On Wednesday, August 25th, 1875, the HMS Challenger found sunken treasure. Though at the time, they didn't realize its value or the problems it might cause.

1875年8月25日星期三，英國皇家海軍挑戰者號發現了沉沒的寶藏。雖然當時他們沒有意識到它的價值，也沒想到它可能造成的問題。

They were on a voyage around the globe.

他們正在進行環球航行。

And 6 days out of Hawaii, they dredged the ocean floor and brought up a lumpy nugget of rock, something they called a manganese nodule. At the center of these nodules, they sometimes found shark

離夏威夷6天的航程，他們用疏浚機挖掘海底，撈起了一塊凹凸不平的岩石塊，他們稱之為錳結核。在這些結核的中心，他們有時會發現鯊魚

teeth. And these are layers of metal, lots of manganese, but also iron, cobalt, nickel, and copper. The nodules were vaguely interesting at the time, but fast forward 150 years. Now we're in

牙齒。這些是金屬層，主要是錳，但也有鐵、鈷、鎳和銅。當時這些結核只是稍微有趣，但快轉150年後。現在我們進入了

this completely different era. Yeah. General Motors has high hopes for it.

這個完全不同的時代。是的。通用汽車對此寄予厚望。

Electric car, all electric sports car. Demand for electric cars is surging.

電動車，全電動跑車。對電動車的需求正在激增。

More than 3 million EVs a year, all powered by lithium ion batteries. And a lot of these metals are used in those batteries. Now, fancy new ships are impatiently waiting to start vacuuming

每年超過300萬輛電動車，全部由鋰離子電池驅動。這些金屬中有很多被用於這些電池。現在，新式的先進船隻正迫不及待地等著開始吸取

up all those valuable little balls. It's a mess of UN regulations, giant corporations, tiny island nations, Trump proclamations, and Johnny Harris untangles exactly how we ended up here

所有那些有價值的小球。這是聯合國法規、大型企業、小型島國、川普公告的混亂局面，而Johnny Harris正好解釋了我們是如何走到這一步的

in his latest episode. But here at Howtown, we're tackling a different question. One that scientists are scrambling to answer. What's living down there? Anything could happen. Anything could be there.

在他最新的一集中。但在Howtown這裡，我們要解決一個不同的問題。一個科學家們正在爭先恐後要回答的問題。那裡住著什麼？任何事都可能發生。任何東西都可能在那裡。

the most amazing creature in the world. We have so many new species in the lab that we don't have enough people to describe them. What makes these sea

世界上最神奇的生物。我們在實驗室裡有這麼多新物種，我們沒有足夠的人來描述它們。是什麼讓這些海洋

monsters so hard to study? And can they survive humanity's quest for sunken treasure? In the 1800s, people reasoned that life couldn't survive far beyond the reach of sunlight. It gets dark just

怪物這麼難研究？它們能否在人類尋找沉沒寶藏的過程中存活下來？在1800年代，人們認為生命無法在陽光能到達的範圍之外生存。只要下潛幾百

a few hundred meters down. But sailors and scientists started pulling up strange creatures from deeper depths.

公尺就會變得黑暗。但水手和科學家開始從更深的地方撈起奇怪的生物。

And so the Challenger set out on a three-year cruise to get to the bottom of things. They filled up 50 volumes with new discoveries. But that was only

於是挑戰者號開始了一次三年的航行來徹底調查。他們用50捲冊記錄新發現。但那只是

the tip of the iceberg. Think about how big the oceans are. This is the true relative size of the continents and the oceans. A little bit of the ocean floor

冰山一角。想想海洋有多大。這是大陸和海洋的真實相對大小。一小部分海底

is shallow continental shelf. And at the other end of the spectrum, we've got deep trenches, but most of the ocean is this vast abyssal plane. That's 50% of

是淺的大陸架。在另一端，我們有深海海溝，但大部分海洋是這片廣闘的深海平原。那是

the planet literally of the globe. So not of the ocean, of the globe. One part of the Abyssal plane has probably been studied more than any other, the Clarion

地球的50%——字面上就是地球的一半。所以不只是海洋的50%，是整個地球的50%。深海平原有一部分可能比其他地方研究得更多，克拉里昂-克利珀頓

Clipperton zone. That's not because it's easy or cheap to get to. The CCZ is far from any port. Expeditions cost tens of thousands of dollars a day. And once

區。那不是因為它容易或便宜到達。CCZ離任何港口都很遠。探險每天要花費數萬美元。一旦

you've arrived, you're still miles away from the thing you want to study. These are depths that are 4,000 to 6,000 m deep. And that great pressure and distance from the ship makes them a

