0:00:00.550,0:00:02.016
For the past few years,

0:00:02.040,0:00:06.369
I've been spending my summers[br]in the marine biological laboratory

0:00:06.393,0:00:08.383
in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

0:00:08.931,0:00:13.093
And there, what I've been doing[br]is essentially renting a boat.

0:00:13.117,0:00:15.717
What I would like to do is ask you

0:00:15.741,0:00:17.971
to come on a boat ride with me tonight.

0:00:19.836,0:00:24.729
So, we ride off from Eel Pond[br]into Vineyard Sound,

0:00:24.753,0:00:27.264
right off the coast of Martha's Vineyard,

0:00:27.288,0:00:30.625
equipped with a drone[br]to identify potential spots

0:00:30.649,0:00:33.126
from which to peer into the Atlantic.

0:00:33.150,0:00:36.429
Earlier, I was going to say[br]into the depths of the Atlantic,

0:00:36.453,0:00:39.632
but we don't have to go too deep[br]to reach the unknown.

0:00:40.311,0:00:42.882
Here, barely two miles away

0:00:42.906,0:00:47.452
from what is arguably the greatest[br]marine biology lab in the world,

0:00:47.476,0:00:50.697
we lower a simple[br]plankton net into the water

0:00:50.721,0:00:52.542
and bring up to the surface

0:00:52.566,0:00:55.966
things that humanity rarely[br]pays any attention to,

0:00:55.990,0:00:58.522
and oftentimes has never seen before.

0:00:59.260,0:01:02.204
Here's one of the organisms[br]that we caught in our net.

0:01:02.228,0:01:03.487
This is a jellyfish.

0:01:03.881,0:01:05.193
But look closely,

0:01:05.217,0:01:08.208
and living inside of this animal[br]is another organism

0:01:08.232,0:01:10.937
that is very likely[br]entirely new to science.

0:01:10.961,0:01:12.639
A complete new species.

0:01:13.117,0:01:15.820
Or how about this other transparent beauty

0:01:15.844,0:01:17.384
with a beating heart,

0:01:17.408,0:01:20.836
asexually growing on top of its head,

0:01:20.860,0:01:24.046
progeny that will move on[br]to reproduce sexually.

0:01:24.547,0:01:26.034
Let me say that again:

0:01:26.058,0:01:29.744
this animal is growing asexually[br]on top of its head,

0:01:29.768,0:01:34.255
progeny that is going to reproduce[br]sexually in the next generation.

0:01:34.960,0:01:36.278
A weird jellyfish?

0:01:36.796,0:01:38.106
Not quite.

0:01:38.130,0:01:39.412
This is an ascidian.

0:01:39.772,0:01:41.056
This is a group of animals

0:01:41.080,0:01:44.827
that now we know we share[br]extensive genomic ancestry with,

0:01:44.851,0:01:49.574
and it is perhaps the closest[br]invertebrate species to our own.

0:01:50.376,0:01:51.745
Meet your cousin,

0:01:51.769,0:01:53.199
Thalia democratica.

0:01:53.223,0:01:55.181
(Laughter)

0:01:55.205,0:01:59.195
I'm pretty sure you didn't save a spot[br]at your last family reunion

0:01:59.219,0:02:00.651
for Thalia,

0:02:00.675,0:02:02.327
but let me tell you,

0:02:02.351,0:02:05.679
these animals are profoundly related to us

0:02:05.703,0:02:08.735
in ways that we're just[br]beginning to understand.

0:02:10.164,0:02:14.289
So, next time you hear anybody[br]derisively telling you

0:02:14.313,0:02:18.210
that this type of research[br]is a simple fishing expedition,

0:02:18.234,0:02:21.234
I hope that you'll remember[br]the trip that we just took.

0:02:21.675,0:02:25.515
Today, many of the biological[br]sciences only see value

0:02:25.539,0:02:28.088
in studying deeper what we already know --

0:02:28.112,0:02:30.622
in mapping already-discovered continents.

