關於未來,人類最需要了解的10件事

人類對未來世界總是充滿好奇和想像。100年後我們靠什麼發電？癌症會治癒嗎？精神病能成為歷史嗎？汽車可以飛嗎？近日，英國廣播公司《地平線》節目的科學家團隊總結了關於未來我們最需要知道的10件事情，一起來看看吧。

如何讓電燈一直亮下去？

Much of our electricity is generated by burning coal or gas, both of which will ultimately run out. Renewable energy sources are fraught with their own problems (not least the changeable nature of British weather), so could a Norwegian concept of erecting wind turbines thousands of feet in the air where there is always a breeze become a reality?
大部分的電能是通過燃燒煤或天然氣產生的，這兩種能源最終都會耗盡。可再生能源自身存在問題（尤其對於英國多變的天氣來說），那麼，挪威風口處豎立數千英尺高的風力發電機的概念也許會成為現實？

癌症可以治癒嗎？

每日郵報網站截圖

A team of scientists of BBC's Horizon meets researchers pioneering gene-based therapies that early results suggest could offer a cure for leukaemia.
《地平線》的科學家團隊見到了基因治療領域的頂尖研究人員，他們此前的研究結果表明，白血病可以治癒。

It works by 'editing' a patient's genome by inserting genes that will allow the immune system to identify cancerous cells as alien and destroy them.
其原理是通過插入基因對病人的基因組進行「編輯」，讓免疫系統將癌症細胞識別為外來細胞並摧毀它們。

精神疾病會成為過去嗎？

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Michael Mosley visits a research project at St Thomas's Hospital in London, where doctors are working to map the developing brain by safely MRI scanning foetuses as they grow.
麥可•莫斯利參觀了倫敦聖託馬斯醫院的一個研究項目，那裡的醫生正在對生長期的胎兒進行安全的核磁掃描，以繪製出發育中的大腦。

The plan is to use the increased knowledge to identify pathologies that could shed light on conditions like autism and schizophrenia.
醫生計劃利用這些新獲取的知識，發現一些病理，解釋自閉症、精神分裂症等病症。

人類會變成機器人嗎？

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James Young, who lost an arm and a leg in an accident, goes in search of integrated technologies that might reveal a future for human-machine chimeras.
詹姆斯•楊在一次事故中失去了一隻胳膊和一條腿，他開始尋找可能開啟人機結合未來的集成技術。

James meets self-proclaimed cyborg Neil Harbisson, who claims to have 'cured' his colour-blindness by converting colour to sounds that are then transmitted to his skull.
詹姆斯見了自稱機器人的尼爾•哈爾比森。哈爾比森稱，他將顏色轉化為聲音，傳到大腦，從而「治好」了自己的色盲症。

人類可以長生不死嗎？

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The average life expectancy in the UK has been steadily increasing since records began in 1840, but the fact remains that the human body gives up at around the 100 year mark - so could that change?
英國人的平均壽命自1840年以來一直保持穩定增長，但事實是，人類的壽命始終維持在100歲左右，那麼這點可以改變嗎？

The team turns to the east African naked mole rat, which enjoys ten times the lifespan of other species, to see if they can shed any light on the subject.
科學家們將目光轉向東非的裸鼢鼠，想看看能否在它們身上找到一些答案。裸鼢鼠的壽命是其他品種的10倍。

Dr Chris Faulkes, of Queen Mary University of London, asks whether - given the unique protein in their skin that makes it super stretchy and means cancer is virtually unheard of - the mole rat actually holds the secret to a long life.
倫敦大學瑪麗皇后學院的克裡斯•福克斯博士想知道裸鼢鼠身上是否有長壽的秘密。因為它們的皮膚中含有獨特的蛋白質，可以保持超強彈性，也不會得癌症。

未來的天氣怎麼樣？

Britain's famously unpredictable climate may soon be a thing of the past, according to weatherman and meteorologist Peter Gibbs, who argues that we can expect a hotter, drier south, and a warmer, wetter north.
英國的天氣是出了名的陰晴不定，不過據氣象預報員兼氣象學家皮特•吉布斯稱，這也許很快就會成為歷史，他認為南方天氣可能更熱、更乾燥，而北方天氣更加溫暖潮溼。

地球上的生命會怎樣？

Biologist Adam Rutherford outlines the potentially catastrophic impact of plummeting numbers of non-human vertebrate species between now and 2030 - including the rise of smaller predators like rats as a knock-on effect should we lose apex predators such as lions and tigers.
生物學家亞當•羅瑟夫介紹了從現在到2030年非人類脊椎動物種類數量急劇下降的潛在災難性影響，比如如果我們失去了獅子、老虎等食物鏈頂端的肉食動物，產生的連鎖反應包括老鼠等小型肉食動物數量的增長。

He also warns that changing environments could lead us to a point where coffee can no longer survive on planet, or where entire marine systems disappear.
他還警告說，不斷變化的環境可能導致人類無法在地球上種植咖啡，或者整個海洋系統消失。

'Life will continue on earth as it has for four billion years,' he said. 'What we are doing is removing the ability for us to live on earth.'
他說：「地球上的生命已經存在40億年，而且將繼續存活下去，我們的所作所為是在削弱人類在地球上生存的能力。」

機器人會搶走人類的工作嗎？

Some jobs seem more susceptible than others to being taken over by robots, but how sure can we be that 'soft skill' careers will always require human ability?
有些工作似乎比其他工作更容易被機器人接管，但我們能有多少把握那些依靠「軟技能」的職業將始終需要人力完成呢？

To give some indication, Dr Zoe Williams discovers an Artificial Intelligence programme that's as good as she is at being a GP.
為了展示一些可能性，佐伊•威廉士博士開發了一款人工智慧程序，這款程序能跟她一樣出色完成全科醫生的職責。

我的車會飛嗎？

According to the show, several groups are developing what they hope will become 'drone taxis'. But can we be trusted at the controls? The answer is emphatically 'no'.
據《地平線》稱，幾個團隊正在開發一種「無人駕駛飛行計程車」，但是我們能放心讓操控臺自己操作嗎？答案當然是「不能」。

But help is at hand. Dr Raffaello D'Andrea designed the complex programme that runs Amazon's fiercely efficient warehouse robots – hundreds of which select products for dispatch to customers, all without crashing into one another.
但是希望就在前方。拉斐爾·D·安德拉博士設計了一個複雜的程序，可以操控亞馬遜公司的高效倉庫機器人，幾百臺機器人在不會撞車的前提下高效運轉，分揀出配送給顧客的產品。

By taking unreliable human pilots out of the equation, It could – perhaps – be the start of just the thing to finally make flying cars – or at least flying taxis – a reality.
拋開不靠譜的人類飛行員，這個系統或許是飛行汽車，或者至少是飛行計程車變為現實的起點。

相信會有意外發生

Crucial among the things we 'need to know' about the future? And the one the team of scientists are 100 percent confident will prove accurate? Expect the unexpected.
在人類需要知道的關於未來的事情中，最重要的是什麼？科學家團隊百分百確信真實的一件事就是：會有意料之外的事情發生。

英文來源：每日郵報
翻譯&編輯：董靜
審校：yaning