Episode 1: September