The first and most obvious question I want to ask
谈到一个人的性格
is, when it comes to your personality,
究竟有多少是直接遗传自父母的
how much is inherited directly from your parents?
双胞胎研究显示
Twin studies have told us
性格具有遗传成分
that personality has a heritable component,
他们告诉我们 通常性格中
and they tell us that generally 40 to 50% of personality,
蒂姆·斯佩克特教授 伦敦国王学院
40%到50%的性格差异
of differences between us in personality,
取决于遗传因素 其余部分随机形成
are due to genetic factors and the rest, either random,
或取决于环境因素
or due to environment.
蒂姆在早年研究生涯中探究了
Tim spent the early years of his career investigating
是什么让同卵双胞胎惊人地相似
what made identical twins uncannily similar.
之后他改变了自己的研究重点
Then he changed the focus of his research,
开始研究为什么同卵双胞胎
began to wonder why identical twins
并不总是一模一样
are not always identical.
三年前 我改变了想法
Three years ago, I just changed my mind.
因为双胞胎并不患同样的疾病
Because twins don’t get the same disease,
死于同样原因 这不可能是单纯的基因作用
don’t die of the same things, it can’t just be genes alone
让我们看看同卵双胞胎之间的差异
and let’s look at the differences between identical twins
没准这能告诉我们更多他们相似的原因
and that could probably tell us more than why they’re similar.
这就是当科学家比政客
That’s great about being a scientist
更好的地方 可以改变想法
rather than a politician – changing your mind.
你能改变想法
You can change your mind
没有人会不给你投票 没错
and no-one stops voting for you, that’s right.
蒂姆想探明
Tim wanted to find out
出生带着相同DNA的人
how people who are born with the same DNA
为何会出现巨大差异
can end up very different.
我来见一对不太寻常的同卵双胞胎
I’ve come to meet a particularly unusual pair of identical twins,
戴比和特鲁迪
Debbie and Trudi.
天啊 我弄脏了我的手指
Oh, dear! I’ve obviously got dirty fingers there.
我正在擦干净 她找到了什么
I’m wiping them off. Oh, what’s she found?
像所有同卵双胞胎一样
Like all identical twins,
戴比和特鲁迪带着相同的DNA出生
Debbie and Trudi were born with the same DNA.
你注意到你的裤子颜色不同吗
Have you noticed that your trousers are a different colour?
你穿了棕色的裤子
You’ve got brown trousers on.
特鲁迪·莱德 戴比·鲍顿
不 你是那个穿棕色裤子和黄色外套的
No, you’re the one in the yellow coat with the brown trousers.
我穿了蓝色裤子和白色外套 那个是你
I’ve got blue trousers on with a white coat. That’s you!
-不 是的 是我 -肯定是你
– No. Oh, yes, that’s me. – Yes, that’s definitely you, look.
20岁之前她们生活在相同的环境中
They shared the same environment for the first 20 years of their lives,
上同样的学校 有同样的朋友
went to the same schools, had the same friends.
这真是聪明
I think that’s brilliant.
-你就是没办法协调 对吗 -不是啦
– You just couldn’t coordinate, could you, really? – No, not really.
我们以前很可爱 对吧
We were cute, weren’t we?
你们现在也很可爱 说真的
You are cute, honestly.
你可能预期她们像大多数同卵双胞胎那样
You might expect them, like most other sets of identical twins,
拥有相似的性格
to have similar personalities.
你能看到我们就是快乐 快乐 快乐
You can see we’re just, you know, happy. Happy, happy, happy.
-你们小时候很快乐 -是的
– You look jolly children. – We were.
可能是因为
And that’s possibly because
我们从没觉得我们要靠自己
we never felt that we were on our own.
我们只需要彼此
We only ever needed each other.
这么说吧 任何阻碍我们关系的人
Well, let’s put it this way, anybody throughout our lives who
都不会长久出现在我们生活中
got in the way of that relationship didn’t last.
吓人
Scary!
这对双胞胎仍非常亲密
The twins are still extremely close
在很多方面诡异地相似 但最近
and spookily similar in many respects, but these days,
却出现了重要的差异
there is a critical difference.
与她的双胞胎不同 戴比有了临床抑郁症
Unlike her twin, Debbie has developed clinical depression.
如果在你们16岁时见到你们 你们能预测
If I had met you at 16, would you have been able to predict
-你俩谁会有抑郁症吗 -不 不
-which of you would have become depressed? -No. No.
-你们俩说过有谁会得抑郁症吗 -没有
-Would you have said either of you would become depressed? -No. No.
没有
No.
今天 戴比和特鲁迪
Today, Debbie and Trudi
来到圣托马斯医院接受检查
have come to St Thomas’s Hospital for tests.
