What It’s Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 49 Science Talks about Evidence

However, the girl seemed a little shy and shy, and did not respond to Xiang Kun. Professor Li explained on her behalf: "She also explained to me before that there is actually no fixed way to distinguish, even if it is the same kind of bird, each bird may have different Different, you have to judge according to the surrounding situation at that time. If there are multiple birds making calls, you need to compare them with each other to make a reference judgment. In the final analysis, it is actually judging emotions through sounds. But I tried according to what she said Many times, I couldn't hear anything. I guess it has something to do with her better hearing, the more details of the sound that can be heard, and the wider frequency range..."

After chatting on this topic for a while, "Little Apple" didn't seem to be so afraid of strangers anymore, and participated in their discussion.

Li Yang said that his daughter's sense of hearing is better than that of ordinary people, and she can hear more details, so it is difficult for him to learn. But this problem didn't exist for Xiang Kun. He was sure that his sense of hearing was much stronger than that of this girl.

After communicating directly with the girl for a while, he also grasped some tricks to distinguish the birdsong, and he also compared the various bird calls he heard in the mountains during this period to determine what the girl said is useful.

However, if you want to master it and be able to apply it in practice, you need to have actual exploration and training.

While chatting, Xiang Kun learned that Li Yang, an associate professor, is actually from the School of Life Sciences. His main research field is "the relationship between complex microbial communities with important functions in natural and artificial environments", starting from improving the cultivation method From the perspective of mastering metabolic characteristics, try to cultivate and isolate uncultivable microbial groups with important functions and application values.

Although Xiang Kun read a lot of books on biology, medicine, cells, and genes some time ago, when Li Yang really talked about the professional, he was still a little confused and could only ask for advice like a student.

Xiang Kun has always hoped to consult professionals about his situation. Professor Li Yang's professional field and knowledge reserve should be regarded as "professionals".

Of course, he would not tell Li Yang directly about his situation, but slowly lead the topic in the direction of mutation and genetic mutation.

"...Professor Li, do you think it is possible for birds to mutate for some reason and become three, four, or even five or six times their original size?"

"Are you talking about the individual, or the whole group?"

"An individual, such as an owl... or a vulture or something."

"It's almost impossible. You have to know that if the body size becomes three or four times larger, the weight may increase by more than ten times. The bones and muscles can't bear it." Li Yang shook his head: "Even if it appears, such an individual will not be able to survive. It will go on. Unless its entire body structure and tissue strength are reshaped, the mutations that occur on an individual will not be so orderly and stable."

"...Professor Li, do you think it is possible for a person to mutate due to certain reasons, such as the digestive system, and then the way of energy intake changes, and other organs and tissues of the whole person also change accordingly, and the body functions are improved... "

"You don't want to say that you have superpowers after mutation, do you?" Li Yang couldn't help laughing, "We often use one sentence to express the characteristics of genetic mutations: the general random frequency is low, and there is no direction for more harm than less benefit."

Li Yang continued to explain: "That is to say, gene mutations are common in the biological world. They can occur at any stage and in any part of the individual development of organisms. They are random and the frequency of mutations is very low. Moreover, mutations are generally All harmful, very few beneficial. As for non-directionality, it means that more than one allele can be produced...

"...The human body is a sophisticated, complex, stable and orderly system. Any change may bring bad consequences. The usual external manifestations are illness or deformity. Brother Xiang, you are a programmer, you say If a well-designed, complex large-scale program,

For example, in the operating system, if there is a bug, is the bug good or bad? "

Xiang Kun thought for a while and said, "For programmers or administrators, bugs are definitely bad and need to be fixed. But sometimes, bugs may also bring benefits to users..."

Li Yang nodded: "Look, that's it. In most cases, it's a disadvantage. Occasionally, in some special cases, a few will bring benefits, but there is a risk of overall collapse. The same is true for mutations, if only small mutations , it may have little impact on the whole human body, or it may bring certain benefits and convenience. For example, lactose tolerance mutations enable adults to secrete lactose-decomposing enzymes, so they can enjoy dairy products better and more safely. But if The mutation has a great impact, and the benefits it brings are nothing compared to the disadvantages. There may even be a domino effect, causing the entire human body system to collapse, and even death...

