与摩根·弗里曼一起穿越虫洞（2010）

我们可以在无菌环境下直接把它们
We can take those directly from here, under sterile conditions,
放到电子显微镜下
into the electron microscope.
16英里的上空
Sixteen miles up,
气压很低，会让气球
the air pressure is so low that the balloon
一直膨胀，直到破裂
continues to expand until it ruptures
带着珍贵的货物坠落回地球
and tumbles back to earth with this precious cargo.
这是一趟钓鱼之旅
This is a fishing trip.
我们送这些气球上去
We're sending these balloons up.
我们不知道会钓到什么
We don't know what we're catching.
有的时候，我们什么都钓不到
So, on some trips, we'll catch nothing.
有的时候，会钓到一些东西
On some trips, we'll catch something.
也许我们钓了5次都一无所获
And maybe we'll go for five launches with nothing,
接下来的第6次发射
and then the sixth launch,
我们就能得到很多神奇的生物
we get an amazing array of organisms.
他希望最近的一次发射能够产出一些这样的东西
He's hoping his latest launch will yield something like this.
这些是密尔顿和他的团队在2013年的第一次任务中
These are photos of samples Milton
采集到的样本的照片
and his team collected on their first mission in 2013.
密尔顿相信这肯定是地外生命
And Milton believes they contain evidence
的证据
of extraterrestrial life.
这是我们最早发现的神奇的生物
This is the first amazing organism we found.
如果找一本
If we go to a textbook,
关于藻类、病毒的教科书，我们看不到这样的东西
for algae, bacteria, we don't see something like this.
密尔顿认为这些外星生物
Milton's supposed aliens
只有30微米大
are only about 30 microns across,
大约人类头发丝的两倍宽
roughly twice the thickness of a human hair.
一开始，我对这个结构感到很不安
At first, I was very upset about this structure
因为我以为它是——一个花粉粒
because I thought it was a -- a pollen grain.
但当我们作出化学成分分♥析♥时
But when we do the chemical analysis,
我们发现它主要是钛
we found it was primarily titanium.
你可以看到，球中有东西喷出来
And you can see that there's material coming out of the ball.
经过分♥析♥，结果是生物的
And when we analyze this, it turns out to be biological.
这是碳和氧
This is carbon and oxygen.
是生物的
It's biological.
还没有什么生命形式有着钛的外壳
No life form yet discovered has a titanium shell.
这也许是第一个
This might be the first.
更加重要的是
And, more crucial to Milton's case,
地球上没有什么生命移♥动♥的速度
no earthly organism would be moving fast enough
快到可以在采集器上留下一个撞击坑
to leave an impact crater on the collector.
我们看到这里有一个撞击坑
We see that there's an impact crater here.
所以这个球来自太空，撞击采样器
So this ball was coming in from space, impacted the sampler,
撞出了一个坑
and caused a crater.
撞击事件意味着它来自外面
The impact event means it's coming from outside.
不是懒洋洋地从地球上升上去的
It is not lazily drifting up from the earth.
它来的速度非常快
It's coming at a great speed.
密尔顿认为彗星或许是其来源
Milton thinks comets might be the source.
如果温度正好
The temperature is right.
水量正好
The amount of water is right.
碳和有机材料含量也正好
The amount of carbon and organic material is right.
冰冻的彗尾碎片就可能
Debris from their frozen tails could be
在大气层中丢下一些外星的有机体
littering our atmosphere with alien organisms.
期待着再现第一次发射的成功
Hoping to replicate the success of his first launch,
密尔顿又计划了另外的几次
Milton has another half dozen planned.
我担心的是我们获得了这些酷炫的图像
The big fear I have is that we got these amazing images
却再也不能重现了
and we never repeat it.
在当今的科学中，一次性的成果毫无价值
Now, in science, of course, a one-off is nothing.
我们需要多重复几次
We need to get a repetition of something.
即使密尔顿的确发现了更多的外星微生物
Even if Milton does find more alien microbes,
他也在担心它们看起来比我们想象的更熟悉
he cautions that they might look more familiar than we expect.
如果长♥期♥以来它们一直在到达
If they've been arriving for eons,
我们也许已经和他们产生了许多的共同点
we may already share a lot in common with their biology.
每个人都希望天外来客是特别的
Everyone expects something from space to be special.
然而它们并不需要有什么特别之处
There's not necessarily anything special about them.