你到達了，你離你想研究的東西還有好幾英里。這些深度是4000到6000公尺深。那巨大的壓力和與船的距離使它們成為

challenge to sample. Imagine trying to explore a forest that's under 3 mi of water. A blanket of eternal darkness with crushing pressures greater than those that destroyed the infamous Titan submersible and temperatures near

採樣的挑戰。想像一下試圖探索一片在3英里水下的森林。一片永恆黑暗的覆蓋，有著比摧毀了臭名昭著的泰坦號潛水艇還要大的壓力，溫度接近

freezing. And this particular forest is truly enormous. That is crazy. I had no idea it was that big because when they show it in the ocean, it's like there's

冰點。而這片特定的森林真的非常巨大。太瘋狂了。我不知道它那麼大，因為當他們在海洋中展示它時，看起來像是

not really much for right. There's no reference point. It's huge, large, difficult to reach. Yes. But it has one thing that the others don't have. It's absolutely carpeted with nodules. Each

沒什麼太大的。沒有參照點。它巨大、遼闘、難以到達。是的。但它有一樣其他地方沒有的東西。它完全鋪滿了結核。每

one takes millions of years to grow. Metal dissolved in the sea water slowly precipitates around some hard little seed like a tooth or a bone or a bit of

一個需要數百萬年才能形成。溶解在海水中的金屬慢慢沉澱在一些堅硬的小種子週圍，像牙齒或骨頭或一點

pummus. In parts of the CCZ, there are nearly 40 kg of nodules per square meter. It all adds up to trillions of dollars worth of metal. And so companies

浮石。在CCZ的某些部分，每平方公尺有近40公斤的結核。加起來價值數萬億美元的金屬。所以來自世界各地的公司

and countries from around the world have already staked claims. But the International Seabed Authority, which was set up by a UN treaty, says that before they can get started, they have

和國家已經宣布了主權。但是國際海底管理局——由聯合國條約設立——說在他們開始之前，必須

to do environmental surveys. And so corporate money is funding these sweet drone shots and also some studies that are helping change our understanding of the CCZ. The idea for until probably the

做環境調查。所以企業的錢正在資助這些精美的無人機拍攝，以及一些研究，正在幫助改變我們對CCZ的理解。直到大概

70s was just that this is an aoic place where animals don't like to live and it's not really very important. It's not like shockingly alive. You take a

70年代的想法只是這是一個生物不喜歡居住的荒蕪地方，沒有什麼重要的。不像是驚人地充滿生機。你在

picture in the 70s and they say, "This is the Navison desert. There's barely anything." But nowadays, we know that's not true. It's really diverse.

70年代拍一張照片，他們說「這是那維森沙漠。幾乎什麼都沒有。」但現在，我們知道那不是真的。它真的很多樣化。

Absolutely. Every time we drop a camera, we see a new species. We're finding thousands and thousands of species.

絕對是。每次我們放下攝影機，我們都會看到一個新物種。我們發現了成千上萬的物種。

So, before we get to all the species, tell me what you think of these smooth transitions into our sponsorship ad. Oh, boy. Enough about manganese nodules. Get a hang of these news

所以，在我們講到所有物種之前，告訴我你對這些流暢過渡到我們贊助廣告的看法。哦天啊。別說錳結核了。來看看這些新聞

tools. Today's sponsor is Ground News. It's this website and app that gathers news stories from around the globe. And I actually use it all the time because

工具。今天的贊助商是Ground News。這是一個網站和應用程式，收集來自全球的新聞故事。我實際上一直在用它，因為

it gives you more info on these sources, their political bias, how factual they tend to be, and who owns them. For example, after Trump signed this executive order aiming to open up deep

它給你更多關於這些來源的資訊，它們的政治傾向，它們通常有多準確，以及誰擁有它們。例如，在川普簽署這項旨在開放深海

sea mining in international waters. They gathered 224 sources, and you can see how the story was covered across the political spectrum. My favorite part of ground news is this blind spot feature

採礦在國際水域的行政命令之後。他們收集了224個來源，你可以看到這個故事在政治光譜上是如何被報導的。我最喜歡Ground News的部分是這個盲點功能，

where you can sort of see what are the news stories that one side of the political spectrum are covering more than the other. So like if you're on the

你可以看到政治光譜的一邊比另一邊報導更多的新聞故事是什麼。所以如果你在

right, what are you missing that the left is covering and vice versa. So you can you can head over to ground.news/howtown where for a limited time you can get 40% off their vantage

