Dear Readers, I hope you have enjoyed a great start to the new school year. In addition to keeping up with the regular curriculum, you may also be busy with extracurricular activities that demand originality and teamwork. Perhaps the stories we share will serve as inspiration. Many of you must have done practice questions on statistics that involve the student’s t-distribution. Do you know its connection with beer brewing? How about the connection of Euler’s number (e) with the calculation of compound interest and radioisotope decay? Although we don’t carry an atomic clock with us all the time, it plays an indispensable role in letting Pokémon Go know exactly where we are. Finally, we share a tale that connects itchy sheep, cannibalism, and Nobel Prize. Read on to discover the medical mystery about prions. Some of you may be thinking about what to study after secondary school. In our ongoing series of articles that feature HKUST alumni, you will learn from four biologists on their paths of success. Hopefully, their stories will give you broader perspectives on university studies and beyond. I wish you the best in choosing your own path to success! Yours faithfully, Prof. Ho Yi Mak Editor-in-Chief 親愛的讀者： 希望大家在新學年伊始一切順利。在繼續恆常課程同時，你們可 能也忙著各樣需要發揮創意和團隊精神的課外活動，今期故事也許正 好能啟發大家。 你們當中很多人應該做過與學生t 分佈相關的統計題目，但你 知道它與釀造啤酒之間的關係嗎？你又知道歐拉數（e）如何被應用 於計算複利息和放射性衰變？儘管我們不會隨身攜帶原子鐘，但它在 Pokémon Go的定位功能中扮演著不可或缺的角色。最後，我們會分 享一個與羊搔癢症、食人習俗和諾貝爾獎相關的醫學故事，請閱讀後 文，並與我們一起拆解病原性蛋白顆粒的神秘面紗。 你們也許正在考慮中學畢業後的出路，在我們與科大校友的對談 系列中，你將會聽到四位主修生物學的舊生踏上成功之路的心路歷 程，希望他們的故事能擴闊你對大學及其後生涯發展的認知。衷心希 望大家能找到屬於自己的成功道路！ 主編 麥晧怡教授 敬上 Message from the Editor-in-Chief 主編的話 Copyright © 2025 HKUST E-mail: sciencefocus@ust.hk Homepage: https://sciencefocus.hkust.edu.hk Scientific Advisors 科學顧問 Prof. Tim Leung 梁承裕教授 Prof. Yi Wang 王一教授 Prof. Chi Wai Yu 余智偉教授 Editor-in-Chief 主編輯 Prof. Ho Yi Mak麥晧怡教授 Managing Editor 總編輯 Daniel Lau 劉劭行 Student Editorial Board學生編委 Editors 編輯 Sam Fan 樊潤璋 Roshni Printer Devandhira Wijaya Wangsa Helen Wong 王思齊 Jane Yang 楊靜悠 Daria Zaitseva Social Media Editors 社交媒體編輯 Audrey Chan 陳皚慧 Daisy Yeung 楊于葶 Graphic Designers 設計師 Jacky Lau 劉重信 Yerim Song 宋禮林 Winkie Wong 王穎琪 Constance Zhang 張粲璨 Contents Science Focus Issue 031, 2025 What’s Happening in Hong Kong? 香港科技活動 STARMAP to the Unseen Universe 1 星圖旅航 Geminid Meteor Shower — December 14–15, 2025 雙子座流星雨 ─ 2025 年 12 月 14 至 15 日 Science in History 昔日科學 Beer, Student, and t-Distribution 2 啤酒、學生與t分佈 Prions: A Mysterious Infectious Agent 7 病原性蛋白顆粒：神秘的致病元兇 Amusing World of Science 趣味科學 How Atomic Clocks Keep Almost Perfect Time 12 原子鐘如何精確計時？ The Magic of Euler’s Number e 16 歐拉數e的魔力 Who’s Who 科言人語 Q&A with HKUST Life Science Majors 20 讀生命科學的人：與科大學子對談
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