Chinese scientists achieved great breakthroughs in basic scientific research in 2001, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced at a Beijing press conference yesterday.

Some research findings on biology and information technology are expected to have a profound impact on related industries in the future.

A research group from the Institute of Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, for example, developed an advanced technology that can increase the storage volume of a video compact disc to up to 1 million times its current capacity.

The technology is said to have great potential in the field of information storage. The Physical Review Focus magazine in the United States described it as one of the most important developments in information technology.

The research team is working to apply the technology in the near future.

Research into mapping the rice genome also yielded results last year. Scientists found all 12 chromosomes and grasped more than 95 per cent of its gene construction forms.

With this technology, farmers will be able to greatly increase the output of their paddies and effectively avoid genetic diseases.

In the long term, the technology may help scientists find the gene secrets of other crops, such as corn and wheat, and further improve the development of Chinese agriculture overall.

The above two pieces of research were selected by the Ministry of Science and Technology as the top achievements in last year's basic scientific research.

Eight other major achievements highlighted by the ministry deal with archaeology, medicine, chemistry and physics.

The Ministry of Science and Technology said it is delighted with the achievements. The ministry attributed the successes to researchers' hard work and central government policies.

It said research funding from the central government had continued to increase over the last few years, which helped scholars concentrate more on scientific research.

(China Daily January 16, 2002)