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科学美国人60秒 双头蠕虫告诉我们关于进化的一些有趣的事情

时间:2022-07-27 09:23:21

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(单词翻译)

Two-Headed Worms Tell Us Something Fascinating About Evolution

双头蠕虫告诉我们关于进化的一些有趣的事情

Ashleigh Papp: This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I'm Ashleigh Papp.

You might say that Guillermo Ponz is a scientific monster hunter–even though he thinks that term, “monster” never really captured his subjects right.

阿什利·帕普:这是《科学美国人》的60秒科学,我是阿什利·帕普。

你可能会说吉列尔莫·庞兹是一位科学怪兽猎人——尽管他认为“怪兽”这个词从来没有真正正确地捕捉到过他的对象。

Guillermo Ponz: So they're regular animals that have gone through different developmental processes that would end up building a body, that is not what you expect.

吉列尔莫·庞兹:所以它们是正常的动物,经历了不同的发育过程,最终形成了一个身体,这不是你所期望的。

Papp: What this researcher based in Madrid, Spain, actually loves, is the oddly amazing animals. After all, he studies two-headed worms.

帕普:这位来自西班牙马德里的研究人员真正喜欢的是那些奇怪的神奇动物。毕竟,他研究的是双头蠕虫。

Ponz: We have these worms that are usually regular worms like with one head and one tail, that's normal, but sometimes they may have two heads or two tails. And on the other side, there are worms, which have one head and many tails always.

庞兹:我们有这些蠕虫,通常是普通的蠕虫,比如一头一尾,这很正常,但有时它们可能有两个头或两条尾巴。另一边是蠕虫,它们总是有一个头和许多尾巴。

Papp: Officially, he looks at bifurcated1 annelids, meaning things like earthworms that have come out of their larval stage with two heads, or spontaneously sprouted2 two tails, or ... some other combination of mixed up appendages3.

帕普:正式地说,他研究的是分叉环节动物,意思是蚯蚓从幼虫阶段出来时有两个头,或者自发地长出两条尾巴,或者。。。其他一些混合的附属物的组合。

We know that certain species, like some salamanders and insects, have the ability to regrow appendages in a time of need. But there's this one phylum of worms, the annelids, that can re-grow unlike anything else that we've ever seen in the kingdom.

我们知道某些物种,比如一些蝾螈和昆虫,有能力在需要的时候再生附属物。但是有一门蠕虫,环节动物,可以重新生长,这与我们在王国中见过的任何其他动物都不一样。

Their segmented bodies, like an earthworm with rows of ringed compartments4, help them easily regrow a new head or tail at the first sign of trouble.

它们分节的身体,就像一条有一排环形隔间的蚯蚓,帮助它们在遇到麻烦的第一个迹象时很容易再生出新的头部或尾巴。

Or even crazier, they can regrow an entirely5 new right side of their body if sliced in half.

Ponz: … worms that do these crazy things that are very weird6, very, you know, very, very strange things that these worms should not, quote-unquote, should not do.

甚至更疯狂的是,如果将它们切成两半,它们可以再生出全新的右侧身体。

庞兹:……蠕虫做这些疯狂的事情,非常奇怪,非常,你知道,非常非常奇怪的事情,这些蠕虫不应该,不应该,不应该做。

Papp: Once Ponz started studying the anatomically death-defying lengths to which these worms would go to grow and survive, he was totally pulled in.

帕普:一旦庞兹开始研究这些蠕虫生长和存活的解剖学上的不死长度,他就完全被拉了进去。

And he realized that he and his team weren’t the first to be fascinated. Ponz found that there was a golden age of research on “monster creatures” during the 18th and 19th centuries.

他意识到他和他的团队并不是第一个被迷住的人。庞兹发现,18世纪和19世纪是研究“怪物生物”的黄金时代。

Ponz: ... 100 plus year old literature would refer to the sentiments of monsters, creatures, or monsters, or oddities or, you know, they're, they're all these these variations that describe them. And in the end, these these animals are not not monsters.

