Because of this similarity, these new signals came to be known as cannabinoids.
由于这种相似性，这些化学物质后来被称作大麻素。
On this buoy here, you can see quite a lot of them.
在这个浮标上，你能看到很多的海鞘。
Oh, yes.
是啊。
And, what's been found is that these compounds, the cannabinoid type compounds, they affect the time it takes for the siphon to close in response to touch.
我们发现这种化合物，也就是大麻素，影响了虹吸管被触碰时关闭所用的时间。
And, it in fact takes longer for the siphon to close when they've been exposed to these cannabinoid compounds.
事实上，由于大麻素的影响虹，管要花更多的时间才能关闭。
Once the cannabinoid receptor evolved in the sea-squirt,
在大麻素受体从海鞘身上进化出来后，
then it was inherited by every other vertebrate animal, which followed including us humans.
它就被所有的脊椎动物所继承，包括我们人类。
It was only a matter of time before one of these creatures would encounter the cannabis plant,
而这些动物迟早都会遇上大麻，
so that THC and the cannabinoid receptor would meet.
然后四氢大麻酚就会和大麻素受体接触。
Since it was here in Central Asia that cannabis first proliferated, it was probably here that that first meeting took place.
由于大麻是由中亚开始繁衍的，那么初次接触应当也是在这里。
It's not really difficult to imagine how it happened.
并不难想象他们是怎么相遇的。
I mean, no-one knows for sure when THC and the cannabinoid receptor first came together, but it has to have been here inthese mountains.
尽管没人确切知道四氢大麻酚和大麻素受体第一次碰撞的时间，但一定发生在这些山间。
And whether it was an animal who, hungry, overcame the unpleasant taste and had a good munch on a cannabis bush.
可能是一只饥肠辘辘的动物，克服了它讨厌的味道然后大快朵颐。
Or it was a bird flying around, or a rodent.
或是一只飞过的鸟儿，甚至是老鼠。
The first stoned animal is lost to history.
总之，第一个被麻醉的动物已经在历史长河里消失无踪。
In that very first stoned animal, THC from the cannabis plant flowed from its gut into its bloodstream and was carried to its brain.
在那第一个被麻醉的动物体内，大麻中的四氢大麻酚经其内脏进入血液，并最终到达脑部。
There, it met the cannabinoid receptor evolved so many millions of years earlier in the humble sea-squirt.
在那里，它遇到了百万年前，由小小海鞘进化出来的大麻素受体。
And it just so happened to fit, like a key in a lock.
双方是如此的契合，好似一把钥匙开一把锁。
It was inevitable that eventually cannabis would meet its perfect partner...Us.
这样，大麻最终与它的最佳搭档——我们人类——相遇的日子也就不久了。
It's not known exactly when humans started consuming cannabis.
人类何时开始使用大麻已无从考证。
But there's evidence that it's been used in this region for nearly three thousand years.
但有证据显示，这个地区的人使用大麻，已经有近3000年的历史了。
