河流的新航道——应用数学与力学的学科再定向OA

Applied mathematics and mechanics have entered a stage at which their disciplinary direction,re-search priorities,and journal orientation must be re-examined.The difficulty today does not lie in the lack of di-rections,but in the excessive abundance of them;not in the absence of new concepts,but in their inflation,to the point that mainstreams and tributaries,riverbeds and waves,are increasingly blurred.Using the metaphor of"the river's new channels,"this editorial discusses why applied mathematics and mechanics must be reori-ented in the intelligent age,where this reorientation should lead,and how it should be organized.It argues that,for Applied Mathematics and Mechanics,the real point of departure must remain mechanical objects,mechanical problems,and mechanical laws.The importance of applied mathematics lies not only in advancing abstract formulations and general methods,but also in providing trustworthy methodological support for real mechanics problems through modeling,analysis,computation,inverse identification,optimization,uncertainty quantification,and data assimilation.Convincing new channels should therefore not be reduced to a catalog of fashionable topics,but must first return to the basic variables,relations,boundaries,and methods of mechan-ics,and rebuild a general framework of fundamental problems and trustworthy methodologies.On this basis,AI for Mechanics represents a route of methodological reorganization,the transition from metamaterials to intelli-gent metastructural systems represents a route of structural-object expansion,nonlocal theory and multiphysics coupling represent a route of theoretical reconstruction,and the transition from biomechanics to life mechanics represents a route of life-object and mechanism integration.These four routes are not isolated lines,but inter-acting channels that converge and are tested in complex engineering problems and extreme mechanics.Real-world needs should not replace free exploration and original innovation.Rather,fundamental problems provide the riverbed,free exploration opens the sources,real-world needs expose the boundaries,and complex sys-tems test the depth and reliability of emerging channels.The journal should therefore remain open to interdisci-plinary expansion while making clear that its core orientation lies in mechanics problems—especially fundamen-tal and complex engineering problems—supported by trustworthy mathematical methods.It should act not only as a publication platform,but also as a"hydrological surveyor"of emerging channels by organizing focused themes,supporting problem-chain research,and helping to shape a more coherent scholarly community.