他们属于蒂姆研究中被称为
They’re part of a group of what is known as discordant twins
不一致双胞胎的群组
that Tim is studying.
为什么双胞胎拥有相同DNA
How can twins who share the same DNA
以及相同的人生经历 最终却大相径庭呢
and the same life experiences end up being so different?
蒂姆认为这是因为双胞胎的DNA
Tim thought it must be because something had happened
发生了变化 于是他开始寻找差异
to their DNA, so he began looking for differences.
也许出人意料 我们的基因并非固定不变
Because, surprising though it may seem, our genes aren’t fixed.
它们会改变
They can change.
我们一生中 所有基因都在不断变化
As we go through life, all our genes are changing constantly.
随着我们年龄增长 一些基因逐渐被开启
As we age, some of them are being switched on,
而一些则被关闭
some of them are being switched off.
我们认为这些真实地反映了
And we think that these are actually reflecting
我们的环境和生活轨迹
things like our environment and the lives we’ve led.
它们有些像我们生命线上的标记
They’re like a marker of our lifelines in a way.
这个过程被称为表观遗传学
This process is known as epigenetics,
我认为这是
and I think it is one of
现代医学最激动人心的发展之一
the most exciting developments in modern medicine.
生活事件可以改变我们基因的活性
Life events can change the activity of our genes,
也许是戴比成年后的某个时刻
so it seems at some point in Debbie’s adult life,
她大脑中基因的改变使她更
changes to genes in her brain made her more vulnerable
容易患上抑郁症
to bouts of depression.
那么对于戴比和特鲁迪
So with somebody like Debbie and with Trudi,
你是否找到了她们DNA中的差别
did you actually find differences in their DNA?
我们找到了 并且我们观察了
We did, and when we looked at
由30对双胞胎组成的集♥合♥
a larger group of 30 of our twins,
这些双胞胎都是一人抑郁 一人正常
where one was depressed and one wasn’t,
我们反复看到有某些基因出现
we saw certain genes coming up time and time again.
我们识别出约五六条明显不同的基因
We identified about five or six that were clearly different,
特别在海马区
particularly in areas like the hippocampus,
我们知道该区域对焦虑和抑郁非常重要
which we know are very important in anxiety and depression,
许多情绪也由此区域产生
where a lot of the emotions are.
不得不说 真是令人惊讶
I have to say, I find it mind-boggling.
是啊 那是科学让人兴奋的部分
Well, that’s the exciting bit of science,
事实上我们也是在过去几年间
and the fact that we’re only able to do this
才能够有此发现
in the last couple of years
这得益于科技的高速发展
because of the amazing advance in technology.
我们都知道 压力和情绪事件
We all know that stressful, emotional events,
比如死亡或分离
like a death or a separation,
会导致抑郁 但如今科学家们相信
can trigger depression, but what scientists now believe
它们同样也会影响我们基因的表达
is they can also change the behaviour of our genes.
这带来了一种引人注目的可能性
This raises the enticing possibility
如果基因能被改变 那么也许 只是也许
that if your genes can be switched one way, then maybe, just maybe,
它们也能通过别的方式调整回来
they can also be switched back the other way.
我们以前说基因无法改变 但现在我们知道
Well, we used to say we can’t change our genes, but we now know
有许多这样的机制 可以开启或关闭它们
there are these many mechanisms that can switch them on and off,
突然间我们能重新夺回控制权 只要你愿意
and suddenly we’re regaining control, if you like, of our genes.
我喜欢这个
I like the idea
收回控制权的想法
of regaining control,
这鼓励我
and that encourages me
继续进行正念冥思和认知偏差矫正
to keep going at mindfulness and CBM.
挺令人陶醉的 真的 因为我
It’s quite charming, really, because you just kind of
开始对这些表情熟悉一些了
have grown to know them a little bit, these faces.
七周马上就要结束了
My seven weeks are almost up,
我还得再去见一位神经学家
and I’ve got one more neuroscientist to meet.
他很鼓舞人心 十年来一直致力于
An inspiring guy who’s been working on the puzzle of
解开基因和人格的谜题
genes and personality for a decade.
多亏了一种独特的收集 迈克尔·米尼教授
Professor Michael Meaney has been able to do pioneering work
能够进行开创性研究
thanks to a unique collection.
这么多大脑
This is quite a lot of brains.
-很不一般吧 -是的
-It’s impressive, isn’t it? -It is, yeah.
这是魁北克大脑储存库
This is the Quebec Brain Bank.
这里收集了大量的组织
It takes an enormous amount of organisation,
它最初起源于一个想法
and it was something that started with just an idea,
我们能不能收集大脑
right, of could we collect brains?
这三千个大脑中的每一个
Each of these 3,000 brains
都曾蕴藏着一个独特的性格
once contained a unique personality,
一段独特的记忆和经历
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