The Cockroach Beatbox

蟑螂的“小音箱”

翻译人员: Li Huayang 校对人员: Xiaoou Chen

（音乐）

When you think about the brain,

当你谈到大脑时，

it's difficult to understand,

你会觉得它很难理解。

because if I were to ask you right now, how does the heart work,

如果我问你心脏是如何工作的，

you would instantly tell me it's a pump.

你会说它像泵一样，抽运血液。

It pumps blood.

If I were to ask about your lungs,

换作是肺，

你会说，它交换氧气和二氧化碳。这都很简单。

you would say it exchanges oxygen for carbon dioxide.

That's easy.

If I were to ask you how the brain works, it's hard to understand

大脑的工作原理则很难理解，

because you can't just look at a brain and understand what it is.

因为你不能直观的观察大脑。

它不是机械装置，它不像泵或气囊。

It's not a mechanical object, not a pump, not an airbag.

It's just like, if you held it in your hand when it was dead,

将死亡的大脑放在手中，它就像是一堆脂肪。

it's just a piece of fat.

想要了解大脑是如何工作的，

To understand how the brain works, you have to go inside a living brain.

必须深入其内部。大脑不是机械的，

Because the brain's not mechanical, the brain is electrical and it's chemical.

它是电能和化学能的结合。

Your brain is made out of 100 billion cells, called neurons.

它由一千亿个细胞组成，

And these neurons communicate with each other with electricity.

这些细胞被称为神经元。他们靠电流传递信息。

And we're going to eavesdrop in on a conversation between two cells,

我们来听听两个细胞间的谈话，

and we're going to listen to something called a spike.

我们将听到所谓的“放电”。

But we're not going to record my brain or your brain or your teachers' brains,

我们用的并不是任何人的大脑，

we're going to use our good friend the cockroach.

而是蟑螂的大脑。

原因不是因为他们很酷，而是他们有

Not just because I think they're cool,

but because they have brains very similar to ours.

与我们相似的大脑。

So if you learn a little bit about how their brains work,

从对他们的大脑的一点了解中，

we're going to learn a lot about how our brains work.

我们将学到很多。

I'm going to put them in some ice water here

现在将他们放入冰水中，

然后……

And then --

Audience: Ew! Greg Gabe: Yeah ...

（观众：呕！）……好的……

Right now they're becoming anesthetized.

他们已经失去知觉了，

Because they're cold blooded, they become the temperature of the water

因为他们的血液降到了冰水的温度，

and they can't control it so they just basically "chillax," right?

身体不受控制，很“淡定”，是吧？

They're not going to feel anything,

他们没有感觉。

which may tell you a little about what we're going to do,

我们接下来要做

a scientific experiment to understand the brain.

一个科学实验来认识大脑。

So ...

嗯……

This is the leg of a cockroach.

这是一只蟑螂的腿，

And a cockroach has all these beautiful hairs

它上面有很多

and pricklies all over it.

漂亮的毛刺。

Underneath each one of those is a cell,

在每一个毛刺下面有一个神经元，

and this cell's a neuron that is going to send information

它会将风和振动的信息传递出去。

about wind or vibration.

你想抓住一只蟑螂是很难的，

If you ever try to catch a cockroach, it's hard because they can feel you coming

因为它能在你行动前觉察，并迅速逃跑。

before you're even there, they start running.

These cells are zipping up this information up to the brain

神经元通过轴突的电信号

将信息迅速上传给大脑。

using those little axons with electronic messages in there.

在这里插一根针来记录。

We're going to record by sticking a pin right in there.

我们需要取下蟑螂的一条腿 --

We need to take off the leg of a cockroach --

don't worry, they'll grow back --

别担心，会长回来的 --

then we're going to put two pins in there.

我们插入两根金属针。其中一根

These are metal pins.

One will pick up this electronic message, this electric message is going by.

将接收到电子信号，并将信号传递出去。

So, we're now going to do the surgery, let's see if you guys can see this.

要做外科手术，你们也许看不下去。

啊，真恶心……

Yeah, it's gross ...

好的……完成了……

All right. So there we go.

你们能看到它分离的腿。

You guys can see his leg right there.

Now I'm going to take this leg,

现在将它放入我的发明装置

I'm going to put it in this invention that we came up with

called the Spikerbox --

“放电盒” --

它可以取代实验室中昂贵的仪器，

and this replaces lots of expensive equipment in a research lab,

你们可以在学校自己动手做出来，

so you guys can do this in your own high schools,

or in your own basements if it's me.

如果是我的话我会选在自家的地下室 --

(Audience: Laughter)

So, there.

好了。（笑声）

Can you guys see that?

你们看得见吗？我要打开它了。

Alright, so I'm going to go ahead and turn this on.

插入接口。（神经元激发的声音）

I'm going to plug it in.

