I happen to live in a little town, Princeton, in New Jersey,

200 年後，人們對我們的印象會是什麼？

which every year celebrates the great event in Princeton history:

我碰巧住在紐澤西州，普林斯頓這個小鎮上，

the Battle of Princeton, which was, in fact, a very important battle.

每年都會慶祝曾經發生在普林斯頓的重大事件：

It was the first battle that George Washington won, in fact,

普林斯頓戰役，是非常重要的一場戰役。

and was pretty much of a turning point in the war of independence.

事實上這是喬治‧華盛頓贏得的第一場戰役，

It happened 225 years ago.

也是獨立戰爭的重要轉捩點。

It was actually a terrible disaster for Princeton.

它發生於225年前。

The town was burned down; it was in the middle of winter,

對於普林斯頓而言是一場大災難。

and it was a very, very severe winter.

這個鎮整個被燒掉了；當時正值冬季中期，

And about a quarter of all the people in Princeton died that winter

那是一個非常非常嚴峻的冬天。

from hunger and cold, but nobody remembers that.

普林斯頓約1/4的人們因為飢餓與寒冷而在這個冬天裡死去，

What they remember is, of course, the great triumph,

可是沒有人記得這件事。

that the Brits were beaten, and we won, and that the country was born.

當然，他們記得那個大勝利：

And so I agree very emphatically that the pain of childbirth is not remembered.

當英國打敗了，我們打勝了，於是這個國家誕生了。

It's the child that's remembered.

所以我感到非常生氣，沒有人記得生小孩的痛，

And that's what we're going through at this time.

大家只記得這個小孩。

I wanted to just talk for one minute about the future of biotechnology,

今天我也打算這麼做。

because I think I know very little about that -- I'm not a biologist --

我將只花一分鐘來談生物科技的未來，

so everything I know about it can be said in one minute.

因為我知道的很少 -- 我不是一個生物學家 --

(Laughter)

所以我知道的東西大概一分鐘就講完了。

What I'm saying is that we should follow the model

(笑聲)

that has been so successful with the electronic industry,

我要說的是，我們應該仿效

that what really turned computers into a great success, in the world

電子工業成功的範例：

as a whole, is toys. As soon as computers became toys,

那將電腦變成世界上相當成功的一種玩具。

when kids could come home and play with them,

一旦電腦變成一種玩具，

then the industry really took off. And that has to happen with biotech.

當孩童們可以回家玩電腦時，

There's a huge --

那時工業就真正成功了。這必須搭配生物科技才行。

(Laughter)

有很大的 --

(Applause)

(笑聲)

-- there's a huge community of people in the world

(掌聲)

who are practical biologists, who are dog breeders,

世界上有很大的一群人

pigeon breeders, orchid breeders, rose breeders,

他們是應用生物學家，他們是繁殖狗的人、

people who handle biology with their hands,

繁殖鴿子的人、繁殖蘭花的人、繁殖玫瑰花的人 --

and who are dedicated to producing beautiful things, beautiful creatures,

這些人用雙手去掌握生物學，

plants, animals, pets. These people will be empowered with biotech,

這些人致力於製造美麗的東西，美麗的生物：

and that will be an enormous positive step

植物、動物、寵物。這些人們能夠使用生物科技，

to acceptance of biotechnology.

這將是

That will blow away a lot of the opposition.

正面接受生物科技的一大進展。

When people have this technology in their hands,

這會將大部分的阻礙排除。

you have a do-it-yourself biotech kit, grow your own --

當人們能夠掌握這個技術時，

grow your dog, grow your own cat.

你會有個生物科技DIY工具，讓你自行種植 --

(Laughter)

種出你的狗，種出你的貓。

(Applause)

(笑聲)

Just buy the software, you design it. I won't say anymore,

(掌聲)

you can take it on from there. It's going to happen, and

只要買個軟體，你自己設計。我不再多說了，

I think it has to happen before the technology becomes natural,

從這邊開始你應該就能了解。它將會發生，

becomes part of the human condition,

我想，這將會在科技變成自然的一部分前發生，

something that everybody's familiar with and everybody accepts.

