英语听力文摘 English Digest 690 天文学家同癌症研究员联手对抗癌症

Astronomers¹ And Cancer Researchers Work Together To Fight Cancer

At first glance, astronomers and cancer researchers may not seem to have a lot in common. After all, astronomers spend their time gazing at distant stars and galaxies², while oncologists fight tumors.

But at the University of Cambridge in the UK, astronomers and cancer researchers have joined forces. Specifically, astronomers there repurposed image analysis algorithms they use to spot distant galaxies to help oncologists diagnose aggressive tumors.

Here is How It Works

Astronomers use the algorithms to analyze⁴ faint, indistinct images captured by large telescopes. Powerful computers help identify these images as galaxies, stars, planets, and other celestial⁵ bodies.

When cancer researchers study tumors, they stain samples to pick out subtle differences that clue them in to what types of proteins a given tumor³ harbors. Identifying the proteins helps researchers know if a tumor is especially aggressive.

This process typically involves individual scientists peering at tumor samples under microscopes, which is time consuming and laborious⁶. But using reconfigured image analysis algorithms to identify tumor proteins can speed up the process significantly.

Testing The Process

To test the process, the researchers used the adapted algorithms on samples from more than 2,000 breast cancer patients. They found that computer analysis was just as accurate at detecting specific proteins as scientists peering through microscopes. And the computer was much faster.

The researchers plan to further refine the computerized method by testing it on samples from more than 20,000 breast cancer patients.

1 astronomers   

n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings. 天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 galaxies   

星系( galaxy的名词复数 )； 银河系； 一群（杰出或著名的人物）

参考例句：

• Quasars are the highly energetic cores of distant galaxies. 类星体是遥远星系的极为活跃的核心体。
• We still don't know how many galaxies there are in the universe. 我们还不知道宇宙中有多少个星系。

3 tumor   

n.（肿）瘤，肿块(英)tumour

参考例句：

• He was died of a malignant tumor.他死于恶性肿瘤。
• The surgeons irradiated the tumor.外科医生用X射线照射那个肿瘤。

4 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

5 celestial   

adj.天体的；天上的

参考例句：

• The rosy light yet beamed like a celestial dawn.玫瑰色的红光依然象天上的朝霞一样绚丽。
• Gravity governs the motions of celestial bodies.万有引力控制着天体的运动。

6 laborious   

adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅

参考例句：

• They had the laborious task of cutting down the huge tree.他们接受了伐大树的艰苦工作。
• Ants and bees are laborious insects.蚂蚁与蜜蜂是勤劳的昆虫。