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CraigVenter_2008-_即将实现人造生命_
You know, I've talked about some of these projects before, about the human genome and what that might mean, and discovering new sets of genes . 在这之前我已经讨论过这些项目中的一部分 关于人类基因组和它们的意义。 以及发现新的基因组。
genome:n.基因组;染色体组; genes:n.基因;(gene的复数)
We're actually starting at a new point: we've been digitizing biology , and now we're trying to go from that digital code into a new phase of biology , with designing and synthesizing life. 这次我们要从一个新的角度来看: 我们在从事数字化生物学的工作。 并且现在我们正尝试从那些数字代码走向 一个生物学的全新阶段, 设计与人工合成生命。
digitizing:v.[计]数字化(digitize的ing形式); biology:n.(一个地区全部的)生物;生物学; digital:adj.数字的;手指的;n.数字;键; phase:n.阶段;时期;月相;(月亮的)盈亏;v.分阶段进行;逐步做; synthesizing:v.合成;(音响)合成;综合;(synthesize的现在分词)
So, we've always been trying to ask big questions. 我们经常试图提出一些较大的问题。
'"What is life?" is something that I think many biologists have been trying to understand at various levels. “生命是什么”我想是许多生物学家 不断地尝试在 在不同层面去理解的问题。
biologists:n.生物学家(biologist的复数);
We've tried various approaches , paring it down to minimal components . 我们尝试了许多方法, 把它分解到最小的组成部分。
approaches:v.靠近,接近; n.方式,方法,态度; paring:n.削皮;削下来的薄片;v.削掉(pare的现在分词); minimal:adj.最低的;最小限度的; components:n.部件;组件;成份(component复数);
We've been digitizing it now for almost 20 years. 到目前我们几乎已经用了20年来将其数字化。
When we sequenced the human genome, it was going from the analog world of biology into the digital world of the computer. 当我们在排序人类基因组的时候, 它从生物学的模拟分析世界 走进了计算机的数字世界。
sequenced:[数][计]序列; analog:n.[自]模拟;类似物;adj.[自]模拟的;有长短针的;
Now we're trying to ask, can we regenerate life, or can we create new life, out of this digital universe? 现在我们在尝试提问,我们是否能够再造生命, 或者我们是否从这个数字世界中 能创造新的生命?
regenerate:vt.使再生;革新;vi.再生;革新;adj.再生的;革新的;
This is the map of a small organism , 这是一种微生物的基因序列图,
organism:n.生物;有机体;有机组织;(尤指)微生物;
Mycoplasma genitalium, that has the smallest genome for a species that can self-replicate in the laboratory . 生殖支原体, 它有着对于一个物种来说最小的基因组 能使其在实验室中自我复制。
Mycoplasma:n.[微]支原菌,[微]支原体; species:n.[生物]物种;种类; laboratory:n.实验室,研究室;
And we've been trying to just see if we can come up with an even smaller genome. 并且我们在尝试了解是否 我们能找到一种更小的基因组。
come up with:提出;想出;赶上;
We're able to knock out on the order of a hundred genes out of the 500 or so that are here. 我们能够从500组基因中 分离出一百组就是我们眼前的这些。
knock out:n.淘汰赛;引人注目的人或物;将对方击倒而获胜的一击;
But when we look at its metabolic map, it's relatively simple compared to ours. 但当我们来看它的新陈代谢的时候, 这其实是相对简单的 相对我们的来说。
metabolic:adj.变化的;新陈代谢的; relatively:adv.相当程度上;相当地;相对地; compared:adj.比较的,对照的; v.相比; (compare的过去式和过去分词)
Trust me, this is simple. 相信我,这算简单的。
But when we look at all the genes that we can knock out one at a time , it's very unlikely that this would yield a living cell. 但当我们在看所有这些 我们能一个一个分离出的基因组的时候, 很难相信它们能产生出 一个活生生的细胞。
one at a time:每次一个;一次一个; unlikely:adj.不大可能发生的;非心目中的;非想象的;难以相信的; yield:n.产量;产出;利润;v.屈服;让步;放弃;提供;
So, we decided the only way forward was to actually synthesize this chromosome so we could vary the components to ask some of these most fundamental questions. 所以,我们认为唯一能继续研究的方法 就是人工合成这些染色体 以便我们能改变它的组成部分 来继续提问这些最基本的问题。
synthesize:vt.合成;综合;vi.合成;综合; chromosome:n.[遗][细胞][染料]染色体(形容词chromosomal,副词chromosomally); vary:vi.变化;变异;违反;vt.改变;使多样化;变奏; fundamental:n.基础; adj.十分重大的;
