A group of Chinese researchers may have discovered the science behind King Midas’ magic touch. By toying around with atoms, they managed to turn copper into a material that shares similarities with gold. Time to retire? Not quite. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Liaoning used electrically-charged argon gas to produce a thin layer of gold-like sand on a piece of copper. However,... 

China is planning to land a rover on Mars by 2020 and bring back samples from the Red Planet a decade later, according to a top scientist with the country’s Lunar Exploration Program. The Mars probe will be launching an orbiter and a landing rover, Ouyang Ziyuan of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and one of the chief scientists of China’s Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP) said on Monday at the... 

Scientists reprogram urine cells to generate neurons: Chinese scientists claim to have succeeded in reprogramming cells from human urine into brain cells (neural progenitor), in a study that may contribute to future advances in the treatment of degenerative illnesses like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Research has contributed to the advancement of the treatment of degenerative diseases... 

The fungus was found growing on the underside of a large tree. Scientists have discovered the largest fruiting body of any fungus documented so far, on the underside of a tree in China’s Hainan Province. The new giant fungus is believed to be at least 20 years old with a fruiting body equivalent to the mushrooms produced by other fungi species, the BBC reported. The body which is up to 10m long,... 

Villagers in central China dug up a ton of dinosaur bones and boiled them in soup or ground them into powder for traditional medicine, believing they were from flying dragons and had healing powers. Until last year, the fossils were being sold in Henan province as “dragon bones” at about 4 yuan (50 cents) per kilogram (2.2 pounds), scientist Dong Zhiming told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Dong,...