On January 17, 2016, Prof. Shi Yigong, vice president of Tsinghua University, dean of Tsinghua University’s School of Life Sciences, academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences and structural biologist, delivered a speech titled “The Limit of Life Science Cognition “Speech.
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Where do people come from?
Today, I want to discuss with you the essence of life and the limits of life.
Let’s see where people come from
The whole process of human birth is this: A sperm floating around the surface of the egg, looking for an entrance, find the right place, it will secrete some enzymes, and then get in. Eggs are very clever, generally will not give the second sperm another chance, so once sperm come in, immediately sealed the entrance. The sperm are degraded after they come in, and then the nuclei of the sperm and the nucleus of the egg combine to form a diploid. The fertilized egg begins to develop and gradually divides into two cells, which divide into four cells, eight cells and 16 cells, When the fertilized egg is still wandering outside the uterus, not yet implanted. Continue to split, the formation of 64 cells, 128 cells, then it is about to find a place to bed. After implantation, continue to develop.
You may or may not know, just four weeks, the fetus began to have heartbeat. Slowly, the neural tube is formed, the spine is formed, the limbs begin to develop and begin to form fingers through apoptosis. By four or five months, the fetus begins to kick in the mother’s stomach. Before birth, the fetus’s brain develops very fast, a variety of synapses rapidly formed. However, do not forget, such a vivid life comes from a fertilized egg.
After the beginning of life, the course of life is very long, there are a lot of distress. I remember reading a hits poem saying: 0-year-old debut, 10-year-old thrive, 20-year-old foolish, 30-year-old struggling to break through, 40-year-old basic orientation, 50 years old looking back, 60 years old Return home, 70-year-old rub rub mahjong, 80-year-old sun, 90-year-old lying in bed, 100-year-old hanging on the wall.
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How to use science to meet life challenge
The course of our lives has been challenged, with many coming from diseases, of which three have very much to do with human beings.
Among them, cardiovascular disease is the most important killer. In China alone, there are about 3.03 million people who die of cardiovascular diseases each year, accounting for 32%.
The second disease is also horrible. It is cancer. The people around us are often killed by cancer. In China, 2.65 million people die of cancer each year, accounting for 28%.
The third type of disease is not high in mortality, but it is a serious problem for people and seriously affects the quality of life. It is a neurodegenerative disease. There are many world famous people who have suffered from such diseases.
In addition, 34% died of other causes, most of them infectious diseases and a small part of traffic accidents and accidental injuries.
What I want to tell you today is how we use science to meet the challenge of life.
In ancient times, we fumbled in the darkness. For example, contemporary Tu Yo-yo is the way to find the cure for malaria. He saw the inspiration of classical pharmacy, which led to the discovery of artemisinin. Fleming’s discovery of penicillin was already explored using scientific methodologies. Since 1985, Goldstein and Brown discovered a receptor for LDL (LDL receptor), opening up a real journey to conquer cardiovascular disease.
Human beings always use science to deal with challenges, from simple exploration and accumulation of experience to the discovery of drugs driven by basic research. I have three examples to share here.
The first example is cardiovascular disease. The study found that low-density lipoproteins, which cause cardiovascular plaque, bind to receptors and are then endocytosed by endocytosis. Low-density lipophilic particles are degraded after endocytosis, and receptors are returned to the cell surface where they can be regenerated. Go to the new low-density lipoprotein to the cell, thereby reducing the harmful effects of low-density lipoprotein. In 1985, Goldstein and Brown scientists (and Wang Xiaodong’s postdoctoral fellow) were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the receptors for low-density lipoproteins.
Many cholesterol-lowering statins have emerged, including the first in a series of cardiovascular diseases in 1987, with a large group of people, including Goldstein, Brown and Japanese scientist Endo Akira. To date, the most famous statin, Lipitor (atorvastatin), has been granted a patent term and somebody else should have taken the drug. Before it expired in 2011 patent, the global sales of up to 16 billion US dollars, called the drug god.
We have been using basic research to explore the most cutting-edge and disease-fighting methods. Although we have a lot of statins, many people with hyperlipidemia only eat statins and can not stop the plaque and the plaque The formation of blocks. Why? The scientists found that because LDL receptors in these bodies are gradually degraded and can not be recovered, how to restore the number of their receptors is at the heart of the problem.
