Is this a temporary trend, or human kind 2.0?

這是現代趨勢？還是人類 2.0？

According to legend, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León landed in Florida in search

傳說故事中，西班牙探險家 Juan Ponce de León 在佛羅里達登陸

of the Fountain of Youth.

尋找青春之泉

Today, the closest thing we have is a water hazard on the seventeenth hole of a golf course

至今，最接近的水源地可能是在

in Boca Raton.

博卡拉頓的高爾夫球場中十七個洞穴裡

So we didn't find the Fountain of Youth, but we have managed to drastically extend the

所以我們並沒有找到青春之泉，但我們設法

human lifespan over the last hundred years or so.

延長人類壽命已經超過幾百年了

So how did we do that?

要怎麼做呢?

Things like improvements in agriculture, or medical breakthroughs like a doctor saying

像是農業的進步、或是醫生說的醫學突破

"Hmm, maybe I should wash my hands before I perform surgery."

「嗯，或許我動手術前應該要洗手」

Now a special report from the Obvious News Network.

現在有一則來自 Obvious News Network 的特別新聞

One way to increase your lifespan is to avoid getting sick.

增加壽命的其中一個方法就是避免生病

In Okinawa, people often lived to the age of one hundred, so how do they do that?

在沖繩，人們常常可以活到一百歲，他們是如何做到的呢?

It's through a combination of things such as a low calorie diet that's really rich in

這結合了像是富含 omega 3 的低卡路里飲食、

omega 3s, lots of regular exercise, and good genes.

規律的運動以及良好的基因

Right now, we can't really modify our genes that much, but we have the technology to analyze

現在，我們無法大幅修改我們的基因，但我們有科技

our DNA through saliva samples, and determine if we're at risk for certain diseases - things

可以透過唾液的樣本來分析我們的 DNA，然後得知我們是否有罹患一些疾病的風險

like Alzheimer's or diabetes or cancer.

像是阿茲海默症、糖尿病或是癌症

But even if you're avoiding sickness, or treating anything you already had, you're still aging.

但就算你避免生病或是治療了你已經有的疾病，你仍然在老化

You're still getting wrinkles, you're still shaking your fist at rowdy teenagers. Which

你仍然會長皺紋，你仍然想對著吵鬧的年輕人揮拳，

raises the question,

這讓我們不禁想問

"What exactly is aging anyway?"

「老化到底是怎麼回事?」

Though aging is a complex process, one aspect is that every time your cells divide, little

儘管老化是個複雜的過程，每一次的細胞分裂

DNA caps on the end of your chromosomes called telomeres get shorter.

DNA 覆蓋在稱做端粒的染色體尾端會變短

And once they're gone, the cell dies.

一旦他們不見了，細胞就會死亡

Scientists at Harvard recently genetically engineered mice to have a gene with an enzyme

哈佛大學的科學家最近在執行基因遺傳工程，添加抵抗端粒變短的酶在老鼠基因裡

that reverses this shortening, and the mice essentially got younger!

而老鼠看起來真的變更年輕了

It hasn't been tried yet on humans, but these short enzyme treatments might awaken sleeping

這項實驗還沒有經過人體測試，但這些短酶治療或許可以喚醒沉睡的

stem cells, which repair tissues from the inside.

修復幹細胞

Alright, so we're going to live healthier for a longer portion of our lives. That's

好，所以我們要為了延長生命而活得更健康，不錯

great. But what if we want to actually make our lifespans longer?

但假如我們想實質的延長我們的壽命呢?

One bet might be regenerative medicine. Surgeons in Sweden recently gave a man a trachea transplant.

或許我們可以賭再生醫學，最近瑞典的外科醫生為一個人做氣管移植手術

They scanned his trachea, and then they built a new one using stem cells taken from his

他們掃描病人的氣管，然後用從他骨髓取來的幹細胞

bone marrow.

重建一個新氣管

That meant there was no donor, and almost no risk of his body rejecting the trachea.

這表示沒有捐贈者，也幾乎沒有身體排斥新氣管的風險

Another option would be to print organs using a 3D bio printer. You know, like we talked

另一個選擇可能就是用 3D 列印的器官，就如同前面我們

about back in episode three of this series.

在這系列的第三集討論過的

As these things move closer and closer to reality, some hard questions come up.

當這些東西越來越接近現實，就會有一些困難的問題出現

If people are born, but they don't die, where do we put them?

如果人出生，然後他們都不死，我們要怎麼容納這些人?

And on a more existential level, if there is no aging, what does death mean?

在生存的層面上，如果沒有老化，那死亡的意義是什麼?

We haven't found the Fountain of Youth, but maybe one day we will.

我們還沒找到青春之泉，但或許有一天我們會找到

Then you have to ask yourself, am I going to jump in?

那麼你就要自問，我要跳進去嗎?

Well, my response is,

嗯，我的回答是

last one in is a grumpy old man.

最後一個跳進去的會是一個脾氣暴躁的老人