Edith Widder: Glowing life in an underwater world

88,300 views ・ 2010-04-19

TED


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譯者: Tzu-Tung Chen 陳姿彤 審譯者: Adrienne Lin
00:15
In the spirit of Jacques Cousteau, who said,
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本著 Jacques Cousteau 的精神:
00:18
"People protect what they love,"
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「人會捍衛其所愛。」
00:20
I want to share with you today what I love most in the ocean,
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我今天想要跟你們分享,海洋中我的最愛,
00:23
and that's the incredible number and variety
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那就是這些多到不可思議
00:26
of animals in it that make light.
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讓海洋閃閃發光的生物
00:29
My addiction began with this strange looking diving suit called Wasp;
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一開始我是被這看起來很奇特的 WASP(黃蜂)潛水裝所吸引
00:32
that's not an acronym -- just somebody thought it looked like the insect.
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這不是什麼字母的縮寫,只是有人覺得看起來像一種昆蟲
00:35
It was actually developed for use by the offshore oil industry
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其實它本來是設計給近海石油工業使用的
00:38
for diving on oil rigs down to a depth of 2,000 feet.
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可以潛到 2,000 呎深的鑽油平台
00:41
Right after I completed my Ph.D.,
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在我拿到博士學位以後
00:43
I was lucky enough to be included with a group of scientists
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非常幸運的加入了一群科學家的行列
00:46
that was using it for the first time
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那是我第一次使用它
00:48
as a tool for ocean exploration.
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來做海洋探險的工具
00:50
We trained in a tank in Port Hueneme,
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我們在休尼米港(美國海軍設施用地)受訓,
00:52
and then my first open ocean dive
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然後我第一次的海潛
00:54
was in Santa Barbara Channel.
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是在聖塔芭芭拉海峽
00:56
It was an evening dive.
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那是一次的夜潛
00:58
I went down to a depth of 880 feet
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我下到 880 呎深的水中
01:01
and turned out the lights.
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關掉所有燈光
01:03
And the reason I turned out the lights is because I knew I would see
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我關燈的原因是因為我知道我會看到
01:05
this phenomenon of animals making light
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某種生物體發光的現象
01:07
called bioluminescence.
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科學上稱為「生物螢光」
01:09
But I was totally unprepared
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但我完全沒有預料到
01:11
for how much there was
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那數量之多
01:13
and how spectacular it was.
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而且十分壯觀
01:16
I saw chains of jellyfish called siphonophores
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我看到一連串稱為「管水母」的生物排成的水母鏈
01:19
that were longer than this room,
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比這個房間還長
01:21
pumping out so much light
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發出的光之多
01:23
that I could read the dials and gauges
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即使在潛水裝裡不開手電筒
01:25
inside the suit without a flashlight;
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我也看得到刻度跟儀表板的數字
01:27
and puffs and billows
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還有一陣陣大小翻騰
01:29
of what looked like luminous blue smoke;
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看起來像藍色螢光的煙霧
01:32
and explosions of sparks
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或是像從推進器渦旋而出
01:34
that would swirl up out of the thrusters --
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蹦開的火花
01:36
just like when you throw a log on a campfire and the embers swirl up off the campfire,
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就像你丟一塊木頭到營火裡,火花霹啪往上竄,
01:39
but these were icy, blue embers.
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只不過這些是冰冷的藍色火光
01:41
It was breathtaking.
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美到讓人窒息
01:43
Now, usually if people are familiar with bioluminescence at all,
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如果熟悉生物螢光的人就知道,
01:46
it's these guys; it's fireflies.
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其實就是這些傢伙,螢火蟲
01:48
And there are a few other land-dwellers that can make light --
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有一些其他陸居的生物也會發光
01:50
some insects, earthworms, fungi --
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像一些昆蟲,蚯蚓或真菌等等,
01:52
but in general, on land, it's really rare.
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一般來說,在陸地上並不常見
01:55
In the ocean, it's the rule
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但在海洋中,卻是生存法則,
01:57
rather than the exception.
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而不是特例
01:59
If I go out in the open ocean environment,
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如果我到一個開放的海域,
02:01
virtually anywhere in the world,
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實際上就是世界上任何地方,
02:03
and I drag a net from 3,000 feet to the surface,
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然後我拖著一個網子,從 3,000 呎深拖到海面,
02:06
most of the animals --
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我捕到的東西,
02:08
in fact, in many places, 80 to 90 percent
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事實上,在很多地方,
02:10
of the animals that I bring up in that net --
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有八到九成,
02:13
make light.
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都會發光
02:15
This makes for some pretty spectacular light shows.
