Biomimicry in action | Janine Benyus

翻译人员: Wang Qian 校对人员: Ken Zheng

If I could reveal anything

如果我可以展示任何事物，

that is hidden from us,

任何我们看不到的事物，

at least in modern cultures,

至少对于现代文化来说，

it would be to reveal something that we've forgotten,

那只会展示是我们抛之脑后的事物，

that we used to know

但我们曾经是知道他们的，

as well as we knew our own names.

就像我们知道自己的名字一样。

And that is that we live in a competent universe,

而且我们生活在全能的宇宙中，

that we are part of a brilliant planet,

作为这奇妙行星中的一员，

and that we are surrounded by genius.

我们的身边充满了天才。

Biomimicry is a new discipline

仿生学是一门新学科，

that tries to learn from those geniuses,

这门学科尝试向自然界中的天才学习，

and take advice from them, design advice.

听取它们的建议，设计上的建议。

That's where I live,

这是我住的地方。

and it's my university as well.

也是我教书的地方。

I'm surrounded by genius. I cannot help but

我被天才包围，不由自主地

remember the organisms and the ecosystems

一直记着这些生物和生态系统

that know how to live here gracefully on this planet.

它们知道如何优雅地生活在这个星球上。

This is what I would tell you to remember

这是我希望你能记住的一点，

if you ever forget this again.

并且不要再忘记，

Remember this.

请牢记，

This is what happens every year.

这是每年都会发生的事，

This is what keeps its promise.

大自然信守承诺的事，

While we're doing bailouts, this is what happened.

正当我们忙于复苏经济，我们却忽视了这正在进行的……

Spring.

春天

Imagine designing spring.

设想要设计一个春天

Imagine that orchestration.

设想一下那和谐的编排

You think TED is hard to organize. (Laughter) Right?

大家觉得TED已经够难组织的了（众笑），是吧？

Imagine, and if you haven't done this in a while, do.

想象一下，要是你很久没这么做过，现在试一下

Imagine the timing, the coordination,

试想一下那高超的时机把握，和谐乐章的演奏，

all without top-down laws,

完全不依赖于上下对应的法律法规，

or policies, or climate change protocols.

完全不依赖于政策，或拯救气候变暖协议。

This happens every year.

春天每年都这样降临

There is lots of showing off.

当然少不了争奇斗艳

There is lots of love in the air.

空气中也充满了爱

There's lots of grand openings.

少不了富丽堂皇的开场

And the organisms, I promise you,

而这些有机体，我敢保证，

have all of their priorities in order.

全都井然有序

I have this neighbor that keeps me in touch with this,

我曾经有个邻居，他让我常接触这些

because he's living, usually on his back,

因为他的生活，通常是躺着的，

looking up at those grasses.

看着那些草儿

And one time he came up to me --

一次，他来找我

he was about seven or eight years old -- he came up to me.

那时他大概七八岁，他来找我

And there was a wasp's nest

告诉我，那儿有个蜂巢

that I had let grow in my yard,

就在我的后院里

right outside my door.

穿过门就是

And most people knock them down when they're small.

多数人趁蜂巢还小的时后，就将其打下

But it was fascinating to me,

但我却着迷与此

because I was looking at this sort of fine Italian end papers.

因为蜂巢在我眼里看起来极像精致的意式衬页

And he came up to me and he knocked.

他过来找我，敲了敲门

He would come every day with something to show me.

他每天都会带些东西给我看

And like, knock like a woodpecker on my door until I opened it up.

像只啄木鸟，他当当地敲门，直到我开门为止

And he asked me

然后他问我，

how I had made the house for those wasps,

我是怎么为黄蜂做巢的

because he had never seen one this big.

因为他从来没见过这么大的一个蜂巢

And I told him, "You know, Cody,

我告诉他“科迪，要知道

the wasps actually made that."

其实那是黄蜂自己做的。”

And we looked at it together.

然后我们一起看

And I could see why he thought,

我能理解为何他会那样想

you know -- it was so beautifully done.

