我们生活在一个尺度上 但还有别的 We live on one level of existence, but there are others.
现实隐藏的维度无处不在 These hidden dimensions of reality are everywhere.
跨越无数光年 Far away, across the light years.
在我们足下 Beneath our feet.
甚至在你我体内 And even inside you and me.
我们由原子组成 We are made of atoms.
你眼睛里的原子 There are more atoms in your eye,
比已知宇宙中所有星系的恒星还多 than there are stars in all the galaxies of the known universe.
对于任何比小手指尖儿大的固体 The same is true of any solid object larger than
这都是成立的 the tip of your little finger.
我是个由三千亿亿亿个的原子 I'm a collection of three billion, billion, billion
错综复杂地排列在一起 intricately arranged atoms
组成了名为奈尔·德葛拉司·泰森的集合体 called Neil Degrasse Tyson.
你们也是类似的集合体 只不过名字不同 You are a similar collection with a different name.
我们通常不这么想 We don't usually think of ourselves this way
因为这个尺度 because that level of reality
已经超出我们的感知范围 lies beyond the realm of our senses.
但这不会阻止我们 But we're not gonna let that stop us.
我们可以进一步探秘 We can go deeper into the wonder.
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宇宙
时空之旅
原子决定物质的特性 Atoms let matter do funny things.
要想了解水 你必须先了解原子 To understand water, you need to know what its atoms are doing.
水分子都是由两个小氢原子 Every molecule of water is composed of two tiny hydrogen atoms
和一个稍大的氧原子构成 attached to a larger oxygen atom.
水因此又称H2O That's why we call it H20.
除非太冷或者太热 If it's not too hot or too cold,
水分子相遇时可以滑过彼此 the molecules can slide and tumble past each other.
它们之间还是存在粘性 There's still some stickiness between the molecules,
但不足以让它们成为固体 but not enough to lock them into a rigid solid.
正因如此 液态水得以出现 That's what makes something a liquid.
阳光将水加热 The Sun warms the water.
有了更多能量 And with more energy,
水分子运动得更快 the molecules move faster.
温度本质就是分子的运动速度 That's all that temperature is.
这些分子运动的速度 Those molecules are moving fast enough
大到足以断开它们彼此之间的弱键 to break the weak bonds that hold them to their neighbors.
这就是蒸发 That's evaporation.
我们所呼吸的空气由氮气分子和氧气分子 The air we breathe is made of nitrogen and oxygen molecules
以及少量水蒸气和二氧化碳组成 with a scattering of water vapor and carbon dioxide.
反过来 Incoming!
那就是凝结 That's condensation.
一滴露珠意味着 A dewdrop is the momentary triumph
凝结作用暂时胜过蒸发作用 of condensation over evaporation.
当它存在时 And while it lasts,
它是个有自己世界的小宇宙 it's a little cosmos with its own worlds...
里面有生命 有情节 creatures, drama.
为了探索这片远超想象的露珠王国 To explore the far-flung realms of this dewdrop,
我们需要一艘飞船 we're gonna need a ship.
它有两个发动机 One with twin engines...
科学和想象 science and imagination.
那是一只单细胞草履虫 That's a single-celled paramecium,
漫游在露珠中的众多捕猎高手之一 one of a multitude of skilled hunter-warriors that roam the dewdrop.
但同时 它们也是猎物 But they, too, are hunted.
长颈虫 草履虫的死敌 The Dileptus. The paramecium's mortal enemy.
如果草履虫走运 可以直接命中长颈虫 The paramecium might get lucky and score a direct hit.
即使没有命中 Even if it doesn't,
反冲作用也能增加 the recoil from the barrage will put some distance
草履虫和它的攻击者之间的距离 between the paramecium and its attacker.
我还能说什么呢 What can I say?
这就是露珠中的生命 That's life in the dewdrop.
那个小家伙是一只水熊虫 That little guy is tardigrade,
比针眼还小的动物 an animal smaller than the head of a pin.
不要低估它们 Don't underestimate them.
水熊虫在这个星球上 Tardigrades have been living on this planet
存在时间比我们长 a lot longer than we have.
大概五亿年 About 500 million years.
它们的数量 For every one of us,
是人类的十亿倍以上 there's at least a billion of them.
它们可以在地球的任何地方存活 They can make a living anywhere on Earth.
在最高山脉寒冷的山顶上 In the frigid peaks of the tallest mountains,
在喷发的火山口中 in the cauldrons of erupting volcanoes,
在海底的深海热液喷口处 and in the deep ocean vents at the bottom of the sea.
水熊虫很顽强 Tardigrades are so tough,
可以不用任何防护 在真空中存活 they can survive naked in the vacuum of space.
它们在地球上最近的 They've survived all five of
五场大灭绝中幸存 the most recent mass extinctions on this planet.
如果一个外星人认为 A visitor from another world could be forgiven
地球是属于水熊虫的 这并不为过 for thinking of Earth as the planet of the tardigrades.
要想深入探究这滴露珠 If we're ever gonna get to the bottom of this dewdrop,
我们最好快点 better get a move on.
每片叶子上面 每一小丛苔藓上面 Every leaf and tiny clump of moss
都有成百上千的微型小孔 叫做气孔 has hundreds of thousands of microscopic mouths called Stomata.
植物以此呼吸 Plants breathe through them,
吸入二氧化碳 taking in carbon dioxide
呼出人类赖以生存的氧气 and exhaling the oxygen that we need to live.
没有我们 植物可以存活 The plants can survive without us.
但我们以及其他动物们 But we and all the other animals...
没了植物就完蛋了 we'd be toast without them.
植物从光照中获取养料 The plants make food out of sunlight.
我们这些动物则不能 We animals can't do that.
要想了解它们是如何做到的 To see how they do it,
我们还需更深入 we have to go deeper,
要把自己缩小上千倍 make ourselves about a thousand times smaller
才能进入它们的宝库 to get into their treasure house,
它们把好东西储存在这里 the place where they keep the good stuff...
那就是叶绿素 the chlorophyll.
