Science in Japan

　　日本的科學界

　　Where rats and robots play

　　才學通修

　　Japanese science needs a shake-up. A new institute in Okinawa may provide it

　　日本的科學界需要一場變革。在沖繩，一所新的學院為這一變革提供了條件。

　　THINK of a university and what comes to mind may be the cloistered calm of Oxford, thearchitectural chaos of MIT or even, perhaps, the 1950s brutalism of Moscow.

　　談到大學，你可能想到寧靜致遠、與世隔絕的牛津大學，也可能是建筑風格混雜的麻省理工大學，更甚至是50年代莫斯科的那種粗狂主義。

　　A Daliesque building on a subtropical island, with a view of the ocean and signs on campuswarning of venomous snakes, is more unusual.

　　一座亞熱帶島嶼上，可以望到大海，同時也可以看到毒蛇的警告的標志。

　　But that is appropriate, for the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology ,inaugurated as a graduate university on November 19th, is intended to be unusual.

　　就是在這樣一個地方，達里藝術風格的建筑就顯得格外不同。沖繩理工學院不走尋常路的理念也適合這種風格。這所研究生學院正準備在九月十九號開學。

　　It was built from scratch on a forested hilltop overlooking the East China Sea, and itsapproach to science starts from scratch too.

　　這座建筑坐落于叢林密布的山頂，從山頂上能夠望見中國東海。

　　It has no departments. Instead, its biologists, chemists, physicists, mathematicians andcomputer geeks intermingle, sharing laboratory equipment, teachers and money.

　　而其對于科學的探尋也將從此開始。這所學校沒設院系。生物學家、化學家、物理學家、數學家和電腦專家會打破界限，分享實驗儀器，教學資源以及資金。

　　After two centuries of science becoming more and more specialised, the idea is to bring backthe generalist.

　　200年來，科學變得越來越往小門類發展，而沖繩理工學院卻意在重回通才教育。

　　Surprisingly, this experiment is taking place in Japan-a country with one of the most rigidacademic hierarchies in the world.

　　令人驚訝的是，這次改革試驗也發生在世界學術界最古板的國度之一日本。

　　Locating it in Okinawa, though, is a masterstroke.

　　其中把學校設在沖繩，也是個妙招。

　　The island, which is closer to Shanghai and Taipei than to Tokyo, is as cut off as is possible toimagine from the mainstream of Japanese academia.

　　因為沖繩島相對東京，離上海和臺北更近，這樣就可以不受日本主流學術流派的影響。

　　The result is a skunk works: a place where novel and possibly controversial ideas can betested without constant interference from institutional vested interests.

　　在OIST，師生可以對新奇的和存在有爭議的觀點進行測試，而且不會因為制度上的既得利益問題而受到不斷干擾。

　　If an idea from a skunk works fails, it can be buried quietly, and nobody gets hurt.

　　如果創新小組的點子、想法沒能成功，失敗就會被靜靜地掩蓋起來，沒有人會因此受到傷害。

　　If it succeeds, it can be launched fully formed, and bureaucratic resistance thusovercome.

　　如果觀點成功了，觀點就可以成為現實，這樣做就克服了來自官僚制度上的阻力。

　　The OIST certainly has the money to do this.

　　當然OITS也有足夠的資金來完成這些新舉措。

　　The government has spent ￥77 billion overthe past six years to create it.

　　在過去的六年中，政府撥款770億日元來建立學院。

　　It has the personnel: 212 researchers, and five Nobel laureates on its board of governors.

　　212名研究員在OITS任職，并且其中5為董事會理事曾獲諾貝爾獎。

　　Soon it will have the students, too.

　　不久，學校就會招收學生。

　　The first intake, next autumn, will only be 20.

　　時間定于明年秋季，第一批大約只有20人。

　　But that will rise to 100 in five years time.

　　但是，五年之后人數會升至100。

　　According to its president, Jonathan Dorfan , theOIST seeks to address three shortcomings in Japanese science.

　　根據校長喬納森?多芬的介紹，OITS意在解決日本科學界的3根 軟肋 。

　　First, it wants to nurture independence of thought in young researchers, encouraging themto work for themselves rather than as foot soldiers for professors.

　　首先，要培養年輕學者的獨立精神，鼓勵年輕人按照自己想法行事，而不是跟在教授們后面，成為他們的走卒。

　　Second, it wants Japanese science to become more open to the outside world.

　　其次，也希望日本科學界更加與國際接軌。

　　Third, it wants to stimulate the emergence of technology clusters in a country where thereis disturbingly little interaction between universities and industry-and few Silicon Valley-style start-ups as a consequence.

