“我们可以生活在一个去化石燃料的世界中吗?”“意识存在于何处?”“为什么时间似乎只朝一个方向流动?”……今天(4月10日)下午,上海交通大学携手《科学》杂志共同发布了125个全世界最受关注的科学问题。
这125个问题集合了全球智慧。为纪念建校125周年,上海交大与《科学》/美国科学促进会联袂策划发行《125个科学问题——探索与发现》增刊。
上海交通大学校长林忠钦,常务副校长丁奎岭,副校长徐学敏、奚立峰、毛军发、王伟明,《科学》/美国科学促进会国际合作总监初晓英,世界顶尖科学家协会副主席、2013年诺贝尔化学奖得主Michael Levitt共同受邀上台,共同按下面向全球的125个科学问题发布装置。
林忠钦表示,重大科学问题的凝练是大学创新使命和能力的重要体现,学校联合《科学》面向全球征集与发布125个科学问题,希望能够为推动科技进步、服务人类社会发展作出贡献。
《科学》系列期刊出版人Bill Moran通过视频回顾了16年前《科学》杂志社为纪念创刊125周年出版同样发布了《125个科学问题——我们有哪些未知》特刊。这些问题中有些已经在过去的10多年中得到了解决,而有些仍然是延续至今的谜题,甚至在此次的问题征集中,仍然广受关注。
初晓英说,问题的边界就是我们思想的边界,只有提出正确的问题,才能更好地认清和解决全球性问题与挑战。上海交大提出这样极具创新的方式纪念校庆,体现了交大人的创新精神,以及对科学发展、人类未来的重要使命感。专刊上的问题结合国际前沿、全球共需、科学发展,聚焦人类福祉和前瞻重大科学问题,对未来科技的发展具有强烈的指导意义。
Michael Levitt表示,期待学者们和科研人员们对这125个科学问题开展热烈探讨,推动研究发展。
与此同时,《125个科学问题:探索与发现》的姊妹篇——上海交通大学学报《上海交通大学建校125周年科学问题专刊》也在会上同步发布。专刊收录多个领域的前沿基础研究述评,以激发新兴学科和交叉学科的学术探讨。去年发布了科学问题的全球征集令后,得到了全球科学家、青年学者、世界顶尖科学家协会等学术组织的积极响应,问题凝聚了《科学》/美国科学促进会编辑与学术圈,诺贝尔奖、沃尔夫奖、拉斯克奖、图灵奖、麦克阿瑟天才奖获得者等全球知名科学家和青年学者,以及上海交大师生的共同智慧。此次问题涉及数学、化学、医学健康、生命学科、天文学、物理学、信息科学、材料科学、神经科学、生态学、能源科学和人工智能多个领域,涵盖范围广,学科领域丰富。
新版125个科学问题中,个别问题是持续关注上版问题中至今尚未解决的重大科学难题,如“宇宙是由什么构成的”“我们可以阻止自己衰老吗”。也有具有挑战性的全球共性问题,如“我们可以阻止全球气候变化吗”“能量存储的未来是怎样的”“我们有可能在另一个星球上长期居住吗”;还有具有较强时代特征的前沿科技问题,如“为什么生命需要手性”“量子人工智能可以模仿人脑吗”“DNA可以广泛用作信息存储介质吗”“我们如何在火星上开发制造系统”……
附:
SJTU & Science 125个科学问题
Mathematical Sciences | 数学 |
1. What makes prime numbers so special? | 1.什么使素数如此特别? |
2. Will the Navier–Stokes problem ever be solved? | 2.纳维尔-斯托克斯问题会得到解决吗? |
3. Is the Riemann hypothesis true? | 3.黎曼猜想是真的吗? |
Chemistry | 化学 |
1. Are there more color pigments to discover? | 1.还有更多色彩元素可发现吗? |
2. Will the periodic table ever be complete? | 2.元素周期表会完整吗? |
3. How can we measure interface phenomena on the microscopic level? | 3.如何在微观层面测量界面现象? |
4. What is the future for energy storage? | 4.能量存储的未来是怎样的? |
5. Why does life require chirality? | 5.为什么生命需要手性? |
6. How can we better manage the world's plastic waste? | 6.我们如何更好地管理世界上的塑料废物? |
7. Will AI redefine the future of chemistry? | 7.AI会重新定义化学的未来吗? |
8. How can matter be programmed into living materials? | 8.物质如何被编码而成为生命材料? |
9. What drives reproduction in living systems? | 9.是什么驱动生命系统的复制? |
Medicine & Health | 医学与健康 |
1. Can we predict the next pandemic? | 1.我们可以预测下一次流行病吗? |
2. Will we ever find a cure for the common cold? | 2.我们会找到治疗感冒的方法吗? |
3. Can we design and manufacture medicines customized for individual people? | 3.我们可以设计和制造出为个人定制的药物吗? |
4. Can a human tissue or organ be fully regenerated? | 4.人体组织或器官可以完全再生吗? |
5. How is immune homeostasis maintained and regulated? | 5.如何维持和调节免疫稳态? |
6. Is there a scientific basis to the Meridian System in traditional Chinese medicine? | 6.中医的经络系统有科学依据吗? |
7. How will the next generation of vaccines be made? | 7.下一代疫苗将如何生产? |
