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All things scale in a very predictable way and they scale in a way that's non-linear.
所有的东西都以一种非常可预测的方式进行扩展，而且它们的扩展方式是非线性的。
We developed this very elegant theory that what these scaling laws are reflecting are in fact the generic universal mathematical and physical properties of the multiple networks that make an organism viable and allow it to develop and grow.
我们开发了这个非常适用的理论，这些缩放规律所反映的实际上是多种网络的通用数学和物理特性，这些网络使生物体能够生存并使其发展和成长。
I think it's one of the more remarkable properties of life actually.
我认为这实际上是生命的一个更显著的属性。
Just taking mammals, the largest mammals, the whale, in terms of measurable quantities, is actually a scaled up version of the smallest mammal, which is actually the shrew.
仅以哺乳动物为例，最大的哺乳动物是鲸鱼，就可测量的数量而言，它是最小的哺乳动物的放大版。
They are scaled versions of one another.
它们是彼此成比例的版本。
If you have this theory of scaling laws, you can determine what the parameters are, the knobs that you could conceivably turn to change that lifespan.
如果你知道这个比例法则理论，就可以确定参数，进而可以用转动的旋钮来改变寿命长度。
So it's a fantastic effect, it's a huge effect.
这个现象很奇妙，也能产生巨大的效果。
If you have this theory of networks underlying these scaling laws, manifesting themselves as scaling laws, you first ask, you know, is there a scaling law for lifespan?
如果你知道这个潜在的缩放法则理论网络——以缩放法则呈现出来，你首先会问，是否存在一个寿命的缩放法则？
Every time you double the size of an organism, you would expect to double the amount of metabolic energy you need to keep that organism alive.
如果把一个生物体的体积增加一倍，你可能也会想把维持该生物体生存所需的代谢能量增加一倍。
Quite the contrary, you don't need twice as much metabolic energy.
事实恰恰相反，你并不需要两倍的新陈代谢能量。
Systematically you only need roughly speaking 75% as much.
系统地讲，你只需要大约75%的能量。
So there's this kind of systematic 25% savings.
所以其实节省了25%的系统能量。
Metabolic rate simply means how much energy or how much food does an animal need to eat each day in order to stay alive.
新陈代谢率只是意味着一个动物每天需要吃多少能量或多少食物才能存活。
Everybody's familiar with that as sort of roughly 2000 food calories a day for a human being.
所有人都知道，对于人类来说，每天大约需要2000卡路里的食物。
So here's this extraordinary complex process, yet it scales in a very simple way.
因此，这是一个非常复杂的过程，但却以一种非常简单的方式进行扩展。
Life span also increases following these quarter power scaling laws.
寿命的增加也遵循这些四分之一功率的缩放规律。
The scaling of these quantities is determined by the constraints of flows in networks.
这些数量的扩展是由网络中的流动限制决定的。
Those flows, they are dissipative, which simply means they involve wear and tear.
这些流动，它们是耗散性的，这意味着它们涉及磨损和撕裂。
Just as there's a lot of traffic going back and forth on the roads, and those roads wear out, they have to be repaired.
就像有大量的交通在道路上来回穿梭，而这些道路磨损了，必须要修复它们。
And so it is, the traffic through our multiple network systems produce damage.
事实也是如此，通过我们的多个网络系统的交通会产生损害。
The reason a large animal lives longer than a small one is because the metabolic rate per unit mass or per cell, gets systematically smaller, the bigger the animal corresponding to these quarter power scaling laws.
大动物比小动物活得更久的原因是每单位质量或每细胞的新陈代谢率系统地变小，动物越大就越符合这些四分之一功率的缩放规律。
So less damage is done at the cellular level the bigger the animal.
因此，动物越大，在细胞水平上造成的损害就越小。
When a given fraction of unrepaired damages occur, the system will become non-viable, that is it can no longer be sustained.
当发生一定比例的未修复损伤时，该系统将变得不可生存，即它无法再维持。
