You have no idea where camels really come from | Latif Nasser

翻译人员: Hancheng Li 校对人员: Candice Tang

So, this is a story

好吧，我要讲个故事，

about how we know what we know.

是关于我们如何了解自己所知的事物。

It's a story about this woman,

这个故事是关于这位女性，

Natalia Rybczynski.

娜塔莉娅·丽琴斯基。

She's a paleobiologist,

她是一位古生物学家，

which means she specializes in digging up really old dead stuff.

她的专长就是到处挖掘古老的东西。

(Audio) Natalia Rybczynski: Yeah, I had someone call me "Dr. Dead Things."

（音频）娜塔莉娅·丽琴斯基： “是的，有些人叫我'死东西'博士。"

Latif Nasser: And I think she's particularly interesting

我觉得她特别有意思，

because of where she digs that stuff up,

因为她挖东西的地方，

way above the Arctic Circle in the remote Canadian tundra.

都是在高纬度的北极圈， 遥远的加拿大冻土带里。

Now, one summer day in 2006,

2006年夏季的一天，

she was at a dig site called the Fyles Leaf Bed,

她在一个叫做法尔斯叶床的考古挖掘场，

which is less than 10 degrees latitude away from the magnetic north pole.

那里离地磁北极 只有不到10纬度的距离。

(Audio) NR: Really, it's not going to sound very exciting,

（音频）NR: “说真的， 这听起来其实没什么意思。”

because it was a day of walking with your backpack and your GPS

“你一整天都要背着包， 带着GPS导航仪和笔记本，”

and notebook and just picking up anything that might be a fossil.

“一直长途跋涉， 见到可能是化石的东西就捡起来。”

LN: And at some point, she noticed something.

然而在某一刻，她注意到了些东西。

(Audio) NR: Rusty, kind of rust-colored,

（音频） “一片铁锈色的小东西，’

about the size of the palm of my hand.

”大概有我的手掌心那么大。“

It was just lying on the surface.

‘它就躺在地面上。”

LN: And at first she thought it was just a splinter of wood,

她第一反应是，这只不过是木头碎片罢了，

because that's the sort of thing people had found

因为这是人们在法尔斯叶床曾经发现过的东西——

at the Fyles Leaf Bed before -- prehistoric plant parts.

史前的植物体。

But that night, back at camp ...

但是那天晚上，回到营地……

(Audio) NR: ... I get out the hand lens,

（音频）NR: “……我拿出手持显微镜，”

I'm looking a little bit more closely and realizing

’我观察得更仔细了，我突然发现，“

‘这东西看上去好像没有年轮啊。”

it doesn't quite look like this has tree rings.

Maybe it's a preservation thing,

"有可能是因为保存的问题，"

but it looks really like ...

"但是它看起来真的好像……"

bone.

"骨头。"

LN: Huh. So over the next four years,

于是在接下来的四年里，

she went to that spot over and over,

她反反复复去到那个地点，

and eventually collected 30 fragments of that exact same bone,

最终收集到了30片碎片， 都是来自同一块骨头，

most of them really tiny.

其中很多碎片都非常微小。

(Audio) NR: It's not a whole lot. It fits in a small Ziploc bag.

（音频） "其实并不算很多。 一个小拉链袋就装得下。"

LN: And she tried to piece them together like a jigsaw puzzle.

然后她尝试像拼拼图一样把碎片都拼在一起。

But it was challenging.

但是这非常的有挑战性。

(Audio) NR: It's broken up into so many little tiny pieces,

（音频）"它碎裂成 好多细小的碎片，"

I'm trying to use sand and putty, and it's not looking good.

"我们尝试用沙土和油灰复原， 但是看上去很糟糕。"

So finally, we used a 3D surface scanner.

"最后，我们就用了一个三维表面扫描仪。"

LN: Ooh! NR: Yeah, right?

喔喔！ "很帅，对吧？"

(Laughter)

（笑声）

LN: It turns out it was way easier to do it virtually.

最后发现， 用虚拟的方式复原要简单多了。

(Audio) NR: It's kind of magical when it all fits together.

（音频）"当它们全部拼在一起时， 感觉真的好神奇。"

你有多大把握把它拼对了，

LN: How certain were you that you had it right,

就是拼成它原本的样子？

that you had put it together in the right way?

有没有可能你按照另一种方式去拼，

Was there a potential that you'd put it together a different way

and have, like, a parakeet or something?

最后拼出来……一个小鹦鹉什么的？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

(Audio) NR: (Laughs) Um, no. No, we got this.

（音频）"（大笑）呃，不会啦。我们肯定拼对了。"

LN: What she had, she discovered, was a tibia, a leg bone,

她发现她拼出来的，是一根胫骨，也就是小腿骨，

and specifically, one that belonged to a cloven-hoofed mammal,

而且这根胫骨来自一种偶蹄目的哺乳动物，

so something like a cow or a sheep.