8. Can we ever overcome antibiotic resistance? | 8.我们能否克服抗生素耐药性? |
9. What is the etiology of autism? | 9.自闭症的病因是什么? |
10. What role does our microbiome play in health and disease? | 10.我们的微生物组在健康和疾病中扮演什么角色? |
11. Can xenotransplantation solve the shortage of donor organs? | 11.异种移植能否解决供体器官的短缺问题? |
Biology | 生命科学 |
1. What could help conservation of the oceans? | 1.什么可以帮助保护海洋? |
2. Can we stop ourselves from aging? | 2.我们可以阻止自己衰老吗? |
3. Why can only some cells become other cells? | 3.为什么只有一些细胞会变成其他细胞? |
4. Why are some genomes so big and others very small? | 4.为什么有些基因组非常大而另一些却很小? |
5. Will it be possible to cure all cancers? | 5.有可能治愈所有癌症吗? |
6. What genes make us uniquely human? | 6.哪些基因使我们人类与众不同? |
7. How do migratory animals know where they're going? | 7.迁徙动物如何知道它们要去哪里? |
8. How many species are there on Earth? | 8.地球上有多少物种? |
9. How do organisms evolve? | 9.有机体是如何进化的? |
10. Why did dinosaurs grow to be so big? | 10.为什么恐龙长得如此之大? |
11. Did ancient humans interbreed with other human-like ancestors? | 11.远古人类是否曾与其他类人祖先杂交? |
12. Why do humans get so attached to dogs and cats? | 12.人类为什么会对猫狗如此着迷? |
13. Will the world's population keep growing indefinitely? | 13.世界人口会无限增长吗? |
14. Why do we stop growing? | 14.我们为什么会停止生长? |
15. Is de-extinction possible? | 15.能否复活灭绝生物? |
16. Can humans hibernate? | 16.人类可以冬眠吗? |
17. Where do human emotions originate? | 17.人类的情感源于何处? |
18. Will humans look physically different in the future? | 18.未来人类的外貌会有所不同吗? |
19. Why were there species explosions and mass extinction? | 19.为什么会发生物种大爆发和大灭绝? |
20. How might genome editing be used to cure disease? | 20.基因组编辑将如何用于治疗疾病? |
21. Can a cell be artificially synthesized? | 21.可以人工合成细胞吗? |
22. How are biomolecules organized in cells to function orderly and effectively? | 22.细胞内的生物分子是如何组织从而有序有效发挥作用的? |
Astronomy | 天文学 |
1. How many dimensions are there in space? | 1.空间中有多少个维度? |
2. What is the shape of the universe? | 2.宇宙的形状是怎样的? |
3. Where did the big bang start? | 3.大爆炸从何处开始? |
4. Why don't the orbits of planets decay and cause them to crash into each other? | 4.为什么行星的轨道不衰减并导致它们相互碰撞? |
5. When will the universe die? Will it continue to expand? | 5.宇宙何时消亡?它会继续膨胀吗? |
6. Is it possible to live permanently on another planet? | 6.我们有可能在另一个星球上长期居住吗? |
7. Why do black holes exist? | 7.为什么存在黑洞? |
8. What is the universe made of? | 8.宇宙是由什么构成的? |
9. Are we alone in the universe? | 9.我们是宇宙中唯一的生命体吗? |
10. What is the origin of cosmic rays? | 10.宇宙射线的起源是什么? |
11. What is the origin of mass? | 11.物质的起源是什么? |
12. What is the smallest scale of space-time? | 12.时空的最小尺度是是多少? |
13. Is water necessary for all life in the universe, or just on Earth? | 13.水是宇宙中所有生命所必需的么,还是仅对地球生命? |
