Tonight, I'm going to share with you my passion for science.
今天晚上，我想与大家分享一下我对科学的热爱。
I'm not talking about science that takes baby steps.
我想说的不是那些进程缓慢的科学，
I'm talking about science that takes enormous leaps.
而是那些带来重大飞跃的科学。
I'm talking Darwin, I'm talking Einstein, I'm talking revolutionary science that turns the world on its head.
是达尔文、爱因斯坦那一类给世界带来翻天覆地变化的、革命性的科学。
In a moment, I'm going to talk about two ideas that might do this.
接下来，我会涉及到两个可能带来这样效果的想法。
I say "might" because, with revolutionary ideas, most are flat wrong,
我说“可能”，因为大多数革命性的想法都是彻头彻尾的错误，
and even those that are right seldom have the impact that we want them to have.
就算它们是正确的，也很少能带来我们想要的效果。
To explain why I picked two ideas in particular, I'm going to start with a mystery.
为了解释为什么我会特意选择两个想法，我想从一个神秘的故事讲起。
1847, Vienna, Austria. Ignaz Semmelweis was a somber, compulsively thorough doctor who ran two maternity clinics.
1847年，奥地利的维也纳。伊格纳兹·塞麦尔维斯是一个沉着缜密的医生，他经营着两家妇产诊所。
They were identical except for one thing.
这两家诊所除了一件事以外完全相同。
Women were dying of high fevers soon after giving birth three times more often at one of the clinics than at the other.
其中一家诊所中，女性分娩后高烧死亡的病例要多过另一家三倍。
Trying to figure out what the difference was that caused this, Semmelweis looked at everything he could.
为了弄清这背后的原因，塞麦尔维斯仔细排查了所有可能的情况。
Sanitation? No. Medical procedures? No. Air flow? No.
卫生条件太差？不是。诊疗过程有问题？不是。空气流通不好？也不是。
The puzzle went unsolved until he happened to autopsy a doctor who died of an infected scalpel cut.
他对此毫无头绪，直到偶然解剖了一名死于手术感染的医生。
The doctor's symptoms were identical to those of the mothers who were dying.
那名医生与那些去世的母亲们有完全相同的症状。
How was that possible? How could a male doctor get the same thing as new mothers?
这怎么可能呢？一名男性医生怎么会与刚分娩的女性得一样的疾病呢？
Semmelweis reconstructed everything the doctor had done right before he got sick, and he discovered that he'd been autopsying a corpse.
塞麦尔维斯重现了这名医生在感染之前做过的每一件事，他发现，这名医生之前一直在解剖一具尸体。
Had something gotten in his wound that killed him? With growing excitement,
是不是有什么东西进入了他的伤口，造成了他的死亡？
Semmelweis looked for any connection he could between dead bodies in the morgue and dead mothers in his delivery room, and he found it.
怀着不断增强的好奇心，塞麦尔维斯在停尸间的尸体和产房里死去的母亲之间找寻了所有可能的联系，就这样，他找到了问题的答案。
It turned out that at the hospital with the high death rate, but not the others,
结果是，在死亡率高的那家医院，只有那一家医院，
doctors delivered babies immediately after autopsying corpses in the morgue.
医生们在解剖尸体之后紧接着就接生婴儿。
Aha! Corpses were contaminating the doctors' hands and killing his mothers.
啊哈！原来是尸体沾染了医生的手，并杀死了那些母亲。
So he ordered the doctors to sterilize their hands, and the deaths stopped.
所以他要求医生们给手消毒，然后就再也没有产后的母亲死亡了。
Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis had discovered infectious disease.
伊格纳兹·塞麦尔维斯医生发现了传染病。
But the doctors of the day thought he was crazy, because they knew, and had for hundreds of years,
但是当时的医生都认为他疯了，因为他们和几百年来的人们一直都认为，
that odorous vapors called miasmas caused disease, not these hypothetical particles that you couldn't see.
是一种名为瘴气的有味气体带来了疾病，而不是这些看不到的假想粒子。
It took 20 years for Frenchman Louis Pasteur to prove that Semmelweis was right.
