Jonathan Drori: Every pollen grain has a story

翻译人员: John Mo 校对人员: Amy Zerotus

Thank you. I have two missions here today.

谢谢。今天在这我有两项任务。

The first is to tell you something about pollen, I hope,

第一，我像告诉你一些关于花粉的知识

and to convince you that it's more than just something that gets up your nose.

让你相信它们不仅仅是让你打喷嚏的小东西。

And, secondly, to convince you

第二，让你们相信

that every home really ought to have a scanning electron microscope.

每一户家庭都应该有一台电子扫描显微镜。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Pollen is a flower's way of making more flowers.

花粉是花朵繁殖的一种方法。

It carries male sex cells

它把雄性细胞

from one flower to another.

从一朵花传到另一朵。

This gives us genetic diversity,

这就形成了基因的多样性，

or at least it gives the plants genetic diversity.

或者至少是植物基因的多样性。

And it's really rather better not to mate with yourself.

花粉最好不要与同株交配。

That's probably true of humans as well, mostly.

对人来说也是如此。

Pollen is produced by the anthers of flowers.

花粉产生于花朵的花粉囊。

Each anther can carry up to 100,000 grains of pollen,

每一个花粉囊中花粉多达10万粒。

so, it's quite prolific stuff.

相当多产。

And it isn't just bright flowers

不光是鲜亮的花朵有花粉；

that have pollen; it's also trees and grasses.

树和草也有。

And remember that all our cereal crops are grasses as well.

记住所有的谷类作物也是草。

Here is a scanning electron micrograph of a grain of pollen.

这是一张花粉的电子扫描显微照片。

The little hole in the middle, we'll come to a bit later,

中间那个小洞，我们待会再讲。

but that's for the pollen tube

那是花粉管日后长出来的地方

to come out later on. A very tiny tube.

非常细的小管。

So, that's 20 micrometers across,

直径是20微米，

that pollen grain there.

那粒花粉。

That's about a 50th of a millimeter.

大约就是50分之一毫米。

But not all pollen is quite so simple looking.

但并不是所有的花粉都看上去如此简单。

This is Morina. This is a plant --

这是Morina。

which I've always thought to be rather tedious --

我总是认为相当单调，

named after Morin,

这种植物以Morin命名，

who was an enterprising French gardener,

Morin是一名很有事业心的法国园艺师，

who issued the first seed catalog

事实上他是第一个出版种子目录的人，

in 1621.

在1621年。

But anyway, take a look at its pollen.

让我们看一看它的花粉。

This is amazing, I think.

我认为这很神奇。

That little hole in the middle there is for the pollen tube,

中间那个小洞是长出花粉管的地方。

and when the pollen finds its special female spot

当花粉在另一朵Morina花上

in another Morina flower,

找到雌花柱头时，

just on the right species, what happens?

当然是在同种花上，会发生什么？

Like I said, pollen carries the male sex cells.

我说过的，花粉携带着雄性细胞。

If you actually didn't realize that plants have sex,

如果你没有意识到过植物有性交，

they have rampant, promiscuous

但事实上它们杂交，乱交

and really quite interesting and curious sex. Really.

还有各种各样新奇有趣的性交方式，真的。

(Laughter) A lot.

（笑声）

My story is actually not about plant propagation,

我要讲的不是关于植物的繁殖，

but about pollen itself.

而是花粉本身。

"So, what are pollen's properties?" I hear you ask.

那么，花粉有什么用呢？我听见你们问。

First of all, pollen is tiny. Yes we know that.

首先，花粉很小。这我们知道。

It's also very biologically active,

而且它生物性很活跃，

as anyone with hay fever will understand.

得过花粉热的人会有体会。

Now, pollen from plants, which are wind-dispersed --

被风一吹，

like trees and grasses and so on --

从树和草上散落的花粉，

tend to cause the most hay fever.

会导致花粉热。

And the reason for that is they've got to chuck out

原因是，植物不得不散播

masses and masses of pollen to have any chance

大量的花粉以使之有机会

of the pollen reaching another plant of the same species.

到达另外一株同种植物上。

Here are some examples --

这有一些例子。

they're very smooth if you look at them --

如果你看一看这几张树的花粉的照片，

of tree pollen that is meant to be carried by the wind.

它们很光滑。这样有利于被风吹走。

Again -- this time, sycamore -- wind-dispersed.

无花果树，靠风传播。

So, trees: very boring flowers,

树，有很无趣的花，

not really trying to attract insects.

不是来吸引昆虫的。

Cool pollen, though.

但是花粉很独特。

This one I particularly like.

这张我特别喜欢。

This is the Monterey Pine, which has little air sacks

这是蒙特雷松树的花粉，有很小的气囊，

to make the pollen carry even further.

来帮助花粉传播的更远。

Remember, that thing is just about 30 micrometers across.

记住，这些东西直径都大约只有30微米。

Now, it's much more efficient if you can get insects to do your bidding.

如果能让昆虫来传播将会更有效。

This is a bee's leg

这是一支蜜蜂的腿。

with the pollen glommed onto it from a mallow plant.

上面沾满了一种锦葵属植物的花粉。

And this is the outrageous and beautiful

这种非同寻常的漂亮的花

flower of the mangrove palm.

来自红树棕榈.

Very showy, to attract lots of insects to do its bidding.

很艳丽，以此来吸引昆虫传粉。

The pollen has little barbs on it,

花粉上有些小倒钩。

if we look.

