BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The following are the highlights of China's science news from the past week:

MARS PROBE

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Friday released a video showing how Mars probe Tianwen-1 braked to allow its capture by the red planet's gravity.

China's Tianwen-1 probe, including an orbiter, a lander and a rover, successfully entered the orbit around Mars on Wednesday after a nearly seven-month voyage from Earth.

CHANG'E-4 PROBE

The lander and rover of the Chang'e-4 probe have resumed work for their 27th lunar day on the far side of the moon. During the day, the panorama camera on the rover will take colored pictures of moon rocks and impact craters. The rover will move southwest toward a rock with a diameter of about 18 cm, which is about 17.8 meters away.

The infrared imaging spectrometer will be used to detect the rock and surrounding lunar soil. The neutral atom detector and lunar radar will continue to carry out scientific explorations.

CLEARER LAKES

More than one-third of hundreds of 25-square-km and above lakes in the world have become clearer over the past 20 years.

About 36 percent of the world's 1,049 large lakes and reservoirs saw their colors shifting from the yellow end to the blue end of the color spectrum, which generally means increasing clarity. They are concentrated in cold regions, such as the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, northern Europe, northern North America and southern South America.

MICROBE SIZE MATTERS

An international research team has found the size of microbes in soil is closely related to soil health, according to a study recently published in the journal Nature Communications.

Smaller microbes in the soil adapt quickly to environmental changes, while larger microbes are more sensitive to changes. The more microbes of a smaller size, the more stably they can improve crop growth.

Source: Xinhua

Editor Hao Jing