-
So there are lands few and far between
-
on Earth itself that are hospitable
to humans by any measure,
-
but survive we have.
-
Our primitive ancestors, when they found
their homes and livelihood endangered,
-
they dared to make their way
into unfamiliar territories
-
in search of better opportunities,
-
and as the descendants of these explorers,
-
we have their nomadic blood
coursing through our own veins,
-
but at the same time,
-
distracted by our bread and circuses
-
and embroiled in the wars
that we have waged on each other,
-
it seems that we have forgotten
this desire to explore.
-
We, as a species, we're evolved uniquely
-
for Earth, on Earth, and by Earth,
-
and so content are we
with our living conditions
-
that we have grown complacent
and just too busy
-
to notice that its resources are finite,
-
and that our Sun's life is also finite.
-
While Mars and all the movies
made in its name
-
have reinvigorated
the ethos for space travel,
-
few of us seem to truly realize
that our species' fragile constitution
-
is woefully unprepared
for long duration journeys into space.
-
Let us take a trek
to your local national forest
-
for a quick reality check.
-
So just a quick show of hands, here:
-
how many of you think you would be able
to survive in this lush wilderness
-
for a few days?
-
Well, that's a lot of you.
-
How about a few weeks?
-
That's a decent amount.
-
How about a few months?
-
That's pretty good too.
-
Now, let us imagine that this
local national forest
-
experiences an eternal winter.
-
Same questions: how many of you think you
would be able to survive for a few days?
-
That's quite a lot.
-
How about a few weeks?
-
So for a fun twist, let us imagine
that the only source of water available
-
is trapped as frozen blocks
miles below the surface.
-
Soil nutrients are so minimal
that no vegetation can be found,
-
and of course hardly any atmosphere
exists to speak of.
-
Such examples are only a few
of the many challenges we would face
-
on a planet like Mars.
-
So how do we steel ourselves for voyages
whose destinations are so far removed
-
from a tropical vacation?
-
Will we continuously ship supplies
from Planet Earth?
-
Build space elevators, or impossible miles
of transport belts that tether
-
your planet of choice to our home planet?
-
And how do we grow things like food
that grew up on Earth like us?
-
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
-
In our species' journey to find
a new home under a new sun,
-
we are more likely than not
going to be spending much time
-
in the journey itself,
-
in space,
-
on a ship, a hermetic flying can,
-
possibly for many generations.
-
The longest continuous amount of time
that any human has spent in space
-
is in the vicinity of 12 to 14 months.
-
From astronauts' experiences in space,
-
we know that spending time
in a microgravity environment
-
means bone loss, muscle atrophy,
cardiovascular problems,
-
among many other complications
that range for the physiological
-
to the psychological.
-
And what about macrogravity, or any other
variation in gravitational pull
-
of the planet that we find ourselves on?
-
In short, our cosmic voyages
will be fraught with dangers
-
both known and unknown.
-
So far we've been looking to this
new piece of mechanical technology
-
or that great next generation robot
-
as part of a lineup to ensure
our species safe passage in space.
-
Wonderful as they are, I believe
the time has come for us to complement
-
these bulky electronic giants
-
with what nature has already invented:
-
the microbe,
-
a single-celled organism that is itself
a self-generating, self-replenishing,
-
living machine.
-
It requires fairly little to maintain,
-
offers much flexibility in design,
-
and only asks to be carried
in a single plastic tube.
-
The field of study that has enabled us
to utilize the capabilities of the microbe
-
is known as synthetic biology.
-
It comes from molecular biology,
which has given us antibiotics, vaccines,
-
and better ways to observe
the physiological nuances
-
of the human body.
-
Using the tools of synthetic biology,
we can now edit the genes
-
of nearly any organism,
-
microscopic or not,
-
with incredible speed and fidelity.
-
Given the limitations
of our man-made machines,
-
synthetic biology will be a means for us
to engineer not only our food,
-
our fuel, and our environment,
-
but also ourselves
-
to compensate for our
physical inadequacies
-
and to ensure our survival in space.
-
To give you an example of how we
can use synthetic biology
-
for space exploration, let us return
to the Mars environment.
-
The Martian soil composition is similar
to that of Hawaiian volcanic ash,
-
with trace amounts of organic material.
-
Let's say, hypothetically,
what if Martian soil
-
could actually support plant growth
without using Earth-derived nutrients?
-
The first question
we should probably ask is,
-
how would we make our plants
cold-tolerant?
-
Because, on average, the temperature
on Mars is a very uninviting
-
negative 60 degrees Centigrade.
-
The next question we should ask is,
-
how do we make
our plants drought-tolerant?
-
Considering that most of the water
that forms as frost
-
evaporates more quickly than I
can say the word "evaporate."
-
Well, it turns out we've already
done things like this.
-
By borrowing genes for anti-freeze
protein from fish
-
and genes for drought tolerance
from other plants like rice
-
and then stitching them
into the plants that need them,
-
we now have plants that can tolerate
most droughts and freezes.
-
They're known on Earth as GMOs,
-
or genetically modified organisms,
-
and we rely on them to feed
all the mouths of human civilization.
-
Nature does stuff like this already,
-
without our help.
