Chapter 4: All Souls College (3)
The University of Oxford's Natural History Museum is a three-storey Victorian-style building with a grey roof and earthy yellow walls, standing under the blue sky and white clouds, like a freshly dressed elder, giving people a heavy sense of history, and people can tell that it has a lot of stories to tell.
At this moment, there are some people sitting on the lawn in front of the museum, basking in the cool air of Oxford in the afternoon, Feng Zhenzhen led Yan Funing towards the gate of the museum, the gate made of white jade is very YSL architectural style, this YSL style pointed arch is not only reflected in the gate, but also reflected in other opening methods.
As soon as the two of them entered, a giant brown bear creature was greeted by a giant specimen of a giant brown bear, behind which was a Gothic dome with carved beams and a checkered glass roof, and the sunlight sloping in from the outside, outlining a sense of emptiness with a sense of religious ritual.
Under the beautiful metal, marble and glass roof are countless skeletons of Bai Sensen, are all kinds of stacked fossils, Yan Funing looked up and saw the skeleton of a huge New Zealand ichthyosaur hanging in mid-air, as if swimming in the shallow sea through the sun, and below it is a huge Tyrannosaurus rex fossil, but at this time Yan Funing can no longer conclude that it is Tyrannosaurus rex and Allosaurus.....
If Cheng Mo and Xie Minyun had traveled all the way through Oxford and arrived at the museum, they would have said that there was no trace of the Renaissance in the city of Oxford, all the buildings were in the Gothic style, and the interior of the Natural History Museum of Oxford University was exaggerated with Gothic supporting beams, which was not at all in line with the spirit of the times when it was built.
It's rare to find a university that is at the forefront of its time and is home to some of the brightest minds in the world. You must know that the mainstream styles in Britain during this period should be Georgian style and Adam's style, and American architecture was deeply influenced.
Because Renaissance architects and artists generally believed that Gothic architecture was a symbol of Christian theocracy, while ancient Greek and Roman architecture was non-Christian. They believe that the architectural styles of ancient Greece and Rome, especially the classical column composition, are harmonious and rational, and have something in common with the beauty of the human body, which is in line with the humanist concept of the Renaissance movement, so the Renaissance architecture has abandoned the characteristics of Gothic architecture as much as possible, and has made extensive use of the characteristics of ancient Greek and Roman styles.
Therefore, in the Renaissance era, in the university at the forefront of human cognition in the world at that time, the construction of such a Gothic building was against the trend, which meant that the University of Oxford at that time was "a kind of support for retro, but also symbolized the antipathy of Oxford people to rapid change." ”
However, Yan Funing and Feng Zhenzhen are not Cheng Mo and Xie Minyun, neither of them has studied architecture, and they can't understand what kind of mental state Oxford is in in the historical trend.
But Feng Zhenzhen is from Oxford after all, and still knows some allusions about this museum, so she whispered to Yan Funing: "At the beginning, I said that the director of the museum was called John Phillips, he was a geologist, and he was one of the main skeptics of Darwin's theory of evolution at that time. In 1860, it was the site of the Oxford Evolutionary Debate, and now the museum is part of our university's Department of Chemistry, Zoology and Mathematics..... At that time, it was understandable to doubt evolution, but to doubt evolution now is doomed to have nothing to do with the word 'science'....."
Feng Zhenzhen naturally put the mathematics department that was the most cordial to her at the end, and couldn't help but pause, this kind of love for the house and the expression of Wu Yan Funing heard it in his ears and saw it in his eyes, but he didn't show anything unusual.
Yan Funing deeply knew that in order to maintain a favorability of the opposite sex, it was necessary to maintain a distance and a sense of mystery, and obeying the words and plans of the opposite sex would definitely quickly consume the favorability, so he had to give Feng Zhenzhen hope, but he couldn't let her really get anything, so he just said lightly: " It can't be said that the theory of evolution is the most reasonable theory that can explain the evolution of biological groups at present, at least at present, there is no theory that can explain the phenomenon of heredity more broadly than the theory of evolution, but the theory of the origin of life cannot be explained, this is also because the theory of evolution does not study this, and it is the theory of the origin of life that studies the origin of life, and it has nothing to do with "The Origin of Species". As for the origin of human beings, it is not an evolutionary study, there is a special study of human origins....."
At this time, the two people had already crossed the huge brown bear specimen and came to the bottom of the Tyrannosaurus rex fossil, which was full of animal specimens and fossils nearby, very spectacular, and the two people stood under the huge two-and-a-half-story high fossil
Feng Zhenzhen didn't know why Yan Funing suddenly became interested in evolution, genes and dinosaurs, but this did not prevent her from communicating with Yan Funing, but it was a pity that Feng Zhenzhen studied "economics and management" and did not study biology or archaeology.
In addition, Feng Zhenzhen herself has no beliefs, so she is naturally a staunch supporter of evolutionary theory, and Yan Funing, who is a mathematical thinker and a chosen one, is not on the same channel, so in fact, the discussion between the two people is actually very lackluster.
