BEIJING, May 22 (Xinhua) -- The following is a summary of published science and technology news of China.

RICE RESISTS WEEDS

Scientists have revealed that gene clustering helped rice evolve to produce so-called momilactone to defend itself against weeds, according to a study published in the journal PNAS.

Chinese and Japanese scientists analyzed more than 100 genome sequences from plants, finding that the gene clusters that can compound momilactone exist only in three plant species, including rice.

SCI-TECH JOURNALS TO CONTRIBUTE TO WHO'S COVID-19 DATABASE

The China Association for Science and Technology has called on the country's sci-tech journal publishers to contribute to the COVID-19 database of the World Health Organization (WHO), sharing research data and experience to aid the fight against the pandemic.

The association released the initiative on its website Wednesday, saying that authorizing the WHO to use original metadata of Chinese COVID-19-related research papers is an effort to offer China's research progress and prevention experience more thoroughly and widely to global medical experts and scientists.

5G-ASSISTED UNMANNED BOAT

An unmanned boat with 5G wireless technology has been used to monitor water quality in a Beijing park, according to the Beijing Daily Thursday.

The unmanned boat shuttles in the waters of Beihai Park to collect data on water quality and the surrounding environment.

The 1.2-meter-long boat is equipped with high-definition cameras and a water quality sensor, which can transmit real-time data to a monitoring platform through the 5G network.