TED演講者：David Andrew Quist / 大衛(wèi)·安德魯·奎斯特

演講標(biāo)題：Could fungi actually be the key to humanity's survival? / 真菌真的可以是人類存亡的關(guān)鍵嗎？

內(nèi)容概要：After a billion years of evolution, fungi are masters of invention and resilience. What wisdom can we draw from their long, remarkable existence? Mycologist David Andrew Quist explores how fungi's innate biointelligence, penchant for collaboration and incredible regeneration abilities can show us new ways to think about complex problems -- and may hold the secret to humanity's survival on Earth.

在進(jìn)化了十億年以后，真菌成為了發(fā)明和適應(yīng)的大師。我們可以從它那歷史悠久、不同尋常的存在中學(xué)到一些什么智慧呢？真菌學(xué)家大衛(wèi)·安德魯·奎斯特（David Andrew Quist）探索了真菌自帶的生物智慧、對合作的青睞及驚人的再生能力如何為我們展現(xiàn)了解決復(fù)雜問題的新方式，也許蘊(yùn)藏著決定人類在地球上存亡的秘密。

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【1】OK, people, let's just get this out of the way.

好,我們就來談?wù)勥@個。

【2】Now, I know this isn't a very comfortable subject for many of you, but I've got to say it.

我知道這個話題對于 很多人有些尷尬, 但我必須得涉及。

【3】We have to talk about your fungus problem.

我們得聊一聊你的真菌問題。

【4】Now, it's OK, don't be embarrassed. You know who you are.

沒事兒,別害羞。 你知道自己什么樣。

【5】We can work this out. We'll get through it together.

我們可以解決這個問題。 我們將一起克服它。

【6】Now, call them fungi, "fun-gee," "fun-guy" -- you decide.

你讀作真菌、真“俊”、“爭”菌, 都可以,無所謂。

【7】But what I'd like to impress upon you is this is a new world we need to begin exploring.

但是我想讓你記住的是 這是一個尚待我們探索的新世界。

【8】And I think we can do it in interesting ways.

我們會有很多 有趣的探索方式。

【9】But all of us have had an issue with fungi at some point in our lives, right?

大家多多少少都經(jīng)歷過某種真菌問題,對吧？

【10】Maybe even now?

還是目前遇到了？

【11】We think of fungi, we think of fuzzy stuff that's growing on our yogurt that we forgot in the back of the fridge.

說到真菌, 我們便會想到毛茸茸的物質(zhì), 長在冰箱角落被遺忘的的酸奶上。

【12】Or maybe that itch you developed by wearing that favorite pair of pants, but just got a little bit too tight?

也有可能是你穿了最喜歡的, 尺碼過小的褲子, 然后出現(xiàn)的搔癢？

【13】Or, you know, maybe you think of death and decay and disease, when you think about fungi?

說到真菌,也許你會聯(lián)想到 死亡、腐爛、與疾病。

【14】But fungi, maybe some of them have a dark side.

盡管真菌確實會有不好的一面,

【15】I mean, who of us doesn't?

誰是十全十美的呢？

【16】But I'd like to invite you to see these misunderstood creatures in a new light, and maybe start to appreciate some of the positive and inspirational ways that they behave.

所以,我想請大家一起 以全新的視角看待這個 備受誤解的生物, 并或許開始理解 它們那些積極 又帶來啟發(fā)的行為。

【17】So if that mold is breaking bad on that yogurt you forgot in the back of the fridge, again, maybe it's not just rotting and spoiling, but maybe it's taking an act of transformation, of renewal and of new possibilities.

如果霉菌又在被你 遺忘在冰箱角落的酸奶上作祟, 也許這不只是腐爛、變質(zhì), 也許它正在經(jīng)歷變化、 迭代、創(chuàng)造新的可能。

【18】And it's that very act of transformation that's so central to life on our planet, it's been important for our own history.

這個變化的過程 對我們星球上的生命不可或缺, 它在人類歷史中至關(guān)重要。

【19】And maybe for the future, if we can learn from fungi, we might be able to transform ourselves and our societies in ways that are in greater harmony with nature.

