November 6, 2022, Tencent Science WE Conference - a science conference that almost everyone likes to watch has arrived as scheduled, starting a science fantasy journey.
Since 2013, Tencent will hold a WE conference in November every year, inviting top scientists from the world's cutting-edge fields to give speeches on the same stage.
The leading leading scientists of this year's WE Conference, in addition to the two Nobel Prize winners, John Mather, senior scientist of Webb Space Telescope, and the father of DNA repair, Thomas Lindal, , there are also four technical "leaders" from China who have created "heavy weapons of great powers" -
" Artificial Sun " project leader, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Li Jiangang, chief designer of the space station system of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Yang Hong , chief engineer of China Sky Eye (FAST), Jiang Peng , chief designer of " Struggler ", and Zhu Min, a paleoichiologist who redefined the evolutionary history of "From fish to humans" and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences .
These scientists shared their latest breakthroughs and discoveries in cutting-edge fields such as future energy, air-sea exploration, and life sciences .
As one of the platforms to showcase the world's cutting-edge technology trends, the Tencent WE conference will attract many Internet practitioners, technology fans, investors and media people every year.
This year is also the tenth year of the WE Conference, "Ten Years of Trees, Hundred Years of Trees, ". Tencent Senior Vice President Guo Kaitian announced on the spot that Tencent is building an open permanent science and technology museum at Qianhai headquarters in Shenzhen. It will work with top scientific research institutions to use artificial intelligence and full-true interconnection technology to create a century-old " technology tree " that integrates digital and real humans.
Tencent Senior Vice President Guo Kaitian released the "Science Tree"
. This "tree" will take basic disciplines as the root and evolve into branches with the development of disciplines, systematically presenting the development context and breakthrough achievements of a century of science, making people immersed in experience of human scientific achievements. Tencent will use an open mechanism to invite scientists and scientific and technological workers to create a "science and technology tree" together and continue to record scientific progress.
"Building this 'technology tree' gives us a deeper understanding of ' technology for good ' - technology for good is just like plants and trees for light. The development of science and technology should always serve the welfare of society; the growth of 'technology tree' should be in the direction of a beautiful evolution of human civilization." Guo Kaitian sighed.
Ten years ago, at the first WE conference, Tencent CEO 3 Ma Huateng planted a seed, "I hope to help popularize basic science"; at that time, it also set a tone for the WE conference - "Don't talk about business, just about technology and the future."
At this conference focusing on technology and the future, physicist Hawking gave his last speech in China, sharing his thoughts on the future of mankind, and encouraging scientists to shoulder the mission of exploring space and heading towards the "non-man's land."
For ten years, world sciences in the fields of theoretical physics , astrophysics , universe exploration and other fields have successively appeared, opening one door after another for us to understand the universe.
WE Conference witnessed how revolutionary technologies such as brain-computer interface , gene editing, artificial skin, etc., went from scientific imagination to life step by step, and then changed the way humans survive; from the World Wide Web to brain-like computing, quantum computing , the WE Conference tracked the cutting-edge computing scientific revolution . Academician Yao Qizhi predicted at the WE conference that quantum computers have arrived at the "last mile" before their birth, which is exciting.
In the past ten years, more and more Chinese scientists with world-class influence have also taken to the stage. They are writing a magnificent chapter of "China's power pushes human science to the peak."
In my opinion, it is better to call it a real "technology feast with a brain-opening mind".
Under the epidemic, on a regular weekend afternoon, these scientists’ wonderful speeches and sharing for three and a half hours can not only make you and me gain a lot in the palace of scientific knowledge, but also make people excited for the breakthroughs in domestic science and technology.
It is very gratifying that the planning team of WE Conference every year is working hard to try new themes, new communication methods and new technologies to fill the conference's sense of technology.
Since the epidemic, the WE Conference has gone from offline to online, which is also a challenge for communication.
This year's WE Conference uses the engine rendering of game technology and Tencent CDD virtual studio shooting technology to create scientist speeches and the release of "technology tree" into a film-level "science fiction blockbuster". High-precision restore presents "artificial sun", China Space Station and other grand scientific devices representing national scientific and technological breakthroughs, allowing us to observe the device 360° and follow the guest speeches to experience the magnificence of "space out-of-space operation" and "10,000 meters deep diving in the sea" and other scenes. The
conference also launched the "Surreal Studio" branch venue on QQ for the first time. Young audiences entered the digital image of "Super QQ Show" and watched the meeting freely in the virtual interactive social scene.
Through this non-commercial science conference, Tencent hopes to help the public better pay attention to and understand cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, inspire more possibilities to create innovation and change the future, and at the same time let more people think about issues about humanity and the future.