　　第三，通過學院促進日本技術的研發。在日本，高校和產業間的聯系比較小，因此很少看見想硅谷這類企業模式。

　　That graduate students and post-docs are fodder for the ambitions of departmental heads isnot unique to Japan.

　　在日本，研究生和博士后都非常渴求成為該領域的領軍人物。

　　But the phenomenon is generally thought to be exaggerated there: a toxic consequenceof Confucian respect for authority and an academic system borrowed lock, stock andbarrel from 19th-century Germany.

　　然而，這一現象似乎被夸大了：十九世紀日本曾向德國學習。而這種照單全收的學習也產生了不良的后果對于權威和學術體制一種盲目的崇拜。

　　Young Japanese researchers, though, are fed up with it.

　　日本的青年學者也對此十分厭惡。

　　One result is that the number of graduate students in natural sciences has been falling inJapan since 2003.

　　這也造成了自2003年以來，自然科學的研究生數量減少。

　　Those youngsters are, nevertheless, oddly reluctant to deal with their disgruntlement bygoing abroad.

　　然而，年輕人也不太想通過出國留學解決不滿的教育現狀。

　　Between 1996 and 2007, 28% of the science and engineering doctorates awarded in Americawent to Chinese; 11% to Indians; 9% to South Koreans; and 7% to Taiwanese.

　　1996年與2007年之間，28%在北美畢業的科學和工程博士是中國人。這一數字在印度、韓國、臺灣分別是11%、9%、7%。

　　Japanese, by contrast, picked up just 2% of them.

　　相反，日本僅占到了其中的2%。

　　That stymies the exchange of ideas on which good science depends.

　　這也妨礙了觀點的交流，而這對于科學來說是至關重要的。

　　If young Japanese scientists cannot be persuaded to study abroad, though, perhaps abroadcan be brought to Japan.

　　既然日本的科學家不太愿意走出國門，那么，是不是把國外的教育理念引入日本國內。

　　At the moment, 85 of the OIST s researchers are gaijin.

　　OIST的85名研究人員來自國外。

　　Ultimately, the organisation aims to recruit half of both its faculty and its students fromoutside the country.

　　到最后，從國外招募的研究員和學生的數量會占到總數的一半。

　　And, as if that were not enough to stir the pot, these scientists have to mix with each other,too.

　　如果以上還達不到人們的預期，學校還會這些科學家要融合彼此、進一步進行溝通交流。

　　The OIST s laboratories abut one another and share microscopes, refrigerators andother equipment.

　　OITS的實驗室把每個人組合起來共享顯微鏡、冰箱和其他實驗儀器。

　　Dr Dorfan says everything is designed to eliminate the barriersphysical and otherwisebetween traditional fields of research.

　　Dorfan表示他們做的每一件事都是為了消除障礙，無論是物質上還是是傳統研究領域所引起的。

　　That breakdown of barriers is even apparent in individual researchers.

　　而個人研究中，打破這種障礙比較明顯。

　　Kenji Doya, for example, is an engineer turned neuroscientist.

　　舉例來說，Kenji Doya，原先是一位工程師，之后成為了一名神經學家。

　　He runs two laboratories at the OIST.

　　他在OITS運行2家實驗室。

　　One explores learning by robots.

　　其中一家探索機器人。

　　The other looks at how a brain chemical called serotonin regulates the patience of rats.

　　而另一個則是研究大腦中的一種叫血清素化學物質如何調整老鼠的耐受力。

　　An algorithm for regulating patience in the brain, he believes, could be used to improverobotics.

　　他認為這種在大腦中調整耐受力的運算法則可以用來改進機器人學。

　　Which is just the sort of thing that, if brought to fruition in Dr Dorfan s alma mater, wouldhave the researchers who had come up with it bolting out of the door and into the offices ofthe nearest venture capitalist, prior to hiring a suitable garage to build their prototype in.

　　還有另外一種可能，如果在Dorfan博士的實驗室中取得一些成果，會不會有研究員奪門而出來到最近的風險投資處，之后就找一個合適的工廠來制造樣品。

　　Whether that will happen in Okinawa, remains to be seen.

　　這些是否會發生在OIST，還不太好說。

　　Its physical climate is certainly as pleasant as California s.

　　不過OITS的學術氛圍會像加州一樣的輕松。

　　Changing the intellectual climate to match may prove a challenge.