这种分子可以把阳光转化成能量 That's the molecule that converts sunlight into energy.
每个长方形都是一个植物细胞 Every one of those rectangles is a plant cell.
这些绿色的小车 And those tiny green vehicles
是能量工厂 are its energy factories.
掌握它们的商业秘密 If we could steal their trade secrets,
足以掀起一场新的工业革命 it would trigger a new industrial revolution.
要想窥视它们 But to spy on them,
我们还得再往深处走走 we're gonna need to go deeper still.
这一次 想象号飞船带我们穿越到 What alien world has the ship of the imagination
哪个奇怪的世界呢 carried us to this time?
是宇宙 It's the cosmos...
一滴露珠中的宇宙 Contained within a dewdrop.
我们在执行一次工业间谍任务 We're on an industrial espionage mission.
如果可以参透 If we can penetrate the trade secrets
叶绿体中生产过程的商业秘密 of the manufacturing process in that chloroplast,
这么说吧 整个未来可能为此改变 let's just say our whole future hangs in the balance.
这个叶绿体正在利用阳光 This chloroplast is using sunlight
将水分子分解成氢原子和氧原子 to break water molecules into atoms of hydrogen and oxygen.
再把氢原子和二氧化碳结合形成糖类 It combines the hydrogen with carbon dioxide to make sugar,
将氧气作为废料排出 and releases the oxygen as a waste product.
为了看清这个过程 我们需要更加深入 To see how it happens, we have to go even deeper,
需要进一步缩小 get even smaller.
缩小到原子尺度 We're talking atomic scale.
好嘞 Bingo.
这条流水线是分子工业基地的核心 This assembly line is the heart of the molecular industrial complex.
在分子层级上 At the molecular level,
一切发生太快 我们很难看清 things happen too fast for us to see.
所以我们要放慢十亿倍 So we'll have to slow them down about a billion times.
这些大点的分子是二氧化碳 Those larger molecules are carbon dioxide.
每个都由一个碳原子两个氧原子组成 Each one of them is made of one carbon and two oxygen atoms.
当阳光照射一个叶绿素分子 When sunlight strikes a green molecule of chlorophyll,
它会启动一系列化学反应 it sets in motion a series of chemical reactions,
包括分解水分子 breaking apart water molecules
释放高能电子 and freeing energetic electrons.
这只是日间进行的活动 And that's just the day shift
当光照提供能量来源的时候 when sunlight supplies the incoming stream of energy
还有一项工作是全天进行的 There's a second shift that works day and night
利用储备的太阳能 using the solar energy kept in reserve.
自由电子的能量用于 The energy of the free electrons is put to work,
结合二氧化碳和水中的氢原子 combining carbon dioxide with hydrogen from the water.
最终产品是糖类 它将太阳能储存起来 The end product is sugar, which stores the solar energy.
叶绿体是存在三十亿年之久的太阳能收集器 The chloroplast is a three-billion-year-old solar energy collector.
这个亚微观的太阳能电池 This sub-microscopic solar battery
为所有森林 绿野 is what drives all the forests and the fields
海中的浮游生物 and the plankton of the seas.
和动物供能 And the animals.
其中也包括我们 Including us.
这种太阳能细胞器 The solar-powered biosphere
可收集加工的能量 collects and processes six times more power
比整个人类文明多六倍 than our entire civilization.
我们知道光合作用的化学机制 We understand on a chemical level how photosynthesis works.
我们可以在实验室中再现这个过程 We can recreate the process in a laboratory.
但我们远没有植物那么娴熟 But we're not as good at it as plants are.
这不足为奇 And it's not surprising,
毕竟大自然已是几十亿年的老手 considering nature has been at this for billions of years,
而我们还是菜鸟 and we've only just started.
但如果我们能揭开光合作用的奥秘 But if we could figure out the trade secrets of photosynthesis,
如今我们所依赖的所有其他能源 every of other source of energy we depend on today...
煤炭 石油 天然气 coal, oil, natural gas...
都将被淘汰 would become obsolete.
光合作用是终极绿色能源 Photosynthesis is the ultimate green power.
不会污染空气 It doesn't pollute the air
而且可实现碳中和 and is, in fact, carbon neutral.
将人工光合作用扩大到一定规模 Artificial photosynthesis on a big enough scale
可减小温室效应 could reduce the greenhouse effect
避免气候恶化 that's driving climate change in a dangerous direction.
不好 此处正在蒸发 Uh-oh, place is evaporating.
该离开这里了 Time to get out of here.
一滴露珠的生命是如此转瞬即逝 How fleeting is the life of a dewdrop.
在凉爽的夜间从空气中凝结而来 It condenses from thin air in the cool of the night,
只为在温暖的日间蒸发消失 only to vanish with the heat of the day.
而它的居民们 水熊虫去哪了呢 And what of its inhabitants, the tardigrades?
它们不会有事的 They'll be fine.
它们可以几年不沾水 They can go without water for years.
很难想象 It's hard to imagine,
植物遍布地球 but plants covered the surface of the Earth
几亿年之久 for hundreds of millions of years
才开出第一朵花 before they put forth their first flower.
这是大概一亿年以前的事 That was about a hundred million years ago,
在恐龙灭绝不久之前 shortly before the dinosaurs were wiped out.
那时的地球一定看起来色彩单调 Our world must've been a relatively drab-looking place back then,
到处都是绿色和褐色 dominated by shades of green and brown.
是的 那时有大树蕨类及其他植物 Yeah, there were giant trees and ferns and other plant life,
却不见紫色的鸢尾花 but not the purple of an iris
深红色的玫瑰 or the crimson of a red, red rose.
兰花是地球上最早的开花植物之一 Orchids were among the first flowering species to appear on Earth,
也是种类最繁多的 and they're the most diverse.
达尔文曾对 Darwin was particularly fascinated
马达加斯加的彗星兰格外着迷 by the comet orchid of Madagascar,
它的花粉藏在 a flower whose pollen is hidden
细长的花距底部 at the bottom of a very long, thin spur.
一个想法的预测能力是对自身最好的检验 There can be no stronger test of an idea than its predictive power.