A few years ago, scientists found the PCSK9 protein, which binds to low-density lipoprotein receptors. After binding to the receptor, low-density lipoprotein particles are pulled together by the receptor endocytosis, that is, low-density lipoprotein receptor while being endocytosed by the cells at the expense of, it can no longer flow Low-density lipoprotein in the blood is degraded, so a large number of low-density lipoprotein accumulation, the formation of soft plaque and hard plaque, and finally bring about a fatal cardiovascular disease. This process was discovered by basic research, and Helen, the famous scientist who discovered the process, was a woman who won the 2015 Life Science Breakthrough Award.
The second example we talk about the new dawn of cancer treatment, that is, we have heard many times the “immunotherapy.” One of the best-known examples of this immunotherapy is that on August 20, 2015, former U.S. President Carter announced to all who care about him that he had advanced melanoma and that there were already four 2-mm-large tumors in the brain Inside, he has spread, and he does not think he has much time. However, just three months later, on December 6, 2015, he again appeared in front of everyone and told people that by molecular therapy, four tumors in his brain were completely lost.
His molecular therapies include a well-known immunotherapy that is directed at monoclonal antibodies to PD-1 surface receptors. Immunotherapy fundamentally changed the way humans fight diseases. James Allison, creator of the therapy and discoverer of the concept, also received a Life Science Breakthrough Award. Among the scientists who have made significant contributions to this process is the inclusion of a Chinese, Dr. Chen Ping.
The third example is a neurodegenerative disease. Unfortunately, humankind has so far not been aware of the cause. Although I can tell you many theories, data and practices, we only know about the disease. Now that 47 million people in the world are suffering from the disease, it is estimated that in 2050 there will be a new patient every 3 seconds and more than 130 million of us will be troubled by it.
The most famous of neurodegenerative diseases is Alzheimer’s disease, also known as Alzheimer’s disease. The patient suffering from this disease is very painful, because life can not take care of themselves. In the brain of patients with advanced dementia there is a terrible hole in which the brain is swallowed up. Although you do not know exactly what caused Alzheimer’s disease, it is generally acknowledged that if you know Alzheimer’s disease at the molecular level, it may bring hope to the treatment.
My own lab is also working in this direction. Last year we reported for the first time in atomic resolution the structure of a human γ-secretase that is directly related to Alzheimer’s. This human γ-secretase is thought to be a causative protein that is essential for Alzheimer’s disease, so perhaps by Subsequent deepening of research, we can find ways to treat Alzheimer’s disease.
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There is a limit to cognitive life
I cite examples of cardiovascular disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and finally the transition to the brain. Not to mention that we are not aware of the etiology of Alzheimer’s disease and we know little about such a mysterious organ as the brain. We basically can say nothing. Although we have a good model of learning and memory, we can simulate the process of learning and memory, but is it true? We really do not know.
I even consider the neural impulse potential, including our electrical signal record, to be just an appearance and not necessarily the essence of learning and memory. Why? Because we are really such a biological person, a bunch of atoms constitute people who understand life.
We are understanding the world with our five senses, that is, sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch. This process is not objective, certainly not objective. After our facial features have sensed the world, we concentrate all our attention on the brain, but we do not know how the brain works, so we can not call it objective in this respect.
What exactly are we? Think about it, how do people deal with the message? Let’s first define the message, which is the matter.
We have three levels of material:
The first material is macroscopic, that is, what we can perceive and can see through intuition. For example, man is a material, a house is a material, and Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City are all things.
The second level is microscopic, including what the eye can not see, also known as microscopic. We can perceive it with instruments, measure it, and intuitively think it exists, such as atoms, molecules, proteins, Billions of light years away from the planet.
The third level, is the micro-material. For this class, we can only speculate on the theory, experimentally verified, but never know what it is, including quantum, including photons. Although we know that the particles can have spin and energy level, but we really difficult to intuitive understanding, this is the micro-world.
