To solve old problems, study new species | Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado

Translator: Leslie Gauthier Reviewer: Camille Martínez

譯者: Melody Tang 審譯者: 易帆 余

For the past few years,

在過去幾年，

我的夏天都在馬薩諸塞州 伍茲霍爾區的

I've been spending my summers in the marine biological laboratory

in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

海洋生態研究室度過。

And there, what I've been doing is essentially renting a boat.

我在那裡租了一條船，

我想邀請各位

What I would like to do is ask you

to come on a boat ride with me tonight.

今晚和我一起去乘船。

So, we ride off from Eel Pond into Vineyard Sound,

我們從鰻池出發，前往葡萄園海灣，

right off the coast of Martha's Vineyard,

地點就在瑪莎葡萄園旁的海岸，

equipped with a drone to identify potential spots

我們裝置了一台無人機

from which to peer into the Atlantic.

用來觀察大西洋中潛在的地點。

之前，我會說要進入 大西洋的深處才找的到，

Earlier, I was going to say into the depths of the Atlantic,

but we don't have to go too deep to reach the unknown.

但是我們不需要到那麽深的地方 就能發現未知的生物。

Here, barely two miles away

就在這裡，

離可以說是世界上最棒的海洋生物 實驗室僅僅兩英里處的地方。

from what is arguably the greatest marine biology lab in the world,

we lower a simple plankton net into the water

我們放下一張 簡易的浮游生物採集網，

and bring up to the surface

然後再把它拉上來，

things that humanity rarely pays any attention to,

如此就可以找到這些 人類很少會注意到的生物，

and oftentimes has never seen before.

而且常常是從來沒有見過的生物。

Here's one of the organisms that we caught in our net.

這是其中一個 我們用網捕捉到的生物。

This is a jellyfish.

牠是一隻水母。

But look closely,

但仔細看，

and living inside of this animal is another organism

居住在這隻動物體內的 是另一個有機體。

that is very likely entirely new to science.

對科學界來說很可能

A complete new species.

是一個全新的物種。

或是再來看看這隻透明、

Or how about this other transparent beauty

with a beating heart,

有著一顆跳動心臟的美麗生物，

asexually growing on top of its head,

牠可以在自己的頭部頂端 進行無性繁殖，

progeny that will move on to reproduce sexually.

但牠的後代卻可以進行有性繁殖。

Let me say that again:

請讓我再重複一次：

這種動物可以在頭部頂端 進行無性繁殖，

this animal is growing asexually on top of its head,

progeny that is going to reproduce sexually in the next generation.

而牠的子代將成為有性繁殖的後代。

A weird jellyfish?

很怪的水母，是吧？

Not quite.

不完全是。

這是海鞘。

This is an ascidian.

This is a group of animals

這一群生物

我們現在知道牠們和我們 有著大量共同的基因體，

that now we know we share extensive genomic ancestry with,

and it is perhaps the closest invertebrate species to our own.

牠們也許是目前與我們 最近親的無脊椎動物。

Meet your cousin,

見見你的表親，

Thalia democratica.

雙尾薩利亞。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

I'm pretty sure you didn't save a spot at your last family reunion

我很確定各位 在最近的一次家族聚會

沒有留一個座位給牠，

for Thalia,

but let me tell you,

但我告訴各位，

these animals are profoundly related to us

這些動物和我們息息相關，

in ways that we're just beginning to understand.

我們才剛開始明白這層關係。

所以，下次你聽到任何人 嘲笑地告訴你，

So, next time you hear anybody derisively telling you

that this type of research is a simple fishing expedition,

這類的研究不過是一種 簡單的捕撈旅程，

I hope that you'll remember the trip that we just took.

我希望各位能記住 我們剛剛所體驗的歷程。

Today, many of the biological sciences only see value

如今，許多生物方面的研究

只著重在我們已知的事物上，

in studying deeper what we already know --

模仿繪製已發現的舊大陸。

in mapping already-discovered continents.

但是我們之中的一些人 對於未知的事物更感興趣。

But some of us are much more interested in the unknown.

We want to discover completely new continents,

我們想要探索全新的大陸

and gaze at magnificent vistas of ignorance.

並聚焦未知世界的華麗遠景。

We crave the experience of being completely baffled

我們渴望擁有

被前所未見的事物所迷惑的體驗。

by something we've never seen before.

And yes, I agree

是的，我承認，

there's a lot of little ego satisfaction in being able to say,

能夠說出這句話真的會滿爽的：

「嘿，我是第一個發現的。」

"Hey, I was the first one to discover that."

