与摩根·弗里曼一起穿越虫洞（2010）

Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman S05E06

Part 1 April 19, 2021, 3:03 p.m.

这是一个笼罩了我们几个世纪的噩梦
It is a nightmare that has stalked us for centuries.
人类变成了没有思维能力的、
Hordes of human beings transformed
嗜血的怪物
into mindless, bloodthirsty monsters,
文明也随之崩溃
and civilization collapses.
这个噩梦会变成现实吗？
Could this nightmare become reality?
科学家们发现寄生菌能控制生物
Scientists have discovered parasites that turn the living
将其变为行尸走肉
into the walking dead,
而每年都在产生新的致命病原菌
and new strains of deadly pathogens attack us every year.
神经学家正在研究如何操控人的思维
Neuroscientists are learning how to take over our minds.
我们会有一天失去自我和灵魂么？
Will we someday lose control of our bodies and souls?
僵尸末日有可能发生吗？
Is a zombie apocalypse possible?
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（S05E06）
Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman (S05E06)
僵尸末日可能发生吗？
Is a Zombie Apocalypse Possible?
根据海地的民间传说
According to Haitian folklore,
有些牧师拥有一种神奇的粉末
certain priests had magical powders...
这种粉末能将死尸
That could transform a corpse...
变成自己的傀儡
into a puppet.
现在的流行文化把僵尸传说
Our popular culture has turned that zombie legend
看做是世界末日：
into an apocalyptic nightmare,
一种传染性病毒将人类
a contagious virus that turns the infected
变成腐烂着的暴♥力♥怪物
into violent monsters with rotting flesh.
只要被咬一口
We are all just one bite away
人们就会变成丧尸
from joining the mindless legions of walking dead.
当然这些都是虚构的
All of these are myths, of course.
但每个传说都有现实依据
But every myth has a grain of truth.
我们的这些想象
Could our imaginations
是否在启示着未来？
be telling us something about our future?
很久之前
A long time ago,
我和朋友们看了一场电影
my friends and I saw a movie...
却让我们噩梦连连
that gave us nightmares...
就是“木乃伊。”
"The Mummy."
电影中
In that story,
古老的魔法将死者复活
ancient magic made a corpse walk the earth again.
现实中会存在这样的怪物吗？
Could such a mindless monster ever exist in the real world?
戴维·休斯是一位昆虫学家
David Hughes is an entomologist.
他有很长一段时间
He has a long history
都在研究这方面的黑暗科学
with the dark side of that science.
当我还是孩子时
When I was a kid
我感染了一种真菌
I had a rather personal relationship with a fungus.
起初我们并不知道它是什么
We didn't know exactly what it was at the beginning,
几个月之后
and over the course of months,
那种真菌爬满了我的头皮
this fungus creeped its way across my scalp,
我的半个头都秃了
uh, making me half bald.
戴维活了下来
David survived,
但感染这种真菌还不是最糟糕的
but his fungus was not the worst nature has cooked up.
一些真菌侵蚀宿主的身体
Some funguses turned the bodies of their hosts into piles of rot
并控制宿主的大脑
and enslave their minds.
戴维是前沿的真菌专家
David is the foremost expert on a fungus
特别研究能够控制宿主的真菌
that turns its victims into the walking dead,
准确的说是到处爬的僵尸
or to be more accurate, the crawling dead.
同地球上的所有生物一样
The fungus, like all organisms on the planet,
这种真菌也有学名
has a scientific name.
它叫偏侧蛇虫草菌
This one's called ophiocordyceps unitlateralis.
通俗的叫法是僵尸蚂蚁菌
But colloquially, it's known as the zombie ant fungi.
蚂蚁觅食时
While foraging for food,
不经意间
an unsuspecting ant
会沾上僵尸真菌的孢子
will pick up a spore of the zombie fungus.
真菌的孢子穿透蚂蚁的身体
The fungus bores through the ant's body.
感染蚂蚁的大脑并在其中繁殖
It multiplies and infects the ant's brain,
而且它会释放
where it releases
一些控制大脑活动的化学成分
powerful mind-controlling chemicals.
僵尸蚂蚁则会咬住叶片的背面
The zombified ant bites the underside of a leaf
然后死去
and dies.
蚂蚁其实早已死亡
Well, sort of.
死亡对寄生真菌来说是个开始
Death is really the starting point for the parasite.
