Chinese researchers have published four peer-reviewed papers in Nature based on the first samples ever returned from the Moon’s far side by the Chang’e-6 mission. Using basalt and regolith collected last year, teams from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Astronomical Observatories and Nanjing University report direct evidence of prolonged magmatic activity, traces of an ancient magnetic field and measurable water within the lunar mantle. The findings shed unprecedented light on the geochemical characteristics and crust-mantle evolution of the hemisphere that faces away from Earth. Isotopic and mineral analyses of the Chang’e-6 samples suggest that heat-producing elements persisted far longer beneath the far side than previously thought, sustaining volcanism and leaving magnetic remnants now detectable only in microscopic iron grains. Measurements of hydroxyl content point to water stored deep in the mantle, challenging assumptions that the lunar interior is almost completely dry. Collectively, the papers provide the most comprehensive explanation to date for the Moon’s pronounced hemispheric dichotomy. A separate study led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, also appearing in Nature, complements the Chinese results. Using high-resolution gravity data from the twin GRAIL orbiters, the team found that the Moon’s "Love number"—a measure of interior flexibility—is 72% higher than expected for a perfectly symmetric body. The analysis indicates a warmer, more pliable mantle enriched in radioactive thorium beneath the near side, while the far side is cooler and stiffer. Taken together, the Chang’e-6 sample science and the new gravitational model offer the clearest picture yet of how internal asymmetry has shaped the Moon’s two very different faces.