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夜夜上演著美麗絢爛的燈光秀
02:17
Now I want to share with you a little video
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現在我要給你們看看一段
02:20
that I shot from a submersible.
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我在潛艇中拍的小影片
02:22
I first developed this technique working from a little
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我當初發展這個技術是從
02:24
single-person submersible called Deep Rover
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一個叫做「深海漫遊者」的小型單人潛艇開始
02:27
and then adapted it for use on the Johnson Sea-Link,
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然後改良成可以在「強生海連號」上用
02:29
which you see here.
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就是你們現在看到的這個
02:31
So, mounted in front of the observation sphere,
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所以登上觀測台以後
02:33
there's a a three-foot diameter hoop
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有一個直徑 3 呎的鐵環
02:36
with a screen stretched across it.
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這裡接著一個螢幕
02:38
And inside the sphere with me is an intensified camera
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然後在裡面就是我和強化攝影機
02:40
that's about as sensitive as a fully dark-adapted human eye,
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幾乎就跟適應了黑暗的肉眼一樣靈敏
02:43
albeit a little fuzzy.
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不過是有點模糊的
02:45
So you turn on the camera, turn out the lights.
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所以打開攝影機,關掉燈光,
02:47
That sparkle you're seeing is not luminescence,
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不過你們現在看到的火光不是生物螢光
02:49
that's just electronic noise
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只是在強化攝影機上的
02:51
on these super intensified cameras.
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一些電波雜訊
02:53
You don't see luminescence until the submersible
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要等到潛艇開始在水裡移動的時候
02:55
begins to move forward through the water,
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你們才會看到生物螢光
02:57
but as it does, animals bumping into the screen
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就是這樣,鏡頭螢幕碰到生物的時候
02:59
are stimulated to bioluminesce.
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生物會受到刺激發出生物螢光
03:01
Now, when I was first doing this,
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我剛開始試的時候
03:03
all I was trying to do was count the numbers of sources.
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我一直在計算發光體的數目
03:05
I knew my forward speed, I knew the area,
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我知道我前進的速度 也知道面積
03:07
and so I could figure out how many hundreds of sources
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所以我知道每平方公尺
03:09
there were per cubic meter.
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就有幾百種發光體
03:11
But I started to realize that I could actually identify animals
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之後發現我可以藉由牠們不同型態的閃光
03:13
by the type of flashes they produced.
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來辨別那些生物
03:15
And so, here, in the Gulf of Maine
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所以像這邊是緬因灣
03:18
at 740 feet,
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深度 740 呎
03:20
I can name pretty much everything you're seeing there to the species level.
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我幾乎可以叫出所有你們現在看到的生物,到「種」的層次
03:23
Like those big explosions, sparks,
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像這些大爆炸呀 火焰呀
03:25
are from a little comb jelly,
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是來自於小的櫛水母
03:27
and there's krill and other kinds of crustaceans,
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還有磷蝦 其他甲殼綱動物
03:30
and jellyfish.
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和水母等等
03:32
There was another one of those comb jellies.
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這也是櫛水母的一種
03:34
And so I've worked with computer image analysis engineers
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然後我跟電腦影像分析的工程師合作
03:37
to develop automatic recognition systems
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設計了一種自動辨識系統
03:40
that can identify these animals
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可以辨別出這些生物
03:42
and then extract the XYZ coordinate of the initial impact point.
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找出初始衝擊點的 X, Y, Z 座標
03:45
And we can then do the kinds of things that ecologists do on land,
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然後就可以跟生態學家在陸地上做的事一樣
03:48
and do nearest neighbor distances.
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計算最鄰近距離
03:51
But you don't always have to go down to the depths of the ocean
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但是你不需要到海底深處
03:53
to see a light show like this.
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才能欣賞這些燈光秀
03:55
You can actually see it in surface waters.
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其實直接從海面上就看得到
03:57
This is some shot, by Dr. Mike Latz at Scripps Institution,
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這是史奎普斯研究院的麥克萊玆博士拍的一段影片
04:00
of a dolphin swimming through bioluminescent plankton.
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海豚游過一群生物螢光浮游生物
04:02
And this isn't someplace exotic
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這裡也不像波多黎各灣
04:04
like one of the bioluminescent bays in Puerto Rico,
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有很多生物螢光
04:07
this was actually shot in San Diego Harbor.
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這個其實是在聖地牙哥海港拍的
04:09
And sometimes you can see it even closer than that,
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有時候你甚至可以更靠近點看
04:12
because the heads on ships --
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有些人可能不知道
04:14
that's toilets, for any land lovers that are listening --
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船頭其實就是廁所
04:17
are flushed with unfiltered seawater
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是用沒有未經過濾的海水沖的
04:20
that often has bioluminescent plankton in it.
