看看这个 Just look at that.
太棒了，不是吗?如果不是有点吓人的话 It's awesome, isn't it? If not a little terrifying.
一场巨大的冰海啸，沿着山谷倾泻而下 A massive tsunami of ice, cascading down the valley.
试着想象一下，这不只是发生在这里， Try to imagine that, though, not just happening here,
但是全世界都在发生 but happening all over the world.
嗯，7亿年前… Well, 700 million years ago...
…这确实发生了 ..that's exactly what did happen.
凶猛的力量… Ferocious forces...
…造成了气候危机 ..created a climate emergency.
从一极到另一极，穿越所有的陆地和海洋… And from pole to pole, across all of the lands and oceans...
…我们的世界… ..our world...
…冰冻 ..froze.
这个非凡时代的故事写在岩石上， The story of this extraordinary time is written in the rocks,
随着最新的证据帮助我们拼凑出发生的事情… and as the latest evidence helps us piece together what happened...
…我们知道这场灾难发生在最糟糕的时候 ..we know this disaster hit at the worst possible time.
就像最早的动物生命形式在进化一样，冰 Just as the earliest forms of animal life were evolving, the ice
威胁要永远摧毁他们，以及我们所熟悉的世界 threatened to destroy them, and the world as we know it, forever.
问题是，我们星球历史上的这一刻也是 The thing is, this moment in our planet's history is also
一个关于韧性的故事，因为这种气候 a story of resilience, because this climatic
环境灾难带来了奇迹 and environmental catastrophe lead to something miraculous.
你看，地球上的新生命不仅仅是在冰层中存活下来 You see, this new life on Earth didn't just survive the ice
其后果是，它蓬勃发展 and its aftermath, it thrived.
深度冰冻见证了地球的新纪元 The deep freeze saw a new age on Earth,
一个复杂生命的时代 an age of complex life,
规模之大，种类之多前所未有 of a greater size and diversity than ever seen before.
后来主宰海洋的生命 Life that would go on to dominate the oceans
还有那地，直到今日 and the land to this very day.
我们的故事始于地球古老的过去… Our story begins in Earth's ancient past...
…8.5亿年前… ..850 million years ago...
…那时我们的星球面目全非 ..when the face of our planet was unrecognisable.
几乎所有的大陆都聚集在一起， Almost all the land that existed was gathered into one,
巨大的大陆，叫做罗迪尼亚 giant continent, called Rodinia.
数千公里，从海岸到海岸， Thousands of kilometres, coast to coast,
这块岩石大陆支配着地球 this rocky landmass dominates the planet.
尽管它的规模很大，从参差不齐的山峰… For all its scale, from its jagged peaks...
…越过荒凉的平原… ..across its desolate plains...
…没有植物 ..there are no plants
没有动物 and no animals.
但这里有生命 But there is life here.
在浅海，沿海水域… In shallow, coastal waters...
…细菌聚集在一起 ..bacteria clump together
变成了覆盖在海底的活垫子 into living mats that cover the seafloor.
近30亿年以来，这一直是地球上生命的极限 For nearly three billion years, this has been the limit of life on Earth.
一个与我们生活的世界截然不同的星球 A planet that couldn't be more different from the world we live in.
即使是在冰岛，冬天严寒，对生命充满敌对 Even in Iceland, with its harsh winters, so hostile to life...
…一旦气温回升，许多动植物也会恢复生机 ..once the warmth returns, so do a host of plants and animals.
说实话很难想象直到最近， It's honestly hard to imagine that up until very recently,
这是一个黑暗，荒凉和寒冷的地方，因为现在看看它 this was a dark, desolate and frigid place, because now look at it.
它是明亮的，它是忙碌的，它是温暖的，它是忙碌的生命 It's bright, it's busy, it's warm, it's busy with life doing
在一年中的这个时候，它需要的是花和果实 what it needs to do at this time of year, which is flower and fruit.
看看这个可爱，精致的小铃铛 And look at this lovely, delicate little harebell here.
这些是蔓越莓的果实 And these are the fruits of the crowberry.
它们本来就是可以吃的 And they're meant to be edible.
最好留给鸟吃 Best left for the birds.
但除了味道，看看，这是一个完美的小包装 But aside from the taste, look at that, it's a perfect little package.
它是精致的 但更让我感兴趣，更不可思议的是， It's exquisite. But what interests me more, what's more incredible,
更重要的是，这如何与更宏大的计划相适应 more important, is how this fits into the grander scheme of things.
这里所有的生命都是在伙伴关系中进化的 All the life here has evolved in partnership
周围的一切 with everything around it.
每个个体都是错综复杂的生命之网中的一根 Each individual is just one strand in an intricate web of life.
为了生存，每个部分都与其他部分相连，并依赖于其他部分 Every part connected to, and reliant upon, all the others to survive.
现代世界中庞大而复杂的生命只能做到这一点 Large, complex life in the modern world can only really make it
如果它是一个更大的，相互关联的生态系统的一部分，比如 if it's part of a bigger, interconnected ecosystem, like
这个生态系统和它所支持的生命一样复杂 this one here, an ecosystem which is as complex as the life it supports.
但令人震惊的是，真正令人震惊的是， But the staggering thing is, the truly staggering thing is,
直到最近，这些都不存在 that until recently, none of this existed.
你看，40多亿年以来， You see, for over four billion years,
这几乎是我们整个星球的存在，很大， that's pretty much our entire planet's existence, large,
像这样复杂的生命是无处可寻的 intricate life like this was nowhere to be found.
