This bacteria eats plastic
演講者：Morgan Vague
導讀：人類每年會製造3億噸塑料——儘管我們很努力，但其中只有10%被回收利用了。是否存在一個更好的方法來處理這些垃圾呢? 微生物學家摩根·薇格研究了一種細菌，它們經過一系列適應變化，進化出了一種前所未有的消耗塑料的能力——這能夠幫助我們解決日趨增長的汙染問題。
中英文對照
Plastics: you know about them, you may not love them, but chances are you use them every single day. By 2050, researchers estimate that there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.
塑料——你們了解塑料，你們也許不喜歡塑料， 但事實是你們每天都要用到它。 據研究人員估計，到2050年， 海洋中塑料的數量將超過魚類。
Despite our best efforts, only nine percent of all plastic we use winds up being recycled. And even worse, plastic is incredibly tough and durable and researchers estimate that it can take anywhere from 500 to 5,000 years to fully break down. It leaches harmful chemical contaminants into our oceans, our soil, our food, our water, and into us.
儘管我們非常努力，我們用過的塑料中僅有9%被回收利用。更糟糕的是，塑料十分牢固，經久耐用，據研究人員估計，可能需要500到5000年，這些塑料才會分解。它釋放有毒化學成分進入海洋、土壤，進入我們的食物、我們的水源，最終被我們吸收。
So how did we wind up with so much plastic waste? Well, it's simple. Plastic is cheap, durable, adaptable, and it's everywhere. But the good news is there's something else that's cheap, durable, adaptable and everywhere. And my research shows it may even be able to help us with our plastic pollution problem.
那麼我們是如何製造出這麼多塑料垃圾的呢？很簡單。塑料廉價耐用，用處廣，而且到處都是。好消息是，還有一樣東西，同樣廉價耐用，用處廣，而且到處都是。我的研究表明，它也許可以幫助我們解決塑料汙染問題。
I'm talking about bacteria. Bacteria are microscopic living beings invisible to the naked eye that live everywhere, in all sorts of diverse and extreme environments, from the human gut, to soil, to skin, to vents in the ocean floor, reaching temperatures of 700 degrees Fahrenheit. Bacteria live everywhere, in all sorts of diverse and extreme environments.
我要說的是細菌。細菌是肉眼不可見的微生物，它到處都是，存在於多樣和極端的環境中，存在於人類腸道、土壤和皮膚，存在於溫度高達700 華氏度的海底火山口。細菌無處不在，存在於多樣和極端的環境中。
And as such, they have to get pretty creative with their food sources. There's also a lot of them. Researchers estimate that there are roughly five million trillion trillion -- that's a five with 30 zeros after it -- bacteria on the planet. Now, considering that we humans produce 300 million tons of new plastic each year, I'd say that our plastic numbers are looking pretty comparable to bacteria's.
正因如此，它們的食物來源同樣豐富多彩。它們的種類也很豐富。研究人員估計在地球上有5百萬兆兆—— 5後面有30個零——的細菌存在。考慮到我們人類每年都會生產3億噸塑料，我想說我們生產的塑料數量和細菌數量有的一拼。
So, after noticing this and after learning about all of the creative ways that bacteria find food, I started to think: could bacteria in plastic-polluted environments have figured out how to use plastic for food? Well, this is the question that I decided to pursue a couple of years ago. Now, fortunately for me, I'm from one of the most polluted cities in America, Houston, Texas.
所以，意識到這點，以及學習了細菌的所有食物來源後，我開始想：生活在塑料汙染環境下的細菌，是否進化出了吃塑料的能力呢？幾年前我決定仔細研究這個問題。幸運的是，我出身於美國汙染最嚴重的城市之一，德州休斯頓。
In my hometown alone, there are seven EPA-designated Superfund sites. These are sites that are so polluted, that the government has deemed their cleanup a national priority. So I decided to trek around to these sites and collect soil samples teeming with bacteria.
