Mark Roth: Suspended animation is within our grasp

翻译人员: Bin Xu 校对人员: Jenny Yang

I'm going to talk to you today about my work on suspended animation.

我今天跟大家谈谈我对于假死的研究工作。

Now, usually when I mention suspended animation,

通常当我提到“假死状态”，

people will flash me the Vulcan sign and laugh.

人们会报以叹息和笑声。

But now, I'm not talking about gorking people out

但是现在，我不是要把人

to fly to Mars or even Pandora,

送到火星甚至潘多拉星球，

as much fun as that may be.

不管那有多好玩。

I'm talking about

我要谈的是

the concept of using suspended animation

利用假死

to help people out in trauma.

帮助创伤患者治疗。

So what do I mean

那么，当我说到“假死”

when I say "suspended animation"?

我是什么意思呢？

It is the process by which

这是一个过程，

animals de-animate,

在此过程中动物不动了，

appear dead

看上去死了，

and then can wake up again without being harmed.

然后却可以醒来，并且没有受到伤害。

OK, so here is the sort of big idea:

好了，这里就要说说我的想法。

If you look out at nature,

大家如果留意自然界，

you find that

会把

as you tend to see suspended animation,

假死状态

you tend to see immortality.

看作是长生不死。

And so, what I'm going to tell you about

所以，这里我想说

is a way to tell a person who's in trauma --

是用某种方法让创伤患者

find a way to de-animate them a bit

失去活力

so they're a little more immortal

这样他们就多少有一点可以长生不老

when they have that heart attack.

当他们的心脏病发作。

An example of an organism or two

有一两种生物体

that happens to be quite immortal

是有这种不朽的情况的

would be plant seeds

比如植物种子

or bacterial spores.

或细菌孢子。

These creatures are

这些生物

some of the most immortal life forms on our planet,

是我们这个星球上最不朽的生命形式，

and they tend to spend most of their time

它们一生大部分时间

in suspended animation.

都处于假死状态。

Bacterial spores are thought now by scientists

现在科学家认为细菌孢子

to exist as individual cells

是活着的

that are alive, but in suspended animation

单个细胞，但是在假死状态，

for as long as 250 million years.

它们可以处于这种状态长达2.50亿年。

To suggest that this all, sort of, about little, tiny creatures,

这是有关一种很微小的动物的，

I want to bring it close to home.

我希望把实验对象拿到离家很近的地方。

In the immortal germ line

对于人类来说

of human beings --

这种不朽的种子

that is, the eggs that sit in the ovaries --

就像是卵巢里的卵子，

they actually sit there in a state of suspended animation

它们实际上是处于假死或休眠状态

for up to 50 years in the life of each woman.

而且可以在每个妇女的一生中在它们身体里存在长达50年。

So then there's also my favorite example

关于假死，我还有一个

of suspended animation.

最喜欢的例子。

This is Sea-Monkeys.

就是一种叫“海猴”的虾。

Those of you with children,

在座的各位如果有孩子，

you know about them.

你知道这东西。

You go to the pet store or the toy store,

你在宠物商店或玩具店，

and you can buy these things.

可以买到这种东西。

You just open the bag, and you just dump them

回到家只需打开袋子，把它们倒到

into the plastic aquarium,

塑料水族箱里，

and in about a week or so, you'll have little shrimps swimming around.

过大约一个星期左右，就会看到有小虾游动。

Well, I wasn't so interested in the swimming.

我并不是对游泳特别感兴趣。

I was interested in what was going on in the bag,

我感兴趣的是在袋子里发生了什么，

the bag on the toy store shelf

这样的袋子会在玩具商店货架上

where those shrimp sat

里面的虾

in suspended animation indefinitely.

会在那里一直处于假死状态。

So these ideas of suspended animation

所以，这些关于假死的想法

are not just about cells and weird, little organisms.

不只是关于销售和古怪的小生物。

Occasionally, human beings

有时，人也会

are briefly de-animated,

短暂地失去活性，

and the stories of people who are briefly de-animated

最让我感兴趣的

that interest me the most

人短暂失去活性的例子

are those having to do with the cold.