However, it is still very striking that two handsome men and women from Asian descent stand under the huge Tyrannosaurus rex fossil to discuss academic issues.
So the discussion between the two attracted the attention of others, and I don't know when, next to him stood a sub-fusc wearing an Oxford uniform, belonging to a more serious suit style, and wearing a black gon (robe) with a white beard and a wrinkled face, it was obvious that the old man understood Chinese, and quietly listened to the two people discussing evolutionary theory.
When the two of them expressed their opinions and couldn't come up with a decisive opinion to explain the other party, the old man spoke, still in a standard Beijing accent, he turned his head to look at Yan Funing and Feng Zhenzhen and said, "Are you students of Oxford?"
Feng Zhenzhen looked at the old man, and immediately noticed that the other party's robe was wide and long, which showed that the other party's status in Oxford was very high, under normal circumstances, the black robe worn by students would be very narrow and small, the better the grades, the higher the degree, the wider and longer the robe, it was obvious that the other party was at least a Doctorate (doctor).
Feng Zhenzhen hurriedly bent down slightly, nodded and said respectfully: "I am, but my friend is a ..... from Imperial College London."
The old man glanced at Yan Funing, and did not make any comments on Yan Funing's coming from Imperial College, but his expression revealed a mysterious sense of superiority, everyone from a famous school has such a feeling, except for his own school, people from other schools are just average, he looked at Yan Funing and said lightly: "Actually, to refute the theory of evolution, you didn't get to the point, you have to start from four aspects, one of which is ' Epigenetics', simply put, means that the DNA sequence does not change, but it is inherited, such as smoking, which can be directly passed on to the next generation, and this process does not occur by selection. Obesity can also be passed directly on to the next generation. Epigenetics is the greatest challenge to Darwin's theory of evolution, and to a certain extent even confirms Lamarck's ideas. ”
Second, Shisei Kimura's neutral theory of evolution also conflicts with the theory of evolution. Darwinian evolutionary theory is survival of the fittest, however, neutral evolution has found that there are many changes in base pairs that lead to changes in genes that are neutral: the codon does not change the corresponding protein code after base substitution, or the amino acid in the protein code changes without affecting its biological function.
Third, meiosis drive refers to the fact that genes are not distributed according to the laws of heredity when meiosis forms reproductive gametes. For example, the gene R2D2 is inherited by forcibly enlarging one's own advantage, and its appearance is not good for the whole organism, but it is beneficial for itself....
"Finally, how did the leapfrog evolution that occurs in humans or other species happen, is it just an incredible accident, or is it a magic ......?"
The old man saw that the two of them didn't seem to understand very well, so he asked with some confusion: "You shouldn't be studying zoology, right?"
"No, I studied economics and management, and my friend has a double master's degree in mathematics and physics..... Feng Zhenzhen quickly explained.
Hearing Feng Zhenzhen's introduction, the old man looked Yan Funing up and down, and said: "It's not bad to get a double master's degree from Imperial College at such a young age, don't be too entangled in the theory of evolution, you won't be able to talk about such an esoteric topic if you don't go deeper, just like we now understand that kelp is actually the same as paramecium and toxoplasma, it is not a plant, but an unequal flagellum in the vesicle insect world, in fact, human beings have extremely limited knowledge of things on the earth, let alone the universe..... ”
"But fortunately, our understanding of the earth and ourselves is improving every day, if you are interested in zoology, you can also come to our Oxford to read...."After a pause, the old man pointed to the Tyrannosaurus rex fossil and said: "You Huaxia now learn too much mathematics and physics, and no one is interested in these...... It's a pity that there are so many precious things to be discovered and protected, but no one has done it, in fact, many fossils here are dug from Huaguo..... Sometimes this is not plunder, but protection, until now Huaguo still uses dragon bones as medicinal materials, which is really too impressive..... Sad. ”
The old man thought for a moment and used the word "sad", it seems that it is indeed difficult for him to find suitable words to describe his mood, from his expression did not see contempt, but sadness, it seems that he still uses "leopard bones", and even "dragon bones" that are already fossils as medicinal materials, and feels sincerely sad.
This attitude is compassionate and respectable.
Yan Funing nodded, and said with a humble attitude: "It is true that the mentality of our Chinese people is generally more impetuous, because we were too poor in the past, and now everything is centered on economic construction, and many people do everything for the sake of interests, but there are still many people of insight who are working hard to change all this..."
However, Yan Funing actually didn't think so at all in his heart, he and Cheng Mo were very consistent in this point, if it weren't for his helplessness, he wouldn't be willing to do these dangerous things.
The old man obviously knew more about the situation in Huaguo, and smiled noncommittally, "Hopefully!"
Yan Funing was not willing to continue the discussion on this topic, but changed the topic and pretended to be very curious and asked: "Sir, I think you should know more about animals and genes, I want to ask, can we humans really resurrect dinosaurs?"
The old man shook his head, nodded again, and said, "Can you .....?"
Yan Funing asked, "Why is that?"
