The World Young Scientists Summit (WYSS) 2021 was held on Nov 13 in Wenzhou, East China’s Zhejiang province. 

Jointly sponsored and hosted by the China Association for Science and Technology and Zhejiang provincial government, the WYSS is held annually to promote science and technology diplomacy and attract global resources. 

WYSS 2021 opens on Nov 13 in Wenzhou, East China’s Zhejiang province.

With the theme “converging the world’s talents, creating a better future”, the summit focused on cutting-edge fields such as climate change, life and health, the digital economy, intelligent computing, future technology, carbon peaking, carbon neutralization and new materials. 

Top scientists and famous entrepreneurs were invited to share their opinions to jointly promote the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Hu Hailan, a council member of the Biophysical Society of China (BSC), laureate of the 24th L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Award and professor from Zhejiang University, delivered a keynote speech titled “brain mechanism of social competition and winner effect” at the summit.

Hu Hailan, a BSC council member, laureate of 24th L'Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Award and professor from Zhejiang University, speaks at the WYSS 2021 on Nov 13.

Hu noted that optogenetic experiments show that the prefrontal cortex controls animals’ competition-related behaviors. Activating the prefrontal cortex with light does not change muscle strength. The victory of animals comes more from their courage and confidence.

According to Hu, in social competition, characteristics determined by the cerebral cortex can overcome the defect of physical strength and help animals gain a dominant position, acquired experience can give congenital vulnerable animals advantages by remodeling the neural circuits of their brains, and the winner effect can be migrated and generalized in different forms of competition to consolidate the dominant position.

Jin Donghan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of Tianjin University, Dan Kammen, a master in the field of energy and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2007, and Michel Spiro, president of the International Union for Pure and Applied Physics and chair of the European Organization for Nuclear Research and Society Foundation Board, made keynote speeches via video link.