Nathan Wolfe: What's left to explore?

Translator: Timothy Covell Reviewer: Morton Bast

Prevodilac: Marija Agatonović Lektor: Tatjana Jevdjic

Recently I visited Beloit, Wisconsin.

Nedavno sam posetio Beloit, u Viskonsinu.

And I was there to honor a great 20th century explorer,

Bio sam tamo kako bih odao počast velikom istraživaču 20. veka,

Roy Chapman Andrews.

Roju Čapmanu Endrusu.

During his time at the American Museum of Natural History,

Za vreme njegovog rada u Američkom prirodnjačkom muzeju,

Andrews led a range of expeditions to uncharted regions,

Endrus je vodio niz ekspedicija u neistražene regione,

like here in the Gobi Desert.

kao ovde, u pustinji Gobi.

He was quite a figure.

Bio je značajna ličnost.

He was later, it's said, the basis of the Indiana Jones character.

Kasnije je, navodno, bio inspiracija za lik Indijana Džonsa.

And when I was in Beloit, Wisconsin,

Kada sam bio u Beloitu u Viskonsinu,

I gave a public lecture to a group of middle school students.

održao sam javno predavanje grupi srednjoškolaca.

And I'm here to tell you,

I ovde sam da vam kažem

if there's anything more intimidating than talking here at TED,

da ako postoji nešto strašnije od držanja TED govora,

it'll be trying to hold the attention

bio bi to pokušaj da se održi pažnja

of a group of a thousand 12-year-olds for a 45-minute lecture.

hiljadi 12-godišnjaka na 45-minutnom predavanju.

Don't try that one.

Ne pokušavajte to.

At the end of the lecture they asked a number of questions,

Na kraju predavanja postavljali su pitanja,

but there was one that's really stuck with me since then.

ali jedno pitanje me ne napušta od tada.

There was a young girl who stood up,

Ustala je mlada devojka

and she asked the question:

i pitala me:

"Where should we explore?"

"Gde treba da istražujemo?"

I think there's a sense that many of us have

Mislim da postoji utisak koji mnogi od nas imaju

that the great age of exploration on Earth is over,

da je to sjajno doba istraživanja Zemlje prošlo,

that for the next generation

da će sledeća generacija

they're going to have to go to outer space or the deepest oceans

morati da ide u svemir ili u najdublji okean

in order to find something significant to explore.

da bi mogla da nađe nešto značajno da istražuje.

But is that really the case?

Ali, da li je to zaista slučaj?

Is there really nowhere significant for us to explore

Da li zaista ne postoji neko značajno mesto za istraživanje

left here on Earth?

koje je preostalo na Zemlji?

It sort of made me think back

To me je na neki način nateralo da razmišljam

to one of my favorite explorers in the history of biology.

o jednom od svojih omiljenih istraživača u istoriji biologije.

This is an explorer of the unseen world, Martinus Beijerinck.

To je istraživač nevidljivog sveta Martinus Bajerink.

So Beijerinck set out to discover the cause

Bajerink je krenuo da otkrije uzrok

of tobacco mosaic disease.

bolesti mozaika duvana.

What he did is he took the infected juice from tobacco plants

Uzeo je zaraženi sok iz biljke duvana

and he would filter it through smaller and smaller filters.

i filtrirao ga kroz sve manje i manje filtere.

And he reached the point

I stigao je do tačke

where he felt that there must be something out there

kada je osetio da mora da postoji nešto što je

that was smaller than the smallest forms of life that were ever known --

manje od najmanje poznate forme života -

bacteria, at the time.

bakterije, u to vreme.

He came up with a name for his mystery agent.

Smislio je ime za svoj tajanstveni uzročnik.

He called it the virus --

Nazvao ga je virus -

Latin for "poison."

latinski naziv za "otrov".

And in uncovering viruses,

I otkrivanjem virusa,

Beijerinck really opened this entirely new world for us.

Bajerink je otvorio čitav novi svet za nas.

We now know that viruses make up the majority

Sada znamo da virusi čine većinu

of the genetic information on our planet,

genetskih informacija na našoj planeti,

more than the genetic information

više od genetskih informacija

of all other forms of life combined.

svih drugih formi života zajedno.