基于自然选择的进化论 On the basis of his theory of evolution through natural selection,
达尔文推断在马达加斯加岛某处 Darwin speculated that somewhere on the island of Madagascar,
一定存在有超长舌头的飞行昆虫 there must live flying insects with extraordinarily lengthy tongues,
舌长足以取到花粉 ones long enough to reach the pollen.
没有人见过这种生物 No one had ever seen such a beast there,
但达尔文坚持认为 but Darwin insisted
符合此描述的动物一定存在 that an animal fitting this description must exist.
当时很少有人相信他 Few people at the time believed him.
直到五十年以后 It wasn't until more than 50 years later
达尔文的预测才被证实 that Darwin was proven right.
在1903年 名为马岛长喙天蛾的巨大天蛾 In 1903, a huge hawk moth, called the Morgan's sphinx
在马达加斯加被发现 was discovered in Madagascar.
这种蛾子被彗星兰的气味吸引 Attracted by the Comet Orchid's scent,
用它三十厘米长的舌头吸取花粉 the moth slurps its pollen with its foot-long tongue,
正如达尔文预测的那样 exactly as Darwin expected it would.
更神奇的是 人们找到了马岛长喙天蛾 It's even more amazing that the Morgan's sphinx was discovered
尽管马达加斯加90%的热带雨林 when you consider that more than 90% of Madagascar's rain forest
都已被破坏 had been destroyed.
达尔文做出著名预测的几年后 In the years since Darwin's famous prediction,
此种飞蛾本来很可能同其他物种 this moth species could have easily become extinct
一起灭绝 with all the others...
每个物种都是一段独特的生命之诗 every one of them a unique phrase of life's poetry,
由亿万年的进化中用原子书写而成 written in the atoms by eons of evolution.
紫丁香的芬芳 Ah, the fragrance of lilacs.
是那种可以触发 It's one of those scents that
一系列联想的气味 triggers a whole constellation of associations,
那些久远的六月 all those Junes of long ago.
它的原理是什么呢 But how does that happen?
一种气味怎么能在你脑海中形成画面 How does a smell prompt a movie to start running in your head?
气味是不可见的 It's not something we can see.
会是某种能量波吗 像光波一样 Could it be a wave of energy, like light?
还是某种微观粒子 Or is it some kind of microscopic particle?
事实上 它是一个分子 It's actually a molecule.
我们能闻到的气味 无论是烧焦面包 Every odor we can sense, whether it comes from burnt toast,
汽油 还是遍野的紫丁香 gasoline, or a field of lilacs,
都是一团分子 is a cloud of molecules.
这些分子有特定形状 These molecules have particular shapes.
当我将它们吸入 When I inhale them,
它们会刺激鼻子内特定的受体细胞 they stimulate a particular set of receptor cells in my nose.
一个电信号传递到我的大脑 An electrical signal then travels to my brain,
大脑识别出紫丁香的气味 which identifies the scent as lilac.
其他气味由其他形状各异的分子传送 Other scents are carried by different molecules with different shapes.
但当我闻到花香 或篝火的烟味 But when I smell a flower or the smoke from a campfire
或汽车齿轮的油味 or the grease from a motor gear,
我脑中会充满记忆 I'm often flooded with memories.
为什么像花香这么简单的东西 Why is it that a simple thing such as the scent of a flower
可以触发强烈的回忆呢 can trigger powerful memories?
这与人脑的进化有关 It has to do with the way our brains have evolved.
当大脑中的嗅觉神经受到刺激 Our sense of smell kicks in
就产生了嗅觉 when the olfactory nerve in our brain is stimulated.
嗅觉神经距离杏仁体位置很近 That nerve is located very close to the amygdala,
杏仁体是使我们体验情感的重要结构 a structure that is integral to our experience of emotion.
嗅觉神经与海马体也很近 It's also very close to the Hippocampus,
海马体帮助我们形成记忆 which helps us form memories.
将气味信号 The network of neurons
从鼻子运送到大脑的神经元网络 that carry the scent signal from my nose to my brain
已被数亿年的进化调整得很好 has been fine-tuned over hundreds of millions of years of evolution.
这是一种 It's a survival mechanism
可以预警并引领我们脱险的生存机制 that can alert us to danger or guide us to safety.
如果你能在捕食者靠近并出击前探测到它 If you you can detect the predator before he's near enough to strike,
或在被困森林前得知着火了 or the fire before it traps you in the forest,
你幸存的几率就更大 you have a much better chance to survive
继续向下一代传递基因 and pass on your genes to the next generation.
这片花海散发出的馥郁 That lovely scent from this field of flowers
触发一系列独特的神经信号 sets off a unique combination of nerve signals.
只有这种正确的密码可以打开 Only that exact combination can crack the safe
我大脑中储存紫丁香记忆的保险柜 where the memory of lilacs is stored inside my brain.
好想知道会送给谁 Wonder who they're for.
或许稍后我们能知晓 Maybe we'll find out later.
但首先 另一个隐藏宇宙在等我们 But first, there's another hidden cosmos waiting for us.
植物在轻轻地呼吸 The plants are softly breathing,
吸入二氧化碳分子 inhaling molecules of carbon dioxide
呼出氧分子 and exhaling molecules of oxygen.
我做的恰恰相反 And I'm doing the opposite.
与雪花和指纹不同 Unlike snowflakes and fingerprints,
同种原子或分子 atoms or molecules of the same kind
是完全相同的 are utterly identical to one another.
每一次呼吸 With every breath we take,
我们吸入的分子 we inhale as many molecules as there are stars
多如可见宇宙中所有星系里的恒星 in all the galaxies in the visible universe.
我们呼出的气体在空气中流通 And every breath we exhale is circulated through the air,
跨越大陆逐渐相互混合 and mixed gradually across the continents,
被其他生物吸入 it becomes available for others to breathe.
和我一起呼吸 Breathe with me.
我们刚刚吸入大约一亿个分子 We all just inhaled about 100 million molecules
这些分子曾穿越过 that once passed through the lungs
前人的肺 of everyone who ever lived before us.