Nevertheless, we still have to think about this world is the micro-micro-world decided micro-world, the micro-world decided the macro world. What is human being? Man is an individual in the macroscopic world. Therefore, our nature must be determined by the microcosmic world and then by the microcosmic world. I have no doubt that I am a Schrödinger equation, a life form, an energy form, but do not know how to solve this equation, do not know how thinking is produced, nothing more. I believe you should also believe that each of us is not just a bunch of atoms, but a bunch of particles.
So, we are really a bunch of atoms made of particles, so simple. How many atoms do we have? There are about 6 × 10 ^ 27 atoms, forming about 60 different elements, but the real more elements, but a region of 11 species. Atoms covalently bond to form molecules, and molecules come together to form molecular aggregates, which then form small organelles, cells, tissues, and organs that eventually form a whole. But you will feel that no matter how you do research, you can not explain the human consciousness, which goes beyond what we can say and can perceive. I think in order to explain the consciousness, we must go beyond the first two levels to examine the quantum mechanics level. I think so.
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Quantum entanglement is a phenomenon that can evolve?
So I want to talk about class struggle to tell quantum. In 1935, after Einstein and Podolsky and Rosen wrote the famous EPR paradox, he proposed quantum entanglement. In fact, the term “quantum entanglement” was not proposed by Einstein but rather by Schrödinger, and it seemed incredible at that time.
Quantum entanglement means that two entangled quantum no matter how far apart, they are not independent events. When you measure a quantum, another quantum very far away can actually be known about its state, which can be measured in association. It is inconceivable. But since such a simple phenomenon exists in the objective world, I believe it will be ubiquitous, including in our human body. This is the case? Of course it is. Quantum entanglement how affect our lives, in fact, we do not know why? Because this is not what we can feel with intuition.
Matthew Fisher, a well-known theoretical and experimental physicist at the University of California at Santa Barbara, believes that human consciousness, memory and thinking are quantum entangled and that quantum theory should be used to explain this. Then how to prove it? He said I must prove in kind, to find the entangled entities. Many scientists find for a long time and found that the microtubules in nerve cells can form quantum entanglement, but the microtubule time scale is 10 ^ (-20) seconds to 10 ^ (- 13) seconds, far less than human memory and Consciousness of the formation time. But he found it in a simulated way through theoretical practice, and he is experimenting with it.
For example, phosphorus and calcium together, that is, calcium phosphate, when calcium phosphate exists in the form of Posner molecule or cluster, its quantum entanglement time can be as long as 105 seconds! Can such an extremely vulnerable , The duration of quantum entanglement, which is extremely sensitive to sound, light, electricity and heat, is increased by 15 orders of magnitude, so if the order of magnitude is further increased by 5 orders of magnitude, the year level can be reached and the quantum entanglement can be preserved in years.
And so on, do you not think that one day we humans will find quantum entanglement is an evolutionary phenomenon, it can save a hundred years, a thousand years, ten thousand years. In other words, quantum entanglement, which existed in ancient times, was preserved in the evolutionary process.
I want to ask you four questions.
The first question, do you believe that there is a sixth sensory? A lot of people will say do not believe.
The second question, is it possible that two people will communicate in an unknown way? You may say, maybe not, as surely as you did not believe in the first question.
The third question is whether quantum entanglement exists in the cognitive world of mankind? Exists in the brain? I believe it is quite possible to hear my lecture.
The fourth question, is quantum entanglement suitable for matter on Earth? You will certainly say that it must work because we have already proved it.
However, in fact, simply speaking, these four questions are exactly the same questions. The reverse is the sixth sensory fact, but we can not feel it, so it is called “the sixth sensory organ.”
So what are we all about? We are just a cell came over is the fertilized egg, all the fertilized eggs 3.5 billion years ago, all from the same cell, the same substance, a system of complex quantum entanglement ,It’s that simple.
In fact, I do not know what is inside, but I believe it. Every time I breathe, I inhale 10 ^ 22 power of oxygen into my body, into the covalent structure. This mouth breathing at least 10 ^ 4 or more oxygen atoms, is in a very distant corner of the world, I have never seen people breathe at least once, which will be done in a month, all one’s life I’ve been doing this While two people are in a room, 63 grams of oxygen per day can be exchanged among each other’s lungs.
