China's Science Advances Are Changing Everyone's Future
A country that's not shy about its AI ambition
Dear all , here’s a round-up of China’s recent advances which we find quite fascinating:
Paralysis men temporarily walked with the assistance of from a Chinese medical team
Beijing set to hold the first human-robot marathon
China geared to bring Martian samples by 2030
Paralysis men temporarily walked with the assistance of from a Chinese medical team
On March 4, Fudan Zhongshan Hospital announced that its team has enabled a completely paralyzed patient to stand and walk using minimally invasive brain-spinal interface technology. The new technology implants a chip in the brain to capture motor signals, bypassing damaged spinal areas and directly activating the lower limbs.
With a surgery lasting just two hours in January, the patient, who had been paralyzed for two years, successfully had electrodes implanted in his brain and spinal cord to reconstruct neural pathways.
His recovery was astonishingly rapid:
Day 1: He could bend his right leg.
Day 3: He regained movement in both legs.
Day 8: He practiced standing.
Day 15: He walked over 5 meters with support.
Day 49: He walked independently with a walker.
Three other patients in the study saw similar success. The Chinese team is seeking to accumulate more data and recruit patients from around the world.
Beijing set to hold the first human-robot marathon
In about a month, the world should brace itself for the first human-robot marathon set to unfold in Beijing on April 13th. The humanoid robot will start simultaneously with the athletes at the starting line, running along the same route but with a separate lane.
During the competition, the robot can replace its battery or even be swapped out in a relay format to continue the race.The overall evaluation will be based on the completion time and the number of robot replacements during the race. Each robot replacement will incur a 10-minute penalty.
It is reported that this year's participating robots must have a humanoid appearance and be capable of walking or running on two legs, rather than having a wheeled structure.
China geared to bring Martian samples by 2030
During China's Two Sessions, Sun Zhezhu, a National People's Congress representative from China Aerospace Corporation, revealed that China plans to bring back Mars sample by 2030.
Sun explained that China had previously achieved Mars orbiting, landing, and roving exploration through the Tianwen-1 mission, and will follow up with the Tianwen-3 mission to carry out Mars sample return.
For more of China’s breakthroughs that are changing the world, visit https://thechinaacademy.org/