0:02:31.099,0:02:34.437
But some of us are much more[br]interested in the unknown.

0:02:34.849,0:02:38.793
We want to discover[br]completely new continents,

0:02:38.817,0:02:42.218
and gaze at magnificent[br]vistas of ignorance.

0:02:42.674,0:02:46.770
We crave the experience[br]of being completely baffled

0:02:46.794,0:02:48.968
by something we've never seen before.

0:02:48.992,0:02:50.262
And yes, I agree

0:02:50.286,0:02:54.086
there's a lot of little ego satisfaction[br]in being able to say,

0:02:54.110,0:02:56.585
"Hey, I was the first one[br]to discover that."

0:02:57.102,0:03:00.007
But this is not[br]a self-aggrandizing enterprise,

0:03:00.031,0:03:02.731
because in this type[br]of discovery research,

0:03:02.755,0:03:06.373
if you don't feel like a complete[br]idiot most of the time,

0:03:06.397,0:03:08.678
you're just not sciencing hard enough.

0:03:08.702,0:03:10.736
(Laughter)

0:03:12.014,0:03:17.997
So every summer I bring onto the deck[br]of this little boat of ours

0:03:18.021,0:03:21.438
more and more things[br]that we know very little about.

0:03:22.816,0:03:26.304
I would like tonight[br]to tell you a story about life

0:03:26.328,0:03:29.668
that rarely gets told[br]in an environment like this.

0:03:30.915,0:03:36.250
From the vantage point of our 21st-century[br]biological laboratories,

0:03:36.274,0:03:40.191
we have begun to illuminate[br]many mysteries of life with knowledge.

0:03:40.869,0:03:44.506
We sense that after centuries[br]of scientific research,

0:03:44.530,0:03:46.637
we're beginning to make[br]significant inroads

0:03:46.661,0:03:50.527
into understanding some of the most[br]fundamental principles of life.

0:03:51.223,0:03:56.224
Our collective optimism is reflected[br]by the growth of biotechnology

0:03:56.248,0:03:57.522
across the globe,

0:03:58.326,0:04:02.974
striving to utilize scientific knowledge[br]to cure human diseases.

0:04:03.685,0:04:08.523
Things like cancer, aging,[br]degenerative diseases;

0:04:08.547,0:04:12.879
these are but some[br]of the undesirables we wish to tame.

0:04:13.817,0:04:15.261
I often wonder:

0:04:15.285,0:04:18.446
Why is it that we are having[br]so much trouble

0:04:18.470,0:04:20.632
trying to solve the problem of cancer?

0:04:21.096,0:04:24.350
Is it that we're trying to solve[br]the problem of cancer,

0:04:24.374,0:04:26.668
and not trying to understand life?

0:04:27.657,0:04:30.845
Life on this planet[br]shares a common origin,

0:04:30.869,0:04:35.922
and I can summarize 3.5 billion years[br]of the history of life on this planet

0:04:35.946,0:04:37.426
in a single slide.

0:04:37.450,0:04:40.926
What you see here are representatives[br]of all known species in our planet.

0:04:41.321,0:04:44.732
In this immensity of life[br]and biodiversity,

0:04:44.756,0:04:47.923
we occupy a rather unremarkable position.

0:04:47.947,0:04:48.963
(Laughter)

0:04:48.987,0:04:50.210
Homo sapiens.

0:04:51.016,0:04:52.621
The last of our kind.

0:04:53.570,0:04:56.681
And though I don't really want[br]to disparage at all

0:04:56.705,0:04:58.676
the accomplishments of our species,

0:04:58.700,0:05:03.686
as much as we wish it to be so[br]and often pretend that it is,

0:05:03.710,0:05:06.586
we are not the measure of all things.

0:05:07.311,0:05:10.798
We are, however, the measurers[br]of many things.

0:05:11.311,0:05:15.057
We relentlessly quantify,[br]analyze and compare,

0:05:15.081,0:05:18.861
and some of this is absolutely invaluable[br]and indeed necessary.