但這領域沒那麼好混，

But this is not a self-aggrandizing enterprise,

因為在這類探索性研究中，

because in this type of discovery research,

if you don't feel like a complete idiot most of the time,

如果你沒有經常 覺得自己是個大笨蛋的話，

you're just not sciencing hard enough.

你還不夠科學狂熱。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

每年夏天，我都會給這艘小船的甲板

So every summer I bring onto the deck of this little boat of ours

帶來愈來愈多 我們幾乎一無所知的東西。

more and more things that we know very little about.

I would like tonight to tell you a story about life

今晚我想告訴各位 一個有關生命的故事，

that rarely gets told in an environment like this.

一個極少會在這樣場合中 提起的故事。

From the vantage point of our 21st-century biological laboratories,

21 世紀生物實驗室的 有利之處就是，

we have begun to illuminate many mysteries of life with knowledge.

我們開始運用知識 點亮許多神秘的生命。

We sense that after centuries of scientific research,

我們感覺到， 在做了幾個世紀的科學研究後，

we're beginning to make significant inroads

我們開始對一些

into understanding some of the most fundamental principles of life.

生命最基本原則的理解 有了重大進展。

Our collective optimism is reflected by the growth of biotechnology

全球生物技術的增長

反映出我們這個領域 全體欣欣向榮的現象。

across the globe,

striving to utilize scientific knowledge to cure human diseases.

大家致力於利用科學知識 來治療人類的疾病。

Things like cancer, aging, degenerative diseases;

像癌症、衰老、退化性疾病；

these are but some of the undesirables we wish to tame.

這些都是我們不想要、 希望能克服的疾病。

I often wonder:

我經常在想：

Why is it that we are having so much trouble

為什麽我們在嘗試治療癌症的過程中

trying to solve the problem of cancer?

會遇到這麼多麻煩？

會不會是因為我們只想 解決癌症的問題，

Is it that we're trying to solve the problem of cancer,

and not trying to understand life?

卻不願意嘗試了解生命的奧義呢？

Life on this planet shares a common origin,

這個星球上的生命有共同的起源，

and I can summarize 3.5 billion years of the history of life on this planet

而我可以在一張投影片上

總結出這個星球上 35 億年的生命歷史。

in a single slide.

What you see here are representatives of all known species in our planet.

各位現在看到的是 我們星球上所有已知物種的代表。

In this immensity of life and biodiversity,

在這廣大的生命和生物多樣性之中，

we occupy a rather unremarkable position.

我們人類只占據了一個 不那麽明顯的位置。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Homo sapiens.

智人。

最新的人類物種。

The last of our kind.

And though I don't really want to disparage at all

雖然我不是真的想要輕視

the accomplishments of our species,

我們人類物種的成就，

as much as we wish it to be so and often pretend that it is,

即使人類希望可以佔據所有的成就 並經常自以為是，

we are not the measure of all things.

我們仍然不是所有事情的衡量標準，

We are, however, the measurers of many things.

但我們是許多事情的衡量者。

We relentlessly quantify, analyze and compare,

我們不屈不撓地量化、 分析、和比較，

這當中有些的確是無價且必要的。

and some of this is absolutely invaluable and indeed necessary.

But this emphasis today on forcing biological research to specialize

但如今，這樣強調生物研究專精化

及要有實際成果產出的這種方式，

and to produce practical outcomes

is actually restricting our ability to interrogate life

實際上會限制我們審視生命的能力，

to unacceptably narrow confines and unsatisfying depths.

並限制我們在狹隘的範圍 做著深度不夠的研究。

人類現在研究的生物 只佔地球生命中的一小部分，

We are measuring an astonishingly narrow sliver of life,

卻冀望這樣狹隘的數量 將來可以拯救我們的生命。

and hoping that those numbers will save all of our lives.

How narrow do you ask?

你問我，有多狹隘？

Well, let me give you a number.

讓我給各位一個數字。

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently estimated

國家海洋和大氣管理局最近估計

我們大約還有 95％ 的 海洋尚未探索。

that about 95 percent of our oceans remain unexplored.

Now let that sink in for a second.

讓我們沉思一下，

還有 95％ 的海洋尚未探索。

95 percent of our oceans remain unexplored.

I think it's very safe to say

幾乎可以這麼說，

that we don't even know how much about life we do not know.

我們甚至對未知生命的數量 根本也一無所知。

So, it's not surprising that every week in my field

所以，不必感到驚訝，因為每個禮拜

we begin to see the addition of more and more new species

這個領域都有新的物種，

to this amazing tree of life.

增加到這棵令人驚嘆的生命之樹上。

This one for example --

舉個例子，

discovered earlier this summer,

今年初夏才發現的，

new to science,

這個科學界的新物種，

and now occupying its lonely branch in our family tree.

