We all can appreciate how important vision is for the way we and animals perceive our environment.
我们都知道视觉对我们人类和动物感知周围环境有多重要。
It's fascinating how nature evolved and created all these sort of specializations for every species.
大自然不断进化，并创造每一物种的各种特性，这是非常令人惊叹的。
The eye is one of evolution’s greatest successes.
眼睛是大自然进化最大的成就之一。
It acts like a camera that focuses light,
它能够像相机一样聚焦光线，
and converts it into an electrical signal that the brain translates into images.
并将其转换成电信号，然后经过大脑形成图像。
Everything needs to work in perfect harmony for vision to happen.
要形成视觉，每个环节都必须配合得天衣无缝。
But the smallest shift in those sensitive mechanics can result in a loss of vision.
然而，这些生理机制都非常敏感，即便发生最小的偏差，都可能导致视力丧失。
Inside this special lab, scientists are studying what happens to animal eyes that can no longer focus light.
在这个特殊的实验室里，科学家正在研究不能某些动物眼睛不能聚焦的原理。
We study the disease of the eye or the ocular tissues
我们研究的是眼疾或眼部组织，
so that we can understand ocular disease better and treat their patients.
以便更好地了解眼疾，治疗患者。
Founded by Emeritus Professor Dick Dubielzig and currently run by Dr. Leandro Teixeira,
该实验发起人为名誉退休教授Dick Dubielzig，目前实验由Dr. Leandro Teixeira负责，
the work happening here is equal parts diagnostic lab and exotic animal eye collection.
他们的工作是对相同部位进行实验诊断并收集来自世界其他地方的动物眼睛。
We receive samples from almost every single state in the US, clients from Europe, clients from Hong Kong. Basically, everywhere in the world.
我们接待的样本来自全国各地，也有来自欧洲，香港的客户，基本上世界各地都有我们的客户。
The size of our accessions has multiplied every year since then and continues to multiply.
从那以后，我们的收藏规模每年都要翻好几倍，如今还在继续增长。
There are over 60, 000 different specimens stored here.
这里存储着6万多个不同的标本。
And while the majority are dog, cat and horse eyes, there are 6,000 exotic ones like jaguars, bonobos, and even whale eyes.
虽然大多数是狗、猫或马的眼睛，还有6千种非本地动物的眼睛，比如美洲虎、倭黑猩猩甚至鲸鱼的眼睛。
“This is currently the biggest eye COPLOW has.
“这是我们实验室目前最大的眼球。
Whoa! That is beautiful. Look at that guys.
哇！好漂亮的眼睛，大家快看。
Every single day, there's a challenge, it's safe to say that on a weekly basis we get cases that we've never seen before.
每天都有挑战，可以肯定地说，我们每周都会收到前所未见的标本。
A day at the lab begins with a pile of unknowns, just waiting to be opened.
实验室每天早上都有一大堆包裹等着开。
The first thing that we look for is the overall shape of the eye. Is there anything distorted?
我们首先要看的是眼睛的整体形状，有没有变形啊，
Is there a mass? Is there any change in the tissue basically from outside even before we cut?
有没有杂质啊，在我们切割之前，组织外部是否发生了变化……
Tissue goes through an overnight processing to a machine just to dehydrate the tissue.
拿到组织后，我们会先把它放入机器处理一夜，让它脱水。
The paraffin enters the tissue, and then you make a block of paraffin.
We proceed to sectioning the tissue.
接下来对组织进行切片。
The goal here is to have in the end a very thin section of that tissue on a slide, stained so we can look at a microscope.
切片的时候是要取组织的一个薄片到载物片上，并且给它染色，方便我们用显微镜进行观察。
We have a five headed microscope.
我们有一台五头显微镜
We all sit together, look at it, read the story of the case and try to understand what's happening.
我们可以一起观察，了解标本背后的故事，了解标本之间的经历。
These are two eyes from a walrus and a walrus is a pinniped which is they hunt under water using vision.
这是两只海象眼睛，而海象是鳍状生物，也就是说他们在水下是靠视觉追寻猎物的踪迹。
So they need to see underwater and they also need to see above water.
There are some special modifications of the eye that account for that.
A lot of animals that need to see above and below water tend to have a relatively flat cornea.
很多需要看清水上水下情况的动物的角膜一般都较平坦。
My favorite eye is that of the chameleon.
Their eyes move independently, back and forth,
and they catch insects with their tongue, which requires a good depth perception,
他们用舌头捕捉昆虫，这就需要他们对纵深有个感知，
but they don't use their two eyes together.
但他们的双眼不会同时使用。
There’s a staggering diversity of eye adaptations in the animal kingdom,
动物王国中眼睛在进化过程中发生的变化非常惊人，
and it all sprung into existence during one major event: the Cambrian Period.
而这一切都发生在一个重要的时期- 寒武纪时期。
About 540 million years ago, life transformed from a dull, microbial existence to an explosion of animal diversity….
大约五亿四千万年前，生命从无生命的微生物转变成了纷繁复杂的动物多样性，
and the evolution of the eye is often considered the catalyst.
Understanding how life went from tiny organisms to large complex creatures with visual systems is an ongoing field of research.
了解生命如何从微小的生命体发展成具有视觉系统的大型复杂生物一直以来都是人们研究的课题。
Even Charles Darwin struggled with it.
连查尔斯·达尔文也为之努力过。
Ultimately, animals process light to compete and survive.
To the untrained eye, this almost looks like a piece of art.
对一个没经过训练的外行人来说，这些眼睛堪称是艺术品。
But to a trained ocular pathologist, there is a treasure trove of detail to explore.
但对一个受过专业训练的眼部病例学家来说，这些眼睛里都有着大量细节可以挖掘。
We're looking at a high magnification image of a lens capsule from a cat.
And the cat has been traumatized
and the bright magenta tissue that's been wrinkled up is the lens capsule.
This process - trauma to the lens and cats --is responsible for the second most common cancer of the cat eye,
这个过程——对晶状体的创伤——就是造成猫眼第二常见的癌症的原因，
which we call the post-traumatic sarcoma.
Studying this kind of tumor in cats could have a major impact on human cancer treatment.
研究猫眼的这种肿瘤或许能够对人类癌症治疗产生重大影响。
Now we can study, what are the differences between the lens epithelial cells in cats and humans
现在我们可以研究猫和人类晶状体上皮细胞之间的区别，
and try to see, Oh, this gene is off in humans but it's on in cats.
看看能不能发现，“噢，这个基因人类DNA里没有但猫有。
Is that switch present in other cells that we can turn it on and off and try to regulate cancer?
那其他细胞里有没有呢，可不可以通过控制这种基因来治疗癌症呢？”
This collection of eyes is a resource for evolutionary biologists and veterinarians alike, creating an unparalleled photographic record, indexed by animal species.
收藏的这些眼睛标本可供进化生物学家和兽医等人研究，积累成按动物物种分类的无与伦比的照片资料。
By studying the disease origins, effects and progression,
we’re helping push the field forward bit by bit.
It feels good to be able to help, and to know that all that information is getting archived in a way that we might be able to work with and make an impact on animals' lives.
能够帮助到社会，知道所有这些信息都已经以一种我们能够接受的方式归了档，并且能够改变动物的生活，感觉还是挺好的。
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