也許在未來, 假設(shè)我們向真菌學(xué)習(xí), 我們也許能改變 我們自身和社會, 以便與大自然更好地共存。

【20】So what do I mean when I say fungi have been important to our past?

我說真菌在過去對我們 非常重要是什么意思？

【21】I'm not talking about that amazing mushroom trip you took back in university, though that was probably pretty awesome in its own right.

我不是指你大學(xué)時光 快樂的采蘑菇之行, 雖然它可能確實很不錯。

【22】What I'm talking about is the way that fungi have been central to the evolution of life on the planet, that virtually all life has a fungal backstory.

我指的是真菌為何 在地球生命演化中功不可沒。 可以說所有生命都 以真菌為根源。

【23】Now, think: fungi have been on the planet for a billion years ... or more.

想象一下:真菌已經(jīng)在地球上 存在了十億年,也許更久。

【24】And during that time the Earth was just a rocky, desolate place.

當(dāng)時的地球還只是 巖石構(gòu)成的荒蕪之地。

【25】There wasn't a lot of life on it.

上面并沒有多少生命。

【26】Now, algae would actually escape the waters and come onto land to evolve into land plants, but only by partnering with fungi first, as its root system.

這時,藻類脫離了水體, 遷移上陸地, 進(jìn)化成了陸生植物, 通過與真菌合作, 將其作為根系。

【27】Soils would begin to form as fungi ate rock and broke it down to make the nutrients available.

土壤開始形成, 隨著真菌腐蝕、分解巖石, 釋放出養(yǎng)分。

【28】So you had this opportunity for new life to spring up.

這樣新生命就有了萌發(fā)的機(jī)會。

【29】As a result, the evolution of plants would explode across the planet, which would oxygenate the atmosphere and allow the evolution of more complex life-forms, like us, humans.

于是,橫跨地球, 植物進(jìn)化紛紛涌現(xiàn), 從而為大氣層供氧, 讓更復(fù)雜的生命形態(tài)得以進(jìn)化, 比如我們?nèi)祟悺?/p>

【30】Right?

對吧？

【31】So being on the planet for a billion years, fungi have developed all sorts of life strategies to be adaptive and diverse and resilient.

真菌在地球上呆了十億年, 進(jìn)化出了各種生存策略, 變得適應(yīng)性強(qiáng)、 品種多樣、頑強(qiáng)堅韌。

【32】Think about it -- they survived a billion years, through great swings in climate, over hundreds of millions of years, lived through all the five great mass extinction events,

想想看 它們已經(jīng)活了十億年, 經(jīng)受氣候在這幾億年里的風(fēng)云巨變, 挺過了五次大滅絕事件,

【33】where the dinosaurs went extinct and the poor little trilobites and countless other forms of life that we don't even know existed.

連恐龍、不起眼的小三葉蟲和其他無數(shù) 我們未曾聽聞的生物都已滅絕。

【34】But fungi persisted and thrived, and do to this day.

但是真菌挺過來了,繁榮至今。

【35】And I think that's what drove them to me.

我認(rèn)為這就是它們的吸引力。

【36】It's so endearing, right?

太可愛了,對吧？

【37】I mean, who doesn't love a good survival story?

誰不喜歡一個好的生存故事呢？

【38】I know I do.

反正我是喜歡的。

【39】But fungi weren't my first love. That was music, actually.

但是真菌不是我的初戀, 我的初戀是音樂。

【40】And actually, when I was a young, young boy, I was really into grunge music, and I played in a grunge band.

我很小很小的時候, 我很喜歡垃圾搖滾, 還加入了垃圾搖滾樂隊。

【41】And we were awful.

我們很菜。

【42】But I didn't know that at the time, and anyhow, I had to follow my passion.

當(dāng)時我并不知道這點(diǎn), 于是就堅持著我的興趣所在。

【43】So I put everything in my pickup truck and I moved from my childhood home of Kansas City to Seattle, the mecca of grunge music in the '90s.

