与摩根·弗里曼一起穿越虫洞（2010）

Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman S02E09

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

you will start seeing motion underneath the surface.
现在你看到了翻滚
Now you see the overturn.
现在你看到物体
Now you start seeing things
往各个方向活动
that are moving all sorts of directions.
不只是向上运动
It's not just moving up.
随着温度的提升
As heat rises,
它在地幔中形成了对流体
it forms convective cells in the mantle,
这引发了表面板块的移♥动♥
which cause the plates on the surface to shift.
这些移♥动♥触发了火山喷发和地震
These shifts trigger volcanic eruptions and earthquakes --
与我们生死攸关的事件
events we associate more with death than life.
但这只是短暂的情形
But that's just the short-term view.
从戴安娜的地质学角度
From Diana's geological perspective,
此种从我们星球内部到大气层的物质循环
this cycling of material from the inside of our planet
对生命的进化一直是至关重要的
to the atmosphere has been vital to the evolution of life.
多亏了这个过程
Thanks to this process,
地球的表面温度
the surface temperature of the Earth
没有摇摆得很厉害
has not swung very much,
液态水一直围绕着它
and it has been around that of liquid water
长达数十亿年
for over billions of years.
超级地球更大
Super earths are bigger
所以内部更热
and therefore hotter on the inside.
你开大热量后
And when you turn up the heat,
板块构造就加大了马力
plate tectonics kicks into a higher gear.
那或许就意味着更多的火山喷发更多的地震
That may mean more volcanoes and more earthquakes.
但同时星球有了更加稳定的温度
But also, a planet with a much more stable temperature.
在超级地球上
On super earths,
因为对流要快得多
because convection would be much faster,
这种循环可能影响也快得多
this cycle could respond much quicker --
或许是数量级的加快
perhaps an order of magnitude quicker.
于是我们就可以推测
And then we can speculate
那已经具有了复杂生命进化的可能
that that has enabled the evolution of complex life.
来想想超级地球
Think about how a super earth
将会如何应对抹去了
would have dealt with the impact
恐龙的陨星的撞击的
of the meteorite that wiped out the dinosaurs.
在地球上这个事件引发了全球性严冬
On Earth, this event triggered an extended global winter
招致了那些冷血巨无霸的灭亡
that spelled the demise of those cold-blooded giants.
然而在更大的星球上
But on a bigger planet,
能够更好地控制其温度
better able to control its temperature,
恐龙或许能幸免于难
dinosaurs might survive
有机会进化出更大的大脑
and have the chance to evolve bigger brains.
但是生活在巨大版本的地球上
However, there is one major downside
有一个严重的缺陷
to living on a giant version of Earth.
我们地球的核心是一个旋转的液态金属球
The core of our world is a spinning ball of liquid metal
产生出强大的磁场
generating a powerful magnetic field.
该磁场偏转了从太阳发出的危险辐射流
That field deflects a torrent of dangerous radiation from the Sun
构成了一个对这里的所有生命的保护盾
and forms a protective cocoon for all life here.
戴安娜的模型预测
Diana's models predict
超级地球或许就没有这样的力场
that super earths may not have these force fields.
极有可能
It's very possible
这些行星并没有熔核
that these planets do not have a molten core,
因为其内部压力太大
because their interiors are under so much pressure.
因此你如果作为生物
So, if you are a creature in a planet
在一颗没有磁场的行星上
that doesn't have a geomagnetic field,
就会一直遭受高能粒子的轰击
you are being bombarded by high-energy particles,
它们会与你的细胞发生作用
and those are interacting with your cells,
引发突变大概这样
causing mutations, probably.
因此你就得更加机灵作为一个有机体
So, you have to be clever, as an organism,
去适应这样的环境
to adapt to those conditions.
何种外星人能够存活在
What kind of alien could survive
浸泡在辐射里的超级地球上呢？
on a radiation-soaked super earth?
它将需要有一个保护壳
It would need a protective shell,