-
We have simply found
more precise ways to do it.
-
So why would we want to change
the genetic makeup of plants for space?
-
Well, to not do so would mean
needing to engineer
-
endless acres of land
on an entirely new planet
-
by releasing trillions of gallons
of atmospheric gasses
-
and then constructing
a giant glass dome to contain it all.
-
It's an unrealistic engineering enterprise
that quickly becomes a high-cost
-
cargo transport mission.
-
One of the best ways to ensure
that we will have the food supplies
-
and the air that we need
-
is to bring with us organisms
that have been engineered
-
to adapt to new and harsh environments,
-
in essence using engineered organisms
to help us terraform a planet
-
both in the short and long term.
-
These organisms can then also
be engineered to make medicine or fuel.
-
So we can use synthetic biology
to bring highly engineered plants with us,
-
but what else can we do?
-
Well, I mentioned earlier that
we, as a species,
-
were evolved uniquely for planet Earth.
-
That fact has not changed much
in the last five minutes
-
that you were sitting here
-
and I was standing there.
-
And so, if we were to dump
any of us on Mars right this minute,
-
even given ample food, water, air,
-
and a suit,
-
we are likely to experience
very unpleasant health problems
-
from the amount of ionizing radiation
that bombards the surface
-
of planets like Mars that have little
or nonexistent atmospheres.
-
Unless we plan to stay holed up
underground for the duration of our stay
-
on every new planet,
-
we must find better ways
of protecting ourselves
-
without needing to resort to wearing
a suit of armor that weighs something
-
equal to your own body weight,
-
or needing to hide behind a wall of lead.
-
So let us appeal
to nature for inspiration.
-
Among the plethora of life here on Earth,
-
there's a subset of organisms
known as extremophiles,
-
or lovers of extreme living conditions,
-
if you'll remember
from high school biology,
-
and among these organisms
is a bacterium by the name of
-
Deinococcus radiodurans.
-
It is known to be able to withstand cold,
-
dehydration, vacuum, acid,
-
and, most notably, radiation.
-
While its radiation
tolerance mechanisms are known,
-
we have yet to adapt
the relevant genes to mammals.
-
To do so is not particularly easy.
-
There are many facets that go in
to its radiation tolerance,
-
and it's not as simple
as transferring one gene.
-
But given a little bit of human ingenuity,
-
and a little bit of time,
-
I think to do so is not very hard either.
-
Even if we borrow just a fraction
of its ability to tolerate radiation,
-
it would be infinitely better
than what we already have,
-
which is just the melanin in our skin.
-
Using the tools of synthetic biology,
-
we can harness Deinococcus
radiodurans' ability
-
to thrive under otherwise
very lethal doses of radiation.
-
As difficult as it is to see,
-
homo sapiens, that is humans,
-
evolves evolve every day,
-
and still continues to evolve.
-
Thousands of years of human evolution
has not only given us humans
-
like Tibetans, who can thrive
in low-oxygen conditions,
-
but also Argentinians,
who can ingest and metabolize arsenic,
-
the chemical element that can kill
the average human being.
-
Every day, the human body evolves
by accidental mutations
-
that equally accidentally
allow certain humans
-
to persevere in dismal situations.
-
But, and this is a big but,
-
such evolution requires two things
that we may not always have,
-
or be able to afford,
-
and they are death and time.
-
In our species' struggle
to find our place in the Universe,
-
we may not always have the time necessary
-
for the natural evolution
of extra functions
-
for survival on non-Earth planets.
-
We're living in what E.O. Wilson
has termed the Age of Gene Circumvention,
-
during which we remedy our genetic defects
like cystic fibrosis or muscular dystrophy
-
with temporary external supplements.
-
But with every passing day,
-
we approach the Age
of Volitional Evolution,
-
a time during which we as a species
will have the capacity to decide
-
for ourselves our own genetic destiny.
-
Augmenting the human body
with new abilities
-
is no longer a question of how,
-
but of when.
-
Using synthetic biology to change the
genetic makeup of any living organisms,
-
especially our own, is not without
its moral and ethical quandaries.
-
Will engineering ourselves
make us less human?
-
But then again, what is humanity
-
but star stuff
that happens to be conscious?
-
Where should human genius direct itself?
-
Surely it is a bit of a waste
to sit back and marvel at it.
-
How do we use our knowledge
to protect ourselves
-
from the external dangers
-
and then protect ourselves from ourselves?
-
I pose these questions
-
not to engender the fear of science
-
but to bring to light
the many possibilities
-
that science has afforded
and continues to afford us.
-
We must coalesce as humans
to discuss and embrace the solutions
-
not only with caution
-
but also with courage.
-
Mars is a destination,
-
but it will not be our last.
-
Our true final frontier
is the line we must cross
-
in deciding and what we can
and should make of our species'
-
improbable intelligence.
-
Space is cold, brutal, and unforgiving.
-
Our path to the stars
will be rife with trials
-
that will bring us to question
not only who we are
-
but where we will be going.
-
The answers will lie in our choice
to use or abandon the technology
-
that we have gleaned from life itself,
-
and it will define us for the remainder
of our time in this Universe.
-
Thank you.
-
(Applause)