Gary Greenberg: The beautiful nano details of our world

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

譯者: Regina Chu 審譯者: James Yu

So I want to talk a little bit about seeing the world

那麼，我想稍微談一談

from a totally unique point of view,

從獨一無二的角度來看世界

and this world I'm going to talk about is the micro world.

而我所要談的世界是指「顯微世界」

I've found, after doing this for many, many years,

我在這行做了很多很多年之後，發現

that there's a magical world behind reality.

事物本體背後還有一個神奇的世界

And that can be seen directly through a microscope,

而那個世界可以透過顯微鏡直接看到

and I'm going to show you some of this today.

今天我就要展示一些給大家看

So let's start off looking at something rather not-so-small,

那麼我們從一些不是那麼小的東西開始看吧

something that we can see with our naked eye,

一些我們可以用肉眼看到的東西

and that's a bee. So when you look at this bee,

這是一隻蜜蜂。你看到的這隻蜜蜂

it's about this size here, it's about a centimeter.

大概這麼大，大概是一公分吧

But to really see the details of the bee, and really

但是要能真確看到蜜蜂的細節，要能真的

appreciate what it is, you have to look a little bit closer.

欣賞到牠的樣子，你得更近一點看

So that's just the eye of the bee with a microscope,

這就是以顯微鏡看到的蜜蜂眼睛

and now all of a sudden you can see that the bee has

突然間你可以看到這隻蜜蜂擁有

thousands of individual eyes called ommatidia,

成千上萬的小眼睛，稱作复眼

and they actually have sensory hairs in their eyes

他們的眼睛上的確長了感覺髮細胞

so they know when they're right up close to something,

所以他們會知道他們接近了物體

because they can't see in stereo.

因為他們看東西沒有立體感

As we go smaller, here is a human hair.

現在我們來看更小的物體，這是人的毛髮

A human hair is about the smallest thing that the eye can see.

人的毛髮大概是肉眼所能見的最小物體

It's about a tenth of a millimeter.

大約是十分之一公釐

And as we go smaller again,

我們再看更小的

about ten times smaller than that, is a cell.

比毛髮再小約十倍的東西，就是細胞

So you could fit 10 human cells

所以你把十個人體細胞橫排

across the diameter of a human hair.

就是一根頭髮的直徑大小

So when we would look at cells, this is how I really got

所以當我們看細胞，這也是我如何

involved in biology and science is by looking

跨入生物學界及科學界，就是

at living cells in the microscope.

以顯微鏡看活細胞

When I first saw living cells in a microscope, I was

當我第一次以顯微鏡看活細胞

absolutely enthralled and amazed at what they looked like.

我完全被吸引住，訝異於它們的樣子

So if you look at the cell like that from the immune system,

如果你看像這樣來自免疫系統的細胞

they're actually moving all over the place.

它們其實是到處移動的

This cell is looking for foreign objects,

這個細胞正在尋找外來物體

bacteria, things that it can find.

譬如細菌這些它能找到的東西

And it's looking around, and when it finds something,

它四處尋找，當它找到什麼

and recognizes it being foreign,

並且辨識它為外來物體

it will actually engulf it and eat it.

這細胞就把它吞沒，吃掉

So if you look right there, it finds that little bacterium,

所以如果你看那裡，它找到了那個小細菌

and it engulfs it and eats it.

就把它吞沒，吃掉了

If you take some heart cells from an animal,

如果你拿一些動物的心臟細胞

and put it in a dish, they'll just sit there and beat.

放在盤子上，它們就會在那裡跳動

That's their job. Every cell has a mission in life,

這是它們的工作。每個細胞都有自己的使命，

and these cells, the mission is

而這些細胞，它們的使命就是

to move blood around our body.

在我們的身體裡輸送血液。

These next cells are nerve cells, and right now,

接下來看的是神經細胞，而就是現在

as we see and understand what we're looking at,

就在我們看著某樣東西並試著理解時

our brains and our nerve cells are actually doing this

我們的腦部及神經細胞就在做這件事

right now. They're not just static. They're moving around

就是現在。它們並非靜止不動。它們會移動

making new connections, and that's what happens when we learn.