And so we started down the road of, "Can we synthesize a chromosome?" 于是我们开始沿着这条路走下去 “我们能人工合成染色体吗？”
down the road:只要沿着这条路;将来;在路上;
Can chemistry permit making these really large molecules where we've never been before? 化学原则真的允许我们制造 这些我们从未实现过的 超大分子吗？
molecules:n.[化学]分子,微粒;[化学]摩尔(molecule的复数);
And, if we do, can we boot up a chromosome? 而且,就算我们可以,我们能激活它吗？
A chromosome, by the way , is just a piece of inert chemical material. 一对染色体,顺便说下,只是一些无活性的化学物质。
by the way:顺便说一下; inert:adj.[化学]惰性的;呆滞的;迟缓的;无效的; chemical:n.化学制品,化学药品;adj.化学的;
So, our pace of digitizing life has been increasing at an exponential pace. 我们数字化生命的速度不断地 以指数速度加快。
exponential:adj.指数的;n.指数;
Our ability to write the genetic code has been moving pretty slowly, but has been increasing. 我们写基因编码的能力 进步地却非常慢, 不过也还是在增加的。
genetic code:n.遗传密码;
And our latest point would put it on now an exponential curve . 我们最近的状况将会把速度提升到指数曲线。
curve:n.曲线;弯曲;曲面;弧线;v.(使)沿曲线移动;呈曲线形;
We started this over 15 years ago. 我们于15年前开始这项工作。
It took several stages, in fact, starting with a bioethical review before we did the first experiments. 实际上它经过了好几个阶段。 在我们做最初的试验前,先进行了一次生物伦理学的评估。
But it turns out synthesizing DNA is very difficult. 但结果是人工合成DNA 是非常困难的。
There's tens of thousands of machines around the world that make small pieces of DNA, 30 to 50 letters in length, and it's a degenerate process , so the longer you make the piece, the more errors there are. 全世界有十几万台设备 在制造小片断的DNA, 长度在30到50个字符, 并且这是一个会倒退的过程,制造的片断越是长, 产生的错误就越是多。
degenerate:v.退化;蜕变;衰退;adj.退化的;堕落的;颓废的;n.堕落的人 process:v.处理;加工;列队行进;n.过程,进行;方法,adj.经过特殊加工(或处理)的;
So we had to create a new method for putting these little pieces together and correct all the errors. 所以我们不得不创造一种新的方法 把这些小的片断排放在一起并纠正所有的错误。
And this was our first attempt , starting with the digital information of the genome of Phi X 174. 这是我们的第一次尝试,从Phi X 174基因组（噬菌体） 的数字信息开始。
attempt:n.企图,试图;攻击;v.企图,试图;尝试;
It's a small virus that kills bacteria . 是一种能杀死细菌的小型病毒。
bacteria:n.[微]细菌;
We designed the pieces, went through our error correction , and had a DNA molecule of about 5,000 letters. 我们设计了它的基因片断,经过了错误纠正, 就拥有了一条 5000字符长度的DNA。
error correction:un.纠错;错误校正;误差校正;误差修正;
The exciting phase came when we took this piece of inert chemical and put it in the bacteria, and the bacteria started to read this genetic code, made the viral particles . 最另人兴奋的阶段是当我们把这段没有活性的化学物质 放进细菌内, 细菌开始读取基因编码, 制造了病毒粒子。
viral:adj.滤过性毒菌引起的;滤过性毒菌的; particles:n.微粒,粒子;粒子系统;碎木料(particle的复数形式);
The viral particles then were released from the cells, then came back and killed the E. coli . 接着细胞释放出病毒粒子, 再返回来杀死了E.coli（革兰氏阴性菌）。
released:v.释放;使免除;已发布;(release的过去分词和过去式) coli:n.大肠杆菌;
I was talking to the oil industry recently , and I said they clearly understood that model. 我最近与石油行业有一些交流, 我觉得他们对这个模式理解的非常透彻。
recently:adv.最近;新近;
(Laughter) （笑声）
They laughed more than you guys are. 他比你们笑的大声多了。
And so we think this is a situation where the software can actually build its own hardware in a biological system. 因此我们认为这种情况实际上 是软件能在一个生物系统内 打造自己的硬件。
hardware:n.计算机硬件;五金器具; biological:adj.生物学的;生物的;与生命过程有关的;加酶的;n.[药]生物制品;
But we wanted to go much larger. 但我们还想再扩大规模。
We wanted to build the entire bacterial chromosome. 我们希望制造整条细菌染色体,
