關於我們的大腦你所不知道的五件事
The brain might not be as complicated as we think.
大腦可能並不像我們想象的那麼複雜。
"Most people think of the brain as very complex, but I think we're just ignorant. It could be very simple," Yuste says. "The idea has permeated that there's something magic inside the brain, but really it's just a firing of neurons."
“大多數人認爲大腦很複雜，但我認爲我們只是無知。它可能很簡單，” Yuste說。“大腦內部存在某種神奇的東西的想法根深蒂固，但實際上它只是一個反射神經元。”
Human brains probably aren't that different from other brains.
人類的大腦可能與其他的大腦並無什麼不同。 Think human brains are far more sophisticated than those of the rest of the animal kingdom? Think again. Our brains probably aren't that different from that of a fly or a mouse, he says. Twenty years ago, for instance, we didn't know that much about how the human body developed -- as we've learned more, we've discovered that our genes aren't that different from flies. "Nature, at the end of the day, is using the same tricks across evolution," he says. "The brain is robust, it cannot be too complicated."
認爲人類的大腦比其他種類動物的大腦更復雜？再想想。我們的大腦可能與一隻蒼蠅或老鼠的大腦並沒有什麼不同，他說。二十年前，例如，關於身體如何成長我們並不知道那麼多，當我們瞭解得越多，我們發現我們的基因與蒼蠅的並沒有太多不同。“在一天結束的時候，自然使用着相同的技巧在進化，”他說。“大腦是健壯的，不可能太複雜。”We don't only use 10 percent of our brains.
我們不只用了我們大腦的10%。
"Every part of our brain is always active all the time," Yuste says. The brain is comprised of tens of millions of neurons that are always firing (meaning the oft-repeated "fact" that we only use 10 percent of our brains isn't true). "Some people think the brain is like a computer," he says, where it sits there doing nothing until you stimulate it. In reality, the brain is always going, even when we're sleeping. "It has a life of its own," Yuste says.
“我們大腦的每一部分在任何時候總是活躍的，”Yuste說。大腦是由數以百萬計總是在反射的神經元組成(意味着多次重複的我們大腦只使用了10% 的“事實”不是真的)。“有些人認爲大腦就像一臺計算機，”他說，在你刺激它之前它就坐在那兒什麼也不做。事實上，大腦總是在運轉，甚至當我們睡覺時。“它有它自己的生活，”Yuste說。
The argument for a brain-mapping initiative isn't that different from the Human Genome Project.
大腦成像主動性的爭論點與人類基因組計劃沒有什麼不同。
We recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of the completion of the Human Genome Project. But it wasn't that long ago that people never would have thought such a lofty goal was even possible. Yuste sees a parallel to the brain-mapping initiative: Detractors argue that it's impossible to collect the data, and even if you could collect it, no one could ever understand it. They ask: Will it work? And will it be worth it? Yuste firmly believes the answer is yes. "Society has so many problems that science cannot afford to dream small dreams," he said during his TEDMED presentation.
我們最近慶祝了完成人類基因組計劃的10週年。但不久之前，人們根本沒有想過這樣一個崇高目標是可能的。Yuste看到腦成像主動性的一個類比：反對者認爲不可能收集數據，即使你可以收集到，也沒有人能理解。他們問：它會有用嗎？它將值得嗎？Yuste堅持認爲答案是肯定的。
No one understands how the brain works.
沒有人瞭解大腦如何運作。
"I can guarantee you that we don't have a clue," Yuste says. At least not yet.
“我可以向你保證我們毫無所知，”Yuste說。至少目前還沒有。
