介绍： 2 The biology of gender,from DNA to the brain
性别生物学——从DNA到大脑

00:00
A big difference between our cells and the traveling carnival is that in the carnival,there are skilled craftsmen that rebuild the ribes each day.In our cells,there are no such skilled craftsmen,only dumb buildermachines that build...

介绍： 2 The biology of gender,from DNA to the brain
性别生物学——从DNA到大脑

00:00
A big difference between our cells and the traveling carnival is that in the carnival,there are skilled craftsmen that rebuild the ribes each day.In our cells,there are no such skilled craftsmen,only dumb buildermachines that build whatever’s written in the plans,no matter what those say.Those plans are the DNA.The instructions for every nook and cranny inside our cells.If everything in,say,our brain cells dissolves almost every day,then how can the brain remember anything past one day?That’s where DNA comes in.DNA is one of the those things that does not dissolve.But for DNA to remember that something happened,it has to change somehow.We know the change can’t be in the sequence;if it changed things all the time,then we might be growing like,a new ear or a new eyeball every single day.
我们的细胞和旅游嘉年华的一个很大的区别是，在嘉年华中，每天都有熟练的工匠在重建。在我们的细胞里，没有这样的能工巧匠，只有不会说话的建筑机器，不管计划上写着什么，也不论这些计划说了什么，这些计划就是DNA。指示着细胞里的每个角落和缝隙。比方说，如果我们脑细胞中的每样东西几乎每天都在溶解，那么我们的大脑怎么能记住过去一天的任何东西呢?这就是DNA的来源。DNA是一种不会溶解的物质。但是DNA要记住发生了什么，它必须以某种方式改变。我们知道变化不可能是按顺序发生的;如果它一直在变化，那么我们可能每天都在长出一个新耳朵或新眼球。

00:57
So,instead it changes shape,and that’s where those DNA knots come in.You can think of them like DNA memory.When something big in our life happens,like a traumatic childhood event,stress hormones flood our brain.The stress hormones don’t affect the sequence of DNA,but they do change the shape.They affect that part of DNA with the instructions for molecular machines that reduce stress.That piece of DNA gets wound up into a knot,and now the dumb builder machines can’t read the plans they need to build the machines that reduce stress.That’s a mouthful,but it’s what’s happening on the microscale.On the macroscale,you practically lose the ability to deal with stress,and that’s bad.And that’s how DNA can remember what happens in the past.This is what I think was happening to me when I first started my gender transition.
相反，它会改变形状，这就是DNA结的来源。你可以把它们想象成DNA记忆。当我们生活中的大事发生时，比如童年的创伤性事件，压力荷尔蒙就会充斥我们的大脑。应激激素不会影响DNA的序列，但会改变DNA的形状。它们通过分子机器的指令来影响部分DNA，从而减轻压力。DNA片段被缠绕成一个结，现在不说话的建造者机器无法解读它们建造减轻压力的机器所需要的计划。这听起来有点拗口，但这是微观上的情况。从宏观上看，你实际上失去了应对压力的能力，这很糟糕。这就是DNA如何记住过去发生的事情。当我第一次开始我的性别转变时，我想这就是发生在我身上的事情。

01:52
I knew I was a woman on the inside,and I wore women’s clothes on the outside,but everyone saw me as a man in a dress.I felt like no matter how many things I try,no one would ever really see me as a woman,In science,your credibility is everything,and people were snickering in the hallways,giving me stares,looks of disgust--afraid to be near me.I remember my first big talk after transition.It was in Italy.I’d given prestigious talks before,but this one,I was terrified.I looked out into the audience,and the whispers started--the stares,the smirks,the chuckles.To this day,I still have social anxiety around my experience eight years ago.I lost hope.Don’t worry,I’ve had therapy so I’m OK--I’m OK now.
我知道我的内心是一个女人，我外面穿着女人的衣服，但每个人都把我看成一个身着女装的男人。我觉得无论我做多少尝试，没有人会真正把我看成一个女人。在科学领域，你的信誉就是一切，人们在走廊里窃笑，盯着我看，表现出厌恶的表情——害怕靠近我。我还记得转性后的第一次演讲。那是在意大利。在那以前我做过很有声望的演讲，，但这次，我吓坏了。我看着观众，他们开始窃窃私语——盯着我看，傻笑，咯咯地笑。直到今天，我仍然对八年前的经历感到焦虑。我失去了希望。别担心，我接受了治疗，所以我没事了，我现在没事了。

03:05
But I felt enough is enough:I’m a scientist,I have a doctorate in astrophysics,I’ve published in the top journals,in wave-particle interactions,space physics,nucleic acid biochemistry.I’ve actually been trained to get to the bottom of things,so--I went online--So I went online,and I found fascinating research papers.I learned that these DNA knot things are not always bad.Actually,the knotting and unknotting--it’s like complicated computer language,It programs our bodies with exquisite precision.So when we get pregnant,our fertilized eggs grow into newborn babies.This process requires thousands of DNA decisions happen.
但我觉得已经够了:我是一名科学家，我有天体物理学博士学位，我在顶尖期刊上发表过论文，涉及波粒相互作用、空间物理学、核酸生物化学。事实上，我接受过深入的训练，所以——我上网了——我上网了，我发现了一些有趣的研究论文。我知道这些DNA打结的事情并不总是坏事。实际上，打结和不打结——就像复杂的计算机语言，它精确地为我们的身体编程。所以当我们怀孕时，我们的受精卵会长成新生儿。这个过程需要成千上万的DNA决定。