【TED演讲稿】真菌真的可以是人类存亡的关键吗？

TED演讲者：David Andrew Quist / 大卫·安德鲁·奎斯特

演讲标题：Could fungi actually be the key to humanity's survival? / 真菌真的可以是人类存亡的关键吗？

内容概要：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.

在进化了十亿年以后，真菌成为了发明和适应的大师。我们可以从它那历史悠久、不同寻常的存在中学到一些什么智慧呢？真菌学家大卫·安德鲁·奎斯特（David Andrew Quist）探索了真菌自带的生物智慧、对合作的青睐及惊人的再生能力如何为我们展现了解决复杂问题的新方式，也许蕴藏着决定人类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,我们就来谈谈这个。

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

我知道这个话题对于 很多人有些尴尬, 但我必须得涉及。

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

我们得聊一聊你的真菌问题。

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

没事儿,别害羞。 你知道自己什么样。

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

我们可以解决这个问题。 我们将一起克服它。

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

你读作真菌、真“俊”、“争”菌, 都可以,无所谓。

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

但是我想让你记住的是 这是一个尚待我们探索的新世界。

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

我们会有很多 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?

大家多多少少都经历过某种真菌问题,对吧？

【10】Maybe even now?

还是目前遇到了？

【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.

说到真菌, 我们便会想到毛茸茸的物质, 长在冰箱角落被遗忘的的酸奶上。

【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欢的, 尺码过小的裤子, 然后出现的搔痒？

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

说到真菌,也许你会联想到 死亡、腐烂、与疾病。

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

尽管真菌确实会有不好的一面,

【15】I mean, who of us doesn't?

谁是十全十美的呢？

【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,我想请大家一起 以全新的视角看待这个 备受误解的生物, 并或许开始理解 它们那些积极 又带来启发的行为。

【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 遗忘在冰箱角落的酸奶上作祟, 也许这不只是腐烂、变质, 也许它正在经历变化、 迭代、创造新的可能。

【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.

这个变化的过程 对我们星球上的生命不可或缺, 它在人类历史中至关重要。

【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.

也许在未来, 假设我们向真菌学习, 我们也许能改变 我们自身和社会, 以便与大自然更好地共存。

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

我说真菌在过去对我们 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.

我不是指你大学时光 快乐的采蘑菇之行, 虽然它可能确实很不错。

【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.

我指的是真菌为何 在地球生命演化中功不可没。 可以说所有生命都 以真菌为根源。

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

想象一下:真菌已经在地球上 存在了十亿年,也许更久。

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

当时的地球还只是 岩石构成的荒芜之地。

【25】There wasn't a lot of life on it.

上面并没有多少生命。

【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.

这时,藻类脱离了水体, 迁移上陆地, 进化成了陆生植物, 通过与真菌合作, 将其作为根系。

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

土壤开始形成, 随着真菌腐蚀、分解岩石, 释放出养分。

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

这样新生命就有了萌发的机会。

【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,横跨地球, 植物进化纷纷涌现, 从而为大气层供氧, 让更复杂的生命形态得以进化, 比如我们人类。

【30】Right?

对吧？

【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.

真菌在地球上呆了十亿年, 进化出了各种生存策略, 变得适应性强、 品种多样、顽强坚韧。

【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 它们已经活了十亿年, 经受气候在这几亿年里的风云巨变, 挺过了五次大灭绝事件,

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

连恐龙、不起眼的小三叶虫和其他无数 我们未曾听闻的生物都已灭绝。

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

但是真菌挺过来了,繁荣至今。

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

我认为这就是它们的吸引力。

【36】It's so endearing, right?

太可爱了,对吧？

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

谁不喜欢一个好的生存故事呢？

【38】I know I do.

反正我是喜欢的。

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

但是真菌不是我的初恋, 我的初恋是音乐。

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

我很小很小的时候, 我很喜欢垃圾摇滚, 还加入了垃圾摇滚乐队。

【41】And we were awful.

我们很菜。

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

当时我并不知道这点, 于是就坚持着我的兴趣所在。

【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.

