A group of PhD students live-streaming scientific knowledge in a light-hearted manner on Bilibili, a popular Chinese video-sharing platform, have attracted widespread attention. The students are from the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and their live-stream once attracted a record 1.44 million viewers.

When science meets Web culture, no clash occurs. Instead, the fusion creates an innovative way to popularize science which has gained favor among young people.

The students, with the double identity of scientific researchers and Internet users, seem to have done this just for fun, but they are in fact popularizing science. What will happen if an atomic bomb is thrown into a typhoon eye? Why hasn't the sun evaporated? Why don't raindrops hurt people since they fall from so high? These questions, which seem playful, point to people's desire to learn about the unknown. It's also lovely to see scientists from authoritative institutions in casual clothes in labs attentively answering questions from fans.

It's impossible to get all academicians to webcast and become Internet celebrities. However, more communication between the scientific community and the lay public is not that hard.

It's both fun and meaningful for research fellows from a top scientific research institution to discuss absurd questions such as how to blow up the moon with netizens in a serious manner.

(This is an edited excerpt of an article originally published in Guangming Daily on July 23）