Martin Hanczyc: The line between life and not-life

Prevoditelj: Ivona Papa Recezent: Tilen Pigac - EFZG

So historically there has

Povijesno gledano, postoji

been a huge divide between what people

velika razlika između onog što ljudi smatraju

consider to be non-living systems on one

neživim sustavima s jedne,

side, and living systems on the other side.

i živim sustavima s druge strane.

So we go from, say, this beautiful and

Tako da imamo, recimo, ovaj prekrasan

complex crystal as non-life, and this rather

i kompleksan kristal kao neživo, i

beautiful and complex cat on the other side.

s druge strane, ovu prekrasnu i kompleksnu mačku.

Over the last hundred and fifty years or so,

Otprilike u zadnjih 150 godina,

science has kind of blurred this distinction

znanost je donekle zamutila tu granicu

between non-living and living systems, and

između neživih i živih sustava,

now we consider that there may be a kind

i trenutno smatramo da bi mogao postojati

of continuum that exists between the two.

kontinuitet između tog dvojeg.

We'll just take one example here:

Uzmimo samo ovaj primjer:

a virus is a natural system, right?

virus je prirodni sustav, zar ne?

But it's very simple. It's very simplistic.

Ali vrlo je jednostavan. Vrlo pojednostavljen.

It doesn't really satisfy all the requirements,

Ne zadovoljava baš sve zahtjeve,

it doesn't have all the characteristics

nema sve karakteristike živog sustava

of living systems and is in fact a parasite

i zapravo je parazit

on other living systems in order to, say,

na drugim živim sustavima kako bi se mogao

reproduce and evolve.

razmnožavati i razvijati.

But what we're going to be talking about here

Ali ono o čemu ćemo večeras ovdje govoriti

tonight are experiments done on this sort of

jesu eksperimenti koji se rade na ovoj vrsti

non-living end of this spectrum -- so actually

neživog dijela spektra -- tako da

doing chemical experiments in the laboratory,

provodeći kemijske eksperimente u laboratoriju,

mixing together nonliving ingredients

miješajući nežive sastojke

to make new structures, and that these

da bismo dobili nove strukture, i da

new structures might have some of the

te nove strukture možda imaju neke

characteristics of living systems.

od karakteristika živih sustava.

Really what I'm talking about here is

Ono o čemu zapravo govorim jest

trying to create a kind of artificial life.

pokušaj stvaranja neke vrste umjetnog života.

So what are these characteristics that I'm

Dakle, koje su karakteristike

talking about? These are them.

o kojima govorim? To su sljedeće:

We consider first that life has a body.

Najprije smatramo da život ima tijelo.

Now this is necessary to distinguish the self

To je potrebno za razlikovanje sebe

from the environment.

od okoliša.

Life also has a metabolism. Now this is a

Život ima i metabolizam. To je

process by which life can convert resources

proces kojim život može pretvarati resurse

from the environment into building blocks

iz okoliša u gradeće blokove

so it can maintain and build itself.

tako da se može održavati i graditi.

Life also has a kind of inheritable information.

Život ima i vrstu nasljednih informacija.

Now we, as humans, we store our information

Mi, kao ljudi, pohranjujemo te informacije

as DNA in our genomes and we pass this

kao DNK u našim genomima i prosljeđujemo

information on to our offspring.

tu informaciju našim potomcima.

If we couple the first two -- the body and the metabolism --

Ako uparimo prvo dvoje -- tijelo i metabolizam --

we can come up with a system that could

možemo izmisliti sustav koji se možda može

perhaps move and replicate, and if we

micati i kopirati, i ako sad

coupled these now to inheritable information,

uparimo ove s nasljednim informacijama,

we can come up with a system that would be

možemo doći do sustava koji bi bio sličniji

more lifelike, and would perhaps evolve.

živućem, i koji bi se možda razvijao.

And so these are the things we will try to do

I ovo su stvari koje ćemo pokušati napraviti

in the lab, make some experiments that have

u laboratoriju, napraviti neke eksperimente koji

one or more of these characteristics of life.

imaju jednu ili više karakteristika života.

So how do we do this? Well, we use

Kako to činimo? Pa, koristimo

a model system that we term a protocell.

model sustava koji označavamo kao protostanicu.