或许搀和了铅之类的重金属
perhaps laced with heavy metals like lead.
它将会有强大的肢体和锋利的爪子
It would have powerful limbs and sharp claws
使其在强烈的辐射爆发期间
to let it burrow under the ground
钻入底下
during heavy radiation bursts.
最为重要的是它将需要
Most important, it would need
有效的基因修复机制
effective genetic repair mechanisms
来修复对其细胞不可避免的辐射伤害
to fix the inevitable radiation damage to its cells.
纯属幻想？或许不是
Pure fantasy? Maybe not.
类似的生命形式
Similar life-forms,
虽然小许多叫做水熊虫
albeit much smaller, called water bears,
存活在地球上滚烫的高辐射地区
survive in boiling-hot,
岩质超级地球的居民
radiation-blasted regions on Earth.
有可能看上去
Inhabitants of rocky super earths
惊人的类似
might look surprisingly familiar.
然而来想象一下一个没有岩石的世界里
But imagine a world where there is no rock,
生物生活在海洋里
and where creatures living in the ocean
以及飞翔在天空中
also fly through the sky.
地球上
On Earth,
进化产生了生命的千变万化
evolution has produced countless variations on life --
动物潜行水中
animals that glide through the water
翱翔天空
and soar through the sky.
芸芸众生或滑或爬或走或跑
Beings that slither, crawl, walk, and run.
如果其它星球上的生命
If life on other worlds
遵循我们这里的生命进化模式
follows the evolutionary pattern of life here,
会有其它什么令人费解的特色出现呢？
what other mind-bending features might arise?
好你有了一颗行星有了大气层
Okay. So, you got the planet, you've got the atmosphere.
夸张的
Exaggerated.
对
Yeah.
在剑桥市麻省理工学院
At M.I.T. in Cambridge,
天体物理学家萨拉·西格和生物化学家威廉·贝恩斯
astrophysicist Sara Seager and biochemist William Bains
开始想象
are beginning to imagine
这些遥远的星球会是何种模样
what these distant worlds will be like.
大气会出自某处
The atmosphere's gonna come from somewhere,
这样你就有了火山不断产生出大气
so you're gonna have volcanoes producing atmosphere.
他们试图预测行星的大小与成分将如何
They're trying to predict how a planet's size and composition
塑造其生物圈的
will shape its biosphere.
在发现日外行星之前
Before the discovery of exoplanets,
人们以为所有的行星系
people thought that all planetary systems
都与我们太阳系相像
would be like our solar system.
从那时起
And since that time,
日外行星与日外行星系的发现
discoveries of exoplanets and exoplanetary systems
让我们一次又一次的惊讶
have surprised us over and over and over again.
那么有啥变化呢？通通变了
So, what has changed? Everything has changed.
大多数科幻小说假设
Most science fiction assumes
外星人会四处奔走
that aliens are gonna be walking around,
它们要呼吸空气
they're gonna be breathing air.
你知道的它们登上飞船
You know, they landed a starship,
它们与船长共餐
and they shared dinner with the captain.
你看某些行星环境
You look at some of the planetary environments
外面的
out there,
那是不会发生的
and that is not gonna happen.
那将会是截然不同的
It's gonna be very different.
最近萨拉和威廉
Recently, Sara and William
一直在研究GJ1214b
have been studying GJ 1214B,
一颗40光年外的行星
a planet about 40 light-years away
是地球大小的两倍还多
that's more than twice the size of Earth
显示出有大气层的迹象
and shows signs of having an atmosphere.
他俩正致力于发现
Together they are working to discover
GJ1214b云层下方
what it might be like
会是何种情况
to descend beneath the clouds of 1214B.
现在这个星球
Now, this planet --
我们无法完全肯定其成分是什么
we're not totally sure what it's made of,
但它有可能是颗水行星有水蒸气
but it could be a water planet with a steam atmosphere.
根据该行星的温度
And depending on the temperature of the planet,
其液态水与具有水蒸气之间的
the clean division between liquid water
清晰界限可能并不存在
and air with water vapor in it may not exist.
有何种生命可能会出现在
What sort of life could possibly emerge
一个滚烫的蒸汽世界里呢？
on a boiling-hot, steam world?
这个在地球上
So, on Earth,
此种具有开水和蒸汽的环境