APC News

The APChat language model is intended to give readers a faster way to look up popular science information and offer more ways to learn through the APC Library. JJ and Shiguang built the model, and APC’s science writers supplied its training dataset. Based on Baichuan-13B, it was trained with QLoRA-8B quantized fine-tuning and SFT instruction tuning. APChat is still in internal testing, so stay tuned!

My Roommate Is from a Thousand Years Ago

A Su Song fan shoot based on my own interpretation of Entering the Unscientific
Su Song, courtesy name Zirong, was born in Nan’an, Quanzhou, during the Northern Song dynasty. His work encompassed politics, astronomy, mechanical engineering, science, medicine, diplomacy, and literature. He served as chancellor and achieved 7 world firsts. In his own era, Su Song was a true polymath. A BBC documentary once observed that rather than calling Su Song the Leonardo da Vinci of the East, it would be more fitting to call Leonardo the Su Song of the West.
On camera: Me
Studio/makeup/photography/post-production: @Alternate Dimension Studio—Chuyue
Logistics: Lao Ma
The final three images show the original character description, visual reference, and the author’s permission, respectively.
CC: @The Fool @Gewu Society | General Science official
Thanks to everyone in the readers’ group for your suggestions, and to the friends and family who helped me choose the photos. For more, see the proposal titled Entering the Unscientific Cosplay—Modern Su Song.

Our twice-yearly holiday recruitment round is back! Everyone who passes the summer recruitment exam can receive a custom APC 7th-anniversary enamel mug for free.

APC’s mysticism paper makes a triumphant return. Are you ready for this summer-only challenge? ୧꒰•̀ᴗ•́꒱୨
Chemistry continues last year’s popular “Turtle Soup” lateral-thinking puzzle format. Come play! ٩(๑> ₃ <)۶
Mathematics and astronomy have both been completely redesigned. The mathematics paper is worth only five points, while astronomy is somehow an observation-themed test. (Come take mathematics! (´◊ω◊｀)
History and geography also return for this recruitment round. Do not miss them! ꉂ(ˊᗜˋ*)

If you meet any of the exemption criteria, send A-kun a private message to apply for an exam waiver.

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Gewu Society/APC Science Union is an organization dedicated to making a fuller range of science accessible to a wider audience. Here, you can meet like-minded friends, discuss scientific questions, take part in all kinds of enjoyable activities, and strengthen your scientific literacy. We would love to welcome you to the Union. Good luck on the exam!

Another year has gone by for the Union, with all of you beside us. Over that year, our wonderful science communication team produced articles on astronomy, architecture, electronic communications, and many other subjects. You can read them on our website, Bilibili column, Zhihu column, and WeChat account.

We are especially grateful to Sirius King for carefully planning and preparing two scientist cosplay shoots this year, featuring Charles Messier and Hou Debang. By telling their stories from an unexpected angle, the shoots made both scientists feel vividly present. The journey is not over yet. Who do you think will star in the next feature shoot? (Hint: the figure comes from ancient China.)

During the past year, we also worked with Yixian Studio on a summer computer-science lecture series (recordings are available on Bilibili) and the Three-Line Love Letter collection (the winning entries are in A-kun’s album). We successfully held two recruitment exams as well. Look forward to this summer’s event; rumor has it the mathematics paper is worth only five points. Why not take the challenge?

Leave a birthday wish, suggest a science column you would like to see, or share any other feedback in the comments. A-kun will draw one commenter to receive a keychain and custom anniversary tote bag. Thank you to every reader whose company and support have made today’s Union possible!

The Hou Debang installment of our Scientist Cosplay series represents the C in APC: chemistry. It is presented by Union member Sirius King. Thank you, Sirius King, for everything you have contributed to the series. All three letters in APC now have their own scientist cosplay!
Let chemical engineering spread its wings once more!
The Chinese people can and will make their own soda ash!
Photography: Uncle Yu
Post-production: Song Ziming
Thanks to our European clothing consultant for suggestions and references for poses in the black-and-white photographs.
Thanks also to my middle-school chemistry teacher for sparing me all those years ago. Teacher, I promise I will never again ask why sulfur dioxide appears on a wine ingredient list. /crying with laughter/crying with laughter/crying with laughter
Happy 7th birthday in advance to the Union @Gewu Society | General Science official
From steamed buns and bread to industry’s “three acids and two alkalis,” the Hou process is everywhere. That unassuming white powder laid a foundation for an entire nation’s chemical industry. Our history textbook contains only the second image, and few other photographs can be found online. Because Mr. Hou studied overseas in his youth, I chose black-and-white images in an effort to reconstruct his younger appearance. Perhaps this was how spirited he looked when he received a gold medal at the world’s fair.
More thoughts in a couple of days.

Happy Lantern Festival! Welcome to Danhua Gengxin, our card series on ancient Chinese names for minerals.

