0:00:00.693,0:00:02.247
For the past few years,

0:00:02.247,0:00:06.599
I've been spending my summers[br]in the marine biological laboratory

0:00:06.599,0:00:08.589
in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

0:00:09.110,0:00:10.105
And there,

0:00:10.105,0:00:13.235
what I've been doing[br]is essentially renting a boat.

0:00:13.235,0:00:14.670
What I would like to do

0:00:14.670,0:00:18.190
is to ask you to come[br]on a boat ride with me tonight.

0:00:19.900,0:00:24.816
So, we ride off from Eel Pond[br]into Vineyard Sound,

0:00:24.816,0:00:27.447
right off the coast of Martha's Vineyard,

0:00:27.447,0:00:30.807
equipped with a drone[br]to identify potential spots

0:00:30.807,0:00:33.307
from which to peer into the Atlantic.

0:00:33.307,0:00:36.736
Earlier, I was going to say[br]into the depths of the Atlantic,

0:00:36.736,0:00:39.849
but we don't have to go too deep[br]to reach the unknown.

0:00:40.451,0:00:41.597
Here,

0:00:41.597,0:00:43.016
barely two miles away

0:00:43.016,0:00:47.585
from what is arguably the greatest[br]marine biology lab in the world,

0:00:47.585,0:00:50.961
we lower a simple[br]plankton net into the water,

0:00:50.961,0:00:52.805
and bring up to the surface

0:00:52.805,0:00:56.369
things that humanity rarely[br]pays any attention to,

0:00:56.369,0:00:58.901
and oftentimes has never seen before.

0:00:59.523,0:01:02.490
Here's one of the organisms[br]that we caught in our net.

0:01:02.490,0:01:04.072
This is a jellyfish.

0:01:04.072,0:01:05.407
But look closely,

0:01:05.407,0:01:08.352
and living inside of this animal[br]is another organism

0:01:08.352,0:01:11.080
that is very likely[br]entirely new to science.

0:01:11.080,0:01:12.758
A complete new species.

0:01:13.292,0:01:15.980
Or how about this other[br]transparent beauty

0:01:15.980,0:01:17.659
with a beating heart,

0:01:17.659,0:01:19.612
asexually growing,

0:01:19.612,0:01:21.109
on top of its head,

0:01:21.109,0:01:24.295
progeny that will move on[br]to reproduce sexually.

0:01:24.666,0:01:26.239
Let me say that again.

0:01:26.239,0:01:28.660
This animal is growing asexually,

0:01:28.660,0:01:30.075
on top of its head,

0:01:30.075,0:01:34.440
progeny that is going to reproduce[br]sexually in the next generation.

0:01:35.190,0:01:36.508
A weird jellyfish?

0:01:36.907,0:01:38.240
Not quite.

0:01:38.240,0:01:39.984
This is an ascidian.

0:01:39.984,0:01:41.286
This is a group of animals

0:01:41.286,0:01:45.056
that now we know we share[br]extensive genomic ancestry with,

0:01:45.056,0:01:49.647
and it is perhaps the closest[br]invertebrate species to our own.

0:01:50.543,0:01:51.865
Meet your cousin,

0:01:51.865,0:01:53.318
Thalia democratica.

0:01:53.318,0:01:54.591
(Laughter)

0:01:55.388,0:02:00.857
So, I'm pretty sure you didn't save a spot[br]at your last family reunion for Thalia,

0:02:00.857,0:02:02.685
but let me tell you,

0:02:02.685,0:02:05.894
these animals are profoundly related to us

0:02:05.894,0:02:09.120
in ways that we're just[br]beginning to understand.

0:02:10.252,0:02:14.513
So, next time you hear anybody[br]derisively telling you

0:02:14.513,0:02:18.433
that this type of research[br]is a simple fishing expedition,

0:02:18.433,0:02:21.780
I hope that you'll remember[br]the trip that we just took.

0:02:22.025,0:02:25.698
Today, many of the biological[br]sciences only see value

0:02:25.698,0:02:28.517
in studying deeper[br]what we already know --

0:02:28.517,0:02:30.926
in mapping already discovered continents.

