被点亮的星球（2018）

Carbon is like the coolest Lego brick you can imagine.
碳 就仿佛你能想象到的 最酷的乐高积木
My kids loved playing with this stuff,
我的孩子们很喜欢玩乐高积木
but if carbon was one of those blocks,
但如果碳也是乐高积木的构件之一
it'd be the one that they'd all fight over,
他们一定会为它争得不可开交
because you can snap it together just about
因为你可以用它们组成
any way you like.
任何你想要的样子
Take something with a lot of carbon in it.
拿碳含量很高的东西举例
Spider silk.
蜘蛛丝
Now spider silk is finer than hair, stronger than steel,
其细如发丝 却坚如钢铁
stretchy as elastic and sticky as gum.
韧如弹簧 粘似黏胶
All of those qualities just depend on
所有这些特性仅仅取决于你
how you snap together that carbon.
以何种方式组合这些碳
Carbon's versatility enables a construction of
碳的全能性使得它可以构造出一种
a miraculous molecule inside nearly every living cell.
几乎存在于每个活细胞中的神奇分子
DNA.
DNA（脱氧核糖核酸）
Our DNA is one of the most complex molecules in the entire universe.
我们的DNA 是全宇宙中最复杂的分子之一
Billions of carbon atoms combined to help hold it together,
数以十亿计的碳原子结合 形成碳链骨架
and this beautifully tangled formation
这些纠缠在一起的美丽构型
is like an organic super-computer.
就像一部有机体组成的超级计算机
It contains the instruction manual for life.
它保存着生命的操作手册
And every facet and every detail that makes you, you.
所有方面 所有细节 让你成为与众不同的人
And it's not just us humans.
而且不只是我们人类
DNA is at the heart of almost every living cell that ever existed.
DNA是几乎所有活细胞的核心组分
And you couldn't build it without carbon.
而且建造它离不开碳
Now hang on a sec, something doesn't add up, alright.
等一下 好像有什么事情不太对劲
I'm no scientist but growing up,
虽然我不是什么科学家 但是从小到大
I made a lot of instant noodles,
我泡过不少方便面
and I'll tell you one thing,
我能告诉你的是
if you take your flavor packet and throw it into a swimming pool,
如果你把调味包撒进游泳池里
you are not going to get a nice bowl of ramen.
是做不出一碗美味拉面的
So how are you supposed to make DNA in the middle of an endless ocean?
那么 如何才能从一望无际的大海中造出DNA呢
Take a pinch of star, splash of water,
就凭加一抹星辰 一瓢清水
turn up the heat and bam.
稍微加热 然后轰的一声
Happy Birthday Life.
生命就诞生了吗
Not quite.
没这么简单
There's still something missing from our recipe.
生命的菜谱中还缺少某样东西
The pot you cook it all up in.
"烹饪"用的"锅"
Everything alive needs to be held together and protected.
任何生命体都需要一个安全的生活环境
That's true if you're a strand of DNA...
如果你是一串DNA或一个宇航员
Or an astronaut.
就会对这一点深有感触
The space station is like a cell in a way.
太空站在某种程度上就像是一个细胞
漫游太空166天
查里斯·哈德菲尔德
It's like a bubble of life.
一个充满生命的气泡
You really have this sense of being enclosed,
你确实有一种与外界隔绝的感觉
you know, just a few inches in front of my eyes
你要知道 咫尺之外
漫游太空50天
杰夫·霍夫曼
is the vacuum of space, and if I were out there,
就是真空环境 如果我直接暴露在那里
I'd be gone in 10 seconds.
我活不过10秒
Inside we have all the ingredients
在空间站内 我们有各种
and the systems to keep us alive.
维持生命的要素和系统
漫游太空24天
利兰·梅尔文
It's the same for living cells.
对于活细胞来说也是这样
Just at a microscopic level.
只不过是在微观层面上
Water is a critical solvent for life.
水 是生命的关键溶剂
漫游太空8天
梅·杰米森
But if there's too much water...
但是如果有太多的水
The solution might be dilute,
生命或许会被稀释掉
and the molecules of life never bump into one another.
组成生命的分子们 或许永远不会相遇
So you need something to contain them.
所以你需要东西来把它们盛到一起
Think of a bubble that we blow.
想象我们吹出的肥皂泡
That surrounds this pocket of air.
它将一小团空气包裹其中
And it keeps the air contained.
并将空气约束在里面
There's something similar encasing all living cells.
这与覆盖细胞表面的构造 有异曲同工之妙
Membranes.
细胞膜
生物化学家
莱娜·G·本宁 教授
The holy grail for me is to find out how the first membranes formed.