法国人路易·巴斯德用了整整20年才证明塞麦尔维斯是正确的。
Pasteur was an agricultural chemist who tried to figure out why milk and beer spoiled so often.
巴斯德是一名农业化学家，他曾试图解释为什么牛奶和啤酒经常变质。
He found that bacteria were the culprits.
他发现细菌是幕后真凶。
He also found that bacteria could kill people in exactly the same way that Semmelweis's patients were dying.
而且细菌会使人与塞麦尔维斯的病人一样的方式死去。
We now look at what I want to talk about tonight, in two ideas.
我们现在在讨论的两个想法就是我今天想说的。
We saw it with Semmelweis, that he was a revolutionary. He did it for two reasons.
我们共同见证了塞麦尔维斯的革命性发现。我们这么说是出于两点原因：
One, he opened our eyes to a completely new world. We'd known since the 1680s about bacteria.
其一，他为我们打开了新世界的大门。我们自十七世纪八十年代就知道细菌的存在。
We just didn't know that bacteria killed people.
但是我们不知道细菌还会杀死人类。
And he also demolished fond ideas that people kept close to their heart.
他同时还推翻了人们心中根深蒂固的传统观念。
Miasmas didn't kill people. Bacteria killed people.
瘴气并不会杀死人类，杀死人类的实际上是细菌。
So this brings me to the two ideas I want to talk about tonight.
这将我们带回了我今晚想要讲到的两个观点。
One has opened our eyes to a completely new universe, and the other attacks long-held beliefs.
一个能够拓宽我们的视野，另一个会颠覆长久以来的观念。
Let's get started with Dr. Eric Betzig.
我们首先来讲一下埃里克·白兹格博士。
He's a physicist who has opened our eyes to an entirely new world by violating the laws of physics. Betzig is a true rebel.
这个物理学家通过违背物理法则，使我们见识到了一个新的世界。他是一个彻头彻尾的叛逆者。
He quit a job at prestigious Bell Laboratory inventing new microscopes for biology
他从富有盛名的贝尔实验室辞职，当时他们正在发明用于生物研究的新型显微镜，
because he thought scientists were taking his brilliant inventions and doing lousy work with them.
因为他觉得科学家们正在拿他绝佳的想法去做差劲的工作。
So he became a househusband, but he never lost his passion
所以他变成了一个家庭煮夫，但是他从来没有失去过
for figuring out how to get microscopes to see finer and finer details than had ever been seen before or ever could be seen.
想让显微镜提供更清晰图像的热情，他想让显微镜的分辨率达到前所未有的高度。
This is crucial if we're ever going to understand how cells work,
这发明是极其重要的，如果我们想要去了解细胞的工作机理，
and how cancer works, and how something 150th the size of a head of a pin can do all these amazing things,
癌症是如何发生的，还有那些只有针尖150分之1大小的东西是怎样做到这些惊人的事情，
like make proteins and move charges around and all of those things.
比如说制造蛋白，还有运输带电粒子，等等这之类的事情。
There's just one problem. There's this thing called the law of physics,
但是这里有一个问题。有一个名为物理法则的东西，
and part of the law of physics is the thing called the diffraction limit.
物理法则的其中一部分名叫衍射极限。
The diffraction limit is kind of like when you go to a doctor's office,
它差不多是在说，当你去诊所查视力的时候，
you can only see so far down, no matter how good glasses you have.
不管你带了多么好的眼镜，只能看见的最低的那一行。
This was a so-called impossible problem.
这是一个所谓的“不可能问题”。

But one of Betzig's friends figured out how to take a tiny molecule that was smaller than the best microscope
但是白兹格的一个好朋友想到了怎样让一个最好的显微镜
could see and get it to light up and fluoresce.
也看不到的小分子生亮发光。
"Aha!" Betzig said. "I think maybe the laws of physics are not so unbreakable after all."
“啊哈！”白兹格说：“我觉得物理法则也不是那么坚不可摧。”
So he lashed together a microscope in his friend's living room. He had no laboratory.
