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What was actually interesting to us was not that the bacteria made light, but when the bacteria made light.
事實上，我們感興趣的部分并不是細(xì)菌會不會發(fā)光，而是細(xì)菌何時發(fā)光。
What we noticed is when the bacteria were alone, so when they were in dilute suspension, they made no light.
我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)細(xì)菌獨立存在，經(jīng)稀釋后進行懸浮培養(yǎng)時，它們不發(fā)光。
But when they grew to a certain cell number all the bacteria turned on light simultaneously.
但一旦它們增長到一個特定數(shù)量之后，所有的細(xì)菌同時發(fā)光。
The question that we had is how can bacteria, these primitive organisms, tell the difference from times when they're alone,
于是我們想，這些原始生物，到底如何得知自己是處于孤立的狀態(tài)
and times when they're in a community, and then all do something together.
還是處在一個群體里，并且同時一起做同一件事情。
What we've figured out is that the way that they do that is that they talk to each other, and they talk with a chemical language.
然后我們發(fā)現(xiàn)了這是因為細(xì)菌能夠彼此交談，它們用的是化學(xué)語言。
This is now supposed to be my bacterial cell. When it's alone it doesn't make any light.
假設(shè)這是我的細(xì)菌。當(dāng)它獨處時，根本不會發(fā)光。
But what it does do is to make and secrete small molecules that you can think of like hormones,
但是它們會制造、分泌小的分子，你可以把他想象成荷爾蒙，
and these are the red triangles, and when the bacteria is alone the molecules just float away and so no light.
這里的紅色三角形代表這些小分子，當(dāng)細(xì)菌獨處時，分泌的小分子游離開來，所以不發(fā)光。
But when the bacteria grow and double and they're all participating in making these molecules,
但是隨著這些細(xì)菌成倍增長，并且全部一起制造這些分子，
the molecule -- the extracellular amount of that molecule increases in proportion to cell number.
這些細(xì)胞外分子的含量隨著細(xì)胞數(shù)量的增加而增加。
And when the molecule hits a certain amount that tells the bacteria how many neighbors there are,
當(dāng)這些個分子累積到一定的量之后，它們會告訴細(xì)菌它們周圍有多少鄰居，
they recognize that molecule and all of the bacteria turn on light in synchrony.
細(xì)菌接受到這些信息后，所有的細(xì)菌同時開始發(fā)光。
That's how bioluminescence works -- they're talking with these chemical words.
生物發(fā)光就是這樣運作的--它們通過上述的化學(xué)語言進行交流。
