Crawfish soup on Mars? US fears over China’s scientific ambitions raised in Senate hearing

Crawfish soup on Mars? US fears over China’s Scientific Ambitions raised in Senate hearingRepublicans point to Beijing’s rising research spending, while Democrats warn Trump’s funding cuts could erode America’s ability to compete3-MIN READ3-MIN2ListenPublished: 4:19am, 22 Jul 2026Updated: 5:02am, 22 Jul 2026A Chinese researcher’s vision of serving spicy crawfish soup to astronauts on Mars became an unlikely symbol of Washington’s growing anxiety over China’s Scientific Ambitions at a US Senate hearing on Tuesday.Drew Endy, associate professor at Stanford University and director of bio-strategy and leadership at the Hoover Institution, said that last autumn he met a 20-year-old Chinese researcher from Shanghai at a scientific conference in Paris.Dressed in a large red crawfish costume, the young scientist described work on enzymes that could break down crawfish shells, allowing the material to be reused in a future circular economy on Mars.Select VoiceSelect Speed0.8x0.9x1.0x1.1x1.2x1.5x1.75x00:0000:001.00x