宇宙（2007）

The Universe S01E13

Part 1 April 22, 2021, 8:13 p.m.

In the beginning, there was darkness.And then... BANG!
开始宇宙一片昏暗
接着一声巨响
Giving birth to an endless expandingexistence of time, space and matter.
诞生了一个崭新的宇宙空间
Now, see further than we've ever imaginedbeyond the limits of our existence,
我们去探寻们想象的空间
超越我们存在的空间
in a place we call...THE UNIVERSE.
我们将它叫做宇宙
Are we alone in the Universe?
宇宙中只有我们吗？
Are we the only ones who look upat the stars and wonder,
只有我们在观看奇妙的行星吗？
"Is anybody out there?"
还有外族存在吗？
Today, scientists quest for the answerin different ways.
今天科学家用不同的方法来确定答案
Some with massiveradio telescopes,
有些利用大型的无线电设备
some with interplanetarian,interstellar probes.
有些利用外层空间探测器
If we find extraterrestrial life,what will it look like?
加果我们发现了外层空间的生命
那会是何种景象？
Soft and squishy?
柔软的组织？
Or will the first aliens we contact
或者，我们最初接触的外星人
simple be self-replicating machines,
不过是发射在太空的机器装置？
their biological creators havingdied off millions of years ago?
它们的生物形体已经消亡
已经过去了数百万年
Some of the top scientists in the worldprobe for answers
世界上最高级别的科学家在寻找答案
in the search for E.T.
寻找外星人
片名宇宙寻找外星人
It is the question that has keptmany people awake at night
这个问题，让无数人无法入眠
staring at the stars,
他们盯着星星
pondering the possibilities.
希望有一种可能
In a galaxy filled witha billion stars,
在一个星系里，有数百万颗行星
in a Universe filled witha hundred billion galaxies,
在宇宙中，有数百万个星系
are we alone?
还有别的生命存在吗？
The incredible vastness of the Universeis difficult to comprehend.
高速运转的宇宙让人无法琢磨
But here is a way to consider it.
但是，我们在考虑
If you were to shrink the Sundown to the size of a marble,
加果在太阳附近的星球比作一个大理石
and put it on a sidewalk indowntown Manhattan,
把它放在曼哈顿的街上
the Earth would be a pinprickabout 4 feet away,
地球距离它只有五英尺远
Mars would be 2 feet beyond that.
火星距离它的位置在两英尺之外
The nearest other star,
我们或许会在其它行星上发现高等生物
where we might hope to findintelligent life,
Alpha Centauri,
维克多利或许只距离100英里
would not be 10 or 100 feet away,
it would be in Washington DC.
那是在华盛顿Dc
230 miles distant.
230英里的距离
And another star might be as much as7,000 miles away,
另外一颗行星
或许只有七千英里远
in Rio de Janeiro.
那真的是非常近
But if we ever did chance upon voyagers
但是，我们加果真的有机会
from these distant pointsin the Cosmos,
到这些星球上探索
what would they look like?
它们到底会是何种景象？
Would they be basicallythe same as us?
是和我们一样吗？
Would they befundamentally different?
还是有着本质不同
Could they be perhapsso strange and unusual
很有可能，非常不同寻常
that they're unlike anythingwe ever dreamed
它们和我们所梦想的无一点相似
or dreaded could exist?
或者，到底存在外星人吗？
Many believe the questfor extraterrestrial life
很多人认为外星人已经开始
must really begin within a tensescrutiny of our terrestrial life,
它们存在于外层空间
life on Earth,might have begun.
在地球上的生命可能会灭亡
And in the early 1950s,
在1955年的早期
two chemists atthe University of Chicago
芝加哥大学的两个化学家
advanced understanding of life's basicchemistry dramatically.
他们了解基本的化学现象
惊奇的发现
Nobel laureate chemist,Harold Urey,
化学家希拉里?盖瑞
and graduate student,Stanley L. Miller,
他的学生斯坦利?艾尔梅勒
concocted a batch ofprimordial soup.
他们在寻找史前大气
They injected methane,ammonia,
他们注入了氢气，氮气，还有液态水
hydrogen and water, into a closedsystem of glass bulbs and tubes.
将它们混合在一个玻璃容器中
These chemicals are thought to havebeen commonplace on early Earth.
这些化学物质被放在一个普通的地方
被认为是早期地球的大气
If you put all of these thingsinto a container,
加果你将所有这些物体放加容器中
and supply some formof energy to do
提供一些能量
some kind of reactions,
会看到一些影响斤普克汤姆?斯探索中心
what do they make?What kind of reactions go on?
那会发生什么反应呢？
Miller and Urey energized the mix withelectrical sparks
他们用电流进行袭击
to simulate lightning.
模拟闪电袭击
The results were... well,electrifying.
结果，引起电器失火
They got a brown sludgeon the walls of their chamber.
我将电闸烧坏了
And when they started analysingthat brown sludge