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裡面有許多會發出生物螢光的浮游生物
04:22
So, if you stagger into the head late at night
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所以如果你狂歡到半夜
04:24
and you're so toilet-hugging sick
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突然覺得很尿急
04:26
that you forget to turn on the light,
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衝到廁所的時候忘了開燈
04:28
you may think that you're having a religious experience. (Laughter)
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你可能會以為你看到了神蹟
04:31
So, how does a living creature make light?
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那麼,生物是如何發光的呢?
04:33
Well, that was the question that 19th century
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這個問題在十九世紀的時候被提出
04:35
French physiologist Raphael Dubois,
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一個法國的生理學家 Raphael Dubois
04:37
asked about this bioluminescent clam.
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對生物螢光蚌有些疑問
04:39
He ground it up and he managed to get out a couple of chemicals;
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他把這些蛤磨碎,想從中得到一些化學物質
04:42
one, the enzyme, he called luciferase;
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有一種他稱作「螢光基因」的酵素
04:45
the substrate, he called luciferin
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還有其它基質,他稱做「螢光素」
04:47
after Lucifer the Lightbearer.
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取自 Lucifer (上帝製造的第一個天使) 意為光明的持有者
04:49
That terminology has stuck, but it doesn't actually refer to specific chemicals
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這些術語沿用至今 但因為這些化學物質種類眾多且形態各異
04:52
because these chemicals come in a lot of different shapes and forms.
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所以它們並不代表特定的化學物質
04:55
In fact, most of the people
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事實上
04:57
studying bioluminescence today
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大多數現在研究生物螢光的人
04:59
are focused on the chemistry, because these chemicals
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都把重點放在化學性質上
05:01
have proved so incredibly valuable
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因為這些化合物已被證實極具價值
05:03
for developing antibacterial agents,
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可以拿來生產抗生素
05:06
cancer fighting drugs,
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抗癌藥物
05:08
testing for the presence of life on Mars,
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測試火星上的生命跡象
05:10
detecting pollutants in our waters --
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偵測我們飲用水裡的污染物
05:12
which is how we use it at ORCA.
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也就是我們在 ORCA 裡用的
05:14
In 2008,
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2008年的
05:16
the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
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諾貝爾化學獎
05:18
was awarded for work done
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就頒給了
05:20
on a molecule called green fluorescent protein
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綠色螢光蛋白(GFP)的分子研究
05:22
that was isolated from the bioluminescent chemistry
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此種分子正是從水母的生物螢光物質中
05:25
of a jellyfish,
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分離出來的
05:27
and it's been equated to the invention of the microscope,
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以其在細胞生物
05:29
in terms of the impact that it has had
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和基因工程上的影響來說
05:32
on cell biology and genetic engineering.
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跟顯微鏡的發明有著同等的地位
05:35
Another thing all these molecules are telling us
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這些微小分子告訴我們的另一件事是
05:37
that, apparently, bioluminescence has evolved
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很顯然的,生物螢光在演化史上
05:40
at least 40 times, maybe as many as 50 separate times
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已經演化了至少 40 次
05:43
in evolutionary history,
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甚至 50 次之多
05:45
which is a clear indication
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這個特質很清楚的顯示
05:47
of how spectacularly important
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適者生存
05:50
this trait is for survival.
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在演化上的重要性
05:52
So, what is it about bioluminescence
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那麼,生物螢光對於這麼多生物來說
05:54
that's so important to so many animals?
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到底有多重要?
05:56
Well, for animals that are trying to avoid predators
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可以這樣說,生物要避免掠食者,
05:59
by staying in the darkness,
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可以隱身於黑暗之中,
06:02
light can still be very useful
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但光在三個基本需求上
06:04
for the three basic things that animals have to do to survive:
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是生存必備的法寶
06:07
and that's find food,
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也就是「覓食」、
06:09
attract a mate and avoid being eaten.
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「尋找伴侶」、以及「躲避掠食者」
06:11
So, for example, this fish
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舉例來說,這種魚
06:13
has a built-in headlight behind its eye
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的眼睛上方有個內建式的頭燈(發光器)
06:15
that it can use for finding food
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可以用來覓食
06:17
or attracting a mate.
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或是吸引異性
06:19
And then when it's not using it, it actually can roll it down into its head
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如果不用的時候,也可以捲進頭部,
06:22
just like the headlights on your Lamborghini.
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就像藍寶基尼跑車的車頭燈
06:25
This fish actually has high beams.