世界上现存的所有动物都可以 All the animal life that now exists in the world can
它的起源可以追溯到海岸附近发生的事情 trace its origin back to what was happening off the shores
发生在8.5亿年前的罗丁尼亚 of Rodinia, 850 million years ago.
在沿海水域，在细菌中， In the coastal waters, amongst the bacteria,
一些新的东西出现了 something new has appeared.
巨细胞耸立在生活垫上 Giant cells tower over the living mats.
这些奇怪的微生物是动物生命的远古祖先 These strange microbes are the distant ancestors of animal life.
它们不是细菌，而是更大的真核生物， They're not bacteria, but eukaryotes - bigger,
更复杂的… more complicated...
…第一批有细胞核的细胞 ..the first cells with a nucleus.
这里的细菌垫从阳光中获取能量，但就像 The bacterial mats here get their energy from sunlight, but like
你和我，这些真核生物依赖周围环境的食物 you and me, they eukaryotes rely on food from their surroundings.
在这个基本的生态系统中，选择很少， And in this basic ecosystem, there were slim pickings,
水中漂浮着细菌， bacteria floating in the water,
还有从被侵蚀的土地上缓慢流出的矿物质 and the slow flow of minerals from the eroding land.
足以生存， Enough to survive,
但这远不是他们茁壮成长所需要的 but far from what they need to thrive.
这些新的生命形式似乎注定要过着贫乏的生活 These new life forms seem destined to live out a meagre existence
被困在场边… stuck on the sidelines...
…永远无法进化成今天充满活力的生态系统 ..never able to evolve into the vibrant ecosystems of today.
但这颗行星即将给整个系统带来巨大的冲击… But the planet was about to deliver a colossal shock to the system...
…多亏了今天仍在发挥作用的强大力量… ..thanks to powerful forces that are still at work today...
…可以在辛格韦德利（冰岛地名）这样的地方看到， ..and can be witnessed in places like Thingvellir,
位于冰岛西海岸 on the western coast of Iceland.
走过这里，我感受到一种原始的感觉， Walking through here, I get a real sense of raw, primal,
残酷的力量在起作用，这些力量确实在起作用 brutal forces at play, and those forces certainly are at play.
你看，每年， You see, every year,
这个裂口的壁分开了一厘米 the walls of this chasm move apart by one centimetre.
我知道这听起来不多，但是 Now, I know it doesn't sound like much, but that's
因为我们必须从地质时代开始思考这个问题， because we've got to start thinking about this in geological time,
这是几亿年，不是几百年 so that's hundreds of millions of years, not hundreds of years.
我脚下的岩石正分裂成两半 The rock beneath my feet is quite literally splitting in two,
沿着一条绵延数千公里的裂缝 along a fracture which runs for thousands of kilometres.
冰岛坐落在两个巨人的边界上 Iceland sits on a boundary between two giant
地壳的大块 chunks of the Earth's crust,
被称为构造板块 known as tectonic plates.
地球地幔内的热搅动 Heat churning within the mantle of our planet
将这些板块分开 is driving these plates apart.
随着它们的传播… As they spread...
…上面的土地绵延 ..the land above stretches
然后是眼泪… and then tears...
…在大地上形成巨大的裂缝 ..creating great rifts through the landscape.
这些力量一直在移动世界上最大的大陆， These forces have been moving the world's greatest landmasses,
创造和毁灭它们，持续了30多亿年 creating and destroying them, for more than three billion years, and
没有什么能抵抗它们，即使是像罗迪尼亚这样巨大的超大陆 nothing can resist them, not even a giant supercontinent like Rodinia.
在罗迪尼亚的深处… Deep beneath Rodinia...
…热旋流导致构造板块移动 ..swirling currents of heat cause tectonic plates to shift.
他们开始分开… They begin to move apart...
…巨大的裂缝在大地上裂开 ..and great chasms gape open across the landscape.
这片伟大的大陆正在分裂 This great continent is ripping itself apart.
地球是太阳系中唯一活跃的行星 Earth is the only planet in the solar system to have active
构造板块 tectonic plates.
它们不断地重塑着我们的世界和生活 And they're constantly reshaping our world and its life.
我们可以从很多方面来思考地球的历史 In many ways, we can think of the history of our Earth
至于生命和地质之间的相互作用， as about the interplay between life and geology,
有时，巨大的行星过程孕育了生命 and sometimes, the great planetary process have given life
有点优势 a bit of a leg up.
在另一些地方，他们又把它撞倒了 On others, they've knocked it right back down again.
其中一个时刻就要结束了， One of these moments was about to play out,
而接下来发生的事情最终违背了整个 and what happened next would ultimately defy the entire
我们今天所经历的生活世界 living world that we experience today.
随着裂谷持续了数百万年 As the rifting continues for millions of years...
…它创造了深深的山谷… ..it creates deep valleys...
…强大的河流… ..powerful rivers...
…还有数百公里的新海岸线 ..and hundreds of kilometres of new coastline...
…所有这些都大大增加了侵蚀， ..all greatly increasing erosion,
并导致大量矿物从陆地涌入海洋 and causing a flood of minerals to pour from the land into the oceans.
由于矿物质的增加，真核生物的数量激增 Thanks to this boost in minerals, the eukaryote population explodes.
它们建立了大量的殖民地， They build numerous colonies,
这是形成多细胞动物的关键一步 a crucial step towards forming multi-celled animals.
