The development of science and technology has propelled the progress of human society. In particular, the advancement in life sciences, one of the world’s most vibrant scientific fields, has brought about tremendous changes to people’s life.
Xiaodong Wang: I will make a brief introduction first. Professor Xinnian Dong is an accomplished scientist in botanical research. Just now, the students touched on topics like disease, brain and cognition, as well as the industrial revolution, agricultural revolution and information revolution. As you know, life science is a broad research field that goes beyond the scope of human beings, animals and microorganism. Beside Professor Dong is Junying Yuan, tenured professor of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School. She is a pioneer in the research area of cell death. Professor Yuan got her bachelor’s degree at Fudan University. She went to the United States, I suppose, in 1982, and pursued doctoral and postdoctoral programs at MIT. She has been selected into China’s 1,000-Talent Program.
Tingjun Liu: I will introduce myself first. I am from Taikang Insurance Group, responsible for health care and elderly care. Our business is to apply the advanced technology of life science to people’s daily life based on China’s insurance payment system and combined medical and elderly care services.
Fast-developing biology
Xiaodong Wang: In the morning, we listened to Professor Zhi-Xun Shen’s lecture where he mentioned photoelectricity and perception. Different from scientists in other fields, a biologist seldom traces back to the beginning of the previous century. Biology at that time looks remote to us because it is the fastest-developing and most vibrant branch of sciences, whether in terms of investment or the number of scientists. Mankind is now urgently seeking answers to a great many questions. As you know, some significant advances have been made in biology, such as a deeper understanding of the human brain in neurobiology and machine learning that simulates the human brain or does more complicated tasks. But how much really do we know about the human brain? Actually, we know very little of it – even the brain of a mouse or fly is much more complicated than we think. There is a simple principle in engineering, that is, every component must be precise. All living things are different. For example, the life of one flower varies from that of another, and they all have specific base sequences in double helix of macromolecular structure. We are sitting here discussing all kinds of profound problems, whether they are about philosophy, art, or science, but everything on earth is embodied in life, including mankind. So why can such a simple principle have so complicated manifestations? This is like building a machine. How can we do that when we don’t even know the general principle thoroughly? In recent years, there has been a critical technique in neuroscience – optogenetics, which involves the use of light to control and monitor the activities of individual neurons in living tissues. This technique represents a great breakthrough, allowing us to inquire into brain functions in a precise manner and realize that there is so much unknown about life.
Genome editing is another field that has witnessed groundbreaking progress in recent years, which is primarily accredited to two female scientists. What is genome editing? Simply put, it makes use of the natural system in which bacteria are resistant to phages. Once the method is used in all kinds of biological cells, including those of human beings and plants, we can modify life information at will. This is beyond all we have imagined in the past, and the effects it will have on life sciences and mankind are bound to be remarkable.
The last point I want to talk about is relevant to Professor Yuan’s research area. Thanks to the advance of sciences, we now can face or even study what we knew nothing about in the past, such as neurologic disorders. Human beings are now facing a lot of challenges, such as smog. But I think the issue can be addressed in five years as it is not very complicated. For China, population aging is a bigger problem. Because of the one-child policy, China may have an unprecedentedly large population aged above 60 by 2050.In that case, the country will face problems on all levels. Currently, we still don’t know how to deal with neurologic disorders including Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.
So, can we address the problem of population aging? In fact, many issues are so complicated that they cannot be solved solely by science. For this reason, some of you present here, including Mr. Liu, a representative from the insurance industry, are expected to put forward solutions that cannot be provided by science.
Junying Yuan: Population aging has become a great concern in China. In response, the country now allows couples to have two children. This new policy can improve demographic structure in the long run, but is unable to solve the problem of a large aging population. At present, one in every three people aged above 65 suffer from Alzheimer's disease. That is a big challenge to every family concerned and to social development as well.
The United States is among the first to realize the seriousness of the problem. Last year, the US Congress adopted a document about how much will be used to fund research on Alzheimer's disease in the next decade. That is an ambitious target, and I think even 10% of it would be remarkable. The biggest obstacle to treating the disease is that we still don’t know much about many basic principles. Therefore, to cure difficult diseases and solve the problem of population aging, young people like you need to make efforts and study the most fundamental issues. I hope you can bear in mind the grand goals of biological research, and realize that the issue of population aging cannot be addressed by one generation.
Population aging is not only related to you but also to every individual and family and has a bearing on the whole society, the nation and the world. I hope you can take interest in this issue.