The old man replied: "Technically, there is no difficulty for us humans, in fact, there are many ways for humans to resurrect dinosaurs, but it is unlikely in reality, for example, in "Jurassic Park", human beings sucked the blood of dinosaurs through mosquitoes and were sealed in amber, and then humans got the complete DNA of dinosaurs..... This is the first method...."
"The second method is genetic engineering, by analyzing the DNA of a dinosaur, modifying the DNA of its close relatives, and making it the species we want, which is how we transform the spot-tailed pigeon into a passenger pigeon, so that the extinct passenger pigeon can see the light of day.... Unfortunately, we have very limited dinosaur DNA, and we can't find closely related species to modify..."
"The third method is reverse breeding, which is atavistic activation..... But this premise is also that we use genetic technology to change the eggs of closely related species, and screen them again and again to make it change back to the species we want..... It's a pity that the closest species to dinosaurs today is probably chickens.... Theoretically, the descendants of dinosaurs fill the tables of our earth's people, but in fact we eat chickens and eat dinosaurs....."
At the end, the old man laughed, and then he shrugged his shoulders, "But soon we will see the resurrected mammoths.... Perhaps, one day we can really find the DNA of the dinosaurs, and the resurrection of the dinosaurs will be just around the corner. ”
Yan Funing nodded thoughtfully, "Thank you for clearing up my doubts, can I ask your name?" If I am lucky, I hope to listen to your lecture...."
The old man nodded with great satisfaction, "Of course, my name is Paul Barrett, and I teach in the Department of Zoology at Christ Church College, if you are interested, you can go to the Department of Zoology at Christ Church College every Wednesday to listen to my lectures..."
Yan Funing hurriedly said, "Thank you." ”
"No, no thanks, if you are interested in this area, I am very happy, after all, I have lived in China for a long time, and I still hope that China will have more talents in this field...."
"Your spirit is really worthy of our learning and respect!"
Paul Barrett smiled: "If you really respect me, come and listen to me!"
Yan Funing nodded, "Definitely." ”
Paul Barrett looked at Yan Funing and Feng Zhenzhen, blinked his eyes and said, "Then I, an old man, won't disturb you young people and continue to visit....."
Yan Funing and Feng Zhenzhen thanked each other again, and then watched the old man start wandering around the museum with his hands behind his back.
The two of them discussed Paul Barrett in a low voice, and searched Paul Barrett's Wikipedia with their mobile phones, and found that this person was a big bull, a researcher at the Oxford Institute of Paleovertebrate and Paleoanthropology, mainly engaged in the research of Mesozoic dinosaur fossils and related stratigraphy, and the main research direction was the morphology, taxonomy and phylogeny of theropod dinosaurs, the origin of birds, etc., which belonged to the doctoral supervisor level.
Feng Zhenzhen asked Yan Funing again if he really wanted to come to the class, Yan Funing nodded, Feng Zhenzhen was even more happy, and then the two of them browsed countless specimens, as well as the butterfly wall and the mask wall, many incredible things, before leaving the Natural History Museum.
When leaving, Yan Funing also bought two dodo dolls for Yan Yitong, as well as an English version of a book about dodos, because the dodo is the symbol of the Oxford Natural History Museum, there is the most complete dodo specimen in the world, and even the logo is a stick figure of a dodo, Yan Funing naturally knew that his sister liked animals very much, so he bought a souvenir for Yan Yitong.
Feng Zhenzhen watched Yan Funing put the two plush dodo dolls into the bag, and said with a smile: "You are still so good to Tong Tong, you don't forget to buy her things wherever you go.....
"Well, she went back to quarrel with me...."Yan Funing pretended to answer disapprerovingly, in fact, he posted on Moments, in addition to disguising himself, more of a reason was to let Yan Yitong often see himself, although Yan Yitong never replied to the message below.
"Hey, I had a good relationship with Sissi when I was a child, and we talked about everything, but now that I'm older, I'm rusty..... I don't know why...."Feng Zhenzhen sighed.
Yan Funing knew part of the reason, but he wouldn't say it, just said lightly: "Actually, Tong Tong and I are too, we have grown up and have more ideas, this is normal, sometimes we are brothers and sisters, and all we can do is bless ......"
"yes..... By the way, I'm going to go with you to buy a formal suit, and you have to wear a formal dress to our school's formal dinner. ”
Yan Funing nodded and said okay, Feng Zhenzhen looked at the watch on her wrist and said, "It's definitely too late to customize by hand, so I can only buy ready-to-wear clothes..... We still have to hurry. ”
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An hour later, Yan Funing, who had already changed into formal clothes, and Feng Zhenzhen, who was wearing a small black dress, came to the door of the Ten Thousand Souls Academy.
He looked up at the towering Gothic-style Twin Clock Towers, and couldn't help but feel an inexplicable sense of awe, and only he knew why All Souls College was building the Twin Clock Towers, which was undoubtedly a metaphor for Ouroboros.
Feng Zhenzhen took Yan Funing's arm and whispered: "At that time, there was an assessment scene in Harry Potter that was taken from here..... In fact, All Souls House is the prototype of Hogwarts House....."