美国科学60秒 SSS 2013-01-24
时间:2013-07-22 08:47:14
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(单词翻译)
This is Scientific Americans 60 second Science, I am Christopher Intagliata, got a minute.
Sailors don't need to read the stars anymore—they've got GPS. But dung
beetles1 do not have GPS. And it now appears that they use the
as a compass.
Dung beetles need a keen sense of direction so they can roll their dung patties away from the
communal3 dung pile, and feast in peace. Ten years ago, Marie Dacke at Lund University in Sweden and her colleagues discovered that some dung beetles use polarized moonlight to keep a straight course. But what’s their plan on moonless nights?
Dacke tracked the beetles as they successfully rolled dung away from the center of a circular sandbox. Then she blocked the beetles'
starry4 view with tiny cardboard hats, and set 'em loose again. Without stars to guide them, the beetles traveling twisted, circular paths. Those findings appear in the journal
Current Biology.
The beetles' tiny compound eyes probably aren't sharp enough to make out individual stars. In a
planetarium5, for example, when only 18 bright stars were
illuminated6, the beetles got lost. But the faint
streak7 of the Milky Way seems to be just enough light to point them to a dung dining hole—no reservations required.
Thanks for the minute for Scientific Americans 60 second science, I am Christopher Intagliata
Patty: 小馅饼;肉饼
starry: 满天繁星的
planetarium: 天文馆;行星仪
streak: 一条
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