You might think of this as kind of like a

Ovo možete zamisliti kao nekakvu

primitive cell. It is a simple chemical

primitivnu stanicu. Jednostavan je kemijski model

model of a living cell, and if you consider

žive stanice, i ako na primjer zamislite

for example a cell in your body may have

da stanica u vašem tijelu vjerojatno ima

on the order of millions of different types

milijune različitih tipova

of molecules that need to come together,

molekula koje se trebaju spojiti,

play together in a complex network

zajedno igrati u složenoj mreži

to produce something that we call alive.

da proizvedu nešto što nazivamo živim.

In the laboratory what we want to do

Što želimo napraviti u laboratoriju

is much the same, but with on the order of

je prilično isto, ali s otprilike

tens of different types of molecules --

desecima različitih tipova molekula --

so a drastic reduction in complexity, but still

tako da imamo drastično smanjenje složenosti, ali još uvijek

trying to produce something that looks lifelike.

pokušavamo proizvesti nešto što je slično živome.

And so what we do is, we start simple

Ono što činimo je da počinjemo jednostavno

and we work our way up to living systems.

i nadograđujemo prema živim sustavima.

Consider for a moment this quote by

Razmislite na tren o Leducovom citatu,

Leduc, a hundred years ago, considering a

prije stotinu godina, dok je promišljao

kind of synthetic biology:

o vrsti sintetičke biologije:

"The synthesis of life, should it ever occur,

"Sinteza života, ako bi se ikad dogodila,

will not be the sensational discovery which we

neće biti senzacionalno otkriće koje obično

usually associate with the idea."

povezujemo s idejom."

That's his first statement. So if we actually

To je njegova prva izjava. Tako da ako zapravo

create life in the laboratories, it's

stvorimo život u laboratoriju, on vjerojatno

probably not going to impact our lives at all.

neće uopće utjecati na naše živote.

"If we accept the theory of evolution, then

"Ako prihvatimo teoriju evolucije, onda se

the first dawn of synthesis of life must consist

prvi tračak sinteze života mora sastojati

in the production of forms intermediate

u proizvodnji posrednih oblika

between the inorganic and the organic

između anorganskog i organskog

world, or between the non-living

svijeta, ili između neživućeg

and living world, forms which possess

i živućeg svijeta, oblika koji posjeduje

only some of the rudimentary attributes of life"

tek neke od rudimentarnih atributa života"

-- so, the ones I just discussed --

-- dakle oni o kojima sam upravo raspravljao --

"to which other attributes will be slowly added

"kojima će polagano biti dodavani drugi atributi

in the course of development by the

u tijeku razvoja

evolutionary actions of the environment."

evolucijskim akcijama okoliša."

So we start simple, we make some structures

Tako da počinjemo jednostavno, radimo strukture

that may have some of these characteristics

koje mogu imati neke od karakteristika

of life, and then we try to develop that

života, i onda ih pokušavamo razviti

to become more lifelike.

da postanu sličnije živome.

This is how we can start to make a protocell.

Ovako možemo početi stvarati protostanicu.

We use this idea called self-assembly.

Koristimo ideju nazvanu samo-spajanje.

What that means is, I can mix some

To znači da mogu miješati

chemicals together in a test tube in my lab,

neke kemikalije u epruveti u svom laboratoriju,

and these chemicals will start to self-associate

i ove kemikalije će se početi samopovezivati

to form larger and larger structures.

i formirati sve veće strukture.

So say on the order of tens of thousands,

Recimo da će se deseci tisuća,

hundreds of thousands of molecules will

stotine tisuća molekula

come together to form a large structure

spojiti i oblikovati velike strukture

that didn't exist before.

koje prije nisu postojale.

And in this particular example,

A u ovom primjeru posebice,

what I took is some membrane molecules,

ono što sam uzeo su bile opnene molekule,

mixed those together in the right environment,

pomiješao ih u pravom okolišu.

and within seconds it forms these rather

i u nekoliko sekundi su se formirale

complex and beautiful structures here.

poprilično složene i prekrasne strukture kao ove.

These membranes are also quite similar,

Ove membrane su također jako slične,

morphologically and functionally,

morfološki i funkcionalno,

to the membranes in your body,

membranama u vašem tijelu,

and we can use these, as they say,

i ove možemo koristiti, kako kažu,

to form the body of our protocell.

da oblikuju tijelo protostanice.

Likewise,

Isto tako,

we can work with oil and water systems.

možemo raditi na nafti i vodenim sustavima.

