NASN's Mars Monitoring Center received signals of anomalous activity on the surface from the Curiosity rover, a kangaroo-like exploration vehicle designed to cope with poor surface conditions. The sudden epicenter comes from the center of the "hourglass sea" (the name for the funnel-shaped depression on the surface of Mars). According to the information fed back by the geoprobe of the Mars rover, the epicenter comes from the surface, so earthquakes caused by geological stress can be basically ruled out. There are no abrupt peaks and stone forests near the Hourglass Sea, so landslides or avalanches are also excluded. NASA takes this sudden phenomenon very seriously, and there are even radical celestial predictions that there may be unknown creatures on Mars.

The Purple Mountain Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences continues to track the asteroid 2024GY48. The current data suggest that if the asteroid continues to move along the established trajectory, it is unavoidable to intersect with the Earth's orbit, and whether it will meet the Earth remains to be further calculated. An impact will only occur if both are present at the intersection at the same time, which requires an accurate calculation of the time it takes for both to pass through the intersection. The Earth's orbital rate is fixed, so the timing is easy to determine, but this time the asteroid is moving at a special rate. According to common sense, when a small celestial body is captured by the gravitational attraction of another giant celestial body, the motion form of the small celestial body must follow Newton's three laws of mechanics, that is, it is a variable acceleration motion with gradually increasing acceleration, but the 2024GY48 asteroid has a bizarre phenomenon, and the change in the absolute value of its velocity does not conform to the law of celestial motion at all. If we had to explain this phenomenon, it would be that an invisible hand was exerting its power on it.

Materials Testing and Analysis Laboratory of Nantian University in a city in China.

It is a crystal that does not emit any radiation, and its surface is so cold that it cannot even be detected by the infrared radiation that all matter has. After mechanical stress, radiation fluoroscopy, chemical corrosion and other methods failed, the old professor bit his lips and decided to use the three-flavor true fire, of course, the three-flavor true fire here refers to the high-energy laser.

The director of the laboratory is an alumnus and friend of the old professor, and he personally led the experiment. That's what the old professor told this old friend.

"Even if the eighteenth class weapon is used, as long as you can figure out its material composition, it doesn't matter if it is scrapped, it's a big deal that I will call two more students to dig it for three days and three nights."

There is no way for the old professor to make such cruel words. Science is rigorous, and if you can't figure out why, don't talk about any awards, you won't even be able to start a paper. Without detailed analysis, this is a worthless waste rock.

Getting such a sword from above as the owner, the director of the laboratory was bold: "Senior, don't worry, isn't it just a stone?" Even if it's a diamond, it has to be obediently melted when it comes to me. ”

The old professor patted the old teacher who entered the school two years later than himself on the shoulder and left: "There is nothing on the earth that you can't knock open, I believe you can do it." ”

He has more important things to deal with. Ant 1231007 is now in his research room, and the master and apprentice are trying to communicate with it. They hope to invent a machine, or a piece of software, or a code, that can enter the inner world of this ant genius called Miss Sesame.

The old professor's laboratory is located on the east side of the biology teaching building, which is a small three-story building. The research room is a hodgepodge, a mixture of offices, meeting rooms, laboratories, showrooms, and breeding rooms. In the early years, it was placed in the teaching building of the Department of Biology, but later due to the continuous expansion of the scale, the most important thing is that the smell of various animals has become heavier and stronger, and it has reached the point of affecting the teaching of teachers and students, so it is necessary to build a new three-story building.

The first floor is relatively tidy and is used for offices, seminars and meetings. The second floor is the specimen area, and the things on display are very miscellaneous, most of which are immersed in formalin. The third floor is the ** area, which is used by animals and plants, and in the words of the professor, this is called symbiosis. The roof of the building is a large platform that provides irregular sunbathing for those who love the sun, and the professor calls the work he carries up and down physical exercise, which may be his trick to being still in good spirits at this age.

There are four people sitting in the room now, and if you take Miss Sesame in the glass on the table as a person, it should be five. In addition to the three masters and apprentices, there is also a self-proclaimed "soy sauce" -- a doctoral student in the Department of Languages.

Since Hu Feng was exceptionally admitted to the Department of Biology because he discovered the wisdom of the No. 1231007 soldier ant, he has been making up for basic courses in the past few months, and he often "plays chess" with these masters, and his professional progress has been rapid. The old professor adopted the Western education system for him, as long as he can produce research results and valuable papers, the test results of basic courses can only be used as a reference.

Without further ado, the topic of discussion now is the question of how to communicate with the "man in the cup".