bacterial:adj.[微]细菌的;
It's over 580,000 letters of genetic code. 一条超过580,000字符长度的基因编码。
So we thought we'd build them in cassettes the size of the viruses, so we could actually vary the cassettes to understand what the actual components of a living cell are. 我们认为应该在以病毒大小的“盒”中制造它们 这样我们可以改变这些“盒” 来理解 一个活的细胞的实际组成部分是什么？
cassettes:n.盒式录音带(cassette的复数);
Design is critical , and if you're starting with digital information in the computer, that digital information has to be really accurate . 设计是非常重要的, 并且如果你在计算机上开始使用数字信息。 那这些数字信息必须十分准确。
critical:adj.鉴定的;[核]临界的;批评的,爱挑剔的;危险的;决定性的;评论的; accurate:adj.精确的;
When we first sequenced this genome in 1995, the standard of accuracy was one error per 10,000 base pairs. 当我们在1995年第一次对这组基因排序时, 准确率的标准是每10000个基本对一个错误。
standard:n.标准;水准;旗;度量衡标准;adj.标准的;合规格的;公认为优秀的; accuracy:n.[数]精确度,准确性;
We actually found, on resequencing it, 30 errors. Had we used that original sequence, it never would have been able to be booted up. 实际上我们发现,在重新排序时, 平均是30个错误。如果我们使用原先的序列, 这组基因永远不可能被启动。
original:n.原件;原作;原物;原型;adj.原始的;最初的;独创的;新颖的;
Part of the design is designing pieces that are 50 letters long that have to overlap with all the other 50-letter pieces to build smaller sub-units we have to design so they can go together. 设计工作的一部分是设计 50个字符长度的片断 并和其他的50字符长的片段叠加 以构建更小的次单元。 我们要设计过他们才能聚到一起。
overlap:n.重叠;重复;v.部分重叠;与…同时发生;
We design unique elements into this. 其中有我们设计过的独特部分。
unique:adj.独特的,稀罕的;[数]唯一的;n.独一无二的人或物; elements:n.要素;基本部分;少量;一群;(element的复数)
You may have read that we put watermarks in. 你们可能听说过我们在其中加入了水印
watermarks:n.[印刷]水印(watermark的复数);水中印记;
Think of this: we have a four-letter genetic code: A, C, G and T. 想想看 基因编码有四个字符:A,C,G和T。
four-letter:adj.下流的;庸俗的;使用四字母忌讳词的;
Triplets of that letter -- those letters code for roughly 20 amino acids -- that there's a single letter designation for each of the amino acids. 这些字符的三联体 - 以及这些字符 编成了大约20种氨基酸 这样每个氨基酸就有了 一个字符标记
Triplets:n.[妇产]三胞胎;一窝三子; roughly:adv.粗糙地;概略地; amino:adj.氨基的;n.[化学]氨基; designation:n.指定;名称;指示;选派;
So we can use the genetic code to write out words, sentences, thoughts. 所以我们能使用基因编码来书写言语 句子,想法。
Initially , all we did was autograph it. 最初,我们所做的就是用它来签名。
Initially:adv.最初,首先;开头; autograph:n.亲笔,手稿;亲笔签名;vt.亲笔签名于…;亲笔书写;
Some people were disappointed there was not poetry . 有些人有点失望我们没用它来做首诗。
poetry:n.诗;诗意,诗情;诗歌艺术;
We designed these pieces so we can just chew back with enzymes . 我们设计了这些片断 并能使用酶来裁切。
enzymes:n.[生化]酶(enzyme的复数);酶类,酵素;
There's enzymes that repair them and put them together. 有些酶是用来修复他们并把他们放到一起的。
repair:v.修理;修补;修缮;补救;n.修理;修补;修缮;
And we started making pieces, starting with pieces that were five to 7,000 letters, fit those together to make 24,000-letter pieces, then put sets of those, going up to 72,000. 接着我们开始制造片断, 从7000字符长度的片断开始 把他们拼在一起制造24,000字符长度的片断 再把几组片断合并,变成了72,000长的片断
At each stage, we grew up these pieces in abundance so we could sequence them because we're trying to create a process that's extremely robust -- that you can see in a minute. 在每个阶段,我们大量培养了这些片断 因此我们可以给他们排序 因为我们希望创造一个异常可靠的过程 一分钟内你就将看见
abundance:n.丰度;丰富;大量;富足; extremely:adv.非常,极其;极端地; robust:adj.强健的;健康的;粗野的;粗鲁的;
We're trying to get to the point of automation . 我们试着达到自动化的层面
get to the point:言归正传;直奔主题; automation:n.自动化;自动操作;