變成人們周遭的一部分，

So, let's leave that aside.

某種大家都很熟悉也能接受的東西。

I want to talk about something quite different,

關於這個我們就說到這吧。

which is what I know about, and that is astronomy.

我想談一些不一樣的，

And I'm interested in searching for life in the universe.

談談我所知道的東西，那就是天文學。

And it's open to us to introduce a new way of doing that,

我對於在宇宙中找尋生命很有興趣。

and that's what I'll talk about for 10 minutes,

對於提出不同的方式來作這件事也是相當開放的，

or whatever the time remains.

我將會花十分鐘左右來談這件事，

The important fact is, that most of the real estate

或者是我們還剩下的所有時間。

that's accessible to us -- I'm not talking about the stars,

很重要的事實是，大部分的土地，

I'm talking about the solar system, the stuff that's within reach

我們所能接觸到的 -- 我不是指所有的星球，

for spacecraft and within reach of our earthbound telescopes --

我指的是太陽系中，藉由太空梭能抵達的地方，

most of the real estate is very cold and very far from the Sun.

以及地面上天文望遠鏡能夠看見的地方。

If you look at the solar system, as we know it today,

大部分的土地是相當寒冷的，距離太陽也相當遙遠。

it has a few planets close to the Sun. That's where we live.

如果你看看我們現在所了解的太陽系，

It has a fairly substantial number of asteroids between

只有少數行星接近太陽，接近我們目前居住的地方。

the orbit of the Earth out through -- to the orbit of Jupiter.

有相當大量的小行星

The asteroids are a substantial amount of real estate,

位於地球軌道與木星軌道之間。

but not very large. And it's not very promising for life,

這些小行星就是大量的土地，

since most of it consists of rock and metal, mostly rock.

但並不是真的很大。因為那並不適合生物居住，

It's not only cold, but very dry.

因為大部分的成份是岩石和金屬，幾乎都是岩石。

So the asteroids we don't have much hope for.

那並不只是寒冷而已，還相當乾燥。

There stand some interesting places a little further out:

所以我們並不對這些小行星抱持太多希望。

the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

再遠一點的位置有些令人感興趣的行星，

Particularly, there's a place called Europa, which is --

就是木星和土星的月球們。

Europa is one of the moons of Jupiter,

尤其是有個地方叫做Europa，那是 --

where we see a very level ice surface,

Europa 是木星的許多月球之一，

which looks as if it's floating on top of an ocean.

我們發現那兒的地表有一定含量的冰層，

So, we believe that on Europa there is, in fact, a deep ocean.

看起來似乎是浮在海洋上。

And that makes it extraordinarily interesting as a place to explore.

所以我們相信在 Europa 上面有一個深海。

Ocean -- probably the most likely place for life to originate,

這讓它變得相當令人有興趣去探索的地方。

just as it originated on the Earth. So we would love to explore Europa,

海洋 -- 大概是生命最有可能出現的地方，

to go down through the ice,

正如地球上的生命源起一般。所以我們想要去探索Europa，

find out who is swimming around in the ocean,

向下穿越那冰層，

whether there are fish or seaweed or sea monsters --

看看海洋之下有誰在那兒游泳，

whatever there may be that's exciting --- or cephalopods.

看看是否有魚或海藻或是海底怪物 --

But that's hard to do. Unfortunately, the ice is thick.

不論是什麼都很令人興奮 -- 或頭足類生物(烏賊、章魚等)。

We don't know just how thick it is, probably miles thick,

但這是很困難的一件事。不幸的，那冰層相當厚。

so it's very expensive and very difficult to go down there --

我們不知道究竟有多厚，也許會有幾英哩厚，

send down your submarine or whatever it is -- and explore.

所以這花費將會相當昂貴，也相當困難去抵達那下面 --

That's something we don't yet know how to do.

