"Sheldon" is a member of Squirrel Science Association, a public organization. One of the organizers of the group said that for ordinary people, science is like nuts, which are not convenient to eat, although delicious. Young scientists should play the role as squirrel to peel off hard shells and then to contribute the meat inside to public.

In March 2011, when a devastating earthquake caused nuclear leaks in Japan, radiation related knowledge became a hot topic surpassing finance in China. Afterwards, rumors spread that seawater and even sea salt were polluted. Students at the Department of Engineering Physics in Tsinghua University refuted these rumors by inviting two teachers to give public lectures.

Yu Miao, a graduate student with a major in nuclear engineering and technology, recalled his summer vacation in his coastal hometown of Dalian, in northeast China's Liaoning Province. Whenever someone was ill, people would blame the illness on nuclear radiation. "I told them then radiation spreading is related to distances, that there was no need to worry since Japan is so far from Dalian," he said. His words were well received because he is studying this subject. "Meanwhile, many dared not eat see food at that time, so my classmates and I ate them happily," he smiled.

According to Wu Chaohua, there is a significant division between science and popular science. What young scientists have done is not as interesting as what have been written in stories. To make science popular is not a major career of a scientist. When talking about facial recognition algorithms, popular science authors may finish the explanation in one page. However, a scientist deals with strict and complex regulations and procedures, and what they researched, if printed, would fill a room to the ceiling.

Display of both knowledge and personality

If people take it for granted that young scientists are skilled in manual work and clear in logical thoughts, their unique charm in terms of art sector, which has long been occupied by liberal arts students, may overthrow fixed stereotype impressions of young scientists in people's minds.

A book Art and Physics has such a description that Picasso likes to paint the side and the front of a face simultaneously in his paintings, which is difficult for ordinary people to accept. "People who understand Einstein's theory of relativity would know that when people move at a speed approaching the velocity of light, they would simultaneously perceive both the side and the front of the face, then they would have a much deeper understanding for paintings of Picasso," said "Sheldon."

A netizen named "Yixuan" has recently recorded statistics of high-frequency words in the book A Complete Collection of Song Poems. For example, dongfeng (east wind) appears 1,382 times, renjian (living world) appears 1,202 times, and jiangnan (southern China) appears 765 times. The research is far from over, however. Another netizen named "Leonardo Da Vinci's eggs," made a euphuistic poem by using the digits of pi, with every two digits as a paragraph, becoming well-known among netizens in China.

"This kind of affair is just for fun," said Wu Chaohua. A few years ago, some had made ancient poems by calculation of heredity. "Good works of literature need soul. The pile of words that jumbled up may deal with tests, but they are far from being real work. Artificial intelligence thus far can not replace wisdom of human beings. We always exclaim what so great human brain is while we study nerve of human," Wu said.

Engaging in media, Peng Qian has frequent communications with many young scientists and middle-aged scientists. She found that ordinary people do not understand young scientists, often conflating their personality with their work. With more developed public media, more channels are available now for young scientists to express themselves and let more people understand their work. Many young scientists who are fond of literature want to express their feelings. "Decoding ciphers of Song poems may imply that young scientists want to prove that they will not lose to students of arts," Peng said.

Chinese-American comedian Joe Wong, a doctorate of biochemistry, gave a performance at Tsinghua University in November. Having watched the performance, Wu Chaohua said that the emergence of Wong and "Sheldon" enable people suddenly to find that young scientists are not as dull as what people imagined before. "Actually we are never bored," Wu said.

"Sheldon" said female students he met before would have two reactions when knowing that he is studying physics. One would say "Physics! That is my most hated subject." The other would say "I used to fail all physics exams." Finally he met a girl who later became his girlfriend. "She said she admired people who study physics, and she even dreamed of physics in terms of origin of the universe," said "Sheldon." There are two groups on douban.com. One is named "She said she admired most persons studying physics," and the other called "I want to marry a physicist most." It looks like that the spring of young scientists really has begun.

Then, will the spring of young scientists really come? "In a long-surging magnificent history, what we have experienced is only a moment," said "Sheldon." The so-called spring may only be a signal of the end of the ice age, and may also be random fluctuation. "To melt ice into a river requires the endeavors of all, instead of only a few hot molecules," he said.

(Source: China Youth Daily)