Making science simple

Like many kids, Tang Cheng dreamed of being a scientist. He was so motivated that he made sure to steer himself in the right direction to make his dream come true, going on to gain a doctoral degree from the Institute of Neuroscience at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2021.
像许多孩子一样，唐骋曾梦想成为一名科学家。为实现自己的梦想，唐骋干劲十足，朝着科学家这一方向不断努力，并于2021年在中国科学院神经科学研究所取得博士学位。

Tang was expected to work at a university or research and development institution. But he eventually took part on a different journey – being a full-time content creator on Bilibili. Now the 32-year-old is focusing on science communication by running an account named “Fun Stuff”, along with his wife Cai Chunlin. Cai also majored in biology and worked for an academic journal.
大家本以为唐骋会去大学或研发机构工作，但他最终步入了另一段旅程——成为哔哩哔哩的全职内容创作者。现在，32岁的唐骋和妻子蔡春林共同运营着一个账号，名为“芳斯塔芙（Fun Stuff：有趣的东西）”，专注于科学传播。蔡春林的专业是生物学，她在一家学术期刊工作。

“There exists a big gap between the public and the academic community,” Tang said. Scholars often communicate with each other using jargon. “For the public, it could lead to misunderstanding,” he added.
唐骋说，“公众和学术界间隔很远。”学者之间经常用术语交流，他补充说，“对公众来说，这可能会导致误解。”

The pair hope to arouse people’s interests in science by making videos with simple words, clear explanations and a funny style. Combining their talent and interests, they have been introducing scientific disciplines including paleontology, neuroscience and evolutionary biology to their viewers since 2018. Such information was unlikely to be shared on social media platforms at that time.
唐骋夫妇制作的视频文字简洁、解释清晰、风格有趣，他们希望通过这些作品激发人们对科学的兴趣。自2018年以来，二人结合自身的天赋和兴趣，向观众介绍了古生物学、神经科学和进化生物学等科学学科。在当时，不太可能有人在社交平台上分享这些内容。

Tang believed that “a scientist should be an explorer”. “I want to be a pioneer in content creating,” Tang said.
唐骋认为“科学家应该是探险家，”他说，“我想成为内容创作的先锋。”

They first started translating and uploading science videos from English to Chinese. Later, they decided to make original videos. For beginners, it was an exhausting work. They learned how to design the video format, write a script, choose a narrative style and edit a video.
起初，唐骋夫妇会将英文科学视频译成中文并上传，后来他们决定制作原创视频。对于初学者来说，自制视频相当费神。两人学会了如何设计视频形式、写脚本，选择叙事风格并剪辑视频。

After months of preparation, they uploaded their first original video in 2019 and it soon became a hit. It is about anomalocaris, an extinct species from the Cambrian period. In the video, the creature was described as the earliest hegemon.
经过几个月的准备，唐骋夫妇在2019年上传了第一个原创视频，并很快爆火。该视频介绍了一个已灭绝的寒武纪物种——奇虾，并将奇虾描述为初代霸主。

Tang believed that his academic experience is important in helping with science communication. Thanks to his strict academic training, Tang is good at searching for materials. He also pays attention to details. For example, he often reads over dozens of papers to figure out the scientific name of an animal.
唐骋认为自己的学术经历对科学传播很有帮助。由于受过严格的学术训练，唐骋善于寻找资料，也很注重细节。例如，唐骋经常阅读几十篇论文，来寻找某种动物的学名。

For the past several years, “Fun Stuff” has gained about 2.5 million followers on Bilibili. The majority are aged between 15 and 30. The couple also won the “Bilibili Power Up” award in 2019 and 2020 based on their video quality, popularity and influence.
过去的几年里，“芳斯塔芙”在哔哩哔哩上收获了约250万粉丝，其中大多数人年龄在15至30岁之间。唐骋夫妇还凭借超高的视频质量、人气和影响力，于2019年、2020年获得了“哔哩哔哩百大UP主”奖。

Tang said he will stick to the path of promoting science communication, as it bridges the pubic and the academic world and really “brings a huge sense of achievement and satisfaction”, Tang said.
唐骋表示，他将坚持推动科学传播，因为科普架设了公众与学术界的桥梁，并真的“带来了巨大的成就感和满足感”。

以上文章内容选自《21世纪学生英文报高中版》，详情请见《21世纪学生英文报高中版》高一870期