演讲MP3+双语文稿:如何更早地发现疾病？——“监听”细菌们的秘密对话

听力课堂TED音频栏目主要包括TED演讲的音频MP3及中英双语文稿，供各位英语爱好者学习使用。本文主要内容为演讲MP3+双语文稿:如何更早地发现疾病？——“监听”细菌们的秘密对话，希望你会喜欢！

【演讲者及介绍】Fatima AlZahra'a Alatraktchi

纳米物理学家、企业家，发明了一种方法来监视细菌的社会行为和交流。

【演讲主题】如何更早地发现疾病？——细菌的秘密语言

【中英文字幕】

Translated by Xuying Wu. Reviewed by Jin Ge.

00:14

You don't know them. You don't see them. But they're always around, whispering, making secret plans, building armies with millions of soldiers. And when they decide to attack, they all attack at the same time. I'm talking about bacteria.

你不认识它们。你看不见它们。但它们一直都在周围，窃窃私语，秘密计划，以百万兵力建造军队。但它们决定进攻时，它们同一时间一哄而上。我在说的是细菌。

00:41

(Laughter)

（笑声）

00:43

Who did you think I was talking about?

你们以为我在说谁？

00:47

Bacteria live in communities just like humans. They have families, they talk, and they plan their activities. And just like humans, they trick, deceive, and some might even cheat on each other. What if I tell you that we can listen to bacterial conversations and translate their confidential information into human language? And what if I tell you that translating bacterial conversations can save lives? I hold a PhD in nanophysics, and I've used nanotechnology to develop a real-time translation tool that can spy on bacterial communities and give us recordings of what bacteria are up to.

细菌生活的社群就和人类一样。它们有家庭，它们交谈，还会做行动计划。也像人类一样，它们耍花招，有些甚至互相欺骗。如果我告诉你，我们可以听懂细菌的对话，并把它们的机密信息 翻译成人类语言呢? 如果我告诉你，翻译细菌语言可以挽救生命呢？ 我拥有纳米物理学博士学位，我使用纳米技术 开发了一个实时翻译工具，可以监视细菌群落，记录细菌在做什么。

01:28

Bacteria live everywhere. They're in the soil, on our furniture and inside our bodies. In fact, 90 percent of all the live cells in this theater are bacterial. Some bacteria are good for us; they help us digest food or produce antibiotics. And some bacteria are bad for us; they cause diseases and death. To coordinate all the functions bacteria have, they have to be able to organize, and they do that just like us humans -- by communicating. But instead of using words, they use signaling molecules to communicate with each other. When bacteria are few, the signaling molecules just flow away, like the screams of a man alone in the desert. But when there are many bacteria, the signaling molecules accumulate, and the bacteria start sensing that they're not alone. They listen to each other. In this way, they keep track of how many they are and when they're many enough to initiate a new action. And when the signaling molecules have reached a certain threshold, all the bacteria sense at once that they need to act with the same action.

细菌无处不在。它们在土壤中，在我们的家具上，在我们的身体里。事实上，这个剧院里 有90%的活细胞是细菌。有些细菌对我们是好的，它们帮助我们消化食物 或生产抗生素。有些细菌对我们有害，它们会造成疾病和死亡。要协调所有细菌的功能，它们必须能够组织起来，方法与人类别无二致—— 通过交谈。不同于使用语言，它们使用信号分子互相交流。当细菌不多时，信号分子就会流失，就像沙漠中一个人的尖叫。但当细菌很多时，信号分子聚集起来，细菌觉察到它们并不孤单。它们互相倾听。通过这种方式，它们跟踪集群的数量，当它们足够多时，就开始一个新的行动。当信号分子已经达到一定的阈值，所有的细菌会同时感知它们需要 同步行动。

02:38

So bacterial conversation consists of an initiative and a reaction, a production of a molecule and the response to it. In my research, I focused on spying on bacterial communities inside the human body. How does it work? We have a sample from a patient. It could be a blood or spit sample. We shoot electrons into the sample, the electrons will interact with any communication molecules present, and this interaction will give us information on the identity of the bacteria, the type of communication and how much the bacteria are talking.