不論是將潛水艇送下去或任何方式 -- 去進行探索。

There are plans to do it, but it's hard.

這是目前我們還不知道該如何進行的一件事。

Go out a bit further, you'll find that beyond the orbit of Neptune,

我們擬了許多計畫來作這件事，但這相當困難。

way out, far from the Sun, that's where the real estate really begins.

再往遠處一點，你會在海王星的軌道後面發現，

You'll find millions or trillions or billions of objects which,

在遠離太陽的地方，有著許多土地的出現。

in what we call the Kuiper Belt or the Oort Cloud --

你可以發現有上百萬或上億甚至上兆的物體，

these are clouds of small objects which appear as comets

在我們稱之為柯伊伯帶(Kuiper belt)以及歐特雲(Oort cloud)的地方 --

when they fall close to the Sun. Mostly, they just live out there

有一大群小型物體，當它們靠近太陽的時候，

in the cold of the outer solar system,

我們稱之為彗星的東西。它們大部分都存在於這邊，

but they are biologically very interesting indeed,

在太陽系外圍這個冰冷的地方，

because they consist primarily of ice with other minerals,

但就生物學得觀點而言，它們相當值得注意，

which are just the right ones for developing life.

因為它們的主要成份是冰以及其他礦物質，

So if life could be established out there,

這些正是生物組成的原料。

it would have all the essentials -- chemistry and sunlight --

所以如果生命能夠在這兒被創造出來，

everything that's needed.

這兒就有生命所需的基本物質：化學物質以及陽光，

So, what I'm proposing

生命所需要的一切。

is that there is where we should be looking for life, rather than on Mars,

所以我的論點是

although Mars is, of course, also a very promising and interesting place.

除了在火星上以外，還有許多我們可以找尋生命的地方，

But we can look outside, very cheaply and in a simple fashion.

雖然火星也是一個相當有希望也很吸引人的地方。

And that's what I'm going to talk about.

但我們可以往外看，那比較低劣的土地，很簡略的樣式。

There is a -- imagine that life originated on Europa,

這就是我所想要講的東西。

and it was sitting in the ocean for billions of years.

我能想像在Europa上孕育出來的生命形體，

It's quite likely that it would move out of the ocean onto the surface,

它已經存在於海洋中幾十億年。

just as it did on the Earth.

它很可能會從海底移動到陸地上來，

Staying in the ocean and evolving in the ocean for 2 billion years,

就像是地球上的演進一般。

finally came out onto the land. And then of course it had great --

在海中演化了廿億年，

much greater freedom, and a much greater variety of creatures

最後終於出現在陸地上。之後有著相當大的 --

developed on the land than had ever been possible in the ocean.

更大的自由度，更多不同種類的生物，

And the step from the ocean to the land was not easy, but it happened.

在陸地上發展出比海中更多種類的生物。

Now, if life had originated on Europa in the ocean,

由海中演化至陸地相當不容易，但它確實發生了。

it could also have moved out onto the surface.

現在，如果在Europa的海中孕育出了生命，

There wouldn't have been any air there -- it's a vacuum.

它也可能會漸漸移動到陸地上來。

It is out in the cold, but it still could have come.

那裡沒有任何空氣，那是真空狀態。

You can imagine that the plants growing up like kelp

那是相當寒冷的地方，但仍然可能會發生。

through cracks in the ice, growing on the surface.

你可以想像植物像是巨大海藻一樣生長著，

What would they need in order to grow on the surface?

穿越冰層的縫隙，生長出地表。

They'd need, first of all, to have a thick skin to protect themselves

它們需要什麼才能夠長出地表來呢？

from losing water through the skin.

首先它們需要有相當厚的皮膚來保護它們，

So they would have to have something like a reptilian skin.

以免皮膚失去水分。

But better -- what is more important

所以它們必須要有類似爬蟲類的皮膚。

is that they would have to concentrate sunlight.