0:02:31.226,0:02:34.564
But some of us are much more[br]interested in the unknown.

0:02:34.961,0:02:39.062
We want to discover[br]completely new continents,

0:02:39.062,0:02:42.463
and gaze at magnificent[br][...] of ignorance.

0:02:42.888,0:02:47.007
We craved experience[br]of being completely baffled

0:02:47.007,0:02:49.081
by something we've never seen before.

0:02:49.081,0:02:50.076
And yes,

0:02:50.076,0:02:54.249
I agree there's a lot of little[br]ego satisfaction in being able to say,

0:02:54.249,0:02:56.899
"Hey, I was the first one[br]to discover that."

0:02:57.269,0:03:00.333
But this is not a self-[br]aggrandizing enterprise,

0:03:00.333,0:03:02.906
because in this type[br]of discovery research,

0:03:02.906,0:03:06.641
if you don't feel like a complete[br]idiot most of the time,

0:03:06.641,0:03:08.945
you're just not sciencing hard enough.

0:03:08.945,0:03:10.080
(Laughter)

0:03:12.086,0:03:18.092
So, every summer I bring onto the deck[br]of this little boat of ours

0:03:18.092,0:03:21.729
more and more things[br]that we know very little about.

0:03:22.968,0:03:26.585
I would like tonight[br]to tell you a story about life

0:03:26.585,0:03:29.925
that rarely gets told[br]in an environment like this.

0:03:31.059,0:03:36.378
From the vantage point of our[br]21st-century biological laboratories,

0:03:36.378,0:03:40.295
we have begun to illuminate many[br]mysteries of life with knowledge.

0:03:41.020,0:03:44.530
We sense that after centuries[br]of scientific research,

0:03:44.530,0:03:46.799
we're beginning to make[br]significant inroads

0:03:46.799,0:03:50.665
into understanding some of the most[br]fundamental principles of life.

0:03:51.549,0:03:56.455
Our collective optimism is reflected[br]by the growth of biotechnology

0:03:56.455,0:03:58.621
across the globe,

0:03:58.621,0:04:03.153
striving to utilize scientific knowledge[br]to cure human diseases.

0:04:03.868,0:04:08.619
Things like cancer, aging,[br]degenerative diseases;

0:04:08.619,0:04:13.088
these are but some[br]of the undesirables we wish to tame.

0:04:13.937,0:04:15.544
What I often wonder:

0:04:15.544,0:04:18.728
why is it that we are having[br]so much trouble

0:04:18.728,0:04:20.890
trying to solve the problem of cancer?

0:04:21.319,0:04:24.596
Is it that we're trying to solve[br]the problem of cancer,

0:04:24.596,0:04:27.202
and not trying to understand life?

0:04:27.880,0:04:31.053
Life on this planet[br]shares a common origin,

0:04:31.053,0:04:36.129
and I can summarize 3.5 billion years[br]of the history of life on this planet

0:04:36.129,0:04:37.408
in a single slide.

0:04:37.632,0:04:41.108
What you see here are representatives[br]of all known species in our planet.

0:04:41.488,0:04:44.922
In this immensity of life[br]and biodiversity,

0:04:44.922,0:04:48.161
we occupy a rather unremarkable position.

0:04:48.282,0:04:49.276
(Laughter)

0:04:49.276,0:04:50.499
Homo sapiens.

0:04:51.183,0:04:53.072
The last of our kind.

0:04:53.793,0:04:56.927
And though I don't really want[br]to disparage at all

0:04:56.927,0:04:59.025
the accomplishments of our species,

0:04:59.025,0:05:01.459
as much as we wish it to be so --

0:05:01.459,0:05:03.957
and often pretend that is so --

0:05:03.957,0:05:06.833
we are not the measure of all things.

0:05:07.479,0:05:10.966
We are however the measurers[br]of many things.

0:05:11.526,0:05:15.240
We relentlessly quantify,[br]analyze and compare,

0:05:15.240,0:05:17.355
and some of this absolutely invaluable,

0:05:17.355,0:05:19.212
and indeed necessary.