例如说牛、羊之类的。

But it couldn't have been either of those.

但是这绝对不可能是牛或羊。

It was just too big.

它实在是太大了。

(Audio) NR: The size of this thing, it was huge. It's a really big animal.

（音频）“这东西的尺寸真的太大了。 这是个庞大的动物。“

LN: So what animal could it be?

所以它会是什么动物呢？

Having hit a wall, she showed one of the fragments

现在遇到了瓶颈，于是她把其中一片碎片

to some colleagues of hers in Colorado,

展示给她在科罗拉多州的一些同事，

and they had an idea.

然后他们有了想法。

(Audio) NR: We took a saw, and we nicked just the edge of it,

（音频）“我们用了把小锯子， 然后在碎片边角刮了一点点，“

and there was this really interesting smell that comes from it.

”然后从那里传出了一些非常神奇的气味。“

LN: It smelled kind of like singed flesh.

它闻起来有点像烧焦的皮肤。

It was a smell that Natalia recognized

这是一个娜塔莉娅认识的气味，

from cutting up skulls in her gross anatomy lab:

她在大体解剖实验室切割头骨时闻过，

collagen.

那就是胶原蛋白。

Collagen is what gives structure to our bones.

胶原蛋白让我们的骨头具有硬度。

And usually, after so many years,

一般来说，经过了那么多年，

it breaks down.

它会自然分解。

But in this case, the Arctic had acted like a natural freezer and preserved it.

然而对这个情况， 北极好像一个天然冰柜将其保存。

Then a year or two later, Natalia was at a conference in Bristol,

过了一两年时间， 娜塔莉娅去布里斯托参加一个大会，

and she saw that a colleague of hers named Mike Buckley

她看到她的一个同事， 名叫麦克·巴克利，

was demoing this new process that he called "collagen fingerprinting."

在演示一种新技术， 他称之为“胶原蛋白指纹技术”。

It turns out that different species have slightly different structures

事实上，不同物种的胶原蛋白， 其结构有微小的差异，

of collagen,

so if you get a collagen profile of an unknown bone,

所以如果你有 一个未知骨头的胶原蛋白信息，

you can compare it to those of known species,

你可以跟已知物种的 胶原蛋白信息进行比对，

and, who knows, maybe you get a match.

所以谁知道呢， 也许你就找到了匹配的的信息。

So she shipped him one of the fragments,

所以她给麦克寄了一片碎片，

FedEx.

用联邦快递。

(Audio) NR: Yeah, you want to track it. It's kind of important.

（音频）“当然啊， 你要紧盯配送进度。它很重要的啊。”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

LN: And he processed it,

然后他处理了样本，

and compared it to 37 known and modern-day mammal species.

把它与37个当代已知的 哺乳动物物种相比较。

And he found a match.

结果找到了一个配对！

It turns out that the 3.5 million-year-old bone

最后的结论是，娜塔莉娅 在高纬北极圈发现的

that Natalia had dug out of the High Arctic

这块具有350万年历史的骨头，

belonged to ...

是来自……

a camel.

一匹骆驼。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

(Audio) NR: And I'm thinking, what? That's amazing -- if it's true.

（音频）”我就在想了， 开什么玩笑啊？“

“如果我们没搞错，这真是太神奇了。”

LN: So they tested a bunch of the fragments,

所以他们测试了一大堆碎片，

and they got the same result for each one.

对每个碎片都得到了相同的结果。

However, based on the size of the bone that they found,

然而，根据他们发现的 那块骨头的大小来判断，

it meant that this camel was 30 percent larger than modern-day camels.

这意味着这匹骆驼比现代骆驼大了30%。

So this camel would have been about nine feet tall,

那么这匹骆驼大概2.7米那么高，

weighed around a ton.

而且重达一吨。

(Audience reacts)

（惊呼）

Yeah.

对啊。

Natalia had found a Giant Arctic camel.

娜塔莉娅发现了一匹“北极巨驼”。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Now, when you hear the word "camel,"

现在你听到“骆驼”一词，

what may come to mind is one of these,

脑海里浮现的是这样的画面：

the Bactrian camel of East and Central Asia.

东亚和中亚地区的双峰驼。

But chances are the postcard image you have in your brain

但更有可能的是，你脑海里的图像

is one of these, the dromedary,

画风更像这样：单峰骆驼，

quintessential desert creature --

典型的沙漠动物，

hangs out in sandy, hot places like the Middle East and the Sahara,

常常出没在炎热沙漠地带， 例如说中东或撒哈拉地区，

has a big old hump on its back

背上有一个超大的驼峰，

for storing water for those long desert treks,

让它为沙漠中的长途跋涉储存水分，

has big, broad feet to help it tromp over sand dunes.

