China reveals top 10 scientific advances of 2024

China's top 10 scientific advances of 2024 have been unveiled, with the Chang'e-6 mission's returned lunar samples listed.

The advances were released by the National Natural Science Foundation of China during the opening ceremony of the 2025 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Conference in Beijing on Thursday.

The breakthroughs were mainly achieved in the fields of mathematics, physics, astronomy, information science, chemistry, materials science, energy, earth and environmental science, and life and medical science.

Besides the lunar samples retrieved by the Chang'e-6 mission which uncovered 2.8-billion-year-old volcanic activity on the moon's far side, the list also includes the intelligent reasoning systems using large-scale photonic computing chips and critical evidence demonstrating how supermassive black holes influence galactic evolution.

First launched in 2005, the annual selection process identified this year's top achievements from more than 700 basic research breakthroughs.

Running through Monday, the 2025 Zhongguancun Forum features discussions on frontier technologies ranging from large AI models to quantum computing.