细菌的交流包括 自发行动和被动反应，生产一个分子以及对分子的反应。在我的研究中，我专注于监听细菌菌落 在人体中的活动。它们如何工作的？ 我们会拿一个病人的样本。可能是血液或唾液样本。我们把电子射入样本，电子会和任何可沟通分子互动, 这种互动会给我们信息 来确认细菌种类，它们交谈的类型 以及有多少细菌在交谈。

03:17

But what is it like when bacteria communicate? Before I developed the translation tool, my first assumption was that bacteria would have a primitive language, like infants that haven't developed words and sentences yet. When they laugh, they're happy; when they cry, they're sad. Simple as that. But bacteria turned out to be nowhere as primitive as I thought they would be. A molecule is not just a molecule. It can mean different things depending on the context, just like the crying of babies can mean different things: sometimes the baby is hungry, sometimes it's wet, sometimes it's hurt or afraid. Parents know how to decode those cries. And to be a real translation tool, it had to be able to decode the signaling molecules and translate them depending on the context. And who knows? Maybe Google Translate will adopt this soon.

细菌在交谈时是什么样的呢？ 在我开发这个翻译工具之前，我最早猜测细菌会有一种原始的语言，就像没有发育出 表达单词和句子能力的婴儿。当它们笑，就是开心； 当它们哭，就是难过。就像这样简单。但事实证明，细菌可不像我想象的那样原始。一个分子不仅仅是一个分子。根据具体情境，它们可以有不同的含义，就像婴儿的哭泣 可以表示不同的事情： 有时是这个婴儿饿了，有时是尿湿了，有时是受伤了或害怕了。父母知道怎么解码它们的哭泣。要做一个真正的翻译工具，它必须能够解码信号分子 并根据上下文翻译。谁知道呢？ 也许谷歌翻译很快会采用。

04:11

(Laughter)

（笑声）

04:15

Let me give you an example. I've brought some bacterial data that can be a bit tricky to understand if you're not trained, but try to take a look.

我来举一个例子。我带来了一些细菌数据，它们可能有点难以理解，如果你没有经过训练的话，不过试着看一下。

04:24

(Laughter)

（笑声）

04:27

Here's a happy bacterial family that has infected a patient. Let's call them the Montague family. They share resources, they reproduce, and they grow. One day, they get a new neighbor, bacterial family Capulet.

这是一个感染了病人的快乐细菌家族。就叫它们蒙太古家吧。它们分享资源，再生产，繁衍。一天，它们来了一个新邻居，细菌凯普莱特家。

04:47

(Laughter)

（笑声）

04:48

Everything is fine, as long as they're working together. But then something unplanned happens. Romeo from Montague has a relationship with Juliet from Capulet.

只要它们能和谐相处，一切都没问题。但接着一些计划外的事发生了。蒙太古家的罗密欧 和凯普莱特家的朱丽叶在一起了。

05:01

(Laughter)

（笑声）

05:03

And yes, they share genetic material.

而且，它们分享了基因物质。

05:06

(Laughter)

（笑声）

05:11

Now, this gene transfer can be dangerous to the Montagues that have the ambition to be the only family in the patient they have infected, and sharing genes contributes to the Capulets developing resistance to antibiotics. So the Montagues start talking internally to get rid of this other family by releasing this molecule.

而这个转移基因 对蒙太古家是一个威胁，会打乱它们要独占 这个感染病人的计划，而分享的基因会帮助 凯普莱特家发展对抗生素的耐药性。所以蒙太古家族开始内部对话，想要通过释放这个分子 来摆脱另一个家族。

05:31

(Laughter)

（笑声）

05:33

And with subtitles:

而且有主题：

05:36

(Laughter)

（笑声）

05:38

Let's coordinate an attack. And then everybody at once responds by releasing a poison that will kill the other family.

让我们协调进攻。然后每个人立刻释放出 一种毒药，来杀死另一个家庭。

05:52

(Laughter)

（笑声）

05:56

The Capulets respond by calling for a counterattack.

凯普莱特人则要求反击。

06:01

And they have a battle.

