与摩根·弗里曼一起穿越虫洞（2010）

Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman S05E05

Part 1 April 19, 2021, 3:02 p.m.

或许有只不为人知的生物
There could be an undiscovered species
潜藏在地球表面
lurking on the surface of the earth.
但这只生物不同于我们所知的
But this creature is unlike any life form
任何生命形式
we've ever imagined.
它的躯体可以横跨数千英里
Its body could span thousands of miles.
它的心脏每千年跳动一次
It has a heart that beats once every 1,000 years
它的免疫系统可以扫除
and an immune system that could wipe out
地球上几乎所有的生物
nearly all life on earth.
它甚至还有大脑
It may even have a brain.
海洋本身会是一只活的并会思考的生物吗？
Could the vast ocean itself be a living, thinking creature?
如果这样，它又是如何看我们的呢？
If so, what does it think of us?
空间，时间，生命本身
Space, time, life itself.
宇宙之谜，尽在穿越虫洞
The secrets of the cosmos lie through the wormhole.
与摩根·弗里曼一起穿越虫洞（S05E05）
Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman (S05E05)
海洋会思考吗？
Does the Ocean Think?
我们总在星空中寻找
We've always looked to the stars
其他智慧生命存在的迹象
for signs of other intelligent life,
但也许我们找错了方向
but we may be staring in the wrong direction.
一个远比我们人类自身
A nonhuman intelligence
更复杂的生物
far more sophisticated than our own
也许就在地球上
could be right here on earth.
广袤的海洋是地球陆地的边缘
Our vast ocean is this planet's last frontier.
科学家想要知道的不再是海洋是什么，而是海洋是谁
Some scientists are asking not what, but who it is.
你是否有过有谁在身边的感觉
Have you ever felt someone's presence,
但又看不到他们？
but you couldn't see them?
小时候我走在森林里
When I walked in the woods as a kid,
总觉得树木似乎能够意识到我的存在
it often seemed like the trees were aware of me.
有时候，我甚至觉得能够听到树木间的谈话
Sometimes, I thought I could hear them talking.
我想，“整个森林是否就是一个有意识的生物呢”
I wondered, "Could the whole forest be a conscious being?"
安德斯·尼尔森为一种化学分子所着迷
Anders Nielsen has always been obsessed
它是地球上所有生命的基础
with the chemical that is the foundation
这种分子就是
of all life on earth --
液态水
liquid H2O, water.
小时候，每个夏天我都要
When I was a kid, I would spend, like, every summer
每天在湖里游5个小时的泳
maybe five hours a day swimming in the lakes,
在水里玩耍
just playing around in the water.
那些日子里，我很喜欢待在水里
And these days, I love just to hang out in the water.
这种感觉非常奇妙
It's just a beautiful experience
似乎自己的身体都融在了水里
to feel like your body's dissolving into the water.
当安德斯成为了一名化学家
When Anders became a chemist,
他对水更加着迷了
his obsession with water grew even deeper.
水分子之间
Water has this ability
能够形成氢键
to form what's called hydrogen bonds,
即一个水分子的氢原子
where a hydrogen atom in one water molecule
与另一个水分子的氧原子之间形成化学键
could bond to an oxygen atom in another water molecule.
依靠斯坦福线性加速器的力量
Harnessing the power of the Stanford linear accelerator,
安德斯获得了液态水分子的X射线图像
Anders took X-ray images of liquid H2O molecules
他发现一团团的水分子
and discovered that groups of water molecules
就像在跳着美妙同步的舞蹈
perform an elaborate, synchronized choreography.
一个水分子就像单个舞者
A single molecule of H2O is like a single swimmer.
既可以自♥由♥运♥动♥
Each can move along freely
也可以互相连接起来
or it can link arms with a neighbor
形成刚性结构
to form a rigid structure.
冰点以下，水分子以特定角度连接
Below freezing, the molecules join at angles
就会占用更大的体积
and take up more space.
也就可以解释为什么同质量冰的体积比水大
This is why water expands when it turns to ice.
液态水既包括了自♥由♥运♥动♥的水分子
Liquid water contains both freewheeling molecules
也有同时形成的刚性团簇
and rigid clusters simultaneously.
这种结构随温度的变化
These structures form or break apart
形成或分解
depending on temperature.
但安德斯发现水分子也会
But Anders discovered that water molecules
基于溶解在水中的物质
also change their routine
改变自己的运动方式
depending on what's mixed in with them.
假如这个就是氯化钠晶体
So, here I have a sodium chloride crystal.
也是加入食物中的食盐
This is just ordinary salt like you have in your food,
