Humans have been engineering life for thousands of years.
對於設計定製生命，人類已經有千年的歷史。
Through selective breeding, we strengthened useful traits and plants and animals.
通過選擇性培育，我們強化了動植物中有用的性徵。
We became very good at this but never truly understood how it works.
我們很擅長這些，但是我們從沒有完全的明白它是怎麼回事。
Until we discovered the code of life: deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA, a complex molecule the guide of the growth, development function and reproduction of everything alive.
直到我們發現了生命的代碼，脫氧核糖核酸，DNA，一個複雜的分子，指引所有生命體的生長，發育，作用和繁殖。
Information is encoded in the structure of the molecule.
信息被編碼在分子的結構中。
Four nucleotides are paired and make up a code that carries instructions.
4種核苷酸相互配對，組成了攜帶指令的編碼。
Change the instructions and you change the being carrying it.
更改說明並更改正在攜帶的說明。
As soon as DNA was discovered, people try to tinker with it.
當DNA被發現後，人們試圖用它來修補。
In the 1960's, scientists bombarded plants with radiation to cause random mutations in the genetic code.
在1960年代，科學家使用射線轟擊植物引發了遺傳密碼的隨機突變。
The idea was to get a useful plant variation by pure chance.
當時的想法是通過運氣讓一個有用的植物變異。
Sometimes, it actually worked too.
有時，它真的會成功。
In the 70's, scientists inserted DNA snippets into bacteria, plants and animals to study and modify them for research, medicine, agriculture and for fun.
在70年代，科學家插入的DNA片段進細菌，植物和動物，為了科研，醫藥，農業，和興趣去研究和修改它們。
The earliest genetically modified animal was born in 1974, making mice a standard tool for research, saving millions of lives.
最早的轉基因動物出生於1974年，使小鼠作為標準工具進行研究，節省了數百萬人的生命。
In the 80's, we got commercial.
在80年代，我們商業化了。
The first patent was given for a microbe engineered to absorb oil.
第一項專利給予了設計吸收油的微生物。
Today we produce many chemicals by means of engineered life, like life-saving clotting factors growth hormones and insulin.
今天我們通過這種方式生產出了許多化學品，像拯救生命的凝血因子，生長激素，和胰島素。
All things we had to harvest from the organs of animals before that.
在這之前我們必須從動物的器官中獲取。
The first food modified in the lab went on sale in 1994: the Flavr Savr tomato.
在實驗室修改的第一食品在1994年開始銷售：Flavr SAVR番茄。
A tomato given a much longer shelf life where an extra gene that suppresses the build-up of a rotting enzyme.
添加了抑制腐爛酶積聚的額外基因讓番茄保質期變長。
But GM food and the controversy surrounding them deserve a video of their own.
但是轉基因食品和它們所引發的爭議應該被製成另一個視頻。
In the 1990's, there was also a brief foray into human engineering.
在1990年代，也有一些對人體工程學研究的短暫抨擊。
To treat maternal infertility, babies were made to carry genetic information from three humans, making them the first humans ever to have three genetic parents.
為了治療不孕不育的孕產婦，打造了攜帶3人遺傳信息的嬰兒，使他們成為史上第一批擁有3個遺傳父母的人類。
Today there are super muscled pigs, fast-growing salmon, featherless chickens and see-through frogs.
今天，有超級瘦肉豬，極快生長的鮭魚，無毛雞和透視青蛙。
On the fun side, we made things glow in the dark fluorescent zebrafish are available for as little as ten dollars.
有趣的一面是，我們做出了在黑暗中發出螢光的東西，螢光斑馬魚，最低十幾美元就能買到。
All of this is already very impressive.
所有這一切都已經是非常出色了。
But until recently, gene editing was extremely expensive, complicated and took a long time to do.
但這之前基因編輯是非常昂貴，複雜，和花時間的。
This has now changed with a revolutionary new technology now entering the stage: CRISPR.
但這一切已被一項革命性新技術改變了，CRISPR。
Overnight, the costs of engineering have shrunk by 99%.
一夜之間，基因編輯的成本降低了99％。
Instead of a year.
不再需要花一年的時間。
it takes a few weeks to conduct experiments.
現在只需要幾個星期來進行實驗。
And basically, everybody with a lab can do it.
而且基本上，擁有實驗室的任何人都能運用這項新技術。
It's hard to get across how big a technical revolution CRISPR is.
