I really just want to be a scholar

Chapter 667 All seed cultivation research work will usher in a complete change!
While Ning Zongxun and his wife were worrying about the possible desert expansion and climate change, Gibson Stan, editor-in-chief of the editorial department of "CELL" in the building of Cell Publishing House in Amsterdam, the United States, was in a bad mood. very nice.

After five years as the editor-in-chief of "Cell", he finally had the opportunity to be promoted to editor-in-chief recently.

Being the editor-in-chief of a top journal like "Cell", which is a flagship journal and not a sub-journal, not only has a high income, but also a rise in social status, which will not be lower than that of a professor in a prestigious school.

So Gibson was quite high-spirited. At this time, he was taking Collins, an editor-in-chief who had just joined the job for less than three months and was still in the probationary period, instructing him on how to conduct the preliminary review of manuscripts.

If all goes well, Boonson will officially take the position of editor-in-chief next month, and Collins will take over his original position and become the official editor-in-chief.

"Okay, Collins, you have been here for almost three months. You must have accumulated a certain amount of experience and encountered many problems. Now I will teach you a lesson.

Gibson was in a good mood. In order to be promoted with peace of mind, he did not hide his secrets and planned to teach Collins his work experience.

"Thank you, Mr. Stan!" Collins thanked repeatedly. He was very diligent and studious, and quickly took a pen to take notes seriously.

Gibson nodded secretly with satisfaction, and explained:

"According to the regulations of our "Cell" editorial department, after we receive the manuscript, we have to reply within [-] working days whether it has passed the preliminary review. And our first group is evenly distributed, and there are about [-] articles every month. Manuscripts, it seems that it is enough to read about five articles a day, but you also know that what we receive are long papers with dozens of pages. If you want to read each article carefully, it will take at least three to five hours. Five, obviously impossible."

Gibson nodded again and again.

"We must learn to skillfully judge which papers are worthy of in-depth reading, and which ones can be answered after a cursory look. Here are the experience and skills that our editorial department has passed down for many years. You should take good care of them. First of all, in the background of our website, you can When selecting countries for submission, we give priority to manuscripts from the United States and developed countries in Europe, and then look at manuscripts from communication units, such as Harvard, Cambridge, MIT, Oxford, Stanford, University of California and other prestigious universities and famous laboratories and research institutes , it is often easy to find excellent papers, and then see if there are any professors recommending..."

Collins listened and took notes. After hearing what Giblin said, he raised his question: "Mr. Stan, I see that there are a lot of manuscripts from Xia Guo, accounting for more than half..."

"Manuscripts from Xia Kingdom? Haha." Gibson sneered: "There are not many countries in the world, except Xia, who are so keen to publish papers to top foreign journals. Why? Because their own domestic publications have been falsified and all kinds of smog The authority is completely lost, so I can only rely on foreign publications to find authority. And they often have no self-knowledge, or even know that they are rubbish, but they also tamper with the data, exaggerate the research results, and then send them to try their luck. My usual practice, except for the communication unit Except for the manuscripts of Xia Guo Academy of Sciences, Qingbei and other key institutions, the rest of the manuscripts from Xia Guo only need to read the title and abstract, and don’t need to read the text at all.”

Collins asked suspiciously: "Mr. Stan, don't read the text? Then how can you judge whether the content is good or bad?"

Gibson said: "It's easy to judge that these kinds of papers are often not recommended by famous professors, and the communication unit is a small laboratory and research institute drilled out of nowhere. , What important progress, what new mechanism... Seeing this kind of thing can basically be equated with garbage." He said and randomly picked out a paper submitted by Xia Guo:

"For example, in this article, the recommender column is empty, that is, there is no recommended professor. Then look at the communication unit, what is it called 'Lime Plant Cultivation Laboratory', I have no impression at all, it looks like a small experiment that is not popular Room. Look at the title again, "Theoretical Model System of Computational Seed Science", ha, this is a typical exaggerated title. Generally, if any of the words "theoretical model" and "system" appear, it may be rubbish. Both appear at the same time More than [-]% of them are rubbish. Is it so easy to build a theoretical model? Even a well-known professor at Harvard University dare not use such a word lightly, let alone add "system". Let alone "computational seed science" What is it? Is there such a subject? If it’s not grandstanding, what is it?”

Collins nodded approvingly. He is also a master's student majoring in biology. His supervisor is a well-known professor at Harvard University's School of Biomedical Sciences. Even a master like his supervisor would never use "theoretical models" easily. such words.

"Let's take another half minute to look at the abstract at the end, 'A brand-new theoretical model system is established to accurately describe the relationship between plant genetics and genes through mathematical language, and it is named 'computational seed science'. According to this system, the remains of genes can be The relationship between them is transformed into a mathematical formula, and mathematical modeling is carried out based on this, to deduce the specific DNA, RNA base combination, sorting and optimal structure, and then deduce the best hybrid breeding plan', tsk tsk, this is Claiming to have created a brand new sub-discipline! How dare a small laboratory claim to have created a new sub-discipline!"

Gibson sneered: "With such an exaggerated paper, do you think it is necessary to waste a few hours to read the content inside?"

Collins also found it a little funny: "It's really unnecessary."

"Well, this is a typical rubbish paper. Take it as an example, and you will understand how to treat these Xia Guo's manuscripts. But when you reply to the reasons for rejection, you should pay attention to your attitude, for example, you can say, 'The manuscript has been received. It does not meet the inclusion criteria of our journal. It is recommended to transfer to our sub-journals, so that the ball can be kicked into the sub-journals, and it will not appear that our "Cell" journal is domineering. After all, Xiaguo has a huge market. Universities, research institutes and laboratories all like to subscribe to our journals and sub-journals, and we still have to give face, there is no need to offend potential customers for some rubbish manuscripts..."