右邊，你錯過了左邊在報導什麼，反之亦然。所以你可以去ground.news/howtown，在有限的時間內你可以獲得他們vantage

plan which is what I use. Ground.news/howtown. deep sea mining more like keep refining your understanding of the news. Okay, so how do they discover new species on the abyssal plane? So the

計劃40%的折扣，那是我用的。Ground.news/howtown。深海採礦，更像是繼續精進你對新聞的理解。好，那麼他們是如何在深海平原上發現新物種的？所以

classic way is just to drop down a bucket or a net and pull up a piece of the seafloor. This is the dredge used by the HMS Challenger. They look like

經典的方法就是放下一個桶或網，撈起一塊海底。這是英國皇家海軍挑戰者號使用的疏浚機。它們看起來像

severed ponytails. Those are actually just the mops that they would use to swab the decks of the ship. So they just tied them onto the bottom because they

被割掉的馬尾辮。那些其實只是他們用來擦甲板的拖把。所以他們就把它們綁在底部，因為他們

found that those would get tangled in like corals or you know different different creatures. Here's a more modern version. This box core was used to perform some of the first surveys of

發現那些會纏住珊瑚或其他不同的生物。這是一個更現代的版本。這個箱式取樣器被用來進行CCZ的一些最早期調查

the CCZ in the 1970s. Oh, it's a it's a claw machine. Yeah. Yeah, that's right.

在1970年代。哦，這是一個夾娃娃機。是的。是的，沒錯。

And it's very similar. Like you you sort of don't have a lot of control over where it lands and you're not sure what you're going to get when you pull it

而且非常相似。你有點無法控制它降落在哪裡，你也不確定當你拉起來時會得到什麼。

back up. It does take three or four hours cuz you got to drop it all the way down to the bottom and get it all the way back up. Then you have several

確實需要三到四個小時，因為你得把它一路放到底部，然後再一路拉回來。然後你有幾

square feet of mud to look through and one of these cores could have thousands of individuals. And then you need somebody to tell you what those animals

平方英尺的泥巴要看，其中一個取樣可能有數千個個體。然後你需要有人告訴你那些動物

are. And there's only a few dozen people in the world that even have the qualifications to identify a lot of these animals. So that's sort of one strategy. Another one is just to collect

是什麼。而世界上只有幾十個人有資格識別這些動物。所以這是一種策略。另一種是收集

the DNA that's in the water. It doesn't um require a lot of equipment. Let's say you only need a bottle. fill the bottle with a water sample, sequence all the

水中的DNA。它不需要很多設備。假設你只需要一個瓶子。用水樣裝滿瓶子，對所有

DNA in it, and then compare that DNA to a library of known species. One of the problems we had in the Clarion Clipper is that the organisms living there, many

DNA進行測序，然後將那些DNA與已知物種的資料庫進行比較。我們在克拉里昂-克利珀頓區遇到的問題之一是住在那裡的生物，很多

of them are still not sequenced. A large percentage of what we get, we don't know what it is. Finally, you can look for animals using an ROV, a remote operated

還沒有被測序。我們得到的很大一部分，我們不知道是什麼。最後，你可以使用ROV——遠程操作

vehicle. I was imagining them much smaller, but it's like Oh, cool. sort of personsized and it's just a big camera in there. Well, there's a lot lot lot going on. Cameras, thrusters,

載具來尋找動物。我以為它們會小很多，但它像是——哦，酷。差不多人那麼大，裡面就是一個大攝影機。嗯，有很多很多東西在進行。攝影機、推進器、

manipulator arms. Sometimes you can have a little vacuum cleaner like slurp sampler to collect animals. You're sitting in a room on board the ship controlling it like playing a video

機械臂。有時候你可以有一個像吸塵器一樣的吸樣器來收集動物。你坐在船上的房間裡控制它，就像在玩電子

game. All while a tether that's thousands of meters long sends power down and video back up. The first thing you see reflected in the lights of the ROV is this

遊戲。同時一條數千公尺長的纜線把電力送下去，把視頻傳回來。你在ROV的燈光中首先看到的是這種

everpresent marine snow. It's a very elegant term for the poop and dead debris that sink down from the surface.

永遠存在的海洋雪。這是一個非常優雅的詞，指的是從表面沉下來的糞便和死亡碎片。

There's still organic material there, but the quality of poo, it's not as good. Incredibly, this gentle sprinkling of lowquality poo is the base of an entire food web. And sure enough, out of

那裡仍然有有機物質，但糞便的質量，沒那麼好。令人難以置信的是，這種溫和的低質量糞便灑落是整個食物網的基礎。果然，從

the fecal flurry, something emerges. That is brilliant. There are beautifully ruffled polyat worms, comb jellies, shimmering squid, and this woolly siphonophore.