0:05:19.931,0:05:26.217
But this emphasis today on forcing[br]biological research to specialize

0:05:26.217,0:05:29.031
and to produce practical outcomes

0:05:29.031,0:05:32.493
is actually restricting our ability[br]to interrogate life [--]

0:05:32.493,0:05:36.576
to unacceptably narrow confines[br]and unsatisfying depths.

0:05:37.270,0:05:42.334
We are measuring an astonishingly[br]narrow sliver of life,

0:05:42.334,0:05:46.244
and hoping that those numbers[br]will save all of our lives.

0:05:46.640,0:05:48.056
How narrow do you ask?

0:05:48.056,0:05:49.683
Well, let me give you a number.

0:05:49.683,0:05:54.307
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric[br]Administration recently estimated

0:05:54.307,0:05:58.234
that about 95 percent of our[br]oceans remain unexplored.

0:05:58.817,0:06:01.435
Now, let that sink in for a second.

0:06:01.435,0:06:05.282
95 percent of our oceans[br]remain unexplored.

0:06:05.919,0:06:08.293
I think it's very safe to say

0:06:08.293,0:06:12.993
that we don't even know[br]how much of a life we do not know.

0:06:14.033,0:06:16.981
So, it's not surprising[br]that every week in my field

0:06:16.981,0:06:20.215
we begin to see the addition[br]of more and more new species

0:06:20.215,0:06:22.361
to this amazing tree of life.

0:06:22.574,0:06:23.994
This one for example --

0:06:23.994,0:06:25.923
discovered earlier this summer,

0:06:25.923,0:06:27.221
new to science,

0:06:27.221,0:06:30.389
and now occupying its lonely[br]branch in a family tree.

0:06:31.044,0:06:32.317
What is even more tragic

0:06:32.317,0:06:35.978
is that we know about a bunch[br]of other species of animals out there,

0:06:35.978,0:06:39.562
but their biology remains[br]sorely under studied.

0:06:39.562,0:06:42.030
I'm sure some of you[br]have heard about the fact

0:06:42.030,0:06:46.089
that a starfish can actually[br]regenerate its arm after its lost,

0:06:46.089,0:06:47.639
but some of you might not know

0:06:47.639,0:06:51.865
that the arm itself can actually[br]regenerate a complete starfish.

0:06:52.950,0:06:56.998
And there are animals out there[br]that do truly astounding things.

0:06:57.715,0:06:59.434
I'm almost willing to bet

0:06:59.434,0:07:03.753
that many of you have never heard[br]of the flatworm, Schmidtea mediterranea.

0:07:04.614,0:07:06.840
This little guy right here

0:07:06.840,0:07:10.253
does things that essentially[br]just blow my mind.

0:07:10.401,0:07:14.428
You can grab one of these animals[br]and cut it into 18 different fragments,

0:07:14.428,0:07:16.719
and each and every one of those fragments[br]

0:07:16.719,0:07:21.101
will go on to regenerate[br]a complete animal in under two weeks.

0:07:21.877,0:07:26.114
18 heads, 18 bodies, 18 mysteries.

0:07:26.658,0:07:29.215
For the past decade-and-a-half or so,

0:07:29.215,0:07:32.637
I've been trying to figure out how[br]these little dudes do what they do,

0:07:32.637,0:07:34.859
and how they pull this magic trick off.

0:07:34.859,0:07:36.687
But like all good magicians,

0:07:36.687,0:07:39.565
they're not really releasing[br]their secrets readily to me.

0:07:39.565,0:07:40.551
(Laughter)

0:07:40.794,0:07:42.017
So, here we are

0:07:42.017,0:07:46.233
after 20 years of essentially[br]studying these animals,

0:07:46.233,0:07:47.602
genome mapping,

0:07:47.602,0:07:48.564
chin-scratching,

0:07:48.564,0:07:50.013
and thousands of amputations,

0:07:50.013,0:07:51.992
and thousands of regenerations,

0:07:51.992,0:07:55.787
we still don't fully understand[br]how these animals do what they do.

