Li Miaomiao was well aware of the significance of Nature and the difficulty of publishing in Nature. Even today, with the rapid devaluation of academic qualifications, Zheng Li could at least become an associate professor at his university based on this Nature paper.
Fun fact: Shenzhen's Peacock Plan offers a direct subsidy of 3 million yuan to first-author or corresponding-author authors of Nature publications.
Having been a first author in Nature, getting a PhD from a prestigious international university would be a piece of cake for Zheng Li.
Besides being happy for the other person, Li Miaomiao felt more resentful. They were both freshmen, but the other person was far ahead of her.
"Congratulations! By the way, you published in Nature in your freshman year. What are your plans for the future?"
"I reckon if you stay in the pharmaceutical polymer lab, they'll let you lead a group, and some of the senior professors' students will be assigned to you."
"They just want the right to be credited."
"You can get free labor and more results."
This is the path most people would choose: those with talent dedicate themselves to academic pursuits.
Li Miaomiao continued, "When you come back, you'll be a Young Thousand Talents Program member, or even a Yangtze River Scholar."
Zheng Li said directly, "I have my own ideas. Starting this year, I will no longer go to the medical polymer laboratory. I have more important things to do."
Once it is proven that will can directly interfere with reality, and the foundation for a mage's spellcasting exists, all plans will revolve around restoring the ability to cast spells.
He needs to create an artificial brain that is more complex and adaptable than the one tested in the experiment.
This goal cannot be achieved in the laboratory at Jiangcheng University; he needs a biological laboratory that is entirely his own.
Scientific research is merely a means to an end.
Li Miaomiao was curious about his plans: "Aren't you going to stay in the biology lab anymore?"
"So what are your plans?"
Zheng Li replied, "You'll find out when the time comes, I won't say more now."
After Zheng Li hung up the phone, he noticed that both of his roommates were looking at him with horrified expressions.
"Zheng Shen, what did you just say?"
"If I heard you right, you just said you published a paper in Nature?"
Is it the nature we understand?
"Or has another new journal been created in China, named Nature?"
After the two finished their back-and-forth conversation, they looked at Zheng Li with expectant expressions.
Zheng Li: "It's the Nature you're thinking of. I'm the first author. The university should report on it soon. It's already been published in the latest issue."
"See for yourselves."
After speaking, Zheng Li gestured for them to look at the computer screen. The email contained the following sentence:
Your paper, 'xxxxxxxxx', has been scheduled for publication in Nature on 28 February 2019 at 16:00 (London time), 28 February 2019 at 11:00 (US Eastern Time).
"Holy crap!"
"Zheng Shen has exceeded our comprehension and is no longer a normal human being."
"Worship"
"So, will you transfer to the School of Biology later?"
Because he was in a good mood, Zheng Li answered patiently: "No."
My roommate asked, "Why? If you go to the biology department, they'll let you graduate in two years."
Zheng Li: "I also published an ARMA. If I wanted to, I could graduate in two years from the School of Mathematical Sciences."
My two roommates didn't even know what ARMA was; after searching it on Baidu, they were completely clueless.
"I'll lie down first as a sign of respect."
"I lay down too. I'm actually the same kind of person as Zheng Shen."
Both of them went to bed. Their grades in the first semester of their freshman year were actually quite good, and they planned to work hard and continue to improve in the second semester.
I was so discouraged that I didn't want to try anymore.
......
What are your thoughts on a freshman from the School of Mathematics at Jiangcheng University publishing an article as the first author in Nature's main journal?
This question quickly rose to the top of the trending search list on Zhihu, attracting a large following.
"Thanks for the invitation. I just got off the plane in the US. All I can say is that the difference between people is greater than the difference between people and dogs."
"A freshman in the School of Mathematics published in Nature, while I'm about to graduate with a PhD in the School of Biology and haven't even published in a top-tier journal yet."
"It feels like a trendy university is creating a god-like figure."
"I'll wait for the experts to provide detailed answers; I'm skeptical for now."
"Could this be another case of academic fraud, or the attribution of the work of many people to one individual?"
The short responses were mostly driven by emotion and skepticism.
"Thank you for the invitation. My first reaction to this answer was skepticism, not only because it's difficult to publish in Nature, but also because it's highly unlikely that a freshman, especially one from the Department of Mathematics, could publish in Nature. There are too many illogical things about this."
It's important to understand that publishing in Nature requires collaboration, including not only providing direction and data analysis, but also polishing the language of the article. It's becoming increasingly difficult for one person to publish in Nature alone.
It's hard to believe that Zheng Shen's paper only lists him and xulin.li as authors.
However, after reading the special reports by Jiangcheng University and the Yangtze River Metropolitan Daily, and then skimming through the paper, I believe it to be true.
First, let's talk about Zheng Shen. As a student who has just come of age, Zheng Shen's grades have already far surpassed mine, which makes me feel ashamed. I still need to work harder in the future. I should publish at least one paper in a Cell sub-journal before graduating with my doctorate.
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