產生新的連結，這就是我們學習時會發生的事

As you go farther down this scale here,

隨著看的東西愈來愈小

that's a micron, or a micrometer, and we go

那是一微米，即百萬分之一公尺，再繼續

all the way down to here to a nanometer

往下看到一奈米

and an angstrom. Now, an angstrom is the size

再到一埃米（angstrom）。那麼，一埃米

of the diameter of a hydrogen atom.

就是氫原子的直徑大小

That's how small that is.

一埃米就是這麼小

And microscopes that we have today can actually see

現今的顯微鏡已經可以看到

individual atoms. So these are some pictures

原子。所以這就是

of individual atoms. Each bump here is an individual atom.

原子的圖片。每個小突起皆為一個原子

This is a ring of cobalt atoms.

這是鈷原子環

So this whole world, the nano world, this area in here

所以這整個世界，這奈米世界，這個領域

is called the nano world, and the nano world,

叫奈米世界，這個奈米世界

the whole micro world that we see,

我們所看到的整個顯微世界

there's a nano world that is wrapped up within that, and

是包含了奈米世界在裡面的

the whole -- and that is the world of molecules and atoms.

而整個 -- 但那是分子及原子世界

But I want to talk about this larger world,

我想談的是大一點的世界

the world of the micro world.

就是顯微世界這個領域

So if you were a little tiny bug living in a flower,

所以如果你是隻住在花朵裡的小蟲

what would that flower look like, if the flower was this big?

如果這朵花是這麼大，這花看起來會是什麼樣子？

It wouldn't look or feel like anything that we see

它絕不會是我們看一朵花時

when we look at a flower. So if you look at this flower here,

所看到或感覺到的樣子。所以如果你看這朵花

and you're a little bug, if you're on that surface

而你是隻小蟲，如果你處在那朵花的表面上

of that flower, that's what the terrain would look like.

這就是你的地面的樣子

The petal of that flower looks like that, so the ant

那朵花的花瓣看起來會像那樣，所以這螞蟻

is kind of crawling over these objects, and if you look

會好像爬過這些物體，而如果你

a little bit closer at this stigma and the stamen here,

再近一點看這裡的柱頭及雄蕊

this is the style of that flower, and you notice

這是那朵花的花柱，那你會注意到

that it's got these little -- these are like little jelly-like things

那裡有一些小小的 -- 像小小的果凍一樣的東西

that are what are called spurs. These are nectar spurs.

這些被稱做花距。這些是儲存花蜜的花距

So this little ant that's crawling here, it's like

所以這隻在這裡爬的小螞蟻，就好像

it's in a little Willy Wonka land.

在小小的歡樂糖果屋裡一樣

It's like a little Disneyland for them. It's not like what we see.

對牠們而言這就好像小迪斯奈樂園 完全不像我們所看見的

These are little bits of individual grain of pollen

這些是單顆花粉粒

there and there, and here is a --

那裡和那裡，這是個 --

what you see as one little yellow dot of pollen,

你看到的一顆顆小黃點花粉

when you look in a microscope, it's actually made

當你用顯微鏡看的時候，它其實是由

of thousands of little grains of pollen.

上千顆的小花粉粒組成

So this, for example, when you see bees flying around

所以舉個例子，這個，當你看到蜜蜂在這些植物

these little plants, and they're collecting pollen,

四周飛來飛去採集花粉

those pollen grains that they're collecting, they pack

牠們會把採集來的花粉粒

into their legs and they take it back to the hive,

堆在腳上，帶回蜂巢

and that's what makes the beehive,

這些就是蜂巢的組成份

the wax in the beehive. And they're also collecting nectar,

蜂巢的蜂蠟。蜜蜂也採蜜

and that's what makes the honey that we eat.

那就是我們吃的蜂蜜

Here's a close-up picture, or this is actually a regular picture

這是布袋蓮的特寫圖，或者應該說這才是

of a water hyacinth, and if you had really, really good vision,

布袋蓮真正的圖像。如果你的視力非常好

with your naked eye, you'd see it about that well.

