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Did you know that one of the first fertility drugs was made from the pee of Catholic nuns, and that even the Pope got involved?
你知道吗？最早的生育药物之一是由天主教修女的小便所制成的，甚至教皇也参与其中。
So, this is totally true. Back in the 1950s, scientists knew that when women enter menopause,
这是事实。回到20世纪50年代，科学家们知道当女性进入更年期时，
they start releasing high levels of fertility hormones in their urine.
她们释放出高水平的生育激素到尿液中。
But there was this doctor named Bruno Lunenfeld, who wondered if he could actually isolate those hormones from the urine
有位名叫布鲁诺·卢恩费尔德的医生，想知道可否从尿液中萃取激素，
and use it to help women who are having trouble getting pregnant.
去帮助那些无法怀孕的妇女。
Obviously, the problem with this was that in order to test this idea, he needed a lot of pee from older women.
显然，问题在于，为了测试这个想法，他需要很多老年妇女的尿。
And that is not an easy thing to find.
那是不容易找到的。
So he and his colleagues got special permission from the Pope to collect gallons and gallons of urine from hundreds of older Catholic nuns.
所以他与同事们得到了教皇的特别许可，收集了数百名天主教老修女的大量尿液。
And in doing so, he actually isolated hormones that are still used to help women get pregnant today,
就这样，他真的分离出了荷尔蒙，仍在今天被用来帮助女性怀孕，
though now, they can be synthesized in a lab, and gallons of pee aren't necessary.
虽然它们现在可以在实验室中合成，并且没有必要再用大量的小便。
So why am I standing up here, telling this wonderfully intellectual audience about nun pee?
那我为什么站在这里呢？告诉你们这群很棒的知识分子关于修女尿尿的事情？
Well, I'm a science journalist and multimedia producer, who has always been fascinated by gross stuff.
好吧，我是一名科学记者和多媒体制作人，总是着迷于粗鄙的东西。
So fascinated, in fact, that I started a weekly YouTube series called "Gross Science,"
因此，我开始每周制作一段YouTube系列的视频，称为“粗鄙的科学”，
all about the slimy, smelly, creepy underbelly of nature, medicine and technology.
都是关于黏稠、有臭味、令人毛骨悚然的下腹部的自然、医学和技术。
Now, I think most of us would agree that there's something a little gross about pee.
我们大多数人会同意小便是有些粗鄙。
You know, it's something that we don't really like to talk about, and we keep the act of doing it very private.
这是我们确实不太想谈论的，而且我们将其视为私密行为。
But when Lunenfeld peered into the world of pee, he discovered something deeply helpful to humanity.
但当卢恩费尔德医生凝视小便时，他发现了一些对人类有深远帮助的东西。
And after a year and a half of making my show, I can tell you that very often when we explore the gross side of life,
在我制作Youtube视频一年半之后，我确定探索粗鄙的生活这方面时，
we find insights that we never would have thought we'd find, and we even often reveal beauty that we didn't think was there.
会找到我们从未想过的见解，甚至揭示我们从未想到的美。
I think it's important for us to talk about gross things for a few reasons.
基于某些原因，谈论粗鄙的事情对我们来说很重要。
So, first of all, talking about gross stuff is a great tool for education, and it's an excellent way to preserve curiosity.
首先，谈论粗鄙的东西是极佳的教育工具和保有好奇心的良好方法。
To explain what I mean, why don't I tell you a little bit about what I was like as a child?
再解释我的意思之前，何不先告诉你们我幼时的模样？
So, I was what you might call a gross kid.
我就是那种可称之为粗鄙的孩子。
In fact, my love of science itself began when my parents bought me a slime chemistry set
我对科学本身的热爱，是由父母买了给我一套粘液化学套装时开始的，
and was then only enhanced by doing gross experiments in my sixth-grade biology class.
然后到六年级上生物课时做的大量实验，增强了我的兴趣。
We did things like, we swabbed surfaces around our classroom and cultured the bacteria we'd collected,
我们在教室周围擦拭表面，培养收集得来的细菌，
and we dissected owl pellets, which are these balls of material that are undigested that owls barf up,
我们解剖猫头鹰的颗粒，那些都是猫头鹰呕吐出来未消化的物质球，
and it's really kind of gross and awesome and cool.
那确实是又恶心、又棒又酷的。
Now, the fact that I was obsessed with gross stuff as a kid is not so revolutionary.
小时候我一直沉迷于粗鄙的事实，并不是那么了不起。
You know, lots of kids are really into gross things, like playing in dirt or collecting beetles or eating their boogers.
