丽萨·尼普: 人类会怎样进化去适应太空的环境

人类会怎样进化去适应太空的环境

如果我们希望有一天离开地球去探索宇宙，我们的身体需要变得更强大去在严酷的太空环境中生存。运用合成生物科技，丽萨·尼普希望在地球现存的微生物中获取特殊的能量－比如适应宇宙辐射－来让人类更好地探索宇宙。丽萨说：“我们已经来到了可以利用科技改变我们的基因去改变我们的命运的时代，用新的科技手段去编辑人们的身体已经不是应该问‘如何’，而是应该问‘何时’。”

Human bodies are ill-equipped for the brutal realities of space, where even a year in microgravity weakens bones and muscles. Advances in synthetic biology now let scientists redesign microbes and plants to thrive in alien conditions, and could one day give humans new abilities such as radiation resistance. Instead of relying solely on machines, engineering life itself may be the key to surviving interplanetary journeys and hostile new worlds. As humanity approaches the power to shape its own evolution, it must weigh the promise and peril of rewriting what it means to be human.