A new way to "grow" islands and coastlines | Skylar Tibbits

翻译人员: Wanting Zhong 校对人员: Yanyan Hong

For nearly a decade,

近十年来，

my collaborators and I at the Self-Assembly Lab

我和自组装实验室的同事们

have been working on material systems that transform themselves,

一直在研究能够实现自我转换、

assemble themselves

自我组装，

and adapt to their environment.

并适应环境的材料系统。

From our early work on 4D printing,

其中包括了我们早期的 4D 打印研究，

where we printed objects, dipped them underwater,

我们打印出物品，将其浸入水中，

and they transform,

而后，它们便会转变形态；

到后来我们做出会对温度和日光 起反应的活性拉胀材料；

to our active auxetics that respond to temperature and sunlight,

to our more recent work on active textiles

接着是最近研究的活性纺织材料，

that respond to body temperature and change porosity,

它们能根据人体体温改变孔隙率；

to our rapid liquid printing work

我们的快速液体打印技术

where we print inflatable structures

能让我们打印出可充气结构，

that morph based on air pressure

这些结构会随气压变形，

and go from one shape to another,

在不同形态间转换；

or our self-assembly work

还有我们的自组装研究，

where we dip objects underwater,

把物体浸入水中，

they respond to wave energy and assemble themselves

它们就会对波浪能产生反应，

into precise objects like furniture.

自组装成家具之类的精密物体。

Or, at larger scales,

或者是规模更大的，

using wind energy,

我们研制出了直径一米 用于探测大气参数的探空气球，

we have meter-diameter weather balloons

它们可以借助风能

that assemble in the airspace above a construction site.

在建筑工地上空进行组装。

For dangerous environments or harsh, extreme places

在人员与仪器难以抵达的

where it's hard to get people or equipment,

危险环境或严酷的极端地带，

they can assemble in the airspace, and as the helium dies,

它们能在空域自行组装， 填充的氦气耗尽之后

they then come back to the ground,

就会回到地面，

and you're left with a big space frame structure.

留下一个巨型球节架结构。

All of this research is about taking simple materials,

所有这些研究都是利用简单的材料，

activating them with forces in their environment --

用环境中的力将它们激活——

gravity, wind, waves, temperature, sunlight --

重力、风能、波浪能、温度、阳光——

and getting them to perform,

让它们执行工作、

getting them to transform, assemble, etc.

进行形态转化、自我组装等等。

How do we build smart things

不借助复杂的电动机械设备，

without complex electromechanical devices?

我们该如何建造智能物体呢？

But more recently we were approached by a group in the Maldives,

不过最近，马尔代夫 有个机构联系了我们，

and they were interested in taking some of this research and ways of thinking

他们有兴趣将这些研究以及思维方式

and applying it to some of the challenges that they've faced

应用到他们面临的

一些气候变化的挑战中。

in terms of climate change.

And the first thing you do

当有来自马尔代夫的人

when you're approached by someone in the Maldives

与你联络时，

你要做的第一件事 就是告诉他，你想去实地考察。

is say you want to go on a site visit.

(Laughter)

（笑声）

It is amazing.

简直美妙极了。

So we went there

于是我们去了马尔代夫，

and I actually walked away with a really different perspective

而其实在离开时，我带走的是一种

on the future of climate change.

对气候变化未来完全不同的看法。

Because you would imagine, you know, the Maldives are sinking.

因为你会感觉到马尔代夫正在沉没。

他们要完蛋了。他们该怎么办？

They're screwed. What are they going to do?

But I walked away thinking, they might be the model,

但当我离开时，我想的是， 我们或许可以把马尔代夫

当作未来人造环境的典范， 让他们能够适应气候变化，

the future model of the built environment, where they can adapt and be resilient

rather than our fixed, man-made infrastructure.

而不受固有人造设施的局限。

But there's typically three main approaches

不过针对海平面上升和气候变化，

to sea level rise and climate change.

一般来说有三种主要的应对方案。

One of them is that we can do nothing and we can run away.

一是无动于衷、逃之夭夭。

And that's a pretty bad idea.

这个想法挺糟糕的。

As more than 40 percent of the world's population

由于世界上有超过 40% 的人口

is living in coastal areas,

住在沿海地区，

as sea levels rise and as storms get worse and worse,

随着海平面上升、暴雨加剧，

越来越多的地方会没入水中，

we're going to be more and more underwater.