我把所有東西放在我的皮卡上, 從我兒時的家,堪薩斯城 搬去了西雅圖, 那里是 90 年代垃圾搖滾的圣地。

【44】And I was going to start a new band.

我想組個新樂隊。

【45】And unfortunately, none of the talent of Nirvana or Soundgarden rubbed off on me.

不幸的是,涅盤樂隊和 聲音花園樂隊的才能 并未吸引到我。

【46】It would have been a quite different life had it did.

換種情況,我的生活會截然不同。

【47】But the splendor of the Pacific Northwest forests really did.

但是太平洋西北沿海森林的 瑰麗使我流連忘返。

【48】And it was the trees and all the life aboveground that drew me there, but it was the fungi and the microbes belowground that kept me coming back.

是地上的樹木和生機(jī) 吸引我去了那里, 但是地表下的真菌和微生物 使我不舍離去。

【49】I just got even more and more interested about the way that they lived, all these bizarre forms, the fact that fungi are literally everywhere.

我對它們的生存方式、 各種各樣的形態(tài)、 和普遍程度越來越感興趣。

【50】Right now, they're on your skin, in your gut.

此時此刻,它們在你的皮膚上, 在你的腸胃里。

【51】With every breath you take, you inhale dozens of fungal spores.

你每呼吸一次, 就吸入了許多真菌孢子。

【52】Every move you make, you trample mushrooms and molds beneath your feet, in the soil.

你每動一下, 你腳底踩碎著土壤中的蘑菇和霉菌。

【53】And their ubiquity ...

它們無處不在……

【54】is a big reason why we know so little about fungi.

這就是我們對真菌 知之甚少的一大原因。

【55】Despite all the tools we have at our disposal, scientific tools, we know perhaps five percent of all the fungi, some three million species that are thought to exist in the world today.

雖然我們可以使用各種工具、 各種科學(xué)手段, 但我們現(xiàn)在 只了解所有真菌的 5%, 我們認(rèn)為當(dāng)今世界總共 存在大約 300 萬種真菌。

【56】Now that's a massive amount of biodiversity that we know virtually nothing about, how it lives and what it does.

我們對這大量的生物多樣性 幾乎一無所知, 我們不知道它們?nèi)绾芜\(yùn)轉(zhuǎn), 有什么作用。

【57】And that's what really inspired me to continue to study about fungi and ask deeper questions.

這也激勵著我繼續(xù)研究真菌, 提出更深層次的問題。

【58】Could some of this biodiversity help in creating a more resilient future?

這種生物多樣性是否有助于 創(chuàng)造一個更具韌性的未來？

【59】What could we actually learn from fungi?

我們究竟能從真菌身上 學(xué)到一些什么？

【60】Were there metaphors that we might apply to how we live, to create a more resilient future together?

有沒有我們可以借鑒應(yīng)用于 我們生活方式的地方, 讓我們一起創(chuàng)造一個 更加穩(wěn)定的未來？

【61】I'd like to share with you some of those metaphors.

我想與大家分享幾個可借鑒之處。

【62】The first is that fungi are biointelligent.

第一點(diǎn):真菌具有“生物智慧”。

【63】Being on the planet for so long, fungi have created a really great ability to be good at resource efficiency and resilience, and, as it turns out, spatial planning.

真菌在地球上棲息億年, 已經(jīng)具備高效率、 靈活運(yùn)用資源的能力, 以及空間規(guī)劃能力。

【64】So researchers in Japan did this super cool experiment where they wanted to see if fungi could help engineers to create more efficient transport networks.

日本的研究者 做了一個很酷炫的實驗, 他們想驗證真菌能否幫助工程師 創(chuàng)建更高效的交通網(wǎng)絡(luò)。

【65】So they laid out oatmeal on a petri dish, corresponding to the cities of the Tokyo metropolitan area.