当他们开始分♥析♥有什么结果的时候
there were lots of organicmaterials in it
发现里面有很多有机物
and some of themwere amino acids.
有一些是有机大分子
some of the precursors,the building blocks for proteins.
有一些是有机小分子
Proteins, of course, are in turnthe building blocks for life.
有机分子当然是生命的必须分子
The Miller-Ureyexperiment had demonstrated
梅勒的试验展示了可以生成有机分子
that the precursors of living organisms
could have gotten their startfrom a chemical reaction.
可以从化学反应开始
And such reactions aren'tlimited to Earth.
这样的反应局限在地球上
Methane, ammonia,hydrogen and water
氮气，氢气还有水
are plentiful on other cosmic bodieswithin our own Solar System,
在我们的太阳系中很少同时存在
and, many scientists believe,throughout the Universe.
而且，大多数科学家相信
整个宇宙都是加此
Indeed, notedastronomer Carl Sagan,
确实卡罗?赛根模拟了梅勒的实验
speaking of the Miller-Urey test,
stated that no other single experimenthad done more
他阐述到，再也没有别的实验可以说服科学家
to convince scientists that lifeis likely abundant in the Cosmos.
生命在在这样的环境下可以诞生
But the presence of waterwas key.
但是现在的水，是关键因素
Such a chemical reactioncould not have taken place without it.
这样的化学反应
加果没有水分的话是无法发生的
Water is very good atdissolving materials,
水分很容易将物质溶解在内
much better than many other liquids.
比任何物质都要好
And so you can dissolveall sorts of nutrients
所以可以加入很多物质亚当?谢尔曼亚利桑那州大学
and chemical products, things thatcan act as catalysts,
化学物质
things that go through the chemicalreactions of life.
这些化学物质可以结合在一起
So water is an excellent liquidfor storing all those chemicals.
反应就会发生
所以水分是化学反应的必要物质
On Earth, where liquid water exists,
在地球上，有液态的水分存在
no matter how extremethe environment,
不管是在任何恶劣的情况下
some form of lifealso resides.
任何生命都有液态水分
It resides at ocean depthsso great,
海洋中蕴藏着丰富的水分
sunlight cannot reach them.
太阳无法触及他们
It resides in damp, rocky crevicesmiles beneath the Earth's surface.
在岩石的深处存在
距离地球表面数千英尺
And it even residesin the extreme salinity
甚至存在于加州湖水的地下
of an ancient Californian lake,
with a salt contentof above 10%.
水中的盐分大约在百分之十左右
That's three times the percentof salt in the ocean.
这是海洋中的三倍多
But life on Earthalso needs carbon,
但是地球上的生命还需要其它元素
which was in fact the primary substancegenerated by the Miller-Urey experiment.
这是最开始地球产生的物质
也就是开始实验所演示的
All life forms as we know them,
所有的生命形式都为我们熟悉
consist, in large part,of carbon molecules.
无论是大型公园还是任何地方
Life needs some sort of abilityto create long molecules
生命需要这样基本的元素
that can store information.
Carbon is amazing atbuilding long molecules.
利用它们存储各种能源所以它是非常神奇的
它可以延续漫长的生命线
So, for example, the DNA molecule
比加说DN八生命遗传基因
is sort of a billion base pairs long.
那有数百万个之多
If you stretched out a single DNAmolecule from one of your cells,
加果你展开任何一个分子
it would be a yard long.
那将有一英尺长
From a single one ofyour trillion of cells.
这还只是单单的一个
So you need something that can storethe absolute huge amount of information
所以它可以存储很多物质
that it takes to build a creaturelike a lion, or a human or a tree.
无论是任何生物，狮子
人类，或者是松树
But if life has taken hold elsewherein our galaxy, or beyond,
加果在我们星系里还有其它生命
would these conditions necessarilyhold true?
或者是超越它的生命
这些都是事实吗？
Would extraterrestrial life bewater and carbon based?
这些物质都是以水为基础的吗？
Would DNA shape intelligent life, andwould the aliens look anythink like us?
DN八形成了生命的基本形式
外星人是否同我们一样
Maybe they would looka little bit like us,
或许和我们一样西斯?斯托克外星研究所
but that would be very,very coincidental.
那样的情况可能也有
I mean, I just saw a ground squirrelrunning behind a bush over here,
我刚才在树丛那边看到一个小女孩
and he inhabits the same planet I do,
他种了和我一样的植物
probably 70% of hisDNA is the same as mine.
植物的DN八可能和我身体的数目一样多
He doesn't look like me.So why would the aliens look like me?
但是，它的样子和我不同为什么外星人像我们？
They probably wouldn't.
可能不会
A scientist who has spent time ponderingsuch questions,