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This episode of SciShow is supported by Skillshare,
本期科学秀由Skillshare赞助播出，
an online learning community with more than 17,000 classes in design, photo, and more.
Skillshare，一个有17000种设计、摄影及其他课程的在线学习网站。
You'd think eating your own kind would be a bad idea.
你觉得吃自己的同类是个歪点子。
I mean, it can be hard enough to survive and reproduce without having to worry about members of your own species taking you out, too.
我是说，在担心你的同类们会除掉你的情况下，生存和繁殖变得很困难。
But lots of animals are cannibals, from mantises that eat their mates to mice that eat their babies.
但有许多吃同类的动物，从吃掉自己伴侣的螳螂到吃掉自己幼崽的老鼠。
So there must be some kind of benefit to it.
所以吃同类一定有一些益处。
And since, in the immortal words of The Bloodhound Gang, "we ain't nothin' but mammals,"
就像另类摇滚团体‘血性猎犬帮’的不朽名言一样，“除了哺乳动物，我们什么都不是，”
you'd expect human cannibalism to have its upsides, too — even if the idea is a little nauseating.
你也可以期待同类相食也有其优势——即使这个想法有点恶心。
Obviously, there are social and moral factors to consider when it comes to eating people.
显然，当说到吃人时，还需考虑社会和道德因素。
But if you strip those away and just focus on the biology,
但如果你抛开这些因素，仅从生物学角度考虑，
there's some evidence to suggest that eating human flesh actually has some benefits.
有证据显示吃人的肉体真的有些好处。
For better or worse, cannibalism is a part of our shared history.
不论好坏，嗜食同类是我们共同历史的一部分。
There's archaeological evidence that in some societies,
有考古资料证明在某些社会，
human was a part of the original Paleo Diet, accounting for as much as 10% of the protein people ate.
人体也是原始人饮食法中的一个部分，占人类所食蛋白质的近10%。
And … human flesh might actually have more nutritional value than other kinds of meat.
并且人类肉体可能比其他肉类包含更多营养价值。
We have about the same number of calories as other animals our size,
我们和同体型的其他动物有着近同量的卡路里，
so you'd get the same amount of energy from eating a person as you would from eating a small deer.
因此，吃人和吃一头小鹿所获得的能量一样多。
But just like Wagyu beef has much more fat and less protein than a ribeye,
但神户牛肉比牛脊肉含更多脂肪和更少蛋白质，
human flesh has its own unique profile of proteins, fats, and other nutrients.
人类肉体中的蛋白质、脂肪和其他营养物有着独特之处。
The more closely related your meal is to you, the more closely its nutrient profile will match your needs,
你所吃的肉与你越相关，其中所包含的营养元素就会越符合你的需求，
which would make human meat the most nutritious choice for other humans.
这就使得人肉成为其他人类最有营养的选择。
Studies in all kinds of animals, from beetles to frogs to fish,
从甲壳虫到青蛙再到鱼类，从对所有种类的动物的研究中发现，
have found that carnivores are healthier when they're fed members of either their own, or closely related species.
那些以同类为食或以相近种类为食的食肉动物更加健康。
But there is a major potential downside to eating your own species: disease.
但同类相食的一个主要潜在缺点就是疾病。
Because when your meal is more closely related to you, it's a lot more likely to carry diseases you can catch.
因为你所食用的肉与你越相近，你感染上它们所携带的疾病的几率就越大。
Probably the best cautionary tale comes from the Fore people of Papua New Guinea.
也许最好的警世故事就是巴布亚新几内亚的法尔人。
Starting around the 1920s, a disease called Kuru started to spread among the Fore.
自1920年代左右，一种被称为库鲁病的疾病在法尔人中传播。
The name comes from the Fore word for "shaking", since tremors are one of the symptoms.
该名称来源于法人词汇，意为‘颤抖’，因为颤抖就是其症状之一。
The sick also walked strangely, slurred their speech,
患该病者走路奇怪且口齿不清，
and were prone to emotional instability and bizarre unprovoked laughing fits.
患者容易情绪不稳定、出现无故大笑的症状。
The symptoms would get worse and worse, and eventually become fatal.
这些症状会越来越严重，最终致命。
At the peak of the kuru outbreak, hundreds were dying every year.
在库鲁病爆发的高峰期，每年数百人因此丧命。
Researchers have since found that kuru is what's known as a prion disease — the same type as Mad Cow.
研究员发现库鲁病即朊毒体病——与疯牛病属同一类疾病。
Prions are proteins that are folded wrong, which wouldn't necessarily be a problem,
朊病毒是折叠错误的蛋白质，它们未必会引发问题，
except that they're hard for our bodies to break down.
除非是那些我们身体难以分解的朊病毒。
And when prions come in contact with properly-folded versions of themselves, they make those proteins fold wrong, too.
当朊病毒和正确折叠的朊病毒相接触，也会形成折叠错误的蛋白质。
Misfolded proteins accumulate in the brain, causing holes to form and destroying neurons until the person dies.
错误折叠的蛋白质在大脑集聚，形成小孔并破坏神经元直至人体死亡。
But prion diseases aren't contagious — that is, unless you eat something with misfolded proteins in it.