As science develops today, we see the world as completely as a blind person. The world we see is tangible, and we ourselves consider it an objective world. In fact, the mass of the material we know is only 4% in the universe. The remaining 96% of the material is in a form we do not know at all. We call it dark matter and dark energy.
So blind people understand the world as a science? It must be science. Everyone’s touch is real, and all are objective, all are visible and tangible, as we are now. Only we do not know the touch is like the back, or tail, or ears. I think the human cognitive limit is that we are a bunch of atoms, we are in a macro world, but we hope to see the two worlds to see the micro-world. It is one of the most beautiful, extremely wonderful world.
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How much of the world we do not know?
With the rise of quantum satellites, science about quantum things: What is the forefront of contemporary science and technology discovered? Even subvert the world view of mankind!
Our world, because of the latest science, chaos!
First, disrupted the world’s three scientific achievements
(A) dark matter
01, how to find dark matter? The shape of the universe we originally knew was the mutual attraction between the planet and the planet by gravitation. You turned around me. I turned around and the planets were in a hurry and orderly.
But later, scientists calculated that the gravitational attraction between the planet and the planet found that the gravitational attraction of the planet itself was far from enough to maintain a complete galaxy. If galaxies and planets have mere gravitation support of the existing mass, the universe should be a mess of sand. The reason why the universe can maintain the existing order can only be because there are other things as well. And so far this material, we have not seen and found, so, called the dark matter.
02, how many dark matter? Scientists calculate that the quality of the dark matter must be five times as large as the one we now see, in order to preserve the current functioning order of the universe.
03, there is no observed dark matter? Now there is no real measure of dark matter. Only the light can be found to deflect when it passes somewhere without the material we can see and no black holes.
04, black hole is not dark matter? Not The black hole is just out of the light, it emits other rays, it is still conventional matter.
(B) dark energy
01, how to find dark energy? Observations by scientists have found that our present universe is not only expanding but accelerating. It is also understandable if it expands at a constant rate. But to accelerate the expansion, you need to have new energy to join. What is this energy? Scientists also confused, named dark energy.
02, how many dark energy? Scientists calculate, through the mass-energy conversion equation E = MC2, to maintain this rate of expansion of the current universe, which should be twice as much as the sum of existing and dark matter.
03, have not found the dark energy? So far, not yet.
(C) Quantum entanglement
Modern scientific discovery, material research, after entering the microscopic level of molecules, atoms, and quantum, the accident is very large. The emergence of superconductors, nanoscale, graphene and other revolutionary materials, there miracles from the molecular level to cure cancer. The most amazing is – quantum entanglement.
01, what is quantum entanglement? Scientific experiments have found that two quantum bodies that have no relationship with each other will exhibit exactly the same behavior in different positions. For example, there is no conventional relation between two quantum distances far apart (not far from the quantum level, km, light-year or even farther), one with a change of state and the other with the same change of state almost at the same time And it’s no coincidence.
02, Have you observed quantum entanglement? Quantum entanglement is proposed by the theory, experimentally verified. Scientists have achieved entanglement of 6-8 ions. Our scientists have realized the resolution and entanglement of 13-km quantum entangled states.
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Disrupted world
01, turmoil of the philosophical world
We originally thought that the world was material, devoid of God, no specific function, and consciousness was another kind of existence that was opposed to matter. Now we find that the material we know is only 5% of this universe. The two qubits without any connection can be entangled as gods do. Put consciousness into molecular, quantum state to analyze, consciousness is actually a matter.
Since there are still 95% of things in the universe that we do not know, that soul and ghost can exist. Since quantum energy is entangled, that sixth sense, specific function can also exist. At the same time, who can guarantee that there are some things or creatures among these unknown substances that can completely and completely affect our various states through quantum entanglement? So God can exist as well.
02, collapsed physical world
All of our current physics theories are based on the speed of light. It has been determined that the entanglement of quantum conduction velocity, at least 4 times the speed of light.
03, collapse of the inner world
Today, the world we have seen has only reached 5% of the world. This is a thousand years ago, humankind did not know that there was air, do not know the electric field, the magnetic field, and did not know the elements. Compared to the sky and the sky, our unknown world is much more and more unimaginable.
The world is so unknown, human beings are so ignorant, what else we have to embarrass?