那麼你用肉眼應該也可以清楚看到這些

There's the stamen and the pistil. But look what the stamen

這是雄蕊及雌蕊。但請看清楚在顯微鏡下

and the pistil look like in a microscope. That's the stamen.

雄蕊及雌蕊的樣子。這是雄蕊

So that's thousands of little grains of pollen there,

所以那是成千上萬的小花粉粒

and there's the pistil there, and these are the little things

而這是雌蕊，這些小東西

called trichomes. And that's what makes the flower give

叫毛茸。這就是花有

a fragrance, and plants actually communicate

味道的原因，而植物的確以香味

with one another through their fragrances.

來彼此溝通

I want to talk about something really ordinary,

我想談談再普通不過的東西

just ordinary sand.

就是普通的沙子

I became interested in sand about 10 years ago,

約十年前我對沙產生興趣

when I first saw sand from Maui,

那時我第一次看到夏威夷毛伊島（Maui）的沙

and in fact, this is a little bit of sand from Maui.

事實上，這就是來自毛伊島的小沙粒

So sand is about a tenth of a millimeter in size.

所以沙的大小約十分之一公釐

Each sand grain is about a tenth of a millimeter in size.

每顆沙粒的尺寸都大約是十分之一公釐

But when you look closer at this, look at what's there.

但當你更近一點看，看看這裡有什麼

It's really quite amazing. You have microshells there.

實在令人嘆為觀止。你有這些微小的貝殻

You have things like coral.

你有像珊瑚一樣的東西

You have fragments of other shells. You have olivine.

也有其它貝殻的碎片。還有橄欖石

You have bits of a volcano. There's a little bit

你也有火山碎片。那裡有一些小小的

of a volcano there. You have tube worms.

火山碎片。還有一些管狀蠕蟲

An amazing array of incredible things exist in sand.

在沙裡存在著不可思議的東西，令人讚嘆的陣容

And the reason that is, is because in a place like this island,

原因是因為像這種島的地方

a lot of the sand is made of biological material

有很多沙子源自生物成分

because the reefs provide a place where all these

因為珊瑚礁提供了這些顯微動物

microscopic animals or macroscopic animals grow,

或肉眼可見的動物生長的地方

and when they die, their shells and their teeth

而當這些動物死亡時，他們的殼、牙齒

and their bones break up and they make grains of sand,

及骨頭會分解成為沙粒

things like coral and so forth.

譬如像珊瑚等等的東西都會

So here's, for example, a picture of sand from Maui.

所以這裡舉個例子，這張圖是從毛伊來的沙

This is from Lahaina,

這是從拉海納（Lahaina）來的

and when we're walking along a beach, we're actually

當我們沿著海灘行走時，我們其實是

walking along millions of years of biological and geological history.

走了一趟數百萬年的生物及地質歷史

We don't realize it, but it's actually a record

我們並沒有意識到這件事，但這真的是

of that entire ecology.

整本生態學的記錄

So here we see, for example, a sponge spicule,

所以這裡舉個例，我們看見一條海綿的骨針

two bits of coral here,

這是兩小片珊瑚碎片

that's a sea urchin spine. Really some amazing stuff.

這是海膽的硬棘刺。真的很令人讚嘆的東西

So when I first looked at this, I was -- I thought,

所以當我第一次看到這個，我簡直 -- 我想，

gee, this is like a little treasure trove here.

天啊！這簡直就是個小的藏寶窟。

I couldn't believe it, and I'd go around dissecting

我簡直不敢相信！我四處尋找剖析

the little bits out and making photographs of them.

這些小粒子並且照相

Here's what most of the sand in our world looks like.

這些就是我們看到的沙的樣子

These are quartz crystals and feldspar,

這些是石英及長石

so most sand in the world on the mainland

所以全球大陸絕大多數的沙子

is made of quartz crystal and feldspar. It's the erosion of granite rock.

都是由石英及長石所組成，因為花崗岩受到侵蝕

So mountains are built up, and they erode away by water

所以山脈形成後被水或雨或冰等等

and rain and ice and so forth,

風化侵蝕

and they become grains of sand.

