与摩根·弗里曼一起穿越虫洞（2010）

Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman S05E05

Part 5 April 19, 2021, 3:02 p.m.

大多数物种的呼吸
Most species respire
是在线粒体中，通过将电子
by dumping electrons onto oxygen atoms
转移到氧原子上而进行的
inside their mitochondria.
但许多水生细菌的呼吸
But a lot of aquatic bacteria respire
使用的则是另一种方法
with a different technique.
它们将电子转移到溶解于海水中的金属离子上
They dump electrons onto metals dissolved in seawater.
尤里想要知道
Yuri wanted to see what happened
当水生细菌失去赖以生存的金属离子时
when he robbed these aquatic bacteria
会发生什么
of their life-sustaining metals.
我们以为这些生物体
We expected that these organisms
会无法呼吸最后导致死亡
would basically suffocate and perish.
但我们发现事实并不是这样
But that is not what we observed.
事实超出我们的想像
What we saw blew our minds.
尤里的细菌活了下来
Yuri's bacteria survived
并且长出了由细毛构成的巨大网络结构
and grew what appeared to be a vast scaffolding of tiny hairs.
我把一些样品送到我朋友那里
I sent some samples to a friend of mine,
她观察了这些样品
and she put them under one of her microscopes,
用的是扫描隧♥道♥显微镜
a scanning tunneling microscope. She applied current.
她打电♥话♥告诉我说，“你不会相信这个的。”
She called me up and said, "You're not gonna believe this."
我冲到她的实验室
I rushed over to her lab,
我观察到的是，这些细毛
and what I observed was that these little filaments
竟然具有传输电子的导电能力
actually had electronic or conductive properties.
看到这个结果后，我好几天都无法入睡
I could not sleep for days after seeing those results.
这真是太不寻常了
It was just remarkable.
这些微小的纤维并不是毛发
The tiny fibers were not hairs at all.
尤里发现
Yuri discovered
这些是导电纤维
they were electrically conductive filaments.
他将它们命名为细菌纳米线
He named them bacterial nanowires.
当细菌需要呼吸时，纳米线就会形成
These nanowires form when bacteria need to respire,
而呼吸结束后纳米线却不会消失
but they stick around when conditions return to normal.
我们的大脑中有一千亿个神经元
In our brains, we have about 100 billion
通过电♥信♥♥号♥♥来产生思维
electrically connected cells that process our thoughts.
尤里认为，海洋同样具有大量的电♥信♥♥号♥♥网络
Yuri believes that the ocean also contains
这些电网信♥号♥♥络
vast electrical networks
由100万兆个细菌
that comprise up to 100 trillion, trillion
所组成
bacterial cells.
这个网络互相高度关联
This network is highly interconnected,
就像我们的大脑一样
just like the one in our brain.
它也许也能思考
It, too, may be capable of thought.
现在我们都有些什么？
So, what do we have here?
有一个细胞，由电灯泡代表
We have a cell, represented by this light bulb,
向电线发送一个信♥号♥♥
sending a signal down a wire.
这有一个交叉点，它得做出一个选择
This little junction, it has to make a decision.
要向那个方向传递这个信♥号♥♥？
Which way do we propagate that signal?
向左还是向右？
To the left or to the right?
当数字计算机
When a signal propagates
传递信♥号♥♥时
through a digital computer,
晶体管会决定信♥号♥♥的去向
it encounters transistors which decide
决定了输出1还是0
whether to turn it into a one or a zero --
即向左还是向右
left or right.
而在有机体的计算机中
In an organic computer,
细胞能够代替晶体管的作用
the transistors are replaced by cells,
将信♥号♥♥传递到一个或多个细胞中
which can pass the signal onto one or more,
或者是数千个相联的细胞中去
or potentially thousands of connected cells.
当细胞相互连通时
When multitudes of these cells are interconnected,
就会出现一个网络
a network emerges
能够处理大量信息
that can process vast amounts of information.
如果你仔细考虑这个问题
If you really ponder the question
“海洋能思考吗？”，你需要拓宽思维
"Can the ocean think?", you have to expand your mind.
这就像在考虑“一个细菌能思考吗？”
It's the same way as, "Can a single bacterium think?"
不能
No.
一群微生物能思考吗？
Can a community of microorganisms think?
可能会
Perhaps.
进一步扩大来说
Expand that further.
海洋能处理信息并思考吗？
Can the ocean process information and think?
我认为肯定能
I say absolutely.
海洋的大脑可能是由
The ocean could have a brain
遍布于海底表层的
made up bacterial nanowires
细菌纳米线所构成