The old professor first concretized the problem: "Ants mainly communicate with smell, and people communicate with sound waves, which are completely unrelated communication media, and our task is to establish a connection between the two, and today's task is to set the general direction of the operation." If this is a war, it is a matter of strategy. ”

After a moment of silence, the graduate student of linguistics shyly asked, "Can you codify the smell?" In other words, to program the smell. ”

The postdoc smiled: "Did you study human language, machine language, or art?" Is it that you have read too much science fiction? Not to mention that it doesn't work to code the smell, even if it does, just ask how to collect the smell emitted by an ant. Is it also like the description in the novel, with a straw piston? ”

The graduate student whispered: "This is indeed from a foreign science fiction novel, and I will mention it casually, all as a snack before entering the state." ”

Hu Feng said a digression: "The teacher just said that the main thing is to communicate with smell, is there a secondary way?" Just as gestures are a secondary way of communication for humans, but deaf people can communicate in this way entirely. ”

The old professor nodded: "This is a novel idea. But getting an ant to learn sign language with its antennae can be even harder than programming scent. ”

The postdoctoral fellow did not leave the bank: "I think all communication methods with the help of media are low-level, and the best way is to directly connect brain waves." Neurodynamics experts at Brown University in the United States have designed a bionic chip called 'Brain Gate', which uses 100 electronic sensors thinner than a human hair distributed on it to record and transmit the brain's nerve impulses to the computer, which then amplifies the brain pulses and converts them into digital signals and sends them to the servo motor to control the machine to complete the actions that the human brain wants. Nowadays, the use of the human brain to control the behavior of a monkey is no longer just an experiment. ”

The other three seemed to see hope, but it only lasted for a few seconds.

Old Professor: "A monkey's brain can hold a chip, but an ant's brain is the size of a pinpoint." We want methods that work, not telepathy-like metaphysics. ”

The postdoc was not convinced: "Now that nanotechnology is changing with each passing day, it is not impossible to build a nano-bionic chip with only one-tenth of the tip of a needle if you are willing to spend the price." ”

Old Professor: "According to your understanding in the United States, how much does it cost to make such a chip?" ”

Now that it is time to talk about money, the postdoc feels that his method is playful. He secretly thought in his heart: nanoscale chip technology is one of the current methods of practicing artificial intelligence, he has a lot of ideas in this regard, but there is a lack of research funds, if he can say that the teacher can ask the school or the Chinese Academy of Sciences for a fund, then this return to China can be described as fame and fortune.

"A conservative estimate of 8 million." When he was done, he added: "It's dollars." ”

"In other words, exchange 2 J-7 fighters for a chance to talk to ants?" The professor teased.

"Isn't it just $8 million, how did it have anything to do with fighter jets?"

"From a monetary point of view, the two are the same." The old professor said in a resolute tone: "This is absolutely not good, even if you sell my old bones, you can't make so much money." ”

"How can there be research that doesn't cost money? It's the most money-burning business in the world. It's no wonder that many Chinese companies would rather hire celebrities to advertise than develop new products. ”

"Okay, let's not talk about that, let's think about whether there is any other way."

"I want the horses to run fast, and I want the horses not to eat grass, it's difficult!" The postdoc fills the inner disappointment with an exclamation sentence.

Hu Feng scratched his head, as if he had something to say, but he stopped talking.

"If you have something to say, if you are wrong, we will check it for you." The postdoc was like grasping at a straw.

Hu Feng looked at the big-headed ant in the glass and waved at it. As if noticing, the 1231007 tilted his head and raised his tentacles.

"I don't understand the advanced principle, I just want to know how much it costs to make an ant cartoon."

"This depends on the length of the film, I have a few classmates from the science fiction club who are making micro-films, and a few films have a good response on the Internet. The cost is generally less than 10,000. The graduate student stuck out his tongue at the postdoc: "It's RMB." ”

Old Professor: "Three-year-olds like to watch cartoons the most, and we can integrate the meaning of what we want to say into the plot, which is a subtle teaching experiment. ”

Hu Feng added: "We can increase the complexity of the virtual ant's tentacle action in the cartoon to hint at the meaning of the plot, and then replay it over and over again to enhance the meaning of the action." ”

The old professor chimed in: "Maybe the antennae of ants are not as complex as human beings, but it is still possible to develop 100 common words through the cooperation between the two roots." With these 100 language units, we can communicate with Miss Sesame by controlling the virtual ants in the cartoon, which can be achieved through an animation software. ”

The postdoc also nodded reluctantly: "Then try it, if you fail, there is not much loss." I'll leave this task to your sci-fi friends. He threw a wink at the graduate student of the language department: "As for the cost, don't worry about it, if this experiment is successful, just the publicity effect, what kind of science fiction club of yours will make a lot of money, and you may become famous overnight." ”

The new graduate student smiled on his face, and scolded in his heart: "I want to do 8 million by myself, and others don't pull out a dime, is it that the United States has stayed for a long time, is this virtue?" ”