BBC地平线.笑的科学（2016）

被认为是世界领先的神经生物学家
as one of the world's leading neurobiologists.
这都因为他发现了听见大鼠吱吱叫的方法
And all because he discovered he could hear rats squeak.
现在通过超声检测仪你能听到吱吱声
You're hearing the squeaking through the ultrasound detector.
如果没有这个仪器
If we didn't have these detectors on,
你什么也听不见
you would not be hearing anything.
在能听见吱吱声后
Once he'd heard the squeaks,
潘克塞普就想研究出吱吱声的意义
Panksepp was determined to discover what they might mean.
有天早上我起床的时候说道
One morning I woke up and said,
"吱吱声会不会是笑声呢"
"What if that is laughter?
贾克·潘克塞普教授
华盛顿州立大学
然后我说
And I said,
"那就先挠它们的痒痒试试"
"Well, then you should be able to tickle animals."
然后我们就挠了第一只大鼠
And we tickled the first rat,
它发了疯似的叫了起来
and it chirped like crazy.
第二只大鼠
The second rat...
事实上
As a matter of fact,
除了一些特别神经质的大鼠之外
every rat except some really neurotic ones
每一只都吱吱叫了
have chirped.
对一些粗心的观察者来说
To the casual observer,
好像大鼠根本就不是在笑
it might look like the rats aren't laughing at all,
它们尖叫是在寻求帮助
that their tiny chirps are in fact cries for help.
但是不仅这声音
But not only are the vocalisations identical
和它们玩耍时发出的声音一模一样
to the noises made in play,
而且大鼠的行为也证实了这一点
the rats' behaviour tells its own story.
它们在跟随我的手移♥动♥
They are following my hand
因为这只手给它们带来了许多欢乐
because it's a hand that has brought them great joy.
它咬了我一下
he just bit me.
但它咬得不重
But he didn't hurt me.
它们这是在以自己的方式表达
So that's their way of indicating,
"来玩吧"
"Come on, let's play."
我非常喜爱大鼠
I love rats.
它们太有趣了
They're such fun animals,
非常聪明 又非常情绪化
so smart and so emotional.
据我们所知
As far as we can tell,
我们和大鼠有着同样的基本情绪
we've got the same basic emotions as rats.
但是潘克塞普认为大鼠也有情绪这一观点
But Panksepp's idea, that rats have emotions,
并没有得到同行的认可
did little to endear him to his colleagues.
人们说我是在将人类的特质赋予给动物
People say you've been giving human qualities to animals -
即拟人论
anthropomorphism -
但我告诉他们 我绝不是搞这种东西
and I tell them I have not been doing anything of the sort.
我只是用了拟物法
I am doing zoomorphism.
试图通过了解动物心理
I am trying to understand the animal mind
来揣摩人类心理行为
as a way to illuminate the human mind.
批判者认为
The critics argue that
我们的大脑如此复杂 与大鼠有天壤之别
our complex brains are so different to rats' brains
二者之间的任何比较都毫无意义
that any comparison is meaningless.
但事实却是
But the reality is
情感在古老的大脑进化而来时就已存在
emotions occur in the evolutionary ancient brain,
我们与所有哺乳动物都一样 包括大鼠
the part we share with all mammals, including rats.
据我们所知 饲养时笑得越多的动物
And we know that animals that have been bred for high laughter
更能抵抗抑郁
are resistant to depression.
这说明存在某些化学物质
That means they have chemistries
能够帮助他们抵御悲欢离合
that protect them against the vicissitudes of life.
饲养时笑得越少的样本
Animals that have been bred for lower laughter
对抑郁更为敏感
are susceptible to depression.
如果我们能弄清
If we understand animal emotional processes
动物本能产生的情感过程
at the fundamental instinctual level,
那么就能阐明人类的基础情感
I think we will have a science of human basic emotions,
这对我们了解自身非常有价值
and that's very valuable for understanding ourselves
以此发展更复杂精细的生物精神病学
and having a more sophisticated biological psychiatry.
潘克塞普的思路是利用大鼠的笑声
Panksepp's idea was to use the rats' laughter
来确定原始大脑中
to identify the precise area in the ancient brain
与快乐有关的准确区域
involved in happiness,
并鉴定出相关的神经化学反应
and in so doing to identify the neurochemistry responsible.