0:05:19.661,0:05:26.048
But this emphasis today on forcing[br]biological research to specialize

0:05:26.072,0:05:28.620
and to produce practical outcomes

0:05:28.644,0:05:32.198
is actually restricting our ability[br]to interrogate life

0:05:32.222,0:05:36.305
to unacceptably narrow confines[br]and unsatisfying depths.

0:05:37.007,0:05:42.048
We are measuring an astonishingly[br]narrow sliver of life,

0:05:42.072,0:05:45.848
and hoping that those numbers[br]will save all of our lives.

0:05:46.425,0:05:47.818
How narrow do you ask?

0:05:47.842,0:05:49.446
Well, let me give you a number.

0:05:49.470,0:05:53.989
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric[br]Administration recently estimated

0:05:54.013,0:05:57.940
that about 95 percent of our oceans[br]remain unexplored.

0:05:58.674,0:06:00.386
Now let that sink in for a second.

0:06:01.030,0:06:04.877
95 percent of our oceans[br]remain unexplored.

0:06:05.712,0:06:07.877
I think it's very safe to say

0:06:07.901,0:06:12.730
that we don't even know[br]how much about life we do not know.

0:06:13.810,0:06:16.735
So, it's not surprising[br]that every week in my field

0:06:16.759,0:06:19.970
we begin to see the addition[br]of more and more new species

0:06:19.994,0:06:22.253
to this amazing tree of life.

0:06:22.277,0:06:23.674
This one for example --

0:06:23.698,0:06:25.604
discovered earlier this summer,

0:06:25.628,0:06:26.841
new to science,

0:06:26.865,0:06:30.157
and now occupying its lonely branch[br]in our family tree.

0:06:30.973,0:06:32.124
What is even more tragic

0:06:32.148,0:06:35.783
is that we know about a bunch[br]of other species of animals out there,

0:06:35.807,0:06:39.368
but their biology remains[br]sorely under-studied.

0:06:39.392,0:06:41.726
I'm sure some of you[br]have heard about the fact

0:06:41.750,0:06:45.946
that a starfish can actually[br]regenerate its arm after it's lost.

0:06:45.970,0:06:47.412
But some of you might not know

0:06:47.436,0:06:51.785
that the arm itself can actually[br]regenerate a complete starfish.

0:06:52.759,0:06:56.807
And there are animals out there[br]that do truly astounding things.

0:06:57.461,0:06:59.171
I'm almost willing to bet

0:06:59.195,0:07:03.514
that many of you have never heard[br]of the flatworm, Schmidtea mediterranea.

0:07:04.423,0:07:06.522
This little guy right here

0:07:06.546,0:07:09.620
does things that essentially[br]just blow my mind.

0:07:10.131,0:07:14.135
You can grab one of these animals[br]and cut it into 18 different fragments,

0:07:14.159,0:07:17.921
and each and every one of those fragments[br]will go on to regenerate

0:07:17.945,0:07:19.263
a complete animal

0:07:19.287,0:07:20.921
in under two weeks.

0:07:21.694,0:07:25.931
18 heads, 18 bodies, 18 mysteries.

0:07:26.348,0:07:28.744
For the past decade and a half or so,

0:07:28.768,0:07:32.478
I've been trying to figure out[br]how these little dudes do what they do,

0:07:32.502,0:07:34.701
and how they pull this magic trick off.

0:07:34.725,0:07:36.439
But like all good magicians,

0:07:36.463,0:07:39.318
they're not really releasing[br]their secrets readily to me.

0:07:39.342,0:07:40.548
(Laughter)

0:07:40.572,0:07:41.730
So here we are,

0:07:41.754,0:07:46.209
after 20 years of essentially[br]studying these animals,

0:07:46.233,0:07:48.540
genome mapping, chin scratching,

0:07:48.564,0:07:51.783
and thousands of amputations[br]and thousands of regenerations,

0:07:51.807,0:07:55.602
we still don't fully understand[br]how these animals do what they do.

