在清华听演讲,听演讲||Hidden miracles of the natural world

(风险提示TED)
What is the intersection between technology, art and science? Curiosity and wonder, because it drives us to explore, because were surrounded by things we cant see. And I love to use film to take us on a journey through portals of time and space, to make the invisible visible, because what that does, it expands our horizons, it transforms our perception, it opens our minds and it touches our heart. So here are some scenes from my 3D IMAX film, "Mysteries of the Unseen World."
There is movement which is too slow for our eyes to detect, and time lapse makes us discover and broaden our perspective of life. We can see how organisms emerge and grow, how a vine survives by creeping from the forest floor to look at the sunlight. And at the grand scale, time lapse allows us to see our planet in motion. We can view not only the vast sweep of nature, but the restless movement of humanity. Each streaking dot represents a passenger plane, and by turning air traffic data into time-lapse imagery, we can see something thats above us constantly but invisible: the vast network of air travel over the United States. We can do the same thing with ships at sea. We can turn data into a time-lapse view of a global economy in motion. And decades of data give us the view of our entire planet as a single organism sustained by currents circulating throughout the oceans and by clouds swirling through the atmosphere, pulsing with lightning, crowned by the aurora Borealis. It may be the ultimate time-lapse image: the anatomy of Earth brought to life.
At the other extreme, there are things that move too fast for our eyes, but we have technology that can look into that world as well. With high-speed cameras, we can do the opposite of time lapse. We can shoot images that are thousands of times faster than our vision. And we can see how natures ingenious devices work, and perhaps we can even imitate them. When a dragonfly flutters by, you may not realize, but its the greatest flier in nature. It can hover, fly backwards, even upside down. And by tracking markers on an insects wings, we can visualize the air flow that they produce. Nobody knew the secret, but high speed shows that a dragonfly can move all four wings in different directions at the same time. And what we learn can lead us to new kinds of robotic flyers that can expand our vision of important and remote places.
Were giants, and were unaware of things that are too small for us to see. The electron microscope fires electrons which creates images which can magnify things by as much as a million times. This is the egg of a butterfly. And there are unseen creatures living all over your body, including mites that spend their entire lives dwelling on your eyelashes, crawling over your skin at night. Can you guess what this is? Shark skin. A caterpillars mouth. The eye of a fruit fly. An eggshell. A flea. A snails tongue. We think we know most of the animal kingdom, but there may be millions of tiny species waiting to be discovered.
A spider also has great secrets, because spiders silk thread is pound for pound stronger than steel but completely elastic. This journey will take us all the way down to the nano world. The silk is 100 times thinner than human hair. On there is bacteria, and near that bacteria, 10 times smaller, a virus. Inside of that, 10 times smaller, three strands of DNA. And nearing the limit of our most powerful microscopes, single carbon atoms.
With the tip of a powerful microscope, we can actually move atoms and begin to create amazing nano devices. Some could one day patrol our body for all kinds of diseases and clean out clogged arteries along the way. Tiny chemical machines of the future can one day, perhaps, repair DNA. We are on the threshold of extraordinary advances, born of our drive to unveil the mysteries of life.
So under an endless rain of cosmic dust, the air is full of pollen, micro-diamonds and jewels from other planets and supernova explosions. People go about their lives surrounded by the unseeable. Knowing that theres so much around us we cant see forever changes our understanding of the world, and by looking at unseen worlds, we recognize that we exist in the living universe, and this new perspective creates wonder and inspires us to become explorers in our own backyards.
Who knows what awaits to be seen and what new wonders will transform our lives.
Well just have to see.
Thank you.