糞便風暴中，有東西出現了。太精彩了。有美麗皺褶的多毛蟲、櫛水母、閃爍的魷魚，還有這種毛茸茸的管水母。

It's like a a bubbly snake. They used to think this was just one creature, but it's actually a colony with some swimmers propelling it up front and a bunch of tentacle guys being towed

就像一條泡泡蛇。他們以前認為這只是一種生物，但它實際上是一個群落，前面有一些遊泳者推動它，後面有一堆觸手夥伴被拖著

behind, capturing prey. This octopus is sparkling in the reflected light of the ROV.

捕捉獵物。這隻章魚在ROV的反射光中閃閃發光。

It's studded with chromataphores, small pigmented cells that allow it to change its appearance. Descending further, you reach the peak of a seamount. These are underwater mountains where the tops of

它佈滿了色素細胞，這些小的色素細胞讓它可以改變外觀。繼續下降，你到達了海山的頂峰。這些是水下山脈，頂部

them were still really, really deep, 3,500 m down. Food is so scarce that a baited pole quickly attracts a swarm of eels and rat tail fish. And rat tails

仍然非常非常深，3500公尺深。食物是如此稀缺，以至於一根有餌的杆子很快就吸引了一群鰻魚和鼠尾魚。而鼠尾魚

are fantastic. They have an incredible sense of smell. They arrived within tens of minutes. How big are they? What's the sort of I will back up, but this is a

太棒了。它們有驚人的嗅覺。它們在幾十分鐘內就到達了。它們有多大？大概——我會退後一點，但這是一條

rat tail fish. Look at the face on that.

鼠尾魚。看看那張臉。

Rat tails are actually one of the most familiar looking things around now that we reached the nodule fields. The creatures down here are stranger by far.

鼠尾魚實際上是現在看起來最熟悉的東西之一，因為我們到達了結核區。這裡的生物要奇怪得多。

One of the first things you're likely to notice is a sea cucumber. They spend their days carefully picking flakes of marine snow out of the mud. Scientists affectionately call this variety gummy

你可能首先注意到的是海參。它們整天小心翼翼地從泥巴中挑出海洋雪的碎片。科學家們親切地稱這種品種為軟糖

squirrels, but they apparently taste awful. They're big, they're slow, nobody wants to eat them. Most animals just pass them by.

鬆鼠，但它們顯然嘗起來很糟糕。它們大、慢，沒有人想吃它們。大多數動物只是路過它們。

We found this prawn, but a massive prawn would be this size, more or less. It seems to generate these massive mounds that we don't really know what they hide

我們發現了這隻蝦，但一隻巨大的蝦大概這麼大。它似乎產生了這些巨大的土堆，我們真的不知道裡面藏了什麼。

in there. They think it's either eggs or maybe it's like a dead fish that they found and are like protecting their little cache of food. Oh, cool. You can

他們認為要麼是蛋，要麼可能像是它們找到的死魚，正在保護它們的小食物儲藏。哦，酷。你可以

see they have these long front legs and at the end are these tiny little brushes. They just go around. They're little brooms.

看到它們有這些長長的前腿，末端是這些小小的刷子。它們就繞著走。它們是小掃帚。

What keeps me going is that feeling of uh what could be there in the next picture. Me myself alone 2:00 a.m. in the morning. Click. What is this thing?

讓我持續下去的是那種感覺——下一張照片裡可能有什麼。我自己一個人凌晨2點。點擊。這是什麼東西？

We couldn't understand it. But from another angle, it turned out to be a squid walking along on two tentacles. We had no idea that this species existed nor that this behavior existed. In the

我們無法理解它。但從另一個角度，它原來是一隻用兩條觸手行走的魷魚。我們不知道這個物種存在，也不知道這種行為存在。在

same photo, you can see this mysterious pattern of dots. What? What are those?

同一張照片中，你可以看到這種神秘的點狀圖案。什麼？那些是什麼？

Are those like the footprints of the vehicle or something? These little That's exactly why honeyone grids. What is it? These sets of holes are found all over. They're holes. They're little

那些是載具的足跡還是什麼？這些小——那正是為什麼蜂巢狀格子。是什麼？這些成組的洞到處都是。它們是洞。它們是小

holes. What? If you brush away the top layer, you can see the holes connect to this hexagonal lattice. We found fossils with the same shape dating back millions

洞。什麼？如果你刷掉表層，你可以看到這些洞連接到這個六邊形的格子。我們發現了數百萬年前形狀相同的化石。

of years. But the crazy thing is they still don't know what makes them. They haven't been able to find the creature.

