生命的奇迹（2013）

这只小生物是生命的奇迹
This creature is a wonder of life.
作为贪婪的捕食者
A voracious predator,
这只雄性幼虫在水下生活了近五个月
this male has lived underwater for nearly five months,
它捕食 成长 为此刻做准备
feeding, growing, preparing for this moment.
它即将历经
He's about to undertake
自然界最非凡的一次蜕变
one of the most remarkable transformations in the natural world.
由水生捕食者...
From aquatic predator...
化作空战大♥师♥
to master of the air.
蜻蜓
差翅亚目
蜻蜓短暂的成虫期
The brief adult life of a dragonfly
极具活力
is amongst the most energetic in nature.
蜻蜓是非同凡响的生物
Dragonflies are the most remarkable animals.
单单观察它们掠过池塘的水面
You can see their incredible agility in flight
你就能欣赏到它们灵巧的飞行姿态
just watching them skim across the surface of this pond.
它们每次转弯时产生2.5个重力加速度
They can pull two and a half G in a turn,
飞行时速可达每小时24千米
and they can fly at 15 mph,
对于这么点大的东西而言算是很快了
which is fast for something that big.
它们自恐龙之前
They've been around on earth
翅膀 每秒拍打50次
便已经生活在地球上
since before the time of the dinosaurs.
自那时起 自然选择将它们精雕细琢
And in that time they've been fine-tuned by natural selection
赋予它们生存技能
to do what they do
也就是在飞行中捕食
which is to catch their prey on the wing.
360度视角
蜻蜓是工程学的杰作
So, dragonflies are beautiful pieces of engineering.
它们是精妙复杂的机器
They're intricate, complex machines.
但它们仅是如此吗
But is that all they are?
因为它们短暂的生命一旦结束
Because once their brief lives are over,
活力也就此沉寂
their vitality will be gone.
这不禁引人深思
And this raises deep questions.
是什么让生命存活
What is it that makes something alive?
生命又是如何开始的
And how did life begin in the first place?
生与死有何区别
So, what is the difference between the living and the dead?
生命又是什么呢
What is life?
我来到菲律宾群岛上最与世隔绝的地区
I've come to one of the most isolated regions of the Philippines
去拜访偏僻的山顶小镇 萨加达
to visit the remote hilltop town of Sagada.
从首都马尼拉来这儿要开两天的车
It's a two-day drive from the capital, Manila,
行走在当地最崎岖的道路上
over some of the country's roughest roads
蜿蜒通向1500米高的山顶
that wind their way 1,500 metres up into the hills.
萨加达 菲律宾群岛
人口:10930人
当地人的传统信仰是
This is a place where the traditional belief
山里的神灵赐予我们生命
is that mountain spirits give us life,
我们死后 灵魂也会回归山间
and that our souls return to the mountain when we die...
当地居民仍然深信
And where the people who live here still imagine
死者的魂灵 穿梭于人间
that the spirits of the dead walk among the living.
今天是11月1日 是萨加达
Tonight is November 1st, and here in Sagada
以及菲律宾群岛的
in fact across the Philippines
亡灵节
that means it's the Day of the Dead.
人们会在这天来到山坡上的墓地
That's the day when people come to this graveyard on a hillside
纪念他们逝去的亲人
and, well, celebrate the lives of their relatives.
人们燃起火烛纪念逝者 送去温暖
The people light fires to honour and warm the departed,
邀请他们的灵魂与自己交流
inviting their souls to commune with them.
尽管这听起来很不科学
Now, not matter how unscientific it sounds,
但是相信灵魂 神灵
this idea that there's some kind of soul
或是生命之力
or spirit or animating force
塑造了我们
that makes us what we are
并且在死后仍旧延续的想法普遍存在
and that persists after our death is common.
其实 每一种文化和宗教中
Virtually every culture,every religion,
这种信念都根深蒂固
has that deeply-held belief.
这是有原因的 因为这感觉是对的
And there's a reason for that. Because it feels right.
好好想想看
I mean, just think about it.
你很难接受自己死后
It's hard to accept that when you die
便不复存在了
you will just stop existing.
难以接受自己的生命 自己本身
And that you are, your life, the essence of you, is just
凭空出现于一副毫无生机的皮囊中
really something that emerges from an inanimate bag of stuff.