Tingjun Liu: China now has an aged population of 220 million, with an increase of nearly 10 million each year. The number is projected to reach 400 million by around 2050. The problems caused by population aging include the tremendous cost of elderly care and medical services, which now account for 17% of GDP in the United States, 5.6% in China, and about 12% in European countries.
In my view, the solutions include three levels. The first is science. Scientists are to determine the mechanism and find effective medicines and treatment methods through scientific research. With the development of technology, more and better solutions will be found. The second is the empirical level, as mentioned earlier when discussing artificial intelligence. Before entering the medical industry, I had always taken medicine as pure science. Later, I found that evidence-based medicine, like probability theory in insurance, basically gauged the relations between syndrome and therapeutic regimen based on empirical statistics. The third is actually about social issues. In addition to physical health, human beings also value spiritual needs such as humanistic care and social interactions.Such needs may be satisfied through the insurance payment system, people-centered communities for the elderly, and comprehensive medical solutions.
With the development of life science and artificial intelligence, traditional modes of medical services and elderly care will face dramatic challenges and opportunities. Traditionally, doctors address uncertain problems based on years of experience. With the advancement of artificial intelligence, new and more effective techniques have been applied. For example, machines can read images more accurately than humans in many cases; genetic testing can identify things that were uncertain in diagnosis in the past. The insurance industry should be prepared for the advent of new technologies. I believe that the medical industry will undergo great changes in the future. For example, doctors will be more like scientists, and many jobs they are doing now will be handed over to machines or nurses.
Learning is a lifelong run
Xinnian Dong: Here I will not talk about my specialty as I did this morning, but I will answer relevant questions from students. I have been teaching undergraduates, so I would like to share some of my thoughts, which may not be systematic, about education, and also my expectations for students.
When teaching microbiology at college, I found that more and more students were restricting their learning to specific areas. I often tell students that I want to be friends with them and invite them to chat with me in my office. In the past, students came to my office in groups, and we talked about all kinds of topics, especially those related to microbiology. Nowadays, however, very few students come to talk with me. They spend a lot of time on computers but give less attention to nature. They indulge in the virtual world, not willing to go outside. I think this is a really worrying problem.
Some of the students who have won the Dongrun-Yau Science Award are interested in biology, and others in mathematics. For me, the natural world is the most fascinating. As Xiaodong Wang mentioned earlier, our understanding of the natural world is still very limited. For example, the growing of plants is not just dependent on genes. Pine trees can reach up to the sky, but can also be turned into potted plants. Though with the same genes, they show different characters in different circumstances. There are so many interesting things in biology. So I suggest you keep your heads up and look at the world around you rather than your smart phones.
I notice that many students are fed up with learning after they come to college. This is really sad. Many Chinese parents believe that they should do everything to make children win at the starting line. I think this concept is not necessarily correct. If life is a sprint, you certainly should make a dash from the starting point; but if life is a long-distance run, you shouldn’t overexert yourself at the beginning.
Personally, I learned little before I went to college as the school was virtually shut down during the Cultural Revolution. But I had a strong thirst for knowledge when I was in college. Nowadays, children are forced to study from kindergarten. They even have a really tight schedule on weekends, being driven by their parents from one place to another to take piano, drawing, swimming, football, and other lessons. When asked what I thought about the Dongrun-Yau Science Award this morning, I almost spoke it out that there might be an award given to those playing happily. For a child, playing is a process of learning, and the information they get from playing is first-hand. They need to digest information themselves, but what you get from the internet and books has already been digested. Therefore, learning from books is not an effective way to cultivate creativity. I remember a lecture delivered by a professor of psychology at a meeting of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. She divided people into two categories: learners and non-learners. Which category you belong to has no direct relation to your educational attainment. Professor Yingyi Qian also mentioned this morning that the longer students attend school, the less curiosity they have. This is also sad. A scholar should pursue new knowledge throughout his/her lifetime. They should maintain curiosity about the outside, observe the world, and care about people, things and the environment around them.
Lastly, I want to share with you about the key to success. I know many renowned scientists and have had great teachers. I find one thing they have in common is that they are all diligent. When I was a child, I was lucky to know the famous linguist Shengshu Ding, editor-in-chief of Modern Chinese Dictionary. He named his only granddaughter-in-law “Qin”, meaning “diligent”. I wondered at that time why he finally chose this character among the numerous Chinese words he knew. Many years later, I came to truly understand the reason. Today, I want to give this word to you, hoping you can keep in mind that the key to success in anything is that you must be diligent, both physically and intellectually.