想想看 这种原子的转世轮回 Think of it... This kind of atomic reincarnation
是我们与遥远祖先的另一联系 is another link to our distant ancestors,
包括那些让我们踏上 including those who first launched us on our explorations
探索隐藏世界之路的祖先 of the unseen universes.
这些世界如你我一样真实 These universes are as real as you or me,
它们包围着你我 and they surround us.
在某个时间点我们领悟到了 There was a moment when we awakened
看问题想问题的新方式 to a new way of thinking and seeing.
那就是在2500年前 It happened about 2,500 years ago on the Greek islands
在东西罗马帝国中间的希腊小岛上 that lie between the empires of the east and west.
在那里商人游客和水手自由融合 There, merchants, tourists and sailors freely mingled,
讲述伟大国王与神灵的故事 exchanging tales of great kings and gods.
在米利都等爱奥尼亚城镇 In Ionian cities and towns like Miletus,
即现今的土耳其 in what is now Turkey,
我们当代生活方式的基本元素 the most fundamental elements of the way we live now
最早在这里出现 first appeared.
在这里 生活场景第一次被搬上舞台 Here, for the first time, reenactments of aspects of life
由专业人士编写并演绎 created and executed by professionals
希望可以以此触碰到 with the expectation of touching something deep
观众内心深处情感 within the hearts of the audience,
或是逗他们开心一笑 or just making them laugh...
最早的话剧戏剧和喜剧在这里上演 The first plays, dramas and comedies, were performed.
另一全新的概念也在此诞生 Here also was born a radical new idea...
那就是民治政府 Government by the people.
模糊的民主概念 不如现今完备 The first inklings, imperfect then as now, of a democracy,
以及普通百姓 and the notion that the ordinary citizen
也能拥有某种权利的想法 might possess certain rights,
都诞生于彼时彼地 come to us from this time and place.
但在我看来 这个古老世界带给我们的 But in my view, the most revolutionary innovation of all
最具革命性的新思想是 to come to us from this ancient world
自然事件并不是 was the idea that natural events
反复无常的神灵对人类的惩罚或奖励 were neither punishment nor reward from capricious gods.
无需借助超自然 The workings of nature could be explained
来解释自然活动 without invoking the supernatural.
最早提出这个观点的人 The first person to express this thought
名为泰勒斯 was a man named Thales.
打雷或地震 When the thunder clapped or the Earth quaked,
并不是因为你的所作所为 it was not because something you did
触犯了苛刻的神灵 had somehow displeased the very demanding gods.
而是自然过程的结果 No, it was the result of natural processes
它是可以被我们理解的 that we were capable of understanding.
尽管据说他写过的著作都没能流传 Though none of the books he is said to have written survive,
泰勒斯提出的观点至今影响着我们 Thales kindled a flame that still burns to this day:
那就是宇宙由混沌而来 The very idea of cosmos out of chaos,
这是一个遵循自然定律的 a universe governed by the order of natural laws
可知的宇宙 that we can actually figure out.
这是一场由泰勒斯开始的史诗级的探险 This is the epic adventure that began in the mind of Thales.
泰勒斯去世仅一世纪后 Only a century following Thales' death,
另一位天才出现了 another genius came along.
智慧超群的他 And he, more than any other,
是第一位发现 was the first to discover the existence
我们周围存在隐藏宇宙的人 of the hidden universes that surround us.
阿布德拉的德谟克利特是位真正的科学家 Democritus of Abdera was a true scientist,
一个热切渴望了解宇宙 a man with a passionate desire to know the cosmos
探索趣事的人 and to have fun.
他说过 没有享乐的生活 This is the man who once said, "A life without parties
就像一条没有尽头的路 would be like an endless road without an end."
就是这样吗 You mean, that's it?
宇宙里就只有这些吗 That's all there is?
虚空中的一堆原子 Just a bunch of atoms in a void?
对 Yep.
想想看 Well, think about it.
世界一定是由 The world has to be made
虚空中无数不可见的粒子组成 of countless indivisible particles in a void.
不然事物无法移动 生长 分裂 改变 Otherwise, nothing could move or grow, be divided or changed.
如果没有原子和允许它们移动的空隙 Without atoms and empty space for them to move in,
世界将是固态的 静止的 毫无生机 the world would be solid ,static and dead.
所以不要伤感 朋友们 So, don't be sad, my friends.
想想原子的不同排列 Just think of the infinite possibilities
带给我们的无限可能吧 that arise from different arrangements of those atoms.
敬给这只杯子 Here's to the atoms
和这杯酒中的原子 in this cup and in this wine...
以及它们带给我们的快乐吧 And to the laughter they make possible.
在杯子的黏土中 Dispersed through the clay of the cup
分布着微观矿物粒子 are microscopic mineral grains,
和各种晶体 different kinds of crystals,
每种都有自己特有的原子结构 each with its own distinctive atomic architecture.
矿物质结构很精致 Mineral structures are exquisite,
但形式却是有限的 but they have a limited repertoire.
一粒石英是由三个原子 A grain of quartz is a lattice of the same three atoms
无变化重复排列组成的晶格 repeated, without variation, over and over again.
就算是相对复杂的黄玉晶格 Even a relatively complex mineral lattice like topaz,
由十来个原子构成 composed of ten or so atoms,
也只能来来回回重复一模一样的 can only repeat the identical atomic structure
原子结构 again and again.
要想让物质进入另一个维度 To lift a matter into another dimension
让它脱离晶格无限重复的束缚 to free it from the lattice prison of endless repetition,
这种原子必须能够与各个方向的 you need an atom that can bond in all directions
同种原子 with other atoms like itself
以及其他种原子结合 as well as with atoms of different kinds.
请看碳原子 Behold the carbon atom...
地球生命的必需元素 the essential element for life on Earth.
为什么 Why?
碳原子很特殊 Carbon is special
它可以同时结合四个原子 because it can bond with up to four other atoms at a time.
它可以和很多种其他原子结合 It can connect with many different kinds of atoms,
也可以和碳原子结合 as well as other carbon atoms.
