World's Top Scientists Forum reaffirms the spirit of science without borders

Technology for the common destiny of mankind

  On November 1, the 3rd World Top Scientists Forum concluded in Shanghai.

The forum was organized by a combination of online video and offline attendance, and attracted nearly 140 global top scientific award winners and more than 200 outstanding winners from 25 countries and regions on four continents, including 61 Nobel Prize winners. Young scientists participated.

  What common problems are facing the world today, and how to gather the world's top scientific and technological forces to make scientific and technological achievements better for mankind?

What kind of new kinetic energy of technological innovation brought by the "most powerful brains" gathered in Shanghai?

Let us review the largest scientific event since the new crown pneumonia epidemic.

1 Scientists have nationalities and science knows no borders. The scientific undertakings of any country should aim at maintaining a community with a shared future for mankind

  Under the epidemic situation, Roger Kornberg, the 2006 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, decided to come to Shanghai.

After a 14-day quarantine period, on October 30th, as the chairman of the world's top scientists association, he delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of this forum.

  "For most countries, the current international conferences can only be postponed or held online, but we can hold a forum combining online and offline, thanks to China's anti-epidemic achievements and Shanghai's efforts. "Roger Kornberg said.

  Distributed in 25 countries and regions on four continents, there are nearly 140 top scientists in the world, and more than 200 outstanding young scientists...According to the statistics of the organizing committee of the conference, the number of scientists participating this year has not decreased, but has increased significantly.

  "Frankly speaking, we were prepared that even overseas scientists would not be able to attend the conference. But Roger Kornberg believes that attending the conference is their own business, as long as there is a slight possibility, we will fight for it. In the end, The joint efforts of all parties contributed to his coming to China, which is really not easy.” said Wang Hou, secretary general of the World Association of Top Scientists.

  At the opening ceremony, the key words of almost all top scientists' speeches included "work together."

Since the outbreak of the epidemic, scientists from various countries have worked together to find ways to fight the epidemic, and have carried out scientific and technological research and transnational cooperation in many important areas such as treatment, drug and vaccine research and development, prevention and control, and have made significant contributions to the fight against the epidemic.

  Following the opening ceremony, there was a conference on the theme of "Technology for the Common Destiny of Mankind".

At a time when the epidemic is raging around the world, extreme weather and environmental events are frequent, and the global economy is facing recession, the significance of this theme is even more prominent.

Because of this, Zhong Nanshan, the winner of the "Medal of the Republic" and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, who is still on the front line of the fight against the epidemic, was pleased to give a video speech.

  "Since this year, scientists and medical workers around the world, including China, have made tremendous efforts to save lives, and many people have even given their lives for this. I see colleagues from all over the world working hard to promote various virus tests and epidemics. Prevention and treatment of vaccines, research and development of vaccines, etc., these are the best way to comfort the victims." Zhong Nanshan said.

  Zhong Nanshan said that scientists do have nationalities, but science knows no borders.

As a member of the WHO COVID-19 response assessment expert group, he has witnessed the outstanding work of scientists and medical workers from various countries in the past few months. He also believes that the scientific undertakings of any country, especially the field of basic science, will eventually All should aim at maintaining a community with a shared future for mankind.

  Qiu Zhengyi, executive director of the Shanghai Center of the World’s Top Scientists Association, told reporters that the biggest feature of this forum is to overcome various difficulties in the context of the epidemic, cross regions and time zones, and gather scientists at one end, showing the power of science and scientists’ The concern of a community with a shared future for mankind is a powerful practice of the spirit of "science without borders".

2 Why do people sleep, how nanotechnology is applied to the human body... The top ideas of the "Science Team"

  Why do people sleep?

This problem has troubled many children, and it has also troubled Michael Rosbash, the 2017 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine, even though he himself is the demystifier of the biological clock and an authority on the study of circadian rhythms.

"I think this question is a big challenge in neuroscience, and it is also a very interesting question. On the ground, it is how to make sleep and circadian rhythm more effective."

  The Mobius Forum, which features open discussions among participating scientists, runs through the three days of the conference, and is full of ideas from more than 100 top scientists.