"... In the future, it may be possible for someone to artificially modify the gene to give birth to a super human, but now... it is basically impossible to appear superheroes in movies and comics by accidental mutation."

In fact, what Li Yang said, Xiang Kun had read a lot of books on biology and genes before, and he knew all of them. It was just because of what had happened to him and the giant owl that he couldn't fully trust the textbooks.

"Professor Li, do you think it is possible that nature actually has a complete set of mature mutation mechanisms, but they have been hidden...in the bodies of some humans or other creatures, and will not be activated until certain conditions are met? "

Li Yang shook his head: "You are already in the category of mysticism. Literary and artistic works, novels, movies, etc., the settings can be directly edited, and the logic will make sense. But science is about evidence. Without evidence, you can't infer it from nothing. .”

Xiang Kun asked again: "What does Professor Li think of vampires?"

"If you ask me about rabies or porphyria, I can talk about it. After all, there are cases, pathological studies, and various documents. But vampires, zombies, etc., are essentially the same as superheroes. They are literature and art. Works, legends and myths, there is no actual evidence to prove that they have appeared in reality. So we can only talk about it from the perspective of literature and art, not from the perspective of science... Well, "Interview with the Vampire" and "Surprised" Four Hundred Years" I like it better..." Li Yang laughed.

Xiang Kun really wanted to turn around and grab Li Yang's collar in the back seat, and said loudly to him: I am a vampire, and I am the ready-made evidence!

But just thinking about it, he would definitely not reveal his secret to the person he met for the first time.

In fact, they had already arrived at the foot of the mountain, but Li Sheng saw that the three of them had a lively discussion—in fact, it was mainly Xiang Kun and Li Yang. So they simply took Xiang Kun to the station in the city, since they were going back to the city anyway. This way, just in time to continue chatting.

After arriving at the station, Xiang Kun exchanged wechat messages with Li Yang, Li Sheng, and Little Apple, and then got off the car to say goodbye.

Seeing the back of Xiang Kun walking into the ticket hall, Li Yang in the car shook his head and sighed softly: "I didn't expect this brother Xiang, who is thirty years old, to be so obsessed with superheroes. By the way, Little Apple, what you said before What's the word? What two?"

"Second Two." Little Apple said and shook his head: "Uncle Xiang is not called Second Second, he seems to want to hear from Dad that can help him explain those theories of superheroes and vampires."

"How is this possible..." Li Yang laughed.

Li Sheng who was driving suddenly said: "Brother Xiang's feet are very dirty." After a pause, he added: "Very dirty."

"Huh?" Li Yang frowned in doubt. Because of the speculative chat on the road, Li Sheng gave him the pair of slippers Xiang Kun was wearing. Li Sheng said this, definitely not because he disliked Xiang Kun's dirty feet, but to express other things mean.

Li Yang thought for a while, then he understood: "You mean, brother Xiang walked a long distance barefoot?"

Li Sheng nodded: "The thick layer of hard mud on his feet must not have walked out on the winding mountain road. He must have walked a long way in the mountains. And I watched from the side when he washed his feet. When we arrived, there were no wounds on his feet. This shows that he walked very skillfully and knew how to avoid obstacles that would hurt his feet. I suspect that he entered the mountain with bare feet on purpose, without shoes at all."

"Deliberately not wearing shoes? Why?" Li Yang asked.

"Maybe he is really an ascetic monk, tsk tsk, if he wears a monk's robe, I really think he is a monk with real kung fu." Li Sheng said, laughing himself.

Li Yang shook his head: "Isn't he a programmer? Don't talk nonsense about monks. He said it himself. The bald head is because of hair loss..."

At this moment, the little apple next to him suddenly said, "Uncle Xiang doesn't smell like anything."

These words made both of them startled. After two o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was so big and the day was so hot. Let alone walking on the mountain road, even standing still for ten minutes would sweat profusely.

But looking back now, Xiang Kun seemed to be very dry, and he didn't see much sweat at all. Even if the sweat dries up later, the previous sweat must still have a residual sour smell. Both of them knew very well that Little Apple not only had better ears than others, but also had the same sense of smell. Even if she said there was no smell, it must be because she wasn't sweating much.

Li Sheng smiled and shook his head: "Brother Xiang, this is a bit interesting."