A materials scientist whose career took him from rural China to California is heading for a post in Macau after 30 years in the United States. According to the University of Macau’s website, Pei Qibing has been appointed chair professor and director of the Institute of Applied Physics and Materials Engineering. Pei, an emeritus professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, began his studies in a very different world, attending a small rural school on an island in the Yangtze River in...

Zhejiang University in China has overtaken Harvard University to become the top academic institution in the world, according to the 2026 Nature Index. This is the first time Harvard has lost its top position in the rankings since the index’s inception in 2014. Tsinghua University, also from China, was third. Chinese institutions dominated this year’s list, accounting for nine of the top 10 – up from eight in last year’s rankings. Of the top 20, China has 17, with Stanford University No 12 and...