但朊病毒并不是传染性疾病——除非你吃了某些含有错误折叠蛋白质的食物。
The kuru prions spread because until the 1950s, the Fore practiced mortuary feasting,
库鲁病朊病毒的传播是因为直到1950年代，法尔人实行停尸房盛宴，
where they ate parts of their dead loved ones to honor them and mourn their passing.
他们吃掉已故爱人的身体部位以表示尊敬和哀悼。
Researchers have found that elderly Fore who survived the kuru epidemic
研究人员发现从那场库鲁传染病中活下来的年长老人
had specific genetic changes that probably made them resistant to prion diseases.
有显著的基因变化，也许是基因的变化让他们对朊病毒病产生抵抗力。
We've found similar changes in genomes from around the globe,
在全球其他地方，我们也发现了类似的基因组变化，
which suggests that prion diseases like kuru—and the cannibalism that spreads them—were common in our evolutionary history.
这意味着像库鲁病这样的朊病毒病以及传播其中的同类相食在我们的进化历史中非常常见。
But prion diseases aren't the only reasons you'd think eating people would be too risky, and this is where things get weird...er.
但朊病毒病并不是吃人危险的唯一原因，这就使事情变得更加奇怪了。
There are plenty of super contagious diseases that can spread just by touching an infected person — let alone eating them.
还有许多超强传染病会通过与感染者的接触传播——更别提吃掉他们了。
But, despite the number of cases of human and animal cannibalism,
但除了这些人类和动物同类相食的案例，
we've found fewer examples of it causing disease outbreaks than we'd expect.
我们所发现的同类相食导致疾病爆发的例子却非常少。
And according to a review paper published in The American Naturalist in 2017, there might be a good reason for that:
根据2017年《美国自然科学家》中所发表的一篇综述论文，可能的原因如下：
Cannibalism could actually protect people from catching dangerous diseases,
同类相食能保护人类避免危险的疾病，
because it gets rid of some of the microbes that spread them.
因为其能够剔除一些传播其中的细菌。
Sure, eating someone else exposes you to more pathogens.
当然，吃掉别人会让你暴露于更多病原体中。
But at the same time, you're also protecting the rest of your community from coming into contact with the disease.
但同时，你也保护了同类的其他人免于接触疾病。
A lot of microbes can't survive things like cooking or the destructive juices in our guts, so you destroy them by eating them.
许多细菌经烹饪后或在我们内脏中的有害汁液中无法存活，因此吃掉即毁灭。
Plus, removing the infected person from the population, both through their death and any action that gets rid of their body,
而且从同类中除掉感染者，不管是通过他们的死亡还是其他消灭他们尸体的方法，
means there's one less person spreading the disease around.
都意味着又少了一名传播该疾病的人。
So cannibalism might actually slow the spread of some diseases, or even wipe them out.
因此同类相食可能减缓了一些疾病的传播，或者甚至是消灭了它们。
You'd still have the prions to worry about, but the net effect of reducing other diseases could make it worth the risk.
你仍然需要担心朊病毒，但为了减少其他疾病的净效应，值得冒险。
So, the more we study cannibalism,
因此，我们对同类相食了解越多，
the more it seems like eating other people's flesh might not be too bad for our health—our physical health, anyway.
就越觉得为了身体健康，吃其他人的肉体也可能没那么糟糕。
That said, I wouldn't recommend trying it.
即便如此我也不会建议大家尝试。
It can still be pretty dangerous, and when it comes to preventing diseases,
同类相食还是相当危险，说道预防疾病，
modern medicine is a lot more effective than eating people.
现代医学比吃人更有效。
Plus, there are plenty of other ways to practice a healthy lifestyle,
而且还有很多其他方式能够实现健康的生活方式，
and it helps to have a variety of resources for staying in shape, both mentally and physically.
帮助我们获取各种资源用于保持身体和心理的健康。
Skillshare is an online learning community with over 1600 classes in health and wellness, from nutrition to mindfulness and more.
Skillshare上有1600多种有关健康的课程，从营养学到心理学应有尽有。
A lot of these classes talk about how exercise and an active lifestyle are key for success in creative careers.
许多课程都是谈论成功创造性职业中锻炼和积极的生活方式的关键性。
In this lesson of 7 Simple Habits of Highly Creative People, habit #5 is literally "Exercise,"
在《高度创新人群的7种简单习惯》的课程中，第五个习惯的意思是‘锻炼’，
and this class about writing productivity emphasizes the importance of taking a break from the desk to stretch your legs on a walk.
关于创作的课程强调了在工作中通过走路活动休息片刻的重要性。
And if you've by some miracle already nailed health and wellness,
如果你已经掌握健康，
you still have something to learn from Skillshare's 17,000-plus classes in design, photo, and more.
你还是需要从Skillshare的另外17000种有关设计、摄影等课程中继续学习。
Premium Membership gives you unlimited access so you can improve your skills, unlock new opportunities, and do the work you love.
成为高级会员享有更多提高技能、解锁新机遇以及从事所爱工作的权限。
The first 500 SciShow viewers to use the promo link in the description will support the production of this channel
前500名进入推广链接的《科学秀》观众可获得
and get a free 2 month trial of Skillshare.
2个月的Skillshare免费尝试。
Thanks for the support and thanks for watching.
谢谢支持，感谢收看。
