Science & Technology

BEIJING, May 5 (Xinhua): Students from across the country are working to showcase the skills of artificial intelligence during a national vocational students' skills competition which started Sunday.

Events involving big data, cloud computing, intelligent logistics and smart homes will be held between students from China's vocational schools at this year's competition, according to a notice issued by the Ministry of Education.

Skills related to national strategic industries such as information technologies, intelligent manufacturing and new energy are also included.

Tehran, May 5, IRNA - Iran’s heavy energy infrastructure giant MAPNA Group designed and produced all components of MGT40 gas turbine, making Iran self-sufficient in constructing power plants.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX launched a load of supplies to the International Space Station on Saturday following a pair of unusual power delays.

A Falcon rocket raced into the pre-dawn darkness, carrying a Dragon capsule with 5,500 pounds (2,500 kilograms) of goods. This recycled Dragon — which is making its second space trip — is due to arrive at the orbiting lab Monday.

The booster, meanwhile, streaked to a smooth landing on a recovery ship just offshore.

LONDON, May 3 (Xinhua): Researchers have found a new way to design solar cells that could drive down manufacturing costs and even make them more efficient, says a study released on Friday by the University of Sheffield.

A team of researchers from the university and the technology company Power Roll demonstrated that by coating opposing walls of micro-grooves with different electrical contacts, and then filling the grooves with a solution-processable semiconductor, it was possible to create a new type of back-contacted solar cell.

WASHINGTON, May 2 (Xinhua): Chinese and Australian scientists found that the bamboo-eating giant pandas are more of a carnivore than a herbivore in terms of their nutrient intake.

The study published on Thursday in the journal Current Biology showed that the protein and carbohydrate content of the panda's plant diet looks much like that of a hypercarnivore or animals that obtain more than 70 percent of their diet from other animals.

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese aerospace startup funded by a former internet maverick successfully launched a small rocket into space Saturday, making it the first commercially developed Japanese rocket to reach orbit.

Interstellar Technology Inc. said the unmanned MOMO-3 rocket exceeded 100 kilometers (60 miles) in altitude before falling into the Pacific Ocean. It was launched from the company’s test site in the town of Taiki on Japan’s northern main island of Hokkaido and flew about 10 minutes.

29 Apr 2019 (AP) - Southwest Airlines says Boeing did not disclose that it had deactivated a safety feature on its 737 Max jets until after one of the airliners crashed last year.

At issue is an alert that tells pilots if a sensor — called an “angle of attack” (AOA) indicator — is transmitting bad data about the pitch of a plane’s nose. The sensor’s alerts had been operational in previous versions of the 737 but were switched off in the 737 Max.

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- An observatory for detecting cosmic rays in southwest China's Sichuan Province recently began scientific observation as it launched operation of its first set of detectors, scientists said Saturday.

The project, known as Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO), is located in the mountains of the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau at an altitude of 4,410 meters.

FUZHOU, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Cold functional tests began Saturday on a reactor of China's first nuclear power project using Hualong One technology, a domestically developed third-generation reactor design.

The test was conducted on a circuit of the No. 5 nuclear power unit in the city of Fuqing, eastern China's Fujian Province, to evaluate the performance of the circuit system and its supporting facilities under high-pressure conditions, according to the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).

DETROIT (AP) — Thousands of students from dozens of countries are in Detroit this week competing in the biggest youth robotics event in the world.

Still, organizers of the FIRST Championship hope it gets a lot bigger

“Here in the United States, about 12% of schools have a FIRST team, serving 18% of the students. So, there’s still a lot of kids out there that don’t have easy access to our programs,” said Dan Bossi, the president of FIRST, which stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.