但瘋狂的是他們仍然不知道是什麼製造的。他們還沒能找到那種生物。

Ooh. Okay. I I just want to pop it. I'm sorry. I want to pop it. All of those little bubbles. Believe it or not, this thing is an animal, a sponge. They are

哦。好的。我就是想把它戳破。抱歉。我想戳破它。所有那些小泡泡。信不信由你，這個東西是一種動物，一種海綿。它們是

the most amazing creature in the world. They've been on Earth for more than 600 million years. And more than 600 million years later, they're still thriving.

世界上最神奇的生物。它們在地球上已經存在超過6億年。超過6億年後，它們仍在繁榮。

Some of them live thousands of years. Mostly they just hang out and filter bacteria out of the seawater. But in the abyss they have to get more aggressive.

它們中的一些能活數千年。大多數時候它們只是待著，從海水中過濾細菌。但在深海中它們必須變得更積極。

The coolest sponge that I know of is a carnivorous sponge. These balls, as you might predict, produce sperm, but they're also covered with tiny spicules.

我所知道的最酷的海綿是肉食性海綿。這些球，正如你可能猜到的，產生精子，但它們也覆蓋著小刺。

These little hooks like a Velcro. Tiny crustaceans are snagged, engulfed, and digested. A recent study tallied up more than 5,000 species in the CCZ.

這些像魔鬼氈一樣的小鉤子。小型甲殼類被勾住、吞沒、消化。一項最近的研究在CCZ統計了超過5000種物種。

Many of them are found in or on the nodules themselves like this mustachioed polyat worm and the sponges, sea lillies, anemmones and sea stars that use the rocks as anchors. Only 436 of

它們中的許多是在結核本身中或上面發現的，像這種有鬍子的多毛蟲，還有海綿、海百合、海葵和海星，它們用岩石作為錨。只有436個

the species they found had names. In other words, about 90% have yet to be described by science. We really need more people to name these things. And there's good reason to believe there's

他們發現的物種有名字。換句話說，大約90%還沒有被科學描述。我們真的需要更多人來命名這些東西。而且有充分的理由相信還有

lots more to find based on something scientists call accumulation curves. Say you take a picture in the Amazon rainforest and you count up all the species in it, all the plants and fungi,

更多要發現的，基於科學家所謂的累積曲線。假設你在亞馬遜雨林拍一張照片，數一數裡面所有的物種，所有的植物和真菌，

20 species of ants, maybe a monkey, and you plot that number on a graph. Then you walk down the trailways and take a new picture. That tree, those bushes repeat themselves again in the

20種螞蟻，也許一隻猴子，然後把那個數字畫在圖表上。然後你沿著步道走下去，拍一張新照片。那棵樹，那些灌木在

second picture. But there are lots of new species as well. You then plot the total cumulative number of species you've seen in those two photos. And then in three photos, four

第二張照片中又出現了。但也有很多新物種。然後你畫出你在這兩張照片中看到的物種的總累積數量。然後三張照片、四

photos, five, etc. Eventually, there will be a point that is hard for you to take a picture and not find an animal that you've already seen. The curve will

張照片、五張，等等。最終，會有一個點，你很難拍一張照片而不發現一種你已經見過的動物。曲線會

start to flatten out, which means we're close to fully cataloging all the species in this area. Doing the same thing in the abyss, you'd find fewer species in each

開始變平，這意味著我們接近完全編目這個區域的所有物種。在深海做同樣的事，你會在每

picture, so the line rises more gradually. But even after years of surveys, the line is nowhere near leveling out. Here are some realworld accumulation curves looking just at

張照片中發現更少的物種，所以線上升得更緩慢。但即使經過多年的調查，這條線還遠沒有變平。這是一些真實世界的累積曲線，只看

species of worms from a few sites in the CCC. 50 60 cores we're collecting. Each new core is still finding new species.