　　當然這也是具有挑戰的，畢竟它改變地方的學術氣候。

　　Science in Japan

　　日本的科學界

　　Where rats and robots play

　　才學通修

　　Japanese science needs a shake-up. A new institute in Okinawa may provide it

　　日本的科學界需要一場變革。在沖繩，一所新的學院為這一變革提供了條件。

　　THINK of a university and what comes to mind may be the cloistered calm of Oxford, thearchitectural chaos of MIT or even, perhaps, the 1950s brutalism of Moscow.

　　談到大學，你可能想到寧靜致遠、與世隔絕的牛津大學，也可能是建筑風格混雜的麻省理工大學，更甚至是50年代莫斯科的那種粗狂主義。

　　A Daliesque building on a subtropical island, with a view of the ocean and signs on campuswarning of venomous snakes, is more unusual.

　　一座亞熱帶島嶼上，可以望到大海，同時也可以看到毒蛇的警告的標志。

　　But that is appropriate, for the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology ,inaugurated as a graduate university on November 19th, is intended to be unusual.

　　就是在這樣一個地方，達里藝術風格的建筑就顯得格外不同。沖繩理工學院不走尋常路的理念也適合這種風格。這所研究生學院正準備在九月十九號開學。

　　It was built from scratch on a forested hilltop overlooking the East China Sea, and itsapproach to science starts from scratch too.

　　這座建筑坐落于叢林密布的山頂，從山頂上能夠望見中國東海。

　　It has no departments. Instead, its biologists, chemists, physicists, mathematicians andcomputer geeks intermingle, sharing laboratory equipment, teachers and money.

　　而其對于科學的探尋也將從此開始。這所學校沒設院系。生物學家、化學家、物理學家、數學家和電腦專家會打破界限，分享實驗儀器，教學資源以及資金。

　　After two centuries of science becoming more and more specialised, the idea is to bring backthe generalist.

　　200年來，科學變得越來越往小門類發展，而沖繩理工學院卻意在重回通才教育。

　　Surprisingly, this experiment is taking place in Japan-a country with one of the most rigidacademic hierarchies in the world.

　　令人驚訝的是，這次改革試驗也發生在世界學術界最古板的國度之一日本。

　　Locating it in Okinawa, though, is a masterstroke.

　　其中把學校設在沖繩，也是個妙招。

　　The island, which is closer to Shanghai and Taipei than to Tokyo, is as cut off as is possible toimagine from the mainstream of Japanese academia.

　　因為沖繩島相對東京，離上海和臺北更近，這樣就可以不受日本主流學術流派的影響。

　　The result is a skunk works: a place where novel and possibly controversial ideas can betested without constant interference from institutional vested interests.

　　在OIST，師生可以對新奇的和存在有爭議的觀點進行測試，而且不會因為制度上的既得利益問題而受到不斷干擾。

　　If an idea from a skunk works fails, it can be buried quietly, and nobody gets hurt.

　　如果創新小組的點子、想法沒能成功，失敗就會被靜靜地掩蓋起來，沒有人會因此受到傷害。

　　If it succeeds, it can be launched fully formed, and bureaucratic resistance thusovercome.

　　如果觀點成功了，觀點就可以成為現實，這樣做就克服了來自官僚制度上的阻力。

　　The OIST certainly has the money to do this.

　　當然OITS也有足夠的資金來完成這些新舉措。

　　The government has spent ￥77 billion overthe past six years to create it.

　　在過去的六年中，政府撥款770億日元來建立學院。

　　It has the personnel: 212 researchers, and five Nobel laureates on its board of governors.

　　212名研究員在OITS任職，并且其中5為董事會理事曾獲諾貝爾獎。

　　Soon it will have the students, too.

　　不久，學校就會招收學生。

　　The first intake, next autumn, will only be 20.

　　時間定于明年秋季，第一批大約只有20人。

　　But that will rise to 100 in five years time.

　　但是，五年之后人數會升至100。

　　According to its president, Jonathan Dorfan , theOIST seeks to address three shortcomings in Japanese science.

　　根據校長喬納森?多芬的介紹，OITS意在解決日本科學界的3根 軟肋 。

　　First, it wants to nurture independence of thought in young researchers, encouraging themto work for themselves rather than as foot soldiers for professors.

　　首先，要培養年輕學者的獨立精神，鼓勵年輕人按照自己想法行事，而不是跟在教授們后面，成為他們的走卒。

　　Second, it wants Japanese science to become more open to the outside world.

　　其次，也希望日本科學界更加與國際接軌。

　　Third, it wants to stimulate the emergence of technology clusters in a country where thereis disturbingly little interaction between universities and industry-and few Silicon Valley-style start-ups as a consequence.