但更重要的是，

The sunlight in Jupiter, on the satellites of Jupiter,

它們必須要有能力聚集陽光。

is 25 times fainter than it is here,

在木星的陽光，在木星的人造衛星上的陽光，

since Jupiter is five times as far from the Sun.

比地球昏暗25倍，

So they would have to have -- these creatures, which I call sunflowers,

因為木星距離太陽比地球遠5倍。

which I imagine living on the surface of Europa, would have to have

所以將有這些生物，我稱之為向日葵，

either lenses or mirrors to concentrate sunlight,

我所想像生存於Europa表面的生物，需要有著

so they could keep themselves warm on the surface.

透鏡或鏡子來聚集陽光，

Otherwise, they would be at a temperature of minus 150,

這樣才能讓它們在地表保持溫暖。

which is certainly not favorable for developing life,

否則它們將會生存於零下150度，

at least of the kind we know.

那絕對不適合生命居住，

But if they just simply could grow, like leaves,

至少對我們所知道的生命來說是如此。

little lenses and mirrors to concentrate sunlight,

但如果它們能夠簡單的長出類似葉子的東西，

then they could keep warm on the surface.

小小的透鏡或鏡子來聚集陽光，

They could enjoy all the benefits of the sunlight

那麼它們就可以在地表保持溫暖，

and have roots going down into the ocean;

它們可以享受陽光的好處，

life then could flourish much more.

然後將根部深入到海洋之中 --

So, why not look? Of course, it's not very likely

生命就可以更加茂盛的存在。

that there's life on the surface of Europa.

所以，何不去看看 -- 當然生命存在於

None of these things is likely, but my,

Europa 表面的機會並不高。

my philosophy is, look for what's detectable, not for what's probable.

那些東西的可能性都不高，但是我，

There's a long history in astronomy of unlikely things

我的邏輯是去找尋能被找到的東西，而不是可能會發生的事情。

turning out to be there. And I mean,

很久以來就有一些在宇宙中本來不可能發生的事情

the finest example of that was radio astronomy as a whole.

結果卻發生了。我是指，

This was -- originally, when radio astronomy began,

最好的例子是無線電天文學。

Mr. Jansky, at the Bell labs, detected radio waves coming from the sky.

無線電天文學剛出現的時候，

And the regular astronomers were scornful about this.

貝爾實驗室的Jansky偵測到天空傳來的無線電波，

They said, "It's all right, you can detect radio waves from the Sun,

而一些專業的天文學家對此事嘲笑不已。

but the Sun is the only object in the universe that's close enough

他們說，沒錯，你可以收到從太陽傳來的無線電波，

and bright enough actually to be detectable. You can easily calculate

但是太陽是整個宇宙中唯一足夠靠近的物體

that radio waves from the Sun are fairly faint,

並且夠光亮才會被偵測到。你可以輕易算出

and everything else in the universe is millions of times further away,

由太陽傳來的無線電波相當微弱，

so it certainly will not be detectable.

而宇宙中其他物體的距離比這個要遠上幾百萬倍，

So there's no point in looking."

所以絕對不可能被偵測到。

And that, of course, that set back the progress of radio astronomy

所以偵測無線電波是毫無意義的。

by about 20 years.

於是，這讓無線電天文學的發展

Since there was nothing there, you might as well not look.

延遲了20年。

Well, of course, as soon as anybody did look,

因為如果那兒沒東西，你就不會想要去找。

which was after about 20 years,

而在有人真的去找尋的時候，

when radio astronomy really took off. Because it turned out

已經過了大概20年的時間了，

the universe is absolutely full of all kinds of wonderful things

當時無線電天文學開始受到重視。因為後來發現到

radiating in the radio spectrum, much brighter than the Sun.

