The wonderful world of life in a drop of water | Tom Zimmerman and Simone Bianco

翻译人员: Chan Yang 校对人员: Yolanda Zhang

Tom Zimmerman: We'd like to take you on a fantastic journey

汤姆·齐默曼： 我们想邀请各位参加一场奇妙之旅

to visit the creatures we call the Elders.

去探索一种生物 我们称之为“长者”

We call them the Elders because a half a billion years ago

之所以如此称呼 是因为5亿年前

they tripled the amount of oxygen in the air,

它们大量释氧 将氧气含量提高了3倍

which led to an explosion of life,

使得生命体呈爆炸式增长

which led to all of us.

也促成了人类的诞生

We call them the Elders, but you probably know them as plankton.

我们称之为“长者” 你们可能称之为”“浮游生物”

(Laughter)

（笑）

Now, Simone is a physicist, and I'm an inventor.

西蒙尼是物理学家 我是发明爱好者

A couple of years ago,

几年前

我发表过一次演讲

I was giving a talk about an invention I made --

it was a 3D microscope.

内容是关于我发明的一个3D显微镜

And Simone was in the audience.

当时西蒙尼就坐在观众席

He realized that my microscope could solve a big problem he was having.

他发现我的显微镜能帮忙解决 他的一个棘手问题

Which was, how to measure the movement of plankton in 3D fast enough

那就是如何利用3D技术 快速测量浮游生物的游动

so he could mathematically model their sensing and behavior.

以便建立数学模型来分析 它们的辨向和行动

And I frankly needed an application for my microscope, so ...

坦白说 我当时也正需要 实地应用一下我的显微镜 所以喽

(Laughter)

（笑）

It was like peanut butter meets chocolate.

感觉像是萝卜遇着了坑啊

(Laughter)

（笑）

So we started working together, studying these amazing creatures.

于是我们就联手研究 这些奇妙的生物

And then we were alarmed to discover something.

并获得了一些惊人的发现

And that's why we're here today.

这也是我们站在这里的原因

And I just want to do something with you.

我想麻烦你们做一件事

Now, please, just hold your breath for a second.

现在请你们屏住呼吸几秒钟

Yes, literally hold your breath.

没错 就是屏住呼吸

This is the world without plankton.

这就是没有浮游生物的感觉

You see, plankton generate two-thirds of our oxygen using the sun.

浮游生物吸收阳光 生产了地球上三分之二的氧气

OK, now you can breathe, because they're still here.

好的 你们现在可以呼吸了 因为浮游生物还在我们身边呢

For now.

至少现在还在

Simone Bianco: As many of you know,

西蒙尼·比安科： 大家都知道

自1950年以来 地球表面的平均温度

since 1950, the average surface temperature of the earth

has increased by one degree Centigrade

已经上升了1摄氏度

due to all the carbon dioxide we are pumping into the air.

因为我们往大气中 排放了很多的二氧化碳

Now, while this temperature increase may not seem like a big deal to us,

虽然这1摄氏度的上升 可能不会对人类造成困扰

it is to plankton.

却会给浮游生物带来巨大影响

Indirect measurements have shown that the global phytoplankton population

间接测量结果显示 全球范围的浮游植物群

may have decreased by as much as 40 percent between 1950 and 2010

在1950至2010年间 数量大约减少了40%

because of climate change.

这是气候变化导致的

And you see, this is a problem

当然 这也是因为

also because it's starving the fish that eat them.

饥饿的鱼群吞食了它们

And about a billion people around the world

另外 世界范围内有近10亿人

depend on fish as their primary source of protein from animals.

主要通过摄食鱼肉来获取蛋白质

So you see, this isn't just about breathing.

所以你知道吗 这不仅仅是呼吸的问题

No plankton means no fish.

没有浮游生物就没有鱼

And that is a lot of food we will need to replace.

而鱼的流失会给我们 造成一个巨大的食物缺口

There's something else that is interesting.

另一个有趣的点是

The bodies of plankton's ancestors

浮游生物祖先的遗体

actually make up a for lot of the carbon we burn today.

构成了我们今天燃烧的碳 且占比很大

Which is kind of ironic, if you ask me.

我觉得这挺讽刺的

Because the plankton that are here today clean that carbon out of the air.

因为今天的浮游生物 要减少空气中的那些碳

But you see, they don't really hold a grudge.