As Tencent Chief Exploration Official Website said, in daily life, we rarely think about the most basic questions: Who are we? What role do we play in the universe? What else is waiting for us to explore on the earth, etc.
Tencent Chief Exploration Official Website Dawei
Those brain-burning, exciting, interesting and moving moments about science and thinking are different, but some are really worth our record.
01
"We now have a population of 7 billion, so we expect that in about a very short time, humans can become 10 billion, and our resources will be consumed in the next one or two hundred years or even shorter, that is, the fossil energy will be used up very quickly, and a large amount of carbon dioxide will be generated. So what should we do?" Li Jiangang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and plasma physicist, raised a serious issue that affects human survival at the beginning.
Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and plasma physicist Li Jiangang
As we all know, everything grows by the sun, and most of the fossil energy on the earth benefit from the sun, such as fossil energy such as coal, natural gas and oil.
However, with the increase in the population on the earth and the development of science and technology and commerce, we will face the climate and environmental problems caused by exhaustion of energy and the large amount of carbon dioxide in a very short period of time.
How to find alternative clean energy has become the common mission of mankind.
In the last century, the International Energy Agency found 3,000 scientists. They found that the ultimate energy of human beings is controlled nuclear fusion, which is also the main force that can stably provide large-scale energy so far.
According to the principle of nuclear fusion , in order to achieve explosion of hydrogen bomb , the atomic bomb must be used to ignite the temperature point to 350 million degrees before fusion can be achieved.
1958, the Soviet Union first developed the Tokamak experimental device, and then the whole world conducted a lot of experiments around it. However, it is still very difficult to achieve controllable and large-scale fusion.
At that time, a doctor who graduated from Oxford University in the UK proposed the "Lawsonson Criteria" - the first and most difficult problem of fusion of is to ignite. Once the "Lawsonson Criteria" was proposed, it was widely accepted by people who were doing fusion at that time. But at that time, the doctor felt that he would not be able to do it in his entire life and chose to give up.
But others in the world who are doing fusion are still insisting on it, and various countries have built more than 100 tokamaks of all sizes.
Since the 1950s, my country has established China's Southwest Physics Institute of Nuclear Industry in a place 3.6 kilometers away from the Leshan Giant Buddha in Sichuan.
At that time, the institute gathered a group of outstanding scientists, led by Academician Li Zhengwu and Academician Pan Yuan, and proposed that China also wanted to carry out magnetic constraint fusion. They made China's first medium-sized tokamak, which is the "circulator No. 1", thus setting a precedent for China to do magnetic constraint fusion.
According to Li Jiangang, they experienced countless difficulties and challenges during this period. In addition to insufficient funds, their technology also relies on their own research and development and iteration.
applied to the country in 1996. After years of research and development, by 2007, the Oriental Super Circle (EAST) independently developed by my country was finally born, known as the "artificial sun". This is also the first fully superconducting tokamak nuclear fusion experimental device in the world.
After that, they spent another 15 years to achieve the three major scientific goals of 1 trillion ampere, 100 million degrees and 1,000 seconds proposed to the country that year.
In the American movie " Iron Man ", the engine of Iron Man is what we call Tokamak; in " Wandering Earth ", it is also restored that humans have to rely on 10,000 fusion engines to push the earth to another galaxy, and rely on fusion to save the earth.
In 2021, EAST broke the world record twice, achieving repeatable ionic operation of 120 million degrees Celsius for 101 seconds and 70 million degrees Celsius for 1056 seconds.
"In the next step, we plan to achieve 100 million degrees of 100,000 seconds, or even unlimited operation, laying a solid foundation for future power generation. We are also promoting the construction of China's fusion engineering experimental reactor (CFETR) and working with the international community to realize the dream of 'ultimate energy'." Li Jiangang said at the WE conference.
02
Starry sea is the eternal romantic yearning for mankind. There are many mysteries that need humans to explore in the vast universe. Many countries in the world today have elevated the development of aerospace to the national strategic level.
The manned space industry exploring the universe is a systematic project. It is like a huge machine. Everyone may be a screw, a gear, or a conveyor belt. Only when everyone's work is in place can this huge machine operate normally.
00 Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chief designer of the space station system of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group
"The vast space is a treasure house of rich resources, and the manned space industry is a bridge to this treasure house." Yang Hong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chief designer of the space station system of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group, talked about the development path of the "Tiangong" of the Chinese space station in the past decade to intensively tackle a series of key technologies.
Through Yang Hong's story, we learned that key technological breakthroughs from manned space technology to control and management technology of space laboratories and combinations are actually the hard work of every aerospace personnel.
