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科学美国人60秒 SSS Pregnancy Primes the Brain for Motherhood

时间:2017-03-06 06:37:50

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(单词翻译)

 

Pregnancy1 brings big physical changes to a woman's body. But what three neuroscientists were more interested in was, what does it do to the woman’s brain? "We were in our 30s, and we were thinking I'd like to have a baby, but look at this, look at this." Susana Carmona, a neuroscientist at the University of Carlos the Third in Madrid. 

"And then we realized most of this data came from animal studies. And that there were no solid studies about what really happens to your brain when you get pregnant. And that's how we convinced the boss we should do that even without any funding at this point."

Carmona and her team took MRI scans of 25 women's brains, before and after their first child. They found that parts of the brain dealing2 with social cognition actually shrunk—reduced in volume—in women who successfully conceived and had kids. That's compared to no changes among control women, and no changes in men—whether they were new fathers or not.

Shrinking sounds bad though: why would you want less grey matter? But Carmona says less does not result in deficits3 in thinking or memory, and might actually be the result of a good thing: the fine-tuning of connections between neurons. "When you have a lot of routes that arrive to a different place, and there's one that is the shorter and the faster one, the optimal4 thing would be to close the rest so you never get lost, from point A to point B." 

Hormonal5 fluxes6 cause similar fine-tuning in the adolescent brain—and hormones7 might be the culprit for these changes as well. Changes that can last at least two years after pregnancy. The study is in the journal Nature Neuroscience. [Elseline Hoekzema et al., Pregnancy leads to long-lasting changes in human brain structure]

The effect of all this? Could be a boost in maternal8 attachment9. Fewer hostile feelings towards the baby, and more pleasure playing together. As for Carmona and her two colleagues? They decided10 not to wait til the study was complete to start their families. "We decided that whatever happens to your brain, we wanted to be mothers."

—Christopher Intagliata


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1 pregnancy lPwxP     
n.怀孕,怀孕期
参考例句:
  • Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
  • Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。
2 dealing NvjzWP     
n.经商方法,待人态度
参考例句:
  • This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
  • His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。
3 deficits 08e04c986818dbc337627eabec5b794e     
n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 );赤字;亏空;亏损
参考例句:
  • The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句
4 optimal zmDzhM     
adj.最适宜的;最理想的;最令人满意的
参考例句:
  • What is the optimal mix of private and public property rights in natural resources?私人和国家的自然资源产权的最适宜的组合是什么?
  • Optimal path planning is a key link for the sailing contest.帆船最优行驶路径规划是帆船比赛取胜的关键环节。
5 hormonal Fcpx6     
adj.激素的
参考例句:
  • Some viral diseases are more severe during pregnancy, probably tecause of hormonal changes. 有些病毒病在妊娠期间比较严重,可能是由于激素变化引起的。
  • She underwent surgical intervention and a subsequent short period of hormonal therapy. 他接受外科手术及随后短暂荷尔蒙治疗。
6 fluxes fe973c05de3ff6dd2396188728b29a39     
连续的改变( flux的名词复数 ); 不稳定的状态; 不停的变化; 通量
参考例句:
  • In general, fluxes and forces may have different tensorial characters. 一般说来,力和通量可以具有不同的张量特征标。
  • The parameterized eddy fluxes simulatedthe seasonal and latitudinal variations reasonably well. 模拟出涡动通量的空间分布和时间变化。
7 hormones hormones     
n. 荷尔蒙,激素 名词hormone的复数形式
参考例句:
  • This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body. 这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
  • The adrenals produce a large per cent of a man's sex hormones. 肾上腺分泌人体的大部分性激素。
8 maternal 57Azi     
adj.母亲的,母亲般的,母系的,母方的
参考例句:
  • He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
  • The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。
9 attachment POpy1     
n.附属物,附件;依恋;依附
参考例句:
  • She has a great attachment to her sister.她十分依恋她的姐姐。
  • She's on attachment to the Ministry of Defense.她现在隶属于国防部。
10 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

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