that exist all through the upper layers of ocean sediment.
这颗大脑的思考方式
This brain could be capable of thoughts
可能与我们完全不同
very different from our own.
海底沉积物中有100万兆个细菌
There are 100 trillion, trillion cells in the ocean sediment,
这个数量远超过人类的神经细胞
far more than the number of neurons we have,
而且海洋电♥信♥♥号♥♥网络的运转速度
and the ocean's electrical network
比我们的神经网络快1千倍
fires over a 1,000 times faster than our neural network.
尤里认为海洋大脑网络
Yuri suspects that this brain network
遍及1亿4千万平方英里的海底
is spread across 140 million square miles of ocean floor.
如果真是这样，它的思维已也许经存在
If so, its thoughts would play out
上百年甚至上千年了
over hundreds if not thousands of years.
那么，海洋会想什么呢？
So, what could the ocean be thinking?
海洋存在于地球上已经很久了
The ocean's been around a long time,
而且那些生活在海底的生物
and those organisms that are at the bottom of the ocean,
组成了海洋的神经网络
possibly integrated into these neural networks,
它们已经存在几十亿年了
they've been around for billions of years.
因此，这是一个值得深思的问题
So, it's probably very contemplative thought.
如果说海洋的整个生态系统
If the ocean ecosystem collectively forms
组成了一个有生命且会思考的生物
a living, thinking being,
这个生物可能会视我们为威胁
it could see us as a threat to its survival.
它可能会选择免疫掉我们
It may decide to immunize itself against us.
我们就会被清除掉
We could be wiped out.
但我们也是智慧生物
But we are also intelligent creatures.
难道我们不能学会如何解读海洋的情绪吗？
Couldn't we learn how to read the ocean's mood?
我们可能已经站在了毁灭海洋的边缘
We could be on the verge of killing the ocean.
也许海洋已经准备好要消灭我们了？
Or is the ocean ready to wipe us out?
研究海洋的健康状态是一项艰巨任务
Determining the health of this massive body of water
但也是必要的任务
is a huge task, but it's a necessary one.
因为这能告诉我们我们所剩的时间
The answer could tell us how much time we have left.
戴维·马可格利斯是一名研究生物学家
David Marcogliese is a research biologist
他喜欢从鸟瞰的角度
who likes to look at complex ecosystems
研究复杂的生态系统
from a bird's eye view.
一座城市就是一个小生态系统
A city is basically an ecosystem of its own,
我们也可以把这个看成生态系统
and we could consider this an ecosystem.
如果我们把每辆火车看成是一条食物链
And if we look at each train as a food chain,
那么我们就能知道养分是如何流动的
then we can measure nutrient flow.
营养物质在生物体之间
The food chain transports nutrients
通过食物链在生态系统中传递
from organism to organism throughout an ecosystem,
就像运送食物的火车
just as trains move food to whoever needs it.
如果火车停止运行，食物就会变得缺乏
If the train stops running, food becomes scarce,
整个城市将会面临崩溃
and the whole town risks collapse.
在地下室里的城市模型中
Knowing if the trains are running
检测火车的运行情况很容易
in a model city in your basement is easy.
但对于研究海洋而言就困难多了
But when it comes to the ocean, researchers are in the dark.
海洋的生态系统极为复杂
Well, the ocean is an extremely, extremely complex ecosystem.
对于生态学家来说，研究海洋是很困难的
As ecologists, it's very difficult to look at an ocean.
因为它太大了
It's just so big.
而且又包含多种小生态系统
And it's composed of many, many different ecosystems.
但戴维认为他知道从哪里入手
But David thinks he knows what to look for
来研究海洋的状况
to determine the condition of the ocean.
那就是寄生虫
Parasites.
这些小怪物将卵产在宿主体内
These tiny monsters survive by laying eggs into their hosts
并在其中生长繁殖
where they grow and multiply.
一些宿主会因为被寄生而逐渐死亡
Some slowly kill their hosts over years of painful invasion.
但戴维却关注寄生虫的另一面
But David sees them in a different light.
是的，它们的名声非常糟糕
Yeah, they really do have an awful, awful reputation,
不难想象人们为什么讨厌它们
and it's -- it's not surprising to think why.
非常恶心是原因之一
There's a big yuck factor.
假如你抓到了一条鱼
Because if you catch a fish
却发现鱼身上布满了寄生虫性囊肿
and it's covered in parasitic cysts
或是当你切开一条鳕鱼，发现里面有个鳕鱼蠕虫
or you open up a cod and it has a cod worm inside,
大多数人都不再想吃那条鱼了
most people don't want to eat the fish.