与摩根·弗里曼一起穿越虫洞（2010）

Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman S02E08

Part 3 April 19, 2021, 2:37 p.m.

目的是能够实施治疗效果
in order to be able to implement therapeutic effects
以对付你能够想到的任何疾病
for just about any disease that you can imagine.
可能性是无极限的
The possibilities are limitless.
克里斯的摄影细菌
Chris' photographic bacteria
能够自我开关
are able to turn themselves on and off
就像开关那样
like the flip of a switch.
但问题是
But the question is,
克里斯能够解决如何去程控那个开关么？
can Chris figure out how to program and control that switch?
我们希望看到细胞的编程
We'd like to see the programming of cells
如计算机编程
be the same as programming a computer
设计电子芯片那样
or designing an electronic chip,
这样作为程序员我们就会写出
where, as programmers, we would write out
我们所希望细胞要实现的确切功能
the exact function that we'd want the cells to do.
然后就会自动编译进
And then that would be automatically compiled
DNA序列里
into a DNA sequence
以计算机程序同样的方式
in the same way that a computer program
进行编译最终就是1和0
gets compiled, ultimately, into ones and zeroes.
那就是梦想
That's the dream.
生物机器人有可能有朝一日漫游在我们血管里
Bio robots may one day roam our blood streams,
监视我们的器官响应我们体内的报♥警♥
police our organs, and respond to our internal 911 calls,
让我们免遭病魔的威胁
keeping us free from the threat of disease.
克里斯·沃伊特及奥布里·德格雷
Chris Voigt's and Aubrey De Grey's research
让我们永葆健康的研究
to keep our bodies healthy for eternity
还处于起步阶段
is still in the beginning stages.
然而这是否意味着对我们凡人而言
But what does this mean for us mere mortals
将永远活不到
who will never live to see the day
长生不死指日可待之时了呢？
when immortality is within reach?
有一个令人毛骨悚然的可能性
There is one chilling possibility
将会给我们大家一个搁置起来的机会即使我们已不在世
that will give us all a chance to hang on, even after we die.
我们全都是基因里编就了
We're all genetically programmed
贪生怕死
to lust for life and to flee from death.
最终我们将会发现长生的秘密
Eventually, we will discover the secret of immortality,
但是我们现在还没有
but we're not there yet.
为了现在就诈死我们需要将年龄增长冰封起来
To cheat death right now, we need to put aging on ice
准备着在生命放弃我们很久之后
and be ready to grasp eternal life
把握永生
long after life abandons us.
格雷格·法伊是一位低温生物学家
Greg Fahy is a cryobiologist.
他的小组在21世纪医学生物技术装备的目标
The goal of his team at Biotech Outfit 21st Century Medicine
是冻结人体器官组织
is to freeze human organs and tissues
以使它们在今后若干世纪后能够复苏毫发无损
so that they can be revived, undamaged, centuries from now.
超低温储存是在极低温下的
Cryopreservation is the preservation of living systems
活体储存系统
at very low temperatures.
我们通常提及的温度是低到足以
We usually are referring to temperatures that are low enough
让你能够储存的系统长到随你怎么想
that you can store the system as long as you wish
然后让你再次去用它
before you use it again.
超低温储存关系到
Cryopreservation is essential
把一个细胞或组织器官
to get a cell or a tissue, an organ,
从某时某地到另一时另一地
from one place in time to another place in time
不让该系统在这个过程中发生变化
without allowing that system to change in the process.
科学家几十年来一直在尝试
Scientists have been trying
保存整个器官
to preserve whole organs for decades.
但是其难度远甚于将将食品扔进冰箱
But it's a lot harder than throwing food in the freezer.
生物物质冰冻时冰晶形成
When biological material freezes, ice crystals form,
将会把细胞推出其正常的位置
which push the cells out of their normal position.
你解冻器官后可能外表看上去很好
When you thaw the organ, it may look okay from the outside,
但里头已经损伤无法修复了
but on the inside, it's damaged beyond repair.
最大的问题我们认为其实在于力学
The biggest problem, we think, is really mechanical.
就是细胞间冰的构成
It's the formation of ice between cells.
如果细胞被赶出了其正常位置
If the cells are dislodged from their normal locations,
你就可能破坏了
then you can destroy
整体结构的功能
the function of that structure as a whole
哪怕细胞还活着
even if the cells survive.
格雷格及其团队决定将他们的努力集中在
Greg and his team decided to focus their efforts
防止体液的冻结
on preventing bodily fluids from freezing