So it's imperative that we solve this pretty demanding problem.

因此解决这个苛刻的问题是当务之急。

The second is that we can build barriers.

二是修建屏障。

We can build walls.

我们可以建防波堤。

The problem here is that we take a static solution

但问题在于试图用静态的解决方法

trying to fight against a superdynamic, high-energy problem,

去解决超不稳定的、高能的问题，

几乎可以肯定大自然会胜出。

and nature is almost always going to win.

So that's likely not going to work either.

所以这个方案也没用。

The third approach is using dredging.

第三个方案是吹沙填海。

So dredging is where you suck up a bunch of sand from the deep ocean

吹沙填海就是 从深海里吸起一堆沙子，

and you pump it back onto the beaches.

然后用泵倾倒回海滩上。

If you go to any beach around the Northeast or Western Coast,

如果你去美国东北沿岸 或西海岸的任何沙滩，

you'll see that they use dredging year after year after year

你都能看到他们 年复一年地吹沙填海，

just to survive.

只为了求生。

It's really not a good solution.

这并不是一个很好的解决方案。

In the Maldives, they do the same thing, and they can build an island in a month,

在马尔代夫，他们也这么做， 一个月内就能建成一座岛，

a brand new island they build from dredging.

一座用吹沙填海修建的崭新岛屿。

But it's really, really bad for the marine ecosystem,

但这对海洋生态系统 非常、非常不好。

and then they become addicted to dredging.

可他们已经吹沙填海成瘾了。

They need to do that year after year.

他们年复一年都要这么做。

But in the time that it took them to build that one island,

但在他们建起那一座岛的时间里，

three sandbars built themselves,

有三座沙洲已经自然形成了，

and these are massive amounts of sand

沙洲里沙子的量多到

so big you can park your boat on it,

足以让你的船搁浅在上面，

and this is what's called a site visit.

这就是所谓的 “实地考察” 。

工作非常辛苦。

It's really hard work.

(Laughter)

（笑声）

In Boston winters.

波士顿那时候正好是冬天。

This is massive amounts of sand that naturally accumulates

这些巨量的砂砾 仅仅依靠波浪的力量

just based on the forces of the waves

和海洋的形态

and the ocean topography.

就能自然堆积而成。

So we started to study that. Why do sandbars form?

于是我们开始对其进行研究。 为什么会形成沙洲？

If we could tap into that,

如果对这个问题进行发掘，

we could understand it and we could utilize it.

我们就能理解原理并加以应用。

It's based on the amount of energy in the ocean

它是基于海洋中的能量，

以及促进砂砾堆积的地形。

and the topography in the landscape that promotes sand accumulation.

So what we're proposing is to work with the forces of nature

所以我们提出的方案是， 运用大自然的力量

to build rather than destroy,

来加以建设，而非破坏。

and in my lab at MIT, we set up a wave tank,

在我在麻省理工大学的实验室里， 我们安置了一个波浪水箱，

a big tank that's pumping waves,

也就是一个能泵送波浪的大水箱，

and we placed geometries underwater.

然后我们把几何物体放进水里。

We tried all sorts of different geometries.

我们试了各种不同的几何形状。

The waves interact with the geometry,

波浪和这些几何形状相互作用，

and then create turbulence and start to accumulate the sand

形成湍流，并开始堆积砂砾，

so the sand starts to form these sandbars on their own.

于是，这些砂砾 就开始自行形成沙洲。

Here's an aerial view.

这是一个俯瞰的画面。

On the left-hand side, you'll see the beach that's growing.

在左侧能看到正在向前推进的沙滩。

In the middle you'll see the sandbar that formed.

在中间能看到形成的沙洲。

So these are geometries that collaborate with the force of the wave to build.

这些几何形状可以 和波浪的力量合作进行建设。

We then started to fabricate one. This was in February in Boston.

接着我们开始制造这样的形状。 这时是波士顿的二月。

We have large rolls of canvas.

我们使用了几大卷帆布，

It's a biodegradable material,

这是一种可生物降解的材料，

it's super cheap, easy to work with.

非常便宜，很容易加工。

我们用这种帆布 缝制出了巨大的口袋，

We then sew it into these large bladders,

and then we flew over there.

然后我们飞去了马尔代夫。

And I know what you're thinking. This is not the Fyre Festival.