于是,他們在培養(yǎng)皿中鋪上燕麥, 排列方式依據(jù) 東京都地區(qū)城市的分布。

【66】And they introduced a slime mold, a type of fungus whose favoritest food ever is oatmeal, and the fungus rapidly went through a process of self-optimization

然后他們加入了一些黏菌, 這種真菌最愛的食物就是燕麥, 黏菌迅速進(jìn)行了自我優(yōu)化,

【67】to find the most efficient links between its favoritest-ever food source, represented by a map of the Tokyo metropolitan area.

找出了其最愛食物之間 最高效的路線, 形似東京市的地圖。

【68】And in a matter of hours, it would recreate, largely, the existing railway map of the Tokyo metropolitan area - a process it took engineers decades to actually produce.

也就在幾個小時后, 它就幾乎重現(xiàn)了 東京都地區(qū) 現(xiàn)有的鐵路線路圖 而工程師們花了幾十年 完成這個過程。

【69】Now the fungus, it has no brain, it has no plan, it was given no instructions or guidance.

真菌沒有大腦, 沒有計劃, 沒人給它指示或引導(dǎo)。

【70】But still, it created a highly optimized network.

但它依舊創(chuàng)建出了 一個高度優(yōu)化的網(wǎng)絡(luò)。

【71】And this convinced me and other scientists that maybe fungi could have practical applications to help solve some of our human challenges in ways that are quick and efficient and perhaps even more imaginative than we could do with all of our brains put together.

這使得我和其他科學(xué)家相信 也許真菌可以有一些實際應(yīng)用, 有助于快速、高效地解決 人類面臨的一些問題, 并且比我們所有人的腦子 加起來更有創(chuàng)意。

【72】Now, another way that fungi can produce a metaphor is being collaborative.

我們可以借鑒真菌的另一處 就是互相合作。

【73】Now, there is most evidence in their relationship with plants.

最顯著的例子就是 真菌與植物的關(guān)系。

【74】Now remember how algae evolved into plants through the help of fungi as their root system?

記得我剛說的藻類是如何 借助真菌成為根系, 進(jìn)化成植物的嗎？

【75】Well, that love affair never ended.

這段愛戀還沒結(jié)束。

【76】Still today, 90 percent of all land plants need to have a mycorrhizal association.

時至今日,90% 的陸生植物 依舊需要菌根共生,

【77】This is the plant-fungus-root association.

即植物和真菌的根系締合。

【78】So depicted here, in this highly realistic view of the underground of a forest ecosystem ...

如圖所示, 這是非常逼真的 森林生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的地下景象,

【79】you can see the fungus, which exists in most of its life as thin filaments, and the network of thin filaments, we call it mycelium.

你可以看到真菌, 大多數(shù)時候都以細(xì)絲狀存在, 我們稱細(xì)絲的整體 為菌絲體（mycelium）。

【80】And the mycelium of the fungus can tap into the root of plants and make a symbiosis.

真菌菌絲體進(jìn)入植物根系, 建立共生關(guān)系。

【81】And thereby, they exchange nutrients that the other one isn't so good at making or capturing.

它們由此交換 另一方不善于生產(chǎn)或捕獲的養(yǎng)分。

【82】So in case of the fungi, they're providing minerals to the plants, and the plants, through photosynthesis, are providing carbon.

以真菌為例, 它們?yōu)橹参锾峁┑V物質(zhì), 植物通過光合作用提供碳。

【83】And so this exchange can go on between the organisms.

這樣的交換可以在有機(jī)體間進(jìn)行。

【84】But it doesn't stop there, because the fungi can tap into other plants at the same time, and other plants can also have other fungal partners.

但是不止于此, 因為真菌可以 同時滲入其他植物, 其他植物也可以有別的真菌伙伴。

【85】So what you end up with is this massive underground network mediated by fungi.

所以最終得到的是 由真菌操盤的巨型地下網(wǎng)絡(luò)。

【86】Now, it's not just nutrients that are flowing, but also communication, because plants can talk to each other through the fungal network to create chemical signals to be able to warn of a pest attack, for example.