要知道，那蜂巢建的真的很美

It was so architectural. It was so precise.

很有建筑感，很精准

But it occurred to me, how in his small life

但我禁不住想，为何这么小的孩子，

had he already believed the myth

就已经接受并相信这么个神话，

that if something was that well done,

这么完美的作品

that we must have done it.

一定是出自人类之手

How did he not know --

为何他会不知道

it's what we've all forgotten --

人类只是忘却了

that we're not the first ones to build.

我们并非第一个会建筑的物种

We're not the first ones to process cellulose.

我们并非第一个会处理纤维的物种

We're not the first ones to make paper. We're not the first ones

我们并非第一个造纸的物种

to try to optimize packing space,

我们并非第一个优化填充空间的物种

or to waterproof, or to try to heat and cool a structure.

也不是制作防水材料或加热冷却材质的第一物种

We're not the first ones to build houses for our young.

也不是为后代建造房屋的第一物种

What's happening now, in this field called biomimicry,

现在仿生技术领域正使

is that people are beginning to remember

人们的记忆复苏

that organisms, other organisms,

提醒人们，生物体，其他生物体

the rest of the natural world,

自然界中的其他生物体

are doing things very similar to what we need to do.

正在做的与我们极为相似

But in fact they are doing them in a way

但事实上，他们的方法

that have allowed them to live gracefully on this planet

可以使它们优雅地生活在这个星球上

for billions of years.

达数十亿年之久

So these people, biomimics,

这些仿生学家们，

are nature's apprentices.

是大自然的学徒

And they're focusing on function.

他们注重功能

What I'd like to do is show you a few of the things

我想向大家展示一下

that they're learning.

他们正在学习的东西

They have asked themselves,

他们这样问自己

"What if, every time I started to invent something,

“要是我发明前

I asked, 'How would nature solve this?'"

都想想大自然对此的解决方案，会怎样呢？”

And here is what they're learning.

这是他们正在学习的

This is an amazing picture from a Czech photographer named Jack Hedley.

这张令人拍案叫绝的照片是捷克摄影师杰克.海德里的作品

This is a story about an engineer at J.R. West.

这个故事是关于工程师J.R.韦斯特的

They're the people who make the bullet train.

他是研制子弹列车（bullet train）的一员

It was called the bullet train

之所以叫子弹列车

because it was rounded in front,

是因为车头是圆的

but every time it went into a tunnel

但每次驶进山洞时

it would build up a pressure wave,

就会产生一股压力波

and then it would create like a sonic boom when it exited.

驶出山洞时就会发出音爆巨响

So the engineer's boss said,

于是工程师的头儿说：

"Find a way to quiet this train."

“找个法子降降音量。”

He happened to be a birder.

韦斯特正巧也是个鸟类爱好者

He went to the equivalent of an Audubon Society meeting.

他去了奥杜邦学会相关会议

And he studied -- there was a film about king fishers.

研究学习，正巧，一段关于翠鸟的影片

And he thought to himself, "They go from one density of medium,

让他灵光一闪，“他们从一种密度的介质，空气

the air, into another density of medium, water,

进入另一种密度的介质，水

without a splash. Look at this picture.

却溅不起一丝水花。”看看这张照片

Without a splash, so they can see the fish.

因为没有一丝水花，水里的鱼鸟儿看得一清二楚

And he thought, "What if we do this?"

接着他想到“要不我们也这么办？”

Quieted the train.

通过这种方法，列车的噪声大大降低

Made it go 10 percent faster on 15 percent less electricity.

同时，速度提升了10%并且节省了15%的电力

How does nature repel bacteria?

大自然是如何抗菌的呢？

We're not the first ones to have to protect ourselves

我们并非第一个保护自己

from some bacteria.

免受细菌侵害的物种

Turns out that -- this is a Galapagos Shark.

原来答案在加拉帕戈斯群岛的鲨鱼(Galapagos Shark)身上

It has no bacteria on its surface, no fouling on its surface, no barnacles.

它表面没有细菌、污垢，身上也没有附着甲壳动物

And it's not because it goes fast.