僅僅在我家鄉，就有7所環境保護局指定的超級基金汙染場址。這些場所的汙染之嚴重，政府甚至將對它們的清潔工作列為全國優先項目。我決定到這些場所去，收集一些富含細菌的土壤樣本。
I started toying with a protocol, which is fancy science talk for a recipe. And what I was trying to cook up was a carbon-free media, or a food-free environment. An environment without the usual carbons, or food, that bacteria, like us humans, need to live.
我開始擺弄一個原型機，它就等同於科學界的食譜。我想「烹飪」出的是無碳媒介，或是沒有食物的環境。一個沒有常見的碳，也沒有食物的環境，而細菌，像人類一樣，也需要生存下去。
Now, in this environment, I would provide my bacteria with a sole carbon, or food, source. I would feed my bacteria polyethylene terephthalate, or PET plastic. PET plastic is the most widely produced plastic in the world.
在這個環境中，我將為細菌提供唯一的碳，或者可以說食物、資源。我將為它們提供聚對苯二甲酸乙二酯，也就是俗稱的PET塑料。 PET塑料是世界上產量最大的塑料。
It's used in all sorts of food and drink containers, with the most notorious example being plastic water bottles, of which we humans currently go through at a rate of one million per minute. So, what I would be doing, is essentially putting my bacteria on a forced diet of PET plastic and seeing which, if any, might survive or, hopefully, thrive.
它被用於製作所有的食物和液體容器，最著名的例子莫過於塑料水瓶，人類每分鐘都要使用一百萬的塑料水瓶。我要做的事情，是迫使細菌以PET塑料為食，並且觀察是否有細菌能活下來，或者更進一步，繁榮生長。
See, this type of experiment would act as a screen for bacteria that had adapted totheir plastic-polluted environment and evolved the incredibly cool ability to eat PET plastic. And using this screen, I was able to find some bacteria that had done just that. These bacteria had figured out how to eat PET plastic.
這種實驗能給已經適應塑料汙染場所環境的細菌提供庇護所，並且讓它們發展消耗 PET塑料的能力。利用這個場所，我發現了一些已經具備這種能力的細菌。這些細菌進化出了以 PET塑料為食的能力。
So how do these bacteria do this? Well, it's actually pretty simple. Just as we humans digest carbon or food into chunks of sugar that we then use for energy, so too do my bacteria. My bacteria, however, have figured out how to do this digestion process to big, tough, durable PET plastic.
那麼它們具體是怎麼做的呢？這其實很簡單。如同人類消化碳或食物，轉化為能量來源葡萄糖那樣，我的細菌也是這麼做的。不同的是，我的細菌進化出了消化大型、牢固耐用的 PET塑料的方法。
Now, to do this, my bacteria use a special version of what's called an enzyme. Now, enzymes are simply compounds that exist in all living things. There are many different types of enzymes, but basically, they make processes go forward, such as the digestion of food into energy. For instance, we humans have an enzyme called an amylase that helps us digest complex starches, such as bread, into small chunks of sugar that we can then use for energy.
為了達成這點，我的細菌會利用一個特殊的物品，叫作酶。酶是一種簡單的化合物，存在於所有生命體中。酶有很多種類，但基本上，它們的功能是促進過程，例如將食物轉化為能量的過程。舉個例子，人體內有一種叫作澱粉酶的東西，能夠幫助我們消化澱粉，如麵包，並轉化為小分子葡萄糖，用以提供能量。
Now, my bacteria have a special enzyme called a lipase that binds to big, tough, durable PET plastic and helps break it into small chunks of sugar that my bacteria can then use for energy. So basically, PET plastic goes from being a big, tough, long-lasting pollutant to a tasty meal for my bacteria. Sounds pretty cool, right?