這些山就變成沙粒

There's some sand that's really much more colorful.

這是一些色彩更繽紛的沙子

These are sand from near the Great Lakes,

這些沙是從五大湖區邊上來的

and you can see that it's filled with minerals

你可以看到它充滿礦物

like pink garnet and green epidote, all kinds of amazing stuff,

像是粉紅色的石榴石和綠簾石，各種令人驚奇的東西

and if you look at different sands from different places,

而且如果你觀看從不同的地方來的沙子

every single beach, every single place you look at sand,

你去看從每一個海灘、每一個地方來的沙

it's different. Here's from Big Sur, like they're little jewels.

都不一樣。這些是從北加州大索爾（Big Sur）來的，好像小珠寶

There are places in Africa where they do the mining

在非洲有些地方是開採

of jewels, and you go to the sand where the rivers have

貴重寶石的。如果你去那邊河裡看那些

the sand go down to the ocean, and it's like literally looking

被沖到海裡的沙，你的確可以

at tiny jewels through the microscope.

從顯微鏡下看到那些小小的珠寶

So every grain of sand is unique. Every beach is different.

所以每顆沙粒都是獨特的，每個海灘都不一樣

Every single grain is different. There are no two grains

每一顆沙粒都不同，這世界沒有

of sand alike in the world.

一模一樣的兩顆沙

Every grain of sand is coming somewhere and going somewhere.

每一粒沙都有來處，也都有終點

They're like a snapshot in time.

他們就像時間的剪影

Now sand is not only on Earth, but sand is

那麼沙不僅僅存在於地球，沙還在

ubiquitous throughout the universe. In fact, outer space

這宇宙裡無所不在。事實上外太空

is filled with sand, and that sand comes together

充滿了沙，而這些沙子組合成

to make our planets and the Moon.

我們的行星及月亮

And you can see those in micrometeorites.

你可以從微隕石中發現這點

This is some micrometeorites that the Army gave me,

這些是美國陸軍給我的微隕石

and they get these out of the drinking wells in the South Pole.

他們從南極的一些飲水井裡挖出這些

And they're quite amazing-looking, and these are the

他們看起來還挺好看的，而這些就是

tiny constituents that make up the world that we live in --

組成我們所住的世界的小小成份 --

the planets and the Moon.

這些行星及月亮

So NASA wanted me to take some pictures of Moon sand,

所以美國太空總署要我拍一些月亮沙子的照片

so they sent me sand from all the different landings

所以他們送了一些沙子給我，是40年前

of the Apollo missions that happened 40 years ago.

阿波羅太空船從不同登陸點所採到的

And I started taking pictures with my three-dimensional microscopes.

然後我開始用我的立體（3D）顯微鏡拍攝

This was the first picture I took. It was kind of amazing.

這是我拍的第一張照片。還挺驚人的。

I thought it looked kind of a little bit like the Moon, which is sort of interesting.

我認為這看起還有點像月球，還滿有趣的。

Now, the way my microscopes work is, normally

那麼，我的顯微鏡運作的方法是，通常

in a microscope you can see very little at one time,

在顯微鏡底下你一次能看到的東西非常少

so what you have to do is you have to refocus the microscope,

所以你要做的是，你必須把顯微鏡重新對焦

keep taking pictures, and then I have a computer program

不斷照相，然後我有一套電腦程式

that puts all those pictures together

可以把這些照片組合起來

into one picture so you can see actually what it looks like,

合成一張照片，所以你可以看到它真正的樣子

and I do that in 3D. So there, you can see,

而且我做立體圖。所以這裡你看到的

is a left-eye view. There's a right-eye view.

是左眼視圖，這則是右眼視圖

So sort of left-eye view, right-eye view.

就好樣左眼看，右眼看一樣

Now something's interesting here. This looks very different

那麼這裡有件很有趣的事。這與我曾看過的

than any sand on Earth that I've ever seen, and I've

地球的沙都非常不一樣，我真的看過

seen a lot of sand on Earth, believe me. (Laughter)

很多地球的沙，相信我。（笑）

Look at this hole in the middle. That hole was caused

看看這個在中間的洞。那個洞是因為

by a micrometeorite hitting the Moon.