一些生物体现在有足够的能量 And some organisms now have enough energy
产生保护性的尖峰… to produce protective spikes...
…用从陆地上冲下来的矿物质建造的… ..built from all those minerals washed off the land...
…和重要的防御， ..and vital defences,
由于现在有捕食者利用了数量的激增… as there were now predators taking advantage of the boom in numbers...
…在这个充满活力的生态系统中 ..in this newly energised ecosystem.
我们亲眼目睹了这种戏剧性的变化， We've witnessed this dramatic change with our own eyes,
多亏了最近的发现 thank to recent discoveries made
来自大峡谷的七亿年前的岩石 in 700 million year-old rocks from the Grand Canyon.
科学家们发现了这些… Scientists have discovered these...
…海洋生物的微小化石，每一个都比一粒沙子还小 ..tiny micro-fossils of marine life, each smaller than a grain of sand.
令他们震惊的是外壳上的洞， What shocked them were the holes in the outer shell,
很可能是在被攻击和吃掉时形成的 most likely created when they were attacked and eaten.
食肉动物没有被保存下来， Now, the predators weren't preserved,
但最好的猜测是它们是… but the best guess is that they were something like...
…这… ..this...
…一种叫做吸血虫的单细胞变形虫 ..a single celled amoeba called Vampyrella.
这种掠食者会在猎物身上打洞 This predator punches holes in its victims
在吸出他们的内脏之前… before sucking out their inners...
…留下的洞几乎一模一样 ..leaving behind holes near identical
在微化石上发现的 to those found on the micro-fossils.
这是迄今为止发现的最早的捕食者和猎物的证据 This is the earliest evidence of predators and prey ever found.
这是日常生活的元素，对我们的现代世界至关重要 That element of everyday life, so key to our modern world.
巨大的构造作用为复杂的生命提供了 The vast tectonic processes at work provided complex life with
它需要的火花， the spark that it needed,
一场环境革命让它得以前进 an environmental revolution which allowed it to move towards
我们今天所看到的相互联系的生态系统 the interconnected ecosystems that we see around us today.
但就在生命向前飞跃的时候， But just as life was taking this great leap forwards,
灾难发生 disaster struck.
撕裂古超大陆的力量大约是 The forces tearing the ancient supercontinent apart were about
让整个世界陷入一个看似无尽的，荒凉的冬天 to plunge the entire world into a seemingly endless, desolate winter.
在罗迪尼亚，事态发生了灾难性的恶化 On Rodinia, events take a catastrophic turn for the worse.
过热的岩浆从地表喷出， Superheated magma bursts through the surface,
当裂谷作用在多处使地壳变薄时 as rifting thins the crust in multiple places.
熔岩淹没了两百万平方公里 Molten rock swamps two million square kilometres
大陆的… of the continent...
…是地球历史上最大规模的喷发之一 ..one of the largest outpourings in Earth's history.
熔岩冷却后形成了黑色的玄武岩 The lava cools and forms the dark rock basalt...
…在非洲大陆的中心地带留下了巨大的黑色污点 ..creating a vast black stain across the heart of the continent.
你看，大冰冻不是从冰开始的… You see, the great freeze begins not with ice...
…但是带着火 ..but with fire.
新鲜的玄武岩是非常不可思议的东西 Fresh basalt is quite incredible stuff.
这是大约10个月前的 This is about ten months old.
要走过去并不容易，你当然 Now, it's not terribly easy to walk over, and you certainly
我可小心跌倒 wouldn't want to stumble.
它非常锯齿状，会把你的靴子撕成碎片， It's extremely jagged, ripping your boots to pieces,
你可不想掉在上面，对吧? and you wouldn't want to fall on that, would you?
但这块岩石真正令人难以置信的是它有 But what's really incredible about this rock is that it has
改变地球大气层的能力 the capacity to change our planet's atmosphere.
当雨水形成时，它会从大气中吸收二氧化碳气体 As rain forms, it absorbs carbon dioxide gas from that atmosphere.
当雨水流过玄武岩时，会发生化学反应 When that rain flows over basalt, there's a chemical reaction
这就把二氧化碳从水中分离出来了 that draws carbon dioxide out of the water
把它粘在岩石表面，把它锁起来 and binds it to the surface of the rock, locking it away.
我们知道二氧化碳是一种非常强大的温室气体， We know that carbon dioxide is a very potent greenhouse gas,
有能力将大量的热量锁在大气中， has the capacity to lock lots of heat into our atmosphere,
我们向空气中排放的二氧化碳越多， and the more of it that we pump into the air,
我们就会看到全球气温上升得越多 the more we see our global temperatures rising.
但是，我不需要告诉你全球变暖 But then, I don't need to tell you about global warming.
有趣的是，反过来也是如此 What's interesting is that the reverse is also true.
如果我们把二氧化碳从大气中去除，温度就会下降 If we take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, temperatures fall.
数百万吨玄武岩的侵蚀 The erosion of millions upon millions of tons of basalt,
当罗迪尼亚分裂时喷出，吸收了温暖 spewed up when Rodinia broke apart, sucked that warming
大气层中二氧化碳的覆盖层 blanket of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
它摇动了地球的恒温器 And it flicked the Earth's thermostat
从舒适的静止状态到寒冷 from a comfortable stasis to chill.
二氧化碳含量下降… Falling levels of carbon dioxide...
…降低温度… ..pushed down temperatures...
…唤醒邪恶的力量 ..awakening a sinister force.
