NO MORE DNA
消失的DNA
Q. This may be a bit gruesome, but . . . if someone 8217;s DNA suddenly vanished, how long would that person last?
Q．虽然听上去有点吓人，但……如果一个人体内的DNA突然消失了，那么他还能活多久？
A. IF YOU LOST YOUR DNA, you would instantly be about a third of a pound lighter.
A．如果你失去了身体内的所有DNA，你的体重会在一瞬间减少150克。
Losing a third of a pound
减肥150克
I don 8217;t recommend this strategy. There are easier ways to lose a third of a pound, including:
我不建议通过这种方式减肥。要想减掉150克体重有更简单的方法，包括：
Taking off your shirt
•脱掉T恤。
Peeing
•撒尿。
Cutting your hair (if you have very long hair)
•理发（如果头发很长的话）。
Donating blood, but putting a kink in the IV once they drain 150 mL and refusing to let them take any more
•献血，记得在抽满150毫升血液后在抽血管上打个结，告诉医生就只献这么多血。
Holding a 3-foot-diameter balloon full of helium
•拿着一个直径76厘米、装满氦气的气球。
Removing your fingers
•砍掉手指。
You 8217;ll also lose a third of a pound if you take a trip from the polar regions to the tropics. This happens for two reasons: One, the Earth is shaped like this:
如果你从极地跑到热带地区去，你的体重也会减轻150克。原因有两个：其一，地球的形状是这个样子的：
If you stand on the North Pole, you 8217;re 20 kilometers closer to the center of the Earth than if you stand on the equator, and you feel a stronger pull from gravity.
你站在北极时离地心的距离比你站在赤道时离地心的距离近20千米，因此在北极时你受到的地心引力更大一些。
Furthermore, if you 8217;re on the equator, you 8217;re being flung outward by centrifugal force.
此外，站在赤道上时，你还会被离心力往外甩。
The result of these two phenomena is that if you move between polar regions and equatorial ones, you might lose or gain up to about half a percent of your body weight.
这两个因素合在一起的结果就是，如果你在极地和赤道地区来回跑，那么你的体重就会增加或减少0.5％。
The reason I 8217;m focusing on weight is that if your DNA disappeared, the physical loss of the matter wouldn 8217;t be the first thing you might notice. It 8217;s possible you 8217;d feel something-a tiny, uniform shockwave as every cell contracted slightly-but maybe not.
这里我关注体重的原因在于，当你身体内的DNA消失时，物质的损失并不是你第一个注意到的东西。有可能你会感觉到什么，由于每个细胞轻微收缩而产生的一股小而均匀的冲击波，但也有可能你什么感觉都没有。