生命的奇迹（2013）

在阴天的时候判断方位
even when it's cloudy, by using the polarisation of the light.
锁定了太阳
Having locked onto the sun,
它们的大脑能利用自然界中最精准的计时器
their brain then corrects for its movement
校正它们在天空中的飞行
across the sky by using one of nature's most accurate timepieces.
通过结合它们精确的时钟得到的
By combining the information from their precise clocks
和眼睛看到的信息 它们能找到正南方
and their eyes, they can navigate due south.
这种自我导航能力
That ability to orientate themselves is, I think,
是我见过的最不同凡响的事情
one of the most remarkable things I've seen.
这种引领帝王蝶回家的生物钟
The biological clocks that have brought the monarchs home
不是蝴蝶独有的
are not unique to butterflies.
几乎所有生命都有这种昼夜节律
Almost all life shares in these circadian rhythms.
这是生存在这块旋转的岩石上进化的结果
They're an evolutionary consequence of living on a spinning rock.
我们的世界每24小时绕轴转一圈 即为一天
Our world turns on its axis once every 24 hours, giving us a day.
地球又绕着太阳转十亿公里
It's on a billion-kilometre journey around the sun,
每一圈即为一年
and each orbit gives us a year.
我们生存在天体时钟之内
We live inside a celestial clock,
这时钟已经转了45亿年
one that has been ticking away for over 4.5 billion years.
是宇宙年龄的三分之一
And that's a full third of the age of the universe.
这些是我们的家园提供的最终要素
This is the final ingredient that our home has provided.
时间
Time.
以马为例
Take the horse.
像所有复杂生物一样 它存在于此
Like all complex living things, it's here because our planet
是因为我们的星球足够稳定
has been stable enough for long enough
提供了足够长的时间允许其进化
to allow evolution time to play.
马的族谱
The horse is the animal whose family tree
是我们已知的最精确的
we know with the highest precision.
因此可以画出一条追溯到近40亿年前
So it's possible to lay out just one unbroken chain of life
连续的生命链
that stretches back nearly four billion years.
长得像马的动物
Animals that are recognisably horselike
已经存在了很长时间
have been around for a long time -
大约5500万年左右
something like 55 million years.
如果你想知道最早的哺乳动物在哪
You then have to jump quite a lot
就需要跳过很长一段时间
to something like 225 million years
来到2亿2500万年左右
if you want to ask the question, where is the earliest mammal?
就是这个东西 看起来像小鼩鼱
And it's this thing, which looks something like a little shrew.
5亿3500万年前
535 million.
就是复杂生物
This is the point when complex life
真正开始在海洋中盛行的时候
really began to explode in the oceans.
然后得回溯到很久很久以前
You then have to sweep back a long, long time
来找到下一个进化里程碑
to find the next evolutionary milestone,
可以说是最重要的里程碑
arguably the most important milestone -
复杂生命的起源 真核细胞
the emergence of the complex self, the eukaryote.
然后你得后退很长一段时间
And then, you have to step back a long way in time.
你要一路回到这里
You have to step back all the way to here,
原核生物的出现 这是最早的生命形式
the emergence of the prokaryote, the first life form.
至此 我们有了这美丽的长线
And so, we have this beautiful long line.
我们可以追溯马及它的祖先的进化
We can trace my friend, the horse, and his ancestry
回溯到35 36 37亿年前
back to the events that happened 3.5, 3.6, 3.7 billion years ago
原始地球上的事情
on the primordial Earth.
现在看看过去的大♥片♥时间
Now looking back over that vast sweep of time,
你可能会问自己这个问题
you could ask yourself the question,
真的需要35亿年
well, do you need 3.5 billion years
来从简单的生命形式
to go from a simple form of life
进化到马这样的复杂生物吗
to something as complex as a horse?
答案是 我们并不确定
Well, the answer to that question is, we don't know for sure.
貌似是需要大量的时间
It seems that you need vast expanses of time,
可你需要那些大段的间隔
but do you need those big gaps
来从简单细胞进化到复杂细胞吗
from the simple cell to the complex cell,
需要时间间隔来从复杂细胞
do you need the gap from the complex cell
进化到多细胞生物吗
to the evolution of multicellular life?
我们不得而知
We don't know.
我们只有一个实例
We only have one example.
我们只有一个星球能够研究
There is only one planet where we've been able to study
生物的进化 就是现在这个
the evolution of life, and it's this one.