庞兹:。。。100多年前的文学作品会提到怪兽、生物、怪兽或怪事的情感,或者,你知道,它们是,它们都是这些描述它们的变体。最后,这些动物不是怪物。

Papp: A fixation with the “reanimated Monster” makes sense, especially back then. Author Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, was published in 1818, and it only further intensified7 interest–and some of that interest translated into actual research.

帕普:对“复活的怪物”的痴迷是有道理的,尤其是在当时。作家玛丽·雪莱(Mary Shelley)的小说《弗兰肯斯坦》(Frankenstein)于1818年出版,这只会进一步增强人们的兴趣——其中一些兴趣转化为实际研究。

Ponz and a team of international researchers conducted a wide-sweeping review of the existing knowledge about monster worms. They dove into 275 years' worth of research — combing through scientists' observational journals, reading historical texts, and even reaching out to the broader scientific community to see if anyone knew anything about records of abnormal worms.

They wanted to understand all of the different types and patterns of bifurcation and see if there were any clues about how the oddities developed.

庞兹和一个国际研究团队对现有的关于怪物蠕虫的知识进行了广泛的回顾。他们潜心进行了275年的研究——梳理科学家的观测期刊,阅读历史文献,甚至接触更广泛的科学界,看看是否有人知道任何关于异常蠕虫的记录。

他们想了解分叉的所有不同类型和模式,看看是否有关于这些奇怪现象如何发展的线索。

Their search landed them in a jackpot of both history and science.

They came across documents and drawings of bifurcated worms from around the world — in Latin, French and German, all the way to Russian, Japanese, and even Indonesian. All in all, they spent over a year working through the archives, translating old texts, and following the trail of monster worm clues.

他们的搜寻使他们在历史和科学上都中了大奖。

他们从世界各地——拉丁语、法语和德语——一直到俄语、日语,甚至印度尼西亚——找到了分叉蠕虫的文件和图纸。总之,他们花了一年多的时间翻阅档案,翻译旧文本,追踪怪物蠕虫的线索。

What they learned is that bifurcation in worms has been observed in over 60 species of worms across the annelid family tree, and in some species, up to 20% of the juveniles8 ended up with some form of bifurcation. This work was recently published in the journal Biological Reviews. [Guillermo Ponz-Segrelles et al., Monsters reveal patterns: bifurcated annelids and their implications for the study of development and evolution]

他们所了解到的是,在环节动物家谱的60多种蠕虫中观察到了蠕虫的分叉,在某些物种中,多达20%的幼体最终出现了某种形式的分叉。这项研究最近发表在《生物学评论》杂志上。

Ponz: And that means, for example, in the in the case of bifurcation, that when an animal is cut, and is regenerating9, for example, the tail, there needs to be some mechanism10 that specifies11 where this tail is going to be, how it's going to be oriented, what is posterior, what is anterior12, what is left, what is right, what is dorsal13, what is ventral. And these mechanisms14 can be disturbed. And these might lead to different anatomies15.

庞兹:这意味着,例如,在分叉的情况下,当一个动物被切割,并且正在再生,例如尾巴,需要有某种机制来指定这条尾巴将在哪里,它将如何定位,什么是后,什么是前,什么是左,什么是右,什么是背,什么是腹。这些机制可能会受到干扰。这些可能会导致不同的解剖结构。

And that gives us clues about what is important during this process. Of course, these are the baby steps. So we are just pointing towards this process, this phenomenon, we are saying, Okay, hello, this happens, there are these animals that are doing these weird things. We should not forget about them, let's look into them.

这为我们提供了在这个过程中什么是重要的线索。当然,这些是婴儿步。所以我们只是指向这个过程,这个现象,我们说,好吧,你好,发生了这种情况,有一些动物正在做这些奇怪的事情。我们不应该忘记他们,让我们调查一下。

Papp: They also realized that there's a strong correlation16 between the type of bifurcation and the internal organ development. Meaning, the way that the worms were split reliably indicated if extra sets of organs were present.