冰… Ice...
…这是地球上十亿年来从未见过的东西 ..something not seen here on the planet for a billion years.
目前，它仅限于两极 For now, it's limited to the poles.
但它正在蔓延 But it's spreading.
无论你是微型还是人形， Whether you're a microscopic or more human-sized,
生活中最喜欢的温暖… most life loves the warmth...
尤其是在冰岛这里，那里的冬天非常寒冷 ..especially here in Iceland, where the winters are so harsh.
这里的夏天真是太棒了—看，多么青翠，多么翠绿， Summers here are truly amazing - look how verdant, how green,
多么茂盛啊 how lush it is.
而且那里还有种类繁多的植物 And there's also a tremendous diversity of plants -
花，苔藓，矮树 flowers, mosses, dwarf trees.
当然，像今天这样的日子，蓝天，阳光，太可爱了 And, of course, on a day like today, blue sky, sunshine - it's lovely.
但冬天挥之不去的寒冷永远不会太远 But the lingering cold of winter is never too far away.
冒险进入那挥之不去的寒冷… Venture up into that lingering cold...
…我们可以看到温度下降时生命遭受了怎样的痛苦 ..and it's possible to see how life suffers as temperatures fall.
我只走了大约一英里，但我已经爬到了海拔高度， I've only travelled about a mile, but I've climbed in altitude,
景观上的差异非常明显 and the difference in the landscape is really rather stark.
看看它 Look at it.
它主要是贫瘠的岩石 It's principally barren rock
这里的植物也很稀少 and the plants here are scattered few and far between.
你看，在这里，只有温度 You see, up here, the temperature only
一年中有几周气温超过5摄氏度， gets above five degrees Centigrade for a few weeks of the year,
当温度降到这个温度以下时， and when the temperature drops below that,
植物不能产生结构组织 plants can't produce structural tissues.
你可以给它们所有需要的水和营养， You can give them all the water, all the nutrients they want,
但在较低的温度下，它们无法形成自己的身体 but at lower temperatures, they just can't build their own bodies.
在世界各地，只要气温降得足够低， Across the world, whenever temperatures drop low enough,
长久以来， for long enough,
植物和生命慢慢消逝 plants and life slowly fade away.
在我们的世界中，温度是复杂生命的自然限制因素， Temperature is the natural limiter for complex life in our world,
那些丰富的、相互关联的生态系统， and those rich, interconnected ecosystems,
能在下面茁壮成长的动物在这里都无法生存 which can thrive down there can't even survive up here.
天气变冷时，生命之网就会瓦解 When it gets cold, the web of life unravels.
在古代地球上，随着气温持续下降， On the ancient Earth, as temperatures continue to fall,
寒冷从各个方面影响着早期生命 the cold advances on early life from all sides.
海冰舰队从北极和南极出发 Armadas of sea ice march out from the North and South Poles...
…和陆地上一样，巨大的冰川从山上涌出 ..as on land, immense glaciers surge forth from the mountains.
生命赖以生存的地方正在迅速缩小 The places life can hold on are rapidly shrinking.
古代地球在气候灾难的边缘摇摇欲坠， The ancient Earth teeters on the edge of a climate catastrophe,
随着冰层越来越紧 as the ice tightens its grip.
今天，冰覆盖了地球上十分之一的土地 Today, ice covers a tenth of all the land on the planet.
巨大的被单覆盖着两极 Vast sheets blanket the poles...
…以及各大洲的高山 ..and the high mountains of all of the continents.
冰岛近10%的土地被一片冰层覆盖 Nearly 10% of Iceland is covered by a single sheet of ice.
这里的冰盖很大 The icecap here is vast.
它向那个方向延伸100公里 It stretches for 100 kilometres in that direction.
它有140公里宽，有些地方近一公里厚 It's 140 kilometres wide and nearly a kilometre thick in some places.
但在现代世界，冰是有限的 But in the modern world, ice is limited.
它在那里嘎然而止 It comes to a grinding stop down there.
这不仅仅是因为人类引起的气候变化 And that's not just because of human-induced climate change.
这个世界太温暖了 The world is simply too warm.
冰可以将整个世界窒息的想法 The idea that ice could smother the whole world
似乎难以理解 seems incomprehensible.
但就在7.1亿年前， But just over 710 million years ago,
地球是一个更加脆弱的地方 the Earth was a much more vulnerable place,
当冰开始移动时，几乎没有什么能阻止它 and when the ice started marching, there was very little to stop it.
我们现在知道它传播了多远 We now know just how far it reached.
看看这个冰盖的前缘 Look under the leading edge of this icecap
你可以看到它的原始力量在无数的证据 and you can see the evidence of its raw power in the countless
大块的岩石被冰撕裂和倾倒 chunks of rock ripped up and dumped by the ice.
冰川是如此具有破坏性，它们在岩石记录上留下了伤痕 Glaciers are so destructive, they leave scars in the rock record.
就像这些石头和巨石， Like these stones and boulders,
与周围岩层完全不同的岩石类型 a completely different type or rock to the layers around them.
流动的冰会把石头捡起来，再把它们扔下 Called drop stones, the flowing ice picked them up and dropped them
距离它们的发源地几百公里 hundreds of kilometres from where they originated.
科学家在被覆盖的岩石层中发现了这些物质 Scientists have found these in rock layers that were sat over
七亿年前的赤道 the equator 700 million years ago...
…暗示某一事件具有惊人的规模和影响 ..hinting at an event of an astonishing scale and reach.