是那些与寒冷有关的实例。

Ten years ago, there was a skier in Norway

10年前，在挪威有一个滑雪者

that was trapped in an icy waterfall,

被困在冰冷的瀑布中。

and she was there for two hours before they extracted her.

她在那里两个小时后才被救出来。

She was extremely cold,

她身上非常冷，

and she had no heartbeat --

已经没有心跳。

for all intents and purposes she was dead, frozen.

在所有的意义上，她已经是死了，冻死了。

Seven hours later,

7个小时后，

still without a heartbeat,

仍然没有心跳，

they brought her back to life, and she went on to be

人们救活了她，她后来成了

the head radiologist

救治她的那家医院的

in the hospital that treated her.

放射科的主任。

A couple of years later --

两三年后——

so I get really excited about these things --

我对这种事情特别感兴趣——

about a couple of years later,

大约一两年后，

there was a 13-month-old, she was from Canada.

加拿大有一个13个月大的小孩。

Her father had gone out in the wintertime; he was working night shift,

当时是冬天，她爸爸出去上夜班，

and she followed him outside in nothing but a diaper.

结果她跟着到了外面，什么也没穿，只是裹着纸尿裤。

And they found her hours later,

几个小时后人们发现了她

frozen, lifeless,

已经冻死了。

and they brought her back to life.

可人们让她起死回生了。

There was a 65-year-old woman

还有一名65岁女性

in Duluth, Minnesota last year

去年在明尼苏达州德卢斯

that was found frozen and without a pulse

人们发现她在自己家的院子里

in her front yard one morning in the winter,

冻死了，没有了脉搏，

and they brought her back to life.

可人们也救活了她。

The next day, she was doing so well, they wanted to run tests on her.

第二天，她身体恢复得很好，医生想给她做个检查。

She got cranky and just went home.

可她根本不听医生的，自个儿跑回家了。

(Laughter)

(笑声.)

So, these are miracles, right?

对，这些是奇迹，没错。

These are truly miraculous things that happen.

这是确实发生过的真正的奇迹般的事情。

Doctors have a saying

医生有一种说法

that, in fact, "You're not dead until you're warm and dead."

“如果你不是身体暖暖和和的死了，就没有真死。”

And it's true. It's true.

确实如此。真的。

In the New England Journal of Medicine,

在《新英格兰医学杂志》上，

there was a study published that showed

发表的一项研究显示，

that with appropriate rewarming,

只要适当复温，

people who had suffered without a heartbeat for three hours

那些3个小时没有心跳的患者，

could be brought back to life without any neurologic problems.

可以活过来，而且没有任何神经系统的问题。

That's over 50 percent.

这个比例在百分之五十以上。

So what I was trying to do is think of a way

因此，我试图做的就是想办法

that we could study

来研究

suspended animation

假死

to think about a way

是找到一种方法

to reproduce, maybe,

也许可以重复，

what happened to the skier.

那位滑雪者的经历。

Well, I have to tell you something very odd,

嗯，我还必须告诉大家一件很奇怪的事，

and that is that being exposed to low oxygen

是有关暴露于低氧环境

does not always kill.

却并不一定让人死亡的事。

So, in this room, there's 20 percent oxygen or so,

在这个礼堂里，空气中有百分之二十左右的氧气。

and if we reduce the oxygen concentration,

如果我们降低氧浓度，

we will all be dead.

我们大家都将死亡。

And, in fact, the animals we were working with in the lab --

而且，事实上，我们在实验室中做实验的动物，

these little garden worms, nematodes --

那些小花园虫，线虫，

they were also dead when we exposed them to low oxygen.

当它们被暴露在低氧环境中，也会死亡。

And here's the thing that should freak you out.