So, this looks like a basketball playoff . 这看起来就像是一场篮球赛的对阵图
playoff:n.双方得分相等时的最后决赛;复赛;季后赛;
When we get into these really large pieces -- over 100,000 base pairs -- they won't any longer grow readily in E. coli. 当这些非常大的片断超过 100,000基本对时 他们就很难继续在E.coil里长的更长了。
readily:adv.容易地;乐意地;无困难地;
It exhausts all the modern tools of molecular biology. 在试尽了各种现代分子生物学的工具后
exhausts:n.废气; v.耗尽; molecular:adj.[化学]分子的;由分子组成的;
And so we turned to other mechanisms . 我们转向其他的途径。
mechanisms:n.机制;[机]机构(mechanism的复数);机械;[机]机构学;
We knew there's a mechanism called homologous recombination , that biology uses to repair DNA, that can put pieces together. 我们知道有个方法叫同源重组, 生物学上用来修复DNA, 它能把片断组合到一起
homologous:adj.相应的;[生物]同源的;类似的;一致的; recombination:n.复合,再结合;[遗]重组;
Here's an example of it. 这里有一个例子
There's an organism called 有一种微生物叫
Deinococcus radiodurans that can take three millions rads of radiation . 耐辐射球菌 能够承受三百万度的辐射量。
rads:abbr.雷达字母和数字显示系统(RadarAlphanumericDisplaySystem); radiation:n.辐射;放射线;放射疗法;
You can see in the top panel , its chromosome just gets blown apart. 你能看到在顶部的视图里,它的染色体四散在各个地方
panel:n.镶板;仪表盘;钣金;(衣服上的)镶条;v.镶板(用木或玻璃板等镶嵌或装饰);
12 to 24 hours later, it put it back together exactly as it was before. 12到24小时以后,它将自己 又组合回之前的原状。
We have thousands of organisms that can do this. 我们有数千种微生物有这种能耐
organisms:n.[生物]生物体(organism的复数);[生物]有机体;
These organisms can be totally desiccated . 这些微生物能够完全脱离水。
desiccated:adj.干的(等于desiccate);粉状的;v.使干燥(desiccate的过去式);变干;
They can live in a vacuum . 他们能存活在真空中
vacuum:n.真空; adj.真空的; v.用真空吸尘器清扫;
I am absolutely certain that life can exist in outer space, move around , find a new aqueous environment. 我完全确信外层空间存在着生命, 四处移动,遇到一个新的有水的环境
absolutely:adv.绝对地;完全地; outer:adj.外面的,外部的;远离中心的;n.环外命中; move around:v.走来走去;绕着…来回转; aqueous:adj.水的,水般的;
In fact, NASA has shown a lot of this is out there. 实际上,NASA已经展示过很多这样的例子。
Here's an actual micrograph of the molecule we built using these processes -- actually just using yeast mechanisms with the right design of the pieces we put them in. 这里有一组我们拍摄的这个分子的显微图像。 通过这些过程,其实就是前面所提到的酵母的方法 同时放入经过我们正确设计的片断。
micrograph:n.显微照片,显微图;微动描记器; processes:n.过程; v.处理(process的第三人称单数形式); yeast:n.酵母;泡沫;酵母片;引起骚动因素;
Yeast puts them together automatically . 酵母自动地将他们聚合。
automatically:adv.自动地;机械地;无意识地;adj.不经思索的;
This is not an electron micrograph; this is just a regular photomicrograph. 这并不是电子显微图像; 它仅仅是普通的光学显微镜。
electron:n.电子;
It's such a large molecule we can see it with a light microscope . 这是如此之大的一个分子 我们能用一个光学显微镜观察它。
microscope:n.显微镜;
These are pictures over about a six-second period. 这些是时长约为六秒的图像。
So this is the publication we had just a short while ago. 这是我们所公开的最近的试验成果。
publication:n.出版物;发表;公布;发行;
This is over 580,000 letters of genetic code. 这是超过580000字符长的基因编码。
It's the largest molecule ever made by humans of a defined structure . 这也是由人类设定结构并制造的最大的分子。
defined:adj.有定义的,确定的; v.使明确; structure:n.结构;构造;建筑物;vt.组织;构成;建造;
It's over 300 million molecular weight. 它超过了3亿分子重量。
If we printed out at a 10 font with no spacing, it takes 142 pages just to print this genetic code. 如果我们以10号字体不间隔地将其打印出来。 总共需要142页 来打印这些基因编码
font:n.字型;圣洗池(设于教堂中,常为石造);
Well, how do we boot up a chromosome? How do we activate this? 那我们该如何来启动一段染色体,我们该如何激活它?