这并不是因为它游得快

It actually basks. It's a slow-moving shark.

事实上它很惬意，一向游得很慢

So how does it keep its body free of bacteria build-up?

那它是如何保持身体不滋生细菌的呢？

It doesn't do it with a chemical.

它不使用化学制剂

It does it, it turns out, with the same denticles

原来是他身上的锯齿状物

that you had on Speedo bathing suits,

就是和Speedo泳衣材质一样的锯齿状物

that broke all those records in the Olympics,

有了它运动员在奥运会上所向披靡

but it's a particular kind of pattern.

但这齿状物有一种独特的图案

And that pattern, the architecture of that pattern

而其结构

on its skin denticles

富含锯齿状物

keep bacteria from being able to land and adhere.

让细菌无处无处着生

There is a company called Sharklet Technologies

有家叫Sharklet Technologies的公司

that's now putting this on the surfaces in hospitals

正把这种结构铺设在医院的墙面上

to keep bacteria from landing,

防止细菌附着

which is better than dousing it with anti-bacterials or harsh cleansers

此法远优于抗菌或其他任何强劲的洗液

that many, many organisms are now becoming drug resistant.

许多生物体都对这些洗液产生抗药性

Hospital-acquired infections are now killing

在美国，每年在医院里感染致死的人数

more people every year in the United States

远高于

than die from AIDS or cancer or car accidents combined --

艾滋病、癌症及交通事故死亡率的总和

about 100,000.

达到10万人左右

This is a little critter that's in the Namibian desert.

这是种住在纳米比亚沙漠的小生物

It has no fresh water that it's able to drink,

它们没有新鲜水源可以饮用

but it drinks water out of fog.

但它们从雾气中摄取水分

It's got bumps on the back of its wing covers.

在覆盖它身体的翅膀后侧有些突起

And those bumps act like a magnet for water.

这些突起像磁铁一样吸水

They have water-loving tips, and waxy sides.

它们有亲水的前端和蜡质的旁侧

And the fog comes in and it builds up on the tips.

所以雾气回凝结在尖端

And it goes down the sides and goes into the critter's mouth.

然后从旁侧流下直至其口中

There is actually a scientist here at Oxford

有位牛津大学的科学家

who studied this, Andrew Parker.

安德鲁帕克对此做过研究

And now kinetic and architectural firms like Grimshaw

现在有些动力和建筑公司，比如Grimshaw

are starting to look at this as a way

开始着眼于把这项技术应用在

of coating buildings

建筑涂料上

so that they gather water from the fog.

这样雾气中的水分就可以被收集起来

10 times better than our fog-catching nets.

效果比现有的捉雾网(fog-catching nets)高10倍

CO2 as a building block.

二氧化碳作为建筑材料

Organisms don't think of CO2 as a poison.

生物体可不把二氧化碳当有害气体

Plants and organisms that make shells,

对于那些生产贝壳珊瑚的植物及有机体

coral, think of it as a building block.

这可是建筑材料

There is now a cement manufacturing company

现在有间水泥制造公司

starting in the United States called Calera.

叫Clara，成立于美国

They've borrowed the recipe from the coral reef,

他们借用了珊瑚的秘方

and they're using CO2 as a building block

把二氧化碳当作

in cement, in concrete.

水泥、混凝土的成分

Instead of -- cement usually

通常情况下，

emits a ton of CO2 for every ton of cement.

每生产一吨水泥排放一吨的二氧化碳

Now it's reversing that equation,

现在方程式被逆转

and actually sequestering half a ton of CO2

并且可以降低半吨二氧化碳

thanks to the recipe from the coral.

这一切可多亏了珊瑚的秘方

None of these are using the organisms.

以上这些都没利用生物体

They're really only using the blueprints or the recipes

它们其实只用了

from the organisms.

生命蓝图或秘方

How does nature gather the sun's energy?

大自然如何收集太阳能？

This is a new kind of solar cell

这是一种新的太阳能电池

that's based on how a leaf works.

它是基于叶子的运作方式

It's self-assembling.

