"Friendship bridges distance" is a much quoted classic line written by noted Chinese poet Wang Bo of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), over 1,000 years ago. Today's Chinese scientists believe that information technology will make the same contribution in the coming century.

Scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) say that during the next century a click on your computer screen at home will help you communicate with whoever you want to talk to, at any time and anywhere in the world.

They also hold that the mankind will be able to immigrate to outer space and travel to other planets, solve acute energy, material, and environmental issues facing the Earth through outer space development, and build industrial and military bases beyond this planet.

By 2005, they say, a manned landing on Mars may become a reality.

Liu Zhenxing, CAS member and a research fellow at the CAS Space Science and Application Center, told Xinhua he believes that in the depths of this mysterious red planet, evidence of life left some one billion years ago from the oceans of Mars will be found.

By 2015, he predicted, the mankind is expected to establish their first research center on the moon, which will serve as a natural platform for earth observation, an outpost for deep space probes, and a transfer post and experimental center for mankind.

Moreover, solar power stations may also be built on the moon, Liu said.

And the mankind may contact other living beings beyond our solar system sometime in the next century.

Many scientists believe that breakthroughs will also be made in research on cultivating human organs during the next 15 to 20 years.

Meanwhile, Botanist Hong Deyuan, also a member of the CAS, said serious food shortages and fatal diseases that have plagued the mankind for so long may also be ended in the coming century.

"The mankind will have whatever ideal plants they can imagine, including drought-resistant and pest and disease-free ones," he said.

Scientists attribute these prospects to the expected rapid progress to be made in information technology, outer space technology, and life sciences in the 21st century.

Bio-technology may be the most controversial field, as an increasing number of people are concerned with the abuse of cloning technology and trans-genetic technology.

CAS President Lu Yongxiang, nevertheless, holds that in the field of medicine the huge potential of cloning technology and the transplantation animal parts into the human body will be tapped, along with appropriate laws and ethical conduct.

This will enable the repair and restoration of damaged nerves, and the cure of diabetes, cancer, and heart and Parkinson diseases, he added.

An international convention on the peaceful use of bio- technology will help do away with concerns about the negative impact that trans-genetic technology may have on both the environment and humans, just as they have done with nuclear technology.

Lu said progress in science and technology, which has created tremendous material and cultural wealth, will surely continue to do so in the coming century.