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再看這條魚,甚至還有遠燈
06:28
And this fish, which is one of my favorites,
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這隻,是我最愛的魚之一
06:30
has three headlights on each side of its head.
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在頭上三側各有三個頭燈的魚
06:33
Now, this one is blue,
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現在看到的這個燈是藍色的
06:35
and that's the color of most bioluminescence in the ocean
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也是生物螢光在海洋中最常見的顏色
06:37
because evolution has selected
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因為演化的過程中
06:39
for the color that travels farthest through seawater
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為了達到最有效的效率
06:41
in order to optimize communication.
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選擇了在海水中穿透能力最強的藍光
06:43
So, most animals make blue light,
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所以多數生物發出藍色光
06:45
and most animals can only see blue light,
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或是只能看見藍色光
06:48
but this fish is a really fascinating exception
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但這種魚實在是一個美麗的例外
06:50
because it has two red light organs.
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因為牠有兩個發紅光的器官
06:53
And I have no idea why there's two,
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我不知道為什麼要有兩個
06:55
and that's something I want to solve some day --
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希望有朝一日我能解答
06:57
but not only can it see blue light,
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所以牠不只能看到藍光
07:00
but it can see red light.
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也能看到紅光
07:02
So it uses its red bioluminescence like a sniper's scope
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牠的紅色生物螢光就像狙擊手的瞄準鏡
07:05
to be able to sneak up on animals
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讓牠能偷偷摸摸地接近
07:07
that are blind to red light
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那些看不見紅光的獵物
07:09
and be able to see them without being seen.
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就像隱形一樣
07:11
It's also got a little chin barbel here
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在下巴這裡也有一個
07:13
with a blue luminescent lure on it
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是用藍色螢光當成誘餌
07:15
that it can use to attract prey from a long way off.
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可以用來吸引比較遠的獵物
07:18
And a lot of animals will use their bioluminescence as a lure.
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很多生物都會把生物螢光當成誘餌
07:22
This is another one of my favorite fish.
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這是另一種我最愛的魚
07:24
This is a viperfish, and it's got a lure
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毒蛇魚
07:26
on the end of a long fishing rod
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在牠長長背鰭的尾端有個誘餌
07:28
that it arches in front of the toothy jaw
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在齒狀的下顎上拱起
07:30
that gives the viperfish its name.
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毒蛇魚因此得名
07:33
The teeth on this fish are so long
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這種魚的牙齒很長
07:35
that if they closed inside the mouth of the fish,
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長到如果牠們在魚的嘴巴裡合起來
07:37
it would actually impale its own brain.
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就會刺穿到自己的腦袋裡
07:40
So instead, it slides in grooves
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所以這些牙齒
07:42
on the outside of the head.
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是在頭部外面的齒槽上滑動
07:44
This is a Christmas tree of a fish;
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這是魚類中的聖誕樹
07:46
everything on this fish lights up,
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它身上的每個地方都是亮的
07:48
it's not just that lure.
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不只是發光的誘餌
07:50
It's got a built-in flashlight.
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還長了個手電筒
07:52
It's got these jewel-like light organs on its belly
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牠的腹部也閃耀著珠寶光芒
07:54
that it uses for a type of camouflage
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當成一種保護色
07:57
that obliterates its shadow,
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來把陰影消除
08:00
so when it's swimming around and there's a predator looking up from below,
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所以當牠游來游去,即使下面有個掠食者往上看時
08:03
it makes itself disappear.
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也看不見牠
08:05
It's got light organs in the mouth,
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在牠嘴巴裡也有發光器官
08:07
it's got light organs in every single scale, in the fins,
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大大小小的 像是鰭上
08:09
in a mucus layer on the back and the belly,
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背部的黏液層和腹部等等
08:11
all used for different things --
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都有不同功用
08:13
some of which we know about, some of which we don't.
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有我們所知,也有我們所不知的
08:15
And we know a little bit more about bioluminescence thanks to Pixar,
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多虧了皮克斯,我們對生物螢光多了一點熟悉感
08:18
and I'm very grateful to Pixar for sharing
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我非常感激皮克斯的分享
08:20
my favorite topic with so many people.
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讓更多人認識我最愛的主題
08:22
I do wish, with their budget,
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有這樣的預算之下
08:24
that they might have spent just a tiny bit more money
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我希望他們能多花一點錢
08:27
to pay a consulting fee to some poor, starving graduate student,
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去諮詢一些又窮又餓的研究生
08:30
who could have told them that those are the eyes
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這些學生能告訴他們 圖中魚的眼睛
08:32
of a fish that's been preserved in formalin.
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是保存在福馬林(防腐)裡的那種
08:35
These are the eyes of a living anglerfish.
