Claire Malone: The missing 96 percent of the universe | TED

Transcriber:

翻译人员: Frank Xu 校对人员: Yanyan Hong

Have you ever taken your 3-D glasses off at the cinema?

你有在电影院里 把你的 3D 眼镜摘下来过吗？

The picture looks blurry

画面会看起来模糊，

and it can be difficult to see exactly what is happening.

而且很难看清到底发生了什么。

This is because 3-D glasses trick our brain into forming a 3-D image

这是因为 3D 眼镜促使我们的大脑 形成一个 3D 的图像，

by controlling the color of the light that each sees

而这是通过在每块镜片 使用不同的滤镜

using a different filter in each lens.

来控制每个人所看到的光线颜色。

You could say sometimes seeing things from a different perspective

换句话说，有时候从不同角度看事物

can make them look clearer and easier to understand.

可以使它们看起来更清晰易懂。

This is exactly the approach that has helped me with my research,

正是这个方法帮助了我的研究，

looking to answer some of the most fundamental questions

希望能解答我们关于宇宙的一些

we have about our universe.

最基本的问题。

To put this in a different context,

换一个情况来说，

I could see some people finding my voice difficult to understand

由于我患有脑瘫，来做 TED 演讲

due to my cerebral palsy

无疑有巨大的障碍，

as an insurmountable barrier to giving a TED Talk.

我知道有些人 会觉得我的声音很奇怪。

Even if I saw that there are alternative ways

即便我知道有其他办法

for people who have difficulties with communication

让有交流困难的人们

to speak to an audience,

来向观众演说。

I could be put off from using them,

使用它们却可能 会让观众对我反感，

thinking that this dry computerized voice has no life in it

认为这无味的电子嗓音没有生命，

and would put you all to sleep within five minutes.

而且会在五分钟内让大家都睡着。

Alternatively, I could see the dodgy female British synthesized voice

要么我可以选择勉强接受这难听的

as something to be embraced,

合成英式女声，

pepper this talk with jokes and gags,

然后用玩笑和打诨来点缀这次演讲，

sometimes at the poor communication aid's expense,

有时再用这糟糕的发声器 作为笑话素材，

and hopefully make you laugh

希望能让各位笑笑，

and keep you engaged with what I want to tell you about.

并让大家关注我所想说的内容。

Luckily for you, I have chosen the second option.

对各位而言，所幸我选了后者。

And what do I want to tell you about?

那么，我想告诉大家什么呢？

I'm here to tell you

我在这里是为了告诉各位，

that we have completely misplaced 96 percent of the entire universe,

我们完全搞错了宇宙中、 所有存在的事物中，

everything in existence.

96% 事物的位置。

That's an awful lot of missing socks.

就好像家里袜子几乎全都少一只。

I am a particle physicist

我是一位粒子物理学家，

analyzing data from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland

在瑞士的欧洲核子研究所对 大型强子对撞机的数据进行分析

to answer the most fundamental questions about our universe.

来回答关于我们宇宙最基本的问题。

At school, I was the archetypal geeky kid

在学校，我曾是典型的书呆小孩，

just wanting to get the other lessons done to get into the science lab.

只想通过完成其它课程 来进到科学实验室里。

My work now focuses on what I truly believe

我现在的工作围绕在我真心相信

is one of the greatest achievements of scientific research

是上世纪科学研究最伟大的

in the last century.

成就之一。

A scientific model that describes the properties and behavior

一个描述宇宙所有已知粒子的

of all the known particles in the universe.

特性和行为的科学模型。

And as particle physicists have no imagination,

而因为粒子学家缺乏想象力，

we call it the Standard Model.

我们称它为标准模型理论 （Standard Model）。

For me, having one model with so much power

对我而言，拥有一个如此强大的模型

is as close as science gets to describing nature

是科学能在最基础的层面上

at its most basic level.

解释自然的方式。

When I first heard about the Standard Model,

在我第一次听说标准模型理论时，

it really blew my mind

它完全颠覆了我的思维，

and gave me the passion to focus on my studies in physics.

并给予了我投入对物理学习的热情。

But I also knew

但我也知道

that I would have to think about them a little differently

与我的同学们相比 我对它们的想法

to my fellow students.

稍有不同。

For example, I had to demonstrate in examinations that I had understood

比如，我需要在考试中 展现处自己已经理解了

the practical techniques that I had been taught.

课上教给我的实验技巧。

Due to my disability,

因为我的残疾，

I don't have enough control of my hands

我没法很好的控制我的手，

to be able to pick up laboratory equipment and use it.

没法拿起实验器材并正常使用，

So I had to effectively borrow someone else's hands.

因此，我不得不借助他人的双手辅助。

I practiced giving extremely detailed instructions to my assistant

我练习过给我的助手 非常详细的指导，

about how to use the equipment in order to perform the experiment.