0:07:56.250,0:07:59.869
Each planarian an ocean unto itself ...

0:07:59.869,0:08:01.475
full of unknowns.

0:08:02.643,0:08:04.241
One of the common characteristics

0:08:04.241,0:08:06.820
of all of these animals[br]I've been talking to you about

0:08:06.820,0:08:09.833
is that they did not appear[br]to have received the memo

0:08:09.833,0:08:12.523
that they need to behave[br]according to the rules

0:08:12.523,0:08:16.595
that we have derived from a handful[br]of randomly selected animals

0:08:16.595,0:08:19.340
that currently populate the vast majority

0:08:19.340,0:08:21.937
of biomedical laboratories[br]across the world.

0:08:22.316,0:08:24.569
Meet our Nobel Prize winners.

0:08:24.569,0:08:26.594
Seven species essentially,

0:08:26.594,0:08:30.219
that have produced for us the brunt[br]of our understanding

0:08:30.219,0:08:32.855
of biological behavior today.

0:08:33.355,0:08:35.170
This little guy right here --

0:08:35.170,0:08:37.836
three Nobel Prizes in 12 years.

0:08:38.311,0:08:39.330
And yet,

0:08:39.330,0:08:41.332
after all the attention[br]they have garnered,

0:08:41.332,0:08:43.331
and all the knowledge they have generated,

0:08:43.331,0:08:45.349
as well as the lion's share[br]of the funding,

0:08:45.349,0:08:49.189
here we are standing in front of the same[br]litany of intractable problems

0:08:49.189,0:08:50.936
and many new challenges.

0:08:51.297,0:08:52.300
And that's because,

0:08:52.300,0:08:53.315
unfortunately,

0:08:53.315,0:08:56.001
these seven animals essentially correspond

0:08:56.001,0:09:01.261
to 0.00009 percent of all of the species

0:09:01.261,0:09:03.250
that inhabit the planet.

0:09:04.153,0:09:06.562
So, I'm beginning to suspect

0:09:06.562,0:09:11.213
that our specialization is beginning[br]to impede our progress at best,

0:09:11.213,0:09:12.460
and at worst,

0:09:12.460,0:09:14.008
leading us astray.

0:09:14.449,0:09:17.546
That's because life[br]on this planet and its history

0:09:17.546,0:09:19.560
is the history of rule breakers.

0:09:19.854,0:09:23.051
Life started on the face of this planet[br]as single-cell organisms,

0:09:23.051,0:09:25.396
swimming for millions[br]of years in the ocean

0:09:25.396,0:09:29.661
until one of those creatures decided[br]"I'm going to do things differently today;

0:09:29.661,0:09:32.692
today I would like to invent[br]something called multicellularity,

0:09:32.692,0:09:33.947
and I'm going to do this."

0:09:33.947,0:09:36.571
And I'm sure it wasn't a popular[br]decision at the time --

0:09:36.571,0:09:37.565
(Laughter)

0:09:37.565,0:09:39.175
but somehow it managed to do it.

0:09:39.175,0:09:40.176
And then,

0:09:40.176,0:09:43.543
multicellular organisms began to populate[br]all the [sensational] oceans,

0:09:43.543,0:09:44.742
and they thrived --

0:09:44.742,0:09:46.493
and we have them here today.

0:09:46.893,0:09:49.966
Land masses began to emerge[br]from the surface of the oceans,

0:09:49.966,0:09:51.551
and then other creatures thought,

0:09:51.551,0:09:54.374
"Hey, that looks like a really[br]nice piece of real estate,

0:09:54.374,0:09:55.760
I'd like to move over there."

0:09:55.760,0:09:56.764
"Are you crazy?

0:09:56.764,0:09:58.496
You're going to desiccate out there,

0:09:58.496,0:09:59.980
nothing can live out of water."

0:09:59.980,0:10:01.051
But life found a way,

0:10:01.051,0:10:03.690
and there are organisms now[br]of course that live on land.