参考译文
工艺、艺术、科学的交汇处在哪里?好奇与思索,因为它让我们有探索的动力,因为我们周遭充满着看不到的东西 。我乐于用电影的方式带给大家一段穿越时空的旅程,使那不能见的,成为能见的 。因为它会开阔我们的视野,改变我们的观点,拓宽我们的胸襟,触动我们的心弦 。以下这些片段来自我的3DIMAX电影《不见领域的奥秘》 。
自然界的一些活动慢到我们肉眼无法觉察到 。延时摄像技术让我们探索、拓宽我们对生命的领悟 。我们看到生命体如何成型、生长我们看到藤蔓生如何从森林地面钻出,追寻阳光的滋养 。从宏观的角度,延时摄像让我看到地球的运转 。我们不但能看到大自然的宏伟,也能感受到人类本身的生生不息 。每条划过的蓝点都代表一架客机,当我们把客机的数据转化成延时图像时,我们看到了那无法看见却一直在我们头顶的:美国上空广大的航线网络 。海上的船只也一样,我们可以把数据转化成延时图像,展现全球的经济脉动 。几十年的数据使我们的星球看上去宛如一个生命体,它体内有海流循环于大洋之间,云海涡卷于大气之中,闪电是它的脉搏,北极光是它的王冠 。这可说是延时摄像的终极作品:栩栩如生的地球解剖图 。
在另一个极端,某些活动快到肉眼无法捕捉,但是现今的科技可以让我们一窥那个世界 。高速摄像,可以达到和延时摄像相反的效果 。我们可以捕捉到比肉眼快几千倍的影像 。我们可以观察到自然界的高超技艺,甚至可以运用在仿生领域 。当一只蜻蜓飞过,你可能意识不到蜻蜓是自然界中最棒的飞行者 。它可以盘旋、向后飞、甚至仰着飞 。通过在昆虫的翅膀上安置跟踪标记,我们可以把它们产生的气流成像 。没有人知道蜻蜓的秘密,但是在高速摄像的帮助下,我们发现:蜻蜓的四只翅膀可以同时向任意方向扇动 。我们了解到的这些,可以帮助我们开发新型的自动飞行器,把我们的视角扩展到那些重要而又偏远的地方 。我们身形巨大,
所以对周遭的微小事物无知无觉 。电子显微镜通过发射电子来成像,可将事物放大百万倍 。这是一只蝴蝶的卵 。我们身上也有许许多多看不到的生物比如螨虫,它们的一生都在你身上度过,藏在你的眼毛里,夜间蠕动在你皮肤上 。能猜得出这是什么吗?鲨鱼皮,毛毛虫的嘴,果蝇的眼,蛋壳,跳蚤,蜗牛的舌头 。我们以为自己很了解动物世界了,但是可能还有数以百万计的微小物种,等待着我们去发现 。
蜘蛛也有许多秘密,蜘蛛丝比同重量的钢铁还要牢固 。却富有弹性 。接下来,让我们进入--纳米世界 。蜘蛛丝比人类的头发还要细一百倍 。上面有细菌在细菌旁边,比它小十倍的是:病毒 。病毒里再小十倍的,有三条DNA链,以及将现今最强大的显微镜放至最高倍,才能看到的单个碳原子 。
运用显微镜的微小的触端我们可以移动原子开始设计绝妙的纳米装置 。有些装置将来也许可以在我们体内巡逻,抵御各种疾病,顺便也清理堵塞的动脉 。未来的微型化学机器,有一天或许可以修复DNA 。我们将要开启绝妙的新篇章这都源于我们希望揭开生命奥秘的渴望 。
宇宙尘埃如雨般落下空气中弥漫着花粉、来自其他星球的微钻石和宝石、以及超新星的爆发物 。我们匆忙的一天里,密布着这看不见的东西 。意识到我们周围还有这么多可观察的东西将永远改变我们对世界的认知 。探看着肉眼不能见的世界,我们体会到我们的宇宙如此活灵活现 。这个新的视野令我们惊奇,激励我们不断探索周遭的世界 。
谁也无法预测我们还会有什么样的发现,它们又将给我们的生活带来怎样的改变 。
让我们等着瞧吧!《不见领域的奥秘》谢谢 。谢谢
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在清华听演讲,听演讲||Hidden miracles of the natural world

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