Source: CCTV
“New 125 science issues” (picture source: WeChat official account of Shanghai Jiaotong University)
CCTV Beijing, April 17 news according to China Central Radio and Television China Voice's "News Hyperlink" reported that recently, Shanghai Jiaotong University and "Science" magazine released "125 new scientific questions". The reason why it is called "New 125 Scientific Questions" is because in 2005, when the magazine "Science" was founded for its 125th anniversary, 125 questions were published globally. These problems are scientific problems that strive to promote basic scientific research, and of course they also have a positive impact on the future development of science.
These problems are scientific problems, and some are difficult to understand just by looking at the topic. For example, the problem in the field of mathematics: Will the Navier-Stokes problem be solved? Questions in the field of chemistry: Why does life need chirality? ...Some questions seem simple, for example, why are most people right-handed? Why are people so fascinated by cats and dogs? Why do we need sleep? ......
Take a few of these questions, "News Hyperlink" invites well-known popular science authors, 果壳网 popular science writer, Lei Tuo, to answer everyone.
Question: Can we predict the next epidemic?
Answer: We don't know when the next epidemic will come, but we know that the next epidemic will definitely come.
Lean Tuo said that just as it is difficult for us to predict the next stock market crash or surge, we cannot predict the next pandemic. There are too many complicated factors and huge amount of data involved.
Even if we fully grasp the relevant data, we still cannot accurately predict the next epidemic. Shou Tuo said that he hopes that some revolutionary methods will appear in the future, so that we can predict the future or make predictions more accurate. At present, there are some theoretical limitations.
Question 2: Will we find a cure for the common cold?
Seeing this problem, many people may find it strange. Sometimes a small cold doesn't even need to take medicine, and it will pass by just carrying it. Is this still a problem?
cold, also known as common cold , commonly known as "cold." Many kinds of viruses, mycoplasma and a few bacteria can cause colds. Most colds are caused by rhinovirus . An adult may have a common cold 4-5 times or even 10 times a year.
Lean camel said that, unlike the flu, currently, we do not have a vaccine against the common cold. First, because rhinovirus is a complex virus, it has 160 different serotypes, and it is impossible to develop a vaccine for each virus. Second, except for rhinovirus, about 40% of common colds are caused by other viruses.
Generally speaking, ordinary people will heal themselves within 5-7 days of a cold, and it will not have much impact on life. However, for patients with chronic diseases, the common cold may still have serious effects on their bodies.
Lean camel said that one day humans will defeat the common cold!
Question 3: Why are humans so fascinated by cats and dogs?
Today, the pet industry is huge. 40-50% of urban households have pets, and the proportion continues to increase.
About 30,000 years ago, dogs entered human life, and about 10,000 years ago, cats also entered human life. In the beginning, cats and dogs were working animals like cows and sheep. For example, dogs watched the nursing home and cats caught mice.
With the development of society, people's quality of life is gradually improving and the process of urbanization is accelerating, people no longer need working animals. Some working animals that are not easily converted into companion animals slowly disappear from our field of vision.
Regarding the question "why do some people like cats and dogs and some people don't?", Lean camel said that this may be related to dopamine and oxytocin in people’s brains.People with sensitive nerve receptors are more inclined to keep pets. In addition, if you have lived in a family with pets since childhood, you will be more inclined to have pets when you grow up.
Although the topic of this question is simple, it is very complicated to study and requires more experiments and data accumulation to draw conclusions.
Producer: Bai Zhonghua
Reporter: Fu Yu
Editor: Yang Yang Bi Liwei
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