海洋中也有大量的氯化钠
what we have in the ocean.
这就给你举个例子
So, if you look at this example.
当把盐加入到
When ordinary table salt comes into contact
有着刚性构象的水分子中
with a rigid formation of water molecules,
这种构象就崩解了
that formation breaks apart.
这就创造了更多的自♥由♥水分子
This creates more free-floating molecules
将食盐晶体溶解
that break salt crystals apart
并将食盐分子融入整个水体中
and spread them throughout the body of water.
其他化学物质与水有着不同的反应
Other chemicals have a different effect.
假如这是强带电离子物质
So, here we have a very strongly or highly charged ion.
比如镁或铝离子
This can be like magnesium or aluminum ion.
然后我们把它放在水中
And then we're going to throw in this,
水分子在其周围就会形成冰样结构
and we're going to form an ice-like structure around it.
这样水分子就将离子锁住
Water molecules lock around the ion and hold it in place.
对于我们来说，一杯水看似静止又毫无生气
To us, a glass of water seems still and lifeless.
但是在分子层面，它存在着强烈活性
But on the molecular scale, it is pulsing with activity.
水分子结构的改变
Water changes its molecular structure
每秒会发生1万亿次
around 1 trillion times per second.
一旦水分子结构改变
Whenever the molecular structure of water changes,
宏观上水的化学性质也随即改变
the overall chemical properties of water also change.
地球上只有水才有这种特性
No other liquids on earth can do this.
水分子对温度变化的响应
Water molecules respond to temperature
以及对其接触的化学物质的响应
and the chemicals they come in contact with
就像水能够意识到周围环境一样
almost as if the water is aware of its surroundings.
对于安德斯来说，化学物质和生物之间的界线
For Anders, this property blurs the distinction
因水的这种性质而模糊了
between a chemical and a living thing.
有人可能也认为
Some people might think
这杯水是活的
that a glass of water could be alive.
我个人对生命的理解是
My personal view of life
生命需要与
is that it's related to something
某种程度的意识有所联♥系♥
that has consciousness on some sort of level,
问题在于，水是否有意识？
and the question is if that is the case with water,
我们无法直接回答“有”还是“没有”
and we -- we can't say "yes" or "no."
无论这杯水是不是活的
Whether or not a glass of water is alive,
水仍是支撑我们所知的
water itself is still the essence
所有生命的基本元素
of all life that we know of.
人体中60%都是水
About 60% of your body is water.
细胞和DNA存在于水中
Cells with your DNA call it home,
还有你身上的大约1千种细菌
along with about 1,000 unique species of bacteria.
海洋生态系统中水也占了大部分
The ocean ecosystem is also mostly water,
供养了数百万种生命
and home to millions of life forms.
那么海水和其中的各种生物
Could ocean water and the life that calls it home
算是共同存在的生物吗？
collectively be a living thing?
这是否可能是一种巨型生命形式呢？
Is a life form that large even possible?
进化生物学家古斯塔沃·卡埃塔诺·安诺斯
Evolutionary biologist Gustavo Caetano-Anolles
认为可能是这样的
suspects it was.
他的研究追溯到了最早的生命形式
He's tracking down earth's first life form,
一种处于进化树最基层的生物
the creature at the root of the tree of life.
进化树是一个层级结构
A tree of life is an hierarchical structure.
这说明如果你往回走
That means that if you travel back in time,
直到发现一种生物
you are traveling to an organism that at some point
它身上会体现出未来所有生物的特征
embedded all the diversity that was generated later on.
这就是地球生命最后的共同祖先，简称为“卢卡”
And this is the last universal common ancestor, or LUCA.
卢卡算是对地球上
LUCA is the scientific nickname
最早出现的物种的昵称
for the first species on earth.
它存活于35亿年前
It lived about 3.5 billion years ago,
是今天所有生物的共同祖先
and is common ancestor to all life today.
卢卡细胞可能遍布原始海洋之中
LUCA cells likely filled the primordial ocean,
没有任何其他物种与之竞争
unhindered by any competing organism.
卢卡已经灭绝几十亿年了
LUCA has been extinct for billions of years.
但是古斯塔沃认为他能够通过
But Gustavo believes he can reconstruct
研究当今的生命结构的细节
what its cells looked like
来重建卢卡细胞的样貌
by studying the details of life's machinery today.
对于古斯塔沃来说
For Gustavo, finding the elements
找出构成最原始生命的基本要素
essential to the earliest life form