  Biological gene sequencing calls for interdisciplinary cooperation.

Harris Levin, winner of the 2011 Wolf Agriculture Prize and head of the "Earth Biological Genome Project", said that in his research field, the number of high-quality genome sequences is very limited.

"Therefore, we must sort all life in order to fully understand the origin of life, and also to be more clear about what the future should look like for life on earth."

  Nanotechnology helps human beings become stronger.

The 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner Bernard Feilinga hopes to apply nanotechnology to the human body to build miniature machines to help humans have healthier bodies.

  In many popular science fiction movies, gravitational waves are messengers that travel across time and space and transmit information.

In the real world, gravitational waves are indeed a messenger, and there are many such messengers in the universe.

In the lecture on the frontiers of science, American experimental physicist and pioneer of gravitational wave research Barry Barish proposed that multi-messenger astronomy will be the future development trend and will inform the development and changes of the universe through the information combination of different messengers.

  Black holes have been a hot topic in the field of science in recent years, and the first photo of a black hole by mankind is also a big star in academia.

Sheppard Dorman, the American astrophysicist who took this photo of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project leader, pointed out that black hole data can also be used as extreme experiments in the laboratory to optimize the experimental verification of general relativity. Learn how black holes provide energy to the center of galaxies to form the spectacular sights that humans can see.

  Agriculture and food are the fundamental propositions that human society depends on for survival.

At the "Common Home" series of summits, several top scientists connected to talk about the infinite possibilities of scientific power in agricultural production.

  The 2014 Wolfe Agriculture Prize winner Leif Anderson distinguished herring populations in different geographical locations and environments through statistics from whole-genome sequencing.

In this way, it is possible to completely change the fishery management model, and set fish fishing quotas based on populations rather than a single geographic latitude, thereby protecting biodiversity.

  John Pickett, the winner of the Wolfe Agriculture Prize in 2008, pays attention to the science of sustainable intensification in food and agriculture. He believes that sustainable non-seasonal interventions can be used to replace seasonal inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides. The secret of pheromone, the chemical substances released by the plant itself resist the destruction of pests.

3 Scientists have developed a variety of new crown vaccines, and humans are expected to defeat the epidemic by the end of next year

  Under the current situation, it is particularly necessary to carry out research cooperation in the fields of new coronary pneumonia drugs, vaccines, and testing, focusing on common issues such as climate change and human health, so that technological innovation can better benefit mankind.

  From the smoke-shrouded Golden Gate Bridge, the melting and burning Arctic permafrost, the massive number of dead Botswana elephants, to the recent new coronavirus, Dai Hongjie, a nanomaterials scientist and leader in carbon nanotube research, pointed out in his speech through news facts Climate change is real, calling on scientists to contribute to the environment and human health.

  During the epidemic, Hongjie Dai participated in a project related to the diagnosis of new coronary pneumonia. His team developed a non-invasive detection method that does not require any blood and introduced the concept of "gold nanomembrane" (a nanostructured gold film coated on a glass slide) , Through signal amplification to complete more accurate detection.

"Using this very sensitive nano-platform, it is possible to extract only saliva and detect antibodies in it, even at very low concentrations."

  At this forum, a lot of content came around the epidemic, bringing the latest progress in the fight against the new crown virus.

The reporter learned that at present, scientists around the world have developed a variety of new coronavirus vaccines and found a batch of high-quality neutralizing antibodies for the new coronavirus. Humans are expected to defeat the epidemic by the end of next year.

  At the "Science Frontiers and Disruptive Technologies" forum, Chas Bandera, the vice president of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, mentioned in his speech that the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca have jointly developed a new crown vaccine in the past few months. , Has been put into clinical testing.

This benefited from the concerted efforts of government agencies, universities and enterprises, and it is also a microcosm of the global joint fight against the epidemic.

  "We were pleasantly surprised to see that the results achieved by this team in the past 6 to 8 months originally took 6 to 8 years to complete, so as long as everyone works together, the impossible can be made possible." Chase · Bandera said.

  At present, the new coronavirus vaccines that have entered phase III clinical trials around the world are all used for prevention, and the specific drugs after infection are still blank.