但下面这件事会让大家感觉匪夷所思。

And that is that, when we lower the oxygen concentration further

那就是，当我们进一步降低氧浓度

by 100 times, to 10 parts per million,

100倍，达到每百万单位中只有10个氧单位，

they were not dead,

它们就不会死，

they were in suspended animation,

而是进入假死状态，

and we could bring them back to life without any harm.

而且我们可以使它们重新活过来，没有任何伤害。

And this precise oxygen concentration,

这一特定的氧浓度，

10 parts per million,

百万分之10，

that caused suspended animation,

可以造成假死状态，

is conserved.

这个比例是恒定的。

We can see it in a variety of different organisms.

在许多不同的生物身上都能看到这种情况。

One of the creatures we see it in

其中的一种生物

is a fish.

就是鱼。

And we can turn its heartbeat on and off by going in and out

我们可以通过让鱼进入和脱离假死状态

of suspended animation like you would a light switch.

对其心脏进行“开”“关”操作。

So this was pretty shocking to me,

我们居然可以做到这一点，

that we could do this.

这让我感到非常震惊。

And so I was wondering, when we were trying

所以，我想知道，当我们试图

to reproduce the work with the skier,

重现救活那位滑雪者的经历的时候，

that we noticed that, of course,

我们注意到

she had no oxygen consumption,

她没有消耗氧气，

and so maybe she was in a similar state of suspended animation.

所以也许她是处于一种类似假死状态。

But, of course, she was also extremely cold.

但是，当然，她体温也十分低。

So we wondered what would happen

因此，我们不知道

if we took our suspended animals and exposed them to the cold.

如果把假死的动物暴露于寒冷之下会发生什么。

And so, what we found out

因此，我们发现

was that, if you take animals

如果你将活蹦乱跳的动物

that are animated like you and I,

比如你和我，

and you make them cold -- that is, these were the garden worms --

给他们降温——比如，这些蚯蚓——

now they're dead.

这样它们都死了。

But if you have them in suspended animation,

但是，如果你使它们进入假死状态，

and move them into the cold, they're all alive.

然后再把它们冷冻，它们就还会活着。

And there's the very important thing there:

这里就是最重要的事：

If you want to survive the cold,

如果你想渡过严寒，

you ought to be suspended. Right?

你应该暂停生命。对吧？

It's a really good thing.

这简直太好了。

And so, we were thinking about that,

因此，我们考虑

about this relationship between these things,

这些事情之间的这种关系，

and thinking about whether or not that's what happened to the skier.

并思考那位滑雪者是否就是发生这些事情。

And so we wondered: Might there be some agent

因此，我们想知道：是否我们体内有些

that is in us, something that we make ourselves,

机制，就是我们自身的某种机制

that we might be able to regulate our own metabolic flexibility

使我们也许能够调整自己的新陈代谢活性

in such a way as to be able to survive

这样一来，就能够经受

when we got extremely cold, and might otherwise pass away?

极度的寒冷，而如果没有这种技能，就可能会死去。

I thought it might be interesting to sort of hunt for such things.

我想研究一下这些机制到底是什么应该很有意思。

You know?

对不对？

I should mention briefly here

我要在此简要说一下，

that physiology textbooks that you can read about

大家要是阅读生理教科书，

will tell you that this is a kind of heretical thing to suggest.

会发现书中告诉你，这种说法属于某种邪教。

We have, from the time we are slapped on the butt

我们从一出娘胎

until we take our last dying breath --

直到临终时刻——

that's when we're newborn to when we're dead --

这就是当我们死亡时，就会获得新生——

we cannot reduce our metabolic rate

我们不能降低自己的代谢率

below what's called a standard,

将其降到所谓的标准水平之下，

or basal metabolic rate.

或称“基础代谢率”。

But I knew that there were examples

但我知道就有这样

of creatures, also mammals,

生物的例子，包括哺乳动物，

that do reduce their metabolic rate

可以减少其代谢率

such as ground squirrels and bears,

如地松鼠和熊。

they reduce their metabolic rate

它们可以在冬眠的时候

in the wintertime when they hibernate.