它可以连成环 环连成链 It can curl into rings and string together into chains,
可形成远比晶体复杂的分子 building molecules far more complex than any crystal.
其他原子都不具备这等灵活性 No other atom has the same flexibility.
即便是有类似化学性质的原子 Even atoms that have similar chemical properties,
例如硅原子 like silicon,
它形成的分子不如碳原子多样 can't form the amazing variety of molecules built on carbon.
我们称为蛋白质的碳基分子 The carbon-based molecules we call proteins,
生命的必需品 the molecules of life,
毫不夸张地说 它由几十万原子构成 contain literally hundreds of thousands of atoms.
碳原子支撑着 Carbon atoms are the backbone of the molecules
组成地球生命的分子 that make every living thing on Earth,
包括我们 including us.
这就是石头和生命体的区别 That's the difference between rocks and living things.
生命体可以制造体积庞大结构复杂的分子 Life can make enormous molecules of stunning size and complexity,
让物质得以创新 进化 freeing matter to improvise, evolve,
甚至爱 and even love.
别紧张 孩他爸 Take it easy, dad.
他并没有真正碰到她 He never actually touched her.
在我们的日常生活中 In everyday life on our world,
从原子的尺度上看 on the scale of atoms,
物质从不相互接触 material objects never really touch.
每个原子中心都有个小原子核 Each atom has a tiny nucleus at its center,
由电子云的磁力线包围 surrounded by an electron cloud of lines of force.
当原子相互靠近 As the atoms approach each other,
男孩的电子云排斥女孩的电子云 the boy's electron clouds push away the girl's.
任何原子超过99.9%的质量 More than 99.9% of the matter of any atom
都集中在原子核 is concentrated in its nucleus.
原子核被电子云包围 The nucleus is surrounded by an electron cloud
电子云产生不可见的力场 which produces an invisible field of force,
起到缓冲器的作用 and acts like a shock absorber.
电子云的构型 The configuration of the electron cloud
决定这种元素的性质 determines the nature of an element.
在地球上正常情况下 In the ordinary course of things here on Earth,
原子核不会相互接触 the nuclei never touch.
我们虽然感受到触觉 We have a sensation of touching,
但那不过是隐形力场 but that's really just our invisible force fields
相互重叠排斥的结果 overlapping and repelling each other.
和原子其他部分相比 The nucleus is very small
原子核很小 compared to the rest of the atom.
如果说原子的大小等同于这间教堂 If an atom were the size of this cathedral,
原子核的大小等同于那粒灰尘 its nucleus would be the size of that mote of dust.
原子中绝大部分是真空 An atom is mostly empty space.
要想了解物质的本质 To understand the nature of matter,
我们还需更加深入 we have to go deeper still,
到一个比原子小十万倍的地方 to a place 100,000 times smaller than the atom:
它的原子核 Its nucleus.
宇宙中最简单最多的原子是氢原子 The simplest and most plentiful atom in the cosmos is hydrogen.
它的原子核是单个质子 Its nucleus is a single proton,
也就意味着氢元素是第一号元素 which makes hydrogen element number one.
周围的电子云 The clouds that surround it
是氢原子唯一的电子可移动的区域 are the realms where the atom's lone electron is permitted to roam.
原子核有两个质子会怎样呢 What happens when you have a nucleus with two protons?
质子会相互排斥 Protons repel each other.
要想把它们在原子核里结合到一起 In order to hold them together in a nucleus,
还需要另一种叫中子的粒子 you need other particles called neutrons.
它们负责让质子安守本分 Their job is to keep the protons from getting out of line.
中子用超强核力 They overwhelm the protons
战胜质子斥力 让它们吸引在一起 with their strong attractive nuclear force.
原子核有两个质子的元素为二号元素 A nucleus with two protons is element number two,
也被称为氦元素 otherwise known as helium.
原子核有六个质子的元素为六号元素 A nucleus with six protons is element number six,
也就是碳元素 which is carbon,
构建生命体的基本材料 the fundamental building block of life.
金元素的原子核有79个质子 The nucleus of a gold atom has 79 protons.
它周围的电子云中有79个电子 They attract 79 electrons in clouds around it.
光与这些电子的相互作用 The way light interacts with those electrons
让金闪闪发光 is what makes gold glitter.
原子核中每多一个质子 Every additional proton in the nucleus
就需要足量的中子将它们束缚住 requires enough neutrons to bind them together...
不过有个限度 Up to a point.
原子核中的中子数有上限 There's an upper limit to the number of neutrons you can stuff into
再多就会变得不稳定 a nucleus before it becomes unstable.
我知道有个地方 I know a place
不同原子的原子核真的可以相互接触 where the nuclei of different atoms actually do touch each other.
太阳看起来像个固体天体 The Sun looks like a solid object,
其实不是 but it's not.
它的高温使所有原子处于气态 It's so hot that all its atoms are always in their gaseous state.
地球上使物质呈固态或液态的化学键 The bonds that join atoms to make solids and liquids on Earth
不足以对抗烈日的高温 are not strong enough to withstand the heat of the boiling Sun.
这些比地球还大的炽热弧形气体流 Those arcing streams of incandescent gas that dwarf the Earth
受由太阳内部发射出的 are guided by magnetic lines of force
磁力线操纵 that emanate from below the surface of the Sun.
为什么太阳温度如此高 Why is the Sun so hot?
因为它巨大的引力将原子挤到了一起 Because its own stupendous gravity is squeezing its atoms together.
引力的能量转化为 The energy of gravity is being transformed
运动原子的动能 into the energy of moving atoms.
这就是温度 That's what heat is.
越到太阳的中心 The deeper we go into the Sun,
原子挤得越紧 温度越高 the greater the squeezing and the higher the temperature.
在太阳的最中心 In the heart of the Sun,
原子高速运动 一旦碰撞就会融合 the atoms are moving so fast that when they collide, they fuse.
原子核会相互接触 Their nuclei touch.
太阳是一个由自身引力维持的 The Sun is a nuclear fusion reactor,
核聚变反应堆 held together by its own gravity.
