June 7 is Dragon Boat Festival of 2019. With over 2000 years of history, dragon boat racing is the most important activity during this festival, which is said to originate from the legend of people paddling out on boats to seek the body of patriotic poet Qu Yuan (343–278 BC) who drowned himself in a river.  On June 8, the VIII Elite Chinese Universities dragon Boat Race and Hangzhou University Dragon Boat Race were held in Xixi National Wetland Park, southwest to Zijingang campus....

Zhejiang University recently concluded a successful weeklong trip to Norway and Sweden, where Vice President WANG Lizhong led efforts to create new intercultural and international opportunities for ZJU students and faculty.The delegation first visited the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) and were warmly welcomed by Mr. Thomas Langford, Executive Director of NGI. Two institutions agreed to take the lead in promoting scientific research cooperation and joint training of talents in several fi...

The whole society should reflect on the potential impacts of Artificial Intelligence, Prof. LIU Xuanzhe said last Sunday on a lecture at Zhejiang University.Artificial Intelligence (AI) is currently a hot concept thanks to the accumulation of data and the development of computing power. Deep learning has enabled AI to turn imagination into reality. AlphaGo, smart assistant apps, machine translation, and self-driving cars are all examples of its application.With the inspiring prospects come chall...

On June 1-2, the first forum of Chung Ying Young Scholars in the Yangtze Delta was held in Zhejiang University. This forum is an important event after the announcement of Alliance of Research Universities in Yangtze River Delta, which offers a great platform for researchers to brainstorm together and share their insights on education charities.During the opening ceremony, President WU said, “Our friendship with Cyrus Tang Foundation is dated back to 20 years ago. Through years of collabora...

Most biological tissue is opaque, and the inside fine structures are invisible even with a microscope. The research team led by GONG Wei, a research fellow with the Center for Neuroscience at the School of Medicine developed an ultrafast optical clearing method (FOCM) with simple protocols and common reagents to enable us to “see” these structures more quickly. Their findings are published in the May 18 issue of the journal of PNAS. Optical clearing is a versatile approach to improve...

Recently, scientists from Zhejiang University have succeeded in returning three embryo-cultured Baishanzu fir (Abies beshanzuensis) seedlings to their indigenous habitat—Baishanzu National Nature Reserve in Qingyuan County, Zhejiang Province. This creates a nourishing ground for crossing the Baishanzu fir off the extremely endangered list and symbolizes that research into artificial breeding of the Baishanzu fir has evolved into a new stage.  The Baishanzu fir is a ...

A recent study by ZJU scientists showed higher-fat consumption might confer adverse consequences for long-term health outcomes to healthy young adults whose diet is in a state of nutrition transition.In recent years, the notion that “it is more healthful to take in fat than to eat staple food” has gone viral in certain circles. Put it differently, people have been encouraged to eat fat-rich and low-carbohydrate food. Then is the carbohydrate food, represented by rice, the real culprit behind m...

Chu Kochen Honors College will offer two new programs in digital finance and intelligent accounting and enroll students as of 2019, Zhejiang University announced recently.When finance and accounting are threaded into computer science and artificial intelligence, it will tremendously facilitate the cultivation of talents with global competitiveness, introduces ZHU Zuoxiang, director of the Undergraduate Admissions Office.The Digital Finance ProgramThis program aims at cultivating outstanding...

At the Development Forum on Yangtze River Delta Integration in Wuhu City, Anhui Province on May 22, the Alliance of Research Universities in Yangtze River Delta, proposed by Zhejiang University and co-initiated by Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Nanjing University and the University of Science and Technology of China, was officially inaugurated.  Present at the agreement-signing ceremony were WU Zhaohui, president of Zhejiang University, JIAO Yang, secretary of the CPC Comm...

The 8th “Litree Cup” Chemistry Challenge was held on Zijingang Campus on May 18. After three rounds of competition, XIA Tian and YANG Lechen’s team won the championship for their solid chemical knowledge and outstanding performance.The competition consists of fun chemistry facts quiz and creative idea presentation. Eight groups of students from the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering (DPSE) competed against each other. During the creative idea presentation, students pitche...