Jonathan Drori: Every pollen grain has a story

Prevoditelj: Ivan Stamenković Recezent: Tilen Pigac - EFZG

Thank you. I have two missions here today.

Hvala vam. Danas imam dvije misije.

The first is to tell you something about pollen, I hope,

Prva je reći vam nešto o peludi, nadam se,

and to convince you that it's more than just something that gets up your nose.

i uvjeriti vas da to nije samo nešto što vam se zavuče u nos.

And, secondly, to convince you

I druga je, uvjeriti vas

that every home really ought to have a scanning electron microscope.

da svaka kuća treba imati pretraživački elektronski mikroskop.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

Pollen is a flower's way of making more flowers.

Pelud je sredstvo kojim cvijet stvara još cvijeća.

It carries male sex cells

On nosi muške spolne stanice

from one flower to another.

od jednog cvijeta do drugog.

This gives us genetic diversity,

Daje nam genetsku raznolikost,

or at least it gives the plants genetic diversity.

ili barem daje biljkama genetsku raznolikost.

And it's really rather better not to mate with yourself.

I stvarno je bolje ne pariti se sa sobom.

That's probably true of humans as well, mostly.

To je vjerojatno i u većini slučajeva točno za ljude.

Pollen is produced by the anthers of flowers.

Pelud se stvara na prašnicima cvjetova.

Each anther can carry up to 100,000 grains of pollen,

Svaki prašnik može na sebi nositi do 100.000 zrnaca peluda.

so, it's quite prolific stuff.

Tako da su to poprilično plodne stvari.

And it isn't just bright flowers

I nemaju samo žarki cvjetovi

that have pollen; it's also trees and grasses.

pelud, imaju ga i drveće i trave.

And remember that all our cereal crops are grasses as well.

I sjetimo se i da su sve naše žitarice također trave.

Here is a scanning electron micrograph of a grain of pollen.

Ovo je pretražujući elektronski mikrograf jednog zrnca peludi.

The little hole in the middle, we'll come to a bit later,

Do objašnjenja ove male rupe u sredini ćemo doći malo kasnije.

but that's for the pollen tube

Ali to je za peludnu cjevčicu

to come out later on. A very tiny tube.

koja će se pojaviti kasnije, vrlo mala cjevčica.

So, that's 20 micrometers across,

Dakle, to je 20 mikrometara poprečno,

that pollen grain there.

to zrnce peluda.

That's about a 50th of a millimeter.

To je otprilike pedeseti dio milimetra.

But not all pollen is quite so simple looking.

Ali ne izgleda sav pelud tako jednostavno.

This is Morina. This is a plant --

Ovo je Morina. To je biljka

which I've always thought to be rather tedious --

za koju sam oduvijek mislio da je dosta monotona,

named after Morin,

nazvana po Morinu,

who was an enterprising French gardener,

koji je bio poduzetan francuski vrtlar,

who issued the first seed catalog

koji je prvi izdao katalog sjemena,

in 1621.

1621.

But anyway, take a look at its pollen.

Svejedno, pogledajte njen pelud.

This is amazing, I think.

Ovo je zadivljujuće, ja mislim.

That little hole in the middle there is for the pollen tube,

Ta mala rupa na sredini ondje je za peludnu cjevčicu.

and when the pollen finds its special female spot

I kada pelud nađe svoje posebno žensko mjesto

in another Morina flower,

u drugog Morina cvijeta,

just on the right species, what happens?

na pravoj vrsti, što se događa?

Like I said, pollen carries the male sex cells.

Kako sam rekao, pelud nosi muške spolne stanice.

If you actually didn't realize that plants have sex,

Ako stvarno niste shvaćali da biljke imaju spolni život,

they have rampant, promiscuous

one imaju bujan, promiskuitetan

and really quite interesting and curious sex. Really.

i zaista zanimljiv i znatiželjan spolni život.

(Laughter) A lot.

(Smijeh)

My story is actually not about plant propagation,

Moja priča zapravo nije o razmnožavanju biljaka,

but about pollen itself.

već o samom peludu.

"So, what are pollen's properties?" I hear you ask.

Pitate se koje su to osobine peludi?

First of all, pollen is tiny. Yes we know that.

Kao prvo, pelud je sićušan. Da, to znamo.

It's also very biologically active,

Također je biološki vrlo aktivan,

as anyone with hay fever will understand.

što će bilo tko pogođen peludnom groznicom razumjeti.

