The Deep Sea's Medicinal Secrets | Sam Afoullouss | TED

翻译人员: Yang Yang 校对人员: Lexi Ding

Who here, a year or two ago, thought that they'd be living

一两年前，这里有谁认为自己

through a global pandemic?

会经历一场全球疫情？

A new virus that spread across the world

一种在世界范围内传播的新病毒

and killed millions.

杀死了数百万人。

One of the scariest things about this virus

新冠病毒最可怕的

is that when it broke out

就是在它爆发的时候，

we had next to no cures or treatments to fight against COVID-19.

我们几乎没有治疗方法能应对。

But viruses, new and old, aren't our only worries.

但病毒，不管新旧， 并不是我们唯一的担忧。

From infectious bacteria that have become immune to our antibiotics

从免疫抗生素的传染性细菌

to increased rates of cancers,

到癌症发病率的增加，

humanity is struggling to find solutions to our ever-evolving medical needs.

人类正在努力寻找解决办法， 来应对我们不断变化的医疗需求。

To find our medicines of the future, we’re turning to Mother Nature for help.

为了找到未来可用的药物， 我们正在向大自然寻求帮助。

My name is Sam Afoullouss, and I’m an underwater alchemist.

我的名字是山姆·阿弗罗斯， 我是一名水下炼金术士。

But instead of turning led to gold,

但不是将铅变成金

I'm turning Ireland's hidden treasure,

我在将爱尔兰隐藏的宝藏，

deep-sea coral reefs,

深海珊瑚礁，

into our medicines of the future.

变成我们未来可用的药物。

For thousands of years,

上千年来，

we have turned to natural remedies

我们已经转向自然疗法

made from the plants and animals that surround us

用我们周围的植物和动物

to cure us of our ailments.

来治愈疾病。

Put your hand up if, when you have a cold or a cough,

如果你在感冒或咳嗽时，

you use natural treatments like honey or ginger to help relieve your symptoms.

使用过蜂蜜或生姜等自然疗法 来帮助缓解症状，请举手。

Hot whiskeys?

或者用过热威士忌？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

The reason why these natural remedies work

这些自然疗法起作用的原因

is they rely on molecules called specialized metabolites

依赖于那些被称为特殊代谢物的分子

that are mainly produced by organisms that can’t move,

这些分子主要出产于 那些不能移动的生物体，

like plants and mushrooms,

像植物和蘑菇，

to defend themselves from diseases and predators.

用于保护自己免受 疾病和掠食者的侵害。

Over the past 200 years,

在过去的 200 年里，

scientists have traveled to the four corners of our world

科学家已经走遍了 我们世界的各个角落

in search of organisms that may contain these medicinal molecules.

寻找可能含有这些药用分子的生物。

This fundamental research has resulted in over half our medicines today

得益于这项基础研究， 如今有一半的药物

being derived and inspired by natural sources.

都衍生于自然资源或受其启发。

Although these scientists scoured the surface of our planet

尽管这些科学家搜寻了 我们星球的表面，

for organisms with these potential medicines,

去寻找具有这些潜在药物的生物体，

there was one area that remained underexplored --

有一个领域仍未得到充分探索——

and it just so happened to be the biggest part.

它恰好是最大的部分。

The oceans.

海洋。

Our oceans cover over three quarters of the Earth's surface

海洋覆盖了地球表面的四分之三以上

and contain the most biodiverse ecosystems on our planet.

并包含我们星球上 最具生物多样性的生态系统。

In Ireland, we own eight times more ocean than we do land,

爱尔兰的海洋面积 是陆地面积的八倍，

and it's filled with forms of life that seem alien to us.

它充满了对我们来说 似乎陌生的生命形式。

All of these creatures you see here,

你现在看到的所有这些生物，

I photographed in Irish waters along the Connemara coastline,

是我在康尼马拉（Connemara） 海岸线沿岸的爱尔兰水域拍摄的。

and you can discover them for yourselves if you visit rock pools

如果你去参观岩石池， 或在海带森林中浮潜的话，

or snorkel through the kelp forests.