activate:vt.刺激;使活动;使活泼;使产生放射性;vi.激活;有活力;
Obviously, with a virus it's pretty simple. 显然处理一个病毒非常简单
It's much more complicated dealing with bacteria. 处理一个细菌就复杂多了
complicated:adj.复杂的;难懂的;v.使复杂化;(complicate的过去分词和过去式)
It's also simpler when you go into eukaryotes like ourselves: you can just pop out the nucleus and pop in another one, and that's what you've all heard about with cloning . 处理像我们自身这样的 真核生物也相对简单 你能取出一个细胞核 然后塞进另一个细胞中, 这就是大家听到的关于克隆的手法
eukaryotes:n.[生物]真核生物;真核细胞(eucaryote的复数形式); nucleus:n.核,核心;原子核; cloning:n.克隆;v.无性繁殖(clone的现在分词);
With bacteria archaea , the chromosome is integrated into the cell, but we recently showed that we can do a complete transplant of a chromosome from one cell to another and activate it. 对于古细菌,它们的染色体与整个细胞连成一体, 但最近我们也明确了我们能完成一个完整的移植 将染色体从一个细胞转移到另一个细胞中 并激活它。
archaea:n.古生菌; integrated:adj.综合的; v.整合; (integrate的过去式和过去分词) transplant:v.移植;迁移;使移居;n.移植;移居者;
We purified a chromosome from one microbial species. 我们从一个种群的微生物中提取出染色体。
purified:v.使(某物)洁净;净化(心灵);提纯;精炼;(purify的过去分词和过去式) microbial:adj.微生物的;由细菌引起的;
Roughly, these two are as distant as human and mice. 基本上,这两个的差别就如同人类和老鼠般。
distant:adj.遥远的;远处的;久远的;
We added a few extra genes so we could select for this chromosome. 我们加上了一些新的基因 这样我们就能选择这些染色体。
extra:adj.额外的:n.额外的事物:adv.额外:另外:
We digested it with enzymes to kill all the proteins . 我们用酶来分解它们 去除所有的蛋白质
digested:v.消化;领会;领悟;理解;(digest的过去分词和过去式) proteins:n.[生化]蛋白质(protein复数);
And it was pretty stunning when we put this in the cell -- and you'll appreciate our very sophisticated graphics here -- the new chromosome went into the cell. 当我们将它放入细胞时发生的情形非常惊人 你们应该会喜欢 我们所制作的非常精密的演示图像 -- 新的染色体进入细胞。
stunning:adj.惊人的; v.使昏迷; (stun的现在分词) appreciate:v.欣赏;感激;感谢;理解; sophisticated:adj.复杂的;老练的;见多识广的;水平高的; graphics:n.[测]制图学;制图法;图表算法;
In fact, we thought this might be as far as it went, but we tried to design the process a little bit further. 实际上我们原以为这个过程就到此为止了。 但是我们试图将这个过程设计得更深入一些。
as far as:至于…;
This is a major mechanism of evolution right here. 这是一个重大的进化机制。
evolution:n.演变;进化;发展;渐进;
We find all kinds of species that have taken up a second chromosome or a third one from somewhere, adding thousands of new traits in a second to that species. 我们发现所有接受了 第二段染色体的物种 或来自其他地方的第三方染色体, 在一秒钟内增加了 数千种新特征到其自身。
traits:n.特性,特质,性格(trait的复数); in a second:立刻,很快;
So people who think of evolution as just one gene changing at a time have missed much of biology. 原本人们所持有的在进化的过程中 每次只会有一个基因发生变化 的观念忽略了生物的许多实际情况。
There's enzymes called restriction enzymes that actually digest DNA. 有一种酶叫做限制酶 是能够消化DNA的
restriction:n.限制;约束;束缚;
The chromosome that was in the cell doesn't have one. 原先细胞中的染色体没有这种酶 没有这种酶
The cell -- the chromosome we put in -- does. 而当我们置入一段拥有这种酶的染色体
It got expressed , and it recognized the other chromosome as foreign material, chewed it up, and so we ended up just with the cell with the new chromosome. 它表现了出来,并且辨认出 另一段染色体是外来物质, 它就将其消化,最后我们就有了 一个包含有新的DNA的细胞
