Rather than simply rejecting the creation myth on rationalist grounds, he finds in it symbols and metaphors which reveal how much surprising continuity therehasbeen in human thinking about our origins.
Therehasbeen no indication that Mr Tung is even thinking of stepping down, nor that China (which effectively gave him the job in 1997) wants him to do so at least not yet.
It hasbeen suggested in previous studies that there could be a link between impaired lung function and a negative effect on the thinking processes, but it is not clear what the mechanism for that might be.