也可以自己亲眼去看看它们。

When Jacques Cousteau invented scuba diving in the 1940s,

雅克·库斯托（Jacques Cousteau） 在20世纪40年代发明了水肺潜水，

this provided scientists with the tools

为科学家提供了

required to explore these diverse ecosystems.

探索这些多样化生态系统的工具。

Now they could spend hours underwater,

现在他们可以在水下呆上几个小时，

uncovering hundreds of new species

发现数百个新物种。

from colorful corals to spectacular sponges

从五颜六色的珊瑚到壮观的海绵

of all shapes and sizes.

各种形状和大小。

When chemists got their hands on these samples

当化学家拿到这些样品，

and started analyzing the molecules that these animals made,

并开始分析这些动物制造的分子时，

they were amazed.

他们惊讶不已。

New molecules,

新分子，

many of which chemists thought would be impossible to form.

其中许多化学家认为不可能形成。

But then Mother Nature had something to say.

但自然母亲可不这样认为。

When they tested the potential of turning these new molecules into medicines,

当他们测试将这些新分子 转化为药物的潜力时，

they found that many of these new molecules

他们发现许多新分子

could kill the most potent of drug-resistant bacteria,

可以杀死耐药性最强的细菌，

destroy the most virulent of cancers

消灭最致命的癌症，

and even be used to treat pain.

甚至可以用来治疗疼痛。

There are 17 medicines today in your local pharmacies and hospitals

现在你们当地的药店 和医院里有17种药物

that are derived from marine sources.

源于海洋资源。

One of these medicines, in particular, ziconotide,

其中一种药物，齐考诺肽，

was isolated from the Conus magus,

是从僧袍芋螺中分离出来的，

also known as the magical cone snail.

它也被称为神奇的锥形海螺。

What's magic about this sea snail

这种海螺的神奇之处

isn't just its beautiful shell and pattern,

不仅在于它美丽的外壳和图案，

but one of the natural molecules it produces

还在于它产生的一种天然分子，

is such an effective painkiller

是非常有效的止痛药，

that it’s 1,000 times stronger than morphine.

比吗啡效果强1000倍。

And you’re probably asking yourself:

你可能会问自己：

Why would a sea snail produce something

为什么海螺会产出

that’s 1,000 times stronger than morphine?

比吗啡效果强1000倍的东西？

Is that why they're slow?

这就是它们行动缓慢的原因吗？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And the answer?

答案是，

Ingenious evolution.

巧夺天工的生物进化。

See, these sea snails hunt fish,

这些海螺捕食鱼，

and they don't have the speed to chase down their prey

但它们没有追捕猎物的速度，

like a lion hunts a gazelle.

不能像狮子猎杀羚羊那样。

So instead, they harpoon their prey

所以它们改用叉子攻击猎物，

injecting it with a potent mixture of neurotoxins

向猎物注射强效的神经毒素混合物，

like ziconotide, that paralyze the fish instantly.

如齐考诺肽，可以立即使鱼麻痹。

It's ziconotide's ability to target the nervous system of vertebrates like us

就是这种麻痹脊椎动物的 神经系统的能力，

that makes it such an effective painkiller.

使齐考诺肽成为一种有效的止痛药。

And while scuba diving was a revolutionary leap forward,

虽然水肺潜水是一次革命性的飞跃，

allowing scientists to study our coastal marine ecosystems,

科学家们得以研究. 我们的海岸海洋生态系统，

our oceans extend far past our shores to unimaginable depths.

海洋远不止海岸那么点儿， 它延伸到了难以想象的深度。

We can only dive so deep

我们只能下潜到

before the physical pressure pressing down causes lethal effects.

下压的物理压力对我们 造成致命影响之前那么深。

This left the vast majority of our oceans underexplored.

