So there’s a biodiversity within a famous document. But you can choose almost any object.
所以在这种著名的文献中就用到了很多种生物。不过你也可以任选一样东西。
Like, for example, many, including my sister, Korinthia Klein, who’s a luthier and makes instruments, wouldn’t suspect of her own profession that she entered that it would be filled with insects.
比如,包括我妹妹Korinthia Klein在内的很多人,她是一名制琴师,专门做乐器的,她很清楚自己的职业中到处都存在昆虫。
So she makes violins and violas and plays the instruments. But what goes into that instrument?
她制作小提琴和中提琴,还会演奏乐器。那这些乐器里面都有什么呢?
And you’ve got several species—not only in terms of beeswax for a tuning screw, but you’ve got propolis that’s collected, a resin mixed with other components by honeybees; that can coat the interior of an instrument.
有好几种物种——不仅有用来做调谐螺丝的蜂蜡,还有蜂胶,这是蜜蜂收集的一种混合了其他成分的树脂;它可以涂在乐器的内部。
You also have lac and shellac. You have cochineal dye that can dye the varnish.
还有虫胶和虫漆。还有能给清漆染色的胭脂虫染料。
And then you even have those tips of the violin and viola and cello called beestings. And it goes beyond that.
甚至还有小提琴、中提琴和大提琴的琴尖部位,叫做蜂针。还远不止于此。
So, for example, if you don’t take care of your instrument or practice it enough, then you can get woodworms and beetles that degrade a bow or the instrument itself.
比如,如果你不好好保养乐器,或者练习量不够,那它就会长蛀虫和甲虫,它们会破坏琴弓或乐器本身。
Yeah, it’s clear that you love insects, but of course, they’re not always helpful, whether it’s eating away at a violin or something else.
是的,很明显你喜欢昆虫,但当然,有时候它们也有一些坏处,不管是侵蚀小提琴还是其他方面。
So what are some of your favorite examples of, you know, ways insects have provided a challenging presence for humanity?
那举一个你最喜欢的,能说明昆虫给人类带来挑战的例子吧?
Oh, yeah, so we do have this ancient, conflicted relationship with insects.
哦,好,我们与昆虫之间确实存在这种古老又矛盾的关系。
But whenever you have a taxon that’s so hyperdiverse as insects, there are going to be relationships that are mixed; you might have some frenemies among the insects, right?
但无论任何时候,在面对像昆虫这样高度多样化的分类单元时,我们与它们之间的关系总是好坏参半的;昆虫对我们可能亦敌亦友,对吧?
And we’ve got 1.1 million described species and unknown magnitudes more of undescribed species—in an abundance that could number 10 quintillion.
目前已有110万种昆虫?被记录和描述,还有更多未知的未被描述的昆虫——数量之多可能达到10万亿。
So with all that diversity and all that abundance, the vast majority are essential players in terms of ecosystem stability.
有着如此庞大的多样性和丰富性,它们中的大多数都是生态系统稳定的重要参与者。
That includes not only pollination of angiosperms—flowering, fruiting plants—but includes nutrient dispersal, soil aeration, decomposition, food for others.
这不仅包括被子植物(开花结果的植物)的授粉,还包括营养物质的传播、土壤通气、分解、为其他动植物提供食物。
Remove the insects, and ecosystems would crumble, and we would soon follow.
没有了昆虫,生态系统就会崩溃,而我们也会随之消亡。
Now there are, of those 1.1 million described species, probably a couple thousand that can do us harm.
现在,在110万种已知昆虫中,可能有几千种会对我们造成伤害。
And that harm depends on whether or not you’re interested in maintaining human health or if you’re interested in structures, architectural integrity—think termites.
这种伤害取决于你是对维护人体健康感兴趣,还是对建筑结构的完整性感兴趣——想想白蚁。
And some of these relationships have surprising silver linings.
其中有些关系存在令人惊讶的一线希望。
So for example, there aren’t a whole lot of humans, unfortunately, that love mosquitoes.
比如说,不幸的是,没有多少人喜欢蚊子。
But this family, Culicidae, numbers in the thousands, and only a couple hundred, really, will nourish their developing young from a blood meal taken from a human.
但这个科,库蚊科,有几千只,实际上只有几百只,它们会通过吸食人类的血液来喂养孕育中的后代。
Now even a mosquito that will take a blood meal from a human can serve as inspiration for biomedical research.
即使是吸食人类血液的蚊子也可以为生物医学研究提供灵感。
There’s at least one lab that’s looking at the delicate mechanics, the machinery, of mosquito mouthparts to extract a meal using virtually no pain.
至少有一个实验室正在研究蚊子的口器这个精密机械,它可以在几乎没有疼痛的情况下吸取食物。
Think of how relatively pain-free a mosquito bite is, and now your next vaccination could be relatively pain-free as a result of biomimicry.
想想蚊子叮咬时几乎完全不痛,但在仿生学的帮助下,你下一次接种疫苗可能就没那么痛了。