Parasite tales: The jewel wasp's zombie slave - Carl Zimmer

Transcriber: Andrea McDonough Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

翻译人员: Miranda Dong 校对人员: Jenny Yang

I would like to introduce you to my favorite parasite.

我想介绍给你们我最喜欢的寄生虫

There are millions that I could choose from

我有上百种可以选择

and this is it:

然而我选择了它

it's called the jewel wasp.

它就是扁头泥蜂（也叫宝石蜂）

You can find it in parts of Africa and Asia.

你可以在非洲和亚洲的部分地区找到它

It's a little under an inch long,

不到1英寸长

and it is a beautiful looking parasite.

而且是种很美丽的寄生虫

Now, you may be saying to yourself,

现在，你可能会说

"This is not a parasite.

“这不是寄生虫吧”

It's not a tapeworm,

它不是绦虫

it's not a virus,

how could a wasp be a parasite?"

不是病毒

蜂子怎能能是寄生虫呢？

You are probably thinking about regular wasps,

你可能想到的是平常的黄蜂

you know, the ones that build paper nests as their house.

就是，住在自己纸筑的巢里的那种

Well, the thing is that the jewel wasp

但对于扁头泥蜂

makes its house inside a living cockroach.

它住在活的蟑螂身体里

Here's how it happens.

让我告诉你们这是怎么回事

A jewel wasp is flying around, looking for a cockroach.

一只扁头泥蜂飞来飞去，寻找蟑螂

When it sees one, it lands and bites on its wing.

当它找到了，就会落下并咬蟑螂的翅膀

So, I'll be the cockroach.

现在，我是那只蟑螂

Be-wha! Bewha!

哎呦，我去！

And the cockroach starts shaking it off,

蟑螂想把它甩下来

"Get away from me!"

“离我远点！”

The wasp very quickly starts stinging the cockroach.

扁头泥蜂会很快地叮咬蟑螂

All of a sudden, the cockroach can't move,

一瞬之间，蟑螂就动不了了

for about a minute.

过了约一分钟

And then it recovers

它苏醒过来

and stands up.

站起来

It could run away now,

它现在可以逃跑了

but it doesn't.

但它并没有

It just doesn't want to.

它不愿意逃跑了

It just stays there.

只是待在那儿

It's become a zombie slave.

成为了一具僵尸奴隶

Again, I'm not making this up.

我没有逗你们玩

The wasp goes off,

扁头泥蜂飞走了

it walks away and finds a hole

飞走并找了一个洞

and digs it out, makes it into a burrow.

挖掘它让它可以容身

It walks back.

然后返回去

This can take up to half an hour.

这期间有半个小时

The cockroach is still there.

蟑螂还在哪儿

What do we do now?

现在要干嘛？

The wasps grabs onto one of the antenna,

扁头泥蜂抓住蟑螂的一根触角

bites down on it,

咬住

of the cockroach,

蟑螂的触角

and pulls the cockroach.

然后拖着蟑螂

And the cockroach says, "Alright,"

蟑螂说，“好吧”

and walks like a dog on a leash.

就像被牵住的狗

The wasp takes it all the way down into the burrow.

扁头泥蜂把蟑螂一路拖回那个洞

The cockroach says, "Nice place."

蟑螂说，“是个好地方”

The wasp takes care of some business

扁头泥蜂仔细地做了点什么

and then goes and leaves the burrow

然后离开了洞穴

and seals it shut,

封闭洞口

leaving the cockroach entombed in darkness, still alive.

留下蟑螂被埋在洞中，还是活的

The cockroach says, "Alright, I'll stay here if you want."

蟑螂说，“好吧，如果你让我待在这我就待吧”

Now, I mentioned that the cockroach took care,

记得我刚刚提到，蟑螂做了点

ah, the wasp took care of a little business

啊不，扁头泥蜂在离开之前

before it left the burrow.

做了点什么

The business was laying an egg

那就是产卵

on the underside of the cockroach.

在蟑螂胸部下方产卵

The egg hatches.

卵孵化后

Out comes a wasp larva.

扁头泥蜂幼虫就出来了

It looks kind of like a maggot with big, nasty jaws.

它看上去像有恶心大嘴的蛆

It chews a hole into the cockroach

在蟑螂身上咬了个洞

and starts to feed from the outside.

从外面开始吃蟑螂的身体

It gets bigger, like you can see over here.

当它长大了，就像图里右边的

And then when it gets big enough,

当它长得足够大了

it decides to crawl into the hole,

它就决定爬到洞里

into the cockroach.

爬到蟑螂身体里

So now it's inside the still-living cockroach

所以现在幼虫住在了仍然活着的蟑螂身体里

and the cockroach doesn't mind much.

而蟑螂并不在意

This goes on for about a month.

有大约一个月的时间

The larva grows and grows and grows,

幼虫持续成长，成长，再成长

then makes a pupa, kind of like a cocoon.

然后化蛹，类似于做茧

Inside there it grows eyes,

在里面长出眼睛

it grows wings,

翅膀

it grows legs,

腿

the cockroach is still alive, still waiting.

这段时间蟑螂仍是活的，仍在等待

Finally the wasp is ready to leave,

最终泥蜂准备好离开了

and that's when the cockroach finally dies

也就是蟑螂最终死去的时候

because the fullly-formed adult wasp

因为这只完全态的成年泥蜂

crawls out of the cockroach's dying body.