And obviously there's been tremendous practical applications

I očigledno je da postoje važne praktične primene

associated with this world --

povezane sa ovim svetom -

things like the eradication of smallpox,

stvari kao što su istrebljenje malih boginja,

the advent of a vaccine against cervical cancer,

pojava vakcine protiv raka grlića materice,

which we now know is mostly caused by human papillomavirus.

za koji znamo da ga uglavnom izazivaju humani papiloma virusi.

And Beijerinck's discovery,

Bajerinkovo otkriće

this was not something that occurred 500 years ago.

se nije desilo pre 500 godina.

It was a little over 100 years ago

Pre malo više od 100 godina

that Beijerinck discovered viruses.

Bajerink je otkrio viruse.

So basically we had automobiles,

Znači, u suštini, imali smo automobile,

but we were unaware of the forms of life

ali nismo bili svesni formi života

that make up most of the genetic information on our planet.

koje čine većinu genetske informacije na našoj planeti.

We now have these amazing tools

Sada imamo ove fantastične alate

to allow us to explore the unseen world --

uz pomoć kojih možemo da otkrivamo nevidljivi svet -

things like deep sequencing,

stvari poput dubokog sekvenciranja

which allow us to do much more than just skim the surface

koje nam dopušta da učinimo mnogo više od pregledanja površine

and look at individual genomes from a particular species,

i gledanja pojedinačnih genoma određenih vrsta,

but to look at entire metagenomes,

omogućava nam da gledamo cele metagenome,

the communities of teeming microorganisms in, on and around us

zajednicu mnogobrojnih mikroorganizama u nama, na nama i oko nas

and to document all of the genetic information in these species.

i da dokumentujemo sve genetske informacije tih vrsta.

We can apply these techniques

Ove tehnike možemo da primenimo

to things from soil to skin and everything in between.

od zemljišta do kože i na sve između.

In my organization we now do this on a regular basis

Sada u mojoj organizaciji ovo radimo svakodnevno

to identify the causes of outbreaks

da bismo identifikovali razloge izbijanja bolesti

that are unclear exactly what causes them.

za koje je nejasno šta ih tačno izaziva.

And just to give you a sense of how this works,

I samo da vam dočaram kako ovo radi,

imagine that we took a nasal swab from every single one of you.

zamislite da smo uzeli bris iz nosa svakome od vas.

And this is something we commonly do

A to je nešto što obično radimo

to look for respiratory viruses like influenza.

da bismo pronašli respiratorne viruse kao grip.

The first thing we would see

Prva stvar koju bismo videli

is a tremendous amount of genetic information.

je ogromna količina genetskih informacija.

And if we started looking into that genetic information,

Ako bismo počeli da istražujemo te genetske informacije,

we'd see a number of usual suspects out there --

tamo bismo videli određeni broj uobičajenih krivaca -

of course, a lot of human genetic information,

naravno, mnogo ljudskih genetskih informacija,

but also bacterial and viral information,

ali i bakterijske i virusne informacije,

mostly from things that are completely harmless within your nose.

uglavnom iz potpuno bezopasnih stvari unutar vašeg nosa.

But we'd also see something very, very surprising.

Ali videli bismo i nešto veoma iznenađujuće.

As we started to look at this information,

Kada bismo počeli proučavati te informacije,

we would see that about 20 percent of the genetic information in your nose

videli bismo da oko 20% genetskih informacija u vašem nosu

doesn't match anything that we've ever seen before --

ne odgovara ničemu što smo ikad pre videli -

no plant, animal, fungus, virus or bacteria.

nijednoj biljci, životinji, gljivici, virusu ili bakteriji.

Basically we have no clue what this is.

U suštini, nemamo predstavu šta bi to moglo biti.

And for the small group of us who actually study this kind of data,

Mala grupa nas koji zapravo proučavamo tu vrstu podataka,

a few of us have actually begun to call this information

počela je da zove ovu informaciju -

biological dark matter.

biološka tamna materija.

We know it's not anything that we've seen before;

Nije slična ničemu što smo ranije videli;

it's sort of the equivalent of an uncharted continent

ekvivalentna je kontinentu koji nije ucrtan na karti,

right within our own genetic information.

koji se nalazi upravo među našim genetskim informacijama.

And there's a lot of it.

A ima ih mnogo.

