BEIJING - China's National Natural Science Foundation has funded 37,606 programs with an investment of 18.35 billion yuan (about 2.87 billion U.S. dollars) since the start of 2015, accounting for 80.2 percent of this year's funding plan.

President of the foundation Yang Wei said scientific research funds have been better directed this year, and project leaders who received the investment are getting younger with 43.14 percent under 40 years old.

The foundation is a major funding source focusing on basic scientific research and frontier scientific exploration. It has cooperated with 78 overseas natural science organizations and R&D funding agencies in 39 countries.