水星上生存?研究表明，这是可能的

水星上生存?研究表明，这是可能的

Even though it currently has temperatures approaching 800 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and nearly -300 degrees at night, a new study suggests there is a small chance that the planet Mercury could have supported life.

尽管目前水星的气温白天接近800华氏度，晚上接近-300华氏度，但一项新的研究表明，水星有很小的可能是支持生命的。

The research, published in the journal Scientific Reports, notes the planet’s surface is not caused by the result of quakes, but rather “volatiles,” which can switch elemental states rather quickly.

发表在《科学报道》杂志上的这项研究指出，水星表面并非由地震造成，而是“挥发物”，它可以相当快地改变元素状态。

“For nearly half a century, it was considered that these terrains formed due to catastrophic quakes and ejecta fallout produced by the antipodal Caloris basin impact,” researchers wrote in the study’s abstract.

研究人员在研究摘要中写道：“近半个世纪以来，人们一直认为这些地形是由卡洛里盆地对跖冲击产生的灾难性地震和喷出沉降物形成的。”

“Currently documented evidence of surface modifications due to the removal of volatiles includes Mercury’s hollows, which are shallow, flat-floored, irregular, rimless depressions with bright interiors, and halos,” they added. “These features are relatively small, exhibiting an average depth of 24 ± 16 m13. Therefore, their origin is thought to represent minor mass losses produced by the local sublimation of near-surface geologic material that included large volumes of volatiles (i.e., volatile-rich compounds).”

他们补充说:“目前有文献证明，由于挥发物的清除，表面会发生变化，其中包括水星的空洞，这是一种浅的、平的、不规则的、无框的洼地，内部有明亮的光晕。”这些特征相对较小，平均深度为24±16 m13。因此，它们的来源被认为是近地表地质物质局部升华产生的少量质量损失，其中包括大量挥发物(即富挥发物)。

Speaking with The New York Times, one of the study’s co-authors, Jeffrey Kargel, said he thought his co-researcher, Alexis Rodriguez, was wrong. Upon further review, he realized the idea wasn’t so outlandish.

该研究的合著者之一杰弗里·卡尔格尔(Jeffrey Kargel)在接受《纽约时报》采访时说，他认为他的合著研究员亚历克西斯·罗德里格斯(Alexis Rodriguez)错了。经过进一步审查，他意识到这个想法并不是那么古怪。

“It is possible that as long as there was water, the temperatures would be appropriate for the survival and possibly the origin of life,” Kargel told the news outlet.

“只要有水，温度就有可能适合生存，也有可能是生命的起源。”卡尔格尔告诉新闻媒体。

“I thought Alexis had lost it at some point,” he added. “But the more I dug into the geologic evidence and the more I thought about the chemistry and physical conditions there, the more I realized that this idea — well it might be nuts, but it’s not completely nuts.”

“我以为亚历克西斯在某个时候失去了理智，”他补充说。“但是，我越深入地挖掘地质证据，越深入地思考那里的化学和物理条件，我就越意识到这个想法——好吧，这可能是胡说八道，但也不全是胡说八道。”

Rodriguez, who is a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, spends the majority of his time studying “areas of interest are related to the study of the Martian subsurface hydrology.”

罗德里格斯是行星科学研究所的一名高级科学家，他把大部分时间花在研究“与火星地下水文相关的兴趣领域”。