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科学美国人60秒 SSS 蚁群可以避开交通堵塞

时间:2020-09-22 02:13:56

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(单词翻译)

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Susanne Bard1.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列,我是苏珊娜·巴德。

Anyone who commutes3 by car knows that traffic jams are an inevitable4 part of life. But humans are not alone in facing potential backups. Ants also commute2—between their nest and sources of food. The survival of their colonies depends on doing this efficiently5.

开车通勤的人都知道,交通堵塞是生活中不可避免的一部分。但并非只有人类面临潜在的堵塞问题。蚂蚁也会通勤——往返于巢穴和食物来源之间。蚂蚁群体的生存依赖于高效通勤。

"The more they are, the more food they're going to bring back. But at the same time, they might end up with traffic jam because there are too many of them."

“蚂蚁越多,它们带回来的食物就越多。但与此同时,它们可能会因个体数量太多而最终陷入堵塞。”

Arizona State University mathematician6 Sebastien Motsch. When humans commute, there's a point at which cars become dense7 enough to slow down the flow of traffic, causing gridlock. Motsch and his colleagues wanted to know if ants on the move could also get clogged8. So they manipulated traffic density9 by constructing bridges of various widths between a colony of Argentine ants and a source of food. Then they waited and watched.

亚利桑那州立大学的数学家塞巴斯蒂安·莫奇说到。就人类通勤而言,当汽车密度达到足以减缓交通流量的程度时,就会导致交通堵塞。莫奇及其同事想知道,移动中的蚂蚁是否也会堵塞。因此,他们通过在阿根廷蚁群和食源地之间建造不同宽度的桥梁来控制交通密度。之后他们便等待观察。

"The goal was to try to find out at what point they are going to have a traffic jam. But it appears that that never happened. They never, at one point, just stopped. They always managed to avoid traffic jam."

“目标是试图找出它们何时会遭遇交通堵塞。但似乎这种情况从未发生。它们从来没有停下。它们总是能成功避开交通堵塞。”

The flow of ants did increase initially10 as ants started to fill the bridge and then leveled off at high densities11. But it never slowed down, even when the bridge was nearly saturated12 with ants. The researchers then took a closer look at how the behavior of individual ants impacted traffic as a whole. That meant meticulously13 tracking thousands of separate ants as they made their way across the bridge.

最初,当蚂蚁开始爬满桥梁时,蚂蚁的流量的确会增加,然后稳定在高密度。但流量从未下降,即使桥上几乎遍布蚂蚁时。之后,研究人员仔细观察了蚂蚁个体行为对交通的整体影响。也就是说,他们认真地追踪了过桥的数千只蚂蚁个体。

Motsch and his team found that when ants sense overcrowding, they adjust their speeds and avoid entering high-density areas, which prevents congestion14. These behaviors may be facilitated by pheromones, chemicals that tell other ants where a trail is. The ants also manage to avoid colliding with each other at high densities, which could really slow them down.

莫奇及其团队发现,当蚂蚁觉察到过度拥挤时,它们会调整速度,避免进入高密度地区,从而避免拥堵。这些行为可能由信息素促成,信息素是告诉其它蚂蚁哪里有路径的化学物质。蚂蚁还设法在高密度情况下避免相互碰撞,这的确会令它们减慢速度。

The study is in the journal eLife.

这项研究发表在《eLife》期刊上。

Can ants help us solve our own traffic problems? Not likely, says Motsch. That's because when it comes to getting from point A to point B as fast as possible, human drivers put their own goals first. Individual ants have to be more cooperative in order to feed the colony. But the research could be useful in optimizing15 traffic flow for self-driving cars, which can be designed to be less like selfish humans—and more like ants.

蚂蚁能帮助我们解决交通问题吗?莫奇说,不太可能。因为就尽快从A点到B点而言,人类司机会将自已的目标放在首位。而为了喂养蚁群,蚂蚁个体不得不更加合作。但这项研究可能有助于优化无人驾驶汽车的交通流量,可以将这类汽车设计得不那么像自私的人类,而更像蚂蚁。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Susanne Bard.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是苏珊娜·巴德。


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 bard QPCyM     
n.吟游诗人
参考例句:
  • I'll use my bard song to help you concentrate!我会用我的吟游诗人歌曲帮你集中精神!
  • I find him,the wandering grey bard.我发现了正在徘徊的衰老游唱诗人。
2 commute BXTyi     
vi.乘车上下班;vt.减(刑);折合;n.上下班交通
参考例句:
  • I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
  • Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。
3 commutes 3547de72fa26e075391aeef6adf7f98a     
上下班路程( commute的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • She commutes from Oxford to London every day. 她每天上下班往返于牛津与伦敦之间。
  • Barbara lives in Oxford and commutes. 芭芭拉住在牛津,通勤往来。
4 inevitable 5xcyq     
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的
参考例句:
  • Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
  • The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。
5 efficiently ZuTzXQ     
adv.高效率地,有能力地
参考例句:
  • The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
  • Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。
6 mathematician aoPz2p     
n.数学家
参考例句:
  • The man with his back to the camera is a mathematician.背对着照相机的人是位数学家。
  • The mathematician analyzed his figures again.这位数学家再次分析研究了他的这些数字。
7 dense aONzX     
a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的
参考例句:
  • The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
  • The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。
8 clogged 0927b23da82f60cf3d3f2864c1fbc146     
(使)阻碍( clog的过去式和过去分词 ); 淤滞
参考例句:
  • The narrow streets were clogged with traffic. 狭窄的街道上交通堵塞。
  • The intake of gasoline was stopped by a clogged fuel line. 汽油的注入由于管道阻塞而停止了。
9 density rOdzZ     
n.密集,密度,浓度
参考例句:
  • The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
  • The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。
10 initially 273xZ     
adv.最初,开始
参考例句:
  • The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
  • Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。
11 densities eca5c1ea104bef3058e858fe084fb6d0     
密集( density的名词复数 ); 稠密; 密度(固体、液体或气体单位体积的质量); 密度(磁盘存贮数据的可用空间)
参考例句:
  • The range of densities of interest is about 3.5. 有用的密度范围为3.5左右。
  • Densities presumably can be probed by radar. 利用雷达也许还能探测出气体的密度。
12 saturated qjEzG3     
a.饱和的,充满的
参考例句:
  • The continuous rain had saturated the soil. 连绵不断的雨把土地淋了个透。
  • a saturated solution of sodium chloride 氯化钠饱和溶液
13 meticulously AoNzN9     
adv.过细地,异常细致地;无微不至;精心
参考例句:
  • The hammer's silvery head was etched with holy runs and its haft was meticulously wrapped in blue leather. 锤子头是纯银制成的,雕刻着神圣符文,而握柄则被精心地包裹在蓝色的皮革中。 来自辞典例句
  • She is always meticulously accurate in punctuation and spelling. 她的标点和拼写总是非常精确。 来自辞典例句
14 congestion pYmy3     
n.阻塞,消化不良
参考例句:
  • The congestion in the city gets even worse during the summer.夏天城市交通阻塞尤为严重。
  • Parking near the school causes severe traffic congestion.在学校附近泊车会引起严重的交通堵塞。
15 optimizing 56a2ad080ec9d3c4cf573c347d6de828     
v.使最优化,使尽可能有效( optimize的现在分词 );最佳化;寻优
参考例句:
  • This model may be classified as either an optimizing model or simulation model. 这个模型可分为最佳化模型或模拟模型。 来自辞典例句
  • Need to design crossover operator rationally while optimizing ANN. 优化网络需要合理设计交叉算子。 来自互联网

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