After these key technologies are broken through, they must assemble the multi-disciplinary equipment involved into cabin sections, and then undergo rigorous testing and testing.
According to reports, the space station has three cabin sections, namely Tianhe Core Cabin, Wentian Experimental Cabin and Mengtian Experimental Cabin . After the Mengtian Experimental Cabin entered orbit, it successfully transferred and merged with Tianhe Core Cabin, Wentian Experimental Cabin, Shenzhou 14 manned spacecraft, and Tianzhou 4 cargo spacecraft . The "T-shaped configuration" was established.
"The original three-cabin configuration can integrate and reconstruct multi-cabin and multi-spacecraft systems, greatly improve the reliability of overall operation, and lay the foundation for subsequent expansion." Yang Hong said, "China's space station is an open space laboratory. Scientists around the world are welcome to carry out scientific experiments in the fields of biology, , basic physics, etc., jointly develop space resources, and contribute to the improvement of human welfare."
03
Researcher Jiang Peng from the National Observatory and is also the chief engineer of FAST. What he brings to everyone is the story of "China's Sky Eye".
Jiang Peng revealed the innovative breakthroughs of key technologies on the spot. "China's Sky Eye" (FAST) is currently the world's largest single-caliber and most sensitive radio telescope. It mainly explores the origin and evolution of the universe by receiving cosmic electromagnetic signals, detecting interstellar molecules and interstellar communication signals. The contradiction between the huge engineering volume and the millimeter-level dynamic control accuracy is the core difficulty throughout the entire construction stage of FAST."
In March 2011, FAST officially started construction.
, but the start of construction was not smooth, because this is an extremely complex telescope system, and the working concept is completely different from that of traditional telescopes, so it faces many challenges.
According to Jiang Peng, first of all, FAST has an extremely large structural engineering volume. Compared with the bird's nest, the engineering volume of FAS is several times that of the former; at the same time, the accuracy requirements are extremely high.
, and the super-large project size and super high accuracy are itself a pair of contradictions. This is also the core technical difficulty of the entire FAST construction stage.
At the same time, it also faces complex terrain and landform characteristics, and large equipment could not enter the site at that time. So much so that almost all construction technologies are specially designed for FAST, including the installation plans of ring beams, feed towers and cable nets, etc., have formed a national construction method. During
, in order to ensure the safe and smooth operation of the entire telescope, the largest fatigue experiment was developed for the steel cable.
According to Jiang Peng, "It almost ruined the cable fatigue problem that FAST is the problem. The cable net needs to change frequently between the spherical surface and the parabolic surface, which will cause the steel cable to bear a fatigue load of 500 MPa stress amplitude for a long time. This is a cable fatigue performance that has never been achieved worldwide."
After nearly a hundred attempts to improve the cable body process in all aspects, it finally developed the finished cable structure of FAST, which is also a basic task that FAST can successfully advance.
"The next step is how we will achieve accurate control of the telescope." When showing the observation results of FAST detecting the largest atomic gas system to date and discovering 660 pulsars, Jiang Peng also shared his thoughts on expanding the detection vision. "There are many uncertainties, but it cannot prevent the arrival of the next generation of 'Sky-Viewing Eyes'. In the future, it will expand the human vision one step further."
04
The ocean is still full of unknowns to humans. We can now obtain very accurate positioning information and geographical information on land. However, if this system is transferred to the ocean, we are actually very lacking in understanding the seabed, and more than 80% of the seabed landforms have not been accurately mapped.
More than 80% of the newly discovered biological species come from the ocean every year. Ye Cong, chief designer of "Fendouzhe" , demonstrated on the spot the process of China's manned deep-sea diving starting from the Jiaolong, independently attacking and building the spectrum of the entire sea-deep submersible, and the secret of the Exploration of the 10,000-meter-deep sea.
"Struggle" chief designer Ye Cong
China's manned deep diving should start from the 21st century. Before that, China's submersibles had explored a depth of 6,000 meters, and the record of Chinese manned equipment diving does not exceed 600 meters.
In 2002, China's first large-depth manned submersible "Jiaolong", officially launched the project, and the target of the "Jiaolong" points 7,000 meters below the water surface.
This is a huge leap. The "Jiaolong" is aimed at the exploration, development and environmental protection of international submarine mineral resources. After 10 years of unremitting efforts, my country has conquered a series of submersible-related overall structures (and) machinery and electrical, including its management, operation and maintenance related technologies.
