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)

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Two-mode Raman-activated cell sorting enables downstream analysis of functional microbes

Researchers from the CAS Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT), together with collaborators, have developed a Raman-activated cell sorting platform that combines rapid cell sorting with sensitive measurements of weak Raman signals and small-volume cell collection.

Called Pit-RACS, the optical-tweezer-assisted platform operates in two modes on the same microfluidic chip, allowing researchers to adjust the sorting strategy according to the strength of the Raman signal.

Raman-activated cell sorting can identify living cells by their chemical fingerprints without fluorescent labels. Yet researchers have faced a trade-off: fast, flowing systems struggle to measure weak Raman signals, while systems that allow longer measurements sort cells slowly. Collecting the selected cells in a large volume can also make subsequent experiments difficult.

According to the researchers, cells with strong resonance Raman signals are measured and sorted as they flow through the device. In this mode, they sorted up to 836 ± 1 events per minute with a 10-millisecond spectral acquisition time.

For weaker non-resonance signals, optical tweezers move individual cells into a cell-free buffer stream. This allows for longer measurements without interference from nearby cells. This method sorted approximately 50 cells per minute. Switching modes requires no hardware changes.

The platform can also temporarily store selected cells and release them together in approximately 10 microliters of liquid. In the reported tests, the collected cells were over 97% pure and could proceed to cultivation or genomic analysis without an additional concentration step.

“Raman signals vary greatly between biological targets. We designed the two modes so researchers can choose the measurement time their question requires while using the same sorting platform,” said Prof. MA Bo, corresponding author of the study.

To demonstrate industrial strain screening, the researchers sorted a mutant library of Yarrowia lipolytica and identified a strain with 77.4% higher β-carotene yield than the control. In another demonstration, they combined heavy-water labeling with Pit-RACS to enrich phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms from river water. They used the concentrated output directly for metagenomic sequencing, revealing 12 species of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria across nine genera.

From green energy to smart cells – article in “Nachrichten aus der Chemie”

Nachrichten aus der Chemie 64, 54-59 (2026)

20261001 Nachrichten

In Shanghai, a French cargo vessel is refueld with green methanol

https://j.people.com.cn/n3/2026/0818/c95952-20489791.html

https://www.recordchina.co.jp/b990111-s50-c20-d0189.html

On August 17, 2026, at Shanghai’s Yangshan Port 8,000 tons of green methanol were used to refuel a cargo ship owned by the French shipping giant CMA CGM.

Green methanol is a key alternative fuel for reducing carbon emissions in sectors such as shipping and the chemical industry. According to Zhu Zhaokai, President of Shanghai Electric Group, this large-scale green methanol refueling operation demonstrates that China has established a complete industrial chain—spanning from large-scale production and onshore/maritime storage and transport to port-side refueling and shipboard utilization and will help drive the global shipping industry toward zero emissions.

The green methanol fuel supplied in this operation was primarily produced at Shanghai Electric’s “Integrated Demonstration Project for Wind Power and Biomass-Combined Green Methanol” in Taonan City, Jilin Province. The production process makes use of various resources, fully utilizing biomass materials—such as corn stalks from Taonan City—and green hydrogen generated from wind power.

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