整個宇宙確實充滿著各種不可思議的東西

So, the same thing could be true for this kind of life,

以無線電的波長發送著無線電波，它們甚至比太陽還光亮。

which I'm talking about, on cold objects: that it could in fact

所以同樣的，我所談到的能夠在冰冷的星球上生存的生命

be very abundant all over the universe, and it's not been detected

也可能確實存在的：事實上，

just because we haven't taken the trouble to look.

它可能充斥在宇宙中，而還沒被發現的原因

So, the last thing I want to talk about is how to detect it.

可能只是因為我們不願意突破困難去尋找。

There is something called pit lamping.

所以，最後我想談的是要怎麼去發現它。

That's the phrase which I learned from my son George,

有件事叫做pit lamping。

who is there in the audience.

這個名詞是我從我的兒子喬治身上學來的，

You take -- that's a Canadian expression.

他正坐在聽眾席裡。

If you happen to want to hunt animals at night,

你可以用 -- 這是加拿大人的說法：

you take a miner's lamp, which is a pit lamp.

如果你突然想在晚上去打獵，

You strap it onto your forehead, so you can see

你拿一個礦工的燈，那叫做坑燈(pit lamp)。

the reflection in the eyes of the animal. So, if you go out at night,

你把它戴在額頭上來，這樣你可以看見

you shine a flashlight, the animals are bright.

動物眼睛裡反射出來的光線。所以如果你在晚上出去

You see the red glow in their eyes,

你打開手電筒，動物的位置就會很明顯。

which is the reflection of the flashlight.

你可以看見它們眼中閃爍著紅光，

And then, if you're one of these unsporting characters,

那就是反射手電筒的光。

you shoot the animals and take them home.

如果你剛好是一個不守規則的人，

And of course, that spoils the game

你就可以射殺它們，把它們帶回家。

for the other hunters who hunt in the daytime,

當然，對於大部分只在白天打獵的獵人來說，

so in Canada that's illegal. In New Zealand, it's legal,

這是違反遊戲規則的。

because the New Zealand farmers use this as a way of getting rid of rabbits,

所以在加拿大這是違法的。在紐西蘭卻是合法的，

because the rabbits compete with the sheep in New Zealand.

因為紐西蘭的農夫用這種方法來除去兔子，

So, the farmers go out at night

因為在紐西蘭兔子會騷擾綿羊。

with heavily armed jeeps, and shine the headlights,

所以農夫們晚上出門

and anything that doesn't look like a sheep, you shoot.

開著重武裝的吉普車，開亮頭燈，

(Laughter)

獵殺任何不像綿羊的東西。

So I have proposed to apply the same trick

(笑聲)

to looking for life in the universe.

所以我建議使用相同的手法

That if these creatures who are living on cold surfaces --

用來在宇宙中探索生命。

either on Europa, or further out, anywhere where you can live

也就是說，生活在冰冷地表的生物 --

on a cold surface -- those creatures must be provided with reflectors.

不論是 Europa 或更遙遠的地方，任何可能生存於

In order to concentrate sunlight, they have to have lenses and mirrors --

冰冷地表 -- 那些生物一定會帶有反射物體。

in order to keep themselves warm.

為了要集中陽光，它們必須要有透鏡和鏡子

And then, when you shine sunlight at them,

才能夠保持自身溫暖。

the sunlight will be reflected back,

於是當你將陽光照在它們身上時，

just as it is in the eyes of an animal.

陽光會被反射回來

So these creatures will be bright against the cold surroundings.

正如動物眼中反射的光線一般。

And the further out you go in this, away from the Sun,

所以這些生物相對於冰冷的環境而言會變得很光亮。

the more powerful this reflection will be. So actually,

對於更遠的地方，那些遠離太陽的地方。

this method of hunting for life gets stronger and stronger

反射能力會更強。所以事實上，

as you go further away,

這種獵殺動物的方法，

because the optical reflectors have to be more powerful so the reflected light

其效果在越遠的地方越有效，

shines out even more in contrast against the dark background.

因為光學反射器必須更加強力

So as you go further away from the Sun,

才能反射對比更高的光線來對抗黑暗的環境。