这导致绝大多数的海洋 都没有得到充分开发。

More people have been to space

去过海洋最深处的人，

than have been to our oceans' deepest depths.

还没去过太空的人多。

To find our medicines of the future,

为了找到未来可用的药物，

we went to explore these depths on the research vessel

我们登上了研究船去探索海洋深处。

The Celtic Explorer,

“凯尔特探险家”号

and sailed south from Irish shores

从爱尔兰海岸向南航行，

to some of the largest geographical features that scar our planet.

到一些让地球看起来 伤痕累累的大型地理景观。

Submarine canyon systems like Whittard Canyon,

像惠塔（Whittard）峡谷 这样的海底峡谷系统，

where the sea floor drops from 300 meters to 3,000 meters.

海床从300米下降到3000米。

And it's here in some of the most extreme environmental conditions in the world

在这样的全球最极端的环境条件下，

that deep-sea coral reefs flourish.

深海珊瑚礁蓬勃生长。

Conditions at these depths are so extreme

这些深度的条件是如此极端，

we have to use a state of the art robotic submarine

我们必须使用最先进的 机器潜艇来收集样本，

the size of a minibus to collect our samples.

它有一辆小巴的大小。

And when I say extreme conditions, I really mean extreme.

当我说极端条件时， 条件是真的极端。

Unlike the coral reefs that the cone snails inhabit,

与锥螺栖息的珊瑚礁不同，

instead of the water being warm and tropical,

这里的水并不温暖湿热，

it's the same temperature as your fridge.

而是像你家的冰箱一样寒冷。

Instead of it being bright, clear and sunny,

没有明亮、清澈和阳光明媚，

it's pitch black and has never seen the light of day,

取而代之的是幽暗漆黑， 永不见天日，

permanently bathed in eternal darkness.

永恒地沐浴在无垠的黑暗中。

And instead of being able to swim around freely,

在这里没有办法自由地游泳，

if you were to dive to these depths,

如果你要下潜到这样的深度，

you would be crushed in seconds with the sheer pressure,

你会在几秒钟内被巨大的压力压垮，

equating to the weight of 20 elephants standing on your head.

相当于20头大象的重量 压在你头上。

Even with these harsh conditions,

即使在如此恶劣的条件下，

deep-sea coral reefs are among the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world,

深海珊瑚礁仍是世界上 生物多样性最丰富的生态系统之一，

rivaling that of the Great Barrier Reef and the Amazonian rainforest.

可与大堡礁和亚马逊雨林相媲美。

In this one picture alone,

仅在这一张照片中，

there are hundreds of unique species,

就有数百种独特的物种，

from starfish to sea fans, cup corals to crinoids,

从海星到海扇， 从杯状珊瑚到海百合，

all of which have adapted over millions of years

所有这些都已经适应了数百万年，

to thrive in this unforgiving environment.

在这残酷的环境中茁壮成长。

Many of these animals are new to science

在这其中的许多动物 对科学来说是新奇的，

and remain in the final frontier in studying life on our planet.

仍旧在研究我们星球生命的最前沿。

Some of these animals are so alien, like deep sea jellyfish,

其中一些动物是如此奇异， 比如深海水母，

that they even inspired the creatures in James Cameron's "Avatar"

在“阿凡达”的导演詹姆斯·卡梅隆 探索了深海之后。

after the director explored the deep sea.

这些生物甚至激发了他的创作灵感。

This abundance of biodiversity creates competition,

这种丰富的生物多样性创造了竞争，

especially between the filter-feeding animals to fight for space,

尤其是滤食动物之间为了争夺空间，

to grow as far out into the water currents as possible

都尽可能长到水流中

to catch as much food as possible.

捕获尽可能多的食物。

For millions of years,

数百万年来，

this battle for space and food has raged on in the darkness,

这场争夺空间和食物的战争 在黑暗中肆虐，

resulting in some of the most beautiful biological creations

造就了些许美丽至极的生物创造

our world is yet to see.