冰世界赢了 The ice is winning.
赤道周围仍有一股暖流 A band of warmth still holds out around the equator...
…生命最后的避难所 ..the last refuge for life.
但随着白茫茫一片的展开， But as the white expanse spreads,
越来越多的热量被反射回太空 more and more heat is reflected back into space...
…冻结变成了失控的过程 ..and the freeze becomes a runaway process.
冰几乎覆盖了所有剩下的海洋 Ice surges over almost all of the remaining oceans.
即使在赤道，希望也在慢慢消失 Even at the equator, hope slowly fades.
最后，这最后一段屈服了… And finally, this last stretch succumbs...
…让地球变成一个冰冻的白色大理石… ..leaving the planet a frozen, white marble...
…漂浮在黑暗的太空中 ..floating in the darkness of space.
冰雪占领了整个世界… Ice had claimed the world...
…在一个被称为雪球地球的事件中 ..in an event known as Snowball Earth.
这几乎是无法想象的， It's almost impossible to imagine,
但几乎整个地球都是这样的 but pretty much all of the planet was just like this.
整个世界都陷入了深深的冰河时代，被床单包裹着 The whole world was plunged into a deep Ice Age, wrapped in sheets
有时几公里厚的冰，窒息着我们的土地和海洋 of ice sometimes kilometres thick, choking our land and our oceans.
那是一个看不到尽头的全球寒冬 It was a global winter with no end in sight.
建模表明确实如此 Modelling suggests that it was
在两极零下70摄氏度… minus 70 degrees Centigrade at the poles...
…地球上任何地方的气温都不会超过冰点 ..that it never got above freezing anywhere on the planet.
这将是相当无菌的 It would have been pretty sterile.
它会使水循环受到压力或停止 It would have stressed or stalled the water cycle.
几乎没有或根本没有蒸发 There would have been little or no evaporation...
…因此没有雨， ..hence no rain,
没有雪, no snow,
很少有云 very few clouds.
如果有云，其中一些应该是由二氧化碳组成的云 If there were clouds, some would have been clouds of carbon dioxide.
这是一个充满敌意的地方 This was an incredibly hostile place.
没有什么比美丽，充满活力， It couldn't have been more different than the beautiful, vibrant,
我们今天这个充满活力的星球 dynamic planet that we have today.
冰的胜利是生命的灾难 The triumph of the ice is a disaster for life.
海洋几乎完全与大气隔绝了 The ocean is almost entirely cut off from the atmosphere.
又黑又冷 It's dark, cold.
来自陆地的矿物流减慢为涓涓细流 And the flow of minerals from the land slows to a trickle.
食物网开始分崩离析 The food web begins to fall apart.
而动物的祖先… And the predecessors of animal life...
…动摇 ..falter.
大规模死亡正在发生 A mass dying is under way.
这不是生命可以轻易度过的短暂寒流 This was no short cold snap life could easily ride out.
好吧，冰会有一点起伏， OK, the ice would have waxed and waned a little,
随着季节的变化，寒冷依旧， with the changing of the seasons, but the cold persisted,
生生不息，千百万年， unending, for millions upon millions of years,
没有释放的希望 with no hope of release.
我知道它看起来像一片巨大泥泞的田地， I know it looks like a massive, muddy field,
但我实际上是在冰川上行走，尽管这是一个肮脏的冰川 but I'm actually walking on top of a glacier, albeit a dirty one.
在这里，面对刺骨的寒冷， And out here, in the biting face of the cold, it's easy to
很容易想象，无尽的冬天将地球上复杂的生命置于死地 imagine that the endless winter put pay to complex life on Earth.
当然，它没有 生命活了下来 But of course, it didn't. Live survived.
你和我就是活生生的证据 You and I are living, breathing proof of that.
但当涉及到寻找可能告诉我们的线索时 But when it comes to looking for the clues that might tell us
这些野生的， how it pulled off its great survival trick, these wild,
冰冻的地方是最好的地方 frozen places are a top place to look.
你看，即使在冰川裸露的顶部，这也是可能的 You see, even on the exposed top of the glacier, it's possible
去寻找冰甲上的裂缝 to find chinks in the ice's armour,
大到足以供生命开采 just big enough for life to exploit.
我们到了 这就是我们要找的 Here we are. This is what we're looking for.
我们认为， This, we think,
与当时可能形成的非常相似 is very similar to what might have formed way back then.
一些灰尘被吹到冰川上，被太阳加热， Some dust blew out onto the glacier, was warmed up by the sun,
它融化了冰面，形成了这个水坑 it melted the surface of the ice and formed this puddle.
它们被称为冰晶陨石，它是尘埃的简单组合 They're called cryoconites, and it's this simple combination of dust
水被证明是生命的救星 and water which proved to be life's saviour.
现在，我知道它看起来不多，但实际上， Now, I know it doesn't look like much, but this is, in fact,
一个美丽的小绿洲在这个巨大的冰川之上 a beautiful little oasis out here on top of this vast glacier.
是的，在这一小池水里，有丰富的 Yes, in this one small pool of water, there's abundant
灰尘中的矿物质，以及充足的空气和阳光照射 minerals from the dust, and plenty of exposure to the air and sunlight.
听起来很惊人， As astonishing as it sounds,
这意味着有可能找到生命 that means it's possible to find life
在这样泥泞的水坑里 in muddy puddles like this.
最简单的是单细胞藻类和细菌， The simplest would be single celled algae and bacteria,
但是还有其他的 but there are others.