你知道，很多孩子喜欢粗鄙的东西，就像喜欢玩泥土、收集甲虫或吃他们的鼻屎。
And why is that? I think really little kids are like little explorers.
为什么这样呢？小孩子就好像小探险家。
They just want to experience as much as they can
他们只想尽可能多多地体验，
and don't have any idea about the relative acceptability of touching a ladybug versus a stinkbug.
他们对触摸瓢虫或臭虫可被接受的程度是一无所知的。
They just want to understand how everything works and experience as much of life as they can.
他们只想了解一切如何运作，尽可能多的体验生活。
And that is pure curiosity. But then adults step in,
这是纯粹的好奇心。但大人随后的介入，
and we tell kids not to pick their noses and not to touch the slugs or toads or whatever else they find in the backyard,
告诉孩子们不要挖鼻孔以及触摸鼻涕虫或蟾蜍还有在后院找到的任何东西，
because those things are gross. And we do that in part to keep kids safe, right?
因为那些东西很恶心。这样做的部分原因是为了孩子的安全，对吗？
Like, maybe picking your nose spreads germs and maybe touching that toad will give you warts,
就像抠鼻子会传入细菌，触摸那蟾蜍会令你生疣，
even though I don't actually think that's true. You should feel free to touch as many toads as you want.
但我不以为然，你可以随意触摸很多的蟾蜍。
So at a certain point, when kids get a little bit older,
在一个特定的节点，当孩子们变大一点，
there's this way that engaging with gross stuff isn't just about curiosity,
他们会与粗鄙的东西为伍，那不单是好奇心，
it's also about, sort of, finding out where the limits are, pushing the boundaries of what's OK.
而是试图找到他们可以触碰的临界点。
So, lots of kids of a certain age will have burping competitions or competitions to see who can make the grossest face.
所以，很多特定年龄的孩子会参加打嗝比赛或者参加最恶心的脸竞争。
And they do that in part because it's a little bit transgressive, right?
他们这样做是有点过火了，对吗？
But there's another layer to why we define stuff as gross.
但是，我们界定事物为粗鄙还有另一个层次。
As humans, we've sort of extended the concept of disgust to morality.
人类有点将厌恶的概念扩展至道德。
So, the psychologist Paul Rozin would say that many of the things we categorize as gross
因此，心理学家保罗·罗津会说，很多我们归类为粗鄙的东西
are things that reminds us that we're just animals.
其实是在提醒我们，我们只是动物。
These are things like bodily fluids and sex and physical abnormalities and death.
像是体液、性、身体异常及死亡。
And the idea that we're just animals can be really unsettling, because it can be this reminder of our own mortality.
而我们只是动物的想法或许令我们很不安，在在提醒我们必死的命运。
And that can leave many of us with this deep existential angst.
那让许多人带着深深的存在焦虑。
Rozin would say that there's this way in which disgust and the avoidance of gross things becomes
罗津认为这种方式就是令人厌恶和避免粗鄙的事情，
not just a way to protect our bodies, it becomes a way to protect our souls.
不仅是保护我们的身体，也同时保护我们的灵魂。
I think at a certain point, kids really begin to internalize this link between disgusting things and immorality.
在某个阶段，孩子们开始内在化恶心的事物与不道德之间的联系。
And while I don't have any concrete data to back up this next idea,
虽然没有任何数据支持我的下一个想法，
I think that for a lot of us, it happens around the time we hit puberty.
对于很多人来说，事情发生在我们进入青春期的时候。
And you know -- yeah, I know. So during puberty, our bodies are changing, and we're sweating more,
你是知道的，我也知道。在青春期，我们的身体正在发生变化，而且我们出汗更多，
and girls get their periods, and we're thinking about sex in this way that we never did before.
女孩子们开始她们的月经，以之前未有的方式思考“性”。
And through the human capacity for abstraction, this shame can settle in.
通过人的抽象思考能力，可以解决耻辱感。
So we don't necessarily just think, "Oh, my goodness, something really gross is happening to my body!"
我们未必只是想：“哦，天哪，我身上发生了恶心的事！”
We think, "Oh my God, maybe I'm gross. And maybe that means that there's something bad or wrong about me."
我们想：“噢，天哪，也许自己很粗鄙。或许这意味着我有些不好或不对劲。”
The thing is, that if you de facto associate gross stuff with immorality, you lose a huge part of your curiosity,
问题是，如果将事情与道德捆绑，就弃失了大部分的好奇心，
because there is so much out there in the world that is a little bit gross.
