January: Dark-matter satellite included in President Xi's New Year speech

February: Global network mode for China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System established

March: Breakthrough on direct conversion of coal-based syngas to light olefins

April: SJ-10 launched and returned to earth

May: Chinese researchers unveil mode of Ebola virus entering human cells

June: China releases national ecosystem assessment report 2000 to 2010

July: Deep-sea unmanned submersible reaches depth of 10,000 meters

August: Quantum communications satellite successfully launched

September: World’s largest radio telescope dedicated

October: Shenzhou-11 docks with Tiangong-2

November: World's largest echelle gratings successfully developed

December: World's leading superintense ultrafast laser facility being built

The Chinese Academy of Sciences, through the efforts of its scientific research professionals, attained numerous scientific achievements in 2016, the first year of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).

With the recommendation of experts throughout CAS, and inclusion of online voting, a total of twelve items have been selected and are now released as the highlights of scientific achievements in each month of 2016.