The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) 24th General Meeting was held at Buenos Aires, Argentina on September 30, 2013. More than 300 scientists from 60 countries and regions around the world and several of the national science and technology ministers and international organization representatives attended the meeting.

52 new academicians were elected including 9 scientists from China Mainland and 3 scientists from Taiwan this year. TWAS is a global science academy, which was founded in 1983 in Trieste, Italy, aiming to advance science and engineering for sustainable prosperity in the developing world. TWAS represents the best of science in developing countries. Its main mission is to promote scientific excellence and capacity in the South for science-based sustainable development. More than 1000 scientists from 91 countries and regions of the world were elected academicians of TWAS until 2012.

At the opening ceremony, the meeting committee presented the awards “TWAS 2012 Prizes” for scientists nominated. BAI Chunli, the president of Chinese Academy of Sciences, hosted the meeting for the first time as the dean of TWAS. President BAI and the minister of science and technology of Argentina Lino Bara?ao presented the awards for 18 scientists from China, India and Chile etc. Professor YU Jun was awarded “TWAS Prize in Agricultural Sciences for 2012” for his fundamental contribution to a better understanding of plant genomes and agronomic traits, which has been contributing to the improvement of food security around the world.

During the meeting, professor YU gave a speech entitled “Life’s Three Dilemmas at Molecular Levels”. Basing on years of scientific research experiences, he presented three dilemmas encountered during the life science study in molecular level: The Splicing or Replication-Transcription Dilemma, the Germline or Replication-Repair Dilemma and Epigenomics or Genetic and non-Genetic Dilemma. In addition, professor YU also provided detailed information on the achievements and latest progress about “Phoenix Dactylifera L. Genome Project”, which was supported jointly by Beijing Institute of Genomics, CAS and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST).

Prof. YU Jun was awarded the “TWAS Prize in Agricultural Sciences for 2012”