Portnoy Zheng
Co-founder & Chief Knowledge Officer, PanSci 泛科學
About
Portnoy Zheng (鄭國威) is a Taiwanese science communicator and media entrepreneur, co-founder and Chief Knowledge Officer of PanSci (泛科學), Taiwan's largest science communication media and community. A pioneering blogger of the mid-2000s, he founded and edited the Chinese edition of Global Voices, the citizen-media project born at Harvard's Berkman Center, while studying telecommunications at National Chung Cheng University. In 2011 he co-founded PanSci with 徐挺耀 as an incubation project of the Taiwan Digital Culture Association; it became the independent company PanKnowledge (泛科知識) in 2014. He now fronts PanSci's YouTube channel — past one million subscribers — as the fast-talking 'PanSci Uncle' (泛科學阿伯), turning fresh research papers into daily short videos with the help of AI tools. His core conviction: science literacy begins with bravely admitting 'I don't know, but I want to understand,' and translating hard knowledge (轉譯) so anyone can grasp it is the basic craft of a true expert.
Key Contributions
- Co-founded PanSci (泛科學) in 2011, which grew into Taiwan's largest science communication media and community
- Built PanSci's YouTube channel past one million subscribers, hosting daily science videos as the 'PanSci Uncle' (泛科學阿伯)
- Founded and edited the Chinese edition of Global Voices, translating citizen journalism from around the world into Chinese
- Pioneering Taiwanese blogger and citizen-journalism advocate, from media-reform activism to training citizen reporters in Mongolia
- Champions 'knowledge translation' (轉譯) — the craft of making hard science graspable, starting from admitting what you don't know
Videos & Interviews
老闆下來拍片，代表公司走投無路了？ ft. 鄭國威
On 張修修的不正常人類研究所, Portnoy Zheng talks candidly about being the founder who stepped in front of the camera — whether it's still viable to start a YouTube channel now, and his first-hand advice for newcomers drawn from PanSci's own reinvention as a million-subscriber science channel.
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AI時代最重要的思辨力與提問力｜未知寄給你的邀請函｜鄭國威｜人文講堂｜完整版 20260801
A full talk on Da Ai TV's 人文講堂: in an age when AI can answer almost anything, Portnoy Zheng argues the scarce human skills are 思辨力 and 提問力 — critical thinking and the ability to ask good questions. Framing the unknown as an invitation rather than a threat, he draws on his science-communication craft to show how staying curious about what you don't know becomes the way to live and learn alongside AI.
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鄭國威：泛科學Youtube竄起，是因更能細膩判斷數據，而非只單看流量起伏
Over drinks with Mario (馬力歐陪你喝一杯, The News Lens), Portnoy Zheng explains the mechanics behind PanSci's YouTube rise: not chasing traffic spikes, but reading the data finely — what retention, audience, and format signals actually say — and letting that discipline steer a science channel's reinvention.
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科學不難，是你「太早放棄搞懂」了！泛科學鄭國威揭百萬訂閱級的轉譯術，如何把艱澀知識講到「小白」也能秒懂？Ft.@kuowei_pansci 鄭國威【哈佛商業評論✕人物面對面】S2Ep80
Harvard Business Review Taiwan's 人物面對面 sits down with Portnoy Zheng, who went from wanting to burn his junior-high math textbook to fronting a million-subscriber science channel. He unpacks his craft of 轉譯 — knowledge translation: why "not understanding" is the best starting point, how PanSci survived traffic slumps and reinvented itself on YouTube, and why explaining complex things simply is the basic skill of a high-level professional.
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