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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Humans are pegged1 to a 24-hour cycle. We're locked into it not just by day and night—there’s the master timepiece in the brain called the circadian clock. But it doesn't make sense to live by a 24-hour clock in the Arctic, where it's dark or light for months at time. The solution? Lose the daily clock. Which is exactly what reindeer2 seem to have done, according to a study in Current Biology.
Reindeer don't sleep eight hours like we do, and there's no obvious 24-hour pattern to their lives. They just chomp3 on tundra4, nap a few hours and feast again. But they still need to know when to mate, pack on fat or thicken their coats. So they probably rely on an annual clock instead, set by the hormone5 melatonin.
In humans melatonin levels rise at night, in response to darkness and cues from the circadian clock. In reindeer, even if they’re missing a circadian clock, melatonin levels still spike6 when it's dark and drop when it's light, making the equinoxes an ideal time to synchronize7 their annual clocks.
So ask a reindeer what time of year it is, and it may be able to give you the date. Just don't be offended if it won't give you the time of day.
1 pegged | |
v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的过去式和过去分词 );使固定在某水平 | |
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2 reindeer | |
n.驯鹿 | |
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3 chomp | |
v. (人、动物进食时)大声地咬,嚼得很响 | |
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4 tundra | |
n.苔原,冻土地带 | |
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5 hormone | |
n.荷尔蒙,激素,内分泌 | |
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6 spike | |
n.长钉,钉鞋;v.以大钉钉牢,使...失效 | |
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7 synchronize | |
v.使同步 [=synchronise] | |
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