我相信他们的灵魂就在我们身边
我知道他们就在附近
他们有转生
我们在无声地交谈
别靠得太近
Don't get too close.
如你所见 这些人觉得
You can see that these people feel
他们来这儿不仅是为了纪念逝去的亲人
not only do they come to celebrate the lives of their relatives,
可以说也是来与他们交流的
but they're coming in some sense to communicate with them.
尽管亲人的肉体已经逝去
Their relatives, even though their physical bodies have died,
某种意义上 他们依然在此徘徊
are still in some sense here.
仔细想想 这个念头会萦绕不去
When you think about it, that's not so easy to dismiss.
若是想说科学能够解释身边的一切
If we are to state that science can explain everything about us,
那么科学有义务回答这个问题
then it's incumbent on science to answer the question.
是什么赋予我们生命
What is it that animates living things?
刻成墓碑的石块
What is the difference between
与我之间的区别究竟何在
a piece of rock that's carved into a gravestone and me?
千年以来 人们借助灵魂或神灵
For millennia, some form of spirituality has been evoked
来解释何为活着
to explain what it means to be alive,
以及生命的起源
and how life began.
直至近年 科学才开始
It's only recently that science has begun
试着解答这些最深奥的问题
to answer these deepest of questions.
1943年2月 物理学家埃尔文·薛定谔
In February 1943, the physicist Erwin Schrodinger
在都柏林发表了一系列演讲
gave a series of lectures in Dublin.
薛定谔最出名的成就
Now, Schrodinger is almost certainly most famous
就是他是量子论的奠基者之一
for being one of the founders of quantum theory.
但在这本记录他演讲的小册子里
But in these lectures, which he wrote up in this little book,
他提出了一个不同的问题 什么是生命
he asked a very different question - What is life?
不过就在第一页
And right up front, on page one,
他清楚地阐明了生命不是什么
he says precisely what it isn't.
薛定谔说 它不是某种神秘的存在
It isn't something mystical, says Schrodinger.
不存在赋予生命的魔法火花
There isn't some magical spark that animates life.
生命是一个过程
Life is a process.
是物理与化学定律中
It's the interaction between matter and energy described
物质与能量间的相互作用
by the laws of physics and chemistry.
这些定律同样解释了雨水的滴落
The same laws that describe the falling of the rain
以及星星的闪烁
or the shining of the stars.
所以问题在于
So, the question is,
地球不过是
how is it that this magnificent complexity that we call life
由气体和尘埃组成的云团塌缩而成
could have assembled itself on the surface of a planet
在这颗星球上面
which itself formed
奇妙繁杂的生命是如何产生的
from nothing more than a collapsing cloud of gas and dust?
对于薛定谔而言
To Schrodinger,
答案必藏于生物如何运用
the answer had to lie in the way living things process
宇宙最难以捉摸的性质之中
one of the universe's most elusive properties-
能量
energy.
沉睡的狗
48.5焦耳每秒
孩童的大脑
11焦耳每秒
步行
11.5焦耳每秒
能量是物理的核心概念
Energy is a concept that's central to physics,
但由于它是日常词汇
but because it's a word we use every day,
它的含义变得有些含糊
its meaning has got a bit woolly.
某种意义上它很好定义
I mean, it's easy to say what it is in a sense.
显然这条河具有能量
Obviously this river has got energy
因为年复一年
because over decades and centuries
它凿穿坚石 形成了这个河谷
it's cut this valley through solid rock.
尽管这种解释听来简单
But while this description sounds simple,
现实中要比这更加复杂
in reality things are a little more complicated.
对我来说 最佳解释是
For me, the best definition is that
能量乃时空矢量在时间方向上的投影长度
it's the length of the space time four vector in the time direction,
不过我承认 这确实很难懂
but that's not very enlightening, I'll grant you that.
多年以来 能量的本质
Over the years, the nature of energy
难以确定
has proved notoriously difficult to pin down.
不仅因为它看起来有永不枯竭的
Not least because it has the seemingly magical property
神奇特性
that it never runs out.
它只会在不同形式间转换
It only ever changes from one form to another.
就比如瀑布中的流水
Take the water in that waterfall.
在瀑布的顶端
At the top of the waterfall,
水具有重力势能
it's got something called gravitational potential energy,