与摩根·弗里曼一起穿越虫洞（2010）

Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman S02E08

Part 2 April 19, 2021, 2:37 p.m.

你就可以从2年到100年
you can go from 2 years to 100 years.
并没有物理定律
There's no law of physics
阻止我们发现长寿的秘密
that prevents us from finding the secret of longevity,
这个秘密或许就是长生不死
the secret, perhaps, even of immortality.
举个例子如果你取上数以百万计的老人的基因组
If you take, for example, the genome of millions of old people
及数以百万计的年轻人的基因组
and the genome of millions of young people --
那是我们未来几年要做的事——相互抵减
which we will do in the coming years -- and subtract,
你就会发现衰老聚集的基因
you will then find the genes where aging is concentrated.
目前我们已经确定有60个基因
Already, we've identified over 60 genes
牵涉到衰老过程
involved in the aging process.
现在问题是
Now, the question is,
你如何将人的百年人生改编成
how do you reprogram a human that lives 100 years
2千或3千岁的老人呢？
to be now a 2,000- or 3,000-year-old person?
瓦尔特那保持我们引擎永久运行下去的使命
Valter's mission to keep our engines running forever
刚刚开始他将长♥期♥投身于此
has just begun, and he's in it for the long haul.
假设我们找到了方法
Suppose we do find a way
来保持我们的引擎运行数百年甚至更长
to keep our engines running for hundreds of years or more.
我们都会在很长时间内老态龙钟
We would all be very old for a very long time.
但这位科学家
But this scientist
在寻求方法让我们不仅仅只是长生不死
is digging for ways to keep us not just eternally alive...
而是永葆青春
but eternally young.
取我们目前的寿命
Take our current life-span
将其延长5倍甚至10倍长
and stretch it 5 or even 10 times longer.
我们青春的快乐将会持续像无尽的夏天
The joys of our youth would endure like an endless summer.
但想象一下日后的痛苦羸弱的身躯
But imagine suffering decade after decade with fragile bones,
衰退的视力脆弱的心灵
failing eyesight, and an ever-more-feeble mind.
如果我们想长生不死我们就不能光延长生命
If we want to become immortal, we can't just extend life.
我们需要探索如何去保持我们的身体永葆青春
We need to discover how to keep our bodies eternally youthful.
奥布里·德格雷认为自己就是现代的玛士撒拉
Aubrey De Grey thinks of himself as a modern-day Methuselah.
他毕生都致力于抗衰老
He has dedicated his career to fighting aging.
奥布里认为如今出生的许多人
Aubrey believes that many people who are born today
能够活到1千岁
could live to be 1,000 years old
并且大部分时间里都保持身体的青春
and remain physically young for most of that time.
关键是良好的生物料理
The key is a matter of good biological housekeeping --
清除我们体内的垃圾
taking the trash out of ourselves.
结果的确就是
So, what happens, indeed,
体内某种材料
is that certain types of material in the body
就是堆积的垃圾
just accumulate junk.
某种垃圾堆积在细胞内部及细胞间
Certain types of junk accumulate inside cells and between cells
我们并不认为是垃圾的东西如DNA
and stuff that we would not think of as junk, like DNA,
任意堆积那就是一类垃圾
accumulates randomness, which is a type of junk.
细胞有项重要职责
Cells have the important job
就是不断分解废物
of constantly breaking down waste,
它们几乎都擅长于此
and they're mostly pretty good at it.
但有时细胞
But sometimes a cell
遇到的东西会非常怪异
comes across things that are so weird...
这种降解机械对它们毫无作用
none of this degradation machinery works on them.
此时垃圾会重新通向
That's when the junk gets re-routed
所谓的溶酶体
to what's called the lysosome,
细胞里容纳
a vessel that houses
最强大降解机械的容器
the most powerful degradation machinery in the cell.
如果垃圾得不到分解
And if the garbage can't be broken down,
那就会永远堆在那里
it stays there forever.
奥布里认为垃圾堆积在
Aubrey believes that the accumulation of garbage
溶酶体的存储单元里就是衰老的肇因
in the lysosomal storage unit is what causes aging.
他想将我们体内的这些堆积物释放出来
And he wants to free our bodies of these buildups.
他认为最合乎逻辑的方法
He realized the most logical way
就是仔细看看这些废物
was to take a close look at waste itself.
他想知道，在自然界有什么喜欢吃垃圾？
And he wondered, "In nature, what likes to eat junk?"
我们在研究一个想法
We're working on an idea
我们或许能够找到别的物种
that we might be able to find other species,
尤其是细菌能够分解
especially bacteria, that are able to break down
堆积在人体内的物质
the substances that accumulate in the human body.
奥布里追寻青春之泉
