A brief tour of the last 4 billion years (dinosaurs not included) | Lauren Sallan

翻译人员: Wanting Zhong 校对人员: Hua Bai

Paleontology,

古生物学，

a science geared towards small children,

一门面向小孩子的科学，

focused on digging up dinosaurs

专注于挖掘恐龙时，

while sporting a "Jurassic Park" costume.

身着“侏罗纪公园”服饰。

Skulls are popped out of the ground

从地里刨出骷髅头，

and put on display for public gawking.

展示出来供公众围观。

The relevance of this, beyond clickbait, coloring books and monster movies

除了与骗取点击量、填色绘本 和怪兽电影的关联，

is unknown.

似乎再无其他。

No ...

不对……

Wait.

等等。

That's not paleontology at all.

那才不是古生物学呢。

Paleontology is nothing less than the study of past life.

古生物学就是研究过去生命的学科。

All past life.

所有过去的生命。

From ancestors to alien forms.

从始祖到异形。

It involves fundamental questions like "Who are we?"

它涵盖了一些最基本的问题， 比如“我们是谁？”，

And "How did we get here?" --

“我们如何有了今天？”

using the broadest possible definition of "we":

这里的“我们”使用了 覆盖面最广的定义：

life itself.

生命本身。

Dinosaurs, a category of birds,

恐龙，鸟类的一种，

are just a small percentage of that.

只占了其中的一小部分。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Yet they get the most media attention.

但它们却能吸引最多媒体关注。

[The incredible diversity of ancient life, Dinosaurs, Paleontology]

【左：“古生物惊人的多样性”； 右：“恐龙”；下：“古生物学”】

这是个很准确的表情包， 甚至不是我做的图。

It's a very accurate meme; I didn't even make this one.

This is just the truth.

这不过是真相。

Anyway, most of us paleontologists consider dinosaurs to be a gateway drug.

话说回来，我们大多数古生物学家 都把恐龙视为入门级“毒品”。

There is so much cooler stuff in the fossil record,

化石记录中有那么多 令人惊叹的东西，

and we know so much about it.

我们也很了解其中奥义。

Let's go on a brief, dinosaur-free tour

那么就让我们踏上一场没有恐龙的，

of the last four billion years.

关于过去 40 亿年的短途旅行。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

First up, genetic material.

首先，来说说遗传物质。

Viruses, basically, started producing proteins

病毒开始制造蛋白质，

and wrecking their environment.

在周遭环境里大搞破坏，

The Earth was infected with life.

地球便“感染”上了生命。

Some of these new bacteria learned how to eat sunshine,

一些新的细菌学会了分解阳光，

producing oxygen,

生产氧气，

pulling in carbon from the air

从空气中吸取碳，

and destroying the iron food of other microbes

通过让铁生锈， 摧毁其他以铁为食的

by turning it into rust.

微生物的口粮。

This went on for billions of years.

这个过程持续了几十亿年。

Some bacteria consumed other bacteria,

一些细菌摄食别的细菌，

gaining their power to turn oxygen into energy,

获得了将氧转化成能量的能力，

becoming the precursors of animals and plants.

成为了动物与植物的前身。

But as a result, there were climate shocks,

而结果造成了气候冲击，

from hot to cold and back again,

从热变冷又变热，

which ended up turning the Earth into a snowball covered with glaciers.

最后把地球变成了 冰川覆盖的雪球。

The technical term for this time period is "Snowball Earth."

地球在这个时期的术语 就是“雪地球”。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Seven hundred, eight hundred million years ago.

大约七、八亿年前，

Anyway, microbes banded together,

总而言之，微生物集结在一起，

creating multicellular life.

创造出了多细胞生命。

Six hundred million years ago,

六亿年前，

geometric colonies appeared, sucking microbes from the water.

几何形态的群体【注：如团藻】 出现了，从水中摄取微生物。

These were soon replaced by the ancestors of modern animals.

它们很快就被现代动物 的祖先所取代。

The Cambrian explosion.

寒武纪生命大爆发。

Lobster relatives ate other animals,

龙虾的亲戚挥舞捉臂 【注：奇虾】

capturing them using their grasping arms.

捕获其它动物吃掉。

Armored wriggling clam worms crawled across the seafloor and into it,

身披铠甲蠕动的沙蚕 在海底爬行并钻进泥沙，

creating new ecosystems.