For this event, we collected historical Chinese names for several minerals and turned them into cards. Can you guess which mineral lies behind each beautiful name?

We will gradually reveal the answers and release finished cards for each mineral later in the series.

*Note: This is not a traditional lantern-riddle contest, since the answers can be found directly online ( ω )

APC Village’s Lunar New Year/winter recruitment exam officially begins today and runs for one week. Everyone is welcome to take the challenge!

We have prepared six subjects for this winter recruitment. Chemistry keeps the “Turtle Soup” lateral-thinking puzzle format from our summer event, and everyone who tried it had a great time. Why not give it a shot?
Turtle Soup is great fun. (You can even make wild guesses. (Cross that out.)
If you took the mathematics paper in the 2022 summer recruitment, this year’s paper will once again show you just how beautiful and adorable its examiner is >_<!
Come on, play with us! The examiner is so gentle, kind, beautiful, adorable, and charming!!! Do not make A-kun beg you orz

[Recruitment Highlight]
When Brezhnev visited the United States, a large crowd of Americans welcomed him at the airport.
Brezhnev asked the U.S. president, “How did you get so many people to come welcome me?”
The president replied, “Everyone who came received a reward of 5 dollars.”
Later, when the U.S. president visited the Soviet Union, thousands of Soviet citizens lined the road from the airport to Moscow.
The president asked Brezhnev, “How did you get so many people to come welcome me?”
Brezhnev replied, “Every Moscow resident who failed to welcome you was fined 5 rubles.”

This year, anyone in the recruitment group who does not take an exam will be fined 10 yuan. (A proposal from the competition and recruitment team. (Not really.

[Why Should I Take This?]
Being home alone is boring, with no friends around. But everyone in APC Village is talented and fun to talk to. I absolutely love it there! The vibe gets you so high you feel like you could fly.
Everyone is welcome to do what they love in APC Village, especially… science communication!

On camera: Sirius King
Makeup: Huhu
Photography: Misty Rain
Logistics: Weilong, Yaoxiao
Location: Dingxiang Lake Park
Post-production: Xiaohai
Compositing: Teacher Yin
Photo selection: Baishui, Lu Qing, Su Chen, Lele, Black Rock Macchiato, Supernova, the official Gewu Society account, and everyone in the main APC group who helped choose images
Consultants:
Astronomy: Supernova
History: Lu Zhe
Hydrology and history: Lao Ma
European clothing and history: von Schnelltenberg
Final-image format: Song Ci
Official partner: Gewu Society
Special thanks to Digua for advice on the post-production files.
Special thanks to Qiqi for recommending Teacher Yin for compositing.
We gratefully acknowledge the online archive of the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
We also acknowledge NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day; the image used here is from 2022.8.23 and served as material for the final composite.
Special thanks to astrophotographer Julien Looten. Your image of meteors and the Milky Way over the Mediterranean made this composite possible. I imagine Charles Messier once looked up at a sky much like this one. Image source and copyright: Julien Looten (the original is image 12).
“Why did you choose to become a naval astronomer?”
“There were many reasons, really. But the stars are there, aren’t they?”
This conversation may never have taken place, and Messier’s answer was probably different. Even so, I believe it expresses something Messier and many astronomy enthusiasts have felt.
Although this is my own interpretation, the characterization and props draw on references. (The visual reference appears in the second-to-last image; I have omitted the translated image.) I still owe an apology, though: the pants and telescope have become hardworking regulars, appearing year after year from Darwin to Messier. /covers face I genuinely could not afford a proper compass at the time, so I used a U.S. military compass. An old friend, in fact; it also appeared in the Linnaeus shoot. Compositing is expensive, so I am sorry that I could afford only one composite.
A few personal messages:
To Uncle Yu: Thank you for driving me to Dingxiang Lake!
To Huhu: Thank you for taking on makeup for such an obscure cosplay. Every request I bring you must feel like another absurd challenge at your door, and I appreciate you helping make this dream come true.
To Yaoxiao: You saved someone who has no idea how to pose, sob. Of course you did!
To Supernova: Thank you, my junior schoolmate, for running around, helping with everything, and still meeting the writing deadline. There were only one or two stars in the original, and you still identified one. Incredible!
To Lu Zhe: Brother! My own dear brother! You found reference images for something this obscure. Amazing. Meeting you on that trip to Daqinggou was like discovering a treasure trove of history.
To Lao Ma: Dingxiang Lake really does not look like the sea at night. /crying with laughter But compared with the light pollution at Wulihe Beach, it was fairly forgiving. Thank you for all the work and care you put into the historical research.
To Mr. Schnelltenberg: You are a true gentleman, and your help with the clothing was invaluable. I will need more of your guidance on European history in the future. Thank you in advance.
To Song Ci: Thank you for your generous advice. I would truly have been lost without you. Welcome aboard as we set out across the stars in 2023.