Gibson explained for another half an hour. Feeling his lips were dry, he got up and said, "Okay, Collins, I'll leave the preliminary review of the manuscript to you this time. Let me know after the preliminary review. Submit to editor-in-chief for review."

Collins hurriedly responded, and after Gibson left, he opened the "Theoretical Model System of Computational Seed Science" again and glanced at it, wanting to check the contributor's mailbox for a reply, and his eyes accidentally fell on the column of the author.

"Qin Ke, Ning Qingyun?"

Collins was stunned. The names of the two Xia Guo authors sounded familiar, and he seemed to have heard of them somewhere before...

Although the names of Xia people are very similar and not easy to remember, but the two names together can produce a familiar feeling, which made Collins curious. He opened the search website and searched, and the next moment he sat on his seat and played. stand up!

Qin Ke, Ning Qingyun, the latest Fields Medal winners!Xia Guo is the youngest and most popular mathematician who currently enjoys a high international reputation!

No wonder I think these two names are so familiar. The two 20-year-old Fields Medal winners caused a sensation in the world at the time. I was also very surprised. I also checked their information, so I left a special impression!

But... this is a paper on biology, especially plant breeding, right?Two mathematics masters, submitting papers in the direction of biology?Could it be just the author with the same name?

But it can't be that two people have the same first and last name at the same time, right?
After all, Collins did not dare to reject the manuscript easily. If he is really a boss of the Philippine Award, if he does not give a specific and detailed reason for rejecting the manuscript, it will easily cause trouble, and it will easily affect the academic honor of "Cell"!

If he really made such a low-level mistake, the probationary editor like him will be held accountable and fired 100% of the time!

Collins broke out in a cold sweat, and he didn't dare to have a chance to be lazy anymore.

In any case, you must carefully read the content of the text.

Collins, a graduate student in the MIT Department of Biology, asked himself that his professional level is excellent. The previous elementary theoretical part is easy to understand. The theoretical integration and mathematical description of DNA and RNA are very innovative, and they are clear and logical. Collins was overwhelmed.But after page No. 15, more and more complex mathematical formulas and functional analysis theories began to appear, and Collins became confused. After turning to page No. 20, he was completely dizzy.

Because in the end, it is all about how to use mathematical expressions and equations to express the relationship between the genes of the remains, and the mutual transformation and mutual derivation of these relationships. It is difficult to understand, but it is unclear.

At this point, he is basically sure that the author must be the two youngest Xia Guo mathematics masters, Qin Ke and Ning Qingyun, who won the Fields Medal. Otherwise, it would be extremely difficult to find someone with the same name and surname with such a high level of mathematics. !
He rubbed his dizzy forehead, bit the bullet and read two more pages, and finally gave up.

If you want to understand these parts of mathematics, you need at least a doctoral student majoring in mathematics. He, a master student majoring in biology, is not qualified at all.

Skip the mathematics part of more than a dozen pages and keep reading, and then come to the computer part. Although the length is only about two pages, it mainly explains how to use the computer to program and deduce the mathematical model to obtain the final DNA and RNA combination. Sorting structure, etc., and deduced the best hybrid breeding plan, but the relatively complicated terminology still made Collins a little crazy.

Are Qin Ke and Ning Qingyun so familiar with computer technology?

He suddenly remembered that there were rumors that these two bosses had developed an operating system... Well, the bosses can't afford to mess with them.

He skipped even this part and finally came to the last part.

The last part is case analysis and experimental verification. The author used the previous theoretical model system to deduce the genetic code of a special sweet potato, including base sequence, combination, structure and how to cultivate. The experimental data is attached, which is clear It clearly shows the sweet potato cultivation process and the final cultivation effect.

This kind of sweet potato is undoubtedly a new species that has never come out. Although it has no advantages except drought tolerance, it can neither bear fruit nor withstand high temperature, and it has no economic significance. The author also admitted frankly in the last part of the paper The above example is just a failed product in the process of cultivating a higher and more perfect sweet potato, but even if it is a failed product, its drought tolerance feature of "surviving well without watering for 20 days" is enough to shock everyone.

The most unbelievable thing is that the results verified by the experiment and the results of computer deduction after mathematical modeling match more than 95%!

After reading the entire paper, Collins was completely shocked.

Even if he can't understand most of the details, he can understand the idea and logic of the whole paper.

To put it simply, two young Fields winners, using their superb mathematics skills, established a new sub-discipline that spans the three interdisciplinary subjects of mathematics, plant genetics, and computer science. This sub-discipline is based on mathematics. The core is to weave a theoretical network that includes genetic codes of plant remains, and to establish special solutions to equations through computer and mathematical modeling, and to translate these special solutions through mathematical language and biological language. ", return to the specific DNA, RNA base combination, sorting and optimal structure, and deduce the best hybridization breeding plan based on this!

The more Collins thought about it, the more shocked he felt.

My God, if this paper is verified to be correct, it will have a huge impact on the entire botanical community, and all seed cultivation research will usher in a complete revolution. All current seed cultivation research methods can be thrown into the trash It's in the pile!
Because time efficiency, economic efficiency and accuracy are not in the same dimension as this "computational seed science"!

Even if he is not rich in work experience, Collins can keenly judge that this paper is likely to become the best and most influential paper published by "Cell" in recent years!

Thinking that he almost rejected such a manuscript by Gibson's "flicker", Collins felt scared again.

However... this kind of computational seed science is not easy to master. Collins estimates that in the seed breeding team in the future, a doctorate in mathematics + a doctorate in computer will become the standard configuration...

Collins was lost in thought when suddenly someone patted himself on the shoulder. Collins recovered from the shock and looked back, it was Gibson.

(End of this chapter)