我們很難去理解CRISPR是一個多麼宏偉的技術革命。
It literally has the potential to change humanity forever.
它已經有潛力永遠地改變人類面貌。
Why did this sudden revolution happen and how does it work?
為什麼突然間出現這種革命，它是如何運作的呢？
Bacteria and viruses have been fighting since the dawn of life.
自從有了生命的曙光，細菌和病毒就一直在抗爭。
So-called bacteriophages, or phages, hunt bacteria.
所謂的噬菌體追捕細菌。
In the ocean, phages kill 40% of them every single day.
在海洋中，噬菌體每一天會殺死40％的細菌。
Phages do this by inserting their own genetic code into the bacteria and taking them over to use them as factories.
噬菌體通過插入自己的遺傳密碼進入細菌，並採取它們到使用它們作為工廠做到這一點。
The bacteria try to resist, but fail most of the time.
細菌試圖反抗，但最終都失敗。
Because their protection tools are too weak.
因為它們的保護工具太弱。
But sometimes, bacteria survive an attack.
但有時細菌能在攻擊下幸運地活下來。
Only if they do so can they activate their most effective antivirus system.
只有當它們這樣做，它們才可以激活其最有效的防病毒系統。
They save a part of the virus DNA in their own genetic code, in a DNA archive called CRISPR.
它們保存一部分的病毒DNA在自己的遺傳密碼裡，一個稱為CRISPR DNA的檔案。
Here it's stored safely until it's needed.
在這裡，它被安全的存儲著，直到被需要。
When the virus attacks again, the bacterium quickly makes an RNA copy from the DNA archive and arms a secret weapon, a protein called Cas9.
當病毒再次攻擊，它可以迅速地從DNA檔案中複製一個RNA拷貝和武器化一個稱為CAS9的秘密武器。
The protein now scans the bacterium's inside for signs of the virus invader by comparing every bit of DNA it finds to the sample from the archive.
那個蛋白質現在就可以掃描細菌裡的病毒入侵者的跡象，通過比較存檔裡的樣本和每一位DNA。
When it finds a 100-percent perfect match, it's activated and cuts out the virus DNA, making it useless, protecting the bacterium against the attack.
當它發現一個100％的完美匹配，它激活並削減了病毒DNA，使其失去作用，防止細菌攻擊。
What's special is that Cas9 is very precise, almost like a DNA surgeon.
特別的是，CAS9非常的精確，幾乎像一個DNA外科醫生。
The revolution began when scientists figured out that the CRISPR system is programmable.
革命始於科學家們想出了CRISPR系統是可編程的。
You can just give it a copy of DNA you want to modify and put the system into a living cell.
你可以給它你要修改的DNA拷貝，並將它置入一個活細胞。
If the old techniques of genetic manipulation were like a map, CRISPR is like a GPS system.
如果舊的基因操作方法像是一張地圖，CRISPR就像一個GPS系統。
Aside from being precise, cheap and easy, CRISPR offers the ability to edit life cells to switch genes on and off and target and study particular DNA sequences.
除了精準，價格便宜，簡單，CRISPR提供編輯活細胞的能力，開啟和關閉基因，指定和研究特定的DNA序列。
It also works for every type of cell: microorganisms, plants, animals or humans.
它也適用於所有類型的細胞：微生物，植物，動物，或人類。
But despite the revolution CRISPR is for science, it's still just a first-generation tool.
但儘管這個革命CRISPR是為了科學用處，它仍然只是一個第一代的工具。
More precise tools are already being created and used as we speak.
在我們說話的同時，更精確的工具已經被創建和使用了。
In 2015, scientists use CRISPR to cut the HIV virus out of living cells from patients in the lab, proving that it was possible.
在2015年，科學家使用CRISPR從實驗室裡的患者的活細胞切斷HIV病毒，證明了它是可行的。
Only about a year later, they carried out a larger scale project with rats that had the HIV virus in basically all of their body cells.
只在大約一年後，他們用大鼠進行了一個更大規模的項目，大鼠基本上所有細胞都有HIV病毒。
By simply injecting CRISPR into the rat's tails, they were able to remove more than 50% of the virus from cells all over the body.
通過注射CRISPR入鼠尾，他們能在整個身體的所有細胞裡去除50％以上的病毒。
In a few decades, a CRISPR therapy might cure HIV and other retroviruses.