根据这个思路
Using that approach,
芝加哥西北大学的研究者们
a group from Northwestern University in Chicago
发现了一种有关快乐的神经递质
identified a happiness neurotransmitter.
把它命名为GLX-13
They call it GLX-13.
朗朗上口
Catchy.
他们还开♥发♥了一种药 刺♥激♥这种递质产生
And they've also developed a drug to stimulate its production.
2013年 他们开始人体试验
In 2013, they started human clinical trials.
结果令人满意
The results were so impressive,
两年后
that two years later
该产品被药企买♥♥下 价值5.6亿美元
it was bought by a drugs company for $560 million.
令人惊讶的是
Surprising as it is,
花5.6亿买♥♥到未来最强药物的所有权
560 million is not bad for buying the rights
是笔不错的买♥♥卖♥♥
to the most powerful item on the horizon.
这是治疗抑郁的新途径
It's a new way of treating depression -
这种抗抑郁剂不是通过减轻痛苦来起作用
an antidepressant that, instead of reducing sadness,
而是增加快乐
promotes happiness.
这种途径前途光明
It's an approach that shows great promise,
而这一切都来自给大鼠挠痒痒
and all this from tickling rats.
大鼠的笑声
Rat laughter
让你去思考人类社会快乐的分子机制
forces you to think about the molecules of social joy,
至今我回想起我们的研究成果
so, you know, I am pleased and surprised in retrospect
仍然觉得惊喜
that we got that far.
而这就是科学的好处之一
And, you know, it's one of the wonderful things of science -
它总能给你惊喜
there's always surprises.
这下我要失业了
So, that's me out of a job.
开心药片 终有一天会来的
Comedy in pill form - I suppose it had to happen sometime.
以前我可是很流行的
We had a good run.
回到我们的问题
So, back to our questions
什么是笑 人为什么笑
What is laughter? Why do we laugh?
笑与喜剧有什么关系
And what has it got to do with comedy?
-我们已经有答案了吧 -是的
- I think we've answered it, haven't we? - Yeah.
笑是人类社会的情感之一
Laughter's a social emotion.
一种社会行为
Social activity,
先于语言出现的发声方法
pre-language vocalisation.
好的 我们为什么笑
OK. Why do we laugh?
原本笑是用来
Originally it really is designed
让我们与他人增进感情
to allow us to bond with each other,
但笑所产生的内啡肽
but actually the endorphins that trigger out
能够刺♥激♥免疫系统
in effect tune the immune system.
让你更加健康
So they actually do make you healthier.
笑非常原始
But it's very ancient, it is,
它比语言更早出现
I mean, it predates language
大约有150万年
probably by about a million and a half years, I would say.
好 那笑与喜剧有什么关系
OK. And what's it got to do with comedy?
喜剧的本质是
Well, comedy fundamentally is about pointing out
用观众更能接受的方式
what's wrong with the world
指出生活中存在的错误
and doing it in a way that is acceptable to the audience,
营造出一种良性侵犯感 从而带来愉悦
so creating benign violations and delighting others.
想问三位一个问题
Here's a question for all three of you.
可以说是笑让我们成为人类吗
Could it be said that laughter makes us human?
不
No.
-我觉得是 -我不同意
- I would say so. - I don't think so.
-它只是... -好了 那我最喜欢罗宾
- It's just too... - OK, so Robin's my favourite.
我拿到他节目的免费门票了
I get the free tickets to his shows.
谢谢罗宾和其他两位嘉宾的到来
I'd like to thank Robin and the other two guests...
你是怎么想的
So, you think it...?
就笑的意义而言 它是其他事物
Well, in the sense that it does mark a key boundary point
发展的重要节点
from which everything else spins.
很重要的一点是
And of course the big thing about laughter
笑需要控制呼吸
is this breath control
这涉及肌肉的控制
and all this sort of control of the musculature,
包括胸廓的肋间肌等
the intercostal muscles in the chest wall,
如果没有它 语言就不可能产生
and without that, language couldn't have evolved.
本集地平线节目真是太棒了
I mean, we've literally nailed this episode of Horizon.
谢谢几位嘉宾
I'd like to thank our guests -
索菲·斯科特 罗宾·邓巴和彼得·麦格劳
Sophie Scott, Robin Dunbar and Peter McGraw,