地球是稳定和剧变的有趣结合体
And Earth has been an interesting mixture of stability and upheaval.
它的环境
It's had an environment
从未完全密谋将生命扫除
that's never completely conspired to wipe out life,
可却经常置之于挑战
but it's constantly thrown it challenges.
我们的星球赋予生物的漫长时间
The deep time that our planet has given life
允许生命从微小的基因种子
has allowed it to grow from a tiny seed of genetic possibility
演变为遍布星球的复杂网络 我们也是其中之一
to the planet-wide web of complexity we are part of today.
我们中只有一少部分人踏出过这片星球
Only a few of us have ever stepped outside of this world.
但那些人却发现了更美妙的事物
But those that have discovered something rather wonderful.
对所有地球上的人们
For all the people back on Earth,
阿波罗八号♥成员
the crew of Apollo 8 has a message
有消息传给你们
that we would like to send to you.
在1968年的圣诞节前夜 我的第一个圣诞节前夜
On Christmas Eve 1968, my first Christmas Eve,
阿波罗八号♥宇宙飞船进入
the Apollo 8 spacecraft entered the darkness
月球背面的阴影中
on the far side of the moon.
起初 上帝创造天地
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
地是空虚混沌
And the earth was without form.
三位宇航员博尔曼 洛威尔和安德斯
The three astronauts, Borman, Lovell and Anders,
成为人类历史上
became the first human beings in history
最早看不到地球的人
to lose sight of the Earth.
然后上帝说 要有光
And God said, let there be light.
就有了光 上帝看光是好的
And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good.
当他们从月亮黑暗处出现时
When they emerged from the dark side of the moon,
地球进入视线 他们选择用广播
and the Earth rose into view, they chose to broadcast
将他们的创世故事传回地球
their culture's creation story back to the inhabitants of Earth.
如同阿兹特克文明和玛雅文明
And, just like the Aztecs and the Mayans
以及每个早于他们的文明
and every civilisation before them,
它诉说了他们家园的起源
it told of the origins of their home.
上帝称旱地为地
And God called the dry land Earth,
称水的聚集为海
and the gathering together of the waters called He seas.
上帝看着是好的
And God saw that it was good.
这一定是人的天性
It must be innately human,
想要理解我们的家园如何成为如今这样
the desire to understand how our home came to be the way that it is.
身处月球轨道 我们的地球家园
And seen from lunar orbit against the blackness of space,
在漆黑的宇宙中 看起来如此脆弱
the Earth is a fragile world,
但从科学角度看 这个世界
but seen by science, it's a world that's been crafted
40亿年来被生物塑造着
and shaped by life over almost four billion years.
我们正在渐渐理解
So we're on our way to understanding
我们是如何来到这里的 但如阿波罗宇航员发现的
how we came to be here, but as the Apollo astronauts discovered,
这场发现之旅
the journey of discovery
发现的不仅是事实
has already delivered much more than just the facts,
因为它给了我们一个强大的视角
because it's given us a powerful perspective
来了解我们错综复杂而美丽的家园
on the intricacy and beauty of our home.
我们是来自阿波罗八号♥的成员 祝你晚安
From the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck,
好运 圣诞快乐 上帝保佑你们
a merry Christmas, and God bless all of you,
美丽地球上的你们
all of you on the good Earth.
帝王蝶 斑蝶属
地球——家园
墨西哥某地
红藻 红藻纲
蟹 含水65%
成年女性 含水55%
成年男性 含水60%
婴儿 含水85%
狗 含水70%
人脑 含水77%
酸橙 含水90%
水黾 黾蝽科
18米
希克苏鲁伯 位于希克苏鲁伯陨石坑上的村庄
希克苏鲁伯
溶井
45.4亿年前
洛斯莫奇斯 墨西哥城市 奇瓦瓦州 位于墨西哥西北内陆
科特斯海 太平洋深入北美大♥陆♥的狭长边缘海
35亿年前
投弹手甲虫 步甲属
黑色素
宾客之家
喜温嗜酸硫杆菌
氧化亚铁硫杆菌
氧化铁酸微菌
中氧化硫硫杆菌
蓝藻细菌 一百倍放大
光子 电磁辐射的量子 传递电磁相互作用的规范粒子
ATP 三磷酸腺苷 生物体内最直接的能量来源
马 马属
5微米
原核生物 3500万年前