然后它们发动了战争。

06:04

This is a video of real bacteria dueling with swordlike organelles, where they try to kill each other by literally stabbing and rupturing each other. Whoever's family wins this battle becomes the dominant bacteria.

这是一段真实的细菌 与剑状细胞器搏斗的视频，它们试图通过 互相刺穿和撕裂杀死对方。谁的家族赢得了这场战斗，就将成为占统治地位的细菌。

06:21

So what I can do is to detect bacterial conversations that lead to different collective behaviors like the fight you just saw. And what I did was to spy on bacterial communities inside the human body in patients at a hospital. I followed 62 patients in an experiment, where I tested the patient samples for one particular infection, without knowing the results of the traditional diagnostic test.

所以我能做的就是监听细菌的对话，这些对话会导致不同的集体行为，就像你刚才看到的打斗。我要做的就是监视 在医院病人体内的 细菌群落。在一项实验中，我跟踪了62名患者，在不知道传统诊断测试结果的情况下，我对患者样本进行了 一种特定感染的测试。

06:45

Now, in bacterial diagnostics, a sample is smeared out on a plate, and if the bacteria grow within five days, the patient is diagnosed as infected. When I finished the study and I compared the tool results to the traditional diagnostic test and the validation test, I was shocked. It was far more astonishing than I had ever anticipated.

当前，细菌诊断学的方法是，把样本涂在玻片上，如果细菌在五天内生长出来，病人就被诊断为感染。当我完成研究，并将工具结果 与传统的诊断测试和 验证测试进行比较时，我震惊了。这比我想象的更令人吃惊。

07:10

But before I tell you what the tool revealed, I would like to tell you about a specific patient I followed, a young girl. She had cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that made her lungs susceptible to bacterial infections. This girl wasn't a part of the clinical trial. I followed her because I knew from her medical record that she had never had an infection before. Once a month, this girl went to the hospital to cough up a sputum sample that she spit in a cup. This sample was transferred for bacterial analysis at the central laboratory so the doctors could act quickly if they discovered an infection. And it allowed me to test my device on her samples as well.

但在我告诉你这个工具揭示了什么之前，我想告诉你一个 我跟踪的病人的具体情况，一个年轻女孩。她得了囊性纤维化，这是一种遗传疾病，导致她的肺部疾病易受细菌感染。这个女孩没有参与临床试验。我跟踪她是因为，我从她的医疗记录中 得知她以前从未感染过。这个女孩每个月去医院一次，把她咳出的痰样本吐在杯子里。这个样本被转移到中央实验室 进行细菌分析，这样医生们就可以在 发现感染时迅速采取行动。这也让我有机会 用她的样本测试我的设备。

07:50

The first two months I measured on her samples, there was nothing. But the third month, I discovered some bacterial chatter in her sample. The bacteria were coordinating to damage her lung tissue. But the traditional diagnostics showed no bacteria at all. I measured again the next month, and I could see that the bacterial conversations became even more aggressive. Still, the traditional diagnostics showed nothing. My study ended, but a half a year later, I followed up on her status to see if the bacteria only I knew about had disappeared without medical intervention. They hadn't. But the girl was now diagnosed with a severe infection of deadly bacteria. It was the very same bacteria my tool discovered earlier. And despite aggressive antibiotic treatment, it was impossible to eradicate the infection. Doctors deemed that she would not survive her 20s.

头两个月，我在她的样本中 什么都没发现。但第三个月，我在她的样本中发现 一些细菌在说个不停。细菌正在协同破坏她的肺组织。但传统的诊断显示根本没有细菌。下一个月我再次测试，我可以看到细菌的对话 变得更加激烈。然而，传统的诊断 还没有显示出任何结果。我的研究结束了，但半年后，我对她的病情进行了追踪，想看看在没有医疗干预的情况下，这种只有我知道的细菌 是否已经消失了。它们并没有。但那女孩现在被诊断出 严重感染致命细菌。而这正是我的工具 早些时候发现的细菌。尽管进行了积极的抗生素治疗，仍然不可能根除感染。医生认为她活不过30岁。

08:53

When I measured on this girl's samples, my tool was still in the initial stage. I didn't even know if my method worked at all, therefore I had an agreement with the doctors not to tell them what my tool revealed in order not to compromise their treatment. So when I saw these results that weren't even validated, I didn't dare to tell because treating a patient without an actual infection also has negative consequences for the patient. But now we know better, and there are many young boys and girls that still can be saved because, unfortunately, this scenario happens very often. Patients get infected, the bacteria somehow don't show on the traditional diagnostic test, and suddenly, the infection breaks out in the patient with severe symptoms. And at that point, it's already too late.