As you know, when you put oil and water together,

Kao što znate, kad spojite naftu i vodu,

they don't mix, but through self-assembly

one se ne miješaju, ali kroz samo-spajanje,

we can get a nice oil droplet to form,

možemo postići da se oblikuje lijepa kapljica nafte,

and we can actually use this as a body for

i ovo zapravo možemo koristiti kao tijelo

our artificial organism or for our protocell,

za naš umjetni organizam ili protostanicu,

as you will see later.

kako ćete vidjeti kasnije.

So that's just forming some body stuff, right?

Pa to je samo oblikovanje nekakvog tijela, zar ne?

Some architectures.

Nekakva arhitektura.

What about the other aspects of living systems?

A što s drugim aspektima živućih sustava?

So we came up with this protocell model here

Tako smo došli do ovog modela protostanice

that I'm showing.

kojeg pokazujem.

We started with a natural occurring clay

Počeli smo s glinom koja se prirodno javlja

called montmorillonite.

i zove se montmorilonit.

This is natural from the environment, this clay.

Ova glina, ona je prirodna iz okoliša.

It forms a surface that is, say, chemically active.

Oblikuje površinu koja je, recimo, kemijski aktivna.

It could run a metabolism on it.

Metabolizam bi se mogao voditi na njoj.

Certain kind of molecules like to associate

Određene vrste molekula se rado spajaju

with the clay. For example, in this case, RNA, shown in red

s glinom. Na primjer, u ovom slučaju, RNK, pokazana crvenom

-- this is a relative of DNA,

-- ovo je srodnik DNK,

it's an informational molecule --

je informacijska molekula --

it can come along and it starts to associate

može se pojaviti i početi povezivati

with the surface of this clay.

s površinom gline.

This structure, then, can organize the

Ova struktura onda može organizirati

formation of a membrane boundary around

formaciju opnene granice oko sebe,

itself, so it can make a body of

i tako može tvoriti tijelo

liquid molecules around itself, and that's

tekućih molekula oko sebe same, i to je

shown in green here on this micrograph.

pokazano zeleno ovdje na mikrografu.

So just through self-assembly, mixing things

Tako da samo kroz samo-skupljanje, miješanjem stvari

together in the lab, we can come up with, say,

u laboratoriju, možemo doći do, recimo,

a metabolic surface with some

metaboličke površine s nekim

informational molecules attached

informacijskim molekulama pričvršćenima

inside of this membrane body, right?

unutar ovog opnenog tijela, u redu?

So we're on a road towards living systems.

Tako da smo na putu prema živućim sustavima.

But if you saw this protocell, you would not

Ali ako biste vidjeli protostanicu, ne biste

confuse this with something that was actually alive.

ju zamijenili za nešto što je stvarno živo.

It's actually quite lifeless. Once it forms,

Zapravo je prilično beživotna. Jednom kad se oblikuje,

it doesn't really do anything.

ne čini ništa.

So, something is missing.

Dakle, nešto nedostaje.

Some things are missing.

Neke stvari nedostaju.

So some things that are missing is,

Neke od stvari koje nedostaju je,

for example, if you had a flow of energy

na primjer, ako biste imali tijek energije

through a system, what we'd want

kroz sustav, ono što bismo htjeli

is a protocell that can harvest

je protostanica koja može požeti

some of that energy in order to maintain itself,

dio te energije da bi se održavala,

much like living systems do.

uvelike kao i živući sustavi.

So we came up with a different protocell

Tako smo se sjetili drukčijeg modela

model, and this is actually simpler than the previous one.

protostanice, i ovaj je zapravo jednostavniji od prethodnog.

In this protocell model, it's just an oil droplet,

U ovom modelu protostanice, to je samo kapljica nafte,

but a chemical metabolism inside

ali unutarnji kemijski metabolizam

that allows this protocell to use energy

koji dopušta protostanici da koristi energiju

to do something, to actually become dynamic,

kako bi činila nešto, zapravo postala dinamična,

as we'll see here.

kao što vidimo ovdje.

You add the droplet to the system.

Dodate kapljicu sustavu.

It's a pool of water, and the protocell

To je bazen vode, i protostanica

starts moving itself around in the system.

se počinje gibati oko sustava.