14. What is preventing humans from carrying out deep-space exploration? | 14.是什么阻止了人类进行深空探测? |
15. Is Einstein's general theory of relativity correct? | 15.爱因斯坦的广义相对论是正确的吗? |
16. How are pulsars formed? | 16.脉冲星是如何形成的? |
17. Is our Milky Way Galaxy special? | 17.我们的银河系特别吗? |
18. What is the volume, composition, and significance of the deep biosphere? | 18.深层生物圈的规模、组成和意义是什么? |
19. Will humans one day have to leave the planet (or die trying)? | 19.人类有一天会不得不离开地球吗(还是会在尝试中死去)? |
20. Where do the heavy elements in the universe come from? | 20.宇宙中的重元素来自何处? |
21. Is it possible to understand the structure of compact stars and matter? | 21.有可能了解致密恒星和物质的结构吗? |
22. What is the origin of the high-energy cosmic neutrinos? | 22.高能宇宙中微子的起源是什么? |
23. What is gravity? | 23.什么是重力? |
Physics | 物理学 |
1. Is there a diffraction limit? | 1.有衍射极限吗? |
2. What is the microscopic mechanism for high-temperature superconductivity? | 2.高温超导的微观机理是什么? |
3. What are the limits of heat transfer in matter? | 3.物质传热的极限是什么? |
4. What are the fundamental principles of collective motion? | 4.集体运动的基本原理是什么? |
5. What are the smallest building blocks of matter? | 5.什么是物质的最小组成部分? |
6. Will we ever travel at the speed of light? | 6.我们会以光速行驶吗? |
7. What is quantum uncertainty and why is it important? | 7.什么是量子不确定性,为什么它很重要? |
8. Will there ever be a "theory of everything"? | 8.会有“万有理论”吗? |
9. Why does time seem to flow in only one direction? | 9.为什么时间似乎只朝一个方向流动? |
10. What is dark matter? | 10.什么是暗物质? |
11. Can we make a real, human-size invisibility cloak? | 11.我们可以制作出真人大小的隐形斗篷吗? |
12. Are there any particles that behave oppositely to the properties or states of photons? | 12.是否存在与光子性质或状态相反的粒子? |
13. Will the Bose-Einstein condensate be widely used in the future? | 13.玻色-爱因斯坦冷凝体未来会被广泛使用吗? |
14. Can humans make intense lasers with incoherence comparable to sunlight? | 14.人类能制造出与太阳光相似的非相干强激光吗? |
15. What is the maximum speed to which we can accelerate a particle? | 15.我们最多可以将粒子加速到多快? |
16. Is quantum many-body entanglement more fundamental than quantum fields? | 16.量子多体纠缠比量子场更基本吗? |
17. What is the optimum hardware for quantum computers? | 17.量子计算机的最佳硬件是什么? |
18. Can we accurately simulate the macro- and microworld? | 18.我们可以精确模拟宏观和微观世界吗? |
Information Science | 信息科学 |
1. Is there an upper limit to computer processing speed? | 1.计算机处理速度是否有上限? |
2. Can AI replace a doctor? | 2.AI可以代替医生吗? |
3. Can topological quantum computing be realized? | 3.拓扑量子计算可以实现吗? |
4. Can DNA act as an information storage medium? | 4.DNA可以用作信息存储介质吗? |
Engineering & Material Science | 工程与材料科学 |
1. What is the ultimate statistical invariances of turbulence? | 1.湍流的最终统计不变性是什么? |
2. How can we break the current limit of energy conversion efficiencies? | 2.我们如何突破当前的能量转换效率极限? |