创造出崭新的生态系统。

Our tadpole-like ancestors flitted along ancient coastlines,

我们蝌蚪般的先祖【注：如昆明鱼】 游过古老的海岸线，

while their eel-like relatives with gnashing throat teeth

它们的亲戚形似鳗鱼， 咽部长有牙齿【注：如华夏鳗】，

swam above the ice-cream cone corals of the first reefs,

在最初的礁石， 即甜筒般的珊瑚上游过，

dodging school-bus-sized krakens

躲过校车大小的克拉肯（大鱿鱼）

and hungry sea scorpions.

和饥饿的海蝎。

Plant fungus came onto land.

菌类植物上了岸。

But then the glaciers returned, killing pretty much everything.

然而冰川卷土重来， 几乎抹杀了一切。

But mass extinctions open opportunities.

但大灭绝也开拓了机遇。

Jawless fishes invaded the ocean,

无颌鱼类入侵了海洋，

sporting points, prongs, and finally, fins.

它们长有尖角、突刺以及鱼鳍。

Spiders, scorpions, snails and worms came onto land.

蜘蛛、蝎子、蜗牛和蠕虫纷纷上岸。

Somewhere around China, a fish developed jaws,

在中国某地，一条鱼长出了下颌，

and its descendants drove jawless fishes,

它的后代便把无颌鱼、

sea scorpions and branching plankton

海蝎和树状浮游生物

to extinction.

赶尽杀绝。

Some of these fishes,

有些鱼类

which had arm bones in their fins,

鱼鳍里长有前肢骨头，

sprouted fingers,

它们生出了指头，

seven or eight per flipper.

每条鳍状肢上有七八个指头。

On land, plants became trees,

在陆地上，植物成为了树，

growing massive

变成庞然大物，

or spreading their spores only once before dying.

或是在死前仅仅播撒一次孢子。

But then the glaciers came back again,

然而冰川再度回归，

and it was mass extinction number two.

这是第二次生物大灭绝。

It was the age of weird fishes and plated sea lilies.

这是古怪的鱼和 身披护甲的海百合的时代。

Sharks with wings.

长翅的鲨鱼。

Sharks with buzz saw jaws.

有锯齿牙的鲨鱼。

Sharks with fins covered in tiny teeth.

鳍上长满小锯齿的鲨鱼。

Sharks with crushing tooth plates.

牙板能碾碎外物的鲨鱼。

Bony fishes that looked like modern angelfish and eels

类似现代神仙鱼和 鳗鱼的硬骨鱼

for the first time.

首次登场。

Wetlands developed,

湿地形成，

sporting ten-foot-long millipedes and giant dragon flies.

其中生活着三米长的多足类动物 和巨大的蜻蜓。

These spread across the supercontinent of Pangaea and died,

它们在盘古大陆上分布广泛， 【注：古时所有大陆为一个整体】

死亡后形成煤炭，

creating coal,

leading to a 100-million-year Ice Age.

导致了长达一亿年的冰川期。

Finally, vertebrates made it onto land on a permanent basis,

最后，脊椎动物永久地移居陆地，

leading to alligator-like amphibians

诞生了形似短吻鳄的两栖类

and saber-toothed protomammals.

和长着剑齿的合弓纲。 【注：似哺乳动物的爬行动物】

But then, volcanoes erupted all over Siberia,

但随后西伯利亚全境火山爆发，

everything almost died

几乎一切都灭亡了，

and it was mass extinction number three.

这是第三次生物大灭绝。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

The day life nearly died.

这一天，生命几乎消亡。

A single, lonely tusked mammal survived and thrived,

唯有一种长着獠牙的哺乳类 幸存并繁盛【注：水龙兽】，

but it was soon replaced by galloping crocodiles.

但它很快就被奔跑的鳄鱼所取代。

In the ocean, marine reptiles,

在海里，海洋爬行类，

giant rafts made of the living relatives of sea urchins

现在海胆的亲戚，巨大的筏型鱼，

and armored squids, ammonoids, of every kind and form.

身披盔甲的鱿鱼和菊石， 种类形态五花八门。

But then, Pangaea started to split apart,

然而，盘古大陆开始裂开，

forming a sea of lava

形成了未来成为

that would one day become the Atlantic Ocean,

大西洋的岩浆海洋，

spewing toxic gas into the atmosphere

将有毒气体喷进大气，

and mass extinction number four.

于是有了第四次生物大灭绝。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Yeah, there's actually a lot more than these five,

没错，灭绝次数远不止五次，

these are the big ones.