在幾十年裡，CRISPR可能治癒HIV等逆轉病毒。
Viruses that hide inside human DNA like herpes could be eradicated this way.
躲在人類DNA裡面的病毒如皰疹可以用這種方式消除。
CRISPR could also defeat one of our worst enemies: cancer.
CRISPR也可以打敗我們最壞的敵人之一，癌症。
Cancer occurs when cells refused to die and keep multiplying while concealing themselves from the immune system.
癌症始於細胞拒絕死亡，並翻倍，同時不被免疫系統發現。
CRISPR gives us the means to edit your immune cells and make them better cancer hunters.
CRISPR讓我們可以編輯免疫細胞，使它們更容易追蹤癌症。
Getting rid of cancer might eventually mean getting just a couple of injections of a few thousand of your own cells that have been engineered in the lab to heal you for good.
治療癌症可能最終意味著只需注射你本身幾千個已在實驗室裡被改造的細胞就能醫治好你。
The first clinical trial for a CRISPR cancer treatment on human patients was approved in early 2016 in the US.
第一個對人類患者進行CRISPR癌症治療的臨床試驗在2016年初在美國已被批准。
Not even a month later, Chinese scientists announced that they would treat lung cancer patients with immune cells modified by CRISPR in August 2016.
一個月後，2016年八月，中國科學家宣布，他們將使用CRISPR改造免疫細胞治療肺癌患者。
Things are picking up pace quickly.
進步越來越快。
And then there are genetic diseases.
再來是遺傳性疾病。
There are thousands of them.
遺傳性疾病有很多種。
And they range from merely annoying to deadly or entail decades of suffering.
從惱人和麻煩的到可致命的或造成患者幾十年的痛苦的。
With a powerful tool like CRISPR, we may be able to end this.
有了CRISPR這樣強大的工具，我們或許能夠結束這一切。
Over 3,000 genetic diseases are caused by a single incorrect letter in your DNA.
超過3000個遺傳性疾病發生的原因在於DNA的一個錯誤指令。
We are already building a modified version of Cas9 that is made to change just a single letter, fixing the disease in the cell.
我們已經建立一個修改版本的CAS9，用於改變字母，或治療細胞中的疾病。
In a decade or two we could possibly cure thousands of diseases forever.
在十年或二十年，我們可能可以永遠治癒許多不同的疾病。
But all of these medical applications have one thing in common.
但是，所有這些醫學應用有一個共同點。
They are limited to the individual and die with them, except if you use them on reproductive cells or very early embryos.
它們只對個人有效，會隨之而死，除非被使用於生殖細胞或非常早期的胚胎。
But CRISPR can and probably will be used for much more: the creation of modified humans, designer babies and will mean gradual but irreversible changes to the human gene pool.
但CRISPR可用於更多用處：創造基因改造人類，經過設計的嬰兒意味著緩慢但不可逆轉的改變人類總體基因。
The means to edit the genome of a human embryo already exists, though the technology is still in its early stages.
編輯一個胚胎基因組的方法已經存在，即使技術仍處於早期階段。
But it has already been attempted twice.
但它已經被嘗試了兩次。
In 2015 and 2016, Chinese scientists experimented with human embryos and were partially successful on their second attempt.
在2015年和2016年，中國科學家嘗試用人類胚胎，並在他們的第二次嘗試取得了部分成功。
They showed the enormous challenges we still face in gene editing embryos but also that scientists are working on solving them.
他們顯示了編輯基因胚胎仍然面臨著巨大的挑戰，但科學家們也在努力的解決這些問題。
This is like the computer in the seventies.
這就像70年代的計算機。
There will be better computers.
之後會有更好的計算機。
Regardless of your personal take on genetic engineering, it will affect you.
不管你個人對基因工程的態度如何，它將會影響你。
Modified humans could alter the genome of our entire species.
改良人類可能會改變我們整個物種的基因組。
Because their engineered traits will be passed on to that children and could spread over generations slowly modifying the whole gene pool of humanity.
因為他們被調整的特徵將被遺傳給下一代並可能波及幾代人，慢慢地改變人類的整體基因庫。
It will start slowly.
它會慢慢展開。
The first designer babies will not be overly designed.
第一個被設計嬰兒不會過度設計。
It's most likely that they will be created to eliminate deadly genetic disease running a family.
他們被創造出來最可能是為了消除致命的家庭遺傳性疾病。
As the technology progresses and gets more refined, more and more people may argue that not using genetic modification is unethical.