In 2012, my country achieved the realization of the dragon entering the sea - the deep manned submersible "Jiaolong", with the maximum diving depth reaching 7062 meters. This also means that China has become the fifth country to master large-depth manned deep-sea diving technology after the four countries of the United States, Russia, Japan and France, and has pushed the maximum depth of manned deep-sea diving operations in the world to 7,000 meters in one fell swoop.
In recent years, the Jiaolong has dived more than 220 times. China's second large-depth manned submersible is called the Deep Sea Warrior, and its maximum operating depth is 4,500 meters.
In 2020, the "Struggle" completed a live broadcast interaction called "10,000-meter seabed" during the sea trial. During this diving operation, the Fendorian arrived at the 10,909-meter bottom of the sea.
In 2021, the "Struggle" was officially put into use in scientific research, which means that a ten thousand-meter dive is no longer an adventure or an adventure, but has entered an era of routine and routine scientific research.
As of now, the "Fendouzhe" has achieved 21 10,000-meter dive missions, and 27 Chinese scientists and engineers have completed their 10,000-meter journey by riding the "Fendouzhe" manned submersible. China is the country with the largest number of people and people in the world.
The scientist team also proposed the Mariana ecological research plan during the voyage of the "Struggle". "At present, we have provided scientists with more than 1,000 data volumes of marine environments and organisms, which should be the world's largest abyss database at present." Ye Cong said.
05
What happened after the Big Bang ?
As the most powerful and most cost-effective infrared-band space telescope to date, "Webbe" helped scientists explore the mysteries of the early universe at 2:00 on Lagrangian 1.5 million kilometers away from the earth.
At this WE conference, John Mather, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics and senior scientist of Webb Space Telescope, introduced Webb's series of observations.
Regarding exploring the early universe, he said, "This is consistent with the concept of the scientific and technological tree 'roots in the past, branches connect the future'. Webb Telescope helps us understand the birth and development of the universe, and we will be able to better predict the future."
2006 Nobel Prize in Physics and senior scientist of Webb Space Telescope
Recently, John Mather also has been with Zhan Hu, a researcher at the National Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the responsible scientist for the optical facilities of the space surveying telescope, Gou Lijun, a researcher at the National Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Deng Dafu, an expert in game AI technology and head of Tencent at the "Complete Source Tracking Hunter Constellation Project" (CATCH), exchanged views and in-depth discussions on the future possibilities of space exploration, including engineering breakthroughs and observation plans for large astronomical observation projects such as the Webb Space Telescope, China Sky Survey Telescope, and CATCH Project, as well as how to use game AI technology to assist astronomical observation and process observation data.
Thomas Lindal was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2015 for "Research on DNA Repair Mechanisms". The " base resection repair " he discovered opened a new window for understanding the mechanism of cancer and other diseases, cancer prevention and treatment.
This time, Lindal brought the latest research on cancer treatment. "We hope to try 'suspended DNA repair' to temporarily expose the cancer cell DNA to destructive media that does not work very well, so as to get a good opportunity to fight cancer cells and achieve better therapeutic effects."
Lindal led the audience to review the important nodes of the origin and evolution of life, and called on scientists to explore the traces of the earliest life on Earth, "life and self-responsiveness." However, there are too many unsolved mysteries. We need to think about and explore whether there is another form of life on the earth, which will be of great value to the research of life sciences. "
" Through fossil empirical and multidisciplinary intersections from billions of years ago, we can deepen our understanding of the evolution of important jaw-like organs and body configurations, and may also reveal the impact of interactions between organisms on the rise and extinction of major groups in addition to environmental factors. This is an important way for humans to understand the laws of coordinated evolution of organisms and environment on the earth today."
Zhu Min, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and paleoichiologist,
At the end of September, Nature magazine published four papers by Zhu Min's team in the form of a cover, reporting in detail the research results of the origin and earliest evolution of jaws. It rewrites the traditional cognition of the rise of jaws and traces the origins of several human body structures to fossil fish 436 million years ago.
"Only by understanding the past can we understand the present and explore the future. "When Zhu Min, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a paleoichiologist, expressed the same view as Lindal when he showed the latest achievements of the "From Fish to Human" research.
has been sharpening his sword for ten years. WE Conference has been committed to sharing the most breakthrough scientific discoveries and cutting-edge ideas to the public, so that more people can understand the great exploration of the ultimate problem. Data shows that the cumulative number of public participation online and offline has reached nearly 100 million people.
For ten years, WE Conference and hundreds of millions of people have witnessed the world's top scientific researchers giving speeches on the cutting-edge fields such as cosmology, theoretical physics, life sciences, and information technology.
Intelligently travels through time and space, humans' love for science continues, and the pace of exploring science will never stop.
