BEIJING, July 21 (Xinhua) -- The following are the highlights of China's key technology news from the past week:

MERCURY DETECTION CHIP

Chinese researchers have developed a highly-sensitive blood test chip to accurately detect mercury (Hg2+) levels within a second, using only 10 microliters of blood, a fraction of a drop.

A research team at the Institute of Intelligent Machines, Chinese Academy of Sciences, designed a chip with molecular probes using analog simulation and FET (Field Effect Transistor) technologies, which showed ultra-sensitive performance in tests.

AI GARBAGE SORTING PROGRAM

Chinese payment giant Alipay has rolled out a mini-program to help sort garbage by using artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality technologies.

Users can learn how to sort their trash by scanning waste items with their smartphones, which only takes seconds to know which category a waste item belongs to.

Over 3 million people have tried the new function since its beta test phase in early July. The program has indexed more than 4,000 different types of waste to date.

CERVICAL CANCER SCREENING

Using AI technologies, Chinese researchers have developed a rapid and accurate screening model to diagnose cervical cancer, a common and fatal disease in women.

Based on more than 200,000 pathological images selected from over 43.5 million cervical screening samples, experts from KingMed Diagnostics, a Guangzhou-based medical diagnostic testing company, along with computer engineers from Huawei Cloud, a subsidiary of the Chinese tech giant Huawei, developed an AI-assisted screening model.

TIANGONG-2 REENTRY

China's space lab Tiangong-2 reentered the earth's atmosphere under control at around 9:06 p.m. on Friday (Beijing time), China Manned Space Agency said.

A small amount of the spacecraft's debris fell into the predetermined safe sea area in the South Pacific, according to the agency.

Tiangong-2's controlled reentry into the atmosphere marks the successful completion of all the tasks in the space lab phase in China's manned space program.

MISSING PERSON TRACKING

Thanks to AI technology, a couple in south China's Shenzhen were reunited with their son, who was abducted 18 years ago.

Computer vision technology has been adopted for the simulation modeling of growing human faces. The couple provided as many pictures of their little boy as possible to assist machine learning, and the system produced nearly 100 possible clues.