　　第三，通過學院促進日本技術的研發。在日本，高校和產業間的聯系比較小，因此很少看見想硅谷這類企業模式。

　　That graduate students and post-docs are fodder for the ambitions of departmental heads isnot unique to Japan.

　　在日本，研究生和博士后都非常渴求成為該領域的領軍人物。

　　But the phenomenon is generally thought to be exaggerated there: a toxic consequenceof Confucian respect for authority and an academic system borrowed lock, stock andbarrel from 19th-century Germany.

　　然而，這一現象似乎被夸大了：十九世紀日本曾向德國學習。而這種照單全收的學習也產生了不良的后果對于權威和學術體制一種盲目的崇拜。

　　Young Japanese researchers, though, are fed up with it.

　　日本的青年學者也對此十分厭惡。

　　One result is that the number of graduate students in natural sciences has been falling inJapan since 2003.

　　這也造成了自2003年以來，自然科學的研究生數量減少。

　　Those youngsters are, nevertheless, oddly reluctant to deal with their disgruntlement bygoing abroad.

　　然而，年輕人也不太想通過出國留學解決不滿的教育現狀。

　　Between 1996 and 2007, 28% of the science and engineering doctorates awarded in Americawent to Chinese; 11% to Indians; 9% to South Koreans; and 7% to Taiwanese.

　　1996年與2007年之間，28%在北美畢業的科學和工程博士是中國人。這一數字在印度、韓國、臺灣分別是11%、9%、7%。

　　Japanese, by contrast, picked up just 2% of them.

　　相反，日本僅占到了其中的2%。

　　That stymies the exchange of ideas on which good science depends.

　　這也妨礙了觀點的交流，而這對于科學來說是至關重要的。

　　If young Japanese scientists cannot be persuaded to study abroad, though, perhaps abroadcan be brought to Japan.

　　既然日本的科學家不太愿意走出國門，那么，是不是把國外的教育理念引入日本國內。

　　At the moment, 85 of the OIST s researchers are gaijin.

　　OIST的85名研究人員來自國外。

　　Ultimately, the organisation aims to recruit half of both its faculty and its students fromoutside the country.

　　到最后，從國外招募的研究員和學生的數量會占到總數的一半。

　　And, as if that were not enough to stir the pot, these scientists have to mix with each other,too.

　　如果以上還達不到人們的預期，學校還會這些科學家要融合彼此、進一步進行溝通交流。

　　The OIST s laboratories abut one another and share microscopes, refrigerators andother equipment.

　　OITS的實驗室把每個人組合起來共享顯微鏡、冰箱和其他實驗儀器。

　　Dr Dorfan says everything is designed to eliminate the barriersphysical and otherwisebetween traditional fields of research.

　　Dorfan表示他們做的每一件事都是為了消除障礙，無論是物質上還是是傳統研究領域所引起的。

　　That breakdown of barriers is even apparent in individual researchers.

　　而個人研究中，打破這種障礙比較明顯。

　　Kenji Doya, for example, is an engineer turned neuroscientist.

　　舉例來說，Kenji Doya，原先是一位工程師，之后成為了一名神經學家。

　　He runs two laboratories at the OIST.

　　他在OITS運行2家實驗室。

　　One explores learning by robots.

　　其中一家探索機器人。

　　The other looks at how a brain chemical called serotonin regulates the patience of rats.

　　而另一個則是研究大腦中的一種叫血清素化學物質如何調整老鼠的耐受力。

　　An algorithm for regulating patience in the brain, he believes, could be used to improverobotics.

　　他認為這種在大腦中調整耐受力的運算法則可以用來改進機器人學。

　　Which is just the sort of thing that, if brought to fruition in Dr Dorfan s alma mater, wouldhave the researchers who had come up with it bolting out of the door and into the offices ofthe nearest venture capitalist, prior to hiring a suitable garage to build their prototype in.

　　還有另外一種可能，如果在Dorfan博士的實驗室中取得一些成果，會不會有研究員奪門而出來到最近的風險投資處，之后就找一個合適的工廠來制造樣品。

　　Whether that will happen in Okinawa, remains to be seen.

　　這些是否會發生在OIST，還不太好說。

　　Its physical climate is certainly as pleasant as California s.

　　不過OITS的學術氛圍會像加州一樣的輕松。

　　Changing the intellectual climate to match may prove a challenge.

　　當然這也是具有挑戰的，畢竟它改變地方的學術氣候。