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Believe it or not, astrobiologist Penny Boston is searching for life on Mars by dropping deep into this heart of darkness.
不管你信不信，天體生物學家潘妮·波士頓正在深入黑暗的腹地尋找火星生物。
This is a lava tube, a subterranean cave formed by underground lava flows during volcanic eruptions that occurred thousands of years ago.
這是熔巖管，一種隱蔽洞穴，由千年前火上爆發時期的地下巖漿流形成。
And Boston has someone she wants us to meet.
波士頓想讓我們見識一下某種東西。
"Sometimes they are in crevices. Sometimes they are kinda hard to see." Is this one, the scary monster reveals itself?
“有時，它們在裂縫中。有時它們很難發現。”這個東西，這個可怕的怪物會自己現身么？
"Ah! There is one." Actually no. This is an extremophile. "We are looking for what we astrobiologyists call extremophiles in this environment.
“啊！在那里。”并不會。這是一種極端微生物。“我們正在此環境中尋找天體生物學家口中的極端微生物。
That means that they are organisms that are living in very difficult conditions.
這意味著它們是生活在極端艱難環境中的生物體。
In this particular case, these organisms are living in a very cold cave right around freezing.
在這里，這些生物體生活在非常寒冷的洞穴中。
They are making their living without benefit of sunlight and there is almost nothing to eat in this cave."
它們在沒有陽光的地方生存，洞穴中幾乎沒有食物。
In recent years, scientists have discovered tenacious microorganisms living in all forms of extreme environments. So if on Earth, why not on Mars?
近些年，科學家們發現存活在各種極端環境中的頑強生物體。所以如果地球上可以有，為什么火星上不能有呢？
"We think that Mars is covered with lava tubes.
“我們認為火星上很有多熔巖洞。
We believe that by looking at organisms that live in these extreme circumstances on Earth, we can learn a lot about what to look for on Mars;
我們相信，通過在地球上的這些極端環境中尋找生物體，我們可以了解要在火星中尋找什么。
and that, similar Martian organisms may be able to persist on Mars in places very similar to this lava tube."
并且相似的火星生物體或許能夠在火星的相似熔巖洞中生存。”
To find out, Dr. Boston has created her own little Mars environment biospheres,
為了查明這一點，波士頓博士創造了自己的小型火星環境生物圈，
essentially exposing a range of microscopic Earth life forms to various elements to be expected on Mars.
本質上是將一系列微觀地球生命形態暴露于各種火星元素下。
"They have been subjected to Mars-like levels of high ultraviolet radiation, and Mars-like temperature cycles.
“它們經歷了類似火星的紫外線輻射，以及火星溫度循環。
We have given them atmosphere compositions from very low levels of carbon dioxide with nothing else to,
我們給了它們各種大氣挑戰，從非常低的二氧化碳量
perhaps, 1/10 the density of Earth's atmosphere, and tested them under those conditions."
到地球大氣密度的1/10，并在那些環境下，對它們進行測試。”
And so far, she's isolated 36 different strains of organism that thrive quite happily.
到目前為止，她分離出了36種頑強繁育的不同生物體。
So in theory at least, life could survive the harsh conditions of Mars except for one problem.
至少在此理論中，生命可以在火星的艱難環境中生存，除了一個問題。
"There is one thing for sure that we know, and that is that all forms of life on our planet require liquid water.
“有一件事我們非常確信，地球上的所有生命形式都需要液態水，
We don't know if that's going to be true on other planets. But we think that where there is going to be life, there is going to have to be water."
我們不知道在其他星球是否也這樣。但是我們認為，有生命的地方，一定有水。”