如果他们正在来临，百万年来
If they're coming in, they've been coming in
一直都在到来
from millions of years.
它们就在这里
They're here.
我们是太空的一部分
We are part of space.
这些生物体是我们生物学的一部分
These organisms are part of our biology.
如果外星微生物有能力穿越星际
If alien microbes are capable of reaching earth
到达地球
from across the galaxy,
那有智慧的地外生命
then could intelligent extraterrestrials
是不是也能来呢？
also come here?
我们没有发现任何迹象
We've seen no sign of them.
或者，我们没找对信♥号♥♥？
Or are we searching for the wrong kind of signal?
如果外星智慧生物从遥远的行星上
If intelligent aliens were to send us a message
给我们发送了消息，我们能听到吗？
from a distant planet, would we hear it?
200年之前
200 years ago,
没人会接到电报线上传来的
no one would have picked up a morse code
摩尔斯电码
on a telegraph wire,
更不要说通过蜂窝网络传播的声音了
much less a voice on the cellular network.
也许我们只是还没掌握足够的技术
Perhaps we just don't have the technology yet
去应答外星人的呼叫
to answer a call from an alien.
夏威夷大学的物理学家约翰·勒尼德
University of Hawaii physicist John Learned
认为外星信息在我们鞭长所及
thinks alien messages may be within our reach.
我们无从揣测地外智慧
We cannot guess what some extraterrestrial intelligence
心中所想
may be having in mind
他们为何而交流、怎样交流
for why they would communicate or how they would communicate.
所以我们所能做的，只是看看有些什么
So the best we can do is just look to see what is there.
如果地外生命存在
If extraterrestrials are out there
并且可以发送穿越星系的信息
and can send messages throughout the galaxy,
约翰说他们会使用与我们大不相同的
John says they'll be using communications technology
通讯技术
very different from our own.
当我们在地球上远距离地传输消息的时候
When we send messages over long distances on earth,
我们依靠的是光脉冲或者无线电波
we rely on pulses of light or radio waves.
然而，使用光来进行星际通讯
However, using light for interstellar communication
在最好的情况下也是不稳定的
would be spotty at best.
宇宙中有大量的灰尘和气体
There's a lot of dust and gas out there in the universe,
可以散射光线
and that scatters light.
所以即使试图从我们银河系的中心得到光信♥号♥♥
So it wouldn't do to try to have light signaling
也是不起什么作用的
from even our own galactic center.
通过无线电波传输的消息
And messages sent with radio waves
也要在大量的干扰中杀出一条血路来
would have a lot of interference to fight through.
嘶嘶的噪声来自于整个宇宙
There's hiss coming from all over the universe,
所有的星体和星系
from all the stars and galaxies.
你必须对付这些背景噪声
So there's background noise that you have to get around.
调谐无线电时
By tuning around with this radio,
各式各样的噪声来来往往
there's all kind of noise that comes and goes.
你必须找到地外生命选用于通讯的
You have to find a frequency where the extraterrestrials
一个特定的频率
would be choosing to communicate.
问题在于，我们没有一个节目表
The problem in tuning in is there's no schedule
甚至也没有电台的清单
and no list of -- of stations.
所以我们不知道该从何处下手
So we don't know quite where to look.
约翰认为有一种更好的技术
John thinks there's a better technology
可以发送穿越星系的消息
to send messages across the galaxy.
外星人可能会利用一种微小的粒子，叫做中微子
Aliens might be using a tiny particle called a neutrino
它们是亚原子粒子，产生于太阳上那样的
they're subatomic particles produced by nuclear reactions,
核反应
like those in our sun,
以及猛烈的事件，例如恒星爆♥炸♥
and violent events, like exploding stars
伽马射线爆发
and gamma ray bursts.
中微子最有趣的性质
The most intriguing property of neutrinos
在于它们体积小得可以穿过各种物质
is that they are so small they can pass through matter
如入无人之境
as if it wasn't there.
那些能挡住所有光线以及大部分无线电
The kind of dense matter that stops all light
的高密度物质也挡不住中微子
and most radio waves can't stop neutrinos.
它们直接穿过物体
They pass right through things.
穿墙入室
Coming through the walls,
平地而起
coming up out of the ground here.
我们沐浴在中微子之风里
We're in a breeze of about a million neutrinos
你的指甲每秒有上百万个中微子穿过
through your thumbnail per second.
事实上，如果有一种
In fact, if there was such a thing
防中微子霜
a sunblock for neutrinos,