就这样，他在朋友的客厅里组建起一台显微镜。他没有自己的实验室。
This revolutionary instrument got different protein molecules to light up in different colors,
这件杰出的发明使得蛋白分子发出不同颜色的光，
and with a computer, he was able to turn very, very fuzzy blurs into very sharp dots and produce images of unprecedented and startling clarity.
在计算机的帮助下，他就可以将非常模糊的色块转换成清晰的光点，实现前所未有的、令人惊叹的清晰图像。
For this work, last year, Eric Betzig won the Nobel Prize. Why?
去年，埃里克·白兹格因为这项成果获得了诺贝尔奖。为什么呢？
Because now we can see with unprecedented detail things that we never had seen before, and now doctors can get a better handle on things like cancer.
因为我们现在可以以前所未有的清晰度，看到从来没有看到过的东西，现在医生们可以更好的控制癌症之类的疾病。
But do you think Betzig was satisfied there? No. He wanted movies.
但是你以为白兹格会就此满足吗？大错特错。他想要得到动态的图像。
The problem was that even the genius microscopes that he invented were just too slow.
问题在于，即便是他发明的最先进的显微镜，仍旧是太慢了。
So what did he do? He came up with a 200-year-old idea called moiré patterns.
所以他做了什么呢？他想到了一个两百年前提出的主意：叫“莫尔条纹”。
So the way that works is if you take two very, very fine patterns and you move them across each other,
这个想法的原理是，如果你让两组精细图案慢慢重合，
you will see a gross pattern that a microscope can see that otherwise you would not be able to see.
就可以看到原本只有显微镜可以看到的杂乱的图形。
So he applied this technique to taking a really blurry image of a cell
他使用这项技术来拍摄模糊的细胞图像，
and moving lots of structured light patterns across it until this cell became crystal clear.
然后在上面移动很多光线组合，直到细胞图像变得十分清晰。
And here is the result: a mysterious new world, full of strange things zipping around doing things that we don't know what they're doing.
结果是这样的：我们能够看到一个奇妙的新世界，其中满是奇怪的东西动来动去，做着我们不甚了解的工作。
But when we figure it out, we'll have a better handle on life itself.
但是一旦我们弄明白，我们就可以更好地理解生命。
For example, those green globs that you see? Those things are called clathrins.
比如说，你看到的那些绿色的东西，它们是网格蛋白。
They're molecules that protect other molecules as they move through a cell.
这种粒子的职责是保护其他在细胞间穿梭的粒子。
Unfortunately, viruses sometimes hijack those to infect cells.
但是细菌有时候会操纵它们去感染细胞。
Also, you see those little squiggly wormlike things moving around? Those are actin molecules.
还有，看到那些弯弯曲曲、虫子一样动来动去的小东西了吧？它们是肌动蛋白。
Unfortunately, viruses also climb down those things to get into the cell nucleus to replicate themselves and make you sick.
病毒同样也可以附着在它们上面，进入细胞核并开始复制，使你感染疾病。
Now that we can look at movies of what's actually going on deep inside a cell,
现在我们可以通过这些动态的图像，看到在细胞深处到底在发生什么，
we have a much better chance of curing viral diseases like AIDS.
让我们有更好的治愈病毒性疾病，比如说艾滋病的机会。
So when you look at a movie like this, it's very clear that Betzig has opened our eyes to a completely new world.
所以当你看到这样的小视频的时候，白兹格着实是为我们打开了新世界的大门。
But he hasn't shattered any cherished beliefs.
但是他并没有打破任何固有的观念。
That leads us to Dr. Aubrey de Grey at Cambridge.
讲到这里，就要提一下剑桥大学的奥布里·德·格雷博士。
De Grey definitely has scientists squirming with an interesting idea: we can be immortal.
德·格雷博士有一个让所有科学家都跃跃欲试的有趣想法：我们是能够永生的。
We can beat aging. Now, most scientists think he's a crackpot.
我们可以停止老龄化。现在大多数科学家认为他是一个怪人。
Any Biology 101 student knows that aging is an inevitable consequence of living.
