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科学美国人60秒 SSS 研究僵尸蚂蚁的"死亡之握"

时间:2020-05-06 09:06:26

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(单词翻译)

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Christopher Intagliata.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列,我是克里斯托弗·因塔格里塔。

It's straight out of a horror movie: an ant, infected with a fungus1, starts behaving strangely. It crawls as high as it can in the forest, grabs a leaf or twig2 in its mouth and bites. Hard.

这就像恐怖电影里的场景:一只蚂蚁在感染真菌后,开始变得行为怪异。它尽其所能地爬到森林高处,用嘴含住一片树叶或一根树枝,然后咬着。很困难。

"It enters into this 'death-grip phenotype' is what we call it." Colleen Mangold, a molecular3 biologist at Penn State. "And then a couple hours after initiation4 of that behavior the ant will die."

“它进入了我们称之为的‘死亡之握表现型’。”宾夕法尼亚州立大学的分子生物学家科琳·曼戈尔德说到。“这种行为持续几个小时后,蚂蚁就会死亡。”

The fungus, known as Ophiocordyceps, then eats through the corpse5 and sprouts6 a stalk from the ant's body to release more spores7 and infect more ants. It's a harsh way to go.

这种名为“线虫草属”的真菌,会吃掉蚂蚁的尸体,然后从蚂蚁体内长出一根茎,释放更多孢子,感染更多蚂蚁。真是种残酷的手段。

"It's not ideal, definitely not ideal."

“这不是理想,绝对不是。”

Mangold and her colleagues wanted to g?et to the bottom of why the ants do this—specifically, how they get their death grip. So they dissected8 infected ants and zoomed9 in on their jaw10 muscles with electron microscopes.

曼戈尔德和同事想弄清楚蚂蚁为何会这样做,特别是它们是如何到达“死亡一握”状态的。因此,他们解剖了受感染的蚂蚁,并用电子显微镜放大了它们的颚肌。

They saw that the fungus had invaded and grown into jaw muscle cells, perhaps to suck up nutrients11. And they spotted12 lots of mysterious tiny particles, which might be produced by the ant's immune system—or by the fungus, as a way of communicating with the muscle and forcing it to contract.

他们发现,真菌已经侵入并在颚肌细胞中成长,可能是为了吸收营养。他们找到了许多神秘的微小颗粒,这些颗粒可能是蚂蚁免疫系统产生的,或者是真菌产生的,作为与肌肉连通并迫使肌肉收缩的方式。

Whatever the mechanism13, they found that the ant's jaw muscles had contracted so hard, they'd been irreparably damaged. The full details—and gory14 pictures—are in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

无论机制为何,他们发现,蚂蚁颚肌收缩得非常严重,已经受到了不可挽回的损伤。完整细节以及血淋淋的图片刊登在《实验生物学杂志》上。

Mangold hopes to get to the bottom of what those tiny particles do in follow-up work. And in the meantime, unless you're a carpenter ant, rest assured you have nothing to worry about.

曼戈尔德希望在后续研究中弄清这些微小颗粒的作用。与此同时,除非你是一只木匠蚁,那你可以放心,没什么可担心的。

"It's highly species specific. I seriously doubt we'll be seeing any real-life human zombies anytime soon."

“这是高度物种特异性。我严重怀疑我们不久后就能看到现实生活中的人类僵尸。”

Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔。


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 fungus gzRyI     
n.真菌,真菌类植物
参考例句:
  • Mushrooms are a type of fungus.蘑菇是一种真菌。
  • This fungus can just be detected by the unaided eye.这种真菌只用肉眼就能检查出。
2 twig VK1zg     
n.小树枝,嫩枝;v.理解
参考例句:
  • He heard the sharp crack of a twig.他听到树枝清脆的断裂声。
  • The sharp sound of a twig snapping scared the badger away.细枝突然折断的刺耳声把獾惊跑了。
3 molecular mE9xh     
adj.分子的;克分子的
参考例句:
  • The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms.这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。
  • For the pressure to become zero, molecular bombardment must cease.当压强趋近于零时,分子的碰撞就停止了。
4 initiation oqSzAI     
n.开始
参考例句:
  • her initiation into the world of marketing 她的初次涉足营销界
  • It was my initiation into the world of high fashion. 这是我初次涉足高级时装界。
5 corpse JYiz4     
n.尸体,死尸
参考例句:
  • What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
  • The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。
6 sprouts 7250d0f3accee8359a172a38c37bd325     
n.新芽,嫩枝( sprout的名词复数 )v.发芽( sprout的第三人称单数 );抽芽;出现;(使)涌现出
参考例句:
  • The wheat sprouts grew perceptibly after the rain. 下了一场雨,麦苗立刻见长。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The sprouts have pushed up the earth. 嫩芽把土顶起来了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
7 spores c0cc8819fa73268b5ec019dbe33b798c     
n.(细菌、苔藓、蕨类植物)孢子( spore的名词复数 )v.(细菌、苔藓、蕨类植物)孢子( spore的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • Ferns, mosses and fungi spread by means of spores. 蕨类植物、苔藓和真菌通过孢子传播蔓生。
  • Spores form a lipid membrane during the process of reproducing. 孢于在生殖过程中形成类脂膜。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 预防生物武器
8 dissected 462374bfe2039b4cdd8e07c3ee2faa29     
adj.切开的,分割的,(叶子)多裂的v.解剖(动物等)( dissect的过去式和过去分词 );仔细分析或研究
参考例句:
  • Her latest novel was dissected by the critics. 评论家对她最近出版的一部小说作了详细剖析。
  • He dissected the plan afterward to learn why it had failed. 他事后仔细剖析那项计划以便搞清它失败的原因。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 zoomed 7d2196a2c3b9cad9d8899e8add247521     
v.(飞机、汽车等)急速移动( zoom的过去式 );(价格、费用等)急升,猛涨
参考例句:
  • Traffic zoomed past us. 车辆从我们身边疾驰而过。
  • Cars zoomed helter-skelter, honking belligerently. 大街上来往车辆穿梭不停,喇叭声刺耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 jaw 5xgy9     
n.颚,颌,说教,流言蜚语;v.喋喋不休,教训
参考例句:
  • He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
  • A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。
11 nutrients 6a1e1ed248a3ac49744c39cc962fb607     
n.(食品或化学品)营养物,营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
  • Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》
12 spotted 7FEyj     
adj.有斑点的,斑纹的,弄污了的
参考例句:
  • The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
  • Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。
13 mechanism zCWxr     
n.机械装置;机构,结构
参考例句:
  • The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
  • The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。
14 gory Xy5yx     
adj.流血的;残酷的
参考例句:
  • I shuddered when I heard the gory details.我听到血淋淋的详情,战栗不已。
  • The newspaper account of the accident gave all the gory details.报纸上报道了这次事故中所有骇人听闻的细节。

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