Scholar’s Advanced Technological System

“Yesterday, the United Nations convened an ad hoc meeting in New York to define a contingency plan for responding to the global crisis of the invasion of the Mars species. A research team of multinational researchers will be stationed at the Moon Palace Space Station within a week to conduct a joint study of the species. ”

“Meanwhile, the bacterium was officially designated as X-0172 bacteria, in accordance with a WHO study decision. ”

“China News, for you. ”

The story on Mars Bacteria is over, and news on TV continues.

Sitting quietly at the table enjoying breakfast, the ark glanced at the calendar on the phone and spoke to itself.

“Eighty-seven days left. ”

Time is running out...

Picking up the remote and turning off the TV, the ark pulled out a paper towel and wiped his mouth, then pushed the chair away and stood up at the table.

“Em, please pack the tableware. ”

A quad-wing drone with a small television hanging from the kitchen swayed.

[Good master, leave it to me! ٩ (• ̤ᵕ • ̤๑) ๑]

After throwing the dishwashing and table cleaning job to Em, Ark took a coat from the door and put it on him, and then called Wang Peng.

Soon after, a black red flag parked outside the villa and sent him from his doorstep to the Jinling Institute of Higher Studies.

In fact, strictly speaking, research in the biological field is not a strength of the Jinling Institute of Advanced Studies.

Especially astrobiology, a cold-door branch of the Cold Gate, let alone the Jinling Institute of Higher Studies, can't find a person to study this direction, even if it is placed in the top five national comprehensive universities in the country, can't find how many.

Sometimes, however, research in frontier areas does not necessarily have to be done by professional counterparts. After all, the more cutting-edge things are, even if they are professional counterparts, at best they are a little more experienced, and everyone's starting line is actually similar.

At present, the Institute of Higher Studies can be described as a bull in the microbial field, and only Professor Liu Zhuibing, who is in charge of the "Frozen Sleep” project.

Although his main research direction was cryobiology, he had a somewhat more say in X-0172 bacteria because of his frequent research into cell samples collected in extreme environments.

After all, X-0172 bacteria are also collected from extreme environments…

After disembarking, the ship went straight to the Biology Institute building.

When he arrived at the lab, Professor Liu Zuibing and several of his students were busy watching and documenting what was in front of the electron microscope.

Without interrupting their research, wait quietly for them to finish the work at hand before the Ark went up and looked at Professor Liu and asked.

“Has the sample arrived? ”

“It's here," he said, referring to the slide specimen placed on the microscope. Professor Liu Zhuibing laughed and joked, "I bet this is probably the most expensive shit in the world. ”

The ark also made a joke.

“… is also presumably the most dangerous in the world. ”

Professor Liu Zhuobing smiled and set his finger: “Don't worry, the specimens sent to Earth have been inactivated at the highest level, so long as they are operated strictly in accordance with the provisions of the safety manual, they will be basically fine. ”

Although a little sensitive to the word "basic”, the Ark still believes Professor Liu's level and should not make such a low-level mistake.

After a moment of pause, the ark asked him what he cared about most.

“Has the research progressed? ”

“There has been a little progress," continued Professor Liu Zuobing, pushing down his glasses, "according to the latest research published by Professor Leslie and Professor Zhao Shuxuan, we can now confirm that the drowsiness symptoms in the colonists of the Ares program should be caused by amino acid derivatives secreted by X-0172 bacteria when they form spores. ”

“Amino acid derivatives?” The ark frowned and continued to ask, “Is the problem serious? ”

“Serious enough not to be serious, this amino acid derivative is interesting, and it is beneficial for the host, rather than harming the host, even… ”

Ark: “… beneficial? Can you elaborate with me? ”

“Active dormancy," said Professor Liu, suddenly throwing an unexpected word out of the ark, "assuming that there were atmospheres, magnetic fields, and even a wide variety of ecosystems on Mars, this bacteria would probably help hosts survive periods of material deprivation, just like hibernation, when they experience drastic geological changes or other external factors that make Mars less habitable. ”

Helping hosts through extreme weather conditions is ostensibly helping hosts through difficult times and, in fact, the bacteria's self-help. So this bacteria is more like a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship than a parasitic relationship.

Speaking of which, Professor Liu Zhuobing paused for a few seconds, looking at the thoughtful ark, continued.

“At this time, we do not see that this bacteria, in addition to the symptoms of somnolence, can have other effects on the health of the host. We have reason to believe that secretion of pheromones is an active defensive mechanism of the bacteria that helps the host to actively dormant by reducing metabolism and active dormancy. In this dormant state, host tolerance to extreme environments will be greatly improved, while minimal energy consumption will be required to ensure minimum vital characteristics. ”

The ark thought for a moment and asked, “But what about the mechanism for releasing the pheromones? ”

“Here's the problem, we haven't fully figured out how it was generated yet,” Professor Liu Zhuibing sighed, "there are two speculations, one is that when the host himself immunizes the foreign bacteria, under the attack of his own antibody, the bacteria are forced to produce spores out of self-preservation, while the active dormant informin is forced to release. ”

“As for the possibility that, stimulated by some external physical condition, the bacterium determines that the host is in an extremely harsh environment, actively releasing the spores and dormant proteins to protect the host. ”

Although somnolence is not a fatal symptom, it can be quite a headache for a normal person if you are sleeping all day long.

At present, one of the three colonizers has found a similar situation, which means that the probability is at least one third.

If a third of the planet's people sleep twice as much each day, it is hard to say what impact it will have on modern society.

The ark pondered for a moment and asked, “Which possibility would you prefer? ”

Professor Liu Zuobing: “I prefer the first. ”

The ark reacted immediately: "So the colonist with the clinical symptoms of somnolence may have antibodies to X-0172 bacteria? ”

Professor Liu Zhuobing nodded carefully.

“Hard to say, but I think it should be! ”