由向内的引力 It's balanced between the inward pull of gravity
和高温气体向外的推力维持平衡 and the outward push of its hot gases.
这种平衡持续了数十亿年 That balance has lasted billions of years,
它的稳定使地球上生物进化成为可能 providing stability that made possible the evolution of life on Earth.
在太阳的核心 In the Sun's core,
氢原子聚变成氦原子 the fusion of hydrogen into helium
以光子的形式释放核能 releases nuclear energy in the form of photons.
这些光子慢慢到达太阳表面 These particles of light slowly work their way to the surface,
也就成为了日光 where they're seen as sunlight.
氦相当于太阳这个核反应堆的灰烬 Helium is the ash of the Sun's nuclear furnace.
太阳是个中型恒星 The Sun is a medium-sized star.
它的核心也不过是一千万度 不算太热 Its core is only a lukewarm ten million degrees...
足以让氢原子聚变 hot enough to fuse hydrogen,
却不足以让氦原子聚变 but too cold to fuse helium.
银河系中有很多恒星可达到更高温度 There are many stars in the galaxy that get much hotter,
因为它们质量更大 because they're more massive
也就有更强的引力 and have more gravity.
这些恒星可让氦原子聚变成更重的原子 Such stars fuse helium into heavier elements,
比如碳原子和氧原子 like carbon and oxygen.
在它们的暮年 In their old age,
它们将这些元素慢慢扩散到太空中 they gently diffuse these elements into space.
还有一些质量更大的恒星 Other stars, more massive yet,
寿命不长 live fast and die young
在灾难性的超新星爆炸中死亡 in cataclysmic supernova explosions.
在银河系 超新星爆炸大概每世纪发生一次 In our galaxy, such stars go supernova about once a century.
爆炸时的温度远远超过太阳核心 These explosions are far hotter than the core of the Sun...
足以把像铁这样的元素 hot enough to transform elements like iron
转化成更重的元素释放到太空中 into all the heavier ones and spew them into space.
大麦哲伦星云 The large magellanic cloud
是银河系的相邻星系 is a neighboring galaxy of our milky way.
在南半球的天空中可见 It's visible in the skies of the Southern hemisphere.
当超新星爆炸时 When a supernova explodes,
它的亮度超越整个星系 its brightness rivals that of its entire galaxy.
但这些光能 But all that light
只占爆炸释放的总能量的百分之一 is only about one percent of the energy liberated in the explosion.
剩下的能量被宇宙中 The rest of the energy is carried off by the most common
最常见但最神秘的粒子带走 and the most mysterious particles in the cosmos.
此刻有数万亿这种粒子正在穿过你 There are trillions of them passing through you right now,
只需追踪其中的一个 and yet tracking down even one of them
我们就会到达地球上最奇怪的地方 will take us to one of the strangest places on Earth.
追踪中微子是最不寻常的猎捕 Stalking the wild neutrino is the rarest of sport.
要想成功追踪中微子 The lengths one must go to track them down
必须付出超乎寻常的努力 is nothing short of astonishing.
欢迎来到超级神冈探测器 Welcome to Super Kamiokande,
日本地下中微子探测室 the subterranean Japanese neutrino detection chamber.
我们身处地下一公里 We're more than a half mile beneath Earth's surface.
你大概会问 哪个脑袋正常的人 You might ask, "Well, who in their right mind
会把天文台埋在地下深处呢 would bury an astronomical observatory so far underground?"
那些要捕捉宇宙中最独特的猎物 Those who hunt the most elusive prey in the cosmos:
即中微子的猎人 The neutrino.
包围着五万顿蒸馏水的 This enormous array of light detectors
光电倍增管阵列 surrounding 50,000 tons of distilled water
是专门捕捉中微子的陷阱 is a trap designed to catch neutrinos only.
其他例子 例如宇宙射线 Other particles, such as cosmic rays...
多是从天而降的质子和电子 mostly protons and electrons that rain down from space...
穿不过探测器上面的岩石 cannot get through all that rock above us.
但物质不能拦截中微子 But matter poses no obstacle to a neutrino.
一个中微子可以穿过一百光年的钢 A neutrino could pass through 100 light-years of steel
而速度不减 without even slowing down.
中微子几乎不与物质发生作用 Neutrinos hardly interact with matter at all.
正因如此要想捕捉到一个中微子 That's why you need so much of it
需要如此多的光电倍增管 to catch even one of them.
极个别情况下 On those rare occasions when a neutrino
中微子会与普通物质碰撞 actually does collide with a particle of ordinary matter,
产生鬼魅般的环形闪光 it produces a ghostly, ring-shaped flash of light.
我们静候 We're lying in wait
一个质量几乎为零的粒子 for a particle that weighs next to nothing.
即便是微不足道的电子 Even the miniscule electron
都比中微子重百万倍 has more than a million times its mass...
来了 There!
当大麦哲伦星云的一个超新星 When the supernova in the large magellanic cloud
于1987年爆炸时 blew its top in 1987,
这里会出现这样的景象 this is what it would have looked like in here.
记住 大麦哲伦星云 Now remember, the large magellanic cloud
在南半球那侧 is in our Southern hemisphere,
这些中微子不是穿过上边一公里岩石 so the neutrinos didn't come through that half-mile of rock above us,
而是穿过我们下边几千公里岩石和铁 they had to pass through the thousands of miles of rock and iron
才到达这个探测器 below us to reach this detector.
最奇妙的是 这些中微子 But the coolest thing was that those neutrinos
比超新星发出的光 hit Earth three hours before
早三个小时到达地球 the light from the supernova did.
如果光速是宇宙中最快的速度 If nothing can travel faster than light,
这是怎么回事呢 how could that possibly be?
面前这颗死亡恒星在移动 This is a dead star walking.
它看似正常 然而在它的深处 It may look normal, but deep within it
灾难正在蓄势 something cataclysmic is happening.
这颗蓝巨星 This blue super giant star
已从内部开始爆炸 has already begun to explode inside.