这些图像来自于一个真正的冰凝石 These are images that have come from an actual cryoconite.
这里有轮虫， You've got things like this rotifer here,
这是我们最喜欢的水熊，缓步动物 and here, our favourite little water bear, the tardigrade.
它们会以那些较小的生物为食 And they would be feeding on those smaller organisms.
所有这些加在一起，就是一锅不同动物的汤 And, all together, a soup here of different animals
植物在一个简单的食物网中 and plants in a simple food web.
现在，我得告诉你，我在一些非常神奇的 Now, I've got to tell you, I've seen life in some pretty amazing
在我的时间里，没有一个地方，但是这个想法可以有一个功能 places in my time, but the idea that there could be a functional
生态系统生活在欧洲最大冰川顶部的水坑里? ecosystem living in a puddle, on top of Europe's largest glacier?
嗯，这很不寻常 Well, that is quite extraordinary.
据认为，在雪球地球期间，可能会有 It's thought that during Snowball Earth, there would have been
裸露的岩石和土地足以产生灰尘 enough patches of exposed rock and land to generate dust.
虽然没有这么多，但足以形成许多类似的水坑 Not as much dirt as this, but enough to create many similar puddles.
更重要的是，科学家们已经暴露了这些微小的绿洲 And, what's more, scientists have exposed these tiny oases
与雪球地球上的条件相比 in the laboratory to conditions found on Snowball Earth...
…里面的生命存活了下来 ..and the life inside survived.
不少于5000万年，5000万年，就是这样 For no less than 50 million years, 50 million years, that's
在很长一段时间里，生命在这些地方延续了下来 a long time, life clung on in such places throughout the deep freeze.
让我们明确一点，这是一个很难生存的地方， Let's be clear, this was a tough place to exist,
但如果生命想要做的不仅仅是生存，如果它想要 but if life wanted to do more than survive, if it wanted to
那么地球将不得不逃离它的冰监狱 flourish, then the Earth would have to escape its icy prison.
没有轻松的出路 There was no easy route out.
冰几乎阻止了地球上的任何变化 The ice prevented almost any change on the planet...
…只有一个例外 ..with one exception.
即使是漫长的冬天也不能阻止地球上火山的形成 Even an endless winter can't stop the planet creating volcanoes.
每一次喷发都会击穿地球冰冻的外壳 Each eruption punching through the planet's frozen shell.
自从我们的星球形成以来， Ever since our planet first formed,
地幔中的热量为火山提供了燃料 the heat in its mantle has fuelled volcanoes.
今天，在世界各地有超过1000个活跃的组织 Today, there are over 1,000 active across the world.
在雪球地球时期至少也有这么多 And there would have been at least as many during Snowball Earth.
但即使是炽热的熔岩也是如此 But even the ferocious heat of all that molten rock was too
短暂地打破了全球冰河时代的控制 fleeting to break the grip of the global Ice Age.
有一线逃脱机会的是别的东西 What did offer a slim chance of escape was something else.
每次喷发都伴随着一些看不见的东西 Something invisible that came with each eruption.
每次火山喷发撕裂冰层时， As each eruption tore through the ice,
它释放了大量的火山气体， it released a great slug of volcanic gases,
包括从大气中剥离的二氧化碳 including the carbon dioxide stripped from the atmosphere
那么多年以前 all those years ago.
陆地和海洋都被冰雪覆盖，没有什么可以阻止 With the land and ocean covered in ice, there's nothing to stop
这种强大的温室气体的缓慢积累 the slow build up of this powerful greenhouse gas.
它终于开始给这个冰冻的星球带来一些温暖 And it begins to finally bring some warmth to the frozen planet.
世界就站在刀刃上 The world stood on a knife edge.
如果积聚了足够多的二氧化碳，就会有 If enough carbon dioxide could build up, there was
打破冰封的机会 a chance of breaking the freeze.
最终决定地球命运的是一个过程吗 What would finally decide the planet's fate is a process
我们对今天太熟悉了 we're all too familiar with today.
这座冰川在过去的130年里一直在融化， This glacier has been melting for the last 130 years,
冰川融化的证据就在我们身边 and the evidence of that melt is all around us.
看看这个巨大的冰川泻湖，到处都是冰山 Look at this vast, glacial lagoon here, full of bergs
还有浮冰，融水流入大海 and brash ice, and there's meltwater draining out into the sea.
这就是全球变暖 This is global warming.
关键是这个 And the key thing is that this
这一进程在过去的30年里加速了 process has accelerated in the last 30 years.
你看，正如冻结是一个失控的过程，融化也是如此 You see, just as freezing is a runaway process, so too is melting.
不断上升的气温使更多的水蒸气进入大气 Rising temperatures drive more water vapour into the atmosphere.
它有强大的温室效应 It has a powerful greenhouse effect.
随着冰融化， And, as ice melts,
暴露在外的深色表面从太阳吸收了更多的热量 the exposed dark surfaces absorb yet more warmth from the sun.
像这样的变化相互影响 Changes like these feed into each other
并创造临界点，超过这个临界点，气候变暖就会爆发 and create tipping points, beyond which warming becomes explosive.
为了限制今天的气候变化， To limit climate change today,
我们必须避免达到这些临界点 we must avoid reaching these tipping points.
但对于雪球地球来说，他们来得太迟了 But for Snowball Earth, they couldn't have come soon enough.
一开始只是涓涓细流… What started as a trickle...