搞清生物膜的形成机理 是我毕生信念所在
It could have formed in a hot spring,
它可能形成于温泉之中
in an ice pool underneath an ice sheet.
或是冰原之下的寒潭
It's a huge mystery.
这是个巨大的谜团
I've come to Iceland because it's a fantastic natural laboratory.
冰岛是座极好的天然实验室 因而我来到这里
This is Liane, coming in.
我是莱娜 收到请回答
I'm heading north,
我正在驶向北方
I'm at 460 meters altitude and I'm heading to direction 71.
当前海拔460米 行进方位71
It's snowing outside.
外面正在下雪
I'll be there in an hour. Over.
预计一小时内到达目的地 完毕
Today in Iceland you see volcanoes underneath icecaps.
如今在冰岛 你能看到冰盖下的火山
You also see hot springs.
也能看到温泉
Bubbling pools where life could have started as well.
生命也可能诞生于这些冒泡的水池
Even in the hottest environments,
即使在最热的环境中
if you take a sample and you analyze its DNA,
取样做个DNA检测
there is life there.
也能发现生命
In the early Earth you can envisage these bubbling mud pools,
在早期的地球 你会看到这些冒泡的泥潭
where water dissolves the rocks and makes clay.
水将石头分解 和成稀泥
As the gas comes out,
当气体从泥潭中冒出
it forms a membrane which then bursts.
就形成了一个膜 随后破裂
So think of that membrane not bursting
想象一下 如果这个膜没有破裂
and actually preserving at a very, very small scale...
并在微观层面上保存了下来
And then if you mix organic molecules inside,
恰逢有机分子混入其中
you all of a sudden have an organic molecule inside a membrane
你就突然拥有了个被膜包裹的有机分子
to form a cell.
细胞的雏形
Without membranes we would be on a planet
如果没有膜 我们的星球
covered by a dilute ocean of the building blocks of life.
将只有无尽的海洋和被稀释的生命构件
But with membranes,
但由于膜的存在
finally there was a way to keep all those building blocks together.
才终于有了将这些生命构件聚集到一起的方式
I believe there were many opportunities for life to arise.
我相信地球上曾有许多生命诞生的机会
We may have had other types of lifeforms
可能存在过其他的生命形式
that came and went,
但都只是昙花一现
but didn't take, right?
并未久留 对吗
They didn't hit and stick.
它们没能生存下去
But one of them made it.
但有一种生命形式做到了
It's called LUCA,
它叫做LUCA
which stands for the Last Universal Common Ancestor,
是"共同祖先"的简称
for all life here on Earth.
生命之树的根基
LUCA could protect itself with a membrane and reproduce itself.
LUCA靠细胞膜来保护自己 同时进行自我复♥制♥
Everything came together in just the right way
所有元素都恰到好处地组合在一起
to create the first living cell, with DNA at its heart.
创造出第一个以DNA为核心的活细胞
Fast forward billions of years...
从那时起 快进几十亿年
And we find that all life today
我们会发现 当今所有生命
uses the same basic chemistry.
都使用着同一套遗传密♥码♥
And this points to one thing,
这揭示出一个事实
it all originated in that first primitive cell.
所有生命都起源于这一原始细胞
Alright, now my grandma,
我的奶奶
you know, she was kind of small.
身材矮小
But LUCA, the great, great, great times a gazillion grandmother of us all,
但我们的"曾曾曾曾曾……祖母" LUCA
she was tinier than a dot.
她甚至比一个点还要小
As far as we know,
据我们所知
that cell was the single and only origin of all life.
这个细胞是所有生命的唯一起源
Well, at least on Earth.
至少在地球上是这样
If you check out pretty much anywhere in the universe,
如果你走遍宇宙中的大部分地方
you're going to find the same ingredients to cook up life.
你会发现组成生命的原料都是相同的
They're not exotic, they're staples.
它们并不是外来的 而一直都在这里
Now sure, mixing them up just right is hard,
诚然 以一种恰巧正确的方式混合它们很难
but the universe is vast.
但是宇宙是浩渺的
So does that mean there's a big piping hot serving
所以这是不是就意味着 或许在别的什么地方
of life somewhere else out there?
还有个热闹非凡的生命工厂
That's what one group of explorers is trying to find out.
这是一群探险者正在努力搞清楚的事情
Hunting for strange lifeforms
他们正寻找奇怪的生命形式
not off-planet,
并非地球之外
but right here, in parts unknown.
而就在地球上不为人知的一隅
环境人类学家
肯尼·博德 教授