它可以自我组装

It can be put down on any substrate whatsoever.

也可以着根于任何生化基质

It's extremely inexpensive

其价格低廉

and rechargeable every five years.

而且每五年可再充电

It's actually a company a company that I'm involved in called OneSun,

其实是我参与的一间叫OneSun的公司

with Paul Hawken.

和保罗.浩肯合作

There are many many ways that nature filters water

大自然有好多好多净水

that takes salt out of water.

并去除盐分的方法

We take water and push it against a membrane.

我们人类却用水去挤压细胞膜

And then we wonder why the membrane clogs

还纳闷为何细胞膜会堵塞

and why it takes so much electricity.

为何这一过程如此费电

Nature does something much more elegant.

大自然的手法则更加优雅

And it's in every cell.

这种方法渗透到每一个细胞

Every red blood cell of your body right now

现在你体内的每一个血红细胞

has these hourglass-shaped pores

都有沙漏型小孔

called aquaporins.

叫水孔蛋白(aquaporins)

They actually export water molecules through.

它们让水分子通过、流出

It's kind of a forward osmosis.

这过程多少有点像正向渗透

They export water molecules through,

它们输出水分子

and leave solutes on the other side.

把溶解质留在另一边

A company called Aquaporin is starting to make desalination

一间名叫Aquaporin的公司正在开始制造

membranes mimicking this technology.

模仿这项技术的去盐薄膜

Trees and bones are constantly reforming themselves

树木和骨骼通常

along lines of stress.

沿着压力线自我重组

This algorithm has been put into a software program

这种演算法已被运用在软件上

that's now being used to make bridges lightweight,

协助促使桥梁轻量化

to make building beams lightweight.

使建筑钢梁轻量化

Actually G.M. Opel used it

事实上通用汽车的欧宝(Opel)已开始运用这项技术

to create that skeleton you see,

制造你所见过的那种汽车骨架

in what's called their bionic car.

在所谓的仿生车当中

It lightweighted that skeleton using a minimum amount of material,

轻量化的骨架使用最少的材料

as an organism must,

正如一个有机体为生存所必须做到的一样

for the maximum amount of strength.

获取最大限量的支撑力

This beetle, unlike this chip bag here,

这只甲虫，和这袋薯片不大一样

this beetle uses one material, chitin.

这甲虫运用了一种材料，壳质(chitin)

And it finds many many ways

并且找出了好多方法

to put many functions into it.

让壳质发挥多种功能

It's waterproof.

它防水

It's strong and resilient.

坚固有弹性

It's breathable. It creates color through structure.

又透气，并且结构安排产生颜色

Whereas that chip bag has about seven layers to do all of those things.

再来看看那袋薯片，同样的效果需要7层才能实现

One of our major inventions

我们的主要发明之一

that we need to be able to do

就是我们必须具备能力

to come even close to what these organisms can do

去与这些生物体更加亲近

is to find a way

要实现这一目的，我们要

to minimize the amount of material, the kind of material we use,

减少材料用量，减少我们使用材料量

and to add design to it.

然后加上设计

We use five polymers in the natural world

大自然使用五种聚合物

to do everything that you see.

你亲眼所见的都是其杰作

In our world we use about 350 polymers

而我们人类使用350种聚合物

to make all this.

才成就了今天的一切

Nature is nano.

大自然是纳米专家

Nanotechnology, nanoparticles, you hear a lot of worry about this.

关于纳米科技、纳米粒子，各种忧虑屡见不鲜

Loose nanoparticles. What is really interesting to me

松散的纳米粒子。而我最感兴趣的是

is that not many people have been asking,

有多少人问过：

"How can we consult nature about how to make nanotechnology safe?"

“我们应如何借鉴大自然使纳米技术安全化？”

Nature has been doing that for a long time.

大自然已行之久远

Embedding nanoparticles in a material for instance, always.

例如，他总是把纳米粒子固定在某种材质中

In fact, sulfur-reducing bacteria,

事实上，除硫细菌(sulfur-reducing bacteria)

as part of their synthesis,

在其合成过程中

they will emit, as a byproduct,

会释放一种副产品

nanoparticles into the water.

