BEIJING, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- The following is a summary of published science and technology news of China.

DIGITAL CIVILIZATION

The 2021 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit gathers people from around the world to share wisdom on building a digital civilization via online and offline events.

The summit, which kicked off on Sunday in Wuzhen, east China's Zhejiang Province, features 20 sub-forums under the theme of "Towards a New Era of Digital Civilization -- Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace."

The sub-forums were set to contribute insights on data governance, the rule of law on the internet, social responsibilities of tech companies, global COVID-19 response and international communication among other topics of public interest through discussions on new internet technology trends including 5G, artificial intelligence, open-source ecology, internet of the next generation, data and algorithm.

GRAVITATIONAL WAVE

A gravitational-wave research center under the China National Space Administration (CNSA) was inaugurated on Sunday in the city of Zhuhai, Guangdong Province.

According to the CNSA, the gravitational-wave research center, located at the Zhuhai Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, will develop a series of experimental satellite platforms and payloads to promote China's space gravitational-wave detection.

The Tianqin program, meaning "harp in the sky," was initiated by Sun Yat-sen University in 2015. It will consist of three satellites forming an equilateral triangle around the earth by 2035. Like a harp in space, the "harp's strings" will be plucked by any gravitational waves that arrive.

MICROBIAL DIVERSITY

Chinese researchers have found that microbial diversity is crucial for ecological balance and stability in arid and extreme arid regions, according to a recent research article published in the journal Nature Communications.

The researchers from the School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University in northwest China's Gansu Province, have studied multiple soil function traits across 130 dryland sites along a 4,000 km aridity gradient in northern China since 2013. They had collected more than 20,000 samples and data.

The results showed a strong positive association between richness of plant species and soil multifunctionality in less arid regions, whereas microbial diversity, in particular of fungi, is positively associated with multifunctionality in arid and extreme arid regions.