"If this speculation is correct, then ......"

Professor A stood up excitedly, patted Duan Pingsi's shoulders with both hands, and shouted, "It is very likely that we have discovered the ancestor of mankind, the ancestor of the apes, if it is true, then it will definitely be the greatest discovery of the year." ”

Darwin's theory of evolution suggests that modern humans and apes share a common ancestor, which is supported by fossil evidence, genetic similarities, and social behavior, but there is still a lack of evidence in some of the more critical places where the theory of evolution is still incomplete.

The most important of these missing pieces of evidence is the fossils of apes and modern humans when they were about to branch and evolve, that is, the fossils of the last generation of common ancestors of modern humans and great apes, which should have the characteristics of both branching post-human ancestors and ape ancestors.

After careful analysis, Duan Pingsi and Professor A agreed that the ape's head had the characteristics of an "ape", which was very likely to fill that key gap in evolutionary theory.

"The question now is how to determine the age of nature's frozen 'food'?"

Duan Pingsi knew that the age was the most important issue to be figured out at present, and the age of many fossil evidences in the process of human evolution was known, as long as the age of the head of the ape in the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain could be determined, it could be compiled into the known evolutionary history chronology, so that the problem would be solved.

"Okay!" Professor A looked at Duan Pingsi with satisfaction, "If you can ask this question, it means that you are following my train of thought, which is a basic quality of a scientific researcher, and I think you have done a good job." ”

"Hey, hey!"

After receiving Professor A's praise, Duan Pingsi smiled honestly and continued to think about the method of dating, which was only briefly mentioned in his undergraduate studies, and it still needs some effort to apply it to reality.

"The problem you said is also simple, as long as a small number of specimens are extracted for C (carbon)-14 determination, this work is still for you to do well, you can check the relevant information first, and then slowly carry out the experiment after determining the plan."

The isotope C (carbon)-14 is a radioactive isotope produced by cosmic rays bombarding the atmosphere, which absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and finally enters the body of animals and plants.

However, when animals and plants die, the new C(carbon)-14 will no longer enter their bodies, and the C(carbon)-14 stored in their bodies is still decaying, with a half-life of 5370 years, that is, the total amount of C(carbon)-14 in the dead animals and plants will be reduced to half of the original after 5370 years, according to this principle, samples can be measured within about 50000 years.

"But it doesn't seem to be feasible either?"

Duan Pingsi suddenly discovered that the range of C(carbon)-14 dating is limited to less than 50,000 years, and at best it can reach 60,000 years, but according to the relevant research of evolutionary theory, the separation of apes occurred at least millions of years ago, so the C(carbon)-14 dating cannot determine the age of the Australopithecus in the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

For this reason, he went to Professor A to report the new situation he had discovered, but Professor A smiled when he saw Duan Pingsi with a serious face, and said: "It can be seen from this incident that you are very serious, how can the ancestor of the apes appear in the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, if it is so easy for us to discover, then this scientific research work is too simple." ”

"This, I didn't think of that much!"

Duan Pingsi suddenly realized that there was a serious flaw in this reasoning from the beginning, and the most credible theory at present is that the human origin was in Africa, and the possibility that its ancestors appeared in Asia and were extremely cold snow-capped mountains is indeed very small.

"The reason why I made this flawed inference was originally to test whether you can withstand the pressure of authority, although you did not realize the error of principle, but you also found the most important pair of contradictions, which is not easy at the undergraduate level, indicating that you did not come to do research with me for your graduation thesis, which is rare. Nowadays, many college students do their graduation thesis purely to get a credit, and they can't convince themselves of the thesis they write, so what's the point? ”

Professor A paused and said with a smile: "Ping Si, if you are willing, follow me in the future, including graduate students, including doctoral students, and even postdoctoral students, I can't treat you badly." ”

"Thank you! Of course I do, Professor! ”

Duan Pingsi almost cried with joy, he never thought that he would win the favor of Professor A because of his more sincere attitude, and also won the qualification to become Professor A's official disciple, it seems that the saying that fools have foolish blessings still makes some sense, those students who want to break their heads and want to please Professor A have been rejected by him, but he can also be recognized as a completely unintentional person, is this a blessing for fools?

"However, the study of Australopithecus should continue," Professor A continued, "and since you have checked all the information, you should use the basic method of C(carbon)-14 determination to determine the Australopithecus, so that you can familiarize yourself with the experimental process." I won't say more, I hope you can always maintain such a scientific research attitude. ”

"Okay! Professor Ah, I will definitely work hard! ”

In the following days, Duan Pingsi stayed in the laboratory almost all day and night, learning all kinds of experimental knowledge while doing experiments related to the determination of C (carbon)-14.

In order to maintain the appearance of the Snow Mountain Australopithecus to the greatest extent, Duan Pingsi only took a small amount of hair from the Australopithecus this time, and the rest of the part remains to be used for follow-up research.

A week later, the results of the assay were finally available, and the C(carbon)-14 content of the hair of the apes was higher than that of any known historical period, a result that also shocked Professor A, just as it did when the DNA sequence comparison results came out.

"Looks like we're working on a baby!" "In my decades of research, I have never encountered such a situation, and I don't know what went wrong. ”

"Yes, this australopithecus is a bit strange, the DNA sequence is similar to that of humans, but the C-14 test results show that it is neither ancient nor modern, is there something wrong with us?"

These questions are spinning rapidly in the minds of Professor A and Duan Pingsi, and no one has ever encountered such a result so far, as a scientific researcher, you can only keep trying and making mistakes, and then find the right direction.

"It can't be aliens, right?" Professor A asked suddenly.

"Uh, this ......"