对于我，这是世界上最美妙的声音。

(Tuning sound)

To me, this is the most beautiful sound in the world.

这正是你的大脑正在做的。

This is what your brain is doing right now.

You have 100 billion cells making these raindrop-type noises.

一千亿个神经元发出雨滴似的声响，

Let's take a look at what it looks like,

看看呈现在iPad上的

let's pull it up on the iPad screen.

波形图，

插上我的iPad。

I plugged my iPad into here as well.

还记得轴突吧，它看起来像放电。

So remember we said the axon looks like a spike.

So we're going to take a look

我们马上就能看到它的样子。

at what one of them looks like in just a brief second.

我们轻拍下这里。

We're going to tap here,

so we can sort of average this guy.

So there we see it. That's an action potential.

我们可以看到了，这是动作电位。

You've got 100 billion cells in your brain doing this right now,

你脑中的一千亿个神经元亦是如此

sending all this information back about what you're seeing, hearing.

处理感官信息的。

我们刚才提到神经元可以传递腿毛在风中振动的信息。

We also said this is a cell

that's going to be taking up information about vibrations in the wind.

So what if we do an experiment?

那么做个实验如何？

We can actually blow on this and hear if we see a change.

向它吹气并观察变化。

Are you guys going to be ready?

准备好了吗？

If I blow on it you tell me if you hear anything.

告诉我你在我吹气时听到什么。

(Blowing)

（风吹产生的放电声音）

(Sound changes)

Let me just touch this with a little pen here.

让我用一只笔触碰一下。

(Noise)

（声响）

That was the neural firing rate.

这是神经元激发幅度。我们用了很久

That actually took a while in neuroscience to understand this.

才解释了它。它叫做频率编码，

This is called rate coding:

the harder you press on something, the more spikes there are,

你越用力按压，放电越明显，

and all that information is coming up to your brain.

信息传到大脑。我们就是这样感知事物的。

That's how you perceive things.

So that's one way of doing an experiment with electricity.

这是我们用电流做实验的方法。

The other way is that your brain is not only taking in electrical impulses,

你的大脑在接受电流脉冲时，也在发送信息。

you're also sending out.

这就是为什么你能够控制肌肉。

That's how you move your muscles around.

让我们看看将带电的针插入

Let's see what happens if I've plugged in something that's electric

蟑螂的腿，会发生什么。

into the cockroach leg here.

I'm going to take two pins, I'm going to plug them onto the cockroach.

我将两根针插在上面。

I'm going to take the other end, I'm going to plug in into my iPod.

另一头接入我的iPod。

It's my iPhone actually.

其实是iPhone。

Do you guys know how your earbuds work in your ears?

知道耳机如何工作吗？

You have a battery in your phone, or iPod, right?

你手机里有块电池，

It's sending electrical current into these magnets in your earbuds

它向耳机中的磁体输送交替电流

which shake back and forth and allow you to hear things.

这样你才能听到声音。

But that current's the same currency that our brain uses,

我们的大脑也运用同种电流，

so we can send that to our cockroach leg

所以我们将其直接输入蟑螂腿，

and hopefully if this works,

we can actually see what happens when we play music into the cockroach.

并观察播放音乐时的现象。

Let's take a look.

我们来看看。

（音乐节奏）我们来将他开启。

(Music beat)

Can we turn it up? There we go.

(Audience reacts and gasps)

（观众惊讶）发生什么了？

GG: So what's happening?

（音乐节奏）

Audience: Wow!

(Laughter)

你会看到它随着低音活动。

So you see what's moving. It's moving on the bass.

All those audiophiles out there,

如果你是音箱发烧友，有最棒的车载立体声，

if you have awesome, kicking car stereos,

you know, the bass speakers are the biggest speakers.

会知道低音扬声器是最大的扬声器。

The biggest speakers have the longest waves,

它的波长最长且有最大的电流，

which have the most current,

and the current is what's causing these things to move.

而正是电流使肢体活动。

So it's not just speakers that are causing electricity.

所以并不只是扬声器制造电流，

Microphones also cause electricity.

麦克风也同样可以。（节拍）

(Beat)

So I'm going to go ahead and invite another person out on the stage here

接下来我要邀请另一个人到舞台

to help me out with this.

来协助我。来吧。（打Beatbox）

So there we go.

(Beatboxing)

This is the first time this has ever happened in the history of mankind.

这是人类史上第一次。

Human beatbox to a cockroach leg.

人对着蟑螂腿打Beatbox。

When you guys go back to your high school, think about neuroscience

等你们回到学校，要好好想想神经学，也许将来你们会带来革命。

and how you guys can begin the neuro-revolution.

Thank you very much. Bye bye.

谢谢大家。再见。（掌声）

(Applause)

（音乐）