教他们如何使用器材来进行实验。

Seeing experiments from the perspective of a series of instructions

从指导的角度去看待实验，

that I had to give as clearly as possible

非常明确的讲解也

really helped me get into the mindset I needed

确实帮助我获得了该有的心态

to understand how I could perform well in my practicals, which I did.

得以理解怎样在实验考核中取得好成绩， 而我也确实表现不错。

Recognizing that I was able to look at such issues in a different way,

认识到我能够从不同角度看待问题，

helped me to find the tenacity to persevere with mastering

帮助我找到了精通

the practical side of my scientific studies

我的科学研究实践部分 所需的那份坚持，

rather than letting my physical limitations stop me.

而不是让我的身体限制我。

Now, my research with the Large Hadron Collider

现在，我和强子对撞机的相关研究，

involves me writing a lot of code to analyze the data

需要我写好多代码来分析数据，

used to study the standard model.

以用来研究标准模型。

I dictate what I would like my assistants to type,

我指示我的助手打出我想要的代码，

as typing it for myself would be too slow and effortful.

毕竟由我自己来会很慢且很费力。

It does take a slightly different mindset to speak your work rather than write it,

说和写出这些代码 确实需要略微不同的思维，

especially when all the education you receive

特别是当你接受的所以教育

is aimed at people who can quickly scribble things down.

都是为了能很快记录下来的人设计时。

However, I have found that telling myself

但是，我发现告诉自己

that I am doing basically the same actions as everyone else

我和其他人所做的其实本质上一样

has helped me to understand how to proceed

帮助了我理解如何在我追求

in pursuing my passion for physics.

自己对物理热情的道路上前进。

Now, you know how I do my research.

现在，你知道我是如何做研究的了。

Let's get back to my favorite model and hopefully yours after this talk,

让我们回到我最爱，也希望 在这演讲后会是你们最爱的模型上，

because unfortunately, we have a bit of a major snag.

因为不幸的是， 我们遇到了一个巨大障碍。

The Standard Model only describes four percent of the universe.

标准模型只描述了宇宙的百分之四。

To understand why,

为了理解这是为什么，

you have to look at how fast galaxies are spinning.

你必须考虑星系的旋转有多快。

Newton's laws tell us that they would simply fly apart

牛顿定律告诉我们， 如果星系之间没有某些

if there wasn't some other kind of massive substance within them

其它种类的巨大来将它们聚在一起，

to bring them together.

物质会四散分离。

This missing mass is called dark matter,

这些下落不明的东西就是 “暗物质”，

and we observe that it accounts for 23 percent of the universe.

而我们观察到 它占据了宇宙的 23%。

So what about the rest?

那么剩下的呢？

Well, the discovery that the expansion of the universe is accelerating

好吧，因为引力宇宙扩张速度

rather than decelerating due to gravitational attraction,

在加快而非减慢的发现，

points to the existence of a force acting against gravity.

表明有一股力在和引力相对。

We call this force dark energy,

我们将这股力称为 “暗能量”，

and it accounts for the remaining 73 percent of the universe.

而它占据了宇宙剩下的 73%。

Neither dark matter nor dark energy are included in the Standard Model.

暗物质和暗能量 都没被包含在基本模型里，

So there is a staggering 96 percent of the universe

所以说，我们对宇宙整整 96% 的部分

that we know absolutely nothing about.

一无所知。

Therefore, it turns out that my favorite model,

因此，我最爱的模型，

that I thought could describe every particle in the universe,

我曾认为描述了宇宙里 所有粒子的模型，

isn't as all encompassing as I initially thought.

实际上，并非我最初 所想的那么包罗万象。

So is there a way to look at the particles

那么，有没有一种不同的方式

that are already described by the Standard Model differently

来看待已经被标准模型描述过的粒子

in order to discover these absent particles?

用来找到这些下落不明的粒子呢？

You might think that we would be racking our brains to design detectors

你可能觉得我们会绞尽脑汁来设计

that could produce some kind of photograph of these elusive particles

能为这些难以找到的粒子 拍照成像的探测仪

to prove that they are there.

以证明它们存在。

Surely if you want to find something that's missing,

毕竟如果你想找到 某件下落不明的东西，

that's the general approach you have to take, right?

这是你所需的一般方式，对吧？

Wrong.

不对。

We actually just have to accept the fact that these missing particles

我们其实只需接受这些粒子不见的事实， 反正无论我们做什么

are not going to interact with our detectors,

都不会影响我们探测器，

whatever we do.

就可以了。

But that's not game over.

但并不是说这就完事了。

In the same way that I didn't give up

和我没有放弃

on being able to do laboratory experiments myself,

通过借助他人的双手，

but instead used someone else's hands,

来自己做实验一样，

we use the particles that we can detect

我们利用我们可见的粒子

to spy on the particles that we think are there but hiding.

