The national outpouring of grief(悲痛) at the death of two legendary academicians(院士)over the weekend, as if people had lost beloved members of their own families, offers much food for thought.

At 1:02 pm on May 22nd, 2021, liver surgeon Wu Mengchao, 99, died in Shanghai. He is known as the founder of hepatobiliary surgery(肝胆外科) in the country and was the teacher of roughly 80 percent of the nation's experts and doctors specializing in liver surgery today. Wu operated on thousands of patients, and saved at least 16,000 lives. Five minutes later in Changsha, Hunan province, agricultural scientist Yuan Longping died at the age of 91. He was known as the father of hybrid rice who helped lift the nation out of hunger.

With their dedication to science and commitment to the people, the two devoted their lives to saving lives and improving people's livelihoods. Together with generations of their students, they not only made a big difference to the lives of the Chinese people, but also many living in other developing and least-developed countries.

Wu insisted that medical science is humanity while Yuan's lifelong dream was always to enable the Chinese people to fill their own bowls with rice. What makes Wu and Yuan great is not only their achievements, but also their shared attachment to the people. The public's spontaneous(自发的) outpouring of grief at their deaths, which has been rare in the country for decades, shows how much their down-to-earth dedication to improving people's lives touched hearts throughout the country.

Yuan and Wu are just two representatives of the large numbers of scientific workers that have devoted their lives to their research, giving the country's people-centered development principle with more practical meaning. The country needs more scientists to inherit and carry forward their spirit. Even those in other walks of life can draw inspiration from the two academicians' commitment to their dreams, care for the people, and unconcern about material enjoyment, so as to make the best of what life grants for themselves and others.

Over the course of 16 months, the family of 16 Asian elephants crop-destroyed, mud-bathed, and road-tripped 300 miles north to the provincial capital of Kunming. Along the way they became global celebrities --- and presented a conundrum for government officials. The elephants caused about a half million dollars worth of damage.

The simple answer would be to tranquilize (使镇定)the elephants and transport them back to the reserve.

But that would be risky for this group, especially the three little ones. Instead, officials took measures --- providing tons of corn and bananas, setting up road barriers, and making new pathways --- which ultimately involved tens of thousands of people at a cost equal to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In a year torn by climate change, conflict, and COVID -19, some might argue that going to extremes to keep a family of elephants safe was wasteful. They might say the same about searching for an undiscovered species of frog or building new museums.

But conserving our natural and human heritage --- like efforts to cure disease and stop war --- is about doing good in the world. We need wildlife and ancient objects, just as we need health and peace. They’re our past, present, and future.

Conservation efforts have been bright spots in an otherwise dark year. That’s not to say the biodiversity crisis has passed. Plant and animal species are still disappearing at an alarming rate.

“I am scared about the state of nature because the threats are increasing ,” says Gladys Kalema -Zikusoka, founder of Conservation Through Public Health , but “I am hopeful because the extreme weather patterns we are experiencing and the shock of COVID -19 are leading to a heightened awareness about these risks and the need to do something about them .”

It’s still not clear why the elephants left their home, but one theory is that as elephant numbers in Yunnan Province have increased, the animals have needed to expand their territory.

That could be considered good news for this endangered species. But the story of the elephants demonstrates something else too: that the world we created and the world nature created are closely bound, for better or for worse.