不僅是養(yǎng)分在流動, 它們還在交流, 因為植物可以 通過真菌網(wǎng)絡(luò)互相交流, 舉個例子, 發(fā)出化學(xué)信號預(yù)警蟲害。

【87】Now, fungi are also regenerative.

真菌還會再生。

【88】Now, their ability to decompose is important for the planet, to say the least, because fungi eat death and give it back to life, as nutrients, to start the cycle anew.

至少它們的分解能力 對地球很重要, 因為真菌會吃掉死掉的生物, 以養(yǎng)分的形式讓它重生, 開始新的循環(huán)。

【89】In nature, there's no such thing as waste.

大自然里沒有“廢料”這種東西。

【90】I mean, waste is a human concept.

廢料是人類的概念。

【91】Everything is used, everything is circular.

一切都有用處, 一切都會循環(huán)。

【92】Everything becomes something else.

一切都會變成別的東西。

【93】And if you don't appreciate fungi, you will, for one reason, and it's that decompositional ability.

如果你無法欣賞真菌, 你至少得 對它的分解能力心服口服。

【94】I mean, think about it.

想一想。

【95】We would be buried under kilometers of undecayed plant matter and dead animals and poo without the decompositional ability of fungi.

如果沒有真菌的分解能力, 我們還被埋在幾千米的地底, 被未分解的植物物質(zhì)、 動物死尸和糞便環(huán)繞。

【96】And that would be a pretty crappy existence, you've got to admit.

不得不承認(rèn)這種存在 也太不體面了。

【97】So as a metaphor, fungi can provide us with ways of being biointelligent, collaborative and resilient.

所以真菌值得我們借鑒的地方有 互相合作和靈活韌性。

【98】But I also believe that fungi have practical applications in how we produce materials.

我也相信, 真菌會對我們的材料生產(chǎn) 有實際的應(yīng)用。

【99】And this is actually my very cool day job, as researcher at a fermentation science company here in Oslo that's reimagining a new world of more sustainable materials of everyday products.

這也就是我很酷的日常工作, 我作為奧斯陸一家 發(fā)酵技術(shù)公司的研究人員, 在重構(gòu)一個將可持續(xù)材料 用于日常用品的新世界。

【100】So let me give you some examples.

我來舉幾個例子。

【101】One is biomaterials.

第一個例子是生物材料。

【102】So taking a fungus, we can literally grow new materials, using agricultural residues, to replace unsustainable products like Styrofoam or Rockwool that often end up in landfills or in pollution.

利用真菌, 我們真的可以“培育”出新材料, 使用農(nóng)業(yè)廢料 代替聚苯乙烯泡沫塑料或巖棉 這樣不可持續(xù)的材料, 避免它們最終被填埋或污染環(huán)境。

【103】So we can grow things like soundproofing panels or insulation for buildings.

我們可以培育隔音板 或者建筑保溫層。

【104】Or we can make mushroom Frisbees.

我們可以做出蘑菇飛盤。

【105】The possibilities are nearly endless.

存在無限可能。

【106】We can also make textiles from fungi.

我們還可以利用真菌制造紡織品。

【107】So, for example, animal-free leathers.

比如,無動物成分的皮革。

【108】So usually, you have a cow, and it takes about three years to make leather, and all the resources and animal death that is involved.

通常情況是你養(yǎng)了一頭牛, 養(yǎng)了三年可以產(chǎn)牛皮, 耗費(fèi)了許多資源 還殺了一頭動物。

【109】Not a great way to make leather.

這么產(chǎn)牛皮可不太好。

【110】If you can make it another way, like with fungi, it takes days to make it.

如果可以采取其他方式, 比如利用真菌, 只需要幾天就可以完成。

【111】A much better way that's both efficient and ethical, and how we can make leathers in the future.

更好的方式, 更高效,更符合倫理, 可以是我們未來制造皮革的方式。

【112】And then, there's food, a subject I'm particularly passionate about.