expressed:v.表示;表达;显而易见;不言自明;(express的过去分词和过去式) recognized:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到;(recognize的过去分词和过去式)
It turned blue because of the genes we put in it. 我们放入的基因导致它变成了蓝色。
And with a very short period of time, all the characteristics of one species were lost, and it converted totally into the new species, based on the new software that we put in the cell. 在非常短的一段时间里, 所有的原先物种的特征全部消失了, 并且完全转化成了一个新物种, 基于我们放入细胞的新“软件”。
characteristics:n.特征;特点;品质;(characteristic的复数) converted:adj.修改的;改变信仰的;v.转变;改变信仰(convert的过去式和过去分词形式);
All the proteins changed, the membranes changed -- when we read the genetic code, it's exactly what we had transferred in. 所有的蛋白质都改变了, 细胞膜也改变了 -- 当我们读取它的基因编码,实际上就是我们植入的那种。
membranes:n.细胞膜(membrane的复数);薄膜;膜皮; transferred:v.(使)转移,搬迁;(使)调动;(transfer的过去分词和过去式)
So this may sound like genomic alchemy , but we can, by moving the software DNA around, change things quite dramatically . 这可能听起来像基因炼金术, 但我们的确能通过转移DNA, 来急剧地改变事物。
genomic:adj.基因组的;染色体的; alchemy:n.点金术;魔力; dramatically:adv.戏剧地;引人注目地;adv.显著地,剧烈地;
Now, I've argued, this is not genesis -- this is building on three and a half billion years of evolution, and I've argued that we're about to perhaps create a new version of the Cambrian explosion where there's massive new speciation based on this digital design. 现在,我要声明这不是创世纪 -- 这是建立在35亿年的进化上的 并且我认为我们可能 会创造新一版的寒武纪生命大爆发 出现大量基于这种数字化设计 的新物种
genesis:n.发生;起源; explosion:n.爆炸;爆发;激增; massive:adj.大量的;巨大的,厚重的;魁伟的; speciation:n.[进化]物种形成;
Why do this? 为什么要这样做？
I think this is pretty obvious in terms of some of the needs. 我认为出于一些需求我们这样做的原因是非常明显的。
obvious:adj.明显的;显著的;平淡无奇的;
We're about to go from six and a half to 9 billion people over the next 40 years. 我们的人口将在接下来的40年中从 65亿变成90亿
To put it in context for myself: 以我自己的例子来说
context:n.环境;上下文;来龙去脉;
I was born in 1946. 我出生于1946年
There's now three people on the planet for every one of us that existed in 1946; within 40 years, there'll be four. 现在世界上就变成了三个人 相对于我们中每一个从1946年就存在的人; 在接下来的四十年内,就变成了四个。
We have trouble feeding, providing fresh, clean water, medicines, fuel for the six and a half billion. 我们在为65亿人提供食物,洁净的淡水, 医药,燃料上 都十分困难。
It's going to be a stretch to do it for nine. 换作90亿人那真是捉襟见肘了。
stretch:v.伸展;延伸;伸出;舒展;n.伸展;弹性;舒展;一片;adj.有弹力的;
We use over 5 billion tons of coal, 30 billion-plus barrels of oil. 我们使用超过50亿顿的煤, 300多亿桶的石油。
barrels:n.机筒; v.把…装桶;
That's a hundred million barrels a day. 也就是每天一千万桶。
When we try to think of biological processes or any process to replace that, it's going to be a huge challenge. 当我们尝试思考这个生物程序 或者任何能替代它的程序, 这会是一个巨大的挑战。
Then, of course, there's all that 接下来,当然,是这份材料
CO2 from this material that ends up in the atmosphere . 中所显示的被排放在大气层中 的二氧化碳。
atmosphere:n.大气;气氛;气压;风格;
