Academicians and "internet celebrities" are two seemingly distant identities.
Recently, many academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have become new "internet celebrities" in the field of science popularization because of their "cloud science popularization" through video, live broadcast and other forms on the Internet.
The world contains infinite mysteries. "What are the secrets of biological evolution?" "Why can't the sea extinguish the fire of the undersea volcano?" ...... In just five or six minutes of popular science videos, the academicians will talk about esoteric scientific problems one by one, easy to understand, vivid and interesting. Seeing the gray-haired academic predecessors, while seriously answering the questions of netizens, while lovingly saying "hello children" and "please criticize and correct", thousands of teenagers were deeply attracted, they sighed in the bullet screen: for the first time, they felt so close to science, very inspirational! Ignited his own scientific dreams and ambitions for innovation.
Why are academicians willing to embrace the network and do "cloud science popularization" in addition to busy scientific research work? In addition to passing on knowledge, what else would they like to say to a younger audience?
Recently, this reporter interviewed three academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who opened popular science video accounts, let us listen to their stories.
Liu Jiaqi, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and researcher of the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences——
"Every intellectual should do some science popularization work"
On the morning of the reporter's interview, Liu Jiaqi, who is more than eighty years old, is planning to record a popular science video. Early in the morning, Liu Jiaqi came to his office at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Along with the reporter, there were two young students, armed with cameras, tripods, microphones and other equipment, ready to take advantage of the gap after the interview to record several popular science videos for Liu Jiaqi.
The day's recordings include "Why We Are Exploring the North and South Poles" and "Why the Tibetan Plateau is called the Third Pole." In the shot, Liu Jiaqi, with gray hair, wearing his trademark white shirt, greets the audience with a smile: "Hello children! I'm here to talk to you. ”
Every time, as soon as Liu Jiaqi's video was launched, netizens would respond neatly in the bullet screen, "Grandpa is good!" "Hello teacher!" In a harmonious and joyful atmosphere, a few minutes of "cloud science" began.
Less than a year after becoming the master of popular science UP (video uploader), Liu Jiaqi has nearly 300,000 fans. "Young people are willing to use fragmented time to learn some scientific knowledge, and popular science content is welcome, which is a good phenomenon."
Liu Jiaqi told reporters that after decades of earth science research, he has traveled all over China's landscapes and rivers, visited many inaccessible places, and explored unknown geological relics and geological phenomena. "I am willing to tell more people about this knowledge through the form of popular science." In fact, the popularization of science is as important as scientific and technological innovation. One of the purposes of our scientific research is to promote social development, and the other is to improve the scientific quality of citizens. How to let the public understand science, use science, and have a scientific spirit? This is inseparable from the work of science popularization. ”
Over the years, Liu Jiaqi has done science reports throughout the country. Now, with the new form of "cloud science", he is naturally very happy. "Science popularization should be oriented to the public, of course, the wider the spread, the better." The way of video science popularization is not limited by time and place, and now I can speak wherever I am, and everyone can listen to it anywhere, so it is necessary to innovate in this form. ”
Because he has introduced volcanoes around the world in many videos, many netizens like to call Liu Jiaqi "volcano academician". "In fact, in addition to volcanoes, earth science has a very wide range of contents, which can be said to be closely related to the survival of human beings, and is a science of 'feeding all mankind'." Liu Jiaqi introduced to reporters in detail that the various substances and energy resources we use, the climate and environment around us, and the geological disasters encountered are almost all related to earth science. "So I want to tell more young netizens about the importance of this science through popular science videos."
In addition to influencing the public, Liu Jiaqi also hopes that the "cloud science popularization" he has done can drive more scientific researchers to participate in this work.
"For me, doing science popularization is an unshirkable social responsibility." Liu Jiaqi told reporters that he experienced the pain of losing his father and family difficulties when he was young, "If I did not get the help of others and the cultivation of the state when I was a child, it would be difficult to become a useful person to society." I've always been grateful for that. Other researchers may have different growth experiences, but everyone is not 'born to know', must be 'learned and known', in the process of learning, the same will be supported from all sides of society. Therefore, when you have a little knowledge and some ability, it is natural to give back to the society. Knowledge cannot be selfish. From this point of view, every intellectual should do some science popularization work. ”
Shu Degan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Institute of Early Life Sciences of Northwest University——
"Scientific research and science popularization should 'fly together'"
Shudgan, 76, is an expert in the field of evolutionary paleontology. Now, he has been given a new title by netizens on the Internet - "Heavyweight Treasure UP Lord".
In a popular science video with the theme of "Where Did We Come From", Shu Degan stood in front of the filing cabinet, casually took out the Kunming fish fossil known as the "world's first fish", explained the biological evolution to the audience, and humorously added: "This thing is a super national treasure, usually I am locked in the safe!" It caused netizens to exclaim in the barrage that "it is too precious" and "the original knowledge can also be seen as a national treasure for free."
Some people feel that academicians do science popularization is "overkill". Isn't it easy for someone who can master the most cutting-edge knowledge in the field to explain some fur to the public?
But Shu Degan said that it is not easy to do a good job in science popularization. In order to explain the "unpopular discipline" of paleontology to be "grounded", he really spent a lot of effort.
