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Working from home has become standard for employees with a university degree. The most common scheme, which has been adopted by around 100 million employees in Europe and North America, is a hybrid schedule, in which individuals spend a mix of days at home and at work each week 1,2 . However, the effects of hybrid working on employees and firms have been debated, and some executives argue that it damages productivity, innovation and career development 3-5 . Here we ran a six-month randomized control trial investigating the effects of hybrid working from home on 1,612 employees in a Chinese technology company in 2021-2022. We found that hybrid working improved job satisfaction and reduced quit rates by one-third. The reduction in quit rates was significant for non-managers, female employees and those with long commutes. Null equivalence tests showed that hybrid working did not affect performance grades over the next two years of reviews. We found no evidence for a difference in promotions over the next two years overall, or for any major employee subgroup. Finally, null equivalence tests showed that hybrid working had no effect on the lines of code written by computer-engineer employees. We also found that the 395 managers in the experiment revised their surveyed views about the effect of hybrid working on productivity, from a perceived negative effect (-2.6% on average) before the experiment to a perceived positive one (+1.0%) after the experiment. These results indicate that a hybrid schedule with two days a week working from home does not damage performance., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Achieving food-system sustainability is a multidimensional challenge. In China, a doubling of crop production since 1990 has compromised other dimensions of sustainability 1,2 . Although the country is promoting various interventions to enhance production efficiency and reduce environmental impacts 3 , there is little understanding of whether crop switching can achieve more sustainable cropping systems and whether coordinated action is needed to avoid tradeoffs. Here we combine high-resolution data on crop-specific yields, harvested areas, environmental footprints and farmer incomes to first quantify the current state of crop-production sustainability. Under varying levels of inter-ministerial and central coordination, we perform spatial optimizations that redistribute crops to meet a suite of agricultural sustainable development targets. With a siloed approach-in which each government ministry seeks to improve a single sustainability outcome in isolation-crop switching could realize large individual benefits but produce tradeoffs for other dimensions and between regions. In cases of central coordination-in which tradeoffs are prevented-we find marked co-benefits for environmental-impact reductions (blue water (-4.5% to -18.5%), green water (-4.4% to -9.5%), greenhouse gases (GHGs) (-1.7% to -7.7%), fertilizers (-5.2% to -10.9%), pesticides (-4.3% to -10.8%)) and increased farmer incomes (+2.9% to +7.5%). These outcomes of centrally coordinated crop switching can contribute substantially (23-40% across dimensions) towards China's 2030 agricultural sustainable development targets and potentially produce global resource savings. This integrated approach can inform feasible targeted agricultural interventions that achieve sustainability co-benefits across several dimensions., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

The article presents a profile of the proceedings of the 2014 International Symposium on Research Assessment and Evaluation, held in Shanghai, China held in October 2014, focusing on the primary theme of boosting the quality of scientific research being conducted in China. Featured presenters mentioned include Yang Jianrong, Kurt Würthrich, and David Sweeney.

The article presents a profile of the activities and administration of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as of 2015, highlighting its reappraisal of research evaluation methods. Topics addressed include an overview of the size and scope of the Academy's research and organizational reach, its transition away from relying on quantitative metrics and ranking for research evaluation, and how it is seeking to promote more cooperation and communication between fellow members of its institutes.

The article reports on an increase in investment in scientific research work in China as the country aims to become global research leader. Topics discussed include plan of the country to reduce its dependence on imported technology, increment of investment in academic research and invention patents, structural reformation in science policy to improve research output and investment to develop clean energy as a solution to increased emission from fuels.

The article presents the author's opinions on Chinese policy regarding science research and finance, focusing on the opportunities of younger scholars. Assertions are made advocating for younger researchers to be given adequate funding and resources to develop Chinese learning and scholarship. Topics addressed include scholar retention, general trends in science investment, and the difficulties facing newly graduated Chinese doctoral students.

The author argues that the unavailability of public data held by Chinese government agencies is a problem facing researchers in China. Topics include transparency in relation to air-pollution data, problems with access to academic research and internet search engines, and the lack of data in economics, public health, and environmental issues in China.