0:07:56.028,0:07:59.624
Each planarian an ocean unto itself,

0:07:59.648,0:08:01.254
full of unknowns.

0:08:02.476,0:08:04.160
One of the common characteristics

0:08:04.184,0:08:06.796
of all of these animals[br]I've been talking to you about

0:08:06.820,0:08:09.583
is that they did not appear[br]to have received the memo

0:08:09.607,0:08:12.274
that they need to behave[br]according to the rules

0:08:12.298,0:08:16.467
that we have derived from a handful[br]of randomly selected animals

0:08:16.491,0:08:19.213
that currently populate the vast majority

0:08:19.237,0:08:21.754
of biomedical laboratories[br]across the world.

0:08:22.117,0:08:24.347
Meet our Nobel Prize winners.

0:08:24.371,0:08:26.373
Seven species, essentially,

0:08:26.397,0:08:29.999
that have produced for us the brunt[br]of our understanding

0:08:30.023,0:08:32.490
of biological behavior today.

0:08:33.172,0:08:34.964
This little guy right here --

0:08:34.988,0:08:37.458
three Nobel Prizes in 12 years.

0:08:38.204,0:08:40.960
And yet, after all the attention[br]they have garnered,

0:08:40.984,0:08:43.044
and all the knowledge they have generated,

0:08:43.068,0:08:45.093
as well as the lion's share[br]of the funding,

0:08:45.117,0:08:48.990
here we are standing [before] the same[br]litany of intractable problems

0:08:49.014,0:08:50.638
and many new challenges.

0:08:51.220,0:08:53.035
And that's because, unfortunately,

0:08:53.059,0:08:55.673
these seven animals essentially correspond

0:08:55.697,0:09:02.473
to 0.0009 percent of all of the species[br]that inhabit the planet.

0:09:03.962,0:09:06.348
So I'm beginning to suspect

0:09:06.372,0:09:11.133
that our specialization is beginning[br]to impede our progress at best,

0:09:11.157,0:09:13.584
and at worst, is leading us astray.

0:09:14.235,0:09:17.309
That's because life[br]on this planet and its history

0:09:17.333,0:09:19.050
is the history of rule breakers.

0:09:19.433,0:09:22.780
Life started on the face of this planet[br]as single-cell organisms,

0:09:22.804,0:09:25.126
swimming for millions[br]of years in the ocean,

0:09:25.150,0:09:27.436
until one of those creatures decided,

0:09:27.460,0:09:29.519
"I'm going to do things differently today;

0:09:29.543,0:09:32.551
today I would like to invent[br]something called multicellularity,

0:09:32.575,0:09:33.848
and I'm going to do this."

0:09:33.872,0:09:36.524
And I'm sure it wasn't a popular[br]decision at the time --

0:09:36.548,0:09:37.575
(Laughter)

0:09:37.599,0:09:39.205
but somehow, it managed to do it.

0:09:39.229,0:09:41.795
And then, multicellular[br]organisms began to populate

0:09:41.819,0:09:43.195
all these ancestral oceans,

0:09:43.219,0:09:44.407
and they thrived.

0:09:44.431,0:09:45.964
And we have them here today.

0:09:46.789,0:09:49.786
Land masses began to emerge[br]from the surface of the oceans,

0:09:49.810,0:09:51.264
and another creature thought,

0:09:51.288,0:09:54.077
"Hey, that looks like a really nice[br]piece of real estate.

0:09:54.101,0:09:55.352
I'd like to move there."

0:09:55.376,0:09:56.535
"Are you crazy?

0:09:56.559,0:09:59.843
You're going to desiccate out there.[br]Nothing can live out of water."

0:09:59.867,0:10:01.024
But life found a way,

0:10:01.048,0:10:03.371
and there are organisms[br]now that live on land.