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這才是活體鮟鱇魚的眼睛
08:37
So, she's got a lure that she sticks out
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上面有突起的誘餌
08:39
in front of this living mousetrap
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活像一個
08:41
of needle-sharp teeth
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佈滿針尖牙齒的捕鼠器
08:43
in order to attract in some unsuspecting prey.
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為了吸引一些意料之外的獵物
08:46
And this one has a lure
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這條魚的誘餌
08:48
with all kinds of little interesting threads coming off it.
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是從這裡面穿出來的針 很有趣
08:51
Now we used to think that the different shape of the lure
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我們通常會想 這些不同形式的誘餌
08:54
was to attract different types of prey,
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是用來吸引不同類型的獵物
08:56
but then stomach content analyses on these fish
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但是科學家 或是說他們的研究生
08:59
done by scientists, or more likely their graduate students,
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對這些魚的胃內容物進行分析
09:02
have revealed that
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卻發現了
09:04
they all eat pretty much the same thing.
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他們吃的東西幾乎大同小異
09:06
So, now we believe that the different shape of the lure
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所以我們相信在鮟鱇魚的世界裡
09:08
is how the male recognizes the female
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這些不同形式的誘餌
09:10
in the anglerfish world,
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是雄魚用來辨別雌魚的
09:12
because many of these males
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因為多數的雄魚
09:14
are what are known as dwarf males.
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是我們所知的矮雄魚
09:16
This little guy
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這些小傢伙
09:18
has no visible means of self-support.
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缺少展現自我的方式
09:21
He has no lure for attracting food
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沒有吸引食物的誘餌
09:23
and no teeth for eating it when it gets there.
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就算獵物到手了也沒有牙齒可以吃
09:25
His only hope for existence on this planet
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所以牠生存在這個星球上的唯一希望
09:28
is as a gigolo. (Laughter)
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就是吃軟飯
09:30
He's got to find himself a babe
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牠必須要找到一個伴
09:32
and then he's got to latch on for life.
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生命才得以延續
09:35
So this little guy
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所以這個小傢伙
09:37
has found himself this babe,
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為自己找了個伴侶
09:39
and you will note that he's had the good sense
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可以注意到 牠巧妙的黏上去就成了
09:41
to attach himself in a way that he doesn't actually have to look at her.
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不必真的看上眼
09:44
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
09:46
But he still knows a good thing when he sees it,
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但當他看著她的時候還是會知道
09:48
and so he seals the relationship with an eternal kiss.
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透過一個永恆之「吻」鞏固這段關係
09:51
His flesh fuses with her flesh,
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他們的血肉相連在一起
09:53
her bloodstream grows into his body,
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她的血液流進他的身體裡
09:55
and he becomes nothing more than a little sperm sac.
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他就成了一個小精囊
09:58
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
10:00
Well, this is a deep-sea version of Women's Lib.
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這是深海版本的女權解放運動
10:02
She always knows where he is,
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她掌握他的行蹤
10:04
and she doesn't have to be monogamous,
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而且也不需要遵守一妻一夫制
10:06
because some of these females
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因為有很多雄魚
10:08
come up with multiple males attached.
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會依附於一條雌魚上
10:10
So they can use it for finding food, for attracting mates.
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所以說利用生物螢光來覓食 吸引異性
10:13
They use it a lot for defense, many different ways.
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多數是用來防衛 很多種用途
10:16
A lot of them can release their luciferin or luferase in the water
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很多生物會釋放螢光素和螢光基因到水中
10:19
just the way a squid or an octopus will release an ink cloud.
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就像烏賊或章魚會釋放墨團一樣
10:21
This shrimp is actually
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這隻蝦子正從嘴裡
10:23
spewing light out of its mouth
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吐出光來
10:25
like a fire breathing dragon
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就像一隻噴火龍
10:27
in order to blind or distract this viperfish
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這麼一來毒蛇魚就看不見 或是注意力被分散了
10:29
so that the shrimp can swim away into the darkness.
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然後這隻蝦子再逃進漆黑中
10:31
And there are a lot of different animals that can do this:
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有很多生物都會這麼做
10:34
There's jellyfish, there's squid,
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像是水母還有烏賊
10:36
there's a whole lot of different crustaceans,
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及不同種類的甲殼綱動物
10:38
there's even fish that can do this.
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甚至有些魚也行
10:40
This fish is called the shining tubeshoulder
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這種魚叫做 閃亮的管肩魚
10:43
because it actually has a tube on its shoulder
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因為在牠肩上真的有一個管子
10:45
that can squirt out light.