一种纳米粒子进入水中

But then right after that, they emit a protein

在此之后，它会释放一种蛋白质

that actually gathers and aggregates those nanoparticles

可以聚集、聚合那些纳米粒子

so that they fall out of solution.

于是它们得以解决

Energy use. Organisms sip energy,

能量使用。生物体慎用能量

because they have to work or barter for every single bit that they get.

因为它们不得不为此运转或易物来获得每一分

And one of the largest fields right now,

如今最主要的领域之一

in the world of energy grids,

世界能源网中

you hear about the smart grid.

你一定听说过智能电网(smart grid)

One of the largest consultants are the social insects.

其最重要的顾问之一就是群居昆虫

Swarm technology. There is a company called Regen.

峰群技术。有一家名为Regen的公司

They are looking at how ants and bees

他们通过观察蚂蚁和蜜蜂

find their food and their flowers

觅食集采花粉

in the most effective way

用对整个蜂巢

as a whole hive.

的最有效方式

And they're having appliances in your home

它们有种家用设备

talk to one another through that algorithm,

通过哪种演算法互相沟通

and determine how to minimize peak power use.

然后决定如何把尖峰用电量降到最低

There's a group of scientists in Cornell

有一群康奈尔大学的科学家

that are making what they call a synthetic tree,

正在制造他们所谓的人造树

because they are saying, "There is no pump at the bottom of a tree."

因为他们说“树底部没有水泵。”

It's capillary action and transpiration pulls

是毛细作用和蒸散作用产生的拉力

water up, a drop at a time,

一滴一滴把水吸上去

pulling it, releasing it from a leaf and pulling it up through the roots.

拉上去，从叶面释放然后从根部拉取

And they're creating -- you can think of it as a kind of wallpaper.

然后它们可以创造--想象它们是一种壁纸

They're thinking about putting it on the insides of buildings

这些科学家正想把它运用在建筑内部

to move water up without pumps.

把水抽高而不需水泵

Amazon electric eel -- incredibly endangered,

亚马逊电鳗(Amazon Electric Eel)，濒临绝种

some of these species --

这些物种当中的一些

create 600 volts of electricity

能使用身体中的一些化学物质

with the chemicals that are in your body.

产生600伏的电力

Even more interesting to me is that

更让我感兴趣的是

600 volts doesn't fry it.

600伏的高压却没把自己煎熟

You know we use PVC, and we sheath wires

要知道我们用聚氯乙烯(PVC)包住电线

with PVC for insulation.

利用聚氯乙烯作为绝缘体

These organisms, how are they insulating

这些生物，它们如何让自己

against their own electric charge?

跟自己产生的电力绝缘呢？

These are some questions that we've yet to ask.

有些问题我们尚无解答

Here's a wind turbine manufacturer that went to a whale.

有一家涡轮制造商取法于鲸鱼

Humpback whale has scalloped edges on its flippers.

驼背鲸(Humpback whale)有扇形边的鳍

And those scalloped edges

那些扇形边

play with flow in such a way

用某种方式与水流相互作用

that is reduces drag by 32 percent.

减少了32%的阻力

These wind turbines can rotate in incredibly slow windspeeds, as a result.

于是极低的风速即可转动风扇

MIT just has a new radio chip

麻省理工大学刚制造出一种新的无线电晶片

that uses far less power than our chips.

其用电量远小于目前晶片

And it's based on the cochlear of your ear,

而且它取法与你耳中的耳蜗

able to pick up internet, wireless, television signals

可以接收网络、无线电、电视信号

and radio signals, in the same chip.

电台信号，这些功能都集于一身

Finally, on an ecosystem scale.

最后，建立在生态系统规模上

At Biomimicry Guild, which is my consulting company,

在Biomimicry Guild，也就是我的顾问的公司

we work with HOK Architects.

我们与HOK建筑公司合作

We're looking at building whole cities

我们真在考虑建造整座城市

in their planning department.