如果我们看一下。

Now, those little barbs

这些小倒钩

obviously stick to the insects well,

能牢牢粘住昆虫，

but there is something else that we can tell from this photograph,

但是从这张图我们还能判断出其他东西，

and that is that you might be able to see a fracture line

你可能看到一条裂缝

across what would be the equator of this, if it was the Earth.

如果这是地球这条裂缝就穿过赤道。

That tells me that it's actually been fossilized, this pollen.

这告诉我们这粒花粉已经成为化石了。

And I'm rather proud to say

我很自豪的说

that this was found just near London, and that 55 million years ago

这是在伦敦附近找到的，5500万年前

London was full of mangroves.

伦敦到处都是红树林。

Isn't that cool?

这难道不很酷吗？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Okay, so this is another species evolved to be dispersed by insects.

好了，这是另一种由昆虫传粉的植物。

You can tell that from the little barbs on there.

我们可以从这些小倒钩上判断出这一点。

All these pictures were taken with a scanning electron microscope,

所有这些图片都是用电子扫描显微镜拍摄的

actually in the lab at Kew Laboratories.

事实上是在Kew实验室中拍的。

No coincidence that these were taken

当然这些都是由罗布 凯斯勒拍摄的

by Rob Kesseler, who is an artist,

他是一名艺术家。

and I think it's someone with a design and artistic eye

我认为这不是巧合，一位像他那样带着目的和艺术的眼光来拍摄

like him that has managed to bring out the best in pollen.

已经把花粉最美的东西表现出来了。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Now, all this diversity

所有这些多样性，

means that you can look at a pollen grain

意味着你可以看着一粒花粉

and tell what species it came from,

然后说出它来自哪种植物。

and that's actually quite handy if you

如果你有标本并想知道花粉出自何种植物

maybe have a sample and you want to see where it came from.

这会非常简单。

So, different species of plants

不同种类的植物

grow in different places,

在不同的地区生长。

and some pollen carries further than others.

一些花粉比其它的传播的更远。

So, if you have a pollen sample,

因此，如果你有一份花粉标本

then in principle, you should be able to tell

这样，原则上来说，你就应该能够判断出

where that sample came from.

那个样本出自哪里。

And this is where it gets interesting for forensics.

这便是法医学的有趣之处。

Pollen is tiny. It gets on to things, and it sticks to them.

花粉很小。它接近物体，然后粘附在上面。

So, not only does each type of pollen look different,

不仅仅每一种花粉看上去不同，

but each habitat has a different combination of plants.

每一种环境都有不同的植物，

A different pollen signature, if you like,

不同的花粉特征，

or a different pollen fingerprint.

你也可以说不同的花粉指纹。

By looking at the proportions and combinations

通过看标本中

of different kinds of pollen in a sample,

各种花粉的比例和组合，

you can tell very precisely where it came from.

你可以准确地判断出它来自哪里。

This is some pollen embedded in a cotton shirt,

这是附在棉衬衫上的花粉，

similar to the one that I'm wearing now.

这种衬衫跟我现在穿的相似。

Now, much of the pollen will still be there

很多花粉依然会留在那

after repeated washings.

经过几次洗涤之后。

Where has it been?

它到过哪里？

Four very different habitats might look similar,

四种不同的环境可能看起来相似

but they've got very different pollen signatures.

但是它们却有不同的花粉信号。

Actually this one is particularly easy, these pictures were all taken

事实上这很简单。这些照片都是

in different countries.

在不同国家拍摄的。

But pollen forensics can be very subtle.

但是花粉鉴定之术可以非常精确。

It's being used now to track

它被用来追踪

where counterfeit drugs have been made,

假药在哪里制造的，

where banknotes have come from,

钞票从哪来的，

to look at the provenance of antiques

察看古董的出处

and see that they really did come from the place

认定它们确实是来自

the seller said they did.

卖方说的地方。

And murder suspects have been tracked

特别是在英国

using their clothing,

通过谋杀犯的衣物来追踪他们，

certainly in the U.K., to within an area

可以缩小到一个很小的范围

that's small enough that you can send in tracker dogs

然后你可以让警犬来

to find the murder victim.

找到受害人。

So, you can tell from a piece of clothing

你可以辨认一件衣服

to within about a kilometer or so,

在大约一千米之内

where that piece of clothing has been recently

这件衣服最近到过的地方

and then send in dogs.

然后放出狗。

And finally, in a rather grizzly way,

最后还有一种很不爽的方法，

the Bosnia war crimes;

花粉鉴定应用到了波斯尼亚战争犯身上。

some of the people brought to trial were brought to trial

一些罪犯被绳之以法

because of the evidence from pollen,

应归功于花粉，

which showed that bodies had been buried,

这些花粉表明尸体被掩埋过，

exhumed and then reburied somewhere else.

又挖出来，然后再埋在其他地方。

I hope I've opened your eyes,

我希望我让你们开阔了眼界，

if you'll excuse the visual pun, (Laughter)

如果你能原谅一些花粉的秘密

to some of pollen's secrets.

在视觉上的双关性，

This is a horse chestnut.

顺便说一句，这是七叶树。

There is an invisible beauty all around us,

在我们周围有看不见的美，

each grain with a story to tell ...

每一粒花粉都有一个故事，

each of us, in fact, with a story to tell

事实上，我们每一个人也都有故事，

from the pollen fingerprint that's upon us.

基于在我们身上的花粉指纹。

Thank you to the colleagues at Kew,

感谢Kew研究中心的同事。

and thank you to palynologists everywhere.

也感谢各地的花粉研究专家。

(Applause)

（掌声）