《那些古怪又讓人憂心的問題》第49期:消失的DNA(2)

If you were standing up when you lost your DNA, you might twitch slightly. When you stand, your muscles are constantly working to keep you upright. The force being exerted by those muscle fibers wouldn't change, but the mass they're pulling on-your limbs-would. Since F = ma, various body parts would accelerate slightly.

padding-bottom: 100%;">

如果失去DNA時你處於站立狀態，你可能會輕微抽搐一下。因爲當你保持站立姿勢時，身上的肌肉在不停微調以保持你的直立狀態。肌肉纖維產生的力不會因爲DNA的消失而發生變化，但這股力作用於的物體（你的肢體）的質量會發生變化。由於力等於質量乘以加速度，因而許多身體部位都會產生很小的加速度。

After that, you would probably feel pretty normal.

之後，你可能會感覺一切如常。

For a while.

一小段時間。

Destroying angel

毀滅天使

Nobody has ever lost all their DNA,2 so we can't say for sure what the precise sequence of medical consequences would be. But to get an idea of what it might be like, let's turn to mushroom poisonings.

從來沒有人失去過體內所有的DNA，2所以我們在這裏並不能準確地知道之後會發生什麼。但我們可以通過蘑菇中毒來對失去DNA的後果有一些大致的認識。

Amanita bisporigera is a species of mushroom found in eastern North America. Along with related species in America and Europe, it's known by the common name destroying angel.

白毒傘是一種發現於北美洲東部的蘑菇，它和在美國與歐洲發現的相似品種的蘑菇並稱爲人們常說的“毀滅天使”。

Destroying angel is a small, white, inoccuous-looking mushroom. If you're like me, you were told never to eat mushrooms you found in the woods. Amanita is the reason why.3

毀滅天使是一種白色的小型蘑菇，外表看起來人畜無害。如果你像我一樣被告知不要吃野外找到的蘑菇，白毒傘的存在就是原因之一。3

If you eat a destroying angel, for the rest of the day you'll feel fine. Later that night, or the next morning, you'll start exhibiting cholera-like symptoms-vomiting, abdominal pain, and severe diarrhea. Then you start to feel better.

如果你吃了一個毀滅天使蘑菇，當天你可能毫無感覺。然而到了深夜或者第二天早上，你會出現一些類似霍亂的症狀——嘔吐、腹痛以及嚴重的腹瀉。之後你會感覺症狀有所緩解。

At the point where you start to feel better, the damage is probably irreversible. Amanita mushrooms contain amatoxin, which binds to an enzyme that is used to read information from DNA. It hobbles the enzyme, effectively interrupting the process by which cells follow DNA's instructions.

當你感覺症狀緩解的時候，造成的損害很可能已經不可逆轉了。白毒傘蘑菇含有毒傘肽，會侵入用來從DNA讀取信息的酶，擾亂酶的正常活動，使得細胞無法按照DNA信息進行活動。

Amatoxin causes irreversible damage to whatever cells it collects in. Since most of your body is made of cells,4 this is bad. Death is generally caused by liver or kidney failure, since those are the first sensitive organs in which the toxin accumulates. Sometimes intensive care and a liver transplant can be enough to save a patient, but a sizable percentage of those who eat Amanita mushrooms die.

毒傘肽會對任何吸收它的細胞造成不可逆的傷害。我們身體絕大部分都是由細胞構成的，4所以這可不是一個好消息。這種毒素的致死原因一般是肝衰竭或腎衰竭，因爲這些敏感的器官是毒素最先聚集的地方。有時候，對病人進行重症監護並進行肝臟移植可以拯救病人的性命，但相當一部分吃了白毒傘的人最後都被毒死了。