我们在他们的筹划部门工作

And what we're saying is that,

我们诉求的是

shouldn't our cities do at least as well,

从生态系统服务的角度来看

in terms of ecosystem services,

我们的城市至少不应该是

as the native systems that they replace?

干他们取代的原始系统一样好吗？

So we're creating something called Ecological Performance Standards

于是我们正在设立生态性能标准

that hold cities to this higher bar.

能让城市维持在这个标准

The question is -- biomimicry is an incredibly powerful

问题是，仿生科技是创新

way to innovate.

一条极其有力的途径

The question I would ask is, "What's worth solving?"

我想问的是：“哪些问题值得去解决？”

If you haven't seen this, it's pretty amazing.

要你之前没看过，这个会挺令人吃惊的

Dr. Adam Neiman.

亚当.尼曼博士

This is a depiction of

这张图像描绘的是

all of the water on Earth

地球上所有的水

in relation to the volume of the Earth --

相对于地球体积

all the ice, all the fresh water, all the sea water --

所有的冰、淡水、咸水

and all the atmosphere that we can breathe, in relation to the volume of the Earth.

和我们呼吸的大气，相对于地球的体积

And inside those balls

而在那些球里头的是

life, over 3.8 billion years,

生命，超过3.8亿年之久

has made a lush, livable place for us.

帮我们创造了苍翠、适宜居住的环境

And we are in a long, long line

在所有的生物当中

of organisms

我们排在长长的队伍后面

to come to this planet and ask ourselves,

来到地球上面并问我们自己

"How can we live here gracefully over the long haul?"

“我们如何优雅的、长久的生存？”

How can we do what life has learned to do?

我们如何才能做到其他生物早已学会的事情？

Which is to create conditions conducive to life.

也就是创造有利于生存的环境

Now in order to do this, the design challenge

现在为了实现这个目的

of our century, I think,

我们这一世纪设计的挑战，我想

we need a way to remind ourselves of those geniuses,

我们需要时时提醒自己想想那些天才

and to somehow meet them again.

并且再以某种方式与它们会面

One of the big ideas, one of the big projects

其中一个庞大的计划

I've been honored to work on

是我有幸参与的

is a new website. And I would encourage you all to please go to it.

是关于一个新网站，我希望大家去浏览它

It's called AskNature.org.

它叫AskNature.org

And what we're trying to do, in a TEDesque way,

我们尝试沿用TED的风格

is to organize all biological information

依照设计上和工程上的功能

by design and engineering function.

组织所有生物资讯

And we're working with EOL, Encyclopedia of Life,

我与生物百科合作

Ed Wilson's TED wish.

达成爱德.威尔逊的TED愿望

And he's gathering all biological information

他正在收集各种生物资讯

on one website.

于一个网站

And the scientists who are contributing to EOL are answering a question,

而为生物百科做贡献的科学家都在问一个问题：

"What can we learn from this organism?"

“我们从这种生物身上可以学到什么？”

And that information will go into AskNature.org.

然后那些资讯会放在上面提过的网站上

And hopefully, any inventor, anywhere in the world,

但愿，所有发明家，甚至世上的所有人

will be able, in the moment of creation,

可以在他们灵光一之际，可以输入：

to type in, "How does nature remove salt from water?"

大自然如何去除水中盐分

And up will come mangroves, and sea turtles

然后结果就会显示红树林和海龟

and your own kidneys.

还有你的肾脏

And we'll begin to

然后我们会开始

be able to

有能力做到

do as Cody does,

做到我的邻居科迪做到的

and actually be in touch

去接触这些

with these incredible models,

邻人赞叹不已的模型

these elders that have been here

这些自然界中的长者

far, far longer than we have.

在地球上的日子远远多于我们

And hopefully, with their help,

但愿，在它们的帮助下

we'll learn how to live on this Earth,

我们能学会如何在地球上生存

and on this home that is ours, but not ours alone.

地球是我们的家园，但不是我们人类单独拥有的

Thank you very much.

谢谢

(Applause)

（鼓掌）