我把所有东西放在我的皮卡上, 从我儿时的家,堪萨斯城 搬去了西雅图, 那里是 90 年代垃圾摇滚的圣地。

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

我想组个新乐队。

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

不幸的是,涅盘乐队和 声音花园乐队的才能 并未吸引到我。

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

换种情况,我的生活会截然不同。

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

但是太平洋西北沿海森林的 瑰丽使我流连忘返。

【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.

是地上的树木和生机 吸引我去了那里, 但是地表下的真菌和微生物 使我不舍离去。

【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.

我对它们的生存方式、 各种各样的形态、 和普遍程度越来越感兴趣。

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

此时此刻,它们在你的皮肤上, 在你的肠胃里。

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

你每呼吸一次, 就吸入了许多真菌孢子。

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

你每动一下, 你脚底踩碎着土壤中的蘑菇和霉菌。

【53】And their ubiquity ...

它们无处不在……

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

这就是我们对真菌 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.

虽然我们可以使用各种工具、 各种科学手段, 但我们现在 只了解所有真菌的 5%, 我们认为当今世界总共 存在大约 300 万种真菌。

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

我们对这大量的生物多样性 几乎一无所知, 我们不知道它们如何运转, 有什么作用。

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

这也激励着我继续研究真菌, 提出更深层次的问题。

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

这种生物多样性是否有助于 创造一个更具韧性的未来？

【59】What could we actually learn from fungi?

我们究竟能从真菌身上 学到一些什么？

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

有没有我们可以借鉴应用于 我们生活方式的地方, 让我们一起创造一个 更加稳定的未来？

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

我想与大家分享几个可借鉴之处。

【62】The first is that fungi are biointelligent.

第一点: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.

真菌在地球上栖息亿年, 已经具备高效率、 灵活运用资源的能力, 以及空间规划能力。

【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 做了一个很酷炫的实验, 他们想验证真菌能否帮助工程师 创建更高效的交通网络。

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

于是,他们在培养皿中铺上燕麦, 排列方式依据 东京都地区城市的分布。

【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

然后他们加入了一些黏菌, 这种真菌最爱的食物就是燕麦, 黏菌迅速进行了自我优化,

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

找出了其最爱食物之间 最高效的路线, 形似东京市的地图。

【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.

也就在几个小时后, 它就几乎重现了 东京都地区 现有的铁路线路图 而工程师们花了几十年 完成这个过程。

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

真菌没有大脑, 没有计划, 没人给它指示或引导。

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

但它依旧创建出了 一个高度优化的网络。

【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.

这使得我和其他科学家相信 也许真菌可以有一些实际应用, 有助于快速、高效地解决 人类面临的一些问题, 并且比我们所有人的脑子 加起来更有创意。

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

我们可以借鉴真菌的另一处 就是互相合作。

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

最显着的例子就是 真菌与植物的关系。

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

记得我刚说的藻类是如何 借助真菌成为根系, 进化成植物的吗？

【75】Well, that love affair never ended.

这段爱恋还没结束。

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

时至今日,90% 的陆生植物 依旧需要菌根共生,

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

即植物和真菌的根系缔合。

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

如图所示, 这是非常逼真的 森林生态系统的地下景象,

【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, 大多数时候都以细丝状存在, 我们称细丝的整体 为菌丝体（mycelium）。

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

真菌菌丝体进入植物根系, 建立共生关系。

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

它们由此交换 另一方不善于生产或捕获的养分。

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

以真菌为例, 它们为植物提供矿物质, 植物通过光合作用提供碳。

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

这样的交换可以在有机体间进行。

【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, 因为真菌可以 同时渗入其他植物, 其他植物也可以有别的真菌伙伴。

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

所以最终得到的是 由真菌操盘的巨型地下网络。

【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.

不仅是养分在流动, 它们还在交流, 因为植物可以 通过真菌网络互相交流, 举个例子, 发出化学信号预警虫害。

【87】Now, fungi are also regenerative.