因为世界上有很多有些粗鄙的事物。
Like, think about going for a walk in the woods.
比如，试想在树林里散步。
You could just pay attention to the birds and the trees and the flowers and that would be fine,
你可以只关注鸟类、树木和花朵，那会很好，
but in my view, you'd be missing a bigger and more awesome picture of life on this planet.
但我认为，你会错过在这星球上更大、更精彩的生命画面。
There are cycles of decay that are driving forest growth,
这里有衰变周期，推动了森林的生长，
and there are networks of fungus beneath your feet that are connecting literally all of the plants around you.
在脚下有真菌网，连接你周围所有的植物。
That's really amazing. So I feel like we should be talking about gross stuff early and often with young people,
太神奇了。所以我们应该于早期，经常与年轻人讨论粗鄙的东西，
so they feel like they're actually allowed to claim this bigger picture of life on our planet.
让他们觉得他们实际上被允许在地球上主张更大的生活画面。
The good news is that for many of us, the fascination with gross stuff doesn't exactly go away,
好消息是，我们中的许多人对粗鄙的东西仍很着迷，并没有消失，
we just kind of pretend like it's not there.
只是假装这些东西并不存在。
But truthfully, we all spend sort of a big part of our lives just trying not to be gross.
但说实话，我们都在生活中度过了大部分时间，试图尽量表现得不粗鄙。
When you really think about it, we're sort of just like bags of fluids and some weird tissues surrounded by a thin layer of skin.
仔细想想，我们就像一袋流体和奇怪的组织，周围包着一层薄薄的皮肤。
And to a certain extent, multiple times a day,
在某程度上，每天多次，
whether consciously or subconsciously, I need to remind myself not to fart publicly.
无论有意识还是潜意识，我得提醒自己不要在公共场合放屁。
You know, we're desperately trying to avoid being gross all the time,
我们总是拼命避免粗鄙的状况，
so I think many of us take this kind of voyeuristic delight in learning about gross things.
但很多人倾向以偷窥般的喜悦去了解粗鄙的事情。
This is certainly true of kids; the number of middle school teachers who show my videos in their science classes is a testament to that.
对孩子们来说，确实如此；在科学课上展示我的视频的中学教师的数量就证明了这一点。
But I think it's totally true of adults, too.
对成年人来说，也是如此。
You know, I think we all love hearing about gross stories,
我们都喜欢听到粗鄙的事情，
because it's a socially acceptable way to explore the gross side of ourselves.
因为这是一种社会可接受的方式，来探索自己粗鄙的那一面。
But there's this other reason that I think talking about gross stuff is so important.
但还有另外一个原因，谈论粗鄙的东西是如此重要。
A while back, I made a video on tonsil stones -- sorry, everyone
前一阵子，我为扁桃腺结石做了一段视频，对不起，
which are these balls of mucus and bacteria and food that get lodged in your tonsils and they smell really terrible
这些粘液、细菌和食物的球滞留在扁桃腺中，闻起来很糟糕，
sometimes you cough them up and it's like -- it's awful. And many, many people have experienced this.
有时你会咳嗽，就像...糟糕极了。许多人都经历过这种情况。
But many of the people who have experienced this haven't really had a forum to talk about it.
虽然他们经历过，却没公开讨论的论坛。
And today, this video that I made is my most popular video. It has millions of views.
到目前为止，我所制作的那个视频是最受欢迎的。有数百万的观众。
And the comment section for that video became sort of like a self-help section,
并且该视频的评论部分，观众在自问自答，
where people could talk about their tonsil stone experiences and, like, tips and tricks for getting rid of them.
他们谈论自己关于扁桃腺结石的体验，并给出摆脱它们的提示和技巧。
And I think it became this great way for people to talk about something that they'd never felt comfortable taking about publicly.
而且意见平台成为人们谈论不能自在地公开谈论议题的地方。
And that is wonderful when it's about something as goofy as tonsil stones,
讨论像扁桃腺结石那样可笑的东西多美妙啊，
but it's a little sad when a video can have an effect like that when it's about something as common as periods.
但是当普通一些的，如女性月经的视频播放后，所产生的效果，令我有点儿伤心。
Last February, I released a video on menstruation, and to this day,
去年二月，我发布了一个关于女性月经的视频，直到今天，
I am still getting messages from people around the globe who are asking me about their periods.