如同跳离沉船的老鼠 Like rats deserting a sinking ship,
在即将爆发的恒星中心产生的中微子 the neutrinos produced in the heart of the exploding star
在短短几秒内穿透质量巨大的恒星 race outward at near the speed of light,
以接近光速的速度向外逃散 through overlying mass in only a few seconds.
然而爆炸气体产生的冲击波 But the shock wave of the exploding gas
从恒星中心以千分之一光速 plods along from the center of the star
缓慢向外移动 at 1/1000 of the spead of light
最终到达恒星表面 until it finally reaches the star's surface,
恒星转化为1987a超新星 turning it into supernova 1987a.
爆炸传播到恒星表面 It took hours for the explosion to reach
将其彻底炸碎 露出超高温核心 the surface of the star and blow it wide open
需要几个小时的时间 exposing the super hot core.
中微子在这场跑赛中占尽先机 The neutrinos had an insurmountable head start.
因此闪光比那阵中微子雨 That's why the flash of light arrived on Earth
到达地球要晚很多 so much later than the shower of neutrinos.
在任何人捕捉到宇宙中的中微子之前 Before anyone had ever snared the wild neutrino,
一位理论物理学家早就知道它的存在 it existed in the mind of a theoretical physicist.
正如查尔斯·达尔文坚信 Just as Charles Darwin knew
在马达加斯加某处 there must be an extremely long-nosed creature
一定有某种长鼻子生物在飞 flying around somewhere in Madagascar,
沃尔夫冈·泡利 一位二十世纪物理学家 a 20th-century physicist named Wolfgang Pauli
迫切地寻找一种粒子 was desperately seeking a particle
用来拯救现代物理的重要基石 to rescue one of the pillars of modern physics,
即能量守恒定律 the law of the conservation of energy.
我为什么没有退缩 So why didn't I flinch?
因为物理定律 Because the laws of science differ fundamentally
与人类研究的其他领域有本质不同 from those of other human endeavors.
一个想法要想成为科学定律 In order for an idea to become a scientific law,
它必须是不可打破的 it has to unbreakable.
所以我才敢用自己这张脸 That's why I was willing to bet this face
为能量守恒定律下注 on the laws of conservation of energy.
如果你想在家模仿 Now, if you try this at home,
注意不要推这个红球 take care not to give the cannonball a push.
会增加它的能量 That's adding energy,
不然球一定会摆回来伤到你 and the ball will surely come back and do some damage.
你只需松手 像这样 You just have to let it go, like this.
抬起球 By lifting the ball,
你将给它重力势能 you give it gravitational energy,
即加速下落的趋势 which is the potential to fall and accelerate.
当红球摆到最低点时 The cannonball is going fastest
它的速度最大 when it's at the bottom of its arc,
在这一刻 and at that moment,
它的所有重力势能 it's converted all of its gravitational energy
都转化成动能 to the energy of motion.
随着摆动 红球将两种能量 As it swings, the cannonball is constantly exchanging
不停地相互转化 one of these two kinds of energy for the other,
但总能量不变 but the total amount of energy remains constant.
这是能量守恒定律的一个例子 That's an example of the law of conservation of energy.
一旦松手放开红球 Once the cannonball is released,
它不可能获得比初始时更多能量 it can never gain more energy than it had to begin with.
它不可能飞过来砸我的鼻梁 It has no way to fly up and break my nose.
能量的会计账簿永远收支平衡 The energy accounting books are always strictly balanced.
不存在作弊这一说 There's no such thing as cheating.
在二十世纪 So in the 20th century,
当物理学家首次精确计算出原子的能量 when physicists first calculated the energy of atoms precisely,
它们很震惊地发现 they were startled to discover
这个定律显然被打破了 an apparent violation of this law.
他们发现在一些放射性原子中 They found that in some radioactive atoms,
原子核可以自发释放电子 the nucleus can spontaneously eject an electron.
原子本身也变成了另一种元素 This transforms the atom into a different element.
物理学家们很不解 The physicists were mystified.
被释放的电子的能量 The energy of the escaped electron
加上新元素的原子能量 plus that of the new element
比之前的原子核的能量小 adds up to less than the energy in the original nucleus.
但是根据定律 But the law says,
能量不会凭空消失或产生 "Thou shall not destroy or create energy."
缺失的那部分能量去哪儿了呢 So where did the missing energy go?
在1930年 In 1930...
沃尔夫冈·泡利预测存在一种未知的粒子 Wolfgang Pauli predicted there must be an undiscovered particle,
可以补偿丢失的能量 one that makes off with the missing energy.
在那时 泡利悲叹 At the time, Pauli lamented
这种幽灵般的粒子可能太小太快 that such a phantom particle might be so minute,
太善于躲藏 永远无法探测 swift and evasive as to forever defy detection.
但这次他罕见地想错了 But that was a rare failure of his imagination
因为科学永远有办法更深入探究 because science is always searching for a way to go deeper still.
一代人之后 A generation later,
泡利所说的中微子首次 Pauli's neutrinos were actually detected for the first time
在核反应器的辐射中被探测到 in radiation from a nuclear reactor.
尽管艰辛 自此一直能找到它们的身影 And we've been finding them, with difficulty, ever since.
如今有一些科学家 There are scientists today
想要通过研究中微子 who are trying to find a way to ride those neutrinos
探秘宇宙的诞生 all the way back to the beginning of time.
我们去看看他们追溯到多远 We'll go as far as they have gone
我们面对的是永恒之墙 to come up against the wall of forever.
我们对永恒之墙并不陌生 The wall of forever is nothing new.
我们的祖先开始想象 Our ancestors came up against it
时间的起点时 就碰到了它 almost as soon as they first started imagining it.
一百万个日出前 公元前十三世纪 A million dawns ago, in the 13th century BC,
埃及人为了纪念法老拉美西斯二世 the Egyptian built this temple at Abu Simbel
在阿布辛贝建造了这座神庙 to honor the Pharaoh Ramses II,
这四尊巨大雕塑都刻画了这位法老 depicted here in four colossal statues.
比强大的法老更位高权重的是 Reigning even above even this mighty king
隼头神瑞·哈拉胡提 is the falcon-headed Ra-Harakhti,
即太阳神 God of the Sun.