就连刚开始学习生物学的学生都知道，衰老是生命不可避免的结局。
For example, when we eat, we take in food and we metabolize it, and that throws off what we call free radicals.
比如说，当我们在进食的时候，我们摄入食物并且开始代谢，在这个过程中会释放我们称作“自由基“的东西。
You might have heard of those.
你可能听说过。
Also known as oxygen ions, those bind to our DNA, cause it to mutate, and cause us to get old and lose our hair.
它们也叫氧离子，会与我们的DNA结合在一起，造成变异，这就是为什么我们会变老并掉头发。
It's just like, no, it's exactly like oxygen binding to iron and making it rust. So you age because you rust out.
这有点像，不，应该说这和氧与铁结合使其生锈是完全相同的道理。所以说你会衰老是因为你生锈了。
Oh, and scientists also know there is something called immortality: in cancer cells.
科学家们同时也知道有东西是不朽的，它们存在于癌细胞中。
So if you stop aging, all of you are going to turn into giant walking malignant tumors.
所以如果你停止衰老，等于说你就变成了一个行走的巨大恶性肿瘤。
These are cherished beliefs, but could de Grey be on to something?
这些都是盛行多年的观点，但是德·格雷是不是对此有什么洞见？
I think he deserves a closer look. First of all, I have a really hard time seeing him as a crackpot.
我觉得人们应该试着去了解他。首先，我并不认为他是一个怪人。
Yeah, he started off life as a computer scientist, not a biologist,
没错，他最初是一名计算机科学家，而不是生物学家，
but he earned a PhD in biology from Cambridge, and he has published some very significant work on mitochondrial DNA and a bunch of other stuff.
但是他得到了剑桥大学生物学的博士学位，他还就线粒体DNA和一些其他领域的研究发表了不少重要成果。
Secondly, he started an antiaging foundation that has identified seven different causes of aging,
除此之外，他还创建了一个抗衰老基金会，并发现了七种造成衰老的原因，
to me, that seem very plausible, and he is hot in pursuit of fixes for every single one of them.
对我来说，那些原因都是十分合理的，同时他致力于想出对每种原因的解决对策。
For example, one of the reasons we age is that our mitochondrial DNA mutates, and we get kind of old and our cells lose energy.
比如说，衰老的原因之一是我们的线粒体DNA会变异，由此使细胞失去能量，让人衰老。
He believes, and he's made a convincing case, that using viruses we can do gene therapy, fix that DNA and rejuvenate our cells.
他相信，并且提出了很令人信服的观点，那就是使用病毒来进行基因疗法，修复DNA，使我们的细胞重新充满活力。
One more thing. We have an existent proof that extreme longevity is possible.
另外，有证据证明，特别长的寿命是有可能的。
Bristlecone pine trees live 5,000 years, and some lobsters don't age at all.
狐尾松树能存活5000年，有一些龙虾根本就不会衰老。
Now, this doesn't mean that de Grey is going to revolutionize our lifespans.
当然，这并不意味着德·格雷会彻底改变我们的寿命。
I mean, after all, we're not trees, and most of us are not lobsters.
毕竟我们不是树，我们中的大多数也不是龙虾。
But I've got to believe that there are Darwins and Einsteins out there, and I'll tell you why.
但是，我相信我们这个时代是有达尔文和爱因斯坦的，我要来告诉你们为什么。
Consider this: there are seven times more people alive today than during Darwin's time.
试想一下：现在的人口数量是达尔文时期的七倍。
There are four times as many people alive today as Einstein.
是爱因斯坦时期的四倍。
When you consider that the proportion of scientists in the population has skyrocketed, there are now seven million scientists.
当你考虑到现在科学家占全体人口的比重在激增，现在有七百万科学家。
I've got to believe, and I do believe, that there's one of them out there who is working right now in obscurity to rock our lives,
我不得不相信，并且我也的确相信，他们中间有一个正默默无闻地钻研怎样延长我们的寿命，
and I don't know about you, but I can't wait to be rocked. Thank you.
我不知道你们怎么想，但是我对此迫不及待。谢谢。