現在佔據了我們 生命之樹的一個分支。

What is even more tragic

可惜的是，

我們知道那麼多的物種，

is that we know about a bunch of other species of animals out there,

but their biology remains sorely under-studied.

但我們對牠們生物學方面的了解 卻只停留在研究階段。

I'm sure some of you have heard about the fact

我確定各位都有聽過一個事實，

that a starfish can actually regenerate its arm after it's lost.

海星可以在失去觸手之後再長出來。

But some of you might not know

但是你們或許不知道

that the arm itself can actually regenerate a complete starfish.

一隻觸手也可以重新長出 一隻完整的海星。

And there are animals out there that do truly astounding things.

還有許多動物 可以完成更多令人驚訝的事。

I'm almost willing to bet

我甚至願意打賭

that many of you have never heard of the flatworm, Schmidtea mediterranea.

你們大概從未 聽過淡水渦蟲這種扁蟲。

This little guy right here

這隻小傢伙

does things that essentially just blow my mind.

可以做出我完全無法想像的事。

你可以挑一隻來並把牠切成十八段，

You can grab one of these animals and cut it into 18 different fragments,

而每一段都能生成

and each and every one of those fragments will go on to regenerate

另一個完整的生物。

a complete animal

in under two weeks.

只要兩個禮拜的時間。

18 heads, 18 bodies, 18 mysteries.

18 個頭、18 個身體、18 個秘密。

For the past decade and a half or so,

在過去 15 年以來，

I've been trying to figure out how these little dudes do what they do,

我一直在努力搞清楚 這些小傢伙是如何做到的，

and how they pull this magic trick off.

牠們是如何變出這個魔術的。

But like all good magicians,

但就像所有的優秀魔術師一樣，

they're not really releasing their secrets readily to me.

他們不會把秘密全告訴你。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

So here we are,

所以，

after 20 years of essentially studying these animals,

在對這些生物 做了 20 年基礎研究後，

genome mapping, chin scratching,

我們繪製了無數的基因圖、 抓了無數次的下巴思索、

and thousands of amputations and thousands of regenerations,

經過了數千次的切割、 數千次的再生後，

we still don't fully understand how these animals do what they do.

我們還是不能完全明白 這些動物是如何做到的。

每一支渦蟲本身，

Each planarian an ocean unto itself,

full of unknowns.

都是一個充滿著未知的大海。

One of the common characteristics

我對你們提到的這些動物

of all of these animals I've been talking to you about

牠們有一個共同的特性，

就是牠們的行為

is that they did not appear to have received the memo

that they need to behave according to the rules

並不符合實驗室 備忘錄上記載的規律，

that we have derived from a handful of randomly selected animals

也就是我們隨機篩選出來的生物，

佔據在世界各地

that currently populate the vast majority

生物醫學實驗室裡的行為備忘錄。

of biomedical laboratories across the world.

見見我們的諾貝爾得獎者們，

Meet our Nobel Prize winners.

Seven species, essentially,

基本上，就這七個物種

that have produced for us the brunt of our understanding

衝擊了我們當今對於

生物行為的基本理解。

of biological behavior today.

這個小傢伙──

This little guy right here --

three Nobel Prizes in 12 years.

在 12 年內拿到三次諾貝爾獎。

And yet, after all the attention they have garnered,

然而，在牠們獲得所有的關注

and all the knowledge they have generated,

並產出很多知識後，

並獲得超大量的研究資金，

as well as the lion's share of the funding,

大家仍要面對冗長難對付的問題

here we are standing [before] the same litany of intractable problems

以及新的挑戰。

and many new challenges.

And that's because, unfortunately,

那是因為很不幸，

這七種物種基本上只佔了

these seven animals essentially correspond

to 0.0009 percent of all of the species that inhabit the planet.

我們星球上所有物種的 百分之 0.0009。

So I'm beginning to suspect

所以我開始懷疑

that our specialization is beginning to impede our progress at best,

雖然我們的專精化有好的一面， 但也阻礙了我們的進步，

最糟糕的就是會令我們迷失方向。

and at worst, is leading us astray.

That's because life on this planet and its history

那是因為這個星球的生命和歷史

is the history of rule breakers.

就是一段規則破壞者的歷史。

Life started on the face of this planet as single-cell organisms,

地球的生命起源於單細胞生物，

swimming for millions of years in the ocean,

牠們在海洋中暢游了數百萬年，

直到其中一個生物決定，

until one of those creatures decided,

"I'm going to do things differently today;

「我今天要做一些不一樣的事；

today I would like to invent something called multicellularity,

今天我要發明 一種叫做多細胞的東西，

and I'm going to do this."