要爬出快死蟑螂的身体

The wasp shakes itself off,

泥蜂抖动它的身体

climbs out of the burrow,

爬出洞穴

goes and finds another wasp to mate with

离开并寻找另一只进行交配

to start this whole, crazy cycle again.

然后开始疯狂的新一轮循环

So, this is not science fiction,

是，这不是科幻故事

this happens every day, all over the world.

它每天在世界各地发生着

And scientists are totally fascinated by this.

而科学家们完全为其着迷

They're just starting to figure out how all this happens.

他们刚开始研究这是怎么做到的

And, when you really start to look at the science of it,

当你认真开始关注其中的科学时

you start to kind of respect this very creepy wasp.

你会开始敬佩这种令人毛骨悚然的泥蜂

You see, the thing is that when it attacks the cockroach,

要知道，当它攻击蟑螂时

it's not just stinging wildly,

并不是随便叮咬

it delivers two precise stings.

它叮咬两个特定的地方

It knows this cockroach's nervous system

它熟悉蟑螂的神经系统

like you know the back of your hand.

就像你熟悉你的手背

The first sting goes to that spot there,

第一处叮咬的是圆点的位置

called the "walking rhythm generators,"

叫做运动规律发生器

and, as you can guess,

从名字你可以猜到

those are the neurons that send signals

这些神经细胞发出的信号

to the legs to move.

控制腿部运动

It blocks the channels that the neurons use

叮咬阻止了神经通道

to send these signals.

So the cockroach wants to go, it wants to run away,

向腿部传递信号

所以蟑螂实际上想逃的，很想逃跑

but it can't because it can't move its legs.

但是它的腿已经无法移动了

And that lasted for about a minute.

然后这样持续一分钟

This is really sophisticated pharmacology.

这是很复杂的药理学

We actually use the same method,

实际上我们也有类似的方法

a drug called Ivermectin,

一种叫做伊维菌素的药

to cure river blindness,

来治疗蟠尾丝虫症（河川盲）

which is caused by a parasitic worm

它是由于一种寄生蠕虫

that gets into your eye.

进到了你的眼睛里

If you take Ivermectin, you paralyze the worm

如果你使用伊维菌素，你就使用相同的策略

using the same strategy.

让蠕虫瘫痪了

Now, we discovered this in the 1970s,

我们在1970年代发现这个治疗方法

the wasp has been doing this for millions of years.

泥蜂却已经这样做了上百万年

Then comes the second sting.

然后它第二次叮咬蟑螂

Now the second sting actually hits two places along the way.

实际上第二次叮咬，沿途有两个地方

And to try to imagine how this can happen,

试着想象一下

I want you to picture yourself with a friend

想象一个画面，你和你的朋友

who's got a very long, very, very scary looking needle.

他有一根非常非常吓人的长针

And your friend,

你的朋友

or at least you thought he was your friend,

或者至少你认为他是朋友

sticks it in your neck,

把针戳近了你的脖子

goes into your skull,

戳到你的脑壳里

stops off at one part of your brain

戳到一部分脑子的时候停了下来

and injects some drugs,

注射了一些药

then keeps going in your brain

然后继续往里戳

and injects some more.

继续注射更多的药

These are two particular spots,

这里有两个特别的点

marked here, "SEG",

标注为“SEG”

and you can see the tip of it in the brain, marked "Br".

你能看到图里蟑螂脑子末梢的标记，“Br”

Now, we can do this, but it's really hard for us.

现在我们也可以这样做，不过挺难的

It's called stereotactic drug delivery.

它叫做立体定位药物递送

You have to put a patient in a big metal frame

你必须把病人放在一个大型金属框架里

to hold them still,

保持他们不能动

you need CAT Scans to know where you're going,

你需要CT扫描来监看进行到哪儿了

so you look at the picture and say,

所以你看着图片，然后说

"Are we going the right way?"

“我们进行的对吗？”

The jewel wasp has sensors on its stinger

扁头泥蜂在自己的蛰刺上有传感器

and scientists think that it can actually feel its way

科学家认为它自己可以感知行进路线

through the cockroach's brain until it gets

直达蟑螂的大脑

to the exact, right place,

精确到达正确位置

and then penetrates an individual neuron

刺入一个特定的神经元

and then delivers the goods.

然后把东西注入进去

So, this is quite amazing stuff,

所以这是很惊人的本事

and what seems to happen then

接下来发生的

is that the wasp is taking away the control

就是泥蜂取得了控制权

that the cockroach has over its own body.

蟑螂的身体不受控制

It's taking away the cockroach's free will.

自由意志被泥蜂剥夺了

We didn't really appreciate that cockroaches

我们在泥蜂这么做之前

have free will until this wasp showed us.

都没有认识到蟑螂还有自由意志

And, we have no idea how it's doing this,

此外，我们还有很多不了解的

we don't know yet what the venom has in it

我们还不知道这是什么毒液

and we don't know which circuits

我们不知道它攻击的是蟑螂脑部

it's hitting in the cockroach's brain,

哪一部分回路

and I think that's why this is,

这就是我为什么

most of all, my favorite parasite

在所有寄生虫当中，最喜欢扁头泥蜂

because we have so much left to learn from it.

因为我们还有很多要向它学习的地方

Thank you very much.

非常感谢各位的聆听