largest in the world, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Thursday.
China has already operationalised the $1.5 billion Zam Hydropower Station, the largest in Tibet in 2015.
The Brahmaputra dam was part of the 14th Five Year Plan (2021-2025) and National Economic and Social Development and the Long -Range Objectives Through the Year 2035 adopted by Plenum, a key policy body of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2020.
Concerns arose in India as the dam besides empowering China to control the water flow could enable Beijing to release large amounts of water flooding border areas in times of hostilities because of its size and scale.
India too is building a dam over Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh.
India and China established the Expert Level Mechanism (ELM) in 2006 to discuss various issues related to trans-border rivers under which China provides India with hydrological information on the Brahmaputra and Sutlej Rivers during the flood seasons.
Data sharing of trans-border rivers figured in the talks between India, China Special Representatives (SRs) for border questions which NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held here on December 18.
The SRs provided positive directions for cross-border cooperation and exchanges including data sharing on trans-border rivers, a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs said.
The Brahmaputra Dam presents enormous engineering challenges as the project site is located along a tectonic plate boundary where earthquakes occur.
The Tibetan plateau, regarded as the roof of the world, frequently experiences earthquakes as it is located over the tectonic plates.
Source: Indian Defence Research Wing
https://idrw.org/wont-affect-lower-reaches-china-defends-plan-to-build-dam-on-brahmaputra/
THE China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) unveiled the exterior design of the country’s moon-landing spacesuit for the first time on Saturday, soliciting its name from the public.
Displayed on the third Spacesuit Technology Forum hosted by the China Astronaut Research and Training Centre in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, the white moon-landing spacesuit is decorated with red stripes.
THE China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) unveiled the exterior design of the country’s moon-landing spacesuit for the first time on Saturday, soliciting its name from the public.
Displayed on the third Spacesuit Technology Forum hosted by the China Astronaut Research and Training Centre in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, the white moon-landing spacesuit is decorated with red stripes.
The new lunar spacesuit features design elements inspired by Dunhuang art and rocket flames, providing protection against the lunar environment. Equipped with a multifunctional control panel, flexible gloves, and a panoramic visor, it allows astronauts to perform various movements. Developed since 2020, it signifies key technological advancements in China’s manned lunar exploration, with a planned lunar landing by 2030. — Xinhua
THE China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) unveiled the exterior design of the country’s moon-landing spacesuit for the first time on Saturday, soliciting its name from the public.
Displayed on the third Spacesuit Technology Forum hosted by the China Astronaut Research and Training Centre in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, the white moon-landing spacesuit is decorated with red stripes.
The new lunar spacesuit features design elements inspired by Dunhuang art and rocket flames, providing protection against the lunar environment. Equipped with a multifunctional control panel, flexible gloves, and a panoramic visor, it allows astronauts to perform various movements. Developed since 2020, it signifies key technological advancements in China’s manned lunar exploration, with a planned lunar landing by 2030. — Xinhua