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Chaotic Orbits Could Cause Catastrophic Collision
混沌的軌道會釀成災難性的碰撞
By Julia Rosen on March 20, 2017

影音說明檔：https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-Bg0auB-gcoamZFamRjNXlGN3c

Isaac Newton said, “I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.” He meant that while people can be unpredictable, the planets are just the opposite - they glide through space in orbits defined by the laws of physics. But that view’s been changing and a new study bolsters a more complex outlook. 
牛頓曾說：「我可以算出天體(heavenly bodies)的運行，但我算不出人類的瘋狂(madness of people)。」
他的意思是，雖然人類是無法預測的(unpredictable)，行星卻相反(the opposite)，它們根據物理原理(laws of physics)在太空的軌(orbits)道上滑行(glide)，但是這樣的論點(view)正在改變，新的研究支持(bolsters)一個更複雜的(complex)看法見解(outlook)。

“The big finding of this paper was the discovery of the first real firm, unambiguous geologic evidence to confirm this idea that the solar system is chaotic.”
Stephen Meyers, a geoscientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
這份論文的研究結果的大發現，是找到第一個確實的(firm)、明確的(unambiguous)地理(geologic)證據，確認(confirm)太陽系(solar system )是混亂沒有秩序的(chaotic)。
Stephen Meyers是威斯康辛大學麥迪遜分校的地理學家(geoscientist)。

“It’s also known as the butterfly effect. This is the exact same phenomenon. The idea that a butterfly flapping over the Indian Ocean could influence weather patterns over North America a week later.”
這也是眾所周知的(It’s also known as)蝴蝶效應(butterfly effect)，完全一模一樣的現象(phenomenon )，一隻蝴蝶遠在印度拍翅膀(flapping over the Indian Ocean)，一個星期後能夠影響北美洲的天氣型態(weather patterns)。

The idea has been proposed before, but Meyers and his team found supporting evidence in a surprising place: a rock formation in Colorado. The formation is made up of sedimentary layers deposited when a vast inland sea covered parts of North America. These layers contain a record of regularly paced climate changes that were triggered by fluctuations in the amount of sunlight hitting Earth as a result of variations in its orbit. 
這個觀點先前提過(proposed)，但是Meyers和他的團隊在一個意外的地方發現支持的證據(supporting evidence)，在科羅拉多的岩石結構，該結構是由沉積岩(sedimentary layers)沉澱後(deposited)所組成(is made up of)，當時北美洲被一片廣大的(vast)內陸海(inland sea)所覆蓋，這些岩層紀載(contain 含有)規律節奏的(regularly paced)氣候變遷的紀錄(a record of)，這些氣候變遷是因為地球軌道的改變所致(as a result of variations in its orbit)，太陽照射到地球的亮度波動(fluctuations)產生(triggered 驅動)。

For at least the last 50 million years or so, Earth’s orbit has cycled between a more circular shape and a more elliptical shape every 2.4 million years, producing climate changes with the same timing. However, by independently dating the rocks in Colorado with other methods, Meyers and his colleagues found that before about 85 million years ago, this cycle took 1.2 million years. The cycle time changed because Mars and Earth tugged on each other - just the kind of thing you would expect to see in a chaotic system. The findings are in the journal Nature.
至少是在五千萬年前左右，地球的軌道每隔兩百四十萬年在圓形和橢圓形(elliptical shape)之間循環，氣候也跟著變遷，可是，用另一些方法獨立推算科羅拉多石頭的年代，Meyers跟他的同事發現大約在八千五百萬年前，軌道的循環縮短到一百二十萬年，循環時間的改變是因為火星和地球之間互相拉扯(tugged on each other)，就跟大家預期見到的混沌系統(chaotic system)是一樣的。這份研究報告在Nature期刊上發表。

Meyers says the results have several implications. One is that they will help scientists to date ancient rocks and understand the link between orbital changes and climate. But the other potential implication is somewhat more disturbing: billions of years from now, there’s a very small chance that Mars could crash into Earth.
“That certainly is a rather dramatic demise to the Earth that would be a consequence of the chaos.”
But that’s just life - or the end of it - in a chaotic solar system.
Meyers說，這份研究暗指幾項含意(implications)，其中之一是幫助科學家推算古代石頭的年代，並了解軌道的改變和氣候之間的關係，但是另一個可能的涵義卻比較令人不安(disturbing)：幾十億年後，有非常小的可能，火星會撞(crash into )地球。
「對地球來說，這絕對是相當悲壯的死亡(demise)，這是渾沌理論的結果。」
但這就是人生，或者說人生的結束，在這個渾沌的太陽系裡。