One: it seems that the position of our solar system may have real effects on Earth's events, and not in an astrological way; two: Earth has a pulse, sort of, and three: those two things are related.

第一：看來我們在太陽系的位置可能對地球上的發生的事件有實質的影響，而且不是占星學的那種影響；第二：地球有一個有點像脈搏的東西，第三：這些事情都是相關的。

Scientists from New York University and the Carnegie Institution of Science analyzed 89 major geological events from the past 260-million years — everything from mass extinctions to volcanic activity, sea-level fluctuations to continental plate shifts.

來自紐約大學和卡內基科學研究所的科學家們分析了過去 2.6 億年來的 89 個主要地質事件——從大規模滅絕到火山活動，從海平面波動到大陸板塊移動。

And far from being totally arbitrary, these large-scale upheavals seem to come in pulses — pulses that look like this.

而這些大規模的劇變遠不是完全任意的，似乎是隨著脈搏 (脈衝) 發生的，就是看起來像這樣的脈搏。

These cataclysmic events seem to be grouped into 10 clusters, occurring every 27.5-million years or so, like an extremely slow heart rate, a pulse, if you will.

這些災難性事件似乎被抽成 10 個集群，每 2750 萬年左右發生一次。你可以想像這就像是極慢的心率，一種脈膊。

And this means that geological events, like the movement of continental plates or volcanic eruptions, may actually be tied to something, and may even be influencing each other.

而這意味著，地質事件，如大陸板塊的運動或火山爆發，實際上可能與某些東西聯繫在一起，甚至可能相互影響。

And this is a departure from common geological thinking, which has traditionally viewed each of these events as separate, individual occurrences.

這與常見的地質學思維有差異，傳統上，地質學將這些事件中的每一個都視為單獨、獨立的事件。

One of the lead authors on this study has actually thought there could be a method to the madness of these events since he started studying their clustering back in 1984.

自從 1984 年開始研究這些事件以來，這項研究的主要作者之一實際上認為可能有一種方法可以解決這些瘋狂的事件。

But recent improvements in carbon dating have provided us with more detail on the exact where and when of all of these events, giving us a clearer and more accurate picture of the pattern.

但是最近碳定年的進步提供我們關於這些事件的確切時間和地點的更多細節，讓我們對這個模式有了更清晰、更準確的了解。

But just why and how would these events be grouped?

但是為什麼以及如何將這些事件進行分門別類呢？

Well, the researchers think it's linked to something going on inside the Earth, or something going on in space.

研究人員認為這與地球內部發生的事情有關，或太空中發生的事情有關。

The more interior hypothesis goes like this: Big chunks of shifting seafloor change sea levels; massive volcanic eruptions and tectonic shifts change atmospheric CO2. And all that good apocalyptic stuff is linked to some still-unidentified pattern in the convection of Earth's molten mantle.

更內部的假設是這樣的：海底的大板塊移動改變了海平面；大規模的火山噴發和構造變化改變了大氣中的二氧化碳，並且所有這些世界末日的東西都與地球熔融地幔對流中一些尚未確定的模式有關。

From core to atmospheric carbon, maybe it's all linked in a daisy chain of disaster.

從核心到大氣中的碳，也許這一切的災難都是串連起來的。

Alternatively, we gotta look out into space for our answers.

另外，我們必須往太空尋找我們的答案。

Now, I did not know this, but our solar system apparently wobbles within our galaxy, and some hypothesize that this wobble may be exposing Earth to more cosmic rays every 27.5-million years or so, causing disturbances inside our planet.

雖然我並不知道這一點，但我們的太陽系實際上會在我們的銀河系內擺動，有人假設這種擺動可能每 2750 萬年左右就會使地球暴露在更多的宇宙射線下，從而在我們的星球內部造成干擾。

This wobble also exposes us to meteor showers that may mess things up on a cycle.

太陽系的擺動也讓我們暴露在流星雨中，而這可能會週期性地讓事情變糟。

Patterns in the way Earth, our solar system, and our galaxy each orbit and spin could also change the way gravity is pulling on our planet, maybe deforming the mantle inside the Earth and that's what's changing the movement of tectonic plates.

地球、我們的太陽系和我們的星系每次軌道和自轉的模式也可能改變引力對我們星球的牽引方式，可能使地球內部的地幔變形，這就是改變構造板塊運動的原因。

Flippin' wild!

太扯了！

Plus, there's an intriguing link between this event—pulse rhythm and a previously observed pattern of increases in impact craters— that's craters left behind by things that have smashed into Earth from space.

此外，這個脈衝節奏的事件與之前觀察到的撞擊坑增加模式之間存在著有趣的聯繫——撞擊坑是從太空撞擊地球的物體留下的。

This pattern of impacts seems to occur on a 26-37-million-year cycle, so researchers hypothesize that maybe whatever it is that's out in space regularly hurling things at us, may also be having an impact on the way our planet behaves from the inside out.

這種撞擊模式似乎以兩千六到三千七百萬年為周期發生，因此研究人員假設，無論太空中經常向我們扔東西的是什麼，也可能對我們星球從內到外的行為方式產生影響。

Maybe that's what's behind these cyclical periods of upheaval.

也許這就是這些週期性劇變的背後真相。

Now, at this point, your question might be, "When is the next one of these disaster pulses due?"

現在，你可能會提出的問題是：「下一個脈衝什麼時候發生？」

According to the researchers' calculations, if things continue in this pattern, the next clump of chaos should be here in about... 20-million years, so we've got a little breathing room.

根據研究人員的計算，如果事情以這種模式繼續下去，下一場混亂應該在大約... 2000 萬年後出現，所以我們還有一點喘息的空間。

Regardless of the amazingly out-there potential drivers of this pulse, the only thing we know for certain right now is that we have observed a pattern.

不管這個脈衝有哪些驚人的潛在驅動因素，我們現在唯一確定的就是，我們已經觀察到了一種模式。

What's next is finding out what's behind that pattern, diving deeper into exactly how that inner-Earth turmoil goes on to spark the other events... and looking a little farther out into the stars to see if this cycle here on Earth is part of an even bigger one within our galaxy.

下一步是找出這種模式背後的原因，深入了解地球內部的動盪究竟是如何引發其他事件的，並進一步觀察恆星，看看地球上的這個週期是否屬於我們銀河系中更大的一個。

What do you think? Is this pattern caused just by inner-Earth cycling or is the alignment of the galaxy involved, too?

你怎麼看——這種模式是由地球內部的循環造成的，還是也涉及到銀河系的排列呢？

Let us know down in the comments below and for more surprising Earth secrets, check out this video here.

請在評論中告訴我們，如果想知道更多令人驚訝的地球祕密，請看這個影片。

As always, thanks for watching, and I'll see ya next time on Seeker.

像往常一樣，感謝你的觀看，我們下次在 Seeker 上再見。