Junying Yuan: When it comes to education, people always ask me about the differences between Chinese education and American education. I think the biggest difference is that American education is more positive. For example, at any primary school, middle school or college, teachers always tell students “You are great”, “You are the best student I have ever seen”, and the like. Even when some students do poorly at school, the teacher still praises them. The result is that everyone feels great. In contrast, there is too much criticism and self-criticism in Chinese education, which, I think, has negative influences on students, making them feel bad about themselves. Actually, encouragement is important for students’ growth. When they feel supported, they will try their best at anything. I think this is the most important.
Nowadays, students spend too much time on computers and mobile phones. My daughter just graduated from Harvard University. I have seldom intervened in her schooling, but always told her that “you are great.” I know that when she was at Harvard, she threw herself into the cartoon club, made lots of friends there and had all kinds of fun. Meanwhile, she was dedicated to her studies and sometimes burnt the midnight oil. Still, she spent most of her leisure time on things she likes rather than coping with examinations. I think Chinese education should focus on cultivating students’ interests instead of forcing them to learn by rote.
Our generation witnessed the ten chaotic years of the Cultural Revolution but honestly, we had a lot of time to play at that time. We had little time for schooling, but we were eager for knowledge. After we were admitted to college, we truly cherished the precious opportunity and hence devoted ourselves to study. Our family suffered a lot from the Cultural Revolution, but we were children then and were not subjected to huge negative influences in the long run. In other words, many things students learn are useless; the most important task of education is to cultivate students’ interest, then provide them a good learning environment and help them develop good learning habits. I think this is really important.
Q&A
Student 1: I am a postgraduate of human physiology at Peking University. Just now, Professor Yuan and other teachers mentioned education, and some of you studied abroad for a long time. Many parents present here may plan to send their children abroad for education. As a postgraduate in life sciences, I want to ask you experts, especially Professor Wang: Do you think it is necessary for postgraduates like us to receive scientific training abroad? What are the main differences between China and foreign countries in this regard?
Xiaodong Wang: If you asked me the question 20 or 30 years ago, I would say that you must go abroad. In the past few years, life science has made great progress in China. Many scholars have returned to China and the 1000-Talent Program has been launched. Universities and institutions such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Shanghai Academy of Science and Technology, and Fudan University have world-leading laboratories and research projects. As a teacher and also a parent, however, I still hope you can spend some time abroad when you are a postgraduate or engaged in postdoctoral research. As a Chinese saying goes, reading is like travelling, which enriches your life. Scientific research is not only about conducting research projects, publishing papers, and reading literature. More importantly, I think, it is a kind of cultural activity. Though scientific research is developing rapidly in China, it will take a long time for a cultural activity to mature, including its foundation, concepts and approaches. China boasts fine traditional culture, but sciences were not part of our tradition. Instead, they came to China from Western countries. Cultural conflicts still occur today. Why do we need sciences? What is the use of sciences? A teacher from Wuhan University mentioned this morning that he took the course of history of Western philosophy in college. If you have the opportunity to study abroad and get immersed in sciences and scientific culture, I think it will be good for you.
Xinnian Dong: In fact, studying abroad doesn’t mean you can learn more. Foreign laboratories are not necessarily better than Chinese ones. The main objective of going abroad is to be exposed to different cultures and get in direct touch with foreign scientists. I think studying overseas is still important. Nowadays, there are a large number of overseas Chinese students, but they tend to stay together rather than actively interact with foreigners. This makes studying abroad less meaningful. In my opinion, students studying abroad, whether in the United States or Europe, should take the good opportunity to get involved in local communities and learn about local cultures. Therefore, I think you should study abroad if possible.
Junying Yuan: What are the differences between China and the U.S. in scientific research? I strongly agree with what Xiaodong Wang said earlier. China now has a host of world-class scientists, and you can receive great training in China if you want to engage in scientific research. However, there are still big gaps between the two countries in terms of the scale and quality of scientific research. Scientific development is dynamic. To stay at a top spot, a country must have top-notch teams that are dedicated to innovation to push for breakthroughs in various research areas. For China, there is big room for improvement in this regard. Though the country has increased investment in scientific research, it has still a long way to go to build China into a great power in science. As far as I can see, China has achieved leapfrog development in science in recent years, but that’s not enough. If you have opportunities to study abroad, or even participate in postdoctoral programs in a good laboratory or university, I think it will be worthwhile. In a word, I hope that through the efforts of all of you present and generations of Chinese people, China can gain a stronger foothold in the international scientific community.