我仍然收到来自世界各地的女性信息，就关于她们的月经询问我。
There are a lot of young people -- and some not-so-young people -- out there,
在意见平台有很多年轻的和一些并不年轻的人，
who are worried that what's happening to their bodies is somehow not normal.
他们担心自己身体有毛病，某程度上不正常。
And, of course, I always tell them that I am not a medical professional, and that, if possible, they should talk to a doctor.
当然，我总是告诉他们我不是专业医学人士，如果可能的话，他们应该去看医生。
But the truth of the matter is that everyone should feel comfortable talking to a doctor about their own bodies.
任何人在与医生谈论自己的身体时都不应该感到不自在。
And that's why I think it's really important for us to start this dialogue about gross stuff from a pretty early age,
因此我认为这个问题非常严重。从小时候开始与粗鄙的东西对话，
so we can let our kids know that it's alright to have agency over your own body and over your own health.
可以让我们的孩子知道，尽可安心地将自己的身体与健康交给医生处理。
There's another reason that talking to your doctor about your health and gross stuff is really, really important.
再者，与医生交谈关于健康和那些粗鄙的东西是很重要的。
Doctors and the scientific community can only address issues when they know there's something to address.
医生和科学界所能解决的问题，就是当他们知道要解决什么问题的时候。
So one of the really interesting things I learned while making the video on periods,
在制作那月经视频时，我学到的一件非常有趣的事情，
is that I was talking to this one scientist who told me there's actually still a lot we don't know about periods.
一位科学家告诉我，对于月经，我们仍有许多未知。
There's a lot of basic research that still hasn't been done.
还有很多基础的研究尚未完成。
In part, that's just because there weren't a lot of scientists in the field who were women, to ask questions about it.
部分原因是在该领域的女性科学家很少，就此提出的问题也相对少。
And it's also not a topic that women talk about publicly.
而这些也不是她们公开讨论的话题。
So there's this gap in what we know, just because no one was there to ask a question.
所以我们有认知的差距，只是因为女性没在那里问问题。
There's one final reason that I think talking about gross stuff is so important,
还有最后和最重要的原因，应该要谈论粗鄙的东西，
and that's because you just never know what you're going to find when you peel back all those layers of disgustingness.
因为你永远不知道在你剥去所有那些令人厌恶的外层后将会找到什么。
So, take the California brown sea hare.
举加州的棕色海兔为例。
This is a sea slug that squirts this lovely, bright purple ink at any creature that tries to eat it.
它们是一种海蛞蝓，会喷出可爱的、紫色明亮的鼻涕水，喷向任何试图吃它们的生物。
But it also happens to be one of the kinkiest creatures in the animal kingdom.
它们也恰好是在动物界中最古怪的生物之一。
So these guys are hermaphrodites, which means they have both male and female genitalia.
它们是雌雄同体，有着雄性和雌性的生殖器官。
And when it's time to mate, up to 20 individuals will all get together in this kind of, like, conga line and they'll all mate together.
交配的时候，最多20只海兔，就像康加舞一样地聚集在一起，它们会一起交配。
A single sea hare will inseminate the partner in front of it and receive sperm from the one behind,
一只海兔会给前面的伴侣精子，并从后面的接受精子，
which is sort of like an awesome time-saver, when you think about it.
可以想成是很棒的省时方式吧。
But if scientists had only seen this and they were like, "OK, we're just not going to touch that with a stick,"
如果科学家只注意到这一点，像是：“好吧，我们可不想用棍子触摸，”
they would have missed the bigger thing about sea hares that makes them really remarkable.
就会错过令海兔非常了不起的事情。
It turns out that these sea hares have a small number of very large neurons,
事实上，它们有少量非常大的神经元，
which makes them excellent to use in neuroscience research.
这使它们非常适合用于神经科学研究。
And, in fact, the scientist Eric Kandel used them in his research to understand how memories are stored.
事实上，科学家埃里克·坎德尔在研究中利用了这些海兔，以此了解如何存储记忆。
And you know what? He won a Nobel Prize for his work.
你知道吗？他的研究成果获得了诺贝尔奖。
So go out there and pick up beetles and play in dirt and ask questions.
所以，去花园那里拿起甲虫并玩弄泥土，然后提问吧。
And own your fascination with gross stuff and don't be ashamed of it, because you never know what you're going to find.
拥抱对粗鄙的迷恋，也不要为此感到羞耻，因为你永远不知道你会发现什么。
And as I say at the end of all my videos, "Ew." Thank you.
正如我在所有的视频的结尾时所说的：“恶心！”谢谢。