降低代谢率。

So I wondered: Might we be able to find some agent or trigger

所以，我在想：我们能否找到这样的机制，或许可以触发

that might induce such a state in us?

我们的身体进入这样的状态？

And so, we went looking for such things.

因此，我们去寻找这些东西。

And this was a period of time when we failed tremendously.

可是在这一段时间，我们经历了很多失败。

Ken Robinson is here. He talked about the glories of failure.

肯•罗宾逊在这里。他谈到了失败的辉煌。

Well, we had a lot of them.

是的，我们遭遇了很多失败。

We tried many different chemicals and agents,

我们尝试过许多不同的化学品，

and we failed over and over again.

经历过一次又一次失败。

So, one time, I was at home

有一次，我在家里

watching television on the couch

看电视，

while my wife was putting our child to bed,

我的妻子正哄孩子睡觉，

and I was watching a television show.

我是在看一个电视节目。

It was a television show --

这个节目

it was a NOVA show on PBS --

是PBS的NOVA节目

about caves in New Mexico.

关于新墨西哥的一个洞穴。

And this particular cave was Lechuguilla,

这个洞穴叫做Lechuguilla，

and this cave is incredibly toxic to humans.

这个洞穴对人类具有致命的毒性。

The researchers had to suit up just to enter it.

研究人员要想进洞必须穿上特殊防护服。

It's filled with this toxic gas,

洞里充满了硫化氢

hydrogen sulfide.

这种有毒气体。

Now, hydrogen sulfide is curiously present in us.

奇怪的是，我们身体里就有硫化氢。

We make it ourselves.

我们自己会制造它。

The highest concentration is in our brains.

浓度最高的地方是我们的大脑。

Yet, it was used

不过，在第一次世界大战期间

as a chemical warfare agent in World War I.

它曾被用作化学战剂。

It's an extraordinarily toxic thing.

这种东西毒性特大。

In fact, in chemical accidents,

事实上，在化学事故中，

hydrogen sulfide is known to --

硫化氢是很出名的——

if you breathe too much of it, you collapse to the ground,

如果你吸入太多，会瞬间倒地，

you appear dead,

看上去就像是死了，

but if you were brought out into room air, you can be reanimated without harm,

但是如果马上把你带到正常的空气中，你仍可以醒来，而且毫发无损，

if they do that quickly.

前提是救援要快。

So, I thought, "Wow, I have to get some of this."

所以，我想，哇，我要来点这东西。

(Laughter)

(笑声.)

Now, it's post-9/11 America,

对了，这是911事件后的美国了，

and when you go into the research institute,

你要是进入研究所，

and you say, "Hi.

和人说：“嗨，

I'd like to buy some concentrated,

我想买一些浓缩的，

compressed gas cylinders

压缩气瓶存储的

of a lethal gas

致命气体

because I have these ideas, see,

因为我想试试，能否

about wanting to suspend people.

让人进入假死状态。

It's really going to be OK."

这可有得瞧了。”

So that's kind of a tough day,

所以这事儿很难办，

but I said, "There really is

但我觉得，这事儿

some basis for thinking why you might want to do this."

真的是有一定根据的，我就想试一试。

As I said, this agent is in us,

正如我所说，我们体内有这样的机制，

and, in fact, here's a curious thing,

而且实际上，奇怪的是，

it binds to the very place inside of your cells

它就在我们的细胞内

where oxygen binds, and where you burn it,

在氧气发生结合，并在你体内燃烧当中，

and that you do this burning to live.

我们是通过燃烧氧气而生活的。

And so we thought, like in a game of musical chairs,

所以我们就想，就像做抢椅子游戏那样，

might we be able to give a person

也许我们能够给一个人

some hydrogen sulfide,

吸一些硫化氢，

and might it be able to occupy that place

也许这些硫化氢能够像抢椅子游戏那样

like in a game of musical chairs where oxygen might bind?

占据氧气的位置，

And because you can't bind the oxygen,

由于你无法不能与氧气结合反应，

maybe you wouldn't consume it,

也许就不需要消耗氧气了，

and then maybe it would reduce your demand for oxygen.