來自CCZ幾個地點的蟲類物種。50、60個取樣我們在收集。每個新的取樣仍在發現新物種。

Basically everywhere we've sampled, we haven't done enough sampling unfortunately. And that's kind of what gets very frustrating is that there isn't really the answer is always we need more. So we still don't know

基本上我們採樣的每個地方，不幸的是我們都沒有做足夠的採樣。這就是讓人非常沮喪的地方，因為答案總是我們需要更多。所以我們仍然不知道

everything that lives in the Clarion Clipperton zone. And that's just the first of many mysteries. We don't really know who eats what. So, uh, we can guess by the morphology of the animal, but

住在克拉里昂-克利珀頓區的所有東西。而那只是許多謎團中的第一個。我們真的不知道誰吃什麼。所以，呃，我們可以根據動物的形態來猜測，但

we're not fully sure. We don't understand the food web down there. We don't understand carbon cycling. We don't understand most of the basics of how this ecosystem functions, which makes it

我們不完全確定。我們不了解那裡的食物網。我們不了解碳循環。我們不了解這個生態系統如何運作的大部分基礎，這使得

all the more difficult to predict the effects that deep sea mining are going to have. So, ideally, you do an experiment. You would do a little bit of

預測深海採礦將產生的影響更加困難。所以，理想情況下，你做一個實驗。你會在一個特定的地點做一點

mining in a specific spot and then watch that spot for decades, for a century and see does it recover? Does it completely die off? What is the impact? It turns

採礦，然後觀察那個地點幾十年、一個世紀，看看它會不會恢復？會不會完全死亡？影響是什麼？原來

out the closest thing we have to that sort of experiment is thanks to a secret CIA operation. Oo. So basically 1968 a Soviet submarine disappears. It sinks.

我們最接近那種實驗的是由於一次秘密的CIA行動。哦。所以基本上1968年一艘蘇聯潛艇失蹤了。它沉沒了。

The Soviets can't find it. But the US, who had just installed this network of acoustic monitoring stations, was able to pinpoint its location. They knew it could yield this huge windfall of intel.

蘇聯人找不到它。但美國剛安裝了這個聲學監測站網絡，能夠精確定位它的位置。他們知道這可能帶來巨大的情報收穫。

But they'd need a specialized ship to pull it up from the seafloor. The kind of ship that would attract a lot of attention. So they convinced Howard Hughes, this film tycoon, aviator, and

但他們需要一艘專門的船來從海底把它打撈上來。那種船會引起很多關注。所以他們說服了Howard Hughes，這位電影大亨、飛行員和

one of the world's richest men to build the Hughes Glowar Explorer. And they put it out there that this was a deep sea mining vessel. When the story eventually

世界上最富有的人之一，建造了Hughes Glomar Explorer。他們對外宣稱這是一艘深海採礦船。當故事最終

came out, the CIA's statement that they could neither confirm nor deny the operation became known as the Glowar response. It's still not clear exactly how successful they were. But you know

曝光時，CIA的聲明說他們既不能確認也不能否認這次行動，這被稱為Glomar回應。他們到底有多成功仍不清楚。但你知道

what's important for us is that at the end of this all this hull, they had this ship sitting around that was like perfectly equipped to do deep sea mining. The deep sea mining company

對我們來說重要的是，在這一切之後，他們有了這艘閒置的船，它完美地配備了進行深海採礦的設備。深海採礦公司

bought it and performed some tests in 1979 in the Clarion Clifton zone.

買下了它，並在1979年在克拉里昂-克利珀頓區進行了一些測試。

Similar to the systems modern companies want to use, a vehicle moved along the ocean floor, collecting the nodules, and then pumped them to the surface in a tube. The unwanted sediment, now infused

類似於現代公司想使用的系統，一個載具沿著海底移動，收集結核，然後通過管道泵到海面。不想要的沉積物，現在含有

with metal particles, was discharged back into the water column. In 2023, scientists found the site again. Four decades had passed, but the tracks had barely changed. Even if the sediment

金屬顆粒，被排回水柱中。2023年，科學家們再次找到了那個地點。四十年過去了，但軌跡幾乎沒有變化。即使沉積物

somehow leveled back off, so you didn't see the tracks of the vehicle anymore, the nozzles themselves are kind of like a onetime thing for us. It's going to be, you know, lifetimes before this

以某種方式重新變平，所以你看不到載具的軌跡了，結核本身對我們來說就像是一次性的東西。要好幾代人之後這些

stuff recovers if it if if it ever does.

東西才會恢復，如果它真的能恢復的話。

It takes millions of years to form nodules. So once they are removed, then that ecosystem cannot reset back because by the time it has, evolutionary time scales will have passed. There's the

形成結核需要數百萬年。所以一旦它們被移除，那個生態系統就無法重置回來，因為到它重置的時候，進化的時間尺度已經過去了。存在

possibility of species extinctions. The scientists found that several species, ones that don't depend on nodules, had returned to the disturbed seabed. The few animals that are tolerant, they're

物種滅絕的可能性。科學家發現幾種不依賴結核的物種已經回到了被擾動的海底。那些能夠容忍的少數動物，它們

able to come back and thrive. But are is that all we need? Is is three species enough? Is losing 20 species of of animals in the seafloor a big deal?

