宇宙时空之旅（2014）

Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey S01E07

Part 4 April 25, 2021, 12:40 p.m.

获取金属材料
and extract metals from rock.
那时这座房♥子还是新的
By the time this villa was new,
就在几千年前
just a couple of thousand years ago,
罗马人一年可以生产出8万吨♥铅
the Romans were producing 80,000 tons of lead a year.
为什么铅对人体有毒呢
Why is lead so poisonous to us?
因为铅一旦进入人体
Because when it gets into our bodies,
就会伪装成锌和铁
lead mimics other metals, like zinc and iron,
这些人体细胞需要的元素
the ones our cells actually need to grow and flourish.
细胞酶被铅的伪装欺骗了
Enzymes in the cell are fooled by the lead's masquerade,
开始发挥作用
and they begin to dance.
这是死亡之舞铅是进入人体的骗子
But it's a dance of death, because the lead is an imposter
它们无法满足细胞的需求
that can't fulfill the cell's vital needs.
铅还会阻塞神经递质
Lead also blocks neurotransmitters,
影响细胞之间的交流网络
the communication network between the cells.
对人类记忆和学习有至关重要作用的
It interferes with the molecular receptors
分子神经末梢产生干扰
that are vital to memory and learning.
铅对儿童的危害更大
This is especially damaging to children,
但任何人都无法幸免
but lead poisoning spares no one.
在20世纪之初
Starting at the turn of the 20th century,
含铅漆的制♥造♥商雇佣了一大批
the makers of leaded paint hired the fledgling
荷兰男孩的铅派对
刚开始发展广♥告♥业人士向消费者宣传
advertising industry to persuade the consumer
铅对儿童无害
that lead was child-friendly.
一个玩具铅战士对一个荷兰小男孩说
A little toy lead soldier once to the Dutch boy said,
"我们有很多含铅的伙伴"
"We have some fine relations who all contain some lead."
"你应该办个派对让人们认识一下
"Why don't you give a party so folks can meet and see
荷兰男孩的故事世界
"铅家族里其他快乐的小伙伴"
"the other happy members of the great lead family?"
派对上第一个出场的是艳丽的电灯
The first one at the party was gay electric light.
他说 "我很棒"
He said, " I'm very brilliant."
"总是在黑夜中发光"
"I always shine at night."
"这都要归功于我头顶的玻璃罩"
"No little of my brilliance is due to my glass head,"
"让灯光更亮些"
"which gives a light much brighter"
"因为那是含铅的"
"Because it's made with lead."
一对橡胶鞋底进来挽住了荷兰男孩的胳膊
A pair of rubbers entered and took the Dutch boy's arm.
它们说 "我们可以保持干爽又温暖"
They said, " We are protectors who keep you dry and warm."
"我们刚被生产出来的时候制♥造♥我们的人说"
"You knew when we were molded, the man who made us said,"
"我们坚硬无比又满怀生机"
we're strong and tough and lively
"因为我们是含铅的"
"Because in us, there's lead."
可是直到1920年铅产品才真正进入了
But lead production didn't really shift into high gear
高速发展阶段
until the early 1920's
化学家托马斯·米基利
when chemist Thomas Midgley
和通用汽车公♥司♥发明家查理斯·凯特灵
and inventor Charles Kettering of General Motors
发现四乙基铅可以商用
found that tetraethyl lead could be marketed
作为抗爆添加剂加入汽油中
as an anti-knock additive to gasoline.
他们成立了一家四乙基铅汽车燃料公♥司♥
They formed a new company called the Ethyl Corporation.
美国陆军部
It had once been considered for use
曾一度考虑将四乙基铅用作毒气
as a poison gas by the U.S. War department.
和油漆中的铅不同四乙基铅是脂溶性的
Unlike the lead in paint, tetraethyl lead was fat soluble.
只要半杯倒在皮肤上就足以致命
A half a cup of it on your skin could kill you.
生产商计算出
The manufacturers calculated
他们一年就可以卖♥♥出6千万吨♥
that they could sell 60 million tons of it a year.
标准石油公♥司♥工厂中两人死于神秘毒气三人精神错乱
唯一的问题是
Only problem was,
在特拉华州和新泽西州的工厂里
some of the workers who processed the stuff
一些生产工人开始神志不清
in factories in Delaware and New Jersey were going insane,
神秘气体致三人死亡其余人重伤
含铅汽油面临有毒禁令
他们产生幻觉破窗而出
hallucinating, jumping out of windows.
四人死于致疯毒气
尖叫着死去
They died screaming.
要掩盖这个问题
This was a selling job
可不能靠广♥告♥中跳舞的电灯泡
that would require a lot more than dancing light bulbs.
需要有一个科学家
What was needed was a man of science
安抚公众的恐惧提高铅的公众形象
to calm the public's fears and improve lead's image.
他们找到了一个合适的人选
