生命的奇迹（2013）

cruising the open ocean,
用它们长长的触须
catching tiny creatures, zooplankton,
捕食小型生物和浮游动物
in their long tentacles.
而如今 它们的触须完全消失
But today their tentacles have all but disappeared
因为黄金水母
because the Golden Jellyfish
进化出了大多数动物所不具备的技能
have evolved to do something that very few other animals can do.
这相当不可思议
It really is incredible.
这里大概有几百万只水母
There are, I want to say millions of jellyfish,
一眼望去全都是水母
as far as you can see,
直到光消失为止
all the way down till the light vanishes there are jellyfish.
它们聚集在有阳光的地方
And you can see they've congregated in the sun.
如果去那边 在阴凉下的湖水中
If you go over there to where the lake's in shade,
一只水母也没有
there are just none.
它们就在波光潋滟的湖水里 享受阳光
They're in this pool of light, beneath the sun.
有几百万只
There are millions of them.
这些美丽优雅的小生物就漂浮在周围
Beautifully elegant things just floating around.
不是我夸张 这景象真的很壮观
I'm not being unduly hyperbolic, it's quite remarkable.
这个湖中栖息着两千多万只水母
This lake is home to over 20 million jellyfish.
它们的成功源于完美地适应了环境
Whose success comes down to a remarkable adaptation.
它们体内寄生了上千只生物
Their bodies play host to thousands of other organisms-
能够固定太阳能的光合藻类
photosynthetic algae that harvest energy directly from sunlight.
幼年的水母将藻类吞食
The jellyfish engulf the algae as juveniles,
待成年后
and by adulthood
藻类细胞大约占其体重的十分之一
algal cells make up around 10% of their biomass.
藻类汇集成大约200个个体的群体
Grouped into clusters of up to 200 individuals,
居住在水母自身的细胞中
they live inside the jellyfish's own cells.
黄金水母利用藻类
The Golden Jellyfish uses algae
通过光合作用 获取能量
to get most of its energy from photosynthesis.
它们会浮至水面 然后缓缓地...
They go to the surface and gently...
看 那就有一只
Wow, there's one there.
缓缓地转圈
They're gently turning.
这么做是为了让所有藻类
The reason they do that is to give all their algae
接受相等的阳光照射
an equal dose of sunlight.
它们是相当民♥主♥的生物
So they're quite democratic creatures,
只为确保自己能得到足够多的食物
just making sure they get as much food as they can.
它们轻轻游向你
They just come up you,
转来转去 进行光合作用
jellying around, photosynthesising.
人们说这种水母不蜇人
They tell me they don't sting.
但我确定我被蛰了一下
But I'm sure I've got a tingling from it.
不只是它们的身体构造
And it's not just their anatomy
适应于利用太阳能
that's adapted to harvest solar energy.
每天早上太阳升起时
Every morning as the sun rises,
水母就开始向东游
the jellyfish begin to swim towards the east.
随着太阳在空中缓缓移♥动♥
As the sun tracks across the sky,
它们又游回西边
they move back again towards the west,
在那里过夜
where they spend their night.
所以水母与太阳在空中的位置
So the jellyfish have this beautiful,
有着完美 密切
intimate and complex relationship
而复杂的关系
with the position of the sun in the sky.
阳光一旦被它们体内的藻类固定
As sunlight is captured by their algae,
就会转化成化学能
it's converted into chemical energy.
用来结合简单的分子
Energy they use to combine simple molecules,
如水和二氧化碳分子
water and carbon dioxide,
从而生成更为复杂的分子
to produce are far more complex one.
葡萄糖
Glucose.
葡萄糖以及其他分子被水母吸收后
Once absorbed by the jellyfish, glucose and other molecules
不仅为它们每日的湖中迁徙供能
not only power their daily voyage across the lake,
还提供生长所需的基本物质
they provide the basic building blocks the jellyfish use
来构成水母优雅而复杂的躯体
to grow the elegant and complex structures of their bodies.
水母 利用与之共生的藻类
So the jellyfish, through their symbiotic algae,
吸收太阳光 也就是太阳的能量
absorb the light, the energy from the sun,
来存活
and they use it to live,
为生命活动提供能量
to power their processes of life.
这个道理 直接或间接地
And that's true, directly or indirectly,
适用于地球上的所有生命
for every form of life on the surface of our planet.