最终开♥发♥出方法
and eventually developed a way
将那些液体转化成一种生物玻璃
to turn those fluids into a form of biological glass --
该技术他称之为玻璃化
a technique he calls vitrification.
玻璃化是玻璃的构造
Vitrification is the formation of a glass.
所以你如果取水将其混合进各种化学品中
So if you take water and you mix it with various chemicals
使其具有足够的化学浓度
in high-enough concentrations of chemical
然后将其降至低温
and then cool it down to low temperatures,
系统将永不冻结不管你温度有多低
the system will never freeze no matter how low you go.
为了测试
To test whether
玻璃化是否确实保护了整个器官的功能
vitrification actually preserves the function of whole organs,
格雷格小组玻璃化了一只兔子的肾脏
Greg's team vitrified a rabbit kidney.
这里时肾丛生实验室
This is the kidney profusion lab.
约翰在后台所做的
What John is doing in the background
是将其…透过肾脏的血管系统
is delivering...through the vascular system of the kidney
这样肾脏就不会冻结了
so the kidney becomes unfreezable.
肾脏放在一个特殊的容器里
The kidney is sitting in a special chamber.
该容器调温至
The chamber is temperature-conditioned
最低的毒性
to minimize toxicity.
此过程结束后
And at the end of the process,
肾脏就被取出进行移植
the kidney's taken out and is transplanted.
这个肾脏
This kidney,
尽管一直被储存在-22摄氏度
even though it has been stored at minus-22 degrees Celsius,
其功能一如正常的肾脏
works just as well as a normal kidney.
这证明了
It's proof
格雷格的玻璃化冷冻技术的实际功效
that Greg's vitrification technique actually works
有可能成为
and might be the key
将人类的器官保存至未来的关键
to preserving human organs far into the future.
如果你能将温度降至玻璃化的温度
So if you cool to below that glass-transition temperature,
我们的计算表明你就可以储存一个系统
our calculations indicate you can store a system
达数万年之久
for tens of thousands of years.
想想能够将你的躯体放在冰内
Imagine being able to put your body on ice
然后在万年之后进行复苏
and then being revived 10,000 years from now.
你会醒来发现自己
You could wake up and find yourself
已经身处在了科学使长生成为可能的时代
in an age when science has made immortality possible.
格雷格·法伊可能才刚刚起步
Greg Fahy may be just a few years
尚无法给一些特定人员打上一针永生的强心剂
from giving a few select people a shot at eternal life.
但是那只能发生在
But that can only happen
超低温冷冻能否整个人体对有效
if cryopreservation works on an entire human body,
不仅仅是单个器官如肾脏或膀胱
not just simple organs like the kidney or the bladder,
而是对其中最复杂的器官——大脑
but on the most complex organ of all -- the brain.
这是脑切片玻璃化实验室
This is the brain-slice vitrification lab.
实验对象是一片海马脑切片
The setup shows a hippocampal slice --
那部分大脑与学习记忆有关
the part of the brain that's associated with learning and memory --
放在小碟子里基本上是这样
in a little dish, essentially.
在右边我们有一个刺♥激♥电极
On the right side, we have a stimulating electrode coming in,
刺入切片
piercing the slice.
左边我们有一个记录电极
On the left side, we have a recording electrode.
这片切片已经被玻璃化了
This brain slice has been vitrified.
如果它仍然具有功能
If it's still functional,
电脉冲射入其中后
when a pulse of electricity is fired into it,
它应该会反射一个信♥号♥♥
it should fire a signal back.
让格雷格及其团队惊喜不已的是确实这样
To Greg and his team's surprise, it does.
电活动确实点燃了这片脑组织
Electrical activity actually sparks up in this brain tissue.
电反应
And the electrical response
完全强似其原来的状态
is every bit as strong as it was in its original state --
脑切片完全复苏了
the recovery of the brain slice complete.
保存一片大脑
Preserving a slice of the brain
是接下来保存整个东西关键的第一步
is a crucial first step toward preserving the whole thing.
这个雄心勃勃的项目格雷格已经在着手了
It's an ambitious project that Greg is already working on.
我们发现玻璃化大脑相当容易
We have found that it's fairly easy to vitrify the brain,
整个结构似乎都得到了保护
that all of the structure seems to be preserved.
但是我得说迄今为止
But I have to say that so far,
我们的技术水平尚达不到
our techniques are not up to the level
我们所希望的那种大胆的想法
that we would like for that kind of speculative idea.
但是我不能说你无法弥补
But I couldn't say that you couldn't make up
我们今天保鲜技术中的
for whatever deficiencies