The Computer Network Information Center (CNIC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on May 29 with GÉANT Vereniging, Europe's leading collaboration on network and related infrastructure and services for the benefit of research and education, contributing to Europe's economic growth and competitiveness.

About 600kg of third-generation hybrid rice seeds was sorted at a speed of 20kg/h last week, with the help of a prototype developed by Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The prototype, a fluorescence identification and sorting device, can boost the speed and accuracy of seed sorting, a help for agricultural scientists at China National Hybrid Rice R&D Centre (CNHRRDC), where third-generation hybrid rice is being developed.

Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) will promote collaboration in the area of closing the carbon cycle to better tackle the challenge of climate change, according to a video-conference held on May 26 by the two organizations.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Institut Pasteur, two key institutions of Sino-French Cooperation on Emerging Infectious Diseases since 2003, reached the consensus to make sustained common efforts to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic at a video-conference on May 15.

"Scientific international cooperation has never been more important than it is today", said Prof. ZHANG Yaping, Vice-President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), at a video-conference specially launched for COVID-19 scientific response between CAS and Mérieux Foundation on 7 may, 2020.

Recently, the Remote Sensing of Urban Green Space was published by Science Press as China's first monograph that comprehensively studies urban vegetation from the perspective of remote sensing. Authored by Prof. MENG Qingyan from the Aerospace Information Research Institute, the book is a result of decade efforts of MENG and his team in the field of urban green space remote sensing since 2010.

The successful CAS-JIC Centre of Excellence for Plant and Microbial Science (CEPAMS) was boosted today by the signing of a new five-year agreement between the three partner institutes in Beijing, Shanghai and Norwich. The next five years will see an expansion of the CEPAMS laboratories in China and a renewed emphasis on harnessing the strengths of Chinese and UK science for global good.

Requested by UNESCO World Heritage Center (WHC), the International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage (HIST) under the auspices of UNESCO conducted an emergency monitoring and assessment of potential impact of Super Tropical Cyclone Harold on East Rennell, a World Natural Heritage site in Rennell Bellona Province, one of four affected provinces of the Solomon Islands which are among four cyclone-stricken countries in early April, 2020. The assessment report was delivered to UNESCO WHC on April, 24.

Oligomannate (compound code GV-971), a drug developed in China to improve cognitive function for those with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease, got formal approval on Apr. 8 from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its international multi-center Phase III clinical study in the U.S..

In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, a Chinese Academy of Sciences program known as Big Earth Data Science Engineering (CASEarth) began efforts to organize data and information towards curbing the outbreak. CASEarth coordinated a national effort to develop a global big data platform for coronavirus (http://nmdc.cn/nCov/en). This platform has been publishing and disseminating timely, authoritative scientific data and information concerning COVID-19, including detection methods, electron micrographs, genomes, scientific literature, results from ongoing scientific research, and a collection of virus strains from the National Pathogen Microbial Resource Bank.

On April 8th, Prof. CAO Junji from the Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, won a 2019 Haagen-Smit Clean Air Award, also known as the ‘Nobel Prize’ of air pollution and climate science achievements. The awards are annually issued by California Air Resources Board to recognize outstanding achievements in air quality and climate research, technology advancements, environmental justice, policy and education.

The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) for the advancement of science in developing countries issued a global call this week, recognizing the essential need for the global research community to act collectively to control the spread of the novel coronavirus.

China on Monday published a timeline on how it has shared information and advanced international cooperation in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic. Please see the attachment for the document, titled "Timeline of China releasing information on COVID-19 and advancing international cooperation on epidemic response".

The Chinese Laser Press, a press hosted by Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM) of the Chinese Academy of Science, and the Chinese Optical Society, released the 2019 Award for China's Top 10 Optical Breakthroughs on Mar. 20 in Shanghai.

The InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) relaunched the IAP Communique on Tropical Forests on Mar. 21, in celebration of the UN's International Day of Forests and raising awareness of tropical forest protection.

LIU Chenli, director of the Institute of Synthetic Biology under the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT), an affliated institution of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and president of Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology Innovation, was appointed as the Ambassador of American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Country Ambassador to China for his "remarkable academic experience, demonstrated leadership".

The ecosystem-based adaptation planning tool "ALivE – Adaptation, Livelihoods and Ecosystems" user manual in Chinese and Russian languages is officially released recently, with financial support from Alliance of International Science Organizations in the Belt and Road Region (ANSO).

The Isotope Laboratory of Gansu Province, which centers on isotopes and related technologies, was officially established on January 20th in Lanzhou of China's Northwest Province Gansu. The laboratory will focus on cutting-edge research on the synthesis of superheavy elements and the island of stability, development and demonstration of isotope technologies.