Student 2: I am Zixuan Guo from Xinjiang, and a winner of the Dongrun-Yau Science Award. I once watched a science video and read articles about the contamination of cell lines. I find that the phenomenon is not so common, and cell lines are mostly contaminated when culturing bacteria in experiments. Some researchers think that experiments would make no sense if cell lines were contaminated. So I want to know your opinion about this issue.
Junying Yuan: The contamination of cell lines is not rare. For example, we found at least two cases in our laboratory. Human cells were mistaken for rat cells, or vice versa. It was totally wrong. But I think it is not a big problem if the researchers are careful enough, and it can be corrected.
Xiaodong Wang: I have seen so many people make mistakes in this aspect. When I was a postdoctoral research fellow, there was a poster called “Ten Commandments on Biological Research” posted on the door of the laboratory, which imitated the Ten Commandments in the Bible. The first commandment was “You must come to the laboratory on weekends, even though it is time for rest.” Another one was “You can’t afford not to know what’s the reagent used in your experiment.” What does that mean? It reminds us that we often make a mistake when we are green hands and we are too trusting of others. When doing experiments, we take many reagents from others and tend to think that what they give us is what we want. However, human errors can be unavoidable in the process of labeling, storage, and recovery. Therefore, you must see to it that what you use is really the right things for your experiment. All controllable experiment conditions must be under control. You should not slack off or take anything for granted. Instead, you must know very well what you are doing or what everything is. If there is an opportunity, I will tell you about the turning points and milestones in my research career. I have a story about this.
Student 3: I am a postgraduate from Peking University. I am interested in the field of elderly care. Taikang Community is a leading company in elderly care. During our surveys, many old people told us that they couldn’t afford Taikang Community though they wanted to go there. So I have a question to ask Mr. Liu: Is there any plan for more affordable services for more people? Thank you.
Tingjun Liu: Different products cater to the needs of different groups. Taikang Community is mainly targeted at retired professors, mid-level government officials, and middle management staff of enterprises. Our high-end products are cost-effective, not out of reach for the targeted groups. In the future, we will also develop new products catering to the needs of more people.
Student 4: Good afternoon. I am puzzled by a question on the human brain. Assume that one day mankind develops a new medicine which can boost brain functions and human cognition like transmitting the capabilities of computers to humans. Is this right or wrong, or should we promote it?
Xiaodong Wang: This sounds like a tricky question. Some medicines or techniques are illegal, but some functions, if we can achieve, should be meaningful. As the professors mentioned earlier, a good scientist must have curiosity, and a student can do well only when they are interested in learning. Why? That is because there are the so-called pleasure centers and reward centers in our brain. If new information is related to these centers, we will be able to absorb and process the information more quickly. For example, repeated training is needed in the research of brain-computer interface, so that brain cells know what the machine tells them. This is really difficult. If the reward center is activated, the learning ability can improve hundreds of times. So I think that the current way of learning is still at the primary level. We mainly learn with our senses, and know little about information sometimes. Professor Yuan said that her daughter was fond of cartoon, which has definitely activated the pleasure center in her brain. If we can find a way to link what we are not interested in, such as Marxism and Leninism, to the pleasure center, we may master them in just a few days. For this reason, I think it is worthwhile to tap into the potential of human brain, and if you don’t do that, others will.
Junying Yuan: Similar medicines have emerged, which can help people concentrate. I know some athletes have been punished for taking this kind of medicine. It is used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and athletes are not supposed to take it.
Audience: I am working in the industry of securities and investment banking. I have two questions. Professor Dong mentioned genome editing earlier. My first question is: what is a scientific attitude towards genetically modified food? Second, in computer science, Moore's law predicts the development speed of technology, so I wonder whether there is any prediction in biology about how long it will take to cure cancer or other diseases.
Xinnian Dong: Genetically modified crops or GM crops are plants whose DNA has been modified using genetic engineering techniques. Before the appearance of genetic engineering techniques, crop variety improvement mainly relied on hybridization. For example, a high-yielding crop prone to disease could be hybridized with another crop that is low-yielding but disease-resistant. But in the process of hybridization, half of the hybrid’s DNA comes from the high-yielding species and the other half from the disease-resistant one. Thus, apart from the disease-resistant genes, hybridization also brings some unintended genes that have to be diluted after several generations of backcrossing. Genetic engineering techniques are to clone the needed genes, such as disease-resistant genes, and insert them into the high-yielding crop without bringing any unintended genes. After hearing my explanation, which technology you think is better? Definitely the latter.