这样就可能会减少你对氧的需求。

I mean, who knows?

我是说，这事儿谁也拿不准。

So -- (Laughter)

所以 ——（众笑）

So, there's the bit about the dopamine

因此，这可能和多巴胺有关（大脑中产生满足和快乐的一种化学物质。）

and being a little bit, what do you call it, delusional,

虽然只有一点，但也有点属于妄想了吧

and you might suggest that was it.

你可能说就是因为多巴胺的效应。

And so, we wanted to find out

因此，我们希望找出

might we be able to use

也许我们可以利用

hydrogen sulfide in the presence of cold,

硫化氢加上严寒，

and we wanted to see whether we could

我们想看看我们能否

reproduce this skier in a mammal.

在哺乳动物身上复现滑雪者死去活来的经历。

Now, mammals are warm-blooded creatures,

哺乳动物是温血动物，

and when we get cold, we shake and we shiver, right?

当我们感到冷的时候会发抖。

We try to keep our core temperature at 37 degrees

我们会尽量将体温保持在37度

by actually burning more oxygen.

办法就是通过燃烧更多的氧气。

So, it was interesting for us

因此，让一个处于寒冷中的小鼠

when we applied hydrogen sulfide

呼吸硫化氢时，

to a mouse when it was also cold

我们发现了一个有趣的现象。

because what happened is the core temperature

结果小鼠身体的核心温度

of the mouse got cold.

降低了。

It stopped moving.

它不动了。

It appeared dead.

它看起来死了。

Its oxygen consumption rate

它的耗氧率

fell by tenfold.

下降了10倍。

And here's the really important point.

这里才是最重要的问题。

I told you hydrogen sulfide is in us.

我刚才告诉大家说，我们体内都有硫化氢。

It's rapidly metabolized,

它会迅速代谢，

and all you have to do after six hours of being

处于这种假死状态

in this state of de-animation

6小时后，只需

is simply put the thing out in room air,

将其置于室内空气中，

and it warms up, and it's none the worse for wear.

让它暖和过来，它就会活过来，毫发无损。

Now, this was cosmic.

这一规律总是灵验。

Really. Because we had found a way

真的。因为我们已经找到了办法，

to de-animate a mammal,

让哺乳动物进入假死状态。

and it didn't hurt it.

并且不会伤害它。

Now, we'd found a way to reduce

现在，我们找到了一种方法，可以减少

its oxygen consumption

动物的耗氧量

to rock-bottom levels, and it was fine.

使其达到最低水平，同时不伤害它们。

Now, in this state of de-animation,

在这种假死状态下，

it could not go out dancing,

它不能蹦蹦跳跳了，

but it was not dead,

但它也没有死，

and it was not harmed.

而且它并没有受伤。

So we started to think: Is this the agent

因此，我们开始想：是不是这种东西

that might have been present in the skier,

可能存在于那个滑雪者体内，

and might have she had more of it than someone else,

而且有可能她体内的比别人的更多

and might that have been able to reduce

这可能使她减少了

her demand for oxygen

对氧气的需求。

before she got so cold that

在她体温降得过低之前，

she otherwise would have died,

这一因素起了作用，不然她就死了。

as we found out with our worm experiments?

——我们前面说的蚯蚓实验就是把蚯蚓冻死了。

So, we wondered:

所以，我们想知道：

Can we do anything useful

对于这种

with this capacity to

控制代谢活性的能力

control metabolic flexibility?

能否好好运用呢？

And one of the things we wondered --

此外，另一个我们想知道的事情——

I'm sure some of you out there are economists,

我确信，在座的各位中有一些经济学家，

and you know all about supply and demand.

而且大家都知道供需关系。

And when supply is equal to demand,

当供给等于需求时，

everything's fine,

一切都很好，

but when supply falls,

但是当供求降低——

in this case of oxygen,

在这种情况下就是氧气含量降低——

and demand stays high, you're dead.