来窥探我们认为存在 却无法观测的粒子。

At the Large Hadron Collider,

在大型强子对撞机那里，

we accelerate particles to speeds very close to the speed of light

我们将粒子加速到接近光速

such that they smash into each other

使它们互相撞击

and release enormous amounts of energy.

并释放出极大量的能量。

We use protons that are found in the atoms

我们使用存在于原子中的质子，

that comprise all the matter that we see around us,

而原子组成所有 我们所见身边的物质，

including you and me.

包括你我。

However, it is when these protons collide head on

然而，在这些质子迎头相撞时

that the really interesting physics happens.

会产生很有趣的物理现象。

Such colossal amounts of energy are released

释放的能量之多

that particles that are fundamentally different from the protons

导致与我们最初使用的 质子有本质上区别的粒子，

that we began with

在质子撞击之后

are created.

诞生。

It's a bit like if you smashed two apples against each other,

这有点像如果你拿两个苹果对撞，

expecting them to turn into something completely different,

预料它们变成完全不同的东西，

like a pile of cherries.

比如说一堆樱桃。

Using extremely sophisticated detectors,

使用极度复杂的侦测器，

we are able to tell what kinds of particles have been made,

我们能知道产生了什么种类的粒子，

but only the types we already know about.

但也仅限于我们已知的种类。

So how are we going to find these other mysterious particles?

那么我们该怎么找到 那些神秘粒子呢？

Fortunately, a fundamental law of nature comes to our rescue

幸运的是，自然的 一项基本法则能帮助我们，

and allows us to study these particle collisions from a different perspective.

并允许我们通过其它角度 来学习这些粒子撞击。

Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only transferred.

能量既不能被创造 也无法被毁灭，只能被转移。

If you add up the energy of the particles before and after the collision,

如果你计算撞击前后粒子的能量，

you would find that they are equal.

你会发现它们相等。

We know the energy of the protons entering the collision

我们知道质子撞击前的能量，

and we make very sensitive measurements of the energy of the particles

并且我们精准测量这些粒子

that come out.

释放的能量。

If those two energies are not identical, alarm bells start to ring.

若前后的能量不相同， 那就有问题了。

Perhaps one of the principles that underpin our understanding of nature,

有可能是构成我们对自然，

conservation of energy, is incorrect.

能量守恒的理解基础的 原则之一是错误的。

Or as everyone is hoping,

或者像大家期望的那样，

the missing energy could have been stolen by particles

消失的能量被躲过我们探测器的粒子

that elude our detectors

给偷走了，

and could help us answer some of the most fundamental questions

并可能帮助我们回答 一些当下物理学

we have in physics today.

最基本的问题。

Now, I know what you are going to ask me.

现在，我知道你要问我什么。

Have you found the missing particles yet?

你们找到下落不明的粒子了吗？

Sadly, we haven't.

可惜的是，我们还没有。

Some people might see this as a reason to lose hope

有些人可能会把这当作 丢掉希望的一个理由，

that we are ever going to fully understand

这份我们终究会完全理解

the basic building blocks of the cosmos.

宇宙基本组成的希望。

However, I believe that this is perhaps the most exciting time

但我相信这可能是投身基础物理学

to be conducting fundamental physics

最令人兴奋的时期，

as we have so much left to discover.

因为还有太多等待我们来发现。

But aside from thinking about some of the most exciting questions in science,

不过除去思考一些科学里 最激动人心的问题，

I find that being open to seeing a situation from a different perspective

我发现愿意用 一种不同的观点来看一件事

is most meaningful when applied on a personal scale.

在个人层面上是最有意义的。

It encourages you to seek out the positive in each person

它鼓励你去寻找每个人、

and situation, no matter how difficult,

每件事的优点，不论有多困难，

and use it to bring out not only our own potential,

并且以此来激发不只是我们自己，

but that of those around us.

还有身边人们的潜力。

I feel this is something we could all benefit from at the moment.

我觉得这是能使我们 都受益匪浅的一件事。

It doesn't always mean that you will find what you're looking for right away

它并不意味着你会 马上找到你所正在寻找的

or that it will be easy.

或者过程会简单。

But for me, this mindset helped me get where I am today,

但是对我而言， 这个心态帮我达到了今天的高度，

and it keeps me going.

它还是我的动力。

Looking at the world around us today,

看看今天 我们身边的世界，

we are surrounded by big questions without obvious answers.

我们被没有明确答案的 深奥问题包围着，

Perhaps by embracing a new way of thinking,

也许通过接纳一种新思路，

by being truly open to other people who don't share our perspective,

通过真正对持有不同观点的 人们保持开放心态，

we might just be able to discover new solutions

我们或许能够发现新的解决方案

to the problems we are all facing.

来应对我们都在面对的问题。

Thank you.

谢谢大家。