还有宽大的脚掌，帮助他们踏过沙丘。

So how on earth would one of these guys end up in the High Arctic?

所以这些家伙们到底是怎么 跑到高纬北极圈去的呢？

Well, scientists have known for a long time, turns out,

其实科学家早就知道了，

even before Natalia's discovery,

在娜塔莉娅的发现之前就知道，

that camels are actually originally American.

骆驼最早是从美洲发源的。

(Music: The Star-Spangled Banner)

（音乐：美国国歌《星条旗之歌》）

(Laughter)

（笑声）

They started here.

他们发源于这里。

For nearly 40 of the 45 million years that camels have been around,

骆驼们所存在的4500万年里，有4000万年的时间

you could only find them in North America,

你只可能在北美洲找到它们，

around 20 different species, maybe more.

总共有20种不同的物种，或许比这更多。

(Audio) LN: If I put them all in a lineup, would they look different?

（音频）“如果我们把它们排成一列， 它们看上去会有不同吗？”

NR: Yeah, you're going to have different body sizes.

“会啊，他们的身体大小差异很大。”

You'll have some with really long necks,

”有一些的脖子特别长，“

so they're actually functionally like giraffes.

”所以它们功能上很像长颈鹿。“

LN: Some had snouts, like crocodiles.

有些还有长鼻子，像鳄鱼一样。

(Audio) NR: The really primitive, early ones would have been really small,

（音频）“它们特别原始， 最早的一些可能非常小，”

almost like rabbits.

”几乎像一只小兔子了。“

LN: What? Rabbit-sized camels?

什么？兔子大小的骆驼？

(Audio) NR: The earliest ones.

（音频）“最早的一些是的。”

So those ones you probably would not recognize.

”那些你可能都认不出来了。“

LN: Oh my God, I want a pet rabbit-camel.

我的天啊， 我好想要只“兔骆驼”做宠物！

(Audio) NR: I know, wouldn't that be great?

（音频）“我知道啊， 这一定会很棒的吧？”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

LN: And then about three to seven million years ago,

然后大约300万到700万年前，

one branch of camels went down to South America,

骆驼的一个分支 向南迁徙到了南美洲，

where they became llamas and alpacas,

它们在那里演化成美洲驼或者羊驼，

and another branch crossed over the Bering Land Bridge

另外一个分支跨过了白令陆桥，

into Asia and Africa.

到达了亚洲与非洲。

And then around the end of the last ice age,

大概在最后一个冰川纪的末尾，

North American camels went extinct.

北美的骆驼彻底灭绝了。

So, scientists knew all of that already,

那么，科学家早都知道这些了，

but it still doesn't fully explain how Natalia found one so far north.

但是这并不能完全解释娜塔莉娅 怎么在那么北的地方发现骆驼的。

Like, this is, temperature-wise, the polar opposite of the Sahara.

这里，从温度的角度来说， 简直就是撒哈拉的反义词。

Now to be fair,

实话实说，

three and a half million years ago,

350万年以前的时候，

it was on average 22 degrees Celsius warmer than it is now.

当时平均气温比现在高了22摄氏度。

So it would have been boreal forest,

所以那里可以算是一个北部森林，

so more like the Yukon or Siberia today.

有点像今天的育空河流域 或者是西伯利亚。

But still, like, they would have six-month-long winters

但是，它们还是有六个月长的冬天，

where the ponds would freeze over.

所有的池塘都会被冰封。

You'd have blizzards.

你会遇到暴风雪。

You'd have 24 hours a day of straight darkness.

你会遇到连续24小时的黑夜。

Like, how ... How?

到底……到底怎么回事？

How is it that one of these Saharan superstars

这些撒哈拉沙漠的超级明星

could ever have survived those arctic conditions?

怎么可能在这种严寒条件存活的？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Natalia and her colleagues think they have an answer.

娜塔莉娅和她的同事们 觉得他们找到了答案。

And it's kind of brilliant.

而且这个答案相当机智。

What if the very features that we imagine make the camel so well-suited

假如说骆驼的这些特性 不像我们所认为的那样，

是为了适应撒哈拉 那样的环境而产生，

to places like the Sahara,

actually evolved to help it get through the winter?

而是因为要度过严冬 才演化出来的呢？

What if those broad feet were meant to tromp not over sand,

假如说那些宽大的脚掌 不是为了踏过沙丘，

but over snow, like a pair of snowshoes?

而是像雪地靴一样，踏过雪原呢？

What if that hump -- which, huge news to me,

假如说那些驼峰—— 这简直是天大的新闻！

does not contain water, it contains fat --

储存的不是水分而是脂肪，

(Laughter)

（笑声）

was there to help the camel get through that six-month-long winter,

驼峰实际上是为了让骆驼

度过食物稀缺的、 六个月长的寒冬？

when food was scarce?