你看 它们倒是不怎么记仇嘛

(Laughter)

（笑）

The problem is they cannot keep up

但问题是 它们的效率跟不上

with the tremendous amount of carbon we are dumping into the air.

我们巨大的碳排放量

So what does all of this mean?

所以这意味着什么呢

Well, it means that our big carbon footprint

这意味着我们大量的碳足迹

is crushing the very creatures that sustain us.

正在压垮这些维持 生态平衡的特殊物种

And yes, like Tom said,

就像汤姆说的

killing almost half of the creatures that allow us to breathe

杀死近半帮助我们呼吸的生物

is a really big deal.

这事儿非同小可

So you're probably asking yourself:

这时你可能会问

Why aren't we doing something about it?

为什么我们还不采取点措施呢

Our theory is that plankton are tiny,

我们的观点是 浮游生物很小

and it's really, really hard to care about something you cannot see.

我们真的很难去关注那些 肉眼看不到的东西

You see, there's a quote I really like in "The Little Prince" that goes,

《小王子》里有一句话我很喜欢

"What is essential is invisible to the eye."

他说：“至珍之物总不为肉眼所见”

We really believe that if more people could come

我们真心相信 如果有更多的人

face to ... cilia with plankton,

能愿意走近并了解浮游生物

there is a greater chance we could all rally together

那我们就更有可能团结一心

and save these creatures

拯救这些物种

that are so important to life on our planet.

它们对维持地球上的生命 是至关重要的

TZ: Exactly, Simone.

汤姆·齐 曼: 确实如此 西蒙尼

So to do this,

要走近浮游生物

we're going to bring you scuba diving with plankton.

我们先跟它们来一场潜水之旅吧

But I just need to shrink you by a factor of 1000,

不过我需要将你们缩小1000倍

to a scale where the diameter of a human hair is as big as my hand.

使得人类一根头发的直径 跟我的手一样大

And I happen to have invented a machine to do just that.

刚好我发明了一台机器 可以做到这点

SB: Anyone here remember "Fantastic Voyage"

西蒙尼·比安科： 有谁记得“神奇的旅程”这部电影吗

or "Innerspace?"

或者“惊异大奇航”

Yeah, yeah.

没错 不少人都知道

Martin Short is one of my all-time favorite actors.

马丁·肖特一直是我最爱的演员之一

And now this -- this is just like that.

接下来要做的事呢 就跟电影里描述的情节类似

TZ: Indeed, yes.

汤姆·齐默曼: 确实如此

When I was a boy, I saw "Fantastic Voyage,"

我小时候看过“神奇的旅程”

and I really loved how I could travel through the bloodstream

我很喜欢穿梭于血管之间

and see biology work on a cellular level.

然后观察生物学 在细胞上的实践应用

I've always been inspired by science fiction.

科幻电影总能给我很多灵感

As an inventor, I try and turn fantasy into reality.

作为一名发明者 我努力尝试将幻想变为现实

And I once invented this glove

我曾发明过一只手套

which let me travel and help people like you explore the virtual world.

让我可以帮助你们这样的有心人 去探索虚拟世界

So now I've invented this machine

现在我发明了这台机器

to let us explore the microscopic world.

让我们可以去探索微观世界

It's not virtual, it's real.

它不是虚拟的 这是真实存在的

Just really, really tiny.

只是它们很小 很小

It's based on the microscope that got Simone's attention.

这是从之前西蒙尼关注的 那台机器上发展起来的

So, here's how it works.

它的工作原理是这样的

I have an image sensor

这里有一个图像传感器

like the kind in your cell phone, behind the lens.

跟你们手机摄像镜头后面的 传感器是一个类型的

And then I have a little tray of plankton water

然后这里有一个小盘 装有带浮游生物的水

like you might find from a river

就像你们从河里

or my fish tank, which I never change the water on.

或者从我那从不换水的鱼缸里 取来的那种

(Laughter)

（笑）

Because I love plankton.

因为我爱浮游生物啊

(Laughter)

（笑）

And underneath I have a light, an LED,

然后下面有一盏LED灯

which is going to cast shadows of the plankton on the image sensor.

它可以将浮游生物的 影子投射到图像传感器上

And now this silver thing is an XY plotter,

而这个银色的东西是一个XY绘图机

so I can move the image sensor to follow the plankton as they swim.

这样我就能让图像传感器 跟着浮游生物移动

Now comes the fantasy part.

见证奇迹的时刻来了

(Laughter)

（笑）

I put a tilt sensor on this helmet

我在这顶头盔上 装了一个倾斜传感器

so I can control the microscope with my head.

