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Believe it or not, astrobiologist Penny Boston is searching for life on Mars by dropping deep into this heart of darkness.
不管你信不信，天体生物学家潘妮·波士顿正在深入黑暗的腹地寻找火星生物。
This is a lava tube, a subterranean cave formed by underground lava flows during volcanic eruptions that occurred thousands of years ago.
这是熔岩管，一种隐蔽洞穴，由千年前火上爆发时期的地下岩浆流形成。
And Boston has someone she wants us to meet.
波士顿想让我们见识一下某种东西。
"Sometimes they are in crevices. Sometimes they are kinda hard to see." Is this one, the scary monster reveals itself?
“有时，它们在裂缝中。有时它们很难发现。”这个东西，这个可怕的怪物会自己现身么？
"Ah! There is one." Actually no. This is an extremophile. "We are looking for what we astrobiologyists call extremophiles in this environment.
“啊！在那里。”并不会。这是一种极端微生物。“我们正在此环境中寻找天体生物学家口中的极端微生物。
That means that they are organisms that are living in very difficult conditions.
这意味着它们是生活在极端艰难环境中的生物体。
In this particular case, these organisms are living in a very cold cave right around freezing.
在这里，这些生物体生活在非常寒冷的洞穴中。
They are making their living without benefit of sunlight and there is almost nothing to eat in this cave."
它们在没有阳光的地方生存，洞穴中几乎没有食物。
In recent years, scientists have discovered tenacious microorganisms living in all forms of extreme environments. So if on Earth, why not on Mars?
近些年，科学家们发现存活在各种极端环境中的顽强生物体。所以如果地球上可以有，为什么火星上不能有呢？
"We think that Mars is covered with lava tubes.
“我们认为火星上很有多熔岩洞。
We believe that by looking at organisms that live in these extreme circumstances on Earth, we can learn a lot about what to look for on Mars;
我们相信，通过在地球上的这些极端环境中寻找生物体，我们可以了解要在火星中寻找什么。
and that, similar Martian organisms may be able to persist on Mars in places very similar to this lava tube."
并且相似的火星生物体或许能够在火星的相似熔岩洞中生存。”
To find out, Dr. Boston has created her own little Mars environment biospheres,
为了查明这一点，波士顿博士创造了自己的小型火星环境生物圈，
essentially exposing a range of microscopic Earth life forms to various elements to be expected on Mars.
本质上是将一系列微观地球生命形态暴露于各种火星元素下。
"They have been subjected to Mars-like levels of high ultraviolet radiation, and Mars-like temperature cycles.
“它们经历了类似火星的紫外线辐射，以及火星温度循环。
We have given them atmosphere compositions from very low levels of carbon dioxide with nothing else to,
我们给了它们各种大气挑战，从非常低的二氧化碳量
perhaps, 1/10 the density of Earth's atmosphere, and tested them under those conditions."
到地球大气密度的1/10，并在那些环境下，对它们进行测试。”
And so far, she's isolated 36 different strains of organism that thrive quite happily.
到目前为止，她分离出了36种顽强繁育的不同生物体。
So in theory at least, life could survive the harsh conditions of Mars except for one problem.
至少在此理论中，生命可以在火星的艰难环境中生存，除了一个问题。
"There is one thing for sure that we know, and that is that all forms of life on our planet require liquid water.
“有一件事我们非常确信，地球上的所有生命形式都需要液态水，
We don't know if that's going to be true on other planets. But we think that where there is going to be life, there is going to have to be water."
我们不知道在其他星球是否也这样。但是我们认为，有生命的地方，一定有水。”