Now, pollen from plants, which are wind-dispersed --

Pelud iz biljaka koji se rasprostire zrakom,

like trees and grasses and so on --

kao kod drveća, trava i tako dalje,

tend to cause the most hay fever.

uzrokuje najviše alergijskih reakcija.

And the reason for that is they've got to chuck out

A razlog je taj, da moraju izbaciti

masses and masses of pollen to have any chance

mnoštva i mnoštva peluda kako bi imali bilo kakvu šansu

of the pollen reaching another plant of the same species.

da pelud dođe do druge biljke iste vrste.

Here are some examples --

Ovdje su neki primjeri.

they're very smooth if you look at them --

Vrlo su uglađeni ako pogledate ove slike

of tree pollen that is meant to be carried by the wind.

peludi drveća koje je namijenjeno da se raznosi vjetrom.

Again -- this time, sycamore -- wind-dispersed.

Ponovno, ovog puta javor, koji se rasprostire vjetrom.

So, trees: very boring flowers,

Dakle, drveće, vrlo dosadni cvjetovi,

not really trying to attract insects.

koji ne pokušavaju privući kukce.

Cool pollen, though.

Ali ipak pribran pelud.

This one I particularly like.

Ovaj mi se posebno sviđa.

This is the Monterey Pine, which has little air sacks

Ovo je bor iz Montereya, koji ima male zračne vrećice

to make the pollen carry even further.

kako bi pelud išao što dalje.

Remember, that thing is just about 30 micrometers across.

Zapamtite, ta stvar je velika otprilike 30 mikrometara poprečno.

Now, it's much more efficient if you can get insects to do your bidding.

Naravno puno je učinkovitije ako insekti obavljaju taj posao.

This is a bee's leg

Ovo je noga pčele,

with the pollen glommed onto it from a mallow plant.

na koju se prihvatio sljezov pelud.

And this is the outrageous and beautiful

I ovo je neobuzdani i prekrasni

flower of the mangrove palm.

cvijet palme mangrova.

Very showy, to attract lots of insects to do its bidding.

Vrlo razmetan, kako bi privukao što više insekata koji će raditi za njega.

The pollen has little barbs on it,

Pelud ima male bodlje na sebi,

if we look.

ako pogledamo.

Now, those little barbs

Sada, te male bodlje

obviously stick to the insects well,

se očito dobro hvataju za insekte,

but there is something else that we can tell from this photograph,

ali postoji još nešto što nam je vidljivo s ove fotografije,

and that is that you might be able to see a fracture line

a to je da možemo vidjeti liniju pucanja

across what would be the equator of this, if it was the Earth.

po onome što bi bio ekvator, da je to Zemlja.

That tells me that it's actually been fossilized, this pollen.

To mi govori da je ovaj pelud zapravo bio fosiliziran.

And I'm rather proud to say

I s ponosom mogu reći

that this was found just near London, and that 55 million years ago

da je ovo pronađeno blizu Londona, i da je prije 55 milijuna godina

London was full of mangroves.

London bio pun palmi mangrova.

Isn't that cool?

Nije li to cool?

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

Okay, so this is another species evolved to be dispersed by insects.

U redu, ovo je još jedna vrsta koja se razvila kako bi ju rasprostranjivali kukci.

You can tell that from the little barbs on there.

To možete vidjeti po malenim bodljama.

All these pictures were taken with a scanning electron microscope,

Sve ove slike su napravljene pretraživačkim elektronskim mikroskopom

actually in the lab at Kew Laboratories.

u laboratoriju tvrtke Kew Laboratoriji.

No coincidence that these were taken

Nije slučajnost da je ove slike napravio

by Rob Kesseler, who is an artist,

Rob Kessler, koji je umjetnik.

and I think it's someone with a design and artistic eye

I mislim da nije slučajnost što je netko s umjetničkim pogledom

like him that has managed to bring out the best in pollen.

poput njegovog uspio izvući ono najbolje iz peludi.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

Now, all this diversity

Sada, sva ova raznolikost,

means that you can look at a pollen grain

u stvari znači da se pogledom na zrnce peluda

and tell what species it came from,

može reći od koje je vrste došao.

and that's actually quite handy if you

To je dosta zgodno ako vi

maybe have a sample and you want to see where it came from.

slučajno imate uzorak i želite vidjeti odakle je došao.

So, different species of plants

Različite vrste biljaka

grow in different places,

rastu na različitim mjestima.

and some pollen carries further than others.