当我测量这个女孩的样本时，我的工具还处于初级阶段。我甚至不知道我的方法是否有效，因此我与医生达成协议，不告诉他们我的工具揭示了什么，以免影响他们的治疗。所以当我看到这些结果 甚至没有得到证实时，我不敢说出来，因为治疗一个没有感染的病人 也会对病人产生负面影响。但现在我们知道得更多了，还有很多年轻的男孩女孩们可以被救，因为，不幸的是，这种情况经常发生。病人被感染了，在传统的诊断测试中没有发现细菌，突然间，感染在有严重症状的 病人身上爆发了。但到了这个时候，已经太迟了。

09:39

The surprising result of the 62 patients I followed was that my device caught bacterial conversations in more than half of the patient samples that were diagnosed as negative by traditional methods. In other words, more than half of these patients went home thinking they were free from infection, although they actually carried dangerous bacteria. Inside these wrongly diagnosed patients, bacteria were coordinating a synchronized attack. They were whispering to each other. What I call "whispering bacteria" are bacteria that traditional methods cannot diagnose. So far, it's only the translation tool that can catch those whispers. I believe that the time frame in which bacteria are still whispering is a window of opportunity for targeted treatment. If the girl had been treated during this window of opportunity, it might have been possible to kill the bacteria in their initial stage, before the infection got out of hand.

在我随访的62名患者中，令人惊讶的结果是，我的设备在半数以上患者样本中 捕捉到了细菌对话，而这些患者在传统方法中 都被诊断为阴性。换句话说，这些病人中 有一半以上回家时 认为自己没有感染，尽管他们实际上携带着危险的细菌。在这些被误诊的病人体内，细菌正在协调一种同步的攻击。它们互相私语。我所说的“窃窃私语细菌” 是传统方法无法诊断的细菌。到目前为止，只有翻译工具 才能捕捉到这些窃窃私语。我相信，细菌仍在窃窃私语的时间范围 是靶向治疗的机会之窗。如果那个女孩在这段时间内接受治疗，则有可能在感染扩散之前 在细菌的初始阶段 消灭它们。

10:39

What I experienced with this young girl made me decide to do everything I can to push this technology into the hospital. Together with doctors, I'm already working on implementing this tool in clinics to diagnose early infections.

我和这个小女孩的经历 让我决定要尽我所能 把这项技术推广到医院。和医生们一起，我已经开始在诊所里使用这个工具 来诊断早期感染。

10:54

Although it's still not known how doctors should treat patients during the whispering phase, this tool can help doctors keep a closer eye on patients in risk. It could help them confirm if a treatment had worked or not, and it could help answer simple questions: Is the patient infected? And what are the bacteria up to?

虽然还不清楚医生在窃窃私语阶段 应该如何治疗病人，但这个工具可以帮助医生 密切关注处于危险中的病人。它可以帮助他们确认治疗是否有效，还可以帮助回答一些简单的问题： 患者是否被感染了？ 这些细菌在做什么？

11:13

Bacteria talk, they make secret plans, and they send confidential information to each other. But not only can we catch them whispering, we can all learn their secret language and become ourselves bacterial whisperers. And, as bacteria would say, "3-oxo-C12-aniline."

细菌在说话，进行秘密计划，互相发送机密信息。但我们不仅可以捕捉它们的窃窃私语，还可以学会它们的秘密语言，让我们自己成为细菌语者。正如细菌所说，"3-oxo-C12-aniline."

11:36

(Laughter)

（笑声）

11:37

(Applause)

（掌声）

11:38

Thank you.

谢谢。