有待这个世界去发现。

And this is an example of some of that beauty.

这是那些美丽创造中的一个例子。

A two-meter-wide trumpet sponge we found at a depth of 1.5 kilometers.

我们在 1.5 公里深处 发现了一块 2 米宽的喇叭海绵。

This species of sponge has evolved to grow

这种海绵已经进化到可以生长出

an intricate skeleton of interwoven glass fibers

错综复杂的玻璃纤维骨架

that stretch out into the current.

延伸到水流中。

But this beauty comes with a dark side.

但这种美丽也有阴暗面。

It turns out the battle for these sponges and corals to survive and thrive

事实证明，这些海绵 和珊瑚的生存和繁衍

is a battle that relies on chemical warfare.

是一场依靠化学武器的战斗。

My aim is to isolate these chemical weapons,

我的目标是隔离这些化学武器，

which we can then utilize in our own fight

然后我们能在自己的战斗中使用它们

against microbes and cancers.

对抗微生物和癌症。

If you look closely at this sponge, there are these tiny yellow dots.

如果你仔细观察这块海绵， 就会发现这些小黄点。

Each of those yellow dots is a coral-like animal growing on the sponge,

每一个黄点都是一只 长在海绵上的珊瑚状动物，

using it as a scaffold to feed in the currents.

把海绵当成脚手架 从水流中获取食物。

This can negatively affect the sponge.

这会对海绵产生负面影响。

So in a response, the sponge and its microbiome

作为反击，海绵及其微生物组

produce toxic compounds to kill the corals.

产生有毒化合物杀死珊瑚。

And in a response to that,

作为对此的反击，

the corals produce their own toxic compounds to kill the sponge.

珊瑚也会产生有毒化合物杀死海绵。

It's these compounds we aim to develop into new anti-cancer therapies

我们的目标就是将这些化合物 开发成新的抗癌疗法

and future antibiotics.

和未来可用的抗生素。

But these reefs contain thousands of species,

但这些珊瑚礁包含数千种物种，

and each species may contain thousands of molecules,

每个物种可能包含数千个分子，

so you might imagine that finding the one that could be a cure for a type of cancer

所以你可以想象，要找到一种 可以治愈某种癌症的药物

or might stop the next pandemic

或用于阻止下一场大流行病的药物

would be like the proverbial finding a needle in a haystack.

无异于大海捞针。

In the dark.

而且还是在黑暗中。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But the same way that we soak berries and spices in alcohol to make gin,

但就像我们将浆果和香料 浸泡在酒精中制成杜松子酒一样，

we soak our corals and sponges in alcohol to make coral and sponge gin,

我们将珊瑚和海绵浸泡在酒精中， 制成珊瑚和海绵杜松子酒，

which we call extract.

我们称之为提取物。

We then feed this extract to different diseases --

然后我们将这种提取物 喂给不同的疾病——

cancers, malaria, viruses,

癌症、疟疾、病毒、

even brain-eating amoebas -- and we wait.

甚至吃大脑的变形虫—— 然后我们等着。

Most of the time, nothing happens.

大多数时候，什么都没有发生。

But every once in a while,

但每隔一段时间，

one of these extracts manages to kill a disease,

其中一种提取物 会成功杀死一种疾病，

letting us know it contains a natural molecule

我们就知道它含有一种

with the potential to be turned into a medicine.

有可能变成药物的天然分子。

We then isolate these molecules

然后我们分离出这些分子，

and test them against the disease again

并再次用病毒进行测试，

until we find the one,

直到我们找到对的那个，

the one molecule that has resulted from millions of years of evolution

那个花费数百万年时间， 在海洋的黑暗深处

in our oceans' dark depths

进化出的一种分子，

that we can now use in our own wars against cancers,

我们现在能够将其用在癌症治疗、

bacteria and viruses.

