One step closer to reality every day

Chapter 230 Comparing with Ancestors

Because of Professor Shen's incident, the topic of broad-spectrum antivenom drugs has become extremely hot, and at the same time, the "ancestor Y" series of active substances have also become known to more people.

"Ancestor Y" is officially on sale, bringing a lot of money to Feng Yi and the ancestor factory every day.

Due to the limited production, there were a lot of people queuing up to make reservations. Feng Yi returned to the monitoring station from the sea every day, and could hear voices such as "who bought it", "do not organize a group", "what is the reservation number".

As the beneficiary, Feng Yi is indeed not short of money now, and the newly arrived sum of money is not only used to purchase the needed medical experimental equipment, but also used for the collection.

The location of the collection hall has been selected, it is in Yangcheng, not far from Xiaofeng Mountain.Recently, Xiao B asked someone to come up with the design drawings.

Models are also being made.Fortunately, Guan Lin said that from time to time, he would send Feng Yi a report on the progress of the Coral Snake model. From the materials to the scenery, it can be seen that he has put a lot of effort into it.

Feng Yi was curious about the housekeeper, he asked Xiao Bing, Xiao Bing said that the housekeeper had recently arranged a room as a studio, and he was not allowed to enter, so he didn't know what the housekeeper was thinking about in it, and he stayed there for a long time, especially Looks invested, mental state is also very good.

As long as the housekeeper is in good health and Feng Yi leaves him alone, it's fine for the old man to be happy.

It was another day when I went out to sea to catch snakes and returned.

Feng Yi had a good harvest today, and caught two more sea snakes.

For the rest of the task force, it may not be possible to find one in two days, but this guy can catch two in a day!At least one will be caught, so there will be no empty-handed time!
This is because Feng Yi made adjustments according to the situation of other people and restrained himself a bit. If he let go, he could wipe out this area.

After Feng Yi restrained his aura, sea snakes gradually appeared in the nearby waters.

In the past two days, a warning sign has been added to the shore, with a pattern of sea snakes drawn on it, telling everyone that there are sea snakes in this area.

The weather is getting hotter and hotter. It is inevitable that some people will secretly go to the beach to swim. Let everyone be vigilant. Don't be bitten without knowing it. It will be too late to send to the hospital after the attack.

Even if there is a broad-spectrum antivenom drug at the level of magic medicine, if it is not treated in time, it will be a tragedy.

To be on the safe side, go to the swimming pool if you want to swim.

At the same time, I also warn everyone not to be too curious. If you see a sea snake at sea, non-professionals should not play with it.

Oh, and professionals may not necessarily be able to hold.

If it weren't for the availability of broad-spectrum antivenoms, the number of professionals would have been "-1".

When walking back, Feng Yi saw Professor Shen.

Professor Shen has been discharged from the hospital, but he has limited mobility and is still in a wheelchair when he goes out.

On the concrete path, there is a viewing platform next to it. Professor Shen is controlling the wheelchair, blowing the sea breeze there quietly, looking at the sea in the distance, wondering what he is thinking.

Seeing Feng Yi approaching, Professor Shen smiled.

In the mission team, [-]% of the sea snakes were caught by Feng Yi. The data collected this year was extraordinarily large, and the task team leader was quite satisfied. Every time Feng Yi was mentioned, his face was full of smiles.

With this ability, it's no wonder that the United Nations Insurance Bureau would make an exception and promote him.

"The harvest is good today, isn't it? Thank you for your hard work!" Professor Shen said.

"It's not hard." Feng Yi said.

Although he answered this every time someone asked him, not many people believed him.

Professor Shen is also in the "do not believe" category. Finding sea snakes is not an easy task. Moreover, the temperature is high and the sun is strong these two days. The boat they use is not a high-end yacht, and it is uncomfortable to go out to sea for a long time.Even diving doesn’t mean staying underwater all day, right?It's uncomfortable to stay in the water for a long time.

Just as he was about to say "I'm all tanned", before the words came out, Professor Shen paused.

This boy Feng Yi...is still so white.

There are no traces of long-term sun exposure on the face.

Perhaps, he pays more attention to sun protection?

Feng Yi looked around and asked, "You came out alone?"

Professor Shen stopped worrying about sun protection, and upon hearing this, he replied, "Yeah, it's been too long to write a thesis, come out and relax."

Thinking of others saying that Feng Yi had read his thesis, Professor Shen looked at Feng Yi with a gentle gaze.

"I heard that it is almost confirmed that the sea snake is a new species?" Feng Yi asked.

"Well, some data is still being sorted out."

New species of snakes are discovered every year, sometimes several species a year, as various mission groups operate in different areas.

However, before this, Professor Shen really never thought that he would encounter a new species of sea snake in such a way.

"One of the great abilities of snakes is that they are super adaptable and can survive in most ecosystems. It is not surprising to find new species. And I believe that there are many snakes that have not been discovered by humans. This is the case on land, Even more so in the ocean.”

