Briefly

8 dead, 6 injured in 8-vehicle collision

Eight people died and six were seriously injured in a collision involving multiple vehicles on an expressway in Gansu province on Monday. Five cars and three trucks piled up in a chain-reaction collision at the G30 Lianyungang-Horgos Expressway at around 11 am. The injured were sent to a hospital in nearby Shandan county, Zhangye city, according to local authorities. Zhangye has sent emergency, public security, health, transportation and firefighting departments for rescue work. The cause of the accident is being investigated.

Proposals solicited for manned lunar mission

The China Manned Space Agency on Monday released an announcement to solicit proposals for payloads of the country's manned lunar mission, which will be used for scientific exploration on the moon's surface. To make full use of the mission's resources and promote lunar exploration and scientific research, the lunar lander will carry scientific payloads for exploration activities on the lunar surface, according to the announcement. It said the space agency will solicit proposals from research institutions, universities and high-tech enterprises for payloads designed to participate in the frontier of lunar scientific research with strong foresight and innovation.

15 whale species seen in South China Sea

At least 15 whale species were spotted during a recent scientific expedition carried out by Chinese researchers in the northern waters of the South China Sea. A team of researchers from the Marine Mammal and Marine Bioacoustics Laboratory of the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering under the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted the scientific expedition. After a 20-day voyage spanning over 3,500 kilometers, they returned to Sanya, Hainan province, on July 15.The researchers used a combination of visual observation and passive acoustic monitoring, supplemented by environmental DNA collection, during their research. They observed at least 15 whale species, including 10 deep-diving whale species, and spotted five dolphin species living far out at sea. This latest scientific expedition provides further evidence of the rich whale biodiversity within the surveyed waters. As a flagship species of marine ecosystems, whales are indicative of the local environmental conditions in the South China Sea, the researchers said.

China Daily - Xinhua