還有個例子就是食物 我非常感興趣的話題。

【113】Now, with fungi, we can make a whole range of sustainable and delicious foods.

有了真菌,我們可以制作 各種各樣可持續(xù)又美味的食物。

【114】Things like meat replacements for seafood or dairy, for example.

比如海鮮或奶制品的 肉類替代品。

【115】Or even a new class of food that doesn't look like any of that stuff.

也可以是與任何食物 都不一樣的新品種食物,

【116】The possibilities are unlimited.

無盡可能。

【117】And we can do it in a way that has a fraction of the environmental footprint.

我們還可以采取一種 減少環(huán)境足跡的方式。

【118】Now fungi are self-replicating organisms, so we can make it in really huge quantities, and help address the challenge of how we're going to make more food and lower our impact on the planet.

真菌是一種會自我復(fù)制的有機(jī)體, 所以我們可以大量生產(chǎn)真菌, 有助于我們解決 如何生產(chǎn)更多的食物, 同時減少我們對地球的影響 這一問題。

【119】It's a big challenge.

問題不簡單。

【120】We can do it with fungi.

我們可以用真菌來解決。

【121】And last but not least, fish feed.

最后一個重要的例子:魚飼料。

【122】I mean, here we are in Norway, right?

我們在挪威,對吧？

【123】The world's largest producer of salmon.

世界上最大的三文魚產(chǎn)地。

【124】And what do we feed that salmon, as proteins?

我們用什么蛋白質(zhì)喂三文魚呢？

【125】Two things, primarily -- soy and fish meal, neither of which are sustainable sources of protein for the future, because they contribute to overfishing in the oceans and land-use patterns that degrade, for some of the lands.

主要是兩樣?xùn)|西: 大豆和魚粉, 這兩樣都不算是 未來可持續(xù)的蛋白質(zhì)來源, 因為它們會引發(fā) 海洋的過度捕撈和 會破壞某些土地的用地模式。

【126】So we need to come up with more sustainable sources in how we feed our fish.

所以我們需要想出魚類喂養(yǎng) 更可持續(xù)的來源。

【127】And what if we could do it using fungi to create the proteins to feed those fish?

如果我們可以利用真菌 制作喂養(yǎng)三文魚的蛋白質(zhì)會怎樣？

【128】And we could do it in a way that we're using byproducts of food industries as food for our fungus when we grew it?

我們也許可以這么做, 在培養(yǎng)真菌的時候 使用食品工業(yè)的副產(chǎn)品 作為真菌的食物來源。

【129】It would be an amazingly sustainable system and, dare I say it, it would help in our self-sufficiency.

這是個相當(dāng)可持續(xù)的系統(tǒng), 我甚至可以說, 這有助于我們的自給自足。

【130】Now, one of the coolest things about being a fungal researcher is, with all that diversity out there, probably the coolest thing that fungi can do, we haven't even uncovered yet.

作為一名真菌研究者, 最酷的一點(diǎn)是 雖然真菌品種豐富多彩, 但也許真菌最酷的功能 還在靜待我們的發(fā)掘。

【131】The most amazing fungal discoveries are still waiting to be made.

最驚艷的真菌發(fā)現(xiàn)還在路上。

【132】We're only scratching the surface of what we might be able to achieve with the help of fungi.

我們對真菌能幫助我們實現(xiàn)的成果 還只有淺薄的認(rèn)識。

【133】So I have a hope, and my hope is that we transfer our fungal problems into fungal solutions, that we look to the fungal world for new mindsets and new metaphors and even new materials, as we think more collaboratively, regeneratively and with more biointelligence, as we approach the future, just like fungi.

所以,我有這么一個希望, 我希望我們可以將真菌產(chǎn)生問題 變?yōu)橛谜婢鉀Q問題, 我們可以通過真菌世界 尋找新思路、新聯(lián)系, 甚至是新材料, 我們需要更加注重合作、再生、 以及生物智慧, 以走向未來,如同真菌那般。

【134】Thank you very much.

謝謝。