"Well, I thought so too." Feng Yi said.

Snakes survived the last mass extinction and thrived. They are capable of hiding (houses), but humans haven’t found them yet.

Professor Shen: "I was lucky. I was able to meet a new sea snake and have life-saving medicine. I just don't know if it usually lives in this water area. The rest of the task team did not find a second such sea snake. .what you think?"

Feng Yi thought for a while, and he didn't smell that kind of sea snake nearby when he caught the sea snake recently, so he said: "I think they don't usually live in this area, it may be the change of the ocean current, the warm current takes it from one place Brought to another place, and came here. It may be for other reasons."

Professor Shen glanced at Feng Yi with relief, "We also mentioned this possibility during the discussion, but the ocean current monitoring data is limited, and it is not yet certain whether this guess is correct."

Professor Shen looked at his bitten finger, and then looked at the sea, "Do you know where the sea snake came from?"

Feng Yi looked puzzled: "??" Where did it come from?
Professor Shen: "Although the sea snake that bit me is a new species, it is actually very closely related to common green-ringed sea snakes, flat-chinned sea snakes, and terrestrial cobras."

Feng Yi understood, "I read a paper before, saying that sea snakes evolved from land snakes."

Professor Shen nodded, "If you look at their classification, you will find that many sea snakes are classified under the cobra family. The current view is that they evolved from ancient cobras. Nearly 2000 million years ago, true sea snakes evolved from land cobras, and the green-ringed sea snake, a separate species, may have existed for nearly 1000 million years."

Feng Yi asked: "Will they go ashore again?"

Professor Shen: "Who knows, maybe. 2000 million years ago, they moved from the land to the ocean. After 2000 million years, whether they will come ashore again or expand their activity area in the ocean, no one knows. Based on the data, sea snakes are indeed expanding their range."

Thinking of some legends about sea snakes, Professor Shen said with a smile: "There are some unreliable records that fishermen saw sea snakes in the sea in ancient times. If it was in the early evolution stage, I would still believe that large sea snakes appeared, but , The ancient fishermen... It is very likely that they made a mistake, regarded other creatures as sea snakes, or exaggerated their descriptions, and many ancient myths and legends came from this way."

Feng Yi picked his chin.I always feel, maybe, that fisherman is right?

The fishermen may have just misidentified, not a sea snake, but something else... the tail of an "unknown creature".

Professor Shen: "It doesn't matter if it's true or not. I'm more interested in the genes of existing sea snakes. Taking the common green-ringed sea snake as an example, more than 900 gene families have expanded in their genome, and more than 500 gene families have undergone expansion. Because of such changes, the functions of smell, hearing, vision, oxygen perception, energy metabolism, immune response, etc. have all changed, and it has the current appearance.

"Nature's positive selection, survival of the fittest. I like to decipher through genes to find what they used to be."

Hearing what Professor Shen said, Feng Yi himself was also curious:
[Which genes have shrunk compared to my ancestors?Which genes were expanded, and which were under positive selection? 】

But their race seems to be different from generation to generation.

His venom belongs to the complex type, and his fangs are large-tube fangs.

My aunt is mainly blood circulation poison, but it is small groove teeth.

In the previous generation, it is suspected that there is no strong toxin, and it may not have fangs.

What is the standard of this "positive selection"?
In peaceful times, his mixed poison is so strong, and his teeth are so big, is it reasonable?

Without being too entangled in this issue, Professor Shen sneezed in the sea breeze, and Feng Yi pushed him back to the monitoring station.

Except for Professor Shen, the wounded, the rest of the mission team will soon leave Licheng, go south along the coast, and go to the next observation station to continue collecting sea snake data.

Observation stations in different locations have different scales. There are large stations and small stations, some are far from the urban area, and some are close to the urban area.

Even if the living conditions are not very good, they will not be too bad, after all, these are supported by funds.

In China, data is collected by three task teams, and their task team is responsible for one-third of the area. Through these tasks, the sea snake database and their toxin database are updated.

Such a database is not very useful to Feng Yi, but it can provide data support for many researchers.

-

The sun shines on the dining table from the window.

Feng Yi was holding his Fa Hai Bowl and making powder.He has no task today and has a day off.

Steve made a phone call.

"Feng Yi, when are you going back to Yangcheng? I will stay in Yangcheng for a while. If you have a holiday during the mission, come back to Yangcheng and have a get together. I just met two very, very, very cute and shy girls. , let me introduce you!"

Feng Yi pondered over Steve's words.

The point is not "girly", but "very cute".

Based on his understanding of Steve, in Steve's eyes, it can be called a cute creature, but he always feels that it is more likely to be inhuman.

but……

What if?
"I have time today, and I will drive back to Yangcheng later. Now this observation station is not too far from Yangcheng, and it can be reached in two hours by car."

"That's right! Waiting for you~"

　Double update failed, try again tomorrow.

　
(End of this chapter)