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可以噴射出光
10:47
And I was luck enough to capture one of these
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當我們在進行拖網遠征的時候
10:49
when we were on a trawling expedition
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我很幸運的在非洲西北外海
10:51
off the northwest coast of Africa for "Blue Planet,"
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捕獲到一隻,是為了「藍色星球」節目
10:54
for the deep portion of "Blue Planet."
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的深海探險部份所做的
10:56
And we were using a special trawling net
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我們用一種特殊的拖網
10:58
that we were able to bring these animals up alive.
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使我們能活撈起來這些生物
11:00
So we captured one of these, and I brought it into the lab.
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我們捕獲了一隻,然後帶回實驗室
11:03
So I'm holding it,
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我抓著牠
11:05
and I'm about to touch that tube on its shoulder,
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打算要觸摸牠肩上的管子
11:07
and when I do, you'll see bioluminescence coming out.
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當我動手的時候,你們會看到噴射出來的生物螢光
11:11
But to me, what's shocking
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但是讓我震撼的
11:13
is not just the amount of light,
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不只是大量的生物螢光
11:15
but the fact that it's not just luciferin and luciferase.
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而是裡面不只有螢光素和螢光基因
11:17
For this fish, it's actually whole cells
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對這種魚來說
11:19
with nuclei and membranes.
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是有細胞核和細胞膜的完整細胞
11:21
It's energetically very costly for this fish to do this,
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要這麼做是非常耗費精力的
11:23
and we have no idea why it does it --
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而我們不明白牠為什麼要這麼做
11:26
another one of these great mysteries that needs to be solved.
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這是另一個等待釐清的謎團
11:31
Now, another form of defense
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還有
11:33
is something called a burglar alarm --
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有種稱為「防盜警報器」的防衛模式
11:35
same reason you have a burglar alarm on your car;
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就像你在車上裝防盜警報器是一樣的道理
11:37
the honking horn and flashing lights
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利用鳴響的喇叭和閃光燈
11:39
are meant to attract the attention of, hopefully,
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來引人注目
11:41
the police that will come and take the burglar away --
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希望警察會趕來然後把竊賊抓走
11:43
when an animal's caught in the clutches of a predator,
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當生物在掠食者的魔爪中時
11:45
its only hope for escape may be
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唯一能逃脫的希望
11:47
to attract the attention of something bigger and nastier
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就是去吸引更大或更恐怖的生物注意
11:49
that will attack their attacker,
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來攻擊襲擊自己的生物
11:51
thereby affording them a chance for escape.
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因而增加牠們逃脫的機會
11:54
This jellyfish, for example, has
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舉例來說
11:56
a spectacular bioluminescent display.
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水母能展現特別絢麗的生物螢光
11:58
This is us chasing it in the submersible.
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這是我們在潛艇中追逐著牠的畫面
12:00
That's not luminescence, that's reflected light from the gonads.
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你們看到的這不是生物螢光,是來自於生殖腺的反射光
12:03
We capture it in a very special device on the front of the submersible
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我們用潛艇前的一個特殊裝置中來捕捉牠
12:06
that allows us to bring it up in really pristine condition,
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這個特殊裝置能讓我們把牠原原本本的帶上來
12:09
bring it into the lab on the ship.
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帶到船上的實驗室中
12:11
And then to generate the display you're about to see,
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然後讓牠好好表現 你們將會看到
12:13
all I did was touch it once per second
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我用銳利的尖銳物品
12:15
on its nerve ring with a sharp pick
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像是魚銳利的牙齒一樣
12:17
that's sort of like the sharp tooth of a fish.
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每秒一次去觸碰牠的神經線
12:19
And once this display gets going, I'm not touching it anymore.
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一旦表演開始 我就不再動牠
12:22
This is an unbelievable light show.
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這簡直是一場不可置信的燈光秀
12:25
It's this pinwheel of light,
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像是光漩風車
12:27
and I've done calculations that show that this could be seen
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我曾計算過
12:29
from as much as 300 feet away by a predator.
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最遠在 300 呎以外的掠食者都可以看見這個燈光秀
12:32
And I thought, "You know,
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所以我認為
12:34
that might actually make a pretty good lure."
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這確實是一個極佳的誘餌
12:36
Because one of the things that's frustrated me
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身為一個深海探險者
12:39
as a deep-sea explorer
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有一件事令我感到非常挫折
12:41
is how many animals there probably are in the ocean that we know nothing about
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就是海洋中有太多我們一無所知的生物
12:44
because of the way we explore the ocean.
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是因為我們探索的方法導致
12:47
The primary way that we know about what lives in the ocean
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讓我們知道海裡有什麼生物最主要的方法
12:50
is we go out and drag nets behind ships.