…已经变成了一股洪流 ..has become a torrent.
当冰开始融化，露出的黑暗表面 As the ice starts to melt, the exposed dark surfaces
从太阳那里吸收更多的热量 suck in ever more warmth from the sun.
融化变得不可阻挡 The melt becomes unstoppable.
一列失控的列车释放出惊人的洪水 A runaway train that releases a staggering deluge of water.
海平面每十年上升两米 Sea levels rise two metres every decade,
吞噬大片海岸线 swallowing great chunks of coastline.
在经历了超过5000万年的极度冰冻之后 After a total of over 50 million gruelling years in deep freeze...
…世界终于重生了 ..the world is finally reborn.
“雪球地球”是对我们星球的一次前所未有的攻击 Snowball Earth was an unprecedented assault on our planet.
这是一个令人震惊的时刻，世界上没有一个角落毫发无损 An astonishing moment that left no corner of the world unscathed.
你和我在这里，是因为经历了这一切，生命幸存了下来 You and I are here because, through it all, life survived.
但是，尽管生命如此顽强，它仍然是单细胞的 But as tenacious as it was, that life was still single-celled
仍然被困在微观世界里 and still trapped in the microscopic world.
但这不仅仅是一个简单的生存故事 But this is more than just a tale of simple survival.
在大冰封的废墟中， In the shattered remains of the great freeze,
大舞台准备迎接一场彻底改变的革命 the stage was set for a revolution that would change beyond all recognition.
人们很容易认为生活是直线发展的， It's easy to assume that life progresses in a straight line,
越来越复杂，越来越先进 steadily becoming more complex, more advanced.
但在现实中，通常不是这样的 它往往依赖于伟大的人 But in reality, it's often not like that. Often it relies upon a great
对系统的冲击，状态的改变，将生活翻转到另一条道路上 shock to the system, a state change, to flip life onto another path.
在那之后，那个生命和它生活的世界， After which, that life and the world in which it lives,
再也不一样了 are never the same again.
雪球地球就是这样一个时刻 Snowball Earth was just such a moment.
大冰原的冰 The ice of the great freeze
撕碎了我们星球的表面 had shredded the surface of our planet...
…撕裂了数百万吨的岩石 ..ripping up millions upon millions of tons of rock
并将其倒入海洋 and dumping it into the oceans.
这种突如其来的资源洪流产生了单细胞藻类 This sudden flood of resources causes single-celled algae
让细菌在世界各地的水域繁衍生息 and bacteria to flourish throughout the waters of the world.
它们鲜艳的花朵如此之大，以至于在太空中都能看到… Their vivid blooms so large they're visible from space...
…横跨整个海洋 ..stretching across entire oceans.
如此惊人规模的增长具有改变的力量 Growth on such a staggering scale has the power to change
整个生态系统 the entire ecosystem.
所有这些光合作用都大大增加 All this photosynthesising greatly increases
水中的含氧量， levels of oxygen in the water,
对复杂生命至关重要的元素 an element vital for complex life.
当藻类和细菌最终死亡，数以亿计 When the algae and bacteria eventually die, billions upon
数十亿地沉入海底， billions drift down to the bottom,
一场有机物雨… a rain of organic matter...
…加上数百万年来已经建造的死去的东西 ..adding to millions of years worth of dead things that have built
纵观海洋的历史 up over the history of the oceans.
生活在海底的细菌大量涌入 And bacteria living at the bottom of the ocean gorged
他们自己在这个死问题上… themselves on this dead matter...
…对其进行再加工，释放出稳定的矿物质 ..reprocessing it and releasing a steady stream of minerals
回到水柱里… back into the water column...
…为我们的祖先提供了充足而持久的水源 ..giving our ancient ancestors a plentiful, sustained source
食物，氧气和营养物质， of food, oxygen and nutrients,
一切都由生命本身提供 all supplied by life itself.
在这一刻，有史以来第一次，生命和地球 At this moment, for the first time ever, life and the planet
走到一起，成为相互补充的齿轮 come together to become complimentary cogs spinning in
一个巨大的营养循环机器，为生命提供 a great nutrient recycling machine, which is providing life with
正是它想要的，而且数量是前所未有的 exactly what it wants in quantities that it's never had before.
结果，生命爆炸了 And as a consequence, life explodes.
经过大约5亿年的努力， And after around half a billion years of struggle,
地球初生的春天即将变成辉煌的夏天 Earth's fledgling spring is set to become a glorious summer.
在地球上的浅海中，生命繁盛 In shallow coastal waters across the planet, life blossoms.
它们可能看起来像植物，但它们是最早的动物 These may look like plants, but they are the first animals.
叶状的沙丁鱼以流动的营养物质为食… Leaf-shaped Charnia feed on passing nutrients...
…而Attenborites则在潮汐上自由漂浮 ..whilst Attenborites float freely on the tides.
它们是最早的真核生物先驱的后代， They're the descendants of those first tiny eukaryote pioneers,
现在进化成无数奇怪的形式， now evolved into myriad strange forms,
所有这些最终都脱离了微观世界 all of which have finally broken free of the microscopic world.
它们是我们可以看到的复杂和大小的生物， These are creatures of a complexity and size that we could see,
可以伸手触摸 could reach out and touch.
它们都生活在一个生态系统中，并受其支持 All living with, and supported by, an ecosystem
就像当今地球上任何一种生物一样复杂而非凡 just as intricate and remarkable as any on Earth today.
