重做生命起源实验--一些关键细节被忽略(2)

The attention was concentrated on modifying the atmosphere, on modifying the energy, the intensity, and modifying the analytical tools.

注意力集中在了改变大气，改变能量，改变强度，改变分析工具上。

And the role of the silica got forgotten entirely.

二氧化硅的作用被完全遗忘了。

Dr. Saladino’s team wanted to see if the glass was doing anything in the reaction.

萨拉迪诺博士的团队想看看玻璃是否在反应中起作用。

To test this they set up three different versions of the original experiment where everything was the same except the containers.

为了验证这一点，他们设置了三个不同版本的原始实验，除了容器以外，所有东西都是一样的。

For comparison they chose teflon which does not dissolve when holding an alkaline solution, the way the glass does.

作为比较，他们选择了聚四氟乙烯容器，因为聚四氟乙烯容器装有碱性溶液时不会像玻璃那样溶解。

There is the experiment only glass, the experiment only teflon, and in the middle, there is the experiment in teflon with some pieces of glass added inside.

有实验只用了玻璃容器，有实验只用了聚四氟乙烯容器，也有折中的，实验用加了一些玻璃的聚四氟乙烯容器。

Then they used a technique called mass spectrometry to analyze what each reaction produced.

然后他们使用一种叫做质谱分析的技术来分析每个反应产生的东西。

Mass spectrometry is great for figuring out what kinds of molecules are in a complex mixture.

质谱分析法对于确定复杂混合物中的分子种类很有帮助。

They found that teflon produced very few organic compounds.

他们发现聚四氟乙烯产生的有机化合物很少。

There were more compounds in the teflon with glass pieces.

加了玻璃的聚四氟乙烯容器中含有更多的化合物。

But the glass container, by far, created the greatest number and largest variety of organic molecules.

但到目前为止，玻璃容器创造了最多数量和最大种类的有机分子。

The mechanism of exactly how the silica helps catalyze the reaction is not clear yet--but it is very clearly does.

二氧化硅帮助催化反应的确切机理尚不清楚，但很明显确实如此。

The obvious question then is: Was there silica available in the early earth environment?

那么显而易见的问题是:在早期地球环境中是否存在二氧化硅?

The water is not suspended in a vacuum.

水不是悬浮在真空中。

No? The water is in geochemistry, it is surrounded by minerals.

没有? 地球化学中有水，它周围有矿物质。

Borosilicate and silica are the most abundant minerals surrounding the water.

硼硅酸盐和二氧化硅是水周围最丰富的矿物质。

The team has two next major objectives in mind.

团队的下一个主要目标是两个。

First, to try updating the experiment to model more closely the amount of silica that would have been available in the early Earth.

首先，尝试更新实验，以更接近地模拟早期地球上可能存在的二氧化硅的数量。

And second, they want to try replacing the silica with extraterrestrial minerals like, pieces of meteorite or rocks from other planets.

其次，他们想尝试用地球外的矿物质来代替二氧化硅，比如来自其他行星的陨石碎片或岩石。

Apart from just being very cool, that could give a more concrete idea of how to look for life in space.

除了非常酷之外，这还可以为如何在太空中寻找生命提供更具体的想法。

But here on Earth, coming one step closer to fully understanding why we exist is that much more satisfying.

在地球上，距离完全理解我们存在的原因又近了一步，这是令人满意的。

Even after nearly 70 years, a key discovery in our complex origin story still carries new revelations.

即使在近70年之后，在我们复杂的起源故事中的一个关键发现仍然带来了新的启示。

As the authors say in the paper: "The role of the rocks was hidden in the walls of the reactors."

正如作者在论文中所说:“岩石的作用隐藏在反应器的容器壁上。”

Thanks for listening for Scientific American’s 60 Second Science, I’m Sarah Vitak.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是莎拉·维塔。