宇宙（2007）

In the beginning, there was darkness
最初 宇宙是一片黑暗
and then, bang, giving birth to
紧接着一声巨响 混沌初开
an endless expanding existence of time, space and matter.
时间 空间和物质开始不断膨胀
Every day, new discoveries are unlocking
每天 我们都在解密这神秘莫测
the mysterious, the mind-blowing,
令人疯狂的极端之地
the deadly secrets of a place we call the universe.
宇宙
It bursts from the Sun
由太阳喷发
with the power of 10,000 nuclear weapons
相当于核武器一万倍的能量
heading straight for Earth.
径直冲向地球
Think of totally destroying the power grid of an entire continent.
想到整块大♥陆♥的所有电网都彻底摧毁
Television, radio, Internet all down.
电视 收音机 因特网都将停止运转
So is running water, fuel deliveries,
全世界的自来水 燃料供给
food and groceries across the globe.
食品和杂货店都无一幸免
These storms have a planetary footprint.
这些磁暴的影响是全球性的
And the potential for loss of life is quite large.
很多人会因此而丧生
Within a year, millions of people are dead.
不到一年 就有数百万人死亡
National infrastructures are ruined and may never come back.
国家基础设施被彻底毁灭
This isn't a disaster film.
这不是灾难片
This is a 2009 research report from the National Academy of Sciences.
这是美国国家科学院在2009年的一份研究报告
And some say the global catastrophe it outlines may be coming soon.
有人预言 报告所描述的全球灾难即将来临
We're overdue.
这一次迟迟未到
Solar magnetism.
太阳磁力
Why is it so deadly and so miSunderstood?
为何如此致命 令人费解呢
And is there anything we can do
我们能做些什么
to escape the magnetic storm?
以避免磁暴所带来的影响呢
Spring, 2013.
2013年 春天
The northern lights dazzle millions in the night skies above New York, Chicago,
北极光在纽约 芝加哥
Washington D.C., and across Europe.
华盛顿和整个欧洲上空发出耀眼光芒
These auroras are the result of a Coronal Mass Ejection.
这些极光的产生源于日冕物质抛射
Also known as a CME,
或称为CME
It's a massive magnetic flare from the Sun.
这是来自太阳的巨大的磁耀斑
The extreme magnetic field is like an explosion on the surface of the Sun,
这种极强的磁场就像是太阳表面发生的爆♥炸♥
and it's 10 to the 25 joules worth of energy.
磁场等同于10的25次幂焦耳的能量
That's a hundred million times more energy
比人类制♥造♥的最大的核装置所产生的能量
than the largest nuclear device that man has ever made.
还要强一亿倍
Billions of tons of solar material fired off into space...
数十亿吨♥的太阳物质向宇宙中喷射
Electrically charged, magnetically polarized,
带电的 磁极化的物质
aimed directly at us.
直向我们侵袭而来
These things are the size of, well, they're a hundred-thousand miles across.
这些物质宽度足有十万英里
They're a third the size of the Sun.
是太阳体积的三分之一
So it's like accelerating the whole Mississippi river
它就像是整条快速流动的密西西比河
and making it move at a million miles an hour toward the Earth.
以每小时一百万英里的速度流向地球
Scientists at NASA's Goddard space center
NASA戈达德航♥天♥飞行中心的科学家们
observe the solar flare,
观察了此次太阳耀斑
but the CME is moving faster than anticipated.
日冕物质抛射移♥动♥速度之快超出人们预料
90 seconds after citizens first see the northern lights,
人们首次看到北极光之后 不到90秒
most of the continent goes dark.
这块大♥陆♥的大部分就已陷入一片黑暗
The magnetic storm sends ultra-high voltage
磁暴通过电线发射出极高的电压
through power lines across north America.
横扫北美洲
It creates a really strong magnetic field
它创造了一个真正的强力磁场
that induces another current and so on,
不断吸进新的电流
and the current gets so strong it melts the wire
电流变得越来越强 直至融化电线
and then you got a lot of energy being released.
最后释放出很大的能量
It explodes the transformer.
导致变压器爆♥炸♥
Giant transformers explode in city after city.
不同城市中巨大的变压器相继爆♥炸♥
All electricity disappears.
所有的电力消失殆尽
So do communications as satellites are burnt out.
卫星被烧毁 通讯因而中断
There are no phones, no television,
没有电♥话♥ 没有电视
no radio, no Internet.
没有收音机 没有因特网
The whole infrastructure would be damaged.
所有的基础设施被毁
We wouldn't have communications.
我们将失去通讯
We wouldn't have so many different things.
我们将失去很多东西
And the electricity will not be coming back.
