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Thanks to Brilliant for supporting this episode of SciShow.
感谢Brilliant对本期节目的支持。
Go to Brilliant.org/SciShow to check out their course on Algorithm Fundamentals.
登陆Brilliant.org/SciShow了解他们的《算法基本原理》课程。
Brittle stars may seem a bit boring at first glance. They're basically skinnier, wigglier versions of their relatives, the sea stars.
乍看之下，海蛇尾可能有些无趣，相比它们的近亲海星，它们更瘦，也更灵活。
But those are not the only ways they differ from their meatier cousins.
但是它们与胖乎乎表亲的差别还不仅于此。
Sea stars have eyes—one at the end of each arm. But brittle stars are eyeless, so clearly they must not be as cool, right?
海星是有眼睛的——每条手臂末端都有一只眼睛。但是海蛇尾没有眼睛，所以它们肯定没海星酷，对吧？
Except, it turns out they can see. Just with their skin instead of eyes!
但事实证明，它们能够看见，只是它们用皮肤而不是眼睛去看！
Vision seems like it would be pretty simple: if you have eyes, you can see. If you don't have eyes, you cannot.
视觉似乎相当简单：如果你有眼睛，你就能看见；如果没有眼睛，就看不见。
But eyes are just a really advanced form of photoreception: the ability to perceive light.
但眼睛其实只是一种高级形式的视觉感受：感知光的能力。
And there's lots of animals on our planet that do not have eyes that can still sense light. And it has a name! It's known as extraocular photoreception.
我们星球上的很多动物没有眼睛，却能感知光线。这被称为眼外视觉感受。
Basically, they can sense light with other parts of their bodies,
除了眼睛，或者没有眼睛时，
either in addition to or instead of having eyes. The brittle star Ophiocoma wendtii, is one such creature.
它们可以用身体的其他部分感知光线。海蛇尾Ophiocoma wendtii就是这样一种生物。
These brainless, shy animals spend their time hanging out in dark crevices of coral reefs.
这些没有大脑又害羞的动物在珊瑚礁黑暗的缝隙中消磨时间。
And they know they're in those crevices because they can react to light and shadow using their skin.
它们知道自己在这些缝隙中，因为它们可以通过皮肤对光和阴影做出反应。
Until recently, scientists thought that crystal-like structures in their skin worked together like a big compound eye.
直到最近，科学家们还认为它们皮肤上的晶体结构就像一只大复眼一样协同工作。
Essentially, they believed the crystals could focus light onto nerves running all over the brittle star's body,
他们认为晶体能够将光线聚集到布满海蛇尾身体的神经上，
and that allowed the animals to form images of their environment.
并让动物们能够形成周围环境的图像。
And they believed that because they thought there was this big network of nerves running below the crystals.
他们这么想是因为他们认为在这些晶体之下有一个巨大的神经网络。
But once they took a closer look with high-tech microscopes, they found that these nerves actually run in between the crystals.
但他们使用高科技显微镜近距离观察后发现，这些神经其实是在晶体之间。
Which sinks the whole crystals-focusing-light on them idea.
这使得他们的整个晶体-聚集-光线-的想法都不成立。
However, they also found that the skin on their arms contains lots of cells filled with light-sensitive proteins called opsins.
但他们还发现，它们手臂上的皮肤中含有大量细胞，这些细胞中充满了一种名为视蛋白的光敏蛋白。
And it turns out these are in close contact with those nerves. So now, biologists think these cells allow the brittle star to detect light.
结果证明，这些细胞和那些神经有着亲密接触。所以现在生物学家们认为这些细胞让海蛇尾能够探测到光。
Basically, when light hits those light-sensitive proteins, the cells send a signal to the nerves, and that causes the brittle star to react.
当光线照射在这些光敏蛋白上时，这些细胞会向神经发送信号，海蛇尾因此能够进行反应。
Which, in their case, generally means moving out of the spotlight and back into the dark.
对海蛇尾而言，这种反应意味着离开聚光灯，回到黑暗中去。
It's still not fully known how exactly the nerves produce this response, what with the animals lacking a brain.
现在还不完全清楚这些神经是如何产生这种反应的，因为这些动物是没有大脑的。
And they aren't sure whether brittle stars can see shapes or just experience light and shadow.
他们也不清楚海蛇尾是否可以看将光线和阴影的形状，还是仅能感知到它们。
But they're eager to learn more, because there are lots of cases where we would like machines to see without relying on a central control system.
但是他们渴望了解更多，因为在很多情况下，我们希望机器能够在不依赖中控系统的条件下也能看到。
It could help cut down the circuitry needs of mobile robots, for example,
例如，这可以帮助减少移动机器人的电路需求
since they wouldn't need to send all information to their centralized "brains" to process.
因为这样它们就不需要将所有信息传输到它们的集中‘大脑’中进行处理。
And it might make the machines better at tolerating and adapting to damage.
这或许可以帮助机器更好地忍受和适应损伤。
Basically, much like brittle stars, localized injuries wouldn't have as big an impact on their overall ability to function—an idea known as graceful degradation.
和海蛇尾差不多，局部受伤不会对它们整体运行能力产生大的影响——这一想法被称为故障弱化。
So not only do brittle stars have the superpower of seeing without eyes,
所以海蛇尾不仅有这种不用眼睛也能看见的超能力，
they might be able to show us how to design robots with that same ability,
它们或许还能向我们展示如何设计出一种具备相同能力的机器人，
so that they can travel into dangerous environments and perform all sorts of helpful tasks.
这样机器人就可以深入危险的环境中，进行各种有帮助的任务了。
And that makes these eyeless, boneless, brainless animals anything but boring.
这使得这些没有眼睛、骨头、大脑的动物一点也不无趣。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow, which is sponsored by Brilliant.
感谢收看本期节目，本期节目由Brilliant赞助播出。
Brilliant offers hands-on courses that can help you cultivate your math and scientific thinking skills.
Brilliant提供实践课程，可以帮助你培养数学和科学思维技能。
Like, if you want to get a peak at what robotics engineers do every day, you could take their Algorithm Fundamentals course.
比如，如果你想了解机器人工程师每天都在做什么，你可以学习他们的《算法基本原理》课程。
Algorithms are the codes that underlie everything our machines do.
算法是我们机器所做一切事情的基础。
So with this course, you'll gain a deeper understanding of how we get robots, or any computer, to do what we want.
所以学习这门课程，你将对如何让机器人或电脑完成我们的指令有更深的了解。
With a premium subscription, you'll get access to it and all of Brilliant's other courses, as well as their other educational content.
付费订阅，你将能够观看Brilliant的所有课程，也包括他们的其他教育性内容。
And if you're one of the first 200 people to sign up at Brilliant.org/SciShow, you'll get 20% off an annual premium subscription.
前200名注册Brilliant.org/SciShow的用户将获得年度会员八折优惠。
So if you want to deepen your STEM skills, be sure to head on over to that link and check out what Brilliant has to offer!
如果你想深化自己的STEM技能，一定要点击链接，看看Brilliant的其他内容！