这样我就能用头控制显微镜了

And now let's look at the video from this image sensor.

现在我们来看看 图像传感器传来的视频录像吧

These are all plankton.

这些全都是浮游生物

This is in that little tray,

就是那小盘子里的

and with my head, I can move the microscope.

我可以用我的头来移动显微镜

So now we're ready to go scuba diving with plankton.

现在我们就可以跟 浮游生物一起潜水了

My head will be the navigator,

我的头会为大家导航

and Simone will be our tour guide.

而西蒙尼会当我们的导游

SB: Yes.

西蒙尼·比安科： 好的

(Laughter)

（笑）

欢迎大家来到 水滴中的奇妙生物世界

So welcome all to the wonderful world of life in a drop of water.

Actually, as you can see,

你们看

通过机器我们看到的 就不仅仅是一滴水而已了

with this instrument, we are not at all limited to a single drop.

Alright, let's find something.

现在让我们来好好探索一下吧

The little creatures you see in the center of your screen,

你们看到的那些在屏幕 中央的小小的生物

they are called rotifer.

它们叫作“轮虫”

They are the garbage collectors of our waters.

它们是水里的垃圾收集员

They break down organic matter

它们分解有机物质

and allow it to be reclaimed by the environment.

使其得以被环境重新回收利用

Now, you know, nature is an amazing recycler.

现在你们知道了吧 自然是一位神奇的回收利用师

Structures are continuously built, they are decomposed and recycled,

结构不断再生 又不断地被分解和回收

and all of that is powered by solar energy.

所有过程所需的能量都源于太阳能

But just think.

但大家想想

Think about what will happen if, you know, our garbage collectors

想象一下 如果我们的垃圾回收员

didn't come anymore, if they disappeared.

不再出现了 消失了 世界会变成什么样

Something else? Let's look for something else.

有替代的物种吗 让我们来看看其他的生物

Oh, look at that.

噢 看那个

You see the big ice-cream-cone-shaped things?

你们看到那个大大的 冰淇淋锥状的东西了吗

Those are called Stentor, those are amazing creatures.

它们叫作“喇叭虫” 是一种神奇的生物

You know, they are big, but they are a single cell.

它们看起来很大 但它们本身就只是一个细胞

You remember the rotifer we just met?

还记得刚刚看到的轮虫吗

That's about half a millimeter, it's about 1,000 cells --

它们只有0.5毫米长 但是却有大约1,000个细胞

it's typically 15 for the brain, 15 for the stomach

基本上大脑分去15个 肠胃分去15个

and you know, about the same for reproduction,

然后生殖也大概分去15个

which is kind of the right mix, if you ask me.

我认为这算是合理的组合了

(Laughter)

（笑）

But ... right?

对吧

TZ: I agree.

汤姆·齐默曼：我同意

SB: But a Stentor is only a single cell.

西蒙尼·比安科： 但是喇叭虫就只是一个细胞而已

And it's able to sense and react to its environment.

它能感知并对周围的刺激做出反应

You see, it will swim forward when it's happy;

你们看 它们开心的时候就会游向前

it will swim backward when it's trying to get away from something

想要躲避什么的时候就会后退

like, you know, a toxic chemical.

比如说有毒的化学物质

With our friends in the Center for Cellular Construction

在细胞结构中心的朋友

and the help of the National Science Foundation,

以及国家科学基金会的帮助下

we are using Stentor to sense the presence of contamination in food and water,

我们目前在尝试利用 喇叭虫感知水和食物中的污染物

which I think is really cool.

我觉得这是一个很酷的项目

Alright, last one.

好的 来看看最后一个

So the dots that you see there that are, let's say, behind everything,

你们看那些点点 就在所有东西后面的那些点点

they're algae.

它们是水藻

They are the creatures that provide the majority of oxygen in the air.

它们提供了空气中大部分的氧气

They convert solar light and carbon dioxide

它们将阳光和二氧化碳转化成

into the oxygen that is filling your lungs right now.

现在充盈在你们肺里的氧气

So you see, we all got algae breath.

所以我们大家都吸着水藻的氧呢

TZ: (Exhales)

汤姆·齐默曼：（呼气）

SB: Yay! (Laughter)

西蒙尼·比安科：耶！（笑）

You know, there's something interesting.