我知道各位在想什么， 这不是骗人的 Fyre 音乐节。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

This is real life. It's real.

这是现实生活，是真事。

And we flew there with these canvas bladders in our suitcases,

我们行李箱里塞着 这些帆布口袋飞了过去，

we got sunburned because it was Boston winter,

因为波士顿是冬天， 所以我们都被晒脱了皮，

and then we filled them with sand and we placed them underwater.

然后我们把这些口袋 填满了沙，放进水下。

These are exactly the same geometries that you saw in the tank,

它们和水箱里的几何物体 形状一模一样，

they're just human scale.

只不过这些是人类大小的。

Large objects filled with sand,

我们把这些装满了沙子的巨型物体

we'd place them underwater, they're just really simple geometries.

放进了水里，它们其实 就是一些简单的几何形状。

In the front of them, you'll see it's clear water.

在这些物体正面， 可以看到是清澈的水。

The waves are crashing over.

海浪翻涌而至，

It's quite clear.

非常清澈。

And then on the backside, there's turbulence.

而在背面则出现了湍流，

The water and the sand is mixing up.

水和沙混合在一起。

It's causing sediment transport, and then the sand is accumulating.

它导致了搬运作用， 砂砾于是堆积起来。

You'll see some friendly stingrays here that visited us.

你还能看到几条 友好的黄貂鱼前来拜访。

On the left is day one, the right is day three.

左边是第一天，右边是第三天。

You'll see the sand ripples in the light areas

在浅色地方能看到，

where the sand is accumulating

仅仅经过两天，砂砾就开始了堆积，

just after two days.

并在沙中形成了涟漪。

So this was last February, and it's very much ongoing work.

这是去年二月底， 这项工作的大部分还是进行时。

This is just in the beginning of this research.

这项研究也才刚刚开始。

Over the next year and longer,

明年以及更久之后，

we're going to be studying this through satellite imagery

我们会通过卫星图像

and bathymetry data

以及测深学数据，

to understand what the short-term and long-term impacts are

了解环境中的自然砂砾堆积

of natural sand accumulation in the environment.

会造成哪些短期及长期影响。

And the bigger vision, though,

而我们更长远的设想

is that we want to build submersible geometries,

是建造可下潜的几何物体，

almost like submarines that we can sink and float.

就像是能够控制浮潜的潜水艇一样。

Like adaptable artificial reefs,

比如说可调配的人工礁石，

you could deploy them

如果某个方向有风暴来临时，

if there's a storm coming from one direction or another

就可以让这些人工礁石就位；

or if the seasons are changing,

或者在季节交替时，

you can use these adaptable reef structures

你可以使用这些可变的礁石结构，

to use the force of the waves to accumulate sand.

来利用波浪能堆积砂砾。

And we think this could be used in many coastal regions

我们觉得这项技术能够应用到 全球各地的很多沿海地区

and many island nations around the world.

以及全球的岛屿国家。

But when we think about building smarter environments,

但当我们想到智能环境，

think of smarter buildings or smarter cars or smarter clothing,

想到智能建筑、智能汽车 或者智能服装时，

that typically means adding more power,

这些通常意味着会消耗更多能源、

more batteries, more devices, more cost, more complexity

更多电池、设备、成本， 且更加复杂，

and ultimately more failure.

最终，也更多是失败。

So we're always trying to think about how do we build smarter things with less?

所以我们一直不断努力设想 怎样用更少的资源创造更智能的东西？

How do we build smarter things that are simple?

怎样建造得更简单？

And so what we're proposing at the lab and with this project specifically

因此，我们的实验室， 特别是这个项目所提倡的

is to use simple materials like sand

是利用像沙子这样简单的材料，

that collaborates with forces in the environment like waves

借助环境中类似波浪的力量，

to accumulate and adapt.

来堆积和适应。

And we'd like to work with you, collaborate with us, to develop this,

我们想与大家一起携手， 共同协作，来发展这个技术，

to scale it and apply this way of thinking.

扩大它的规模， 并运用这种思考方法。

We think it's a different model for climate change,

我们认为这是一个 应对气候变化的新模型，

one that's about adaptation and resilience

提高我们的适应力与韧性，

rather than resistance and fear.

而不再抵抗与恐惧。

So help us turn natural destruction into natural construction.

请帮助我们把大自然的破坏力 转化成自然的建设力。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）