Aubrey's hunt for the fountain of youth
将其引至最后的安息之地——墓地
led him to a final resting place -- graveyards.
由于墓地到处都是
Since graveyards are riddled
白骨累累
with the waste of decomposing bodies,
他怀疑他有可能找到
he suspected he might find microbes
寄生在尸体上的微生物
who live to feast on death.
如果我们能够找到它们用来
And if we can find the genes and enzymes that they are using
实际发挥作用的基因和酶
to actually perform that function,
那么我们就有可能将那些基因和酶
then we might be able to put those genes and enzymes
放入我们自己的细胞里
into our own cells
这样我们自己的细胞就能分解
so that our own cells can break stuff down
那些不能自己自然分解的东西
that they could not naturally break down.
长寿的秘密有可能就在6呎之下
The secret to longevity might be 6 feet under.
奥布里及其团队仍然在搜寻合适的微生物
Aubrey and his team are still digging for the right microbe
将会引进到哺乳动物的细胞里
that will work in mammalian cells.
他们一旦找到
And when they find it,
他认为我们都将永远生活在25岁时
he believes we will all live like 25-year-olds forever.
我认为我们在接下来的25年左右
I think that we have maybe a 50/50 chance
或许有50对50的机会
in the next 25 years or so
来开♥发♥我所认为的第一代
of developing what I think of as the first generation
真正的返老还童的生物技术
of bona fide rejuvenation biotechnology.
换句话说
In other words,
有了足够全面的技术
technologies that are sufficiently comprehensive
我们将它们带给中年人
that we can give them to middle-aged people,
六七十岁的人将他们照料得健健康康
people 60 or 70 or so, and fix them up well enough
他们就不会再次变成生物学上六七十岁
that they don't become biologically 60 or 70 again
直到30年之后还是那样
until 30 years later or something like that.
奥布里在寻求抗衰老的妙法
Aubrey is looking for the magic bullet that will fight aging,
但合成生物学家克里斯·沃伊特
but synthetic biologist Chris Voigt
正在寻求构建整个部队
is looking to build an entire army
用来自整个自然界里的各个部件
out of various parts from all over nature.
好我们来试试
All right. Let's give this a shot.
我们在合成生物学里经常做的一件事
One of the things we're often trying to do
创造新的功能
in synthetic biology is create new functions
采用已经存在于自然界里的用于其他目的的部件
out of parts that already exist in nature for other reasons.
所以我们经常要走出去捕获这些部件
So we're often having to go out and grab those components
它们来自不同的生物体并将它们放在一块
from different organisms and put them together.
克里斯搜寻微生物
Chris searches for microorganisms
通过生物学来找到合适的部件
throughout biology to find the right parts.
它们归宿到他的实验室
And they end up at his lab
位于旧金山的加州大学
at the University of California, San Francisco,
在那里生物学遇上了机械学
where biology meets mechanics.
你看人类能够抗争疾病
When you look at being able to fight disease,
不管是否能识别恶性细胞与否
whether it's identifying malignant cells
并且杀死它们
and killing them,
我们努力搜查垃圾的全部作用
we're trying to go through the garbage of all the functions
它们都出自自然界
that are out in the natural world
找出那些对我们有用的
and identify those that are useful to us
努力做到能够认出
in trying to be able to identify
体内正确的病态
a correct disease state in the body.
为了构造能够检测器周围环境的生物机器人
To build a bio robot that can detect its surroundings,
克里斯及其团队需要找到带有传感器的有机体
Chris and his team needed to find an organism with a sensor.
他们找到了就在一潭死水里
And they found it... in pond scum...
他们发现其中的藻类都配备有光传感器
where they discovered that algae are equipped with light sensors.
我们用一种细菌它通常生长在你的肠道里
We took a bacterium that normally lives in your gut --
所以它无需光照
so it's not used to the Sun shining --
我们放入一个来自藻类的光传感器
and we put in a light sensor out of an algae.
在克里斯的细菌暗房♥里
Inside Chris' bacterial darkroom,
菌落
colonies of bacteria
现在植入了藻类光传感器
that are now implanted with algae light sensors
能够拍摄到投影图像
are able to take photographs of slide-projected images.
看上去像是细菌艺术
It might look like bacterial art,
但这是迈向
but this is the first big step
打造程控生物机器人的第一大步
toward creating programmable biological robots
它将让我们的身体永葆健康
that will keep our bodies healthy forever.
细菌遍布我们体内
There are bacteria all throughout our bodies,
我们能够改编这些细菌
and we can reprogram those bacteria