The complex process of biological evolution is not intuitive enough to say, so make a lot of pictures to show the audience. In order to allow audiences with different knowledge bases to "take what they need", Shu Degan will record videos of various lengths, both "short videos" for ordinary audiences and "long videos" for professional students. Topics to be taught are also carefully selected, from introducing the ups and downs of ancient life, telling the stories of scientists such as Darwin, Newton, and Mendel, and sharing personal experiences from their academic careers.
The efforts made in "going deep and simple" have made Shu Degan's popular science popularization very popular. For example, he said: "Once, I asked a nine-year-old who had watched my popular science content, 'How much can you understand?' She replied, 'I understand eighty percent. ’”
Although he is an elder academically and an elder in terms of age, Shu Degan is accustomed to saying "please criticize and correct" at the end of his popular science video. He also likes to collect feedback from the audience through the bullet screen. "There is no lack of insight in the message, there are encouragement and well-intentioned criticism, and some netizens will ridicule my 'Hubei Mandarin', which is very fun." This kind of timely interaction is a major advantage of network science popularization. ”
Since the opening of the video account at the end of June, Shu degan has uploaded 15 popular science videos. In August, he was able to update twice a week. In addition to the busy scientific research work, is it worth spending so much energy on science popularization?
Shu degan's answer was "sweet as a rapture." In his view, disseminating many important new discoveries of evolutionary paleontology through popular science and sharing scientific ideas with the public is a "beautiful thing" that is not only conducive to social development and scientific progress, but also enriches the cultural life of the masses and improves the scientific literacy of the whole people.
"From the perspective of my own work, scientific research and science popularization should be 'flying together'." Shu Degan told reporters with great emotion: "I have done some work in scientific research, and now that I am older, I feel that the most important thing is to let the 'academic gene' be inherited and build an academic echelon that can be sustainable." Specific to the science popularization work, I want to open the way for the emergence of various excellent popular science works. ”
For the audience who watched their own popular science videos, Shu Degan also had some expectations. "In addition to wanting everyone to get a little interesting knowledge of evolutionary paleontology in the process of listening to stories, I also hope to give young people a little ideological inspiration and cultivate the good habit of using their brains." Learning is not only to watch the 'lively' with ease and pleasure, but also to understand the 'doorway' in it, and it is best to have the spirit of daring to question. Only in this way can such young people create new knowledge and new ideas in future practice. ”
Pu Muming, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Academic Director of the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligent Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences——
"My role in popular science is like a tour guide"
"Hello students, my name is Pu Muming. For the past forty or fifty years, I've taught neuroscience..."
Academician Pu Muming, who is too old, sat in front of a row of bookshelves and said the opening statement in a loud voice. This is the first popular science video he released in June this year, the theme is "Can the brain be transplanted". More than two months later, the video has been viewed more than 300,000 times on the Bilibili website, and the bullet screen of netizens has covered almost the entire screen.
"Brain science is a very interesting science, and everyone is very interested in the questions of 'how the brain thinks' and 'how memory is formed'." Talking about his research for many years, Pu Muming is very proud. He told reporters that there are not only unsolved cutting-edge puzzles, but also a lot of interesting knowledge suitable for popular science to the public, so he has always insisted on doing science popularization work for many years.
"Now that the Internet is more and more developed, more listeners can be reached through video science, which is certainly better." But I also found that some 'Internet celebrities' in the name of 'popular science', the content is plausible and more exaggerated. As a rigorous scientist, Pu Muming has always opposed the "pseudo-science popularization" of the Internet sensationalism, which has also prompted him to make up his mind to do a good job in online science popularization and let the correct scientific knowledge reach more netizens. He felt that researchers should be accurate and clear when disseminating scientific results. "Inaccurate content will mislead the public's perception of scientific achievements and cause distrust of scientists and science in society."
The graduate students under the guidance of Pu Muming were particularly supportive of the teacher's idea of doing "cloud science". There is a student who is familiar with video production and takes the initiative to take on the work of shooting and editing. He told reporters that Mr. Pu will agree with everyone on the theme of the lecture, "Record the content once, we will come back and cut it into 3 programs, to ensure that the duration of each video is within 8 minutes." ”
The topic that meets the tastes of young people, the video rhythm that conforms to the habits of network viewing, coupled with the academician-level explanation, the combination of strong and strong, makes the brain science, which sounds "tall" science, also become easy to understand.
Of course, no matter how to change the form of communication, Pu Muming's popular science still adheres to the core concept of his research - "seeking truth from facts". "The really good science popularization should not only tell everyone what we know at present, but also clearly explain what is unknown." Scientific achievements cannot be exaggerated in order to attract an audience. To let the public understand that in the frontiers of science, there are still many mysterious problems waiting to be explored. Pu Muming made an analogy: "My role in popular science is like a tour guide, hoping to stimulate the curiosity of netizens about science through their own explanations." ”
In addition to conveying correct scientific knowledge and stimulating the curiosity of the audience, Pu Muming also wants to let the audience harvest a "scientific attitude" through his own videos. He told reporters: "Science is not only knowledge, but also a way of thinking. A person with scientific thinking has the ability to scientifically judge all kinds of affairs, to seek verification according to facts, and to make his own judgment from the evidence. ”
Pu Muming believes that knowledge itself will constantly update and change, but scientific thinking can be consistent. "If there are young netizens who can establish a scientific mindset and become a 'scientific person' after watching the video, then this will be the greatest success of my science popularization work." (Li Zhen)
Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition