《那些古怪又讓人憂心的問題》第48期:消失的DNA(1)
NO MORE DNA
Q. This may be a bit gruesome, but . . . if someone's DNA suddenly vanished, how long would that person last?
Q．雖然聽上去有點嚇人，但……如果一個人體內的DNA突然消失了，那麼他還能活多久？A. IF YOU LOST YOUR DNA, you would instantly be about a third of a pound lighter.
A．如果你失去了身體內的所有DNA，你的體重會在一瞬間減少150克。
Losing a third of a pound
減肥150克I don't recommend this strategy. There are easier ways to lose a third of a pound, including:
我不建議通過這種方式減肥。要想減掉150克體重有更簡單的方法，包括：Taking off your shirt
•脫掉T恤。Peeing
•撒尿。Cutting your hair (if you have very long hair)
•理髮（如果頭髮很長的話）。Donating blood, but putting a kink in the IV once they drain 150 mL and refusing to let them take any more
•獻血，記得在抽滿150毫升血液後在抽血管上打個結，告訴醫生就只獻這麼多血。Holding a 3-foot-diameter balloon full of helium
•拿着一個直徑76釐米、裝滿氦氣的氣球。Removing your fingers
•砍掉手指。You'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:
如果你從極地跑到熱帶地區去，你的體重也會減輕150克。原因有兩個：其一，地球的形狀是這個樣子的：If you stand on the North Pole, you'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.
你站在北極時離地心的距離比你站在赤道時離地心的距離近20千米，因此在北極時你受到的地心引力更大一些。Furthermore, if you're on the equator, you're being flung outward by centrifugal force.
此外，站在赤道上時，你還會被離心力往外甩。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.
這兩個因素合在一起的結果就是，如果你在極地和赤道地區來回跑，那麼你的體重就會增加或減少0.5％。The reason I'm focusing on weight is that if your DNA disappeared, the physical loss of the matter wouldn't be the first thing you might notice. It's possible you'd feel something-a tiny, uniform shockwave as every cell contracted slightly-but maybe not.
這裏我關注體重的原因在於，當你身體內的DNA消失時，物質的損失並不是你第一個注意到的東西。有可能你會感覺到什麼，由於每個細胞輕微收縮而產生的一股小而均勻的衝擊波，但也有可能你什麼感覺都沒有。