If you think 20 percent of genetic information in your nose is a lot

Ako vam se čini da je 20% genetskih informacija u vašem nosu

of biological dark matter,

mnogo tamne biološke materije,

if we looked at your gut,

ako pogledamo u vaša creva,

up to 40 or 50 percent of that information is biological dark matter.

40 do 50% te genetske informacije je tamna biološka materija.

And even in the relatively sterile blood,

Čak i u relativno sterilnoj krvi,

around one to two percent of this information is dark matter --

oko 1 do 2% je tamna biološka materija -

can't be classified, can't be typed or matched with anything we've seen before.

ne može se klasifikovati niti uporediti ni sa čim poznatim.

At first we thought that perhaps this was artifact.

Prvo smo mislili da je ovo artefakt.

These deep sequencing tools are relatively new.

Ovi duboko sekvencirajući uređaji su relativno novi.

But as they become more and more accurate,

Ali kako postaju sve tačniji i tačniji,

we've determined that this information is a form of life,

shvatamo da je ova materija vid života

or at least some of it is a form of life.

ili je bar deo nje - neki vid života.

And while the hypotheses for explaining the existence of biological dark matter

I dok su hipoteze za objašnjenje postojanja biološke tamne materije

are really only in their infancy,

tek u začetku,

there's a very, very exciting possibility that exists:

postoji veoma uzbudljiva mogućnost:

that buried in this life, in this genetic information,

da je unutar ove genetske informacije sadržan

are signatures of as of yet unidentified life.

potpis još neidentifikovanog života.

That as we explore these strings of A's, T's, C's and G's,

Ako istražimo ove lance A, T, C i G aminokiselina,

we may uncover a completely new class of life

možemo otkriti potpuno novi vid života

that, like Beijerinck, will fundamentally change

koji će, kao i Bajerink, iz korena promeniti

the way that we think about the nature of biology.

način na koji razmišljamo o prirodi biologije.

That perhaps will allow us to identify the cause of a cancer that afflicts us

To će nam verovatno omogućiti da identifikujemo uzrok raka

or identify the source of an outbreak that we aren't familiar with

ili da identifikujemo izvor izbijanja bolesti s kojim nismo upoznati

or perhaps create a new tool in molecular biology.

ili možda da stvorimo novo sredstvo u molekularnoj biologiji.

I'm pleased to announce that,

Drago mi je da mogu da najavim

along with colleagues at Stanford and Caltech and UCSF,

da zajedno sa kolegama sa Stanforda, Kalteka i UCSF-a,

we're currently starting an initiative

upravo započinjemo inicijativu

to explore biological dark matter for the existence of new forms of life.

za istraživanje biološke tamne materije i da li u njoj ima novih oblika života.

A little over a hundred years ago,

Pre malo više od 100 godina

people were unaware of viruses,

ljudi nisu bili svesni postojanja virusa,

the forms of life that make up most of the genetic information on our planet.

oblika života koji čini najveći broj genetskih informacija na našoj planeti.

A hundred years from now, people may marvel

Sto godina u budućnost, ljudi se mogu čuditi tome

that we were perhaps completely unaware of a new class of life

da smo bili potpuno nesvesni postojanja novog vida života

that literally was right under our noses.

koji nam je bukvalno bio pred nosem.

It's true, we may have charted all the continents on the planet

Istina je, možda smo ucrtali na karti sve kontinente na planeti

and we may have discovered all the mammals that are out there,

i možda smo otkrili sve sisare koji postoje,

but that doesn't mean that there's nothing left to explore on Earth.

ali to ne znači da nije ostalo ništa da se istražuje na Zemlji.

Beijerinck and his kind

Bajerink i njemu slični

provide an important lesson for the next generation of explorers --

su dali neverovatnu lekciju budućim generacijama istraživača -

people like that young girl from Beloit, Wisconsin.

ljudima poput one mlade devojke iz Beloita iz Viskonsina.

And I think if we phrase that lesson, it's something like this:

Mislim da ako tu lekciju kažemo kao poruku, glasila bi:

Don't assume that what we currently think is out there is the full story.

ne smatrajte da je ovo što sada znamo, cela priča.

Go after the dark matter in whatever field you choose to explore.

Idite za nepoznatim stvarima u bilo kojoj oblasti koju izaberete da istražujete.

There are unknowns all around us

Mnogo je nepoznatih stvari oko nas

and they're just waiting to be discovered.

koje samo čekaju da budu otkrivene.

Thank you.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)