帕普:他们也意识到分叉的类型和内脏器官的发育之间有很强的相关性。也就是说,如果存在额外的器官,蠕虫分裂的方式可以可靠地指示。

With this type of intel, Ponz and his team were able to essentially17 draw up a blueprint18, or how-to guide, for reliably and repeatedly creating bifurcated worms ... which is potentially a very useful resource for scientists interested in studying the mechanisms of development.

有了这种类型的英特尔,庞兹和他的团队基本上能够绘制出一个蓝图,或如何指导,可靠地重复创建分叉蠕虫。。。对于有兴趣研究发育机制的科学家来说,这可能是一个非常有用的资源。

This long-forgotten study of worm developmental anomalies seems poised19 for a comeback. According to Ponz, this information could extend far beyond the annelid and even insect worlds to help us better understand how things like growth and development actually happen ... in both the normal and the monster ways.

这项长期被遗忘的蠕虫发育异常研究似乎即将卷土重来。据庞兹说,这些信息可以远远超出环节动物甚至昆虫的世界,帮助我们更好地理解生长和发育等事情是如何发生的。。。以正常和怪物的方式。

Ponz: In a sense, we are now following this trend that they started then, studying these animals to try to understand bigger pictures in nature. Usually development leads to a certain way to assert them to a certain point. So you have a development that ends up in anatomy20 that's more or less conserved21. But sometimes it doesn't. And that can teach us something about development processes. And that's interesting.

庞兹:从某种意义上说,我们现在正遵循他们当时开始的趋势,研究这些动物,试图了解大自然中更大的画面。通常情况下,发展会导致以某种方式将它们坚持到某一点。所以你有一个发展,最终在解剖学上,或多或少是保守的。但有时不是。这可以教我们一些关于开发过程的知识。这很有趣。

Papp: For Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I’m Ashleigh Papp.