而且我一定會做得到。」

And I'm sure it wasn't a popular decision at the time --

我很確定這樣的決定 當時不是很受歡迎——

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

but somehow, it managed to do it.

但無論如何，牠成功了。

And then, multicellular organisms began to populate

然後，多細胞有機體開始

在海洋中繁殖，

all these ancestral oceans,

and they thrived.

並且興旺起來。

And we have them here today.

所以我們今天才有機會討論討牠們。

Land masses began to emerge from the surface of the oceans,

之後土地開始出現， 從海洋表面冒出，

and another creature thought,

然後另一個生物在想，

"Hey, that looks like a really nice piece of real estate.

「嘿，這塊地看起來不錯。

我想搬到那裡。」

I'd like to move there."

"Are you crazy?

「你瘋了嗎？

You're going to desiccate out there. Nothing can live out of water."

在那裡你會渴死的， 任何東西沒有水都活不了的。」

But life found a way,

但生命自己會找出路，

然後就有了現在生活在 陸地上的生物。

and there are organisms now that live on land.

Once on land, they may have looked up into the sky

一旦到了陸地， 牠們可能會望著天空說：

and said, "It would be nice to go to the clouds,

「如果能在天空飛就好了，

我想要飛。」

I'm going to fly."

「你不可能打破地心引力的定律， 你根本不可能飛。」

"You can't break the law of gravity, there's no way you can fly."

And yet, nature has invented --

然而，大自然的力量已經創造出

multiple and independent times --

各式各樣不同的

ways to fly.

飛行方式。

I love to study these animals that break the rules,

我特別喜歡研究這些 打破規則的動物，

because every time they break a rule, they invent something new

因為每次牠們打破一個規則， 牠們就發明了新的東西，

that made it possible for us to be able to be here today.

很有可能就是這些因素 造就了今日的我們。

These animals did not get the memo.

這些動物沒有備忘錄，

They break the rules.

牠們直接打破規則。

So if we're going to study animals that break the rules,

所以，如果我們要研究 打破規則的動物，

shouldn't how we study them also break the rules?

我們研究的方法不應該也打破嗎？

I think we need to renew our spirit of exploration.

我認為我們需要 更新我們的探險精神。

Rather than bring nature into our laboratories

比起把自然搬回我們的實驗室

and interrogate it there,

在那裏做研究，

we need to bring our science

我們更應該把我們的研究

放回大自然，這個最宏偉的實驗室，

into the majestic laboratory that is nature,

and there, with our modern technological armamentarium,

在那裏，運用我們的現代科學設備，

interrogate every new form of life we find,

仔細研究每一種 我們發現的新形式生命、

and any new biological attribute that we may find.

每一種我們新發現的生物屬性，

We actually need to bring all of our intelligence

我們真的要把我們的智慧打掉重練，

to becoming stupid again --

再變笨一次，

clueless [before] the immensity of the unknown.

在未知的生物前虛心求教。

因為畢竟，

Because after all,

science is not really about knowledge.

科學講究的不僅是知識，

Science is about ignorance.

更強調的是我們未知的領域。

That's what we do.

這才是我們要做的。

Once, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote,

安托萬．聖埃克蘇佩里 （小王子作者）曾寫道，

"If you want to build a ship,

「如果你要造一艘船，

don't drum up people to collect wood

不是讓人們去收集木材，

and don't assign them tasks and work,

也不要分配任務和工作給他們，

而是引發他們 對無盡大海的渴望……」

but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea ..."

As a scientist and a teacher,

作為一個科學家和老師，

I like to paraphrase this to read

我想把這句話解讀成這樣：

that we scientists need to teach our students

我們科學家需要教導學生

to long for the endless immensity of the sea

去追尋那無窮無盡的大海，

那裡才是我們無知的領域。

that is our ignorance.

We Homo sapiens are the only species we know of

我們智人是地球上唯一一個

that is driven to scientific inquiry.

已知會追尋科學知識的物種。

We, like all other species on this planet,

我們就像這顆星球上其他物種一樣，

are inextricably woven into the history of life on this planet.

密不可分地編織著 這顆星球上生命的歷史。

And I think I'm a little wrong when I say that life is a mystery,

當我說生命是一個謎，我有點錯了，

because I think that life is actually an open secret

因為我認為生命其實是一個 眾人皆知的秘密，

that has been beckoning our species for millennia to understand it.

幾千年來，一直在召喚 我們的物種去了解它。

So I ask you:

所以我呼籲各位：

Aren't we the best chance that life has to know itself?

我們現在不正是處於 了解生命的最佳機會點上嗎？

如果是，

And if so,

what the heck are we waiting for?

我們還在等什麼？

Thank you.

謝謝各位！

(Applause)

（掌聲）