We now, from our discovery around the world, have a database with about 20 million genes, and I like to think of these as the design components of the future. 我们现在从全球各地的发现 有了一个包含约两千万组基因的数据库, 并且我乐于把它们看作是未来的设计组件。
The electronics industry only had a dozen or so components, and look at the diversity that came out of that. 电气行业只有十来种组件, 再看看从中能得到的多样性。
electronics:n.电子学;电子工业; diversity:n.差异(性):多样性:多样化:
We're limited here primarily by a biological reality and our imagination . 目前我们主要的限制来自于 生物学的现实情况 以及我们的想像力。
limited:adj.有限的; n.高级快车; v.限制; (limit的过去分词和过去式) primarily:adv.首先;主要地,根本上; imagination:n.想象;想象力;创造力;想象的事物;
We now have techniques , because of these rapid methods of synthesis , to do what we're calling combinatorial genomics . 我们现在拥有这样的技术, 是因为这些能制造我们称之为“混合染色体组”的 快速的人工合成方法。
techniques:n.技巧;技艺;工艺;技术;(technique的复数) synthesis:n.综合,[化学]合成;综合体; combinatorial:adj.组合的; genomics:n.基因组学;基因体学;
We have the ability now to build a large robot that can make a million chromosomes a day. 我们现在所拥有的制造一个大型机器人的能力 能让我们每天制造一百万个染色体。
chromosomes:n.[遗][细胞][染料]染色体(chromosome的复数形式);
When you think of processing these 20 million different genes, or trying to optimize processes to produce octane or to produce pharmaceuticals , new vaccines , we can change, just with a small team, do more molecular biology than the last 20 years of all science. 当你想着加工这两千万组不同的基因, 并尝试去优化这个步骤 以产生辛烷或者制造药物制剂, 以及新的疫苗, 我们就能改变,即使是一个小团队, 也能做比过去20年科学史所做过的 更多的分子生物学工作。
processing:v.加工;处理;审核;数据处理;v.列队行进;缓缓前进;(process的现在分词) optimize:vt.使最优化,使完善;vi.优化;持乐观态度; octane:n.辛烷; pharmaceuticals:n.药物(pharmaceutical的复数); vaccines:n.[药][计]疫苗;
And it's just standard selection . 并且这只是标准选择。
selection:n.选择;选拔;挑选;被挑选的人(或物);
We can select for viability , chemical or fuel production, vaccine production, et cetera . 我们可以以生存能力来选择, 化学或燃料生产, 疫苗生产等等。
viability:n.生存能力,发育能力;可行性; et cetera:na.以及其他;
This is a screen snapshot of some true design software that we're working on to actually be able to sit down and design species in the computer. 这是一张屏幕截图 截取的是一些我们 实际坐下来工作时在电脑中 真正用来设计物种的设计软件。
snapshot:n.快照,快相;急射,速射;简单印象;vt.给…拍快照;vi.拍快照;
You know, we don't know necessarily what it'll look like. 我们并不一定要知道它(设计的物种)看起来是怎样。
necessarily:adv.必要地;必定地,必然地;
We know exactly what their genetic code looks like. 我们确切地知道它们的基因编码究竟是什么样的。
We're focusing on now fourth-generation fuels. 我们目前把注意力放在“第四代燃料”上。
fourth-generation:adj.[计算机]第四代的;
You've seen recently corn to ethanol is just a bad experiment. 你们最近看到了将谷物转化成乙醇 只是一个糟糕的试验。
ethanol:n.[有化]乙醇,[有化]酒精;
We have second- and third-generation fuels that will be coming out relatively soon that are sugar, to much higher-value fuels like octane or different types of butanol . 很快我们将会拥有 第二及第三代燃料。 就是糖转化成更高价值的燃料 例如辛烷或不同种类的丁醇。
butanol:n.[有化]丁醇,同分异构酒精;