0:10:03.690,0:10:04.692
Once on land,

0:10:04.692,0:10:06.409
they may have looked up into the sky

0:10:06.409,0:10:08.891
and said, "Hey, it would be nice[br]to go to the clouds,

0:10:08.891,0:10:09.893
I'm going to fly."

0:10:09.893,0:10:11.607
"You can't break the law of gravity,

0:10:11.607,0:10:12.948
there's no way you can fly."

0:10:12.948,0:10:14.897
And yet, nature has invented --

0:10:14.897,0:10:16.787
multiple and independent times --

0:10:16.787,0:10:17.994
ways to fly.

0:10:18.535,0:10:21.216
I love to study these animals[br]that break the rules,

0:10:21.216,0:10:23.154
because every time they break a rule,

0:10:23.154,0:10:24.744
they invent something new

0:10:24.744,0:10:28.503
that made it possible for us[br]to be able to here today.

0:10:28.823,0:10:31.116
These animals did not get the memo.

0:10:31.116,0:10:32.839
They break the rules.

0:10:32.839,0:10:35.569
So, if we're going to study[br]animals that break the rules,

0:10:35.569,0:10:38.947
shouldn't how we study them[br]also break the rules?

0:10:39.762,0:10:43.070
I think that we need to renew[br]our spirit of exploration.

0:10:43.568,0:10:46.075
Rather than bringing nature[br]into our laboratories

0:10:46.075,0:10:47.504
and interrogating there,

0:10:47.504,0:10:51.681
we need to bring our science into[br]the majestic laboratory that is nature.

0:10:51.982,0:10:53.091
And there,

0:10:53.091,0:10:56.085
with our modern,[br]technological armamentarium,

0:10:56.085,0:10:59.009
interrogate every new[br]form of life we find,

0:10:59.009,0:11:02.059
and any new biological attribute[br]that we may find.

0:11:02.677,0:11:06.937
We actually need to bring[br]all of our intelligence

0:11:06.937,0:11:08.971
to becoming stupid again --

0:11:08.971,0:11:12.830
clueless in front of[br]the immensity of the unknown.

0:11:13.283,0:11:14.667
Because after all,

0:11:14.667,0:11:16.925
science is not really about knowledge.

0:11:16.925,0:11:19.624
Science is about ignorance.

0:11:19.624,0:11:21.012
That's what we do.

0:11:21.012,0:11:24.415
Once, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote,

0:11:24.415,0:11:26.124
"If you want to build a ship,

0:11:26.124,0:11:28.091
don't drum up people to collect wood

0:11:28.091,0:11:30.321
and don't assign them tasks and work,

0:11:30.321,0:11:34.249
but rather teach them to long[br]for the endless immensity of the sea."

0:11:34.750,0:11:36.576
As a scientist and a teacher,

0:11:36.576,0:11:38.560
I like to paraphrase this to read

0:11:38.560,0:11:41.741
that we scientists need[br]to teach our students

0:11:41.741,0:11:44.215
to long for the endless[br]immensity of the sea ...

0:11:44.215,0:11:46.037
that is our ignorance.

0:11:46.935,0:11:50.823
We Homo sapiens are the only[br]species we know of

0:11:50.823,0:11:53.413
that is driven to scientific inquiry.

0:11:53.741,0:11:55.982
We, like all other species on this planet,

0:11:55.982,0:12:00.473
are inextricably woven[br]into the history of life on this planet.

0:12:01.187,0:12:04.334
And I think I'm little wrong when[br]I say that life is a mystery,

0:12:04.334,0:12:07.139
because I think that life[br]is actually an open secret

0:12:07.139,0:12:11.123
that has been beckoning our species[br]for millennia to understand it.

0:12:11.503,0:12:13.127
So, I ask you:

0:12:13.127,0:12:16.900
aren't we the best chance[br]that life has to know itself?

0:12:17.278,0:12:18.323
And if so,

0:12:18.323,0:12:20.244
what the heck are we waiting for?

0:12:20.520,0:12:21.744
Thank you.

0:12:21.744,0:12:23.287
(Applause)