真菌还会再生。

【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.

至少它们的分解能力 对地球很重要, 因为真菌会吃掉死掉的生物, 以养分的形式让它重生, 开始新的循环。

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

大自然里没有“废料”这种东西。

【90】I mean, waste is a human concept.

废料是人类的概念。

【91】Everything is used, everything is circular.

一切都有用处, 一切都会循环。

【92】Everything becomes something else.

一切都会变成别的东西。

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

如果你无法欣赏真菌, 你至少得 对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.

如果没有真菌的分解能力, 我们还被埋在几千米的地底, 被未分解的植物物质、 动物死尸和粪便环绕。

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

不得不承认这种存在 也太不体面了。

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

所以真菌值得我们借鉴的地方有 互相合作和灵活韧性。

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

我也相信, 真菌会对我们的材料生产 有实际的应用。

【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.

这也就是我很酷的日常工作, 我作为奥斯陆一家 发酵技术公司的研究人员, 在重构一个将可持续材料 用于日常用品的新世界。

【100】So let me give you some examples.

我来举几个例子。

【101】One is biomaterials.

第一个例子是生物材料。

【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, 我们真的可以“培育”出新材料, 使用农业废料 代替聚苯乙烯泡沫塑料或岩棉 这样不可持续的材料, 避免它们最终被填埋或污染环境。

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

我们可以培育隔音板 或者建筑保温层。

【104】Or we can make mushroom Frisbees.

我们可以做出蘑菇飞盘。

【105】The possibilities are nearly endless.

存在无限可能。

【106】We can also make textiles from fungi.

我们还可以利用真菌制造纺织品。

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

比如,无动物成分的皮革。

【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.

通常情况是你养了一头牛, 养了三年可以产牛皮, 耗费了许多资源 还杀了一头动物。

【109】Not a great way to make leather.

这么产牛皮可不太好。

【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, 只需要几天就可以完成。

【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,更符合伦理, 可以是我们未来制造皮革的方式。

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

还有个例子就是食物 我非常感兴趣的话题。

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

有了真菌,我们可以制作 各种各样可持续又美味的食物。

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

比如海鲜或奶制品的 肉类替代品。

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

也可以是与任何食物 都不一样的新品种食物,

【116】The possibilities are unlimited.

无尽可能。

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

我们还可以采取一种 减少环境足迹的方式。

【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.

真菌是一种会自我复制的有机体, 所以我们可以大量生产真菌, 有助于我们解决 如何生产更多的食物, 同时减少我们对地球的影响 这一问题。

【119】It's a big challenge.

问题不简单。

【120】We can do it with fungi.

我们可以用真菌来解决。

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

最后一个重要的例子:鱼饲料。

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

我们在挪威,对吧？

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

世界上最大的三文鱼产地。

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

我们用什么蛋白质喂三文鱼呢？

【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.

主要是两样东西: 大豆和鱼粉, 这两样都不算是 未来可持续的蛋白质来源, 因为它们会引发 海洋的过度捕捞和 会破坏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.

所以我们需要想出鱼类喂养 更可持续的来源。

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

如果我们可以利用真菌 制作喂养三文鱼的蛋白质会怎样？

【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?

我们也许可以这么做, 在培养真菌的时候 使用食品工业的副产品 作为真菌的食物来源。

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

这是个相当可持续的系统, 我甚至可以说, 这有助于我们的自给自足。

【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.

作为一名真菌研究者, 最酷的一点是 虽然真菌品种丰富多彩, 但也许真菌最酷的功能 还在静待我们的发掘。

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

最惊艳的真菌发现还在路上。

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

我们对真菌能帮助我们实现的成果 还只有浅薄的认识。

【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,我有这么一个希望, 我希望我们可以将真菌产生问题 变为用真菌解决问题, 我们可以通过真菌世界 寻找新思路、新联系, 甚至是新材料, 我们需要更加注重合作、再生、 以及生物智慧, 以走向未来,如同真菌那般。

【134】Thank you very much.

谢谢。