细菌和病毒防治当中。

But once we find these medicines,

但是一旦我们找到这些药物，

we can't just rip these animals from the reef as our source.

我们不能直接把这些动物 从珊瑚礁上撕下来使用。

That would destroy the very vital biodiversity

这将破坏非常重要的生物多样性，

and resulting competition that created these molecules in the first place.

以及生物间的竞争， 那可是这些分子的来源。

We don't need to come up with a complex mechanism

我们没必要想出一个复杂的机制，

for manufacturing them in a lab.

以便于在实验室制造它们。

Some of these molecules are so complex we couldn't even if we tried.

其中一些分子非常复杂， 即使我们尝试过也无法做到。

But Mother Nature has done the hard work for us.

但自然母亲替我们 完成了艰难的工作。

Hidden in the DNA of these animals and their associated microbes

隐藏在这些动物及其 相关微生物的 DNA 中的

are the genes which carry the biological recipes

是携带用以生产这些分子的

for producing these molecules.

生物序列信息的基因。

Using cutting-edge techniques,

使用尖端技术，

we can take these genes and insert them into microbes like yeast,

我们可以将这些基因 插入酵母等微生物中，

allowing us to grow them in a bioreactor,

在生物反应器中培养它们，

getting the microbes to do the hard work for us,

让微生物替我们做这些艰难的工作，

producing our medicines in a sustainable, cost-effective way

可持续、高性价比地生产药物，

without the need for harsh chemicals,

而无需刺激性化学品，

such as heavy metals,

比如重金属，

that can be required in more traditional manufacturing processes.

在传统制造过程中需要使用到。

Our research isn't just to help protect the health of humanity,

我们的研究不仅是为了帮助 保护人类的健康，

but also to protect the health of these hidden reefs.

还要保护这些隐藏的 珊瑚礁的健康。

Deep-sea reefs wrap around our entire planet,

深海珊瑚礁环绕着整个地球，

and already over half the reefs that exist

而已经有超过一半的珊瑚礁

have been destroyed,

被摧毁了，

turned to lifeless rubble by trawling and longline fishing.

它们被拖网和延绳钓 变成了毫无生气的尘砾。

With new threats on the horizon, like deep-sea mining,

随着新威胁的出现， 比如说深海采矿，

they're in more danger now than ever before.

它们现在比以往更加危险。

By proving that their unique biodiversity

通过证明它们独特的生物多样性，

can be a natural resource for providing us with new medicines,

可以作为为我们 提供新药的自然资源，

not only does this give a public health incentive to protect these reefs,

这不仅为保护这些珊瑚礁 提供了公共卫生刺激，

but a financial one also.

也提供了经济刺激。

Like how safari tours provide the economic incentive

就像狩猎之旅为保护 热带稀树草原生态系统

to conserve savanna ecosystems,

提供经济刺激一样。

potential profits from pharmaceutical sales

药品销售的潜在利润

could provide the financial sustainability to explore and protect these reefs.

可以为探索和保护这些珊瑚礁 提供经济可持续性。

We need new medicines today more than ever before,

我们今天比以往任何时候 都更需要新药，

and the incredible biodiversity that deep-sea reefs offer

而深海珊瑚礁提供的 令人难以置信的生物多样性

have created a fantastic library of natural molecules,

创造了一个奇妙的天然分子库，

which we can develop into our future medicines.

我们可以在未来开发成药物。

Already, our research group has found potential medicines against asthma,

我们的研究小组 已经发现了治疗哮喘、

malaria and even COVID-19,

疟疾甚至新冠病毒的潜在药物，

showing the unbelievable potential of these reefs.

这显示出了这些珊瑚礁的惊人潜力。

To protect our own health

为了保护我们自身的健康，

we need to protect the health of deep-sea coral reefs.

我们需要保护深海珊瑚礁的健康。

Our future pharmacies

我们未来的药店

are hidden in our seas.

隐藏在海洋之中。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）