BEIJING, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The following is a summary of published science and technology news of China:

NEW SATELLITES

China on Tuesday launched the CERES-1 Y9 carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, sending two new satellites into their planned orbits.

The commercial rocket blasted off at 7:33 a.m. (Beijing Time) from the launch site.

ANCESTOR OF MODERN MAIZE

A collaborative team of Chinese and U.S. scientists have identified a new ancestor of modern maize, highlighting the potential of the crop's wild relatives to be utilized in future breeding.

The study published on Friday in the journal Science revealed that the origin of modern maize can be traced to an admixture between ancient maize and a teosinte living in the highlands of Mexico some 4,000 years after domestication began.

EARLY ELEPHANTIFORMS

Chinese scientists have recently revealed the unique evolution process of feeding organs in early elephantiforms through research on mandibles and trunks, according to the Science and Technology Daily on Friday.

Early in the Middle Miocene Epoch about 15 million years ago, the Platybelodon, a genus with shovel-like mandibles in early elephantiforms, had developed a feeding pattern of rolling plants with their trunks and cutting plants with their mandibles, which is the earliest evidence that elephant trunks had the curling function. Enditem

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