The 2015 Albany Medical Award winner, Xie Xiaoliang, the pioneer of single-molecule enzymology and single-cell genomics, brought some good news about the treatment of new coronary pneumonia. His team has used the latest single-cell genomics technology to find a batch of new coronaviruses. High-quality neutralizing antibodies.

  "These neutralizing antibodies are all produced by B cells. We perform DNA sequencing on individual B cells. Because each B cell has a special sequence, single cell technology is needed. This is the first time that single cell technology has been used. Screening of neutralizing antibodies for personnel.” Xie Xiaoliang introduced.

  At this stage, Xie Xiaoliang's team is advancing clinical trials in China and Australia. The first phase of healthy volunteer trials is about to end, and clinical trials for patients with new coronary pneumonia are about to begin.

The team said that all animal experiments have proven that neutralizing antibodies are effective.

  At the forum, Roger Kornberg, the winner of the New Konobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and American virologist Harvey Alt, and many other top scientists praised China’s rapid response to the new crown pneumonia epidemic and said that the new crown vaccine is expected It will be used by the public on a large scale next year, when the epidemic is expected to pass.

4 Openness and tolerance, mutual benefit and sharing, jointly formulate future scientific research plans, and promote world science undertakings

  While attending the event, the top scientists are also full of expectations for the future.

  Chen Saijuan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and tenured professor of Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, said: "How to transform the results of basic research into clinical services for clinical services, I hope to have full exchanges on this occasion." Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, neuroanatomist Su Guohui believes that my country's ability to hold this forum with such a large degree is an important contribution to the healthy future of the people.

  As Su Guohui said, in China, the international science and technology cooperation strategy of openness, tolerance, mutual benefit and sharing remains the same.

  At the opening ceremony of this forum, the World's Top Scientists Development Foundation was established, focusing on four types of projects, including scientific exchanges, youth development, scientific research transformation, and science education, to support global scientific cooperation.

At the same time, the world’s top scientist community "Clouds", located in the Lingang New Area of ​​China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, will gather the world’s top international organization headquarters and top scientists’ innovation laboratory bases to form a powerful global resource allocation capability The core area of ​​the special economic function zone.

  Wang Dehong, Deputy Secretary-General of the World Association of Top Scientists, introduced that the community is oriented to the country’s major needs, focusing on the cutting-edge fields of world science and technology such as biomedicine, artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, new energy, new materials, quantum science, and transforming the advantage of the “first kilometer” For the development momentum of the "last mile", we will integrate top scientific resources with the supporting construction of hospitals and schools to create a space carrier that conforms to the law of innovation.

  "There are already 4 top scientists who have made it clear that their laboratories will be stationed in our top scientist community, and 20 top scientists will be stationed in succession. We hope to bring their laboratory construction experience and scientific research results to China by introducing top international scientist laboratories. "Wang Dehong said.

  On October 31, the Shanghai Center of the World's Top Scientists Association and East China Normal University issued an initiative to form the World's Top Scientists Youth Education Alliance.

The goal of the alliance is to explore ways to cultivate young people's scientific interest, methods to enhance scientific spirit, and methods to enhance their ability to explore under the guidance of global scientists provided by the Shanghai Center and experts from universities such as East China Normal University.

At present, 1024 primary and secondary schools have become the experimental base schools of the alliance.

  "In any era, it is young people who dare to challenge innovation and inherit the wisdom and wealth of their predecessors. Therefore, the government and the scientific community need to generously and patiently encourage these young scientists and students who sincerely love basic science." Deputy Deputy of the World Association of Top Scientists The chairman, Nobel Prize winner in chemistry in 2001, Yoshiharu Noi said.

  "We live in an interconnected world, not only with infectious diseases such as COVID-19, but also with an urgent need to solve problems such as biodiversity, sustainable energy, and climate change. People all over the world must work together with an open and trusting attitude. Even very basic scientific research requires the joint efforts of thousands of scientists." The 2009 Nobel Prize winner Venka Ramakrishnan hopes that the world’s top scientists can continue to gather together regardless of age. Formulate future scientific research plans to advance the world's scientific undertakings.

(Reporter Yang Wenjia)