Chapter 138: Thesis

Zhao Min asked the workshop lathe operators to make twice the number of parts, so they could be replaced if they broke. This thoughtfulness made Chen Mo a little happy, as there was at least one set of spare parts to choose from.

All the parts were transported to the outside of Chen Mo’s laboratory. After the staff left, Chen Mo had the ten robots start moving the parts and officially began assembly.

“Ink Girl.”

“Brother Mo, Ink Girl is here. How can I help you?” Ink Girl’s childish voice sounded.

Now, Ink Girl’s conversations with him were becoming more and more diverse. She was learning all the time, and her intelligence was becoming more and more complex. This was within Chen Mo’s expectations.

“Write a thesis on early earthquake warning. The title is ‘Research on Earthquake Early Warning.’ Include some principles of how the seismograph is made, but do not write down the core principles or the manufacturing technology of the seismograph,” Chen Mo said.

Before the troops move, supplies must go first. Publish the thesis first, then officially start manufacturing the equipment. Any piece of equipment needs a theory to support it.

Earthquakes are caused by the fracturing and displacement of underground rock layers. Earthquakes exist on Earth all the time, but the usual vibration levels are too low to be noticed. There are nearly eight thousand earthquakes below magnitude 2 every day. These earthquakes are too low in level to cause any impact.

Before an earthquake, underground rocks undergo a “piezomagnetic effect” under crustal stress, causing local changes in the geomagnetic field. When underground rocks fracture and shift, crustal stress compresses or stretches the rocks, causing changes in ground resistance, which in turn leads to local changes in the Earth’s electromagnetic field.

Moreover, before an earthquake occurs, due to the accumulation of geothermal energy or intense friction of underground rocks under strong gravitational forces, a large amount of heat is generated. This heat escapes from the Earth’s surface, resulting in geothermal phenomena.

The occurrence of some earthquake clouds is due to the presence of geomagnetism and geothermal activity.

Abnormalities in the geomagnetic field, changes in geothermal activity, and variations in seismic waves—when these three are combined—make early earthquake warning possible.

Chen Mo’s seismograph is based on these principles. It uses changes in the geomagnetic field and geothermal activity to monitor the movement of underground rock layers, calculating the time of rock fracturing and displacement in underground fault zones to achieve the goal of early warning.

“Brother Mo, the thesis is finished. Should it be published now?” Ink Girl said.

“Let me see.”

Chen Mo walked to the computer. A thesis manuscript had already appeared on the desktop. He read it carefully and, after confirming there were no issues, spoke.

“Send it to ‘Nature’ magazine,” Chen Mo said.

“The international one or the domestic one?” Ink Girl asked.

“The international one. The domestic version only comes out every two months; the international one is faster,” Chen Mo said.

“Brother Mo, it has been sent successfully,” Ink Girl said.

Campbell was preparing the content for this week’s issue. The magazine’s email received many theses from all over the world every week.

They were a comprehensive scientific weekly with a prestigious reputation in the academic world. The magazine mainly reports major discoveries and important breakthroughs in the scientific world and is very strict about content.

As the editor-in-chief, he had to decide on the theses for the weekly issue—a very important task.

Not long after, an editor came in and hurriedly placed a thesis on Campbell’s desk.

“Editor-in-Chief, this is a thesis from Huaxia.”

“Huaxia?”

Campbell frowned. In his subconscious mind, what good thesis could come from Huaxia?

“What is it about?” Campbell asked without even looking.

“Research on Earthquake Early Warning.”

“Earthquake early warning?” Campbell became interested. He grabbed the thesis and started reading. After reading it carefully, he tossed it aside. “Ridiculous Huaxia people, thinking that random fantasies count as scientific discoveries. Like those previous theses, this is full of useless stuff with no factual basis. It’s completely pointless.”

“Should we reject it?” the editor who had brought the thesis asked.

“Reject it,” Campbell said.

“Okay.”

Seeing the rejection notice, Chen Mo frowned. It had only been a day, and it was already rejected—the efficiency was indeed fast.

“Send the thesis to the domestic ‘Nature’ and ‘Science’ magazines,” Chen Mo said.

“Sent successfully. What if it gets rejected again?” Ink Girl asked.

“If it’s rejected, so be it. What else can we do?” Chen Mo was amused by Ink Girl’s question. “If it’s rejected, I’ll publish it myself. Scientific magazines are just channels in the academic world.”

Two days later, Chen Mo looked at two rejection notices, feeling speechless. Ink Girl was right—it was rejected again. Is it really this hard to publish a scientific thesis through authoritative magazines now?

But after thinking about it carefully, it made sense. He wasn’t an authoritative expert or a famous scholar in this field. Theoretical theses like this were probably hard to get approved.

“Publish the thesis on the company’s official website,” Chen Mo said.

Publishing through authoritative channels was just a way to gain more recognition and acceptance from an authoritative perspective. Since the editors of these channels didn’t approve, there was no need to stubbornly cling to them.

“It has been published,” Ink Girl said.

Cheng Mingxin sat in front of the computer, checking the official website’s backend from time to time. He was responsible for operating the company’s official website. His daily work involved publishing content on the website.

When he checked the official website again, Cheng Mingxin’s gaze froze. There was an extra article on the website?

This happened occasionally because within the company, the Big Boss could publish any announcement without going through the lower-level staff.

Carbon Crystal Material, Chinese Character Programming Language—these were all things the Big Boss had published himself.

Research on Earthquake Early Warning? Cheng Mingxin saw the signature and thought, as expected.

He printed the thesis and, not daring to delay, took it and ran to the President’s Office. There were already instructions: any article published by the Big Boss must be reported to the President’s Office immediately, bypassing his supervisor.

“Sister Zhao, he published a thesis on the official website,” Xiaoyu said, placing the thesis Cheng Mingxin had given her on Zhao Min’s desk.

“This prodigy, what a prodigy,” Zhao Min sighed as she looked at the thesis.

She had just returned from a business trip, and Chen Mo was already causing a stir. “Xiaoyu, is the one at your home a future human who traveled back in time? Does he usually hide in his room to study when he’s at home?”

“Occasionally. He usually learns things very quickly—he’s quite amazing. But this thesis… I read it, and it seems a bit far-fetched. Maybe he’s joking,” Xiaoyu said.

“If he dares to publish it, it’s no joke,” Zhao Min sighed.

From Carbon Crystal Material to Chinese Character Programming Language, and the thesis on Artificial Intelligence, Zhao Min had never seen Chen Mo joke about academic matters.

Robots were already in his laboratory, helping him with experiments. Although the equipment in the laboratory above wasn’t the most complete, the things he was researching were at the forefront.

Chen Mo was like a hen that lays eggs. These theses and researches were like eggs—one every day.

If Chen Mo knew that Zhao Min had compared him to a hen in her mind, he would definitely lose his temper.

“Take the thesis upstairs and ask him about it,” Zhao Min said.

“Okay,” Xiaoyu nodded and left Zhao Min’s office with the thesis.