而需求继续保持旺盛，你就死了。

So, what I just told you

因此，我刚才想告诉大家的

is we can now reduce demand.

是我们现在可以减少需求。

We ought to be able to lower supply

我们应该把供应

to unprecedented low levels without killing the animal.

降低到前所未有的低水平，而不杀死动物。

And with money we got from DARPA,

我们用DARPA的资助，

we could show just that.

我们可以证明这一点。

If you give mice hydrogen sulfide,

如果给老鼠吸入硫化氢，

you can lower their demand for oxygen,

就可以降低其对氧的需求，

and you can put them into oxygen concentrations

可以把它们放到氧气浓度

that are as low as 5,000 feet above the top of Mt. Everest,

相当于珠穆朗玛峰顶峰再高五千英尺以上的空气

and they can sit there for hours, and there's no problem.

它们可以呆在那里好几个小时，一点问题也没有。

Well this was really cool.

嗯，这真的是很酷。

We also found out that we could subject animals

我们还发现，我们可以让动物

to otherwise lethal blood loss, and we could save them

大量失血，达到致命的程度，可仍能拯救它们

if we gave them hydrogen sulfide.

前提是给它们吸入硫化氢。

So these proof of concept experiments

因此，这些实验所证明的事实

led me to say "I should found a company,

促使我想到，我要建立一家公司，

and we should take this out to a wider playing field."

我们应该扩大它的使用范围。

I founded a company called Ikaria

我成立了一家名为伊卡利亚（Ikaria）的公司

with others' help.

当然也有其他人的帮助。

And this company, the first thing it did

而这家公司做的第一件事就是

was make a liquid formulation of hydrogen sulfide

制作出一种硫化氢的液剂

an injectable form that we could put in

这是一种注射药剂，我们可以把它

and send it out to physician scientists all over the world

发给世界各地的医生

who work on models of critical care medicine,

他们在处理危重实验动物病例的时候，

and the results are incredibly positive.

会获得积极的效果，结果令人难以置信。

In one model of heart attack,

在一例心脏病案例中，

animals given hydrogen sulfide

实验动物注射了硫化氢

showed a 70 percent reduction in heart damage

结果，与对照组相比

compared to those who got the standard of care that

心脏受损比例减少了百分之七十。

you and I would receive if we were to have a heart attack here today.

而我们大家目前在医院能够获得的，都是对照组所获得的标准护理。

Same is true for organ failure,

对于器官功能衰竭的结果也类似

when you have loss of function owing to poor perfusion of kidney, of liver,

比如肾、肝供给不足而造成的功能丧失，

acute respiratory distress syndrome

以及急性呼吸窘迫综合征

and damage suffered in cardiac-bypass surgery.

和进行心脏搭桥手术而对新增造成的损害等，都可受益于此。

So, these are the thought leaders in trauma medicine

因此，全世界创伤医疗的领头人物

all over the world saying this is true,

都认为这确实是真的，

so it seems that exposure to hydrogen sulfide

这样看来，吸入硫化氢

decreases damage that you receive

可以减少身体

from being exposed to otherwise lethal-low oxygen.

暴露在致命低氧环境中受损的可能性。

And I should say that the concentrations of hydrogen sulfide

而且我需要指出，要达到这种效果所需的

required to get this benefit

硫化氢的浓度

are low, incredibly low.

非常低，低得令人难以置信。

In fact, so low that physicians will not have to lower or dim

事实上，其浓度如此之低，医生不会明显降低

the metabolism of people much at all

人的新陈代谢率

to see the benefit I just mentioned,

就能看到我刚才所说的好处，

which is a wonderful thing, if you're thinking about adopting this.

这是一个非常好的事情，如果我们考虑采用这种办法的话。

You don't want to be gorking people out

当然，我们不想为了救人

just to save them, it's really confusing.

先把人弄得半死，这是很不好判断

(Laughter)

(笑声.)

So, I want to say that we're in human trials.