There are also concerns about GM crops. For example, genes resistant to antibiotics are used as tools for screening in the process of genetic engineering and will remain in the GM crops. This causes panic among the public. So, would these genes resistant to antibiotics have adverse effects on human health? Thanks to the progress in technology, these unnecessary genes are no longer needed in the latest technique called CRISPR/Cas9. In a sense, without foreign genes, crops using the new technique are not GM crops. Attention is now focused on whether the US Food and Drug Administration, Department of Agriculture, and Environmental Protection Agency will give consent to this point of view. If crops using the new technique are no longer called GM crops, the prejudices about GM crops in the past decades can be removed, the term “GM” will be out of use, and many unnecessary inspections can be avoided.
Junying Yuan: I know that genetic engineering techniques have been used in the U.S. for years. For example, genetically modified fodder has been given to dairy cows. Whether we know it or not, we have had GM food indirectly for many years.
Xinnian Dong: This morning, I showed you the list of GM crops of the US Department of Agriculture. In the U.S., genetically modified soybeans, cotton, and corn have existed for 20 years. Some people see GM crops as a conspiracy of the U.S., but basically all soybeans produced in the U.S. are genetically modified, so this conspiracy theory doesn’t hold water. China has imported a large amount of soybeans. Some may say that they would not eat any GM food, but unfortunately, that is practically impossible. All plants and animals have genes. Just now we knew from the open letter of 107 Nobel laureates that there has been no example to prove GM crops are bad for human and animals since GM crops were introduced two decades ago. Instead, GM crops have tremendous positive influences on the environment and biodiversity. For example, insect-resistant GM rice only needs pesticides once per season while non-GM rice needs it for eight times. Without pesticides, non-GM rice will produce not a single grain. So which one is better? Just think about it yourselves.
Audience: The second question is: in life science, is there any equivalent of Moore’s law that predicts the development speed?
Xiaodong Wang: There is a DNA sequencing technique in biology. It is similar to Moore's Law, which is related to how we interpret the information in DNA. In fact, the world’s sequence data have grown at a speed exceeding that predicted by Moore's Law. Years ago, I heard that new knowledge generated in a year had exceeded the total of the past 5,000 years, of which our knowledge about DNA of new species made up a large part. In this sense, through the simple way of DNA sequencing, the speed of new information obtained from organism should exceed that predicted by Moore’s Law.
The difference between organism and computers lies in that organism is too complicated. Even today, we still don’t know why cancer occurs, let alone how to treat it effectively. The biggest breakthrough in recent years is tumor immunotherapy. Immunotherapy uses monoclonal antibodies to remove the camouflage of cancer cells, and enables the immune system to know that cancer cells are variations, not part of the human body, and thus kill cancer cells. Immunotherapy is effective for 20% -30% of patients with cancer. There is still no clear answer as to why the proportion is 20%-30%. If any company can make immunotherapy effective for the other 70%-80% of patients, it is bound to be worth trillions of yuan in five years.
Here I want to say something to students studying biology. In recent years, biology has had a “bad reputation”. Currently, most of the best students admitted to Tsinghua University and Peking University choose to major in economics and management, finance, or computer science. Biology is now a “red card” major, meaning employment for graduates is not satisfactory. Many biology graduates from the two prestigious universities have instead worked in investment banking, consulting or other industries. In fact, numerous problems are to be solved in the biological industry. If you can address those problems, you have more and greater opportunities than you would have in the fields of computers or materials. For example, an American company, Gilead, has been known for a combination tablet containing three drugs to treat patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV). The company has about 4,000 employees in total, and its market value once exceeded USD140 billion, or nearly RMB 1 trillion, in just several years. I also know that a start-up established less than five years ago, with which we cooperated on lymphoma medications, was sold at more than USD7 billon, or USD27 million for every one of its 200-plus employees. I once had an idea about Alzheimer’s disease. To address the disease has a bearing on the fate of not only a company but also the whole country. Patients need to persist in medication use and a larger proportion of people will need the medicines because of population aging. If a country cannot develop such medicines itself, think about how much wealth it will have to give away to other countries.