这是第一批真正复杂的生物 These first truly complex living creatures
现在早已不复存在 are now long gone.
但他们是第一个迈出这一大步的人， But they were the first to take this great leap,
一旦他们拥有了，就再也不能回头了 and once they had, for life, there was no looking back.
多亏了雪球地球点燃了导火索 All thanks to Snowball Earth lighting the fuse.
雪球地球是一个惊人的时期， Snowball Earth was an astonishing period,
生命，土地和气候发生了前所未有的冲突 when life, land and the climate were in conflict like never before.
当漫长的冬天结束时， When that long winter ended,
进化失控的舞台已经搭建好了 the stage was set for evolution to run riot.
最后，它创造了所有奇妙的规模 And finally, it's created all of the fantastic scale, the
今天地球上生命的多样性和惊人的美丽 remarkable diversity and the amazing beauty of life on Earth today.
科学家们是如何研究埃迪卡拉纪奇异的动物生活的， How do scientists study the bizarre animal life of the Ediacaran,
它们生活在5亿多年前? which lived more than 500 million years ago?
这是一块来自莱斯特郡查恩伍德森林的化石 So, this is a wonderful fossil from Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire
在英国，它是在50年代被小学生发现的 in the UK, and it was found by schoolchildren in the '50s.
虽然它表面上看起来像一棵植物， While it looks superficially like a plant,
因为它生活在非常深的水里，我们知道它不可能生活过 because it lived in very deep water, we know it can't have lived
关灯，进行光合作用 相反，它从小的食物中取食 off the light, been photosynthetic. Instead, it fed from the little
细菌和溶解的有机碳漂过它 bacteria and the dissolved organic carbon that were floating past it.
这些生物太不寻常了 These creatures are so unusual,
理解它们是如何相互作用的是很困难的 understanding how they interact with each other can be difficult.
现在，先进的激光技术， Now, thanks to advanced laser technology,
科学家可以比以往更多地了解它们 scientists can learn more about them than ever before.
所以，通过激光扫描这些化石，我们得到 So, by laser scanning these fossils, we've got
一个三维曲面，这意味着，你有 a three-dimensional surface, and what this means is, you have
基本上是在岩石表面捕捉到的埃迪卡拉纪生命的快照 essentially a snap-shot of Ediacaran life captured on the rock surfaces.
到目前为止，我们已经用激光扫描了2万多块化石， To date, we have over 20,000 fossils that we've laser scanned,
使用不同的统计数据 and using different sorts of statistics
用数学方法，我们就能算出 and mathematical approaches, we can then work out what
他们在做什么以及他们是如何相互作用的 they were doing and how they were interacting with each other.
通过分析扫描的空间模式，我们发现 And analysing spatial patterns within the scans has revealed
为什么这些生物长得这么大 why some of these creatures grew so big.
很长一段时间，我们认为它们变大的原因 For a long time, we thought that the reason they got large
种植茎之类的东西是为了不需要竞争就能获得食物， and grew things like stems was to get food without having to compete,
我们发现，实际上，竞争非常非常少 and what we found is that, actually, competition's very, very rare.
体型大并不是获取食物的优势， Being big wasn't an advantage for getting food,
但它的优势在于确保 but what it was an advantage for was ensuring
你的后代要走得越远越好，因为个子越高 that your offspring got to go as far as possible, because the taller
你是，你的后代在水柱中游得越远 you are, the further your offspring will travel in the water column.
扫描还发现了一些生物体 And the scans have also led to the discovery that some organisms
有意想不到的行为 had unexpected behaviours.
事实上，我们发现了一些令人惊讶的事情 他们并不总是这样 We actually found something rather surprising. They don't always
重现性 相反，它们中的一些会繁殖出小的克隆体 reproduce sexually. Instead, some of them reproduce little clones
它们本身被丝状物或跑丝连接，有点像 of themselves that are attached by filaments or runners, a bit like
草莓植物或蜘蛛植物，你看到的化石就是这样 strawberry plants or spider plants, and so the fossils you see are
实际上是他们父母的克隆，有时甚至是祖父母的克隆 actually clones of their parents, and even grandparents sometimes.
雪球地球之后，复杂生命的进化 After Snowball Earth, the evolution of complex life
以前所未有的速度发生 occurred at a rate never seen before.
我们从这些微小的，微观的小化石， We've gone from these tiny, microscopic, little fossils,
我们只能用显微镜才能看到，一直到这些 that we can only see with microscopes, all the way to these
具有动物特征的大型复杂生物 large, complex organisms which show signs of having animal features.
总有可能没有雪球地球， There's always a possibility that without Snowball Earth,
生命不可能进化成这样的综合体， life wouldn't have evolved into the complex,
我们今天在周围看到的大型生物 large organisms that we see around us today.
下次… Next time...
地球变绿的故事， The story of how the Earth turned green,
当植物从海洋中升起… as plants rose from the oceans...
…征服一片敌对的土地 ..to conquer a hostile land...
…但它的统治几乎消灭了地球上所有的生命 ..but whose domination almost wiped out all life on the planet.
如果地球会说话，它会告诉我们什么? If the Earth could talk, what would it tell us?
嗯，开放大学设想了它会如何回答 Well, the Open University imagined how it might answer
我们的一些问题 要体验此交互式演示，请访问 some of our questions. To experience this interactive presentation, go to
点击屏幕上的网站，点击开放大学的链接 chenym机器翻译 校对 the website on the screen and follow the links to the Open University.