impact on our planet. But what would happen if we suddenly disappeared?

影響力。但假如我們突然消失了呢 ?

The first few weeks would be chaotic. Within hours, power plants would run out of fuel

頭幾個星期可能會混亂。發電廠的燃料會在幾小時內用罄

and shut down. As lights go out and electric fences lose their sting, over one and a half

並停止運轉。當電圍籬因為停電而失效，有超過 10.5 億頭的

billion cows, nearly a billion pigs and more than 20 billion chickens will break out of

牛、近 10 億隻豬及超過 200 億隻雞將因飢餓而逃脫禁錮

their enclosures, desperate for food. Without any humans to feed them, most of these livestock

牠們的牢籠。失去了人類的餵養，這些牲口大部分

will starve or become food for over half a billion dogs and a roughly equal number of

將餓死或成為超過 5 億隻必須自立更生的狗和約同等數量的

cats who now have to fend for themselves. Of course, many of our fancy breeds are ill-suited

貓的糧食。當然，很多由人類所培育的動物並不適合在

for life in the wild, and will probably be outcompeted by hardier mutts, not to mention

野外生存，而且可能會輸給雜種狗。更別提

wolves, coyotes and wildcats. Other animals that depend on humans, from rats to cockroaches,

狼、郊狼和山貓。其他依賴人類維生的動物，從老鼠到蟑螂，

will suffer drastic population declines. Some, like body lice and head lice, will go extinct.

都將面臨族群數量驟減。某些族群甚至將絕種，比方說體蝨和頭蝨。

In the cities, many of our famous boulevards are now rivers. Without electric pumps to

都市中，許多著名的大道變成了河川。沒有電動幫浦

keep them dry, underground subway tunnels will

持續抽水，地鐵的隧道將

quickly fill with water. Other streets will be overtaken with weeds and vines, followed

迅速被水淹沒。其它街道將先被雜草和藤蔓覆蓋，

by larger plants and trees.

接著再變成較大型的植物和樹的天下

But before that happens, most cities will be wiped out by fire. Modern houses, especially

但在這發生前，大部分的都市將先被燒得一 乾二淨。現代的房子，尤其是

in the suburbs, are still largely made of timber. With no firefighters around, a single

郊區，大部分仍由木料所建成。沒有消防員的協助，只要一道

lightning strike is all it takes to start a fire that could burn whole subdivisions

閃電就可以引發足以將整個住宅區付之一炬

to the ground. In the countryside, many wood structures will be destroyed within a few

的火災。鄉村裡，許多木造建築將在數十年內被摧毀，

decades, if not by fire, then by termites and other decomposers.

而摧毀它們的不是火就是白蟻和其他分解者

After 100 years most wood structures will be gone, and anything made of steel - from

100 年後大部分的木造建築將不復存在，而任何鋼製品 -

apartment buildings to cars and even bridges - aren’t

從公寓大廈到汽車、甚至是橋梁 - 也都不存在了

far behind. Steel is mostly iron, and without constant

鋼含大部分的鐵，一旦沒有經常性的

application of paints and coatings, it will quickly react with oxygen in the atmosphere

油漆和塗料工事，鐵會迅速和大氣中的氧起化學反應

and return to its native form of iron oxide, or rust.

並回到它最原始的狀態，也就是氧化鐵或是鐵鏽

By this time humans have been gone for a few hundred years, and most species of animals

此時人類已經消失幾百年了，而地球上大部分的生物種類 -

around the world - at least, the ones we haven’t driven to extinction - will have bounced back

至少那些還沒被人類逼到絕種的物種 - 數量將回升至

to the levels they were at before we evolved.

人類介入之前的水平

But their distribution will remain forever altered.

但這些物種的分佈範圍將永遠改變了

Camels now roam Australia, while in North America dozens of species of songbirds imported

駱駝現在稱霸澳洲，而在北美洲，數十種由歐洲進口的鳴禽

from Europe will continue to thrive. It’s even possible that in some parts of the world,

將持續繁盛。甚至有可能在地球上某些地方，

escaped zoo animals could form new wild populations, leading to the prospect of lions on the Great

從動物園逃脫的動物們會組成新的野生族群，導致像非洲大草原上的獅群

Plains, or hippos in South American rivers.

或是南美洲河川裡的河馬群這種狀況

Forever proliferating through space will be the electromagnetic radiation we created from

永遠在太空中增生擴散的將會是我們從廣播電台、衛星和電話

our radios, satellites and phones.

所創造出的電磁輻射

But if anything will outlast us on Earth, it may be our trash. The chemical bonds that

但假設真有什麼東西會比我們在地球上活得更久，那恐怕就是我們的垃圾。

hold together plastics or vulcanized rubber are immune to most of the digestive enzymes

將塑料或硫化橡膠結合在一起的化學鍵對細菌用來分解自然聚合物的

used by bacteria to break down natural polymers and unlike metals, plastics don’t rust or

大多數消化酶不起作用，而且不像金屬，塑膠並不會生鏽或

corrode. These microplastics escape into waterways or drift along in the ocean and are eventually

腐蝕。這些塑膠微粒滲入水道或沿著海洋漂移，最終

deposited in sediments. Hundreds of millions of years from now, alien geologists from outer

和沉積物合為一體。從今起算的數億年後，來自外太空的外星地質學家

space may be surprised to find sedimentary rocks full of tiny carbon-based particles

可能會驚訝地發現沉積岩中充滿了微小的碳基顆粒，

that were once part of rubber tires or plastic bags.

這些顆粒曾是橡膠輪胎或塑膠袋的一部分

Of course, whether something survives depends greatly on the conditions. Everything will

當然，生物是否能存活高度取決於環境條件。所有東西在沙漠中

last much longer in deserts, where there is no

都更長久的延續下去，這裡沒有

moisture to speed up rusting or support decomposing organisms. And while the carbon cycle will

會加速生鏽過程的濕度或是支持分解的生物體。雖然碳循環將

return CO2 levels to equilibrium after a few thousand years, local deposits of long-lived

在幾千年後使二氧化碳水平恢復到平衡狀態，但

organic chemicals or radioactive material could persist for a very, very long time.

持續的有機化學物質或放射性物質的沉積可能持續很長一段時間

It’s hard to know what alien paleontologists of the future will make of us; how they will

很難知道未來的外星古生物學家如何評斷我們，如何

explain our love of plastic or the fact that within

解釋我們對塑膠的熱愛，或事實上

a geological eyeblink we exploded out of Africa to

在地質上的一眨眼間我們人類就跨出非洲擴散到

colonize virtually every inhabitable space on earth. But they’ll definitely wonder

確實殖民了所有地球上可居住的空間。但他們肯定會問，

why, if we were so successful for so long, we disappeared

如果我們稱霸地球這麼長的時間，為何我們消失得

so quickly.

這麼快

This episode is brought to you by Squarespace.com. If you’ve ever wanted to make your own website,

這個短片是由 Squarespace.com 呈現給你。如果你曾想要製作自己的網站，

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again to squarespace for supporting our show.

再次感謝 Squarespace 贊助我們的節目

And if you haven’t seen our latest AsapTHOUGHT video on Why We Mishear Lyrics, you can check

如果你還沒看過我們最新關於「 為什麼我們誤聽歌詞 」 的AsapTHOUGHT 影片，你也可以

that out with a link in the description as well - it should give you a good laugh and

到敘述中的連結看看 - 它應該會讓你笑得很開心而且

hopefully help solve some mysteries of your brain on music.

但願這個影片能幫忙解開一些大腦關於音樂方面的謎題

And subscribe for more weekly science videos!

訂閱更多每週科學影片 !