Prosanta Chakrabarty: Clues to prehistoric times, found in blind cavefish
Prosanta Chakrabarty: Pistas para tempos pré-históricos encontradas em peixes-cegos
Prosanta Chakrabarty studies fish to help explain the evolution of human beings and our planet. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
é o estudo dos peixes.
"you only live once,"
"you only live once",
what I always dreamt of doing:
o que sempre sonhei fazer:
do mundo e descobrindo novas espécies.
and discovering new species.
on caves for finding new species.
para encontrar novas espécies.
cavefish species out there.
espécies de peixe-cego por aí.
e talvez ser magrinho.
a lot about biology and geology.
muito sobre biologia e geologia.
de terra em torno deles se moveram,
around them have changed and moved
the evolution of sight, by being blind.
por serem cegos.
that are essentially the same as ours.
semelhantes aos nossos;
a fish species starts to adapt
passa a se adaptar
eles perdem seus olhos e sua visão
they lose their eyes and their eyesight
cavefish like this one here.
sem olhos como este aqui.
has evolved in a slightly different way,
evoluiu de um modo ligeiramente diferente,
e biológica única para nos contar,
and biological story to tell us,
encontrar uma espécie nova.
when we find a new species.
we described, from southern Indiana.
que descrevemos, do sul de Indiana.
o peixe-cego de Indiana.
the Hoosier cavefish.
are cavefishes in Kentucky,
são os peixes-cegos de Kentucky,
when the Ohio River split them
quando o rio Ohio os dividiu,
these subtle differences
desenvolveram diferenças sutis
behind their blindness.
por trás de sua cegueira.
that's super-critical for sight.
que é supercrítico para a visão.
all function in that gene,
toda a função naquele gene,
natural experiment
um belo experimento natural
por trás da nossa visão,
behind our vision,
about deep geological time,
sobre o tempo geológico profundo,
than in this species here.
que descrevemos de Madagascar
we described from Madagascar
tentando coletar esta espécie.
to collect this species.
full of dead things
e cavernas cheias de cocô de morcego
para fazer com sua vida,
be doing with your life,
that it tried to kill us,
os parentes mais próximos
this species in Madagascar,
are 6,000 kilometers away,
a 6 mil quilômetros de distância,
freshwater cavefish
de 7,5 centímetros de comprimento
the DNA of these species
for more than 100 million years,
há mais de 100 milhões de anos,
que os continentes do sul se separaram.
continents were last together.
não se moveram nada;
didn't move at all.
um modelo e medida precisos
these ancient geological events.
desses eventos geológicos antigos.
para dizer o nome dela ainda,
to tell you its name yet,
it's a new species from Mexico,
uma nova espécie vinda do México,
the only known cave system it's from
de cavernas conhecido
uma barragem nas proximidades.
seu habitat de águas subterrâneas
fonte de água potável.
this species' closest relative, yet.
mais próximo desta espécie, ainda.
nenhuma outra no México,
anything else in Mexico,
something new about the geology
sobre a geologia do Caribe,
of how to better diagnose
melhor certas formas de cegueira.
antes que seja extinta também.
before it goes extinct too.
trying to discover and save
about the geology of the planet
sobre a geologia do planeta
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Prosanta Chakrabarty - IchthyologistProsanta Chakrabarty studies fish to help explain the evolution of human beings and our planet.
Why you should listen
Dr. Prosanta Chakrabarty is an Associate Professor and Curator of Fishes at the Museum of Natural Science and Department of Biological Science at Louisiana State University.
Chakrabarty is a systematist and an ichthyologist studying the evolution and biogeography of both freshwater and marine fishes. His work includes studies of Neotropical (Central and South America, Caribbean) and Indo-West Pacific (Indian and Western Pacific Ocean) fishes. His natural history collecting efforts include trips to Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Madagascar, Panama, Kuwait and many other countries. He has discovered over a dozen new species including new anglerfishes and cavefishes.
The LSU Museum of Natural Science fish collection that Chakrabarty oversees includes nearly half a million fish specimens and nearly 10,000 DNA samples covering most major groups of fishes. He earned his PhD at the University of Michigan and his undergraduate degree is from McGill University in Montreal. He has written two books including A Guide to Academia: Getting into and Surviving Grad School, Postdocs and a Research Job. He is also a former Program Director at the National Science Foundation. He was named a TED Fellow in 2016 and a TED Senior Fellow in 2018.
Prosanta Chakrabarty | Speaker | TED.com