I neki pelud leti dalje od ostalih.

So, if you have a pollen sample,

Ako imate uzorak peluda

then in principle, you should be able to tell

onda biste, u principu, mogli utvrditi

where that sample came from.

odakle je taj uzorak došao.

And this is where it gets interesting for forensics.

I ovdje stvar postaje zanimljiva za forenziku.

Pollen is tiny. It gets on to things, and it sticks to them.

Pelud je sićušan, dolazi na stvari i ostaje na njima.

So, not only does each type of pollen look different,

I ne samo da svaka vrsta peluda izgleda drugačije,

but each habitat has a different combination of plants.

nego i svako stanište ima drugačiju kombinaciju biljaka,

A different pollen signature, if you like,

drugačiji peludni potpis, ako želite,

or a different pollen fingerprint.

ili drugačiji peludni otisak prsta.

By looking at the proportions and combinations

Gledajući te veličine i kombinacije

of different kinds of pollen in a sample,

različitih peludi u uzorku,

you can tell very precisely where it came from.

može se s velikom preciznošću utvrditi odakle su došli.

This is some pollen embedded in a cotton shirt,

Ovo je pelud koji se uhvatio za pamučnu majicu,

similar to the one that I'm wearing now.

poput majice koju nosim sada.

Now, much of the pollen will still be there

Dosta peluda će biti ovdje

after repeated washings.

i nakon opetovanog pranja.

Where has it been?

Gdje je bio?

Four very different habitats might look similar,

Ćetiri vrlo različita staništa mogu izgledati slično

but they've got very different pollen signatures.

ali imaju vrlo različite peludne potpise.

Actually this one is particularly easy, these pictures were all taken

Ovaj je zapravo vrlo lagan. Sve ove slike napravljene su

in different countries.

u različitim zemljama.

But pollen forensics can be very subtle.

Ali forenzika peludi može biti vrlo suptilna.

It's being used now to track

Sada ju koristimo kako bismo pratili

where counterfeit drugs have been made,

gdje su napravljeni lažni lijekovi,

where banknotes have come from,

odakle su došle novčanice,

to look at the provenance of antiques

da bismo utvrdili porijeklo antikviteta

and see that they really did come from the place

i mogli sa sigurnošću reći da su došli s mjesta

the seller said they did.

za koje prodavač tvrdi da jesu.

And murder suspects have been tracked

I sumnjivci u slučajevima ubojstva su pronađeni

using their clothing,

koristeći njihovu odjeću,

certainly in the U.K., to within an area

zasigurno u U.K., i to do područja

that's small enough that you can send in tracker dogs

koje je dovoljno malo da se mogu poslati psi tragači

to find the murder victim.

kako bi se pronašla žrtva ubojstva.

So, you can tell from a piece of clothing

I s komadom odjeće može se utvrditi

to within about a kilometer or so,

s preciznošću od jednog kilometra

where that piece of clothing has been recently

gdje je taj komad odjeće bio nedavno,

and then send in dogs.

i zatim poslati pse.

And finally, in a rather grizzly way,

I na kraju, poprilično siv način,

the Bosnia war crimes;

ratni zločini u Bosni.

some of the people brought to trial were brought to trial

Neki od ljudi koji su izvedeni pred sud, izvedeni su pred sud

because of the evidence from pollen,

zahvaljujući dokazima iz peludi,

which showed that bodies had been buried,

koji je pokazao da su tijela bila zakopana,

exhumed and then reburied somewhere else.

ekshumirana, i onda ponovno zakopana na drugom mjestu.

I hope I've opened your eyes,

Nadam se da sam vam otvorio oči,

if you'll excuse the visual pun, (Laughter)

ako nećete zamjeriti vizualnu dosjetku,

to some of pollen's secrets.

prema nekim tajnama peluda.

This is a horse chestnut.

Usput, ovo je Konjski Kesten.

There is an invisible beauty all around us,

Postoji nevidljiva ljepota svuda oko nas,

each grain with a story to tell ...

svako zrnce ima svoju priču,

each of us, in fact, with a story to tell

svatko od nas, zapravo, ima priču,

from the pollen fingerprint that's upon us.

od peludnog otiska prsta koji je na nama.

Thank you to the colleagues at Kew,

Hvala kolegama u Kew-u.

and thank you to palynologists everywhere.

I hvala palinolozima posvuda.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)