帕普:这是《科学美国人》的60秒科学,我是阿什利·帕普。


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1 bifurcated 03cdbfe36238ab21615d09d585e58425     
a.分为两部分
参考例句:
  • Over the past 15 years the marketplace for art books has bifurcated. 过去15年里,卖艺术类书籍的市场逐渐分化。
  • This bifurcated view was reflected in how U.S. officials described the trip. 这种一分为二的观点也反映在美国官员自己对访华之行的描述上。
2 sprouted 6e3d9efcbfe061af8882b5b12fd52864     
v.发芽( sprout的过去式和过去分词 );抽芽;出现;(使)涌现出
参考例句:
  • We can't use these potatoes; they've all sprouted. 这些土豆儿不能吃了,都出芽了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The rice seeds have sprouted. 稻种已经出芽了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
3 appendages 5ed0041aa3aab8c9e76c5d0b7c40fbe4     
n.附属物( appendage的名词复数 );依附的人;附属器官;附属肢体(如臂、腿、尾等)
参考例句:
  • The 11th segment carries a pair of segmented appendages, the cerci. 第十一节有一对分节的附肢,即尾须。 来自辞典例句
  • Paired appendages, with one on each side of the body, are common in many animals. 很多动物身上有成对的附肢,一侧一个,这是很普遍的现象。 来自辞典例句
4 compartments 4e9d78104c402c263f5154f3360372c7     
n.间隔( compartment的名词复数 );(列车车厢的)隔间;(家具或设备等的)分隔间;隔层
参考例句:
  • Your pencil box has several compartments. 你的铅笔盒有好几个格。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The first-class compartments are in front. 头等车室在前头。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 entirely entirely     
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
  • His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
6 weird bghw8     
adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的
参考例句:
  • From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来,他好像有点怪。
  • His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。
7 intensified 4b3b31dab91d010ec3f02bff8b189d1a     
v.(使)增强, (使)加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
  • The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 juveniles 257c9101f917ec8748aa5fc520c6a9e3     
n.青少年( juvenile的名词复数 );扮演少年角色的演员;未成年人
参考例句:
  • Do you think that punishment for violent crimes should be the same for juveniles and adults? 你对暴力犯罪的惩罚对于青少年和成人应一样吗? 来自生活英语口语25天快训
  • Juveniles Should we not exactly in need of such strength and conviction? 少年的我们难道不正是需要这种力量和信念吗? 来自互联网
9 regenerating 0fd51be890ff4b873643d13907e3ab4f     
v.新生,再生( regenerate的现在分词 );正反馈
参考例句:
  • It is not proposed to deal with the detailed histology of regenerating tissues here. 这里未提出详细的再生组织的组织学。 来自辞典例句
  • This is accomplished by using a thermocompressor to recycle regenerating steam through the absorber. 它用热压机使再生蒸汽经吸附器循环完成解吸过程。 来自辞典例句
10 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。
11 specifies 65fd0845f2dc2c4c95f87401e025e974     
v.指定( specify的第三人称单数 );详述;提出…的条件;使具有特性
参考例句:
  • The third clause of the contract specifies steel sashes for the windows. 合同的第三款指定使用钢窗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The contract specifies red tiles, not slates, for the roof. 合同规定屋顶用红瓦,并非石板瓦。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
12 anterior mecyi     
adj.较早的;在前的
参考例句:
  • We've already finished the work anterior to the schedule.我们已经提前完成了工作。
  • The anterior part of a fish contains the head and gills.鱼的前部包括头和鳃。
13 dorsal rmEyC     
adj.背部的,背脊的
参考例句:
  • His dorsal fin was down and his huge pectorals were spread wide.它的脊鳍朝下耷拉着,巨大的胸鳍大张着。
  • The shark's dorsal fin was cut off by the fisherman.鲨鱼的背鳍被渔夫割了下来。
14 mechanisms d0db71d70348ef1c49f05f59097917b8     
n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 );机械装置;[生物学] 机制;机械作用
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。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
15 anatomies 2cf30a40fd58ecd3734ce0ef9a9538ee     
n.解剖( anatomy的名词复数 );(详细的)分析;(生物体的)解剖结构;人体
参考例句:
  • Man and ape have comparable anatomies. 人类与人猿有类似的构造。 来自互联网
16 correlation Rogzg     
n.相互关系,相关,关连
参考例句:
  • The second group of measurements had a high correlation with the first.第二组测量数据与第一组高度相关。
  • A high correlation exists in America between education and economic position.教育和经济地位在美国有极密切的关系。
17 essentially nntxw     
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上
参考例句:
  • Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
  • She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。
18 blueprint 6Rky6     
n.蓝图,设计图,计划;vt.制成蓝图,计划
参考例句:
  • All the machine parts on a blueprint must answer each other.设计图上所有的机器部件都应互相配合。
  • The documents contain a blueprint for a nuclear device.文件内附有一张核装置的设计蓝图。
19 poised SlhzBU     
a.摆好姿势不动的
参考例句:
  • The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋,准备俯冲。
  • Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张,手悬在电话机上。
20 anatomy Cwgzh     
n.解剖学,解剖;功能,结构,组织
参考例句:
  • He found out a great deal about the anatomy of animals.在动物解剖学方面,他有过许多发现。
  • The hurricane's anatomy was powerful and complex.对飓风的剖析是一项庞大而复杂的工作。
21 conserved d1dc02a3bfada72e10ece79fe3aa19af     
v.保护,保藏,保存( conserve的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He conserved his energy for the game. 他为比赛而养精蓄锐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Under these conditions, the total mechanical energy remains constant, or is conserved. 在这种条件下,总机械能保持不变或机械能保存。 来自辞典例句

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