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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute.
Imagine antibiotics2 that would never lose their punch. New research focuses on drugs that bacteria simply can’t resist. Most antibiotics work by killing3 pathogens. The problem is, it’s hard to kill every single microbe. The rare ones that survive reproduce, often creating a population that’s antibiotic1 resistant4.
But what if you could make a drug that renders bugs5 harmless, without actually killing them? In that scenario6, bacteria might not evolve resistance. And that’s what researchers showed in the March 9th issue of Nature Chemical Biology.
The key is communication. In well-trained armies, commanders bark orders, and soldiers signal each other to coordinate7 their positions. The same is true for a lot of infectious bacteria, which hold off mounting a full assault—complete with toxins—until there are enough of them around.
The scientists designed three different compounds that jammed cell-to-cell signaling in bacteria that cause food poisoning and cholera8. And they found that the bugs remained sensitive to drugs, even after 26 generations. They still need to confirm that the bugs that are silenced are in fact less deadly. If so, the new antibiotics would leave bacteria alive, but they’d basically be POWs. With no way to escape.
Thanks for the minute for Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.
1 antibiotic | |
adj.抗菌的;n.抗生素 | |
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2 antibiotics | |
n.(用作复数)抗生素;(用作单数)抗生物质的研究;抗生素,抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 ) | |
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3 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
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4 resistant | |
adj.(to)抵抗的,有抵抗力的 | |
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5 bugs | |
adj.疯狂的,发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 );病菌;虫子;[计算机](制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的)错误 | |
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6 scenario | |
n.剧本,脚本;概要 | |
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7 coordinate | |
adj.同等的,协调的;n.同等者;vt.协作,协调 | |
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8 cholera | |
n.霍乱 | |
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