科学美国人60秒 SSS 世界科学新闻简报2021.11

I’m Scott Hershberger, with Scientific American as an American Association for the Advancement¹ of Science Mass Media Science and Engineering Fellow.

我是《科学美国人》的斯科特·赫什伯格，美国科学促进协会大众传媒科学与工程研究员

And here’s a short piece from the November 2020 issue of the magazine, in the section called Advances: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Science, Technology and Medicine.

下面是该杂志2020年11月期的一篇短文，题为《进展:来自科学、技术和医学前沿的报道》。

The article is titled “Quick Hits,” and it’s a rundown of some stories from around the globe.

这篇文章的标题是《快速点击》，它是来自世界各地的科学新闻简报。

From Panama: Vampire² bats monitored at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute have fewer interactions with family and friends when ill, biologists say.

巴拿马报道:生物学家表示，史密森热带研究所监测的吸血蝙蝠生病时与家人和朋友的互动较少。

But they do not seem to stay apart intentionally—instead sick bats are simply too lethargic³ to call out to or groom⁴ one another.

但它们似乎并不是故意分开的——相反，生病的蝙蝠只是太没精打采，不会叫唤或为彼此梳理毛发。

From Canada: The last fully⁵ intact ice shelf in Canada collapsed⁶ into the Arctic Ocean this summer.

加拿大报道:今年夏天，加拿大最后一块完全完好无缺的冰架坍塌，进入北冰洋。

Located in the territory of Nunavut, the Milne Ice Shelf lost 80 square kilometers of ice—40 percent of its area—in just two days.

位于努纳武特地区的米尔恩冰架在短短两天内失去了80平方公里的冰，占其面积的40%。

From Chile: Living 6,700 meters above sea level, a yellow-rumped leafeared mouse found at the summit of the dormant⁷ volcano Llullaillaco is the highest-dwelling mammal ever documented.

智利报道:在海拔6700米的休眠火山尤耶亚科山顶发现了一种黄腰叶鼠，它是有记录以来居住在海拔最高的哺乳动物。

It remains⁸ unclear how the animal survives the oxygen scarcity⁹ and freezing temperatures at this elevation¹⁰.

目前还不清楚这种动物是如何在高海拔缺氧和寒冷的温度下生存下来的。

From Russia: An analysis of ancient woolly rhino¹¹ DNA¹² from Siberia revealed that the population size was stable for thousands of years before the mammal's extinction¹³ 14,000 years ago, suggesting that a warming climate—not hunting by humans—most likely triggered its demise¹⁴.

俄罗斯报道:一项来自西伯利亚的古代长毛犀牛DNA分析显示，在这种哺乳动物于1.4万年前灭绝之前，其数量在数千年里保持稳定，这表明气候变暖——而不是人类的狩猎——最有可能导致了长毛犀牛的灭绝。

From Ethiopia: Paleoanthropologists unearthed¹⁵ a 1.4-million-year old hand ax made from a hippo's leg bone.

埃塞俄比亚报道:古人类学家发掘出了一把140万年前用河马腿骨制成的手斧。

Together with recently discovered stone tools, the ax indicates that Homo erectus had a diverse tool kit¹⁶ several hundred thousand years earlier than scientists had suspected.

连同最近发现的石器，斧头表明直立人拥有多样化的工具箱，比科学家们猜想的要早数十万年。

And from Antarctica: Contrary to researchers' expectations, methane¹⁷-eating microbes failed to rapidly contain the first methane leak detected on the Antarctic seafloor.

南极洲报道:与研究人员的预期相反，吞噬甲烷的微生物未能迅速遏制南极海底发现的第一次甲烷泄漏。

The finding means more of the potent¹⁸ greenhouse gas may have been pouring into the atmosphere than previously¹⁹ thought.

这一发现意味着，排放到大气中的强效温室气体可能比之前认为的要多。

That was “Quick Hits.” I’m Scott Hershberger.

这是《快速点击》的全部内容。我是斯科特·赫什伯格。

1 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。

2 vampire   

n.吸血鬼

参考例句：

• It wasn't a wife waiting there for him but a blood sucking vampire!家里的不是个老婆，而是个吸人血的妖精！
• Children were afraid to go to sleep at night because of the many legends of vampire.由于听过许多有关吸血鬼的传说，孩子们晚上不敢去睡觉。

3 lethargic   

adj.昏睡的，懒洋洋的

参考例句：

• He felt too miserable and lethargic to get dressed.他心情低落无精打采，完全没有心思穿衣整装。
• The hot weather made me feel lethargic.炎热的天气使我昏昏欲睡。

4 groom   

vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁

参考例句：

• His father was a groom.他父亲曾是个马夫。
• George was already being groomed for the top job.为承担这份高级工作，乔治已在接受专门的培训。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

7 dormant   

adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的

参考例句：

• Many animals are in a dormant state during winter.在冬天许多动物都处于睡眠状态。
• This dormant volcano suddenly fired up.这座休眠火山突然爆发了。

8 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。

9 scarcity   

n.缺乏，不足，萧条

参考例句：

• The scarcity of skilled workers is worrying the government.熟练工人的缺乏困扰着政府。
• The scarcity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果供不应求是由于干旱造成的。

10 elevation   

n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高

参考例句：

• The house is at an elevation of 2,000 metres.那幢房子位于海拔两千米的高处。
• His elevation to the position of General Manager was announced yesterday.昨天宣布他晋升总经理职位。

11 rhino   

n.犀牛，钱, 现金

参考例句：

• The rhino charged headlong towards us.犀牛急速地向我们冲来。
• They have driven the rhino to the edge of extinction.他们已经令犀牛濒临灭绝。

12 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

13 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

14 demise   

n.死亡；v.让渡，遗赠，转让

参考例句：

• He praised the union's aims but predicted its early demise.他赞扬协会的目标，但预期这一协会很快会消亡。
• The war brought about the industry's sudden demise.战争道致这个行业就这么突然垮了。

15 unearthed   

出土的（考古）

参考例句：

• Many unearthed cultural relics are set forth in the exhibition hall. 展览馆里陈列着许多出土文物。
• Some utensils were in a state of decay when they were unearthed. 有些器皿在出土时已经残破。

16 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

17 methane   

n.甲烷，沼气

参考例句：

• The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。
• Methane may have extraterrestrial significance.甲烷具有星际意义。

18 potent   

adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的

参考例句：

• The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
• We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。

19 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。