在我们还是小朋友的时候,每个人都被“是考清华还是考北大?”“我是谁?我从哪来?”这种问题困扰过吧。后来我们认识了达尔文,相信了生命起源的原始汤理论。可现在有新的科学发现,对地球上生命起源有了别的解释……关于外星生命,说不定也有了别的可能哦!
Science has long held that life originated from shallow pools of water that contained just the right ingredients for life.
长久以来科学界一直认为生命起源于一些小水池,这些小水池中含有某些适宜生命产生的成分。
While there are certainly varying beliefs on how life emerged on our planet, the scientific consensus has long been the most humbling one: Around 4 billion years ago, our ancestors were simple molecules(分子) swishing around in a primordial soup(原始汤).
关于地球上生命的起源有着多种多样的看法,其中科学的共识一直都是最谦卑的一个:大约40亿年前,我们的祖先还只是游动在原始汤(primordial soup)里的分子。
That broth had just the right ingredients — methane(甲烷), ammonia water(氨水), a dash of energizing lightning — to nurture the earliest organic compounds. At one point, the soup overflowed from shallow ponds and the chemistry of life, in its simplest form, spilled forth and multiplied.
原始汤中正好含有适宜的成分——甲烷、氨水,还有提供能量的一道闪电——孕育着最早的有机化合物。之后的某个时刻原始汤从浅浅的水池中溢出,同时组成生命的最简单化学成分也随之溢出并大量增殖。
At least, that's been the narrative for the last century or so — a theory first suggested by famed naturalist Charles Darwin and refined decades later by scientists A.I. Oparin and J.B.S. Haldane.We've been debating and frequently disagreeing over that hypothesis ever since.
该理论至少统治了过去一个世纪,它最早由著名自然学家查尔斯·达尔文(Charles Darwin)提出,几十年后在科学家奥巴林(A.I. Oparin)和霍尔丹(J.B.S. Haldane)的努力下得到完善。但是,它诞生以来,争论的声音就没有停止过,并遭到众多反对。
Even Darwin acknowledged the theory's fallibility(不可靠性) back in 1871, when he penned this to a friend: But if (and oh what a big if) we could conceive in some warm little pond with all sorts of ammonia and phosphoric salts(磷酸盐), — light, heat, electricity & c. present, that a protein compound was chemically formed, ready to undergo still more complex changes, at the present day such matter would be instantly devoured, or absorbed, which would not have been the case before living creatures were formed.
1871年,甚至达尔文本人都承认该理论并不可靠,他在给朋友的信中写到:假设(完全是假设)我们同意这样一个观点,有一个温暖的小池塘,这个小池塘中有各种氨和磷酸盐,还有光、热、电、碳等等,在化学作用下生成了蛋白复合物,并准备好进行下一步的复杂反应。但放在今天来看,这种物质一瞬间就会被吞噬或吸收,根本无法形成生物。
With details from 4 billion years ago being a bit sketchy(模糊的), it's understandable that Darwin — and the scientists who came after him — dangle such a resounding "if" in front of the theory.
40亿年前太过久远,细节模糊,达尔文以及他之后的科学家们在这个理论面前抛出一个响亮的“如果”也是可以理解的。
And scientists from University College London made the origin of life in those shallows an even iffier(不确定的;可疑的) proposition.
伦敦大学学院(University College London)的科学家们更是让“生命起源于小水池中”这一说法变得更加的不确定。
According to their study, published this month in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, life may have sprung from a perfectly cooked soup, but the pot wasn't a "warm pond" after all.
他们本月发表在《自然生态与进化》(Nature Ecology & Evolution)杂志上的研究表明,生命可能是从配方适宜的“汤”里诞生,但汤锅并不是所谓的"温暖的小池塘"。
Rather, life may have sprung from the deepest trenches of the ocean, specifically heated fissures(裂缝) on the seafloor in volcanically active regions.
确切地说,生命可能是从海洋最深处的海沟中产生的,也就是位于火山活跃地带海洋底部的炽热裂缝。
Those hydrothermal vents(海底热液喷口) may have been the real cradle of life.