隨著技術的進步，並越來越精緻，越來越多的人可能會說，不使用基因改造是不道德的。
Because it condemns children to preventable suffering and death and denies them to cure.
因為它使兒童受到本來可已預防的痛苦和死亡，並不讓他們受治療。
But as soon as the first engineered kid is born, a door is opened that can't be closed anymore.
但當第一個受到基因調整的嬰兒誕生，那扇門已被打開了，從此不能再關閉。
Early on, vanity traits will mostly be left alone, but as genetic modification becomes more accepted and our knowledge of our genetic code enhances, the temptation will grow.
在早期，虛榮性特徵可能不被使用。但是，隨著基因修改變得更加容易接受和我們對我們的遺傳密碼的知識增強，改變虛榮特徵的誘惑會越來越大。
If you make your offspring immune to Alzheimer, why not also give them an enhanced metabolism?
如果你讓你的後代免受老年痴呆症，何不也給他們一個增強新陳代謝的基因？
Why not throw in perfect eyesight?
為何不要完美視力？
How about height or muscular structure?
高度或肌肉結構又如何？
Full hair?
頭髮呢？
How about giving your child the gift of extraordinary intelligence?
讓孩子聰慧過人如何？
Huge changes are made as a result of the personal decisions of millions of individuals that accumulate.
巨大的變化取決於作為積累的數以百萬計的個人決定。
This is a slippery slope.
這是一個滑坡。
Modified humans could become the new standard.
改良人類可能成為新的標準。
But as engineering becomes more normal and our knowledge improves, we could solve the single biggest mortality risk factor: aging.
但隨著工程變得更正常的，我們的知識不斷提高，我們可以解決一個最大的死亡風險因素：老化。
Two-thirds of the 150,000 people who die today will die of age-related causes.
150000人今天死亡有三分之二是與年齡有關。
Currently we think aging is caused by the accumulation of damage to ourselves, like DNA breaks and the system's responsible for fixing those wearing off over time.
目前，我們認為衰老是由細胞損傷造成的，像DNA斷裂，系統負責修復那些損傷。
But there are also genes that directly affect aging.
但也有基因直接影響衰老。
A combination of genetic engineering and other therapy could stop or slow down aging, maybe even reverse it.
基因工程等療法的組合可以阻止或延緩衰老，甚至扭轉它。
We know from nature that there are animals immune to aging.
我們知道，從自然，有些動物可避免衰老。
Maybe we could even borrow a few genes for ourselves.
或許，我們甚至可以借用一些基因佔為己有。
Some scientists even think biological aging could be something that eventually just stops being a thing.
有些科學家甚至認為生物衰老可能不再發生。
We would still die at some point.
我們仍然會在某個時候死。
But instead of doing so in hospitals at age 90, we might be able to spend a few thousand years with our loved ones.
但不是在90歲在醫院這樣，我們也許可以花幾千年來與我們的親人在一起。
Research into this is in its infancy.
這方面的研究仍處於起步階段。
And many scientists are rightly skeptical about the end of aging.
許多科學家都理所當然地懷疑老化結束的可能。
The challenges are enormous.
面臨的挑戰是巨大的。
And maybe it is unachievable.
也許是無法實現的。
But it is conceivable that people alive today might be the first to profit from effective anti-aging therapy.
但可以想像今天活著人可能是第一個從有效的抗衰老治療中獲益的人。
All we might need is for someone to convince a smart billionaire to make it their next problem to solve.
我們可能只需要說服一個聰明的億萬富翁，使它成為他下一個要解決的問題。
On a bigger scale we certainly could solve many problems by having a modified population.
從更大的角度來看，我們可以通過被基因調整的人口解決很多問題。
Engineered humans might be better equipped to cope with high-energy food, eliminating many diseases of civilization like obesity.
基因調整人類可能可以應付高能量的食物，消除許多文明疾病如肥胖問題。
In possession of a modified immune system with a library of potential threat, we might become immune to most diseases that haunt us today.
擁有了改進的免疫系統，具有潛在威脅的病菌及疾病，我們都能免疫。
Even further into the future, we could engineer humans to be equipped for extended space travel and to cope with different conditions on other planet, which would be extremely helpful in keeping us alive in our hostile universe.
甚至在未來，我們可以改造人類來使其能適應太空旅行並能在另一個星球上不同條件下生存，這將能幫助我們在宇宙危險的環境中生存。