0:10:03.395,0:10:05.793
Once on land, they may have[br]looked up into the sky

0:10:05.817,0:10:08.076
and said, "It would be nice[br]to go to the clouds,

0:10:08.100,0:10:09.251
I'm going to fly."

0:10:09.275,0:10:12.350
"You can't break the law of gravity,[br]there's no way you can fly."

0:10:12.374,0:10:14.659
And yet, nature has invented --

0:10:14.683,0:10:16.690
multiple and independent times --

0:10:16.714,0:10:17.921
ways to fly.

0:10:18.368,0:10:20.885
I love to study these animals[br]that break the rules,

0:10:20.909,0:10:24.538
because every time they break a rule,[br]they invent something new

0:10:24.562,0:10:28.321
that made it possible for us[br]to be able to be here today.

0:10:28.624,0:10:30.894
These animals did not get the memo.

0:10:30.918,0:10:32.618
They break the rules.

0:10:32.642,0:10:35.437
So if we're going to study animals[br]that break the rules,

0:10:35.461,0:10:38.456
shouldn't how we study them[br]also break the rules?

0:10:39.666,0:10:43.054
I think we need to renew[br]our spirit of exploration.

0:10:43.440,0:10:45.924
Rather than bring nature[br]into our laboratories

0:10:45.948,0:10:47.263
and interrogate it there,

0:10:47.287,0:10:48.993
we need to bring our science

0:10:49.017,0:10:51.922
into the majestic laboratory[br]that is nature,

0:10:51.946,0:10:55.857
and there, with our modern[br]technological armamentarium,

0:10:55.881,0:10:58.707
interrogate every new form[br]of life we find,

0:10:58.731,0:11:01.724
and any new biological attribute[br]that we may find.

0:11:02.486,0:11:06.640
We actually need to bring[br]all of our intelligence

0:11:06.664,0:11:08.756
to becoming stupid again --

0:11:08.780,0:11:12.639
clueless [before] the immensity[br]of the unknown.

0:11:13.116,0:11:14.477
Because after all,

0:11:14.501,0:11:16.660
science is not really about knowledge.

0:11:16.684,0:11:19.425
Science is about ignorance.

0:11:19.449,0:11:20.814
That's what we do.

0:11:20.838,0:11:23.969
Once, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote,

0:11:23.993,0:11:25.794
"If you want to build a ship,

0:11:25.818,0:11:27.762
don't drum up people to collect wood

0:11:27.786,0:11:30.088
and don't assign them tasks and work,

0:11:30.112,0:11:34.206
but rather teach them to long[br]for the endless immensity of the sea ..."

0:11:34.646,0:11:36.350
As a scientist and a teacher,

0:11:36.374,0:11:38.335
I like to paraphrase this to read

0:11:38.359,0:11:41.517
that we scientists need[br]to teach our students

0:11:41.541,0:11:43.992
to long for the endless[br]immensity of the sea

0:11:44.016,0:11:45.453
that is our ignorance.

0:11:46.768,0:11:50.633
We Homo sapiens are the only[br]species we know of

0:11:50.657,0:11:53.093
that is driven to scientific inquiry.

0:11:53.645,0:11:55.779
We, like all other species on this planet,

0:11:55.803,0:12:00.294
are inextricably woven[br]into the history of life on this planet.

0:12:00.989,0:12:04.156
And I think I'm a little wrong[br]when I say that life is a mystery,

0:12:04.180,0:12:06.891
because I think that life[br]is actually an open secret

0:12:06.915,0:12:10.899
that has been beckoning our species[br]for millennia to understand it.

0:12:11.344,0:12:12.945
So I ask you:

0:12:12.969,0:12:16.742
Aren't we the best chance[br]that life has to know itself?

0:12:17.053,0:12:18.204
And if so,

0:12:18.228,0:12:19.958
what the heck are we waiting for?

0:12:20.368,0:12:21.569
Thank you.

0:12:21.593,0:12:24.847
(Applause)