China issues top 10 scientific advances of 2021

China's Ministry of Science and Technology issued a list of the top 10 domestic scientific advances of 2021 Monday.

The selected achievements include the Tianwen-1 Mars probe's successful landing on Mars, the successful launch of China's space station core module Tianhe, and Shenzhou-12 and Shenzhou-13 manned spaceships' successful launch and docking with the core module, according to the list issued by the High Tech Research and Development Center of the ministry.

Other advances include the starch synthesis from carbon dioxide, lunar evolution revealed by lunar samples brought back by the Chang'e-5 mission, mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 evading antiviral drugs, and the world's largest fast radio bursts sample detected by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope.

The scalable production of high-performing fiber lithium-ion batteries, quantum walks on a programmable two-dimensional 62-qubit superconducting processor, self-powered soft robot swimming in the Mariana Trench, and the causes of bird migration routes and key genes of long-distance migration are also on the list.