And then, only later, long after it crossed over the land bridge

假如说远在那以后， 它们跨越大陆桥之后，

did it retrofit those winter features for a hot desert environment?

才将这些冬季特性改造， 使其适应炎热的沙漠环境？

Like, for instance, the hump may be helpful to camels in hotter climes

就比如说，那些驼峰 可能在炎热地带对骆驼有好处，

because having all your fat in one place,

因为当你的脂肪堆积在同一处，

like a, you know, fat backpack,

你懂的，像一个“脂肪背包”，

means that you don't have to have that insulation

意味着你身体的隔热层

all over the rest of your body.

不必覆盖全身。

So it helps heat dissipate easier.

于是这让散热更容易了。

It's this crazy idea,

就是这个疯狂的想法，

that what seems like proof of the camel's quintessential desert nature

让骆驼身上看似典型的沙漠特性，

could actually be proof of its High Arctic past.

突然变成它们 起源于高纬北极的证据了。

Now, I'm not the first person to tell this story.

其实我不是第一个讲这故事的人。

Others have told it as a way to marvel at evolutionary biology

其他人已经讲过， 以此赞叹生物进化之神奇，

or as a keyhole into the future of climate change.

或者以此瞥一眼 未来的气候变化情况。

But I love it for a totally different reason.

但我超爱这个故事 有另一个不同的原因。

For me, it's a story about us,

对我来说，这是一个关于我们的故事，

about how we see the world

关于我们如何认知世界，

and about how that changes.

关于这种认知如何改变。

So I was trained as a historian.

我的职业是历史学家。

And I've learned that, actually, a lot of scientists are historians, too.

我发现，其实 很多科学家也是历史学家。

They make sense of the past.

他们把过去的事情搞明白。

They tell the history of our universe, of our planet, of life on this planet.

他们讲述宇宙、 地球和地球生物的历史。

And as a historian,

作为一个历史学家，

you start with an idea in your mind of how the story goes.

你的脑海里要有个思路， 思考这个故事怎么进行下去的。

(Audio) NR: We make up stories and we stick with it,

（音频）“我们编故事， 然后我们就顺着思路说下去，”

like the camel in the desert, right?

“就好像沙漠的骆驼，对吧？”

That's a great story! It's totally adapted for that.

“这是个超棒的故事！ 骆驼简直是非常适合沙漠。”

Clearly, it always lived there.

”显然，骆驼一直就住那里。“

LN: But at any moment, you could uncover some tiny bit of evidence.

但是在任何时候， 你都可能发现些细小的线索。

You could learn some tiny thing

你可能发现一些小东西，

that forces you to reframe everything you thought you knew.

迫使你重塑你自认为知道的一切。

Like, in this case, this one scientist finds this one shard

就像这个例子， 这一个科学家发现这一片碎片，

of what she thought was wood,

她还以为这是木头，

and because of that, science has a totally new and totally counterintuitive theory

正因为这个发现，科学界诞生了 一个全新的、反直觉的理论，

about why this absurd Dr. Seuss-looking creature

解释为什么这个奇怪的、长得像 长毛怪的生物，

looks the way it does.

长成现在的样子。

And for me, it completely upended the way I think of the camel.

对我来说，这彻底颠覆了 我对骆驼的看法。

It went from being this ridiculously niche creature

它从一种只针对这一特定环境

suited only to this one specific environment,

而存在的生物

to being this world traveler that just happens to be in the Sahara,

变成了一个环球旅行家， 只是恰好出现在了撒哈拉沙漠，

and could end up virtually anywhere.

而且随时可能出现在任何地方。

(Applause)

（掌声）

This is Azuri.

这是阿祖力。

Azuri, hi, how are you doing?

嗨，阿祖力！你还好吗？

OK, here, I've got one of these for you here.

来，我给你带了点吃的。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So Azuri is on a break from her regular gig

阿祖力刚刚完成她的特约演出，

at the Radio City Music Hall.

从纽约无线电城音乐厅过来。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

That's not even a joke.

这可不是说笑的。

Anyway --

随便啦……

But really, Azuri is here as a living reminder

说真的，阿祖力在这里 作为一个鲜活的例子，

that the story of our world is a dynamic one.

说明这个世界的故事是瞬息万变的。

It requires our willingness to readjust, to reimagine.

我们要有主动性， 去大胆做出改变、重新想象。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Right, Azuri?

阿祖力，你说对不对啊？

And, really, that we're all just one shard of bone away

真的，我们与看待世界的全新视角，

from seeing the world anew.

只有一片碎骨头的距离罢了。

Thank you very much.

感谢各位。

(Applause)

（掌声）