停电时间是漫长的
We could damage enough transformers in one storm
一场磁暴就足以毁灭大部分的变压器
that it would take several years of the entire world's manufacturing capability
全世界共同努力 需要几年的时间
to replace all of those damaged transformers.
才能重建被毁的变压器
Without power, infrastructure collapses.
没有电 基础设施就会瘫痪
The first thing to go: Water.
首先影响到的是 水
Without electricity for pumps,
水泵没有电
city tap water will go dry within a day.
一天之内 城市里的水管就会干涸
The same is true for gas pumps and gas stations.
油泵和加油站也是一样
Without fuel, national trucking stops.
没有燃料 国家货运停滞
So do food deliveries to grocery stores.
食物也没法送到杂货店
People can't leave the cities because their gas tanks are empty.
人们无法离开城市 因为他们的车没有燃料
They can't use their credit cards or ATMs
他们用不了信♥用♥卡♥或者自动取款机
without electrical power and phone connections.
因为没有电源和电♥话♥连接
No power, no gas, no food,
没有电 没有油 没有食物
no water, and no end in sight.
没有水 看不到希望
Think of totally destroying the power grid of an entire continent.
想到整块大♥陆♥的所有电网都彻底摧毁
We would be basically put back in the dark ages.
我们好似基本上回到了黑暗时代
And no help is coming
没有援助
since the magnetic storm has devastated the entire northern hemisphere.
因为磁暴已经毁坏了整个北半球
These storms have a planetary footprint.
这些磁暴的影响是全球性的
They extend not only across entire continents,
不仅侵袭整个大♥陆♥
but arguably across the entire planet.
而且可以说是肆虐全球
It's not just a magnetic storm.
这不仅仅是一场磁暴
It's a magnetic apocalypse.
这是一场磁灾
There would be billions or even trillions of dollars of lost economy.
经济损失可能高达数十亿 甚至数万亿美元
And that's not the only thing lost.
我们失去的还不止这些
The consequences and the potential for loss of life are quite large,
还有很多人会因此丧生
perhaps taking out a third to a half of the population
数目可能达到世界文明地区人口的
of the civilized portions of the world.
三分之一到二分之一
Sound unlikely?
听起来不可思议吗
But that is exactly
但这确实是
the conclusion of the National Academy of Sciences report from 2009.
美国国家科学院2009年度的研究报告结论
A magnetic storm from the Sun
来自太阳的磁暴
could wipe out our technological infrastructure,
将彻底摧毁我们的科技基础设施
killing millions of people
扼杀数百万条人命
and destroying much of what we think of as 21st century civilization.
并将毁灭大部分我们心目中的21世纪的文明
It's not just guesswork.
这不仅仅是猜测
A solar magnetic storm actually knocked out power to Quebec in 1989,
太阳磁暴确实在1989年摧毁了魁北克电网
blacking out an entire Canadian province.
令这个加拿大省份全面停电
But that storm was small.
但是那场磁暴很小
We're seeing storm events over the last 30 years or so
我们将面临的磁暴威力是三十多年来前所未有的
that jumped up literally 10 times larger than that 1989 storm.
其威力将是1989年那场磁暴的10倍
A new generation of solar satellites
新一代太阳人造卫星
has revealed just how big these solar flares are,
已经显示了 这些太阳耀斑的威力何等巨大
and how vulnerable our planet is.
以及我们的星球是多么不堪一击
As a society, we are not prepared for
我们这个社会并没有准备好
a long-term blackout of the power grid.
应付长时期的停电生活
Can this scenario be prevented?
我们能阻止这一幕的发生吗
Possibly.
也许
But only by understanding
但是只有先弄清楚
one of the most basic forces of the universe
宇宙中最为基本的力量
and one of the least understood: magnetism.
也是最不可思议的力量 磁力
Magnetism is key to understanding a lot of physics
要理解很多物理现象 磁力是关键
Because it affects a lot of things.
因为它影响着很多事
It affects how stars condense.
星球的聚合
It affects how galaxies form.
星系的形成
It affects how black holes collapse.
黑洞的塌陷
Magnetism is everywhere and in nearly everything.
磁力无所不在 蕴含在万物之中
It is one of the four fundamental forces of physics,
它是物理中四个基本力量之一
The forces that keep the universe itself together.
它使宇宙凝聚在一起
Physicists have identified
物理学家们已经识别出
four fundamental forces at play in nature.
构成自然的四种基本力量
There's a strong nuclear force that holds atoms together;
强核力使原子聚合在一起
The weak nuclear force, that also has to do with
弱核力也能
holding together particles and atoms;
将原子和粒子聚合在一起
And gravity, with which we are all familiar,
然后是重力 我们都很熟悉它
And then electromagnetism is the fourth.
最后一个就是电磁力