The article focuses on international cooperative research between China and other countries and the role that China's diaspora is playing in making it a growing center of international collaboration. It states China's largest collaborator is the U.S., with Germany as its next strongest collaborative partner. It mentions the increase in collaboration for research chemistry and the physical sciences. It presents charts of China's global research network and links between China and other nations.

The hominin record from southern Asia for the early Late Pleistocene epoch is scarce. Well-dated and well-preserved fossils older than ∼45,000 years that can be unequivocally attributed to Homo sapiens are lacking. Here we present evidence from the newly excavated Fuyan Cave in Daoxian (southern China). This site has provided 47 human teeth dated to more than 80,000 years old, and with an inferred maximum age of 120,000 years. The morphological and metric assessment of this sample supports its unequivocal assignment to H. sapiens. The Daoxian sample is more derived than any other anatomically modern humans, resembling middle-to-late Late Pleistocene specimens and even contemporary humans. Our study shows that fully modern morphologies were present in southern China 30,000-70,000 years earlier than in the Levant and Europe. Our data fill a chronological and geographical gap that is relevant for understanding when H. sapiens first appeared in southern Asia. The Daoxian teeth also support the hypothesis that during the same period, southern China was inhabited by more derived populations than central and northern China. This evidence is important for the study of dispersal routes of modern humans. Finally, our results are relevant to exploring the reasons for the relatively late entry of H. sapiens into Europe. Some studies have investigated how the competition with H. sapiens may have caused Neanderthals' extinction (see ref. 8 and references therein). Notably, although fully modern humans were already present in southern China at least as early as ∼80,000 years ago, there is no evidence that they entered Europe before ∼45,000 years ago. This could indicate that H. neanderthalensis was indeed an additional ecological barrier for modern humans, who could only enter Europe when the demise of Neanderthals had already started. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nearly three-quarters of the growth in global carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and cement production between 2010 and 2012 occurred in China. Yet estimates of Chinese emissions remain subject to large uncertainty; inventories of China's total fossil fuel carbon emissions in 2008 differ by 0.3 gigatonnes of carbon, or 15 per cent. The primary sources of this uncertainty are conflicting estimates of energy consumption and emission factors, the latter being uncertain because of very few actual measurements representative of the mix of Chinese fuels. Here we re-evaluate China's carbon emissions using updated and harmonized energy consumption and clinker production data and two new and comprehensive sets of measured emission factors for Chinese coal. We find that total energy consumption in China was 10 per cent higher in 2000-2012 than the value reported by China's national statistics, that emission factors for Chinese coal are on average 40 per cent lower than the default values recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and that emissions from China's cement production are 45 per cent less than recent estimates. Altogether, our revised estimate of China's CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production is 2.49 gigatonnes of carbon (2 standard deviations = ±7.3 per cent) in 2013, which is 14 per cent lower than the emissions reported by other prominent inventories. Over the full period 2000 to 2013, our revised estimates are 2.9 gigatonnes of carbon less than previous estimates of China's cumulative carbon emissions. Our findings suggest that overestimation of China's emissions in 2000-2013 may be larger than China's estimated total forest sink in 1990-2007 (2.66 gigatonnes of carbon) or China's land carbon sink in 2000-2009 (2.6 gigatonnes of carbon). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the spatiotemporal patterns of emergence and circulation of new human seasonal influenza virus variants is a key scientific and public health challenge. The global circulation patterns of influenza A/H3N2 viruses are well characterized, but the patterns of A/H1N1 and B viruses have remained largely unexplored. Here we show that the global circulation patterns of A/H1N1 (up to 2009), B/Victoria, and B/Yamagata viruses differ substantially from those of A/H3N2 viruses, on the basis of analyses of 9,604 haemagglutinin sequences of human seasonal influenza viruses from 2000 to 2012. Whereas genetic variants of A/H3N2 viruses did not persist locally between epidemics and were reseeded from East and Southeast Asia, genetic variants of A/H1N1 and B viruses persisted across several seasons and exhibited complex global dynamics with East and Southeast Asia playing a limited role in disseminating new variants. The less frequent global movement of influenza A/H1N1 and B viruses coincided with slower rates of antigenic evolution, lower ages of infection, and smaller, less frequent epidemics compared to A/H3N2 viruses. Detailed epidemic models support differences in age of infection, combined with the less frequent travel of children, as probable drivers of the differences in the patterns of global circulation, suggesting a complex interaction between virus evolution, epidemiology, and human behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2013 the occurrence of human infections by a novel avian H7N9 influenza virus in China has demonstrated the continuing threat posed by zoonotic pathogens. Although the first outbreak wave that was centred on eastern China was seemingly averted, human infections recurred in October 2013 (refs 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). It is unclear how the H7N9 virus re-emerged and how it will develop further; potentially it may become a long-term threat to public health. Here we show that H7N9 viruses have spread from eastern to southern China and become persistent in chickens, which has led to the establishment of multiple regionally distinct lineages with different reassortant genotypes. Repeated introductions of viruses from Zhejiang to other provinces and the presence of H7N9 viruses at live poultry markets have fuelled the recurrence of human infections. This rapid expansion of the geographical distribution and genetic diversity of the H7N9 viruses poses a direct challenge to current disease control systems. Our results also suggest that H7N9 viruses have become enzootic in China and may spread beyond the region, following the pattern previously observed with H5N1 and H9N2 influenza viruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the cultural tensions within Chinese scientific and industrial sectors. Details are given describing how the competing ideologies of communism and free market capitalism are hindering the nation's ability to utilize scientific discoveries for commercial innovations. Accounts are given noting where the influence of each ideology has the most power and where transitions are occurring.