这些是最大的几次。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So, finally, there were whale-sized fishes,

最后，出现了鲸一般大小的鱼，

and modern fishes mobbed corals,

现代鱼类在珊瑚礁聚众，

made gigantic by using their captured algae to eat sunshine.

用捕获的藻类摄食阳光， 从而变成庞然大物。

Crabs, stingrays and other fishes with crushing teeth appeared,

螃蟹、魟鱼和其它 有强力牙齿的鱼类出现，

smashing shells

咬碎贝壳，

and leading to an arms race between predators and prey.

导致了掠食者与猎物 之间的军备竞赛。

There was an explosion of marine biodiversity.

海洋生物多样性呈爆发式增加。

Mammals climbed trees, flew

哺乳类爬树或飞行，

and did a lot of other things that are seemingly sort of modern.

做了许多看上去很现代的事。

They were feeding on the first flowers pollinated by the first bees.

它们食用由最早的蜜蜂 授粉的最初的花朵。

There were ecological revolutions on land and at sea,

陆地与海洋中都发生了生态变革，

leading to the modern world.

形成了现代的世界。

Except that an asteroid hit Mexico,

只不过一颗陨石撞击墨西哥，

and then that triggered volcanoes on the other side of the world in India,

触发了世界另一边印度的火山群，

and everything almost died again.

一切几乎再次死亡。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But -- there's always a but, because we're still here --

但是——总有一个“但是”， 因为我们还在这里——

mammals arose from the ashes,

哺乳动物从灰烬中崛起，

became small under extreme heat and then ever larger.

在极端酷热下体型变小， 之后则一路变大。

There were palm trees and snakes in the Arctic.

北极有棕榈树和蛇。

Predatory deer dogs frolicked along ancient rivers,

肉食性鹿狗在古老的河畔嬉闹， 【注：中爪兽】

while their relatives returned to the ocean

它们的亲属则返回海洋，

to become the first otter-like whales.

成为最初的形似海獭的鲸鱼。

Not hyenas and other sort of carnivores

类鬣狗和其他类似食肉类的动物，

were chased off by giant long-necked rhinos.

被巨大的长颈犀牛撵跑。

Everything at this point seems kind of familiar

此刻的一切看上去都挺熟悉，

but not really.

事实并非如此。

In Antarctica, an ice age started,

在南极洲，冰川时期开始，

forming the first permanent polar ice cap in two hundred million years.

形成了两亿年内 第一个永久南极冰盖。

This dried out the rest of the world,

世界其他地区因此变得干燥，

but it allowed the rise of grasses, of rodents, of cats.

但这促成了草类、啮齿动物 和猫科的兴盛。

Somewhere in Africa,

在非洲的某处，

an ape started walking across the new savannah.

一只猿开始在新生的草原上行走。

Oh, and there were giant saber-toothed salmon,

哦对了，还有巨大的剑齿三文鱼，

I just have to mention that.

这个我必须提一下。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So, we know all of this happened

我们知道这些都发生过，

and so much more.

而且还知道更多。

How?

如何知道的？

Why?

为什么？

Paleontology is a thriving science

古生物学正蓬勃发展，

at the intersection of multiple other fields and technologies.

并与其他学科和科技交融。

There is no bigger data than the fossil record,

没有数据比化石的记录更全面，

and we mine every bit of it.

我们充分发掘了其中的信息。

We use CAT scans,

我们使用电脑断层扫描（CAT），

we use isotopes,

同位素（测年法），

we use genomes,

基因测序，

we use robots,

机器人，

we use mathematical simulations

数学模拟，

and all kinds of analytics.

以及各种数据分析方法。

We maximize all of it so that we can understand the past

我们充分利用所有方法， 以便了解过去，

and how evolution works.

研究进化运作。

It also lets us make predictions for the future.

它让我们能预测未来。

What will happen after the next mass extinction?

下一次生物大灭绝后会发生什么？

What weird things will show up?

会出现什么奇怪的东西？

Will mammals get smaller again?

哺乳动物会再次变小吗？

Will there even be mammals?

还会有哺乳动物存在吗？

In sum,

总而言之，

we have learned a lot about dinosaurs.

我们已经对恐龙了解甚多。

But there's so much left to learn

但剩下 99.9%

from the other 99.9 percent of things that have ever lived.

曾经存在的物种里， 还有许多知识仍待探究。

And that's paleontology.

而这就是古生物学。

Thank you.

谢谢。

（掌声与喝彩）

(Applause and cheers)