知道吗 更有趣的是

About a billion years ago, ancient plants got their photosynthesis capability

大约10亿年前 远古植物就 通过吸收微小的浮游生物

by incorporating tiny, tiny plankton into their cells.

进细胞内来获得光合作用的能力

That's exactly like us putting solar panels on top of our roofs.

这就跟我们把太阳能板 放在屋顶是一个道理

So you see, the microscopic world is even more amazing than science fiction.

所以说 微观世界比 科幻电影还要神奇呢

TZ: Oh, indeed.

汤姆·齐默曼：嗯 是的

So now you've seen how vital plankton are to our lives

那么大家已经知道了 浮游生物对我们生活的重要性

and how much we need them.

以及我们是多么需要它们了吧

If we kill the plankton, we will die

如果我们杀死浮游生物 我们也会死

of asphyxiation or starvation, take your pick.

可能死于窒息或饥饿 你们二选一吧

Oh, yes, I know it's sad, yes.

是的 我也知道这 听上去很凄凉 没错

(Laughter)

（笑）

In the game of plankton, you win or you die.

在浮游生物的游戏里 要么赢 要么死

(Laughter)

（笑）

Now, what amazes me is, we have known about global warming

现在 令我惊讶的是 我们意识到全球变暖

for over a century.

已经有超过一个世纪的时间了

Ever since the Swedish scientist, Arrhenius,

瑞典一位名为 阿列纽斯 的科学家

calculated the effect of burning fossil fuel

曾计算出了焚烧化石燃料

on the earth's temperature.

会给地球温度变化带来的后果

We've known about this for a long time, but it's not too late if we act now.

自此我们就在持续关注全球变暖 但我们现在行动起来也不迟

Yes, yes, I know, I know, our world is based on fossil fuels,

是的 没错 我知道 这个世界是靠化石能源驱动的

but we can adjust our society to run on renewable energy from the Sun

但我们有能力调整为 用可再生的太阳能来驱动社会运转

to create a more sustainable and secure future.

从而创造一个 更持续发展 更有保障的未来

That's good for the little creatures here, the plankton,

这不仅仅对这些浮游生物好

and that good for us -- here's why.

也是对我们好 理由如下

The three greatest concerns of people all around the globe

全世界人们最担心的三大典型问题

typically are jobs, violence and health.

是工作 暴力和健康

A job means food and shelter.

工作保障吃和住

Look at these creatures, they're swimming around,

看看这些小生命 它们游来游去

they're looking for a place to eat and reproduce.

在寻找一处能吃能繁衍的地方

If a single cell is programmed to do that,

如果连一个细胞都 与生俱来地为了食物和繁殖奔波

it's no surprise that 30 trillion cells have the same agenda.

那么人体内的30万亿个 细胞自然也有着同样的渴望

Violence.

暴力

Dependence on fossil fuels makes a country vulnerable.

对化石能源的依赖 会让一个国家变得脆弱

Which leads to conflicts all around the oil resources.

对石油资源的争夺会激起矛盾

Solar energy, on the other hand, is distributed around the whole globe,

而太阳能是普惠全世界的

and no one can blockade the sun.

没有人能挡得住太阳

(Laughter)

（笑）

And then, finally, health.

接着是最后一点 健康

Fossil fuels are like a global cigarette.

化石能源就像是 一只全球都在吸的烟

And in my opinion, coal is like an unfiltered type.

照我看来 煤炭就是未过滤型的

Now, just like smoking, the best time to quit is when?

这就像吸烟一样 戒烟的最好时机是什么时候呢

Audience: Now.

观众：现在

TZ: Now! Not when you get lung cancer.

汤姆·齐默曼：就是现在啦 可不是你得了肺癌的时候

Now I know if you look around, some people may abandon facts and reason.

我知道你们周围 可能会有人罔顾事实和理智

Only until suffering --

在感到痛苦时才大梦初醒

(Laughter)

（笑）

Yes, they will abandon facts and reason.

是的 他们会无视事实和理智

But suffering will eventually and inevitably force change.

但痛苦最终会且必然地促成改变

But let's instead use our neocortex, our new brain,

但我们不要用痛苦 要用我们的新皮质 我们的新大脑

to save the Elders, some of the oldest creatures on the earth.

去拯救这些“长者” 这些地球上的远古生物

And let's apply science to harness the energy

让我们用科学驾驭能源

that has fueled the Elders for millions of years --

那些“长者”们 赖以生存了几百万年的能源

the sun.

太阳

Thank you.

谢谢

(Applause)

（鼓掌）