3. How can we develop manufacturing systems on Mars? | 3.我们如何在火星上开发制造系统? |
4. Is a future of only self-driving cars realistic? | 4.纯无人驾驶汽车的未来是否现实? |
Neuroscience | 神经科学 |
1. What are the coding principles embedded in neuronal spike trains? | 1.神经元放电序列的编码准则是什么? |
2. Where does consciousness lie? | 2.意识存在于何处? |
3. Can human memory be stored, manipulated, and transplanted digitally? | 3.能否数字化地存储、操控和移植人类记忆? |
4. Why do we need sleep? | 4.为什么我们需要睡眠? |
5. What is addiction and how does it work? | 5.什么是成瘾? |
6. Why do we fall in love? | 6.为什么我们会坠入爱河? |
7. How did speech evolve and what parts of the brain control it? | 7.言语如何演变形成,大脑的哪些部分对其进行控制? |
8. How smart are nonhuman animals? | 8.除人类以外的其他动物有多聪明? |
9. Why are most people right-handed? | 9.为什么大多数人都是右撇子? |
10. Can we cure neurodegenerative diseases? | 10.我们可以治愈神经退行性疾病吗? |
11. Is it possible to predict the future? | 11.有可能预知未来吗? |
12. Can we more effectively diagnose and treat complex mental disorders? | 12.精神障碍能否有效诊断和治疗? |
Ecology | 生态学 |
1. Can we stop global climate change? | 1.我们可以阻止全球气候变化吗? |
2. Where do we put all the excess carbon dioxide? | 2.我们能把过量的二氧化碳存到何处? |
3. What creates the Earth's magnetic field (and why does it move)? | 3.是什么创造了地球的磁场(为什么它会移动)? |
4. Will we be able to predict catastrophic weather events (tsunami, hurricanes, earthquakes) more accurately? | 4.我们是否能够更准确地预测灾害性事件(海啸、飓风、地震)? |
5. What happens if all the ice on the planet melts? | 5.如果地球上所有的冰融化会怎样? |
6. Can we create an environmentally friendly replacement for plastics? | 6.我们可以创造一种环保的塑料替代品吗? |
7. Can we achieve a situation where essentially every material can be recycled and reused? | 7.几乎所有材料都可以回收再利用是否可以实现? |
8. Will we soon see the end of monocultures like wheat, maize, rice, and soy? | 8.我们会很快看到小麦、玉米、大米和大豆等单一作物的终结吗? |
Energy Science | 能源科学 |
1. Could we live in a fossil-fuel-free world? | 1.我们可以生活在一个去化石燃料的世界中吗? |
2. What is the future of hydrogen energy? | 2.氢能的未来是怎样的? |
3. Will cold fusion ever be possible? | 3.冷聚变有可能实现吗? |
Artificial Intelligence | 人工智能 |
1. Will injectable, disease-fighting nanobots ever be a reality? | 1.可注射的抗病纳米机器人会成为现实吗? |
2. Will it be possible to create sentient robots? | 2.是否有可能创建有感知力的机器人? |
3. Is there a limit to human intelligence? | 3.人类智力是否有极限? |
4. Will artificial intelligence replace humans? | 4.人工智能会取代人类吗? |
5. How does group intelligence emerge? | 5.群体智能是如何出现的? |
6. Can robots or AIs have human creativity? | 6.机器人或 AI 可以具有人类创造力吗? |
7. Can quantum artificial intelligence imitate the human brain? | 7.量子人工智能可以模仿人脑吗? |
8. Could we integrate with computers to form a human-machine hybrid species? | 8.我们可以和计算机结合以形成人机混合物种吗? |
作者:姜澎
责任编辑:樊丽萍
上海交通大学供图
*文汇独家稿件,转载请注明出处。