A letter to the editor is presented discussing the outdated Protected Species List (PSI) in China that has provided a loophole for illegal wildlife traders and hunters to evade prosecution.

A letter to the editor is presented in response to an article in a previously published edition of the journal concerning data produced by the Chinese government on carbon emissions.

The article calls for stricter regulation and tighter monitoring of the fracking industry in China to reduce seismic activity and environmental pollution in line with the minor earthquakes induced by wastewater injection by Chinese oil and gas industries.

An interview is presented with biophysicist and Nobel laureate Kurt Wüthrich, discussing his work teaching and developing the science department at Shanghai Technical Institute in Shanghai, China. Questions address topics such as the circumstances surrounding his travels and recruitment in China, how Chinese political history has affected its scientific research, and recommendations for Chinese universities to improve their training of scientists.

An interview is presented with the Chinese virologist Jin Dong-Yan of the University of Hong Kong, discussing his experiences working in several different national research systems. Questions address topics such as his work in the United States, Hong Kong, and mainland China; the tenure and recruitment policies of the University of Hong Kong; and changes occurring in the Chinese research system.

The article presents an introduction to the issue, highlighting its focus on the conditions and developments of the scientific community in 21st-century China, including discussion of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, scientific-institutional cooperation, and female scientists.

Limiting the rise in global mean temperatures relies on reducing carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions and on the removal of CO 2 by land carbon sinks. China is currently the single largest emitter of CO 2 , responsible for approximately 27 per cent (2.67 petagrams of carbon per year) of global fossil fuel emissions in 2017 1 . Understanding of Chinese land biosphere fluxes has been hampered by sparse data coverage 2-4 , which has resulted in a wide range of a posteriori estimates of flux. Here we present recently available data on the atmospheric mole fraction of CO 2 , measured from six sites across China during 2009 to 2016. Using these data, we estimate a mean Chinese land biosphere sink of -1.11 ± 0.38 petagrams of carbon per year during 2010 to 2016, equivalent to about 45 per cent of our estimate of annual Chinese anthropogenic emissions over that period. Our estimate reflects a previously underestimated land carbon sink over southwest China (Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi provinces) throughout the year, and over northeast China (especially Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces) during summer months. These provinces have established a pattern of rapid afforestation of progressively larger regions 5,6 , with provincial forest areas increasing by between 0.04 million and 0.44 million hectares per year over the past 10 to 15 years. These large-scale changes reflect the expansion of fast-growing plantation forests that contribute to timber exports and the domestic production of paper 7 . Space-borne observations of vegetation greenness show a large increase with time over this study period, supporting the timing and increase in the land carbon sink over these afforestation regions.