The Chinese Academy of Sciences launches the "Scientific Frontier Extreme Breakthrough Program": the first batch deploys major tasks such as "new element synthesis," relying on large scientific facility clusters to push the limits of nuclear physics and materials science

On September 29, the Chinese Academy of Sciences held a press conference in Beijing, announcing the official launch of the “Scientific Frontier Extreme Breakthrough Program” and unveiling the first batch of launched projects. The program is based on the advantages of national major science and technology infrastructure clusters and a comprehensive disciplinary institutional framework, launching a systematic scientific expedition in the directions of “the extremely macroscopic, extremely microscopic, extreme conditions, and extreme comprehensive interdisciplinarity” (the "four extremes"). Zhou Qi, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, stated that the program aims to break the traditional single-point breakthrough model through the open and combined use of major science and technology infrastructure and the deep empowerment of artificial intelligence (AI for Science), building a systematic research paradigm for tackling key problems in the context of great power competition.

In the released layout of the “four extremes” breakthrough tasks, among the first batch of 10 major breakthrough projects selected and launched, “new element synthesis” (superheavy nucleus synthesis), oriented toward the extremely microscopic and extreme conditions, has been established as one of the core directions for concentrated attack. New element synthesis aims to advance into the unknown territory of the periodic table, driving high-energy heavy-ion nuclear reactions through heavy-ion accelerators, challenging the limit of nuclear binding energy under extreme nuclear physics conditions, and verifying the “superheavy island of stability” hypothesis in nuclear physics theory, representing the pinnacle of contemporary nuclear physics and heavy-ion large scientific engineering. The first batch of projects also simultaneously covers major frontier challenges such as detection of the nature of dark matter and dark energy, microscopic dynamic measurement of chemical bonds, and artificial synthesis of cells.

Wei Zhixiang, Director of the Bureau of Basic Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced that the program marks a comprehensive shift of China's basic science research toward the pioneer stage of “proposing fundamental questions independently and establishing an autonomous research system.” In terms of technical roadmap and organizational mechanism, the program exhibits a distinctive “big science + AI” driven characteristic:

Facilities upgraded from “research conditions” to “research subjects”: Relying on national major science and technology infrastructure such as heavy-ion accelerators, synchrotron radiation facilities, and spallation neutron sources, an intelligently and uniformly dispatched facility cluster is constructed, achieving multi-facility and multi-modal coordinated characterization through “task-driven facilities”;

“Human-AI-Machine” collaborative closed loop: An automated autonomous closed-loop system of “theoretical prediction—experimental verification—massive data analysis” is constructed, utilizing intelligent agents to autonomously generate experimental plans and call large scientific facility interfaces, breaking through the barriers of traditional experimental cycles;

Relaxed management and long-cycle stable support: A flexible evaluation mechanism that does not solely prioritize papers and tolerates failure is established, providing long-cycle and high-intensity stable support to core teams, and opening green channels for machine time guarantees at large scientific infrastructure.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences simultaneously issued an initiative to the global scientific community, to continue deepening open cooperation through the major science and technology infrastructure sharing service platform, and through tackling world-class frontier topics such as “new element synthesis,” substantively promote multiple strategic fields to achieve international leadership, and solidify the underlying scientific cornerstone for building a world science and technology power.