我的細菌有一種特殊的酶，叫作脂肪酶，這種酶能附著在大型牢固耐用的PET塑料上，並且將它分解成小分子的葡萄糖，我的細菌就可以將其作為能量來源。基本上， PET塑料從大型、牢固而持久的汙染，變成了我的細菌口中的美餐。聽起來很棒，不是嗎？
And I think, given the current scope of our plastic pollution problem, I think it sounds pretty useful. The statistics I shared with you on just how much plastic waste has accumulated on our planet are daunting. They're scary. And I think they highlight that while reducing, reusing and recycling are important, they alone are not going to be enough to solve this problem. And this is where I think bacteria might be able to help us out.
並且我認為，考慮到現在塑料汙染的規模問題，我認為這聽起來非常實用。那些我分享給你們的關於我們星球上有多少塑料垃圾的數據駭人聽聞。它們讓人感到害怕。並且我認為它們還指出，儘管減少使用、再次利用和回收非常重要，但僅通過這些方法是不足以解決這個問題的。我認為細菌也許能夠幫助我們。
But I do understand why the concept of bacterial help might make some people a little nervous. After all, if plastic is everywhere and these bacteria eat plastic, isn't there a risk of these bacteria getting out in the environment and wreaking havoc?
但我能理解為什麼有些人聽到利用細菌會緊張。畢竟，如果塑料到處都是，而這些細菌會吃塑料，這些細菌會不會流入環境，造成破壞呢？
Well, the short answer is no, and I'll tell you why. These bacteria are already in the environment. The bacteria in my research are not genetically modified franken bugs. These are naturally occurring bacteria that have simply adapted to their plastic-polluted environment and evolved the incredibly gnarly ability to eat PET plastic.
答案是否定的，讓我來解釋給你聽。這些細菌本身就存在於環境中。我實驗中使用的細菌不是轉基因的人造蟲。它們是自然存在的細菌，只是它們適應了塑料汙染的環境，並且進化出了極端而不可思議的消化塑料的能力。
So the process of bacteria eating plastic is actually a natural one. But it's an incredibly slow process. And there remains a lot of work to be done to figure out how to speed up this process to a useful pace. My research is currently looking at ways of doing this through a series of UV, or ultraviolet, pretreatments, which basically means we blast PET plastic with sunlight. We do this because sunlight acts a bit like tenderizer on a steak, turning the big, tough, durable bonds in PET plastic a bit softer and a bit easier for my bacteria to chew on.
所以細菌消化塑料事實上是自然的過程。但這個過程非常緩慢。並且還需要投入大量工作，研究如何加快進程速度，讓它能夠發揮作用。我的研究現在正通過進行一系列紫外線預處理來尋找這樣的方法，這基本上意味著我們將 PET塑料置於陽光暴曬下，我們這麼做，就像把肉弄嫩一樣，陽光會使得PET塑料中大塊、堅硬耐用的聯結軟化，方便我的細菌進食。
Ultimately, what my research hopes to do is create an industrial-scale contained carbon-free system, similar to a compost heap, where these bacteria can thrivein a contained system, where their sole food source is PET plastic waste. Imagine one day being able to dispose of all of your plastic waste in a bin at the curb that you knew was bound for a dedicated bacteria-powered plastic waste facility. I think with some hard work this is an achievable reality.
最終，我研究的目的，是為了創造出產業級別的獨立無碳系統，如同肥料堆那樣，在那裡，細菌可以在獨立系統中繁榮發展，它們的唯一食物是PET塑料垃圾。想像有一天，你可以把你所有的塑料垃圾扔進馬路邊的一個垃圾桶，而你知道這個垃圾桶是專門的細菌消耗塑料垃圾裝置。我認為通過努力，我們可以實現這個目標。
Plastic-eating bacteria is not a cure-all. But given the current statistics, it's clear that we humans, we could use a little help with this problem. Because people, we possess a pressing problem of plastic pollution. And bacteria might be a really important part of the solution.
以塑料為食的細菌並不能解決一切。但考慮到現實狀況，很明顯我們人類在這個問題上需要一些幫助。因為對於我們人類而言，塑料汙染問題迫在眉睫。細菌也許能為解決問題做出很大貢獻。
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