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Have you ever wanted to stay young a little longer
大家有沒有想過要年輕再久一點
and put off aging?
延緩衰老呢？
This is a dream of the ages.
這是很久以來的夢想了
But scientists have for a long time
不過科學家以前一直認為
thought this just was never going to be possible.
這大概根本永遠不可能
They thought you just wear out, there's nothing you can do about it --
他們認為每個人就是慢慢被消耗這個事實沒辦法改變
kind of like an old shoe.
就像被磨損的舊鞋子
But if you look in nature,
不過轉而觀察大自然的話
you see that different kinds of animals
我們發現不同種的動物
can have really different lifespans.
壽命差異可以非常之大
Now these animals are different from one another,
這些動物彼此不一樣
because they have different genes.
是因為它們有不同的基因
So that suggests
這就啟發我們
that somewhere in these genes, somewhere in the DNA,
在這些基因里的某個地方，在DNA里面
are genes for aging,
有控制衰老的基因
genes that allow them to have different lifespans.
讓動物們有不同的壽命期
So if there are genes like that,
所以有這樣的基因
then you can imagine that,
我們就能想像到
if you could change one of the genes in an experiment,
如果我們通過實驗改變一個基因
an aging gene,
那個衰老基因
maybe you could slow down aging and extend lifespan.
說不定就可以延緩衰老，延長壽命
And if you could do that, then you could find the genes for aging.
如果這樣做了，就可以找到那些衰老基因
And if they exist and you can find them,
如果這些衰老基因真的存在并且能找到
then maybe one could eventually do something about it.
那也許有人就能對它做點什么
So we've set out to look for genes that control aging.
所以我們就開始尋找那些控制衰老的基因
And we didn't study any of these animals.
不過我們沒有研究剛才那些動物
Instead, we studied a little, tiny, round worm called C. elegans,
而是研究一種小小圓圓的蠕蟲，叫做秀麗隱桿線蟲
which is just about the size of a comma in a sentence.
大小剛好和句子里面逗號的大小差不多
And we were really optimistic that we could find something
我們很有信心能找到相關的基因
because there had been a report of a long-lived mutant.
因為曾經有種長壽變異的個體記錄在案
So we started to change genes at random,
所以我們就隨機改變線蟲的基因
looking for long-lived animals.
尋找長壽的那些
And we were very lucky to find
結果我們很幸運地發現
that mutations that damage one single gene called daf-2
損壞單個基因daf-2的這種變異
doubled the lifespan of the little worm.
能讓這種小蟲的壽命翻倍
So you can see in black, after a month --
所以能看到這條黑色曲線，一個月以后--
they're very short-lived; that's why we like to study them
這些線蟲的壽命很短，這就是為什么我們用它們來做
for studies of aging --
壽命的研究--
in black, after a month, the normal worms are all dead.
黑色曲線表示一個月以后，正常線蟲都死亡了
But at that time,
但是同時
most of the mutant worms are still alive.
大部分變異線蟲還活著
And it isn't until twice as long
直到又過了同樣長的時間
that they're all dead.
它們才死亡
And now I want to show what they actually look like in this movie here.
現在我來用視頻演示線蟲真正是什么樣子
So the first thing you're going to see
首先這里看到的
is the normal worm
是正常的線蟲
when it's about college student age -- a young adult.
大概在我們大學生的年齡--青年人的年齡
It's quite a cute little fellow.
很可愛的小家伙
And next you're going to see the long-lived mutant when it's young.
下面你將看到年輕的長壽變異體
So this animal is going to live twice as long.
它會活到正常線蟲兩倍的年齡
Is it miserable? It doesn't seem to be.
很可憐吧？其實不是
It's active. You can't tell the difference really.
它相當活躍，和正常線蟲幾乎看不出區別
And they can be completely fertile --
而且它們也有繁殖能力--
have the same number of progeny as the normal worms do.
后代的數目可以和正常線蟲的一樣多
Now get out your handkerchiefs here.
現在準備拿出手絹來擦眼淚吧
You're going to see, in just two weeks,
你會看到，就在僅僅兩周之后
the normal worms are old.
正常的線蟲就老了
You can see the little head moving down at the bottom there.
可以看見它的頭在屏幕下面，在動
But everything else is just lying there.
但是其它部位就只是躺在那兒不動
The animal's clearly in the nursing home.
它顯然已經在老人院了
And if you look at the tissues of the animal, they're starting to deteriorate.
再看它的身體組織，能看到已經老化了
You know, even if you've never seen one of these little C. elegans --
你看，就算從來沒見過秀麗隱桿線蟲--
which probably most of you haven't seen one --
多數人應該是沒見過--
you can tell they're old -- isn't that interesting?
你就知道它們老了--這不是很有意思嗎？
So there's something about aging that's kind of universal.
衰老這件事是有普世性的
And now here is the daf-2 mutant.
現在這個是daf-2變異體
One gene is changed out of 20,000, and look at it.
20000個基因里只改變了一個，看
It's the same age, but it's not in the nursing home;
年齡是一樣的，但是它不在養老院里
it's going skiing.
它看起來在滑雪
This is what's really cool: it's aging more slowly.
這就是最酷的地方：它衰老得更慢
It takes this worm two days
達到正常線蟲衰老一天的程度
to age as much as the normal worm ages in one day.
它們需要兩天時間
And when I tell people about this,
而我告訴其他人這件事的時候
they tend to think of maybe an 80 or 90 year-old person
他們認為也許這就像一個八九十歲的人
who looks really good for being 90 or 80.
看起來身體仍然硬朗一樣
But it's really more like this:
但是其實更像這樣：
let's say you're a 30 year-old guy -- or in your 30s --
如果你是個30歲、30多歲的單身漢
and you're a bachelor and you're dating people.
你去和別人約會
And you meet someone you really like, you get to know her.
然后你見到了一個中意的女孩，想多了解她
And you're in a restaurant, and you say, "Well how old are you?"
在飯桌上，你問她，“你多大了？”
She says, "I'm 60."
她說，“我60歲”
That's what it's like. And you would never know.
就像這樣。你根本不知道
You would never know, until she told you.
根本不知道她有多大，要不是她告訴你的話
