How is Guangdong's Capturing the Most Mysterious Particle in the Universe?

Navigating Cycles, Moving into a New Era

Key Economic Developments in Guangdong 2024

700 meters underground, an enormous glass sphere is being built, designed to "catch ghosts." But what exactly is going on here?

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. This isn't a wizard's crystal ball, but rather the neutrino experiment in Jiangmen, Guangdong.

This world - class underground facility houses the world's largest single - diameter neutrino detector, weighing 600 tons and standing as tall as a 12 - story building.

Every second, 70 billion neutrinos pass through the gaps between our fingers, completely unnoticed. This massive sphere's purpose is to capture these "ghost" particles, helping unlock the mysteries of the universe's origins.

On December 18, 2024, the facility reached a crucial milestone, beginning the infusion of ultra - pure water and liquid scintillator. The filling operation is expected to be completed by August 2025, when official data collection will begin.

When it comes to the cutting - edge basic science research, Guangdong has made numerous contributions.

In 2024, construction began on Phase II of China's "Super Microscope" spallation neutron source project in Dongguan, while the attosecond laser facility prepared for its debut. Additionally, Shenzhen's intelligent supercomputing power platform "Pengcheng Cloud Brain III" and Guangzhou's large - scale scientific research facility on human cell lineage are nearing completion.

Indeed, with the support of these nationally significant projects, from macro to micro, from reality to virtual, from natural phenomena to human biology, Guangdong continues to push the boundaries of scientific exploration.

Yet, Guangdong's investment and strength in basic research go far beyond this.

Basic research explores fundamental innovation from 0 to 1, and is characterized by a long cycle, big investments, and slow - to - show results, often demanding decades of persistent effort. With a long - term vision, Guangdong is systematically advancing the "Outstanding Guangdong" 10 - year plan for basic research, focusing on artificial intelligence, brain science, and quantum technology, aiming for "Nobel Prize - level" scientific achievements through a fine layout.

For platforms, Pengcheng and Guangzhou lead the way, supported by key laboratories on national and provincial levels, forming a high - level, multi - tiered lab system.

For funds, the Guangdong government has explicitly stated that over one - third of the provincial special funds for innovation development will be allocated to basic research. The provincial fiscal expenditure for basic research has grown from 443 million yuan in 2016 to 13.6 billion yuan in 2023, a 30 - fold increase.

For talent, in 2023, Guangdong's R & D workforce exceeded 1.35 million, representing one - seventh of the national total, ranking first in the country for seven consecutive years. As a powerful brand message goes "From east to west, from north to south, Guangdong is the first choice for innovation and entrepreneurship."

For application, Guangdong actively promotes collaboration among government, industry, academia, and research institutions, encouraging enterprises to increase R & D investment through favorable policies, while helping universities and labs better align with market and business needs. In 2023, nearly 400 universities and research institutions across the province generated 13.4 billion yuan in revenue derived from the commercialization of scientific and technological achievements, achieving a cumulative growth rate of 64% over the past five years.

With all these advantages in place, Guangdong has ranked first nationwide for eight consecutive years in regional innovation capability, and ranked second nationwide for five consecutive years in the "knowledge innovation" index related to basic research.

Moving forward with determination, Guangdong will continue to nurture infinite possibilities on its fertile ground for innovation. In these explorations, starting from scratch, each breakthrough from "zero to one" becomes a powerful catalyst for achieving exponential growth.