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是去出海 在船後面拖個網
12:53
And I defy you to name any other branch of science
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然後我倒想知道你們能不能說出任一個
12:55
that still depends on hundreds of year-old technology.
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還在這老方法的科學學派
12:58
The other primary way is we go down
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另一個主要方式是
13:00
with submersibles and remote-operated vehicles.
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乘著潛艇和遙控潛具到水裡
13:02
I've made hundreds of dives in submersibles.
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我已經有上百次乘著潛艇深潛的經驗
13:05
When I'm sitting in a submersible though,
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雖然我知道只是坐在潛艇裡的時候
13:07
I know that I'm not unobtrusive at all --
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我也很難不引人注目
13:10
I've got bright lights and noisy thrusters --
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因為那些光亮的探照燈和很吵的推進器
13:12
any animal with any sense is going to be long gone.
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任何還有知覺的生物早都躲得老遠了
13:15
So, I've wanted for a long time
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所以其實我長久以來
13:18
to figure out a different way to explore.
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都想嘗試用不同的方式來探索海洋
13:20
And so, sometime ago, I got this idea for a camera system.
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因為如此 前一陣子 我對攝影系統有了個新想法
13:23
It's not exactly rocket science. We call this thing Eye-in-the-Sea.
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這方法並不困難 我們把這個叫做:「海洋之眼」
13:26
And scientists have done this on land for years;
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而且科學家在陸上也用了這個方法許多年
13:28
we just use a color that the animals can't see
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我們只是用了一種攝影機能夠辨識
13:31
and then a camera that can see that color.
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但生物看不到的顏色
13:33
You can't use infrared in the sea.
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紅外線在海水裡是行不通的
13:35
We use far-red light, but even that's a problem
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所以我們用的是遠紅外線,但還是有一些麻煩
13:37
because it gets absorbed so quickly.
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因為遠紅外線一下子就被(海水)吸收了
13:39
Made an intensified camera,
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所以我們設計強化的攝影機
13:41
wanted to make this electronic jellyfish.
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來製造這隻電水母
13:43
Thing is, in science,
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在科學上是這樣的
13:46
you basically have to tell the funding agencies what you're going to discover
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你必須要告訴贊助機構 你會有什麼新發現
13:49
before they'll give you the money.
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然後才拿得到錢
13:51
And I didn't know what I was going to discover,
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而我不知道我會發現什麼
13:53
so I couldn't get the funding for this.
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所以我拿不到錢
13:55
So I kluged this together, I got the Harvey Mudd Engineering Clinic
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那麼就只好隨便拼湊 起初說是哈維瑪德工程科
13:58
to actually do it as an undergraduate student project initially,
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使用這個作為大學生的研究計畫
14:01
and then I kluged funding from a whole bunch of different sources.
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然後我從不同管道湊到一筆研究基金
14:04
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
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蒙特瑞水族館和研究所讓
14:06
gave me time with their ROV
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借了我水下無人載具(R.O.V.)
14:09
so that I could test it and we could figure out,
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如此一來我就可以進行測試
14:11
you know, for example, which colors of red light we had to use
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比如說,我們可以找出我們要用哪一種色調的紅光
14:14
so that we could see the animals, but they couldn't see us --
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才能在生物看不見的情況下看見牠們
14:17
get the electronic jellyfish working.
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並且讓電水母成功運作
14:20
And you can see just what a shoestring operation this really was,
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你們可以看到 預算是如何有限
14:23
because we cast these 16 blue LEDs in epoxy
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因為當我把這 16 藍色二極體
14:26
and you can see in the epoxy mold that we used,
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黏在這個環氧樹脂模上時
14:28
the word Ziploc is still visible.
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還是看得到密封袋上的字
14:31
Needless to say, when it's kluged together like this,
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不用說,這樣七拼八湊的過程中
14:34
there were a lot of trials and tribulations getting this working.
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我們經歷了許多試驗和苦難,才得以使其運作
14:37
But there came a moment when it all came together,
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當我們全部的設備都已就緒
14:39
and everything worked.
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並且能夠開始運作的時候
14:41
And, remarkably, that moment got caught on film
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我們的欣喜不言而喻
14:43
by photographer Mark Richards,
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正是那彌足珍貴的一刻
14:45
who happened to be there at the precise moment
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被恰好在場的攝影師馬克理查
14:47
that we discovered that it all came together.
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忠實的記錄下來
14:50
That's me on the left,
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畫面左邊的是我
14:52
my graduate student at the time, Erika Raymond,
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我那時候的研究生 艾莉卡 • 萊蒙德
14:54
and Lee Fry, who was the engineer on the project.