微隕石撞擊月球造成的

Now, the Moon has no atmosphere, so micrometeorites

那麼月球沒有大氣層，所以微隕石可以

come in continuously, and the whole surface of the Moon

不斷進入，而整個月球表面

is covered with powder now, because for four billion years

現在都被粉塵所覆蓋，因為過去四十億年

it's been bombarded by micrometeorites,

它不停地被微隕石轟炸

and when micrometeorites come in at about

所以當微隕石以大約每小時

20 to 60,000 miles an hour, they vaporize on contact.

20到六萬英哩的速度進入時，在接觸月球時就蒸發了

And you can see here that that is --

所以你可以看到這個 --

that's sort of vaporized, and that material is holding this

這就是所謂蒸發，而那個材料就是把這些

little clump of little sand grains together.

小小沙粒團塊粘起來的東西

This is a very small grain of sand, this whole thing.

這是個非常小的沙粒，這整個東西都是

And that's called a ring agglutinate.

那被稱為環粘合

And many of the grains of sand on the Moon look like that,

很多月球上的沙粒看起來就像那樣

and you'd never find that on Earth.

而你絕不會在地球上發現那個

Most of the sand on the Moon,

月球上大多數的沙

especially -- and you know when you look at the Moon,

尤其是 -- 你看到月亮就會了解

there's the dark areas and the light areas. The dark areas

那裡有黑暗的地方及明亮的地方。黑暗的地方

are lava flows. They're basaltic lava flows,

是熔岩流。它們是玄武質熔岩流

and that's what this sand looks like, very similar

而那就是這沙的樣子，非常類似

to the sand that you would see in Haleakala.

你在夏威夷哈雷卡拉（Haleakala）看到的沙

Other sands, when these micrometeorites come in,

其他的沙子，當這些微隕石進入月球時

they vaporize and they make these fountains,

它們就蒸發了，然後產生噴泉

these microscopic fountains that go up into the --

這些微觀噴泉向上噴到 --

I was going to say "up into the air," but there is no air --

我本來要說向上噴到「空氣」中，不過那裡沒有空氣 --

goes sort of up, and these microscopic glass beads

就說是向上噴吧，然後這些微小的玻璃珠

are formed instantly, and they harden, and by the time

立刻成型，變硬，然後當它們

they fall down back to the surface of the Moon,

掉落回月球表面時

they have these beautiful colored glass spherules.

就變成了這些色彩炫麗的玻璃球

And these are actually microscopic;

這些都是微觀的

you need a microscope to see these.

你需要一座顯微鏡才看得見這些

Now here's a grain of sand that is from the Moon,

現在看到的是一顆來自月球的沙粒

and you can see that the entire

而你可以看到這整體

crystal structure is still there.

晶狀結構仍然存在

This grain of sand is probably about

這粒沙的年紀大概已有

three and a half or four billion years old,

三十五億到四十億年吧

and it's never eroded away like the way we have sand

而且它永遠不會像我們地球上的沙一樣

on Earth erodes away because of water and tumbling,

被水、滾動、空氣等等東西侵蝕風化

air, and so forth. All you can see is a little bit of erosion

你只能在這下面看到一點點

down here by the Sun, has these solar storms,

被太陽侵蝕的現象，是因為這些太陽風

and that's erosion by solar radiation.

所以這是因為太陽輻射所造成的侵蝕

So what I've been trying to tell you today is

所以今天我在這裡，試著想傳達的就是

things even as ordinary as a grain of sand

即使平凡如沙粒的東西

can be truly extraordinary if you look closely

如果你仔細看，如果你從不同的角度看，

and if you look from a different and a new point of view.

從新的角度看，也能看出它真正非凡之處。

I think that this was best put by William Blake when he said,

我想，當威廉·布萊克寫下這首詩時 已爲此下了最好的詮釋

"To see a world in a grain of sand

一沙一世界

and a heaven in a wild flower,

一花一天堂

hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

掌中握無限

and eternity in an hour."

剎那即永恆

Thank you. (Applause)

謝謝。（掌聲）