能夠回來並繁榮。但那就是我們需要的全部嗎？三種物種夠了嗎？失去20種海底動物是件大事嗎？

That's one question we're trying to address as well. And even with tests like these, it's still hard to predict the effects of mining at an industrial scale. Huge quantities of mud would be

那也是我們試圖解決的問題之一。即使有這些測試，仍然很難預測工業規模採礦的影響。大量的泥土會被

displaced. Ecosystems that have been dark and quiet for eons would suddenly be filled with light and noise. We don't really know how that will reverberate through the rest of the ocean,

攪動。數億年來一直黑暗和安靜的生態系統會突然充滿光和噪音。我們真的不知道這會如何在海洋的其他部分迴響，

potentially impacting fisheries and the storage of carbon. Before we do anything else, I think we need to understand more of what's in there and what are the services that these ecosystems produce

可能影響漁業和碳的儲存。在我們做其他任何事情之前，我認為我們需要更多地了解那裡有什麼，以及這些生態系統產生的服務是什麼，

not only for us because this is extremely uh selfish. We are just one species in the world but for the rest of the organisms as well. The least I know

不僅對我們——因為這是極其自私的。我們只是世界上的一個物種，但對其他生物也是。我對一個地區了解得越少，

about an area, the more I need to protect it. I need to give myself room to understand it. to take the other side. I would say we do need a lot more

我就越需要保護它。我需要給自己空間來理解它。從另一方面來說。我會說我們確實需要更多

electric car batteries and the price of those batteries does determine how quickly we make that shift and that determines how the rate of warming and the rate of ecosystem disruption across

電動車電池，這些電池的價格確實決定了我們多快進行這種轉變，這決定了變暖的速度和整個

the entire planet. Several of us are kind of uh trying to straddle that fence of we need the resources but we need to understand the environment. I I don't

星球生態系統破壞的速度。我們中有幾個人正在試圖騎在那道柵欄上——我們需要資源，但我們需要了解環境。我不

necessarily think that you know deep sea mining is bad. If your priority is to get humans off of fossil fuels, then you really don't want to put a lot of

一定認為深海採礦是壞的。如果你的優先事項是讓人類擺脫化石燃料，那麼你真的不想在任何讓電池更便宜的事情上設置很多

roadblocks into anything that makes batteries cheaper. And do you buy that argument? Like, do you feel like, oh, having this extra source of metals is going to help us make cheaper electric

障礙。你買這個論點嗎？你覺得，哦，有這個額外的金屬來源會幫助我們製造更便宜的電動

cars? Not necessarily. The big hiccup, I think, in that argument is that the Chinese have figured out how to use a EV battery that doesn't rely on nickel,

車？不一定。我認為那個論點中的大障礙是中國人已經弄清楚如何使用不依賴鎳的電動車電池，

right, or cobalt as much. Um, and so I think that it maybe is good for innovation if the prices of those metals are a little bit high. So Johnny, you've

或不那麼依賴鈷。所以我認為如果這些金屬的價格稍微高一點，可能對創新有好處。所以Johnny，你

been following all of the, I guess, geopolitics of DC mining for months now.

已經關注深海採礦的地緣政治好幾個月了。

Uh, where do things stand? Boy, things are heating up in a weird way right now.

呃，事情進展如何？天啊，事情正在以一種奇怪的方式升溫。

Um, over 100 countries have been debating exactly how we should go down into this CCZ to get these little metal balls, but it's been really slow. Just a couple weeks ago, the United States

呃，超過100個國家一直在辯論我們究竟應該如何下到這個CCZ去獲取這些小金屬球，但進展真的很慢。就在幾週前，美國

decided they're just going to leapfrog all of these negotiations and just go down there themselves and start getting these balls, which kind of means a return to lawlessness on the high seas.