神庙的特殊设计 The temple was designed
限制一年中只有两天 so that the light from the rising Sun
晨曦可以射入圣殿 could only enter the sanctuary on two days every year.
光线射入神庙 As the rays enter the temple,
先将神灵的雕像照得金光闪闪 they burnish the statues of the gods with their golden light
然后进入圣殿 before penetrating the sanctuary.
即便那时 仍有一位神灵不会被照射到 Even then, one God remains in shadow.
卜塔 万物之主 Ptah, lord of creation,
仿佛宇宙的诞生 必须永远被隐藏 as if the origin of the universe must forever be concealed.
感受一下你脸上的阳光 Feel the Sun on your face.
温暖你的那股能量 The energy that warms you
大约一千万年前 began its journey some ten million years ago
就已经从太阳中心出发了 in the heart of the Sun.
不像中微子 Unlike neutrinos,
光子从中心到达表面 the photons needed that long to work their way out
需要这么长时间 from the core to the surface.
为什么 Why?
因为它们每秒钟就要和太阳的原子 Because they were colliding billions of times per second
撞击数十亿次 with the Sun's atoms,
每次撞击都会让它们随机地改变方向 every collision sending them off in a random direction.
但它们一旦到达表面 But once they finally reached the surface,
它们得以以光速飞奔不停歇 they were free to dash nonstop, at the speed of light,
从太阳到达你这里 in a mere eight minutes and 20 seconds
只需八分钟二十秒 from the Sun to you.
一千万岁的阳光照在你脸上 Ten-million-year-old light on your face.
当阳光离开太阳中心时 What was happening
发生了什么 when that light left the heart of the Sun?
宇宙年历把整整一百三十八亿年的宇宙历史 The cosmic calendar compresses the entire 13.8 billion year
压缩到一年之内 history of the universe into a single year.
每个月份相当于十亿年 Every month represents about a billion years.
每天相当于四千万年 Every day, about 40 million years.
宇宙的历史很悠久 一千万年前 The universe is so old that, on the cosmic calendar,
在宇宙年历上也仅仅是 ten million years ago only takes us back as far as...
这一年最后一天的 6:00 P.M. On the last evening
晚上六点 of the last day of the year.
那我们呢 And what about us?
那时候还没进化出人类 Humans had yet to evolve.
一千万年前 Ten million years ago,
我们的祖先还是类人猿 our ancestors were anthropoid apes,
在非洲的丛林中穿行 swinging through the trees of Africa.
对我们而言 一千万年看似很长 To us, ten million years seems like a long time,
但在宇宙的时间比例尺上 but it's only the length of an afternoon
只不过相当于一个下午 on the timescale of the cosmos.
太阳从45亿年前开始氢聚变 The Sun began fusing hydrogen 4,500 million years ago...
在宇宙年历上是八月三十一号 August 31 on the cosmic calendar.
我们的银河系大概存在一百亿年 Our milky way galaxy is about 10,000 million years old.
最早的星系比它诞生早几十亿年 The first galaxies formed about a few billion years earlier.
有一样东西阻止我继续向前追溯 And something keeps me from going any further back in time.
是什么呢 What is this?
是光和时间的本质 It's the nature of light and time.
由于光的速度有限 Because light travels at a finite speed,
我们所看到的宇宙都是过去的光 to look across space is to look back in time.
我们看得越远 So the farther we see,
光就越古老 the older the light.
我们能用光看到的宇宙历史 This is as far back in the history of the cosmos
也只能追溯到这么远了 as we can see with light.
这是宇宙刚诞生的样子 It's a baby picture of universe,
只有三十八万岁 when it was only 380,000 years old.
宇宙年历上一月一号刚过十五分钟 That's 15 minutes into January 1st on the cosmic calendar.
用微波望远镜 If we look as far as we can see in any direction
向各个方向极目远眺 using microwave telescopes,
就会看到这个景象 this is what we see,
大爆炸遗留的光晕 the glow left over from the Big Bang.
试想可见宇宙的所有物质和能量 Imagine that all the matter and energy of the observable universe
都集中在不超过这么大的空间里 was concentrated into something no larger than this.
试想当宇宙只有 That's the size of the universe
一万亿亿亿分之一秒时 when it was a trillionth of a trillionth
它的体积只有这么大 of a trillionth of a second old.
如今已分散在相距数十亿光年远的 All the matter and energy of the hundred billion galaxies
千亿个星系的所有物质和能量 now splayed out across the billions of light-years
曾经都蕴结在 were once pent up
一个弹珠大小的空间里 in something the size of a marble.
你能想象这个弹珠密度有多大吗 Can you imagine how tightly packed that marble must have been?
密度大得任何光都不能穿过 Far too dense for any kind of light to move through it,
但也无法阻挡中微子 but no obstacle for the likes of neutrinos.
大爆炸一定产生了数量惊人的中微子 The big bang must have produced stupendous numbers of neutrinos,
它们畅通无阻地穿过无比稠密的物质 which flew unhindered through that inconceivable crush of matter.
中微子几乎无法被探测到的原因 The very thing that makes them almost impossible to detect
使它们得以穿过 is what allows neutrinos to sail through the curtain
遮掩时间起源的幕布 that conceals the beginning of time.
它们现在在哪里 Where are they now?
这这里 在那里 They are here, they're there,
宇宙中无处不在 everywhere throughout the universe.
宇宙诞生产生的中微子就在你体内 Neutrinos from creation are within you.
从一个弹珠 From a marble...
到整个宇宙 to the cosmos.
这就是两千五百年前泰勒斯和德谟克利特 This is the road that Thales and Democritus put us on
带我们踏上的路途 some 2,500 years ago...
一条无尽的探索之路 a road of endless searching,
不懈地系统地探索新世界 a relentless, systematic hunt for new worlds
不断加深对自然的理解 and an ever-deepening understanding of nature.
你们当中谁会接过火炬 Who among you will pick up that torch
带领我们踏上下一段路呢 and take us down that next stretch of road?