Yin Ye, the CEO of genomic sequencing company BGI, shatters your stereotype of a science researcher, who would normally enjoy the solitude of a lab instead of a crowd. He was so eloquent that during the 90-minute lecture he gave in Nanshan District on Saturday afternoon, he never paused to recollect his thoughts.

Yin Ye gives a lecture at Taoyuan Zhiguang book bar Saturday afternoon. Photos from sznews.com

Some 300 sat at the free lecture at Taoyuan Zhiguang book bar, a four-story library and bookstore where people can read, buy books and stationery, and enjoy a cup of coffee near the university town in Xili Subdistrict.

Yin, with a doctorate from the University of Copenhagen, is an experienced public speaker whose podcasts had been played 250 million times online. The 43-year-old, who has devoted a lot of his spare time to educating the public on popular science in recent years, has 2 million followers on short video streaming site Douyin.

Yin Ye at the event.

Yin opened his lecture with a few enticing questions and facts, telling the audience that a human shares 99.5% of genomes with other humans, 80% with a rat, and 96% with a chimp.

“The universe is about 13.8 billion years old, while human history only dates a little over 3 million years,” Yin said. “In one liter of seawater, there are about 100 billion viruses, and the entire population of humans on this planet is about 8 billion.”

Therefore, he said, he calls for people to drop their “human chauvinism” and learn to respect nature and other life forms on Earth. “We humans are not as important as we take ourselves to be. One of over 5,416 mammal species that had lived or are still living on the planet, nature is much more important to us than vice versa.”

He then explained why it’s dangerous to eat wild animals such as fruit bats, which have been linked to the origin of many zoonotic diseases. “Because the bat is a flying mammal, its body temperature is 2 Celsius degrees higher than humans. It can therefore stay healthy when infected with viruses like SARS, MERS, Ebola or COVID, and spread them to humans who will suffer.”

Using well-known examples like how Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie opted for a double mastectomy because of her BRCA 1 gene and why elephants never get cancer, Yin explained the three main uses of genome sequencing: prenatal defect diagnosis, prevention of cancer and fighting transmissible diseases.

“We have seen rapid growth in these fields,” he said, stating evidence that it took scientists half a year to decipher the genomes of SARS but only two weeks with COVID.

The “pop science influencer” then encouraged the youth to cultivate an interest in science and technology. “Joseph Needham asked why China lost its edge in science and technology after the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Now it’s time that we focus on these fields and try to use clearer language and more quantified methods to approach problems in our life in order to catch up.”

A group photo of Yin Ye and the audience after the lecture.

After the lecture, Yin signed his latest book “Life Code: 3” for readers.

The warmly received lecture is the ninth of a series of public-benefit lectures titled “Xili Lake Lectures” that started in November 2020. Backed by Nanshan’s Publicity Department, the series organized by the Shenzhen Publishing Group offers lectures on the subjects of science and technology, culture and design, economics, and social life.