Nature 2025 science city ranking: six of top 10 in China, Qingdao is 31 between Munich and Berlin

https://www.nature.com/nature-index/supplements/nature-index-2025-science-cities/tables/overall

https://en.people.cn/n3/2025/1118/c90000-20391615.html

The newly released “Nature Index 2025 Science Cities” supplement shows that the number of Chinese cities in the global top ten rose from five in 2023 to six in 2024, marking the first time China holds a majority in the rankings.

The supplement draws on the Nature Index database, which tracks research articles published from 2015 to 2024. Its analysis uses “Share”, a fractional count reflecting institutional contribution to publications, as the primary metric, with time-series data adjusted to 2024 levels. Each city’s Share is calculated by summing the contributions of all affiliated institutions located within that city.

According to the Nature Index, the world’s leading science cities overall are: Beijing, Shanghai, New York metropolitan area (U.S.), Boston metropolitan area (U.S.), Nanjing (China), Guangzhou (China), San Francisco Bay Area (U.S.), Wuhan (China), Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area (U.S.), and Hangzhou (China).

Further analysis shows that Chinese cities hold a strong advantage in chemistry, physical sciences, and earth and environmental sciences, leading the global rankings in all three fields. Notably, Chinese cities claimed all of the top ten positions in chemistry for the first time. In the other two subject areas, they secured six of the top ten spots, with Beijing ranking first worldwide across all three domains.

European cities in the ranking start at 19 (London), followed by Zurich (28), Cambridge (29), Munich (30) and Berlin (32), following Qingdao at position 31.

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Gold recovery from waste liquid without chemicals

https://j.people.com.cn/n3/2026/0717/c95952-20478766.html

https://pubs.acs.org/jacsat/article/148/28/29854/5203821/Selective-Gold-Recovery-via-Thermally-Generated?searchresult=1

A new technology recovers gold from waste liquid using naturally occurring micro-droplets at the oil-water interface, simply by moderately heating the oil-water system—without the addition of any reducing agents, adsorbents, or catalysts.

The technology was developed by a team from the China University of Petroleum in Qingdao, in collaboration with researchers from Stanford University.

Drawing on their previous research into geological fluids—where they discovered that large numbers of chemically active micro-droplets are generated at oil-water interfaces under high-temperature conditions—the team formulated a bold hypothesis: “Could we selectively extract gold from complex waste liquids simply by utilizing the chemical properties of these micro-droplets?”

To test this, the team constructed a heat-driven oil-water interfacial reaction system. Moderate heating causes the continuous formation of micro-droplets (5–50 micrometers in diameter) at the oil-water interface. These droplets function like micro-reactors with high redox activity, continuously generating active species such as highly active electrons, hydrogen radicals, and hydroxyl radicals. This process enables the reduction of gold ions in the solution to elemental gold without the need for external reducing agents, catalysts, or adsorbents; furthermore, the coalescence and growth of these micro-droplets allow for the formation of millimeter-sized gold particles.

The study also elucidated the chemical mechanism by which the interfacial micro-droplets selectively recover gold. Experiments demonstrated gold recovery rates of 98.5% from complex aqua regia waste liquid and 97.0% from electronic waste leachate. The recovery time was further reduced through heating and cooling cycles, and a recovery efficiency of over 90% was maintained even when the oil phase was reused. In a scale-up experiment, 500 milliliters of gold-containing leachate were processed to yield 0.5657 grams of solid product. The gold achieved a purity of 99.4%, demonstrating high potential for application as an environmentally friendly technology for recovering precious metals from complex acidic wastewater.

An offshore platform for coastal ecosystem research near Qingdao

https://en.people.cn/n3/2026/0711/c90000-20476703.html

China put into operation a large offshore platform for controlled in-situ experiments regarding coastal ecosystems. Developed by the CAS Institute of Oceanology (IOCAS), the facility is deployed in the Yellow Sea off Rongcheng in Shandong Province.

With a total area of 2,000 square meters and an experimental sea zone of 30,000 square meters, the platform is designed to support a wide range of ecological studies under real marine conditions. Under real seawater conditions, key factors such as temperature, nutrients and dissolved oxygen can be precisely regulated, enabling continuous, full-cycle observation and breaking the technical barrier between natural-sea observation and indoor controlled experiments.

The platform comprises modules for automated monitoring, water regulation, mesocosm ecosystems and logistics support. It enables precise single-factor or multi-factor regulation of temperature, nutrients, dissolved oxygen and other variables, allowing researchers to reproduce scenarios like ocean warming, acidification and eutrophication in a real marine environment. This capability is crucial for understanding how coastal ecosystems respond to both gradual climate trends and extreme events.

China’s coastal waters, where most marine economic activities and ports are concentrated, are hotspots for ecological disasters and risks. These waters, notably, are under mounting stress from climate change, land-based inputs and human activities. The new lab is located in a typical mariculture area of northern China, offering conditions for both natural and farmed ecosystem studies. Researchers can conduct scenario experiments on carrying capacity, ecological resilience, marine heatwaves and hypoxia to identify risk thresholds and optimize aquaculture management. Beyond serving the aquaculture industry, it can provide technical support for disaster prevention, precision restoration and coastal health management, said Sun.

The platform is designed for open international collaboration and will be made available to global research institutions, facilitating joint efforts to tackle pressing marine environmental challenges.

Photo: An aerial drone photo taken on July 10, 2026 shows the large offshore platform for controlled in-situ experiments on coastal ecosystems after being deployed in the Yellow Sea off Rongcheng in east China’s Shandong Province. China on Friday put into operation a large offshore platform for controlled in-situ experiments regarding coastal ecosystems, marking a new phase of systematic, intelligent and open coastal ecological research in the country. Developed by the Institute of Oceanology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS), the facility is deployed in the Yellow Sea off Rongcheng in east China’s Shandong Province. It is the country’s largest open-access facility for in-situ coastal experiments, the IOCAS said. (IOCAS/Handout via Xinhua)

Green Carbon journal reaches impact factor 14.2 in less than 3 years

https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/green-carbon

Green Carbon has received its first Impact Factor of 14.2 in the 2025 Journal Citation Reports (JCR) released by Clarivate on June 17, 2026. This places Green Carbon in Q1 in both the “Engineering, Chemical” category (Ranked 10/183) and the “Green & Sustainable Science & Technology” category (Ranked 8/114). Achieving this in less than three years since its launch is a testament to the journal’s academic quality, rigorous publishing standards, and growing international influence.

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