But the only way we think that biology can have a major impact without further increasing the cost of food and limiting its availability is if we start with CO2 as its feedstock , 但我们认为生物学唯一能 产生一个巨大影响的同时又不 增加食物的支出与限制其可利用性的方法 是在于我们是否能开始用二氧化碳作为它的原料。
impact:n.影响;效果;碰撞;冲击力;v.挤入,压紧;撞击;对…产生影响; availability:n.可用性;有效性;实用性; feedstock:n.原材料;
and so we're working with designing cells to go down this road, and we think we'll have the first fourth-generation fuels in about 18 months. 所以我们正在进行设计新的细胞能朝这条路发展下去。 并且我们认为在18个月里我们会取得 第一份第四代燃料。
Sunlight and CO2 is one method -- 阳光和二氧化碳是其中一个方法 --
Sunlight:n.日光;
(Applause) （掌声）
- but in our discovery around the world, we have all kinds of other methods. - 但我们从全世界各地的发现中, 我们还有许多种其他方法。
This is an organism we described in 1996. 这是一种微生物,1996年被记载
described:v.描述;形容;把…称为;做…运动;(describe的过去分词和过去式)
It lives in the deep ocean, about a mile and a half deep, almost at boiling-water temperatures. 它生活在深海。 大约1.5英里深, 几乎是在沸腾的水温中。
It takes CO2 to methane using molecular hydrogen as its energy source . 它将二氧化碳转化成甲烷 使用氢分子最为它的能量来源。
methane:n.[有化]甲烷;[能源]沼气; hydrogen:n.氢;氢气; source:n.来源;水源;原始资料;
We're looking to see if we can take captured CO2, which can easily be piped to sites , convert that CO2 back into fuel, to drive this process. 我们在看是否能把 收集到的二氧化染, ,它们非常方便就能被引进处理站, 转化成燃料, 来驱动这个过程。
captured:adj.捕获的;被俘的;v.捕获;占领;引起;(capture的过去式和过去分词) sites:n.网站(site的复数);遗址,举办地点;v.使...位于(site的单三形式);
So in a short period of time, we think that we might be able to increase what the basic question is of "What is life?" 因此在很短的时间内, 我们觉得我们或许可以增加对于 生命是什么? 的基本问题的理解。
We're truly, you know -- have modest goals of replacing the whole petrol-chemical industry. 我们的确 有着替换整个 石油化工行业的小小目标。
modest:adj.些许的;谦虚的;
(Laughter) (Applause) （笑声）（掌声）
Yeah. If you can't do that at TED, where can you? 如果你不能在TED做到这些,哪里还有可能呢?
(Laughter) （笑声）
Become a major source of energy. 成为一项主要的能源。
But also, we're now working on using these same tools to come up with instant sets of vaccines. 并且我们也在使用同样的工具 制造了几组即时疫苗。
instant:n.瞬间; adj.立即的; conj.同"assoonas";
You've seen this year with flu, we're always a year behind and a dollar short when it comes to the right vaccine. 你们都看到今年出现的流感, 我们总是要慢上一年的时间并且在缺乏资金的情况下 才等到有用的疫苗。
I think that can be changed by building combinatorial vaccines in advance . 我认为这情形是可以通过 预先制造混合疫苗来改变的。
in advance:adv.预先,提前;
Here's what the future may begin to look like with changing, now, the evolutionary tree, speeding up evolution with synthetic bacteria, archea, and eventually eukaryotes. 这是未来可能会呈现的情况 伴随着改变,目前,进化树 随着人造细菌,古物种 最后是真核生物 而加速进化
evolutionary:adj.进化的;发展的;渐进的; synthetic:adj.综合的;合成的,人造的;n.合成物; eventually:adv.最后,终于;
We're a ways away from improving people. 我们正在一条离改善人类生活越来越远的路上。
improving:v.改进;改善;(improve的现在分词)
Our goal is just to make sure that we have a chance to survive long enough to maybe do that. Thank you very much. 我们的目标就是确保我们能有机会活到 足够长的时间或许就能做到这件事了。非常感谢大家。
(Applause) （掌声）