Junying Yuan: We have made important progress in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. We have found a new cell death mechanism related to the disease and a method to control this mechanism. Our medicine has been put to clinical trials. We didn’t expect it to be so useful when studying the cell death mechanism, but that is actually an exciting aspect of biological research. Still, we have a long way to go. As a biologist, I hope the students present can take interest in science and find enjoyment in the boring experiments; then you can find the direction others haven’t thought of, and thus make exceptional contribution to the world and mankind.
Xinnian Dong: As I said this morning, the broad-spectrum disease-resistant crops developed by my laboratory enjoy great business potential. So far, we have applied the technique to rice, making it resistant to three serious diseases without decreasing the yield. I hope the new technique that has proved effective in rice can be used for other crops.
Junying Yuan: As to genetic engineering, I want to say that GM food is totally safe, and we have had a lot of GM food whether we know it or not. Genetic engineering techniques have improved crop yields and made crops more resistant to diseases. Without genetic engineering, it would be difficult to provide adequate food for people in the world. It is not that you don’t have any choice. You can choose not to eat GM food. But to eliminate hunger and feed the world, genetic engineering is the only solution.
Student 5: I am a second grader at the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China, and I want to major in biology when I enter college. I am now studying college biology. We use foreign textbooks and work on questions in previous college entrance examinations. Even if we are interested in biology or have in-depth insights in a specific area, we will not pass the examination without doing lots of exercises. If we go to a foreign university, do we still have to cope with examinations, or can we study anything that we are interested in?
Xiaodong Wang: I am eager to answer your question. A common misunderstanding is to study biology by memorizing knowledge as if biology is a liberal art. We may forget 90% of the knowledge we learn in high school or college, but now we can learn and understand new things quickly. Therefore, don’t think that learning is all about examinations. You should be interested in what you learn and try to understand it through different methods. That is enough. In modern society, you don't necessarily have to memorize many things. With the help of search engines, information is just a click away.
In my opinion, that biology has a so-called “bad reputation” is probably the biggest reason why students learn biology by memorizing. Actually, biological knowledge is very interesting. If you are interested in biology, you had better go to the laboratory and learn by doing experiments. Biology is different from physics and chemistry because it is hardly possible for contemporary physicists and chemists to make new contribution so remarkable that they can be written into textbooks. But for biologists, there are still opportunities. For example, Arthur Kornberg’s son discovered that eukaryotic cells wind their DNA around nucleosome when doing very simple experiments at college. He found that when he was just a freshman or sophomore. Later, he was given a Nobel Prize. Some people say that he didn’t deserve it, but others think that the award is sort of a compensation for his prominent contribution when he was in college, though whether the work he did in later years deserves a Nobel Prize is open to doubt. I told you this story because I want you to know that it is still possible to achieve great things at the early stage of your research career.
Junying Yuan: Your question is related to the topic of my doctoral dissertation. For a better understanding, you may find time to find out the reasons and background of the experiment. There is always a story behind every experiment. Personally, Ced 3 and Ced 4 are the first step that has led me to the cell death mechanism research. No one was interested in the cell death mechanism at that time, not to mention the controllability of cell death and the important role of cell death in cancer. However, when studying the growth of nematode, Bob Horvitz found the phenomenon of programmed cell death, which then led to research on regulators of cell death. If you know the background story, you can understand why the experiment was conducted at the time and why its findings are important.
Xiaodong Wang: Now every guest will have two minutes for closing remarks. Then today’s forum will conclude.
Tingjun Liu: I hope that life science and technology can greatly improve human health, and at a low cost.
Junying Yuan: When I was watching the competition for the Dongrun-Yau Science Award yesterday, I really admired you. You have known so much more than we did at high school. As long as you work hard, you will achieve greater success. I wish you a smooth and fulfilling academic career.
Xinnian Dong: Actually all of you have a higher starting point than our generation. My only expectation for you is that you should aim high, and care more about the society and nature. In this way, you will achieve success.
Xiaodong Wang: I would like to look back at the question about emptiness and pointlessness in life, raised by a student this morning, about why 30% of students who accomplished their goal of going to Peking University or Tsinghua University feel confused about life. I want to say that life is too short, and we are blessed to have brains, eyes and senses to perceive, to see, and to feel the beautiful world; everyone only lives once, and we are fortunate to learn science and math, and have the Dongrun Foundation which gives us generous encouragement and support. Though life is short, we should do all we can to make the world a better place.