Even a clumsy stone can blossom

The 15-year-old boy, Gurdon, ranked last in science this semester, especially in biology, but also ranked last in the entire school of 250 students, according to Eton's strict school rules, the school gave him a final ultimatum: either catch up with the results, or return home.

When he went home, he took only the report card the teacher gave him, in order to spur himself, he put this score sheet in the picture frame, hanging in the prominent position of his study to remind himself to catch up.

But he was born a clumsy stone, liberal arts performance is fair, science results every time is a bad mess, he loves biology, practical ability is strong, but biological theory is ignorant, when the biology teacher learned that his biggest ideal is to become a doctor, so advise him: It's a ridiculous idea, because you can't get anywhere in science.

Such a comment is only natural, because he has no outstanding performance, how can he achieve his dream in the future?

Oneself is just a clumsy stone, how can bloom? This is a surprising summary of his diary after graduating from high school.

To this end, he began to expose himself to abandonment, truancy, love, doing nothing, leaving early and coming back late.

The turning point came one spring.

Gurdon's uncle is a geologist, home collection of all kinds of lovely precious stones, one of which is called "stupid stone", said it is stupid, because it is not brilliant, no characteristic material, in the home ugly, if sold in the antique market, many people will ignore.

What is the use of treasuring such a stone? It was a question he often asked his uncle.

Will it bloom? Its contents are very rich, after a long time of accumulation and growth, its skin will fall off, just like the flowering of plants, of course, this needs at least ten years or so, during this period, to keep watering it, the stone is also a kind of life, it will one day take off the vulgar skin, it will become very colorful and noble.

So why not just knock the skin off its surface? "Asked Gordon curiously.

That was a boost, now knock off its skin, and it will always be just a stupid stone.

After hearing this, Gurdon had an Epiphany, and from then on he remembered the story of how a stupid stone blossomed. Over the next few years, he switched from one profession to another until, at the age of 33, still mindful of his boyhood dream of becoming a doctor, he switched to academic practice.

Gurdon's research focuses on nuclear transfer and cloning.

For a long time, human stem cells were thought to develop from immature cells to specialized mature cells in a one-way, irreversible process. However, after a long study, Gurdon discovered that mature, specialized cells can be reprogrammed to become immature cells and then develop into all tissues of the human body.

In 1938, Spellman and his students discovered that by transferring the nucleus of an early-developing salamander into a late-developing salamander embryo that had the nucleus removed, the embryonic cells could go on to develop into a complete salamander. When can adult cells regain the potential to develop into a complete individual using similar techniques? After all, there is no essential difference between embryonic cells and adult cells, at least in basic structure, which are composed of the nucleus and cytoplasm.

It took two decades for Gurdon to provide a satisfactory answer to this question, and thanks to his support, the technique became commercially available - using it to obtain a large number of rare embryos from well-bred cows in a short period of time, dozens of cows could be pregnant at once and give birth to identical calves.

In October 2012, Sir John Bertrand Gurdon won this year's Nobel Prize for Biology for his outstanding contributions to the theory of biology.

Clumsy is the nickname of many children, but also become teachers and parents "hate iron does not become steel" iron proof, under the banner of clumsy, many children learned to expose themselves to abandon, hesitate to move forward, and there are always some stupid birds, insist on their dreams do not give up, under the world's gossip and short-terms-long, because they believe: One day, the clumsy stone also bloomed out the most beautiful flowers in the world, which is a stone to themselves and the whole world's national beauty.