決定他們要跳過所有這些談判，自己下去開始獲取這些球，這意味著公海上又回到了無法無天的狀態。

Like, they're technically going to be pirates under international law. It feels fairly inevitable that this is going to happen to me. Now, the question is, how can we mitigate the damage and

像是，在國際法下他們技術上將是海盜。對我來說，這感覺相當不可避免。現在的問題是，我們如何減輕損害並

learn from the the initial mining? If you were working with a mining company that was planning to do to start harvesting these nodules, how would you advise them? So key is slowly, right? I

從最初的採礦中學習？如果你與一家計劃開始收穫這些結核的採礦公司合作，你會如何建議他們？所以關鍵是慢慢來，對吧？我

mean, that's that's the easy answer. Go very slowly. If we're going to move forward on a mining activity, you need to spend, you know, millions, tens of millions of dollars monitoring what's

是說，那是簡單的答案。非常慢。如果我們要繼續採礦活動，你需要花費數百萬、數千萬美元來監測

going on over time to kind of make sure that there are not, you know, all these environmental impacts that we're missing. Be be ready to change what

隨時間發生的事情，確保沒有我們遺漏的環境影響。準備好改變你

you're doing. I mean, um, we we have no idea what these environmental impacts going to be for the most part. I mean, you know, we have a general idea it's

正在做的事情。我是說，我們真的不知道這些環境影響會是什麼。我是說，你知道，我們有一個大概的想法，會

going to be bad, but I don't think we can ever really know this until we do it in the first place. It stands to reason, though, that if you are going to go and

很糟糕，但我認為我們永遠無法真正知道這一點，直到我們首先去做。不過，有理由認為，如果你要去

pick things up, there are more and less destructive ways of doing that. Right.

撿東西，有更多和更少破壞性的方式。是的。

Right. Some people are pushing these companies to avoid putting so much metal laden mud back into the water column.

是的。有些人正在推動這些公司避免把這麼多含金屬的泥土排回水柱。

They can contaminate the top predators of those systems that we like to eat. If you're already going to be creating a disturbance on the seafloor, why not bring this discharge back down to the

它們可能污染那些我們喜歡吃的系統的頂級掠食者。如果你已經要在海底製造擾動，為什麼不把這些排放物帶回

seafloor? There's a company that built this robot that tries to use AI to avoid animals and pick up the nodules with a bunch of dangling arms, which would displace less sediment, but would

海底？有一家公司建造了這個機器人，試圖用AI來避開動物，用一堆懸掛的手臂撿起結核，這會減少沉積物的攪動，但

obviously still have some impact. And again, we don't know how much of an impact.

顯然仍會有一些影響。而且，我們不知道影響有多大。

We may not be able to stop it completely. So, we have to plan strategically before anything is done.

我們可能無法完全阻止它。所以，在做任何事情之前，我們必須有策略地規劃。

We can design like a a network of protected areas, specific locations where you're not going to mine to kind of be serve as refues for these species.

我們可以設計一個保護區網絡，特定的位置你不會開採，作為這些物種的避難所。

The ISA set aside these areas as potential reserves, but we don't really have enough studies to be sure that they'll do a good job protecting the full breadth of biodiversity. Dr. Rigo

國際海底管理局把這些區域留作潛在的保護區，但我們沒有足夠的研究來確定它們能很好地保護全部的生物多樣性。Rigo博士

and a team of researchers studied how this tiny sponge that lives on nodules spread through the western CCC. there was a zone that was really like a source

和一個研究團隊研究了這種生活在結核上的小海綿如何在西CCZ傳播。有一個區域真的像是移民的來源，

of migrants, let's say. And based on that information, the ISA created a new area. To me, I almost see, you know, deep sea minion is almost kind of like a

可以這麼說。根據那些資訊，國際海底管理局創建了一個新區域。對我來說，我幾乎覺得深海採礦在某種程度上是一個

a success story so far as this is humans actually trying to figure out the problems before they occur. We're actually spending, you know, millions and millions of dollars. We're talking

成功故事——這是人類真正在試圖在問題發生之前弄清楚問題。我們實際上花費了數百萬美元。我們談論

about this for decades and we haven't moved forward yet. So, I I think already we're kind of ahead of the game in a way. Obviously, once the floodgates open, everything could change.

這個已經幾十年了，我們還沒有前進。所以，我認為我們在某種程度上已經走在前面了。顯然，一旦閘門打開，一切都可能改變。

Singingho, nobody knows what lives beneath the sea. Nobody knows who below down below in the deep. You can support our work and hear the full version of the sea shanty if that's something

唱歌吧，沒有人知道海底住著什麼。沒有人知道在深深的下面下面有誰。你可以在我們的Patreon上支持我們的工作，並聽到完整版的海上號子，如果你喜歡的話。

you're into over on our Patreon. Howtown is also supported by imi, the independent media initiative, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which enhances public understanding of science and technology in the modern world.

Howtown也得到了imi——獨立媒體倡議——和Alfred P. Sloan基金會的支持，該基金會增進公眾對現代世界科學和技術的理解。

Nobody knows who swims down below. Down below in the darkest

沒有人知道誰在下面遊泳。在最黑暗的下面下面。