Okay? Oil droplet forms

OK? Kapljica nafte se oblikuje

through self-assembly, has a chemical

kroz samo-spajanje, ima unutarnji kemijski metabolizam

metabolism inside so it can use energy,

tako da može koristiti energiju,

and it uses that energy to move itself

i koristi tu energiju da se giba

around in its environment.

uokolo u svom okolišu.

As we heard earlier, movement is very

Kao što smo ranije čuli, kretanje je jako važno

important in these kinds of living systems.

u ovim vrstama živućih sustava.

It is moving around, exploring its environment,

Giba se uokolo, istražujući svoj okoliš,

and remodeling its environment, as you see,

i remodelirajući svoj okoliš, kao što vidite,

by these chemical waves that are forming by the protocell.

pomoću kemijskih valova koje oblikuje protostanica.

So it's acting, in a sense, like a living system

Tako se na neki način ponaša kao živući sustav

trying to preserve itself.

koji se pokušava održati.

We take this same moving protocell here,

Uzmemo li istu ovu protostanicu koja se kreće,

and we put it in another experiment,

i koristimo je u drugom eksperimentu,

get it moving. Then I'm going

natjeramo je da se kreće. Onda dodajem

to add some food to the system,

hranu u sustav,

and you'll see that in blue here, right?

i to vidite u plavom ovdje, je li tako?

So I add some food source to the system.

Dodam izvor hrane u sustav.

The protocell moves. It encounters the food.

Protostanica se kreće. Nailazi na hranu.

It reconfigures itself and actually then

Podešava se i onda

is able to climb to the highest concentration

se može popeti na najvišu koncentraciju hrane

of food in that system and stop there.

u sustavu i tu stati.

Alright? So not only do we have this system

U redu? Tako da ne samo imamo sustav

that has a body, it has a metabolism,

koji ima tijelo, metabolizam,

it can use energy, it moves around.

može koristiti energiju, giba se uokolo.

It can sense its local environment

Može osjetiti lokalni okoliš

and actually find resources

i zapravo naći resurse za samoodržanje

in the environment to sustain itself.

u okolišu.

Now, this doesn't have a brain, it doesn't have

Sad, ovo nema mozak, nema

a neural system. This is just a sack of

živčani sustav. Ovo je samo vreća

chemicals that is able to have this interesting

kemikalija koja se može ponašati na zanimljiv način

and complex lifelike behavior.

kao složen život.

If we count the number of chemicals

Ako nabrojimo kemikalije

in that system, actually, including the water

u ovom sustav, uključujući i vodu

that's in the dish, we have five chemicals

koja je u posudi, imamo pet kemikalija

that can do this.

koje to mogu.

So then we put these protocells together in a

Onda stavimo ove protostanice skupa

single experiment to see what they would do,

u jedan jedini eksperiment da vidimo što će napraviti,

and depending on the conditions, we have

i ovisno o uvjetima, imamo

some protocells on the left that are

neke protostanice na lijevo koje se miču

moving around and it likes to touch the other

uokolo i voli dodirivati druge strukture

structures in its environment.

u svom okolišu.

On the other hand we have two moving

S druge strane imamo dvije protostanice

protocells that like to circle each other,

koje se miču i vole kružiti jedna oko druge,

and they form a kind of a dance, a complex dance with each other.

i oblikuju nekakvu vrstu plesa, složenog plesa jedna s drugom.

Right? So not only do individual protocells

U redu? Tako da nemaju samo pojedine protostanice

have behavior, what we've interpreted as

postupke koje smo protumačili kao

behavior in this system, but we also have

ponašanje u ovom sustavu, nego imamo i

basically population-level behavior

razinu ponašanja populacije

similar to what organisms have.

sličnu onima u organizmima.

So now that you're all experts on protocells,

Sad kad ste svi stručnjaci za protostanice,

we're going to play a game with these protocells.

igrat ćemo igru s ovim protostanicama.

We're going to make two different kinds.

Napravit ćemo dvije različite vrste.

Protocell A has a certain kind of chemistry

Protostanica A ima određenu vrstu kemije u sebi

inside that, when activated, the protocell

koja, kad se aktivira, tjera protostanicu

starts to vibrate around, just dancing.

da vibrira uokolo, samo plešući.

