SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Head Bones of a Very Distant Family Me

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS -August 13, 2002: Head Bones of a Very Distant Family Member / Freezing the
Dead / Tobacco Dangers Greater Than Believed

VOICE ONE:

This is Sarah Long.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Bob Doughty¹ with Science in the News, a VOA Special English program about recent developments
in science. Today, we tell about the discovery of head bones from the earliest member of the human family. We
tell about the science of freezing dead people. And we tell about the links between smoking tobacco and cancer.

((THEME))

VOICE ONE:

An international team of anthropologists says it has discovered bones of the earliest member of the human
family. The scientists say the creature may be the oldest ancestor of humans.

Michel Brunet (ME-shell broo-NAY) of the University of Poitiers (pwah-TEE-AY)
in France and his team announced the discovery in the publication Nature last month.
The group found the head bones of the creature last year in the central African nation
of Chad. They say the creature was about the size of a modern chimpanzee, the
animal most like humans. They say the brain area is like that of a chimpanzee.
However, the face and teeth are more like those of a human. The discovery suggests
that the head bones are closely related to the last common ancestor of chimpanzees
and humans.

The scientists are not sure if the creature walked on two legs because they did not
find any bones below the head. However, they say the place where the backbone³
extended into the head is similar to that of creatures that walked on two legs.

VOICE TWO:

The scientists say the bones are almost seven-million years old. They say the bones represent the first human-like
creature on Earth. Experts say the discovery pushed back the date of the beginning of human life to a period
about which nothing is known. Until now, experts have believed that the first creature to walk on two legs lived
about four-million years ago.

Experts say the skull⁴ is the oldest ever found. Its modern -looking face has only been seen on creatures thought to
have lived about one -million years ago. Some experts say this means the creature was similar to humans, but did
not survive into modern times. The anthropologists call the ancient creature “Toumai”
(TOO-my). This means
“hope of life”
in the Goran language.

VOICE ONE:

Five independent experts studied the bones. A few scientists do not agree about their meaning. One said he thinks
the bones are the head of an ancient female gorilla⁵. Two others described the creature as pre -human. They
suggested further research is needed to find out if it was a human. The critics do agree, however, that the
discovery is important for scientists studying how humans developed on Earth.

Other experts say it will never be possible to know exactly where or when human beings first developed. But
they say the new discovery shows that the spread of human ancestors was not limited to eastern and southern
Africa as had been thought.

(Photo -Nature)

Experts say the discovery means scientists will increase their explorations in Chad. The area in northern Chad
where the bones were found is now a desert. But scientists believe it once had plants, trees and water. In the past
eight years, experts have found more than ten-thousand bones from many different kinds of animals in the area.
Many experts say the new discovery is a sign that many other kinds of bones will be found in the future. These
discoveries may change what we know about how life on Earth developed.

((MUSIC BRIDGE))

VOICE TWO:

Cryonics is a method of freezing the bodies of people who have died. Cryonics activists⁶ believe that scientific
technology in the future could bring those people back to life. Public interest in cryonics has increased since the
death of American baseball player Ted² Williams. Williams died last month in Florida. He was eighty-three years
old.

There were reports soon after Williams’
death that his body had been transported to a
cryonics company in Arizona. The company freezes and stores the bodies of people who
have just died.

VOICE ONE:

People have long talked about the idea of awakening⁷ someone from a suspended
condition. Some people have made jokes about this. Cryonics has been shown in funny
American movies including the “Austin Powers
”
series and Woody Allen’s movie
called “Sleeper⁸.
”

However, other people are serious about cryonics. Robert Ettinger is the man most responsible for bringing
cryonics into the real world. He became famous after the publication of his book, “The Prospect⁹ of
Immortality,
”
in nineteen-sixty-four. The book said that people in the future could possess the technology to
bring dead people back to life and cure them.

Mister Ettinger says an increasing number of people like the idea of being frozen after death. He formed the
Cryonics Institute in Michigan. The business has frozen and stores forty-one bodies. The company is actively¹⁰
accepting bodies for what is called cryonic suspension.

VOICE TWO:

There currently are about one -hundred people and animals in cryonic suspension in the United States. The first
was frozen in nineteen-sixty-seven. It costs between thirty-thousand dollars and more than one-hundred-thousand
dollars to freeze and store a body or a head. The Alcor Life Extension Foundation is the country’s largest

cryonics laboratory. Alcor was established in nineteen-seventy-two. It moved to Arizona eight years ago. The
company reports that almost six-hundred people are waiting to have their remains¹¹ frozen.

VOICE ONE:

The process starts as soon as someone is declared legally dead. Special teams start preparations for freezing the
remains. The body is taken to a cryonics laboratory immediately after death to slow the chemical break down of
genetic¹² material. The remains are put on dry ice and work begins on the heart and lungs. Then, blood is carefully
removed from the body. A glycerin liquid is pumped in to protect the body from freeze damage.

Slowly, the body is cooled to a temperature of about one-hundred-ninety-six degrees below zero Celsius¹³. The
body is placed upside down in a tall metal container. Each month, liquid nitrogen is added to keep the body
frozen.

VOICE TWO:

The Alcor company argues that cryonics is not a way to store dead bodies. The company says it is a new method
of saving lives. Alcor says the condition we call dying is not a sudden event. It is much more like a deep sleep.
Alcor says studies have shown that individual cells in the body are still alive several hours after the declaration of
death. It says these cells are still able to operate normally.However, scientists dispute this argument. They say


there is no evidence to support the idea that future technology could bring anyone back from the dead.
((MUSIC BRIDGE)
)
VOICE ONE:
A recent report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer says the dangers of tobacco smoke are

greater than had been thought. The agency is part of the World Health Organization. The new report is part of a
series written by independent international experts on the dangers of different chemicals.

A committee of twenty-nine experts from twelve countries developed the report.
These scientists examined more than fifty medical studies concerning tobacco
smoking. The group says that tobacco use is the largest cause of preventable cancers
around the world. Experts say that more than one-thousand-million people around
the world smoke tobacco.

VOICE TWO:

The report says that one-half of all people who smoke cigarettes will die from diseases caused by smoking
tobacco. These include cancers of the lung, stomach, liver, kidney and blood. The report also says tobacco use
causes an even greater number of deaths from lung diseases, heart disease and stroke.

The report says other kinds of tobacco use also increase the chances of developing cancers of the lung, head and
neck. These include smoking cigars, pipes and bidis -- tobacco rolled in a leaf that is popular in South Asia. The
report also says that people who smoke endanger the health of non-smokers who breathe in tobacco smoke.

((THEME))

VOICE ONE:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by Nancy Steinbach and George Grow. It was produced by
George Grow. This is Sarah Long.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Bob Doughty. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice
of America.

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1 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

2 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

3 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

4 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

5 gorilla   

n.大猩猩，暴徒，打手

参考例句：

• I was awed by the huge gorilla.那只大猩猩使我惊惧。
• A gorilla is just a speechless animal.猩猩只不过是一种不会说话的动物。

6 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 awakening   

n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的

参考例句：

• the awakening of interest in the environment 对环境产生的兴趣
• People are gradually awakening to their rights. 人们正逐渐意识到自己的权利。

8 sleeper   

n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺

参考例句：

• I usually go up to London on the sleeper. 我一般都乘卧车去伦敦。
• But first he explained that he was a very heavy sleeper. 但首先他解释说自己睡觉很沉。

9 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

10 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

12 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

13 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。