On December 8, Nature released its 2025 “Nature’s 10: Ten people who helped shape science in 2025” list. Du Mengran, a researcher at the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IDSSE), and an alumna of Ocean University of China (OUC), was named to the list. The other scientist from China on this year’s list is Liang Wenfeng, founder of the Chinese AI company DeepSeek.

Du Mengran enrolled in the Chemistry major at the OUC College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in 2004. In 2008, she was recommended for admission to the master’s program in Marine Chemistry at OUC. She later pursued a PhD in Oceanography at Texas A&M University in the United States through a Chinese government-sponsored program for overseas study. In 2014, she joined IDSSE, which was then being established, marking the start of her career in deep-sea exploration. In the summer of 2024, Du Mengran and her team travelled aboard the manned submersible Fendouzhe to depths of more than 9,000 meters below the sea surface, where they discovered the deepest known ecosystem with animals on the planet.

The international scientific community regards the discovery as overturning long-held views about the potential for life at extreme depths and reshaping our understanding of deep-sea carbon cycling. Nature described the discovery as “something totally new to science” in the deepest reaches of the ocean, and praised Du Mengran as a “Deep Diver”.

The “Nature’s 10” list reflects the most important scientific trends and discoveries in the world. Du Mengran’s exploration of the mysterious hadal depths stands as a vivid example of how OUC alumni are contributing China’s brains to global scientific endeavors.