So remember, these are primitive things,

Sjetite se, ovo su primitivne stvari,

so dancing protocells, that's very

tako da plešuće protostanice,

interesting to us. (Laughter)

to nam je jako zanimljivo. (Smijeh)

The second protocell has a different

Druga protostanica ima drukčiju kemiju unutar sebe

chemistry inside, and when activated,

koja kad se aktivira

the protocells all come together and they fuse

spaja protostanice i one se stapaju

into one big one. Right?

u jednu veliku stanicu. U redu?

And we just put these two together

I samo spojimo ove dvije

in the same system.

u isti sustav.

So there's population A,

Tako imamo populaciju A,

there's population B, and then

populaciju B, i onda

we activate the system,

aktiviramo sustav,

and protocell Bs, they're the blue ones,

i protostanice B, ove plave,

they all come together. They fuse together

se sve spoje. Stope se

to form one big blob, and the other protocell

i tvore jednu veliku nakupinu, a druga protostanica

just dances around. And this just happens

samo pleše uokolo. I ovo se događa

until all of the energy in the system is

sve dok sva energija u sustavu

basically used up, and then, game over.

nije potrošena, i onda, igra je gotova.

So then I repeated this experiment

Tako sam ponovio ovaj eksperiment

a bunch of times, and one time

gomilu puta, i jedan put

something very interesting happened.

se nešto jako zanimljivo dogodilo.

So, I added these protocells together

Dakle, dodao sam protostanice

to the system, and protocell A and protocell B

u sustav, i protostanice A i protostanice B

fused together to form a hybrid protocell AB.

su se spojile i oblikovale hibrid protostanice AB.

That didn't happen before. There it goes.

To se nije prije dogodilo. Eto ga.

There's a protocell AB now in this system.

Sad u sustavu imamo protostanicu AB.

Protocell AB likes to dance around for a bit,

Protostanica AB voli malo plesati uokolo,

while protocell B does the fusing, okay?

dok protostanica B obavlja stapanje, OK?

But then something even more interesting happens.

Ali onda se dogodi nešto još zanimljivije.

Watch when these two large protocells,

Gledajte kako se ove dvije velike protostanice,

the hybrid ones, fuse together.

ove hibridne, stapaju.

Now we have a dancing protocell

Sad imamo plešuću protostanicu

and a self-replication event. Right. (Laughter)

i samokopiranje. U redu. (Smijeh)

Just with blobs of chemicals, again.

I ponovno, samo s nakupinama kemikalija.

So the way this works is, you have

Način na koji ovo radi je, imate

a simple system of five chemicals here,

jednostavan sustav od pet kemikalija,

a simple system here. When they hybridize,

jednostavan sustav. Kad se one kombiniraju,

you then form something that's different than

onda oblikuju nešto što je puno drukčije

before, it's more complex than before,

nego prije, puno složenije nego prije,

and you get the emergence of another kind of

i imate dobitak drukčije vrste

lifelike behavior which

od ponašanja sličnog živućem koji je

in this case is replication.

u ovom slučaju kopiranje.

So since we can make some interesting

Pošto možemo napraviti zanimljive

protocells that we like, interesting colors and

protostanice koje nam se sviđaju, zanimljivih boja i

interesting behaviors, and they're very easy

zanimljivog ponašanja, i pošto ih je lako

to make, and they have interesting lifelike

napraviti, i imaju zanimljive osobitosti

properties, perhaps these protocells have

živućeg ponašanja, možda ove protostanice

something to tell us about the origin of life

nam mogu reći o porijeklu života

on the Earth. Perhaps these represent an

na Zemlji. Možda one predstavljaju

easily accessible step, one of the first steps

lako dostupan korak, jedan od prvih koraka

by which life got started on the early Earth.

kojima je život započeo na mladoj Zemlji.

Certainly, there were molecules present on

Zasigurno, više molekula je bilo prisutno

the early Earth, but they wouldn't have been

na mladoj Zemlji, ali one nisu mogle biti

these pure compounds that we worked with

ovi čisti spojevi s kojima smo mi radili

in the lab and I showed in these experiments.

u laboratoriju i koje sam pokazao u ovim eksperimentima.

Rather, they'd be a real complex mixture of

Radije, one su bile zaista složena mješavina

all kinds of stuff, because

svakavih vrsta tvari, zato što

uncontrolled chemical reactions produce

nekontrolirane kemijske reakcije stvaraju

a diverse mixture of organic compounds.

raznovrsne mješavine organskih spojeva.

Think of it like a primordial ooze, okay?

