Ahead of the opening of the sixth World Laureates Forum, young students got a chance to interact with some of the world's leading experts.
Under the theme "Stay Hungry, Dream Big," the Sci-T Conference on Sunday gathered 100 students, representing 70 middle schools and universities in China.
More than 20 eminent scientists and representatives of China's two premier academic institutions, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, interacted with the youngsters.
They were split up into 10 groups with discussions on three topics: How can we turn Mars into the next Earth? How can nanotechnology and artificial intelligence help make us superhumans? And what can we do to make plastic recyclable?
The winner of the 2011 Eni Prize in Renewable and Non-Conventional Energy, Gregory Stephanopoulos, explained PET to students by using a plastic bottle.
Zheng Quanshui, a CAS academician, couldn't take his eyes off the PPT the students had made.
The Nobel Prize winner in physics, J Michael Kosterlitz, acted as a physics teacher and encouraged students to consider why Mars lacks a magnetic field.
Michael Berry, a 1998 Wolf Prize winner in physics, spoke about the difficulties of surviving on Mars.
The ideas generated during the discussions were written and painted on tablecloths, which will be part of the World Laureates Forum's collections.
