VOA常速英语2014--Flies Help Understand How Human Brains Work 苍蝇帮助理解人类大脑的工作方式

 

Flies Help Understand How Human Brains Work 苍蝇帮助理解人类大脑的工作方式

A human brain contains more than 100 billion neurons while the fly's brain has just 100,000.

人类的大脑包含超过1000亿个神经元而苍蝇的大脑却只有100000个。

So it is much easier for scientists to study how a fly reacts to a perceived motion.

所以对于科学家而言研究苍蝇对感知运动的反应更为容易。

To do this, scientists designed a tiny treadmill¹ in the shape of a ball, which a fly attached to a pole can move with its feet in any direction.

为了进行研究,科学家们设计了一款球形微型运动机,这样苍蝇来到一个点后可以从任何方向运动。

A small panoramic² screen in front of it displays moving objects, causing the fly to avoid them by moving its feet.

而它前面的一个小全景屏幕显示移动着的物体,而苍蝇就需要通过移动避开它们。

苍蝇帮助理解人类大脑的工作方式.jpg

Thomas Clandinin is Associate Professor of Neurobiology at Stanford University:

斯坦福大学神经生物学的副教授托马斯·克兰丁尼说道:

“By moving the treadmill they tell us what they saw and we can measure the relationship between what they see and what they do by this kind of automatic report," said Clandinin.

“通过在运动机上的移动苍蝇告诉我们它们所见,而通过自动生成的报告我们可以测量它们所见和所做事情之间的关系,” 克兰丁尼说道。

In another part of the lab a volunteer is watching the same images while his brain activity is being recorded.

而在实验室的另一边一位志愿者观看相同的图像,同时他的大脑活动也被记录下来。

Scientists say they were surprised to find that human brains and fly brains both follow the same patterns.

科学家们惊奇地发现,人类大脑和苍蝇的大脑都遵循着相同的模式。

“The basic algorithms that the brain uses to do very fundamental things in vision seem to be very similar," said Clandinin.

“大脑在视觉上对于非常基本的事物所使用的基本算法似乎非常相似,” 克兰丁尼说道。

Scientists say they are now trying to identify which neurons the flies use to react to perceived motion-looking for a clue to how the human brain processes the same information.

科学家表示他们正试图确定苍蝇对于反应感知运动使用哪些神经元—这样就可以寻找人脑如何处理相同信息的线索。

Their ultimate goal is to develop better strategies for helping³ people with psychiatric and neurological diseases.

 

他们的最终目标是开发更好的策略用于帮助患有精神和神经系统疾病的人们。

1 treadmill   

n.踏车；单调的工作

参考例句：

• The treadmill has a heart rate monitor.跑步机上有个脉搏监视器。
• Drugs remove man from the treadmill of routine.药物可以使人摆脱日常单调的工作带来的疲劳。

2 panoramic   

adj. 全景的

参考例句：

• Most rooms enjoy panoramic views of the sea. 大多数房间都能看到海的全景。
• In a panoramic survey of nature, speed is interesting because it has a ceiling. 概观自然全景，速率是有趣的，因为它有一个上限。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。