这些海底热液喷口(hydrothermal vent)可能是真正的生命摇篮。
"There are multiple competing theories as to where and how life started. Underwater hydrothermal vents are among most promising locations for life's beginnings — our findings now add weight to that theory with solid experimental evidence," the study's lead author, Nick Lane, noted in a statement.
该研究的领头人尼克·莱恩(Nick Lane)表示,“关于生命的起源地点和方式有很多理论,但深海热液喷口处作为生命起源地的可能性最大,我们实验结果为这一理论提供了坚实证据。”
The key to their findings was the humble protocell(原始细胞;原初生命体), considered the most basic building block for all life on Earth. The scientists were able to replicate the formation of protocells in an environment very similar to that found in a hydrothermal vent. Typically protocells form naturally in freshwater bodies. The ocean, on the other hand, with its salt and high alkalinity(碱性) levels, wouldn't seem like the ideal nursemaids for these infant cells — particularly the heated regions near undersea volcanoes.
他们成果的关键在于原始细胞,原始细胞被视为地球上一切生命的基本组成。科学家们在与深海热液喷口非常类似的环境中再现了原始细胞的形成。一般说来,原始细胞能在淡水体中自然形成。相较之,海水盐度、碱性较高,因此不太可能是这些原始细胞的理想产生地——更何况海底火山附近的炙热区域。
The protocell is considered the basic building block for life on Earth.
原始细胞被视为地球上一切生命的基本组成。
In past experiments, as IFLScience reports, protocells successfully spawned in the cool freshwater of labs, quickly became undone when exposed to briny(咸的) seawater.
根据爱科学新闻网(IFLScience)的报道,在过去的实验中,科学家已成功地在实验室的冷淡水中合成了原始细胞,这些原始细胞一旦放入含有盐的海水中便会迅速解体。
But the presence of a hydrothermal vent may change everything. These vents could only be explored relatively recently thanks to modern technology. They're constantly heaving out minerals in a gush of brine warmed by volcanoes below. And when those minerals circulate with seawater, a unique marine environment is formed.
但是热液喷口的出现可能改变一切。多亏了现代科技,这些喷口才在最近被发现。矿物质随着由海底火山加热的盐水从这些喷口喷出。当这些矿物质随着海水循环时,独特的海洋环境就形成了。
That's where the marriage of hydrogen(氢气) and carbon dioxide(二氧化碳), the researchers claim, begets a variety of organic compounds — our most ancient and distant relative, the protocell.
研究人员称,氢和二氧化碳在此时结合,产生了各种有机化合物——即我们最古老的亲戚,原始细胞。
Considering the vast timeframe involved it may seem like a niggling(琐碎的)detail: what does it matter that life may have sprung from the depths of the ocean, rather than from shallow freshwater pools?
考虑到涉及的时间跨度如此宏大,生命到底是从海洋的深处还是浅浅的淡水坑里诞生就似乎变成了细枝末节,这真的重要吗?
Ultimately, it may not be about tracing life here on Earth — but its existence in other parts of the cosmos.
最终可能并不是为了在地球上追寻生命——而是在宇宙的其他地方寻找生命的存在。
Consider Jupiter's fourth largest moon, Europa. Scientists suspect the vast ocean beneath its frozen enamel may be packed with sodium chloride(氯化钠), also known as table salt. Add potential volcanic activity(火山活动) below the seafloor — and someone may be cooking with gas.
以木星第四大的卫星木卫二(Europa)为例。科学家怀疑它冰层下的浩瀚海洋里可能充满了氯化钠,也就是食盐。再加上海底潜在的火山活动——可能有人正在用天然气做饭呢。
Indeed, the new research suggests primordial soup may not be such a uniquely homemade creation at all.
事实上,最新的研究表明,原始汤可能并非地球独创。
生命究竟来自于哪里,太阳系中除了地球是否还存在别的生命,这些看似简单又深奥至极的问题还需要我们继续探索呀!
本文为百度翻译原创内容