They found the right man for the job.
这是首次
This was one of the first times
由于科学权威
that the authority of science was used
给公众健康环境带来了威胁
to cloak a threat to public health and the environment.
通用汽车雇佣了一位来自辛辛那提的年轻博士
Robert Kehoe, a young doctor from Cincinnati,
罗伯特·基欧
was hired by GM.
他在公众心中挑起了
He raised scientific doubts in the public mind
针对铅危害的质疑
about the dangers of lead.
他说铅来源于自然
Lead was naturally occurring in the environment, he said.
没错对于从事铅行业工作的人来说
Yes, there might be occupational hazards
也许有一定的职业风险
for the people who worked with lead,
但这种危害可以通过行业自动调节得到控制
but that could be best handled by industry self-regulation.
而且没有证据显示
And there was no evidence to suggest that
铅对消费者有任何危害
lead posed any threat to the consumer.
几十年过去没有人♥质♥疑他说的话
For decades no one challenged him...
直到克莱尔·帕特森开始破解
Until Clair Patterson went searching
地球年龄之谜
for the age of the Earth.
克莱尔·帕特森关于地球年龄的研究
Claire Patterson's research on the age of the Earth
使他成为了这个世界上测量铅含量的
had made him the world's leading expert
首席专家
on measuring trace amounts of lead.
像当时所有人一样
And like everyone else at the time,
他认为铅普遍存在是自然现象
he assumed the prevalence of lead occurred naturally.
作为一名真正的科学家
True scientist that he was, he set out
他开始研究
to discover everything he could
铅是如何在自然环境中循环的
about how lead circulates through the environment.
在美国石油组织的资金支持下
On a grant from the American Petroleum Institute,
他开始测量深海和浅海中的
he carefully measured the concentrations of lead
铅的含量
in deep and shallow seawater.
帕特森再次发现
Once again, Patterson found
他的原始数据让人迷惑
that his initial data made no sense.
在大洋深处的海水中铅的含量
There were only minuscule concentrations of lead
非常低
in the deep ocean water.
可是在浅层水和表面
But in shallow waters and at the surface,
铅的含量要高上几百倍
the concentrations of lead were hundreds of times greater.
在任何一个大洋中浅层水要经过
In any ocean, it takes a few hundred years
几百年的时间才能和深层水混合起来
for the shallow waters to mix with the deep.
帕特森意识到表层水中
This told Patterson that the large amount of lead
大量的铅元素是近期才出现的
in the surface waters had arrived recently.
不然铅元素的分布应该更加平均
Otherwise it would have been more evenly distributed.
在了解了浅层海水中的铅含量
Knowing the quantity of lead in the shallow seas
以及浅层海水和深层海水混合所需的时间之后
and the time needed to mix it into the deeper layers,
他可以估算出
he was able to estimate
铅在浅层水中聚集的速率
the rate of lead contamination at the surface.
帕特森问自己
Patterson asked himself
究竟是什么使得海洋中的
what could possibly supply lead
铅含量如此之高呢
to the world's oceans at such a rate.
太平洋
这些铅都是从哪儿来的
Where's all that lead coming from?
也许我知道哈里森
I think I know, Harrison.
是从含铅汽油中来的
It's from leaded gasoline.
那我们可有大♥麻♥烦了帕特
Well, then we've got a problem, Pat,
那可是赚钱的大生意
because that's the same place the money comes from.
但帕特森并没有屈服
But Patterson would not give in.
大西洋及地中海的水域中和雪中富集的铅
他开始全力工作希望发表科学论文
He went right to work on publishing the scientific paper
反对含铅汽油
that would make the case against leaded gasoline.
《自然》科学周刊
他把这篇论文寄给了一家极具声望的科学期刊
When he sent the paper to the prestigious scientific journal
《自然》并把自己署名为第二作者
Nature, Patterson put his own name second.
他经常这样做来帮助自己的学生
He often did that with his students
提高他们的声望
to advance their reputations.
他一生都在回避闪光灯下的生活
He made a lifelong point of shunning the limelight
还有那些与之伴随的特权
and the privileges that come with it.
就在出版后的第三天
Only three days after publication...
问题来了
the push-back began.
-您好帕特森博士 -很高兴见到您
- Hello, Dr. Patterson. - Pleasure to meet you.
我们对您的论文很感兴趣
Very impressed by your work.
您的工作对我们
Your work is of great interest
石油化工工业很有意义
to us in the petroleum and chemical industries.
没有您的资金支持就没有我的今天