我要说的是，我们在进行人体试验。

Now, and so --

现在，——

(Applause)

（掌声。 ）

Thank you. The Phase 1 safety studies are over,

谢谢。第一阶段的安全性研究已经结束，

and we're doing fine, we're now moved on.

而且我们做得很好，我们现在要继续下一步。

We have to get to Phase 2 and Phase 3. It's going to take us a few years.

我们必须进行第二阶段和第三阶段的试验。这要花费数年的时间。

This has all moved very quickly,

这些都进行得非常快，

and the mouse experiments

冬眠小鼠实验

of hibernating mice happened in 2005;

是在2005年做的，

the first human studies were done in 2008,

第一次人类研究是在2008年，

and we should know in a couple of years

几年内，我们就能知道

whether it works or not.

这个办法究竟是否可行。

And this all happened really quickly

而这一切都发生得非常快

because of a lot of help from a lot of people.

因为我们得到了许多的很多帮助。

I want to mention that, first of all,

首先，我想提一下

my wife, without whom this talk and my work would not be possible,

我的妻子，没有她，我的这个演讲以及这些工作都是不可能的，

so thank you very much.

非常感谢。

Also, the brilliant scientists who work at my lab

此外，感谢在我的实验室工作的杰出的科学家们

and also others on staff,

以及华盛顿州西雅图的弗雷德哈钦森癌症研究中心的

the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington --

其他工作人员，

wonderful place to work.

感谢这么好的工作场所。

And also the wonderful scientists

还要感谢

and businesspeople at Ikaria.

Ikaria公司的科学家和商界精英。

One thing those people did out there

这家公司的人们

was take this technology of hydrogen sulfide,

将这一硫化氢的技术，

which is this start-up company that's burning venture capital very quickly,

——这一技术耗资甚巨，因此这个初创公司的风险投资用得很快——

and they fused it with another company

他们将其与另一家公司的技术融合

that sells another toxic gas

那家公司销售另一种有毒气体

that's more toxic than hydrogen sulfide,

比硫化氢的毒性还大得多，

and they give it to newborn babies who would otherwise die

他们用它治疗某些新生婴儿，这些婴儿本来

from a failure to be able to oxygenate their tissues properly.

无法让器官正常吸收氧气，有夭折的危险。

And this gas that is delivered in over

这种气体，现在在

a thousand critical care hospitals worldwide,

全世界1000多家危重病医院都有使用，

now is approved, on label,

已经获得批准，

and saves thousands of babies a year

每年能拯救数千名婴儿

from certain death.

免于死亡。

(Applause)

（掌声。 ）

So it's really incredible

因此，这真是令人难以置信

for me to be a part of this.

我竟然也能参与到这样的工作中。

And I want to say that I think we're on the path

我想说，我认为我们正在

of understanding metabolic flexibility

逐步从根本上了解

in a fundamental way,

代谢的灵活性，

and that in the not too distant future,

而且在不太遥远的将来，

an EMT might give an injection of hydrogen sulfide,

内科急救专家可能会

or some related compound,

给遭受严重伤害的病人注射硫化氢

to a person suffering severe injuries,

或一些相关的化合物，

and that person might de-animate a bit,

这样的病人可能会降低活性，

they might become a little more immortal.

但却能因此而保留生命。

Their metabolism will fall

他们的新陈代谢将下降

as though you were dimming a switch on a lamp at home.

就像你把家里的灯拧暗一些。

And then, they will have the time, that will buy them the time,

这样，他们就会赢得时间，

to be transported to the hospital

可以被送到医院

to get the care they need.

在那里获得所需的照顾。

And then, after they get that care --

然后，在得到相应的医疗之后，

like the mouse, like the skier,

像像实验中的老鼠，或是那个像滑雪，

like the 65-year-old woman --

或是像那位65岁的妇女那样，

they'll wake up.

他们会醒来。

A miracle?

奇迹？

We hope not, or maybe we just hope

我们希望不是奇迹，也许我们只是希望

to make miracles a little more common.

让这样的奇迹变得更普通。

Thank you very much.

非常感谢。

(Applause)

（掌声。 ）