Could alien life make us sick? 外星生命有可能让人类生病吗？

Could alien life make us sick?

外星生命有可能让人类生病吗？

If we ever discover alien life in the form of microbes, could they make us sick?

如果我们有一天发现了以微生物形式存在的外星生命，它们会不会使我们生病呢？

Scientists have previously said the chances of Martian surface samples containing biohazards are extremely low.

科学家此前曾表示，火星表面样本中含有生物危害物的可能性极低。

But it's still something they're preparing for.

不过，这仍然是他们正在提前防范的问题之一。

If we ever brought samples back from Mars, they'd be sterilised and contained to make sure they didn't contaminate the Earth.

如果我们将来把火星样本带回地球，样本会经过灭菌并被严格封存，以确保不会污染地球。

But it's not only this so-called backwards contamination we need to think about.

但我们需要考虑的不仅仅是这种所谓的 “反向污染”。

Experts are also questioning what we're taking into space.

专家们也在思考人类究竟把什么带进了太空。

There's evidence that dormant viruses such as the one that causes shingles can become reactivated in space.

有证据表明，一些处于休眠状态的病毒，例如引发带状疱疹的病毒，在太空环境中可能被重新激活。

Studies have suggested astronauts' immune systems could be compromised by spaceflight, so they could be more likely to get sick.

有研究指出，宇航员的免疫系统可能会受到太空飞行的影响而减弱，使他们更容易生病。

And bringing microbes into space could contaminate the very thing we're trying to study.

而且，携带微生物进入太空，可能会污染我们真正想要研究的对象。

We might one day think we've found alien life, but it could actually be microbes we've brought there ourselves.

也许有一天，我们以为自己发现了外星生命，但实际上，那些微生物可能是我们自己从地球带过去的。

Because of this, experts are doing everything they can like sterilising spacecraft to stop microbes hitching a ride.

因此，专家们正在想尽一切办法，比如给航天器消毒，以防微生物 “搭便车”。

microbes 微生物

biohazards 生物危害物

sterilised 灭菌，消毒灭菌

dormant 休眠的，处于休眠状态的

immune systems 免疫系统