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還有計畫的工程師 李 • 弗萊
14:57
And we have this photograph posted in our lab in a place of honor
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我們這張照片貼在實驗室一個榮耀的位置
15:00
with the caption: "Engineer satisfying two women at once." (Laughter)
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註解是:「工程師同時滿足了兩個女人」
15:04
And we were very, very happy.
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我們非常 非常開心
15:06
So now we had a system
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所以現在我們終於有了一個
15:08
that we could actually take to some place
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可以帶到海底其它地方的設備
15:10
that was kind of like an oasis on the bottom of the ocean
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而且有點像是海底
15:12
that might be patrolled by large predators.
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有些大型掠食者在巡邏的地盤
15:16
And so, the place that we took it to
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因為如此
15:18
was this place called a Brine Pool,
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我們把設備帶到這個
15:20
which is in the northern part of the Gulf of Mexico.
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位於墨西哥灣北部的鹽池
15:22
It's a magical place.
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這地方很神奇
15:24
And I know this footage isn't going to look like anything to you --
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我知道這個連續拍攝的片段毫不起眼
15:26
we had a crummy camera at the time --
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因為那時候用的是老舊的攝影機
15:28
but I was ecstatic.
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但我可是欣喜若狂
15:30
We're at the edge of the Brine Pool,
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我們在鹽池的邊緣
15:32
there's a fish that's swimming towards the camera.
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有一條魚正往攝影機這邊游過來
15:35
It's clearly undisturbed by us.
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牠很顯然地不受我們干擾
15:37
And I had my window into the deep sea.
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我也有了一個通往深海的窗口
15:40
I, for the first time, could see what animals were doing down there
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當我們不在那邊干擾牠們的時候
15:43
when we weren't down there disturbing them in some way.
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我第一次 看見生物在那下面做些什麼
15:47
Four hours into the deployment,
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在四小時的部署調度之後
15:49
we had programmed the electronic jellyfish
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我們第一次
15:51
to come on for the first time.
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操控著投入的電水母
15:53
Eighty-six seconds after
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86 秒鐘後
15:55
it went into its pinwheel display,
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牠表演著光漩風車的畫面
15:57
we recorded this:
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過程被我們記錄下來
16:00
This is a squid, over six feet long,
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這是一隻烏賊 超過六呎長
16:02
that is so new to science,
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在科學上很新穎(物種)
16:04
it cannot be placed in any known scientific family.
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不能歸類到科學上任何一種「科」屬
16:08
I could not have asked for a better proof of concept.
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我找不到更好的方法足以驗證我的研究概念
16:11
And based on this, I went back to the National Science Foundation
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所以有了這個,我回到國家科學基金會
16:13
and said, "This is what we will discover."
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告訴他們:『這就是我們發現的。』
16:16
And they gave me enough money to do it right,
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然後他們就給了我足夠的錢繼續做下去
16:18
which has involved developing the world's first deep-sea webcam --
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其中包括過去幾年被設置在蒙特里海底峽谷
16:21
which has been installed in
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這個世界第一架的
16:23
the Monterey Canyon for the past year --
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深海網路攝影機
16:25
and now, more recently,
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現在,也就是最近
16:27
a modular form of this system,
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有了比這個攝影機
16:29
a much more mobile form
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活動更為靈活的模型
16:31
that's a lot easier to launch and recover,
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同時也比較容易發動和回復
16:33
that I hope can be used on Sylvia's "hope spots"
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我希望能運用在Sylvia(海洋學家)所說的「夢想地」上
16:36
to help explore
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來探索
16:38
and protect these areas,
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和保護這些區域
16:40
and, for me, learn more about
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並且對我而言
16:42
the bioluminescence in these "hope spots."
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在這些「夢想地」學到更多關於生物螢光的事
16:45
So one of these take-home messages here
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而我想給你們的其中一個訊息是
16:48
is, there is still a lot to explore in the oceans.
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大海還有很多值得探險的地方
16:51
And Sylvia has said
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Sylvia曾說過
16:53
that we are destroying the oceans before we even know what's in them,
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我們還不知道海洋裡有什麼,卻已經開始破壞她了
16:56
and she's right.
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她說得很對
16:58
So if you ever, ever get an opportunity
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如果你有幸
17:00
to take a dive in a submersible,
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可以乘著潛艇到海中的話
17:02
say yes -- a thousand times, yes --
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請你一定要說願意,一千個願意
17:05
and please turn out the lights.
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關掉所有燈光
17:07
I promise, you'll love it.
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我保證你們會愛死的
17:09
Thank you.
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謝謝
17:11
(Applause)
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(掌聲)
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