真菌需要
Fungi are rather interesting
它们的宿主死掉
in that they require the host to die,
这样就能在宿主的身体组织中生长繁殖
and then, from its tissues, they grow and they reproduce.
这时
And so, at this stage,
这只蚂蚁就被完全的改变了
the whole ant body is completely transformed.
僵尸蚂蚁菌控制着
The zombie ant fungus continues to control
蚂蚁的思维
the dead creature's mind,
使蚂蚁一直咬住树叶
keeping the insect's jaw locked onto the leaf.
之后真菌开始繁殖
The fungus multiplies,
在蚂蚁的头颅中不断加压
building pressure inside the ant's skull
直到头部裂开
until...it breaks open.
从头颅中伸出的菌丝会向空气中释放致命孢子
Out comes a fungal stock that sprays down deadly spores
接着感染下一批受害者
on the fungus's next victims.
如此不断循环下去
The cycle repeats.
真菌的孢子会抛射出去
The fungal spores need to be shot out, launched,
从高处落到蚂蚁通常的觅食道路上
from an area high above the foraging trail.
以此真菌逐渐进化出了
And so the fungus has evolved the ability
控制宿主大脑的能力
to control the mind of its host.
巢穴对蚂蚁来说是洁净的
Inside their nests, ants are hygienic.
但当它们外出觅食时
But when they're out foraging,
就容易受到感染
they are vulnerable to infection.
戴维认为这种真菌进化出了
David believes the fungus evolved the ability
专门在蚂蚁脆弱时感染它们的能力
to strike the ants during this moment of weakness.
而僵尸蚂蚁菌并不会感染我们
The zombie ant fungus could never infect us.
因为我们的大脑结构与蚂蚁不同
Our brains are too different from those of ants.
但是否有类似的病原菌感染我们的大脑呢？
But could a similar pathogen ever find its way into our mind?
显然，真菌已经进化出
So fungi have clearly evolved the ability
控制动物行为的能力
to control the behavior of animals.
我们的大脑也是动物的大脑，没有理由认为
Our brains are animal brains, and there's no reason,
我们的行为就不会被♥操♥控
theoretically, why we couldn't have our behavior controlled.
如果控制人类大脑的病原菌真的存在
If a mind-enslaving pathogen ever strikes humanity,
它极有可能会通过
it will most likely jump to us
我们的遗传学近亲传染给我们
from our close genetic relatives.
微生物学家卡蒂克·钱德兰专职研究埃博拉病毒
Microbiologist Kartik Chandran studies the Ebola virus...
这是一种极可怕的病原菌
A pathogen from our worst nightmares.
感染几周后
Within weeks of infection,
多数病人会因血液从身体孔洞中大量流失而死亡
most patients leak blood from every orifice and die.
卡蒂克领导的研究团队想要找出
Kartik is leading a team to find out
像埃博拉这样的致命病毒是如何进化的
how deadly viruses like Ebola evolve to infect humans.
我们知道埃博拉通常存在于蝙蝠体内
As far as we know, Ebola lives in bats,
但是偶尔
and every once in a while,
这种病毒会由蝙蝠感染其他动物
this virus can break out from bats into other animals,
包括属于灵长类的猩猩和人类
including primates and apes and humans.
卡蒂克正在研究
Kartik is investigating
埃博拉是如何从蝙蝠感染到我们人类的
how Ebola made the jump from bats to us.
他的研究方式
He's imagining what it's like
就是从病毒角度模拟这个过程
to be one of the microscopic bad guys.
人类的身体就像一座建筑
The human body is a lot like a building
细胞就是其中的房♥间
where our cells are rooms.
病毒会破门而入感染我们
Viruses infect us by breaking and entering.
你可能会问，为什么这个小房♥间
So you might ask me, why does this little room
要被锁起来？
in this storage facility have a lock?
答案是很明显的
And so the answer is obvious --
为了防止无关人员进出
because somebody needs to go in and out.
锁起来是保护入口的一种方式
This is an attempt to secure the entrance
只有经过授权的人才能进入
so that only the authorized individuals can get in.
细胞也是一样
And cells are the same way.
细胞需要摄入一些物质
You know, cells need to bring stuff in,
也要排出一些物质
they need to export stuff,
病毒已经进化出了一些
and viruses have really evolved to exploit
进入细胞的方式
this sort of entry and access ways.
病毒会模仿一些细胞生存所必须的
Viruses mimic the shape of nutrients
营养物质的形态
that the cell needs to survive,