Mislite o tome kao o praiskonskom blatu, OK?

And it's a pool that's too difficult to fully

I to je bazen koji je preteško u potpunosti

characterize, even by modern methods, and

okarakterizirati, čak i pomoću modernih metoda,

the product looks brown, like this tar here

i proizvod izgleda smeđe, pomalo kao ovaj katran

on the left. A pure compound

na lijevo. Čisti spoj je

is shown on the right, for contrast.

pokazan na desno, za usporedbu.

So this is similar to what happens when you

Dakle, ovo je slično onome što se događa kad

take pure sugar crystals in your kitchen,

uzmete čiste kristale šećera u kuhinji,

you put them in a pan, and you apply energy.

stavite ih u tavu, i dodate energiju.

You turn up the heat, you start making

Pojačate temperaturu, i počnete stvarati

or breaking chemical bonds in the sugar,

ili lomiti kemijske veze u šećeru,

forming a brownish caramel, right?

tvoreći smećkastu karamelu, zar ne?

If you let that go unregulated, you'll

Ako to ostavite na samo, nastavit ćete

continue to make and break chemical bonds,

stvarati i razbijati kemijske veze,

forming an even more diverse mixture of

tvoreći raznovrsniju mješavinu

molecules that then forms this kind of black

molekula koje onda oblikuju nešto slično

tarry stuff in your pan, right, that's

ovom crnom katranu u tavi,

difficult to wash out. So that's what

koji se teško ispire. Dakle, tako bi

the origin of life would have looked like.

izgledao početak života.

You needed to get life out of this junk that

Trebali ste dobiti život iz ovog otpada

is present on the early Earth,

koji je bio prisutan na mladoj Zemlji,

four, 4.5 billion years ago.

prije četiri, četiri i pol milijarde godina.

So the challenge then is,

Da bismo to izazvali,

throw away all your pure chemicals in the lab,

bacite sve čiste kemikalije u laboratoriju,

and try to make some protocells with lifelike

i pokušajte napraviti protostanice s osobitostima

properties from this kind of primordial ooze.

živućeg od ovog praiskonskog blata.

So we're able to then see the self-assembly

Tako onda možemo vidjeti samospajanje

of these oil droplet bodies again

ovih tijela kapljica nafte

that we've seen previously,

koje smo prethodno vidjeli,

and the black spots inside of there

i crne točke unutra

represent this kind of black tar -- this diverse,

predstavljaju taj crni katran -- ovaj raznovrsan,

very complex, organic black tar.

jako složen, organski crni katran.

And we put them into one of these

I onda ih stavimo

experiments, as you've seen earlier, and then

u jedan od ovih eksperimenata, kako ste vidjeli ranije,

we watch lively movement that comes out.

i gledamo živahne pokrete koji se pojavljuju.

They look really good, very nice movement,

Izgledaju jako dobro, jako lijepi pokreti,

and also they appear to have some kind of

i isto tako se čini da iskazuju

behavior where they kind of circle

nekakvo ponašanje u kojem kruže

around each other and follow each other,

jedna oko druge i prate jedna drugu,

similar to what we've seen before -- but again,

slično onome što smo prije vidjeli -- ali opet,

working with just primordial conditions,

djeluju u praiskonskim uvjetima,

no pure chemicals.

gdje nema čistih kemikalija.

These are also, these tar-fueled protocells,

Ove su također, ove protostanice s pogonom na katran,

are also able to locate resources

sposobne locirati resurse

in their environment.

u svom okolišu.

I'm going to add some resource from the left,

Dodat ću neke resurse s lijeve strane,

here, that defuses into the system,

ovdje, koje se šire u sustavu,

and you can see, they really like that.

i možete vidjeti, to im se stvarno sviđa.

They become very energetic, and able

Postaju pune energije, i sposobne

to find the resource in the environment,

pronaći resurse u okolišu,

similar to what we saw before.

slično onome što smo vidjeli prije.

But again, these are done in these primordial

Ali opet, ovo se sve događa u praiskonskim

conditions, really messy conditions,

uvjetima, stvarno neurednim uvjetima,

not sort of sterile laboratory conditions.

ni slično sterilnim uvjetima u laboratoriju.

These are very dirty little protocells,

Ovo su jako prljave male protostanice,

as a matter of fact. (Laughter)

zapravo. (Smijeh)

But they have lifelike properties, is the point.

