Well, astronauts left a lot of stuff behind there.

跟你說，太空人留了不少東西在那裡。

Stuff like used scientific equipment, clothing, food wrappers and, well… their poop.

像是用過的科學設備、衣物、食物包裝和 …… 他們的便便。

Across all 6 moon landings, Apollo astronauts left 96 bags of human waste on the moon.

在六次月球登陸的過程，阿波羅太空人總共留了 96 袋人類排泄物在月球上。

We're talking poop.

我們說的是大便。

Pee.

尿液。

Vomit.

嘔吐物。

It was left behind to save weight for the return trip.

之所以留在那裡是為了減少回程的重量。

Stuffed in big trash baggies, like this one, dropped from Apollo 11.

它們被裝在像這樣的垃圾袋裡，然後從阿波羅 11 號投下。

Inside those bags is a big, unanswered question — a scientific mystery that I want answered: Is there anything alive in that moon poop?

那些袋子裡裝著一個未解的大疑問，一個我希望獲得解答的科學謎團：那坨月球便便裡有任何生物嗎？

I know, I know, this sounds ridiculous.

我瞭我瞭，聽起來很可笑。

But the answer might help us understand how life started on Earth.

但答案或許可以幫助我們理解地球上的生物起源。

And it can help us understand our potential to contaminate other worlds — like Mars — with our literal s***.

它也能幫助我們得知，是否有用我們的便便「污染」其他世界 (比如火星) 的可能性？

And the answer, it's not too far away.

答案離我們並不遠。

It's lying in wait, nearly 240,000 miles away, on the moon.

它有待我們發掘，就處於近 39 萬公里之外的月球上。

Right here. Those — this really isn't to scale.

就在這。那些 —— 好啦這不是等比例模型。

What I'm saying is we gotta go back for that s***.

我的意思是，我們必須為了那些大便回去。

Human feces can be disgusting, sure. This is not — this is Play Doh.

沒錯，人類大便很噁心。這不是啦，這是培樂多黏土。

But it's also teaming with life.

雖然噁心但卻充滿了生命。

Around half of its mass is made up of bacteria, representing some of the 1,000-plus species of microbes that live in our guts.

有半坨由細菌組成，其中包含住在我們內臟中超過一千種的微生物。

With the moon landings, we took microbial life on Earth to the most extreme environment it has ever been in.

藉由登陸月球，我們將地球的微生物帶到牠們從未到過的極端環境。

And we don't know if it can survive there.

我們不知道牠們是不是可以在那裡生存。

In all the ways Earth is so hospitable to life, the moon is not.

地球在多個面向來說都適合生物生存，月球可不是。

It does not have a protective magnetic field to deflect the most powerful and damaging cosmic radiation.

它並沒有磁場，無法起到保護作用，無法迴避破壞性強大的宇宙輻射。

It doesn't have an ozone layer to absorb the sun's ultraviolet rays.

它沒有臭氧層，無法吸收太陽的紫外線輻射。

It doesn't have an atmosphere.

也沒有大氣層。

And the moon is subjected to wild temperature swings over day and night.

而且月球晝夜溫差劇烈。

A lot would have to go right for the microbes to still be alive there — or at least revivable from a dormant state.

很多人認為微生物依舊存活，至少處於可復甦的冬眠狀態。

But there are some scientists who want to go back and check, because there are two really fascinating things that we can learn from this poop.

但有一些科學家想回去調查，因為我們可以從這些大便身上學到兩件驚奇的事。

The first has to do with a planet millions of miles away from the moon: Mars.

第一件事和距離月球幾百萬公里的星球有關 —— 火星。

For decades, scientists have wondered if there's life on Mars — and they're getting closer to figuring it out.

科學家數十年來都在納悶火星上是否有生命，他們就快要找到解答了。

Mars has a thin atmosphere, evidence of flowing water, and a more hospitable environment than the moon.

火星有一層薄薄的大氣層，有水流動的痕跡，以及比月球更適宜生存的環境。

If microbes can survive on the moon, they're even more likely to survive on Mars.

如果微生物都能在月球上生存了，在火星上生存的可能性就更大。

So what happens if humans go to Mars and leave their poop there and the microbes in it start to spread?

所以要是人類去到火星，把便便留在那裡，然後裡頭的微生物開始擴散呢？

It will be hard to tell what life we find there is Martian and what life we brought with us if we accidentally contaminate the planet with our poop.

如果我們不巧用自己的便便「污染」了那裡的環境，我們會很難分辨發現的生物是火星當地的，還是我們帶去的。

There's also a bigger question.

但還有一個更大的疑問。

There's a hypothesis about how life started on Earth, that (it) didn't actually start on Earth at all.

有個關於地球生命起源的假說，那就是生命根本不是在地球開始的。

That some asteroid or comet, containing some microbes, crashed-landed here and seeded life on the planet.

而是某個搭載了一些微生物的小行星或彗星，墜毀在這裡，將生命播下。

Finding living things in the moon poop could support that hypothesis, because if microbial life can survive on the moon, it can survive on an asteroid, too.

在月球便便裡發現存活的生物有可能成為此假說的論據，因為若是微生物能夠在月球存活，就也能在小行星上存活。

And if the hypothesis is true, it can mean life travels across the universe, jumping from planet-to-planet, from asteroid collisions.

而若是此假說是真的，或許代表生命在宇宙之間穿梭，透過行星撞擊在星球和星球之間旅行。

Here's a wilder thought: Let's say an asteroid comes hurteling by, slams into the moon, and projects the Apollo mission moon poop into the deep reaches of space.

再一個更瘋狂的想法：假設一顆小行星和月球發生擦撞，將阿波羅任務的月球便便打進太空的更深處。

Could that seed life in the broader universe?

有可能將生命的種子散佈到更廣的宇宙中嗎？

Maybe.

有可能。

So how do we figure out the answer to these great mysteries?

所以我們該如何知曉這些偉大謎團的解答？

Easy.

簡單。

We go back.

我們返回月球。

That's gonna take a lot of work and research and diving into internet clickholes.

那會花上許多心血和研究，還可能誤觸釣魚網站。

Bad security for anything you're doing, including a project to go back to the moon, can ruin everything.

做任何事情沒做好安全防護是很危險的，重回月球也是，沒防護毀萬事。

Enter: Dashlane. Dashlane is the one tool you need to stay safe online.

向你介紹：Dashlane。想要安全上網，你需要 Dashlane。

It helps keep you safe online and protects your most sensitive information, and will even let you know that you've been the victim of a hack.

它幫助你安全瀏覽網頁，保護你重要的資料，甚至能夠讓你得知駭客入侵。

Dashlane can autogenerate and autofill super strong passwords on all websites where you have accounts.

Dashlane 能夠在所有網站為你自動生成並自動輸入高強度密碼。

It works on any browser and any device and it syncs your data instantly between all of them.

任何瀏覽器在任何設備上都能使用，且可以迅速同步所有資料。

And it even includes a multi-country VPN, so you can stay safe and browse privately on any device.

甚至搭載多國 VPN，所以你在任何設備上都能夠安全並保有隱私地瀏覽。

So go to dashlane.com/vox to get a 30-day free trial of Dashlane Premium and use the promo code "VOX" to get 10% off Dashlane Premium.

快前往 dashlane.com/vox 試用白金會員三十天，輸入折扣碼 VOX 還能在購買白金會員時獲得九折優惠。

Dashlane doesn't directly impact our editorial, but their support makes videos like this possible.

Dashlane 和我們的影片內容無直接關聯，但他們的協助讓本影片得以成真。

So click the link in the description to check them out.

前往描述欄點擊連結一探究竟吧！