不过 情况比这个还要有趣
But things are a little bit more interesting than that,
因为能量不会凭空产生也不会凭空消失
because energy is neither created nor destroyed.
生命不会吞噬能量 将其用尽
So life doesn't eat it somehow, it doesn't use it up,
或让能量从宇宙中消失
it doesn't remove it from the universe.
那生命起何作用呢
So what does it do?
要想了解能量怎样维持生命
To understand how energy sustains life,
就要了解随着宇宙演变
you have to understand exactly what happens to it
能量发生了什么变化
as the cosmos evolves.
大爆♥炸♥发生后的瞬间
In the first instance after the Big Bang
宇宙中除了能量什么也没有
there was nothing in the universe but energy.
随着能量转换存在的形式
As it changed from one form to another,
星系 恒星和行星逐渐诞生
galaxies, stars and planets were born.
尽管宇宙中的总能量守恒
But while the total amount of energy in the universe stays constant,
每次转换 都会带来变化
with every single transformation something does change.
能量本身变得越来越无用
The energy itself becomes less and less useful.
混乱程度逐渐升高
It becomes ever more disordered.
当太阳能抵达地表
And you can see this process in action
你就能见证这个过程
as energy from the sun hits the surface of the Earth.
太阳能
3.2×10^32焦耳/天
想想沙滩上的这些沙子
So think about this sand on the beach,
整日都暴露在太阳的照射下
it's been under the glare of the sun all day,
一直在吸收光能 温度逐渐升高
it's been absorbing its light which has been heating it up.
而现在夕阳西下
And now that the sun is dipping below the horizon,
沙子却还是温热的
then the sand is still hot to the touch
因为它将吸收的所有能量
because it's re-radiating all the energy
重新释放到宇宙中
that it absorbed as heat back into the universe.
关键词是"所有" 所有的能量
The key word there is "All". All the energy.
若不这样
If it didn't do that then
沙滩会逐日升温
it'd just gradually heat up day after day after day,
最终整个沙滩都可能融化
and eventually, I suppose, the whole beach would melt.
所以什么改变了呢
So what's changed?
其实是能量的品质
Well, it's the quality of the energy, if you like.
试想一下
Think about it.
如果现在沙子释放的能量
If as much energy is coming back off this sand now
和从太阳吸收的相等
as it absorbed from the sun,
那相当于是在给我晒日光浴
then it should be giving me a suntan.
如果要在这里坐一晚 就得涂防晒霜了
I should need sun cream if I sit looking at this beach all night.
但显然没这个必要
And obviously I don't.
差别就是 沙子释放的能量品质更低
The difference is that this energy is of a lower quality.
作用更弱
It can do less.
这是热能 确实是种低品质的能量
It's heat, which is a very low quality of energy indeed.
沙子从太阳吸收
So what the sand's done is take
高度有序 高品质的能量
highly ordered, high quality energy from the sun
然后将其转化成等量
and convert it to an equal amount
品质低且无序的能量
of low quality disordered energy.
这种从有序到无序的转化
This descent into disorder
在整个宇宙中随处可见
is happening across the entire universe.
久而久之
As time passes,
每焦耳的能量都会转化成热能
every single joule of energy is converted into heat.
宇宙的温度逐渐降到绝对零度
The universe gradually cools towards absolute zero.
直到无有序能量剩余时
Until with no ordered energy left,
宇宙会慢慢静止
the cosmos grinds to a halt
其中的物质 都会消失殆尽
and every structure in it decays away.
然而宇宙走向灭亡的同时
Yet whilst the universe is dying,
每个角落 生命仍在延续
everywhere you look, life goes on.
薛定谔在1943年写下这本书时
It's a deep paradox that Schroedinger was well aware of
就清楚地意识到了这个悖论
when he wrote his book in 1943.
《什么是生命》
埃尔温·薛定谔
"怎么可能" 薛定谔写道
"How can it be," writes Schroedinger,
"生物体如何避免走向无序"
"That the living organism avoids decay?"
换句话说
In other words,
宇宙正在土崩瓦解时
how can it be that life seems to
生命是如何继续
continue to build increasingly complex structures
演变出更为复杂的结构
when the rest of the universe is falling to bits, is decaying away?
这是个悖论
Now, that's a paradox,
因为宇宙本身正在瓦解