Ali imaju osobine živućeg, u tome je stvar.

So, doing these artificial life experiments

Dakle, provođenje eksperimenata o umjetnom životu

helps us define a potential path between

nam pomaže definirati potencijalni put

non-living and living systems.

između neživućih i živućih sustava.

And not only that, but it helps us

I ne samo to, pomažu nam

broaden our view of what life is

proširiti poglede na to što je život

and what possible life there could be

i kako bi život mogao izgledati

out there -- life that could be very different

tamo vani -- život koji bi mogao biti puno drukčiji

from life that we find here on Earth.

od života kakvog nalazimo ovdje na Zemlji.

And that leads me to the next

I to me vodi sljedećem izrazu,

term, which is "weird life."

"čudan život".

This is a term by Steve Benner.

Ovaj izraz je izmislio Steve Benner.

This is used in reference to a report

Koristi ga u vezi izvještaja

in 2007 by the National Research Council

iz 2007.g. Vijeća nacionalnog istraživanja

in the United States, wherein

u Sjedinjenim Državama, u kojem

they tried to understand how we can

su pokušali objasniti kako možemo

look for life elsewhere in the universe, okay,

tražiti život drugdje u svemiru,

especially if that life is very different from life

osobito ako je taj život drukčiji od života

on Earth. If we went to another planet and

na Zemlji. Ako bismo otišli na drugi planet

we thought there might be life there,

i pomislili da bi tamo moglo biti života,

how could we even recognize it as life?

kako bismo ga uopće mogli prepoznati kao život?

Well, they came up with three very general

Pa, sjetili su se tri jako općenita kriterija.

criteria. First is -- and they're listed here.

Prvi je -- nabrojani su ovdje.

The first is, the system has to be in

Prvi je, sustav mora biti

non-equilibrium. That means the system

u neravnoteži. To znači da sustav

cannot be dead, in a matter of fact.

ne može biti mrtav, u stvari.

Basically what that means is, you have

U osnovi to znači da, imate

an input of energy into the system that life

unos energije u sustav koji život

can use and exploit to maintain itself.

može upotrijebiti i iskoristiti da bi se održao.

This is similar to having the Sun shining

To je slično tome kako sunce sije

on the Earth, driving photosynthesis,

na Zemlju, pogoneći fotosintezu,

driving the ecosystem.

pogoneći ekosustav.

Without the Sun, there's likely to be

Bez sunca, vjerojatno ne bi bilo

no life on this planet.

života na ovom planetu.

Secondly, life needs to be in liquid form,

Drugo, život mora biti u tekućem obliku,

so that means even if we had some

što znači da čak i kad bismo imali

interesting structures, interesting molecules

zanimljive strukture, zanimljive molekule

together but they were frozen solid,

ali koje bi bile smrznute u čvrsto stanje,

then this is not a good place for life.

onda to ne bi bilo dobro mjesto za život.

And thirdly, we need to be able to make

I treće, morali bismo moći stvoriti

and break chemical bonds. And again

i razbiti kemijske veze. I ponovno,

this is important because life transforms

ovo je važno zato što život pretvara

resources from the environment into

resurse iz okoliša u

building blocks so it can maintain itself.

gradeće blokove tako da se može održati.

Now today, I told you about very strange

Danas, rekao sam vam o jako čudnim

and weird protocells -- some that contain clay,

i neobičnim protostanicama -- neke sadrže glinu,

some that have primordial ooze in them,

tako da u njima imamo praiskonsko blato,

some that have basically oil

neke koje u sebi sadrže naftu

instead of water inside of them.

umjesto vode.

Most of these don't contain DNA,

Većina ovih ne sadrži DNK,

but yet they have lifelike properties.

ali ipak imaju osobine živućega.

But these protocells satisfy

Ali, ove stanice zadovoljavaju

these general requirements of living systems.

one općenite zahtjeve za živuće sustave.

So by making these chemical, artificial

Provodeći ove eksperimente o kemijskom,

life experiments, we hope not only

umjetnom životu, nadamo se ne samo

to understand something fundamental

razumjeti nešto tako fundamentalno

about the origin of life and the existence

o porijeklu i postojanju života

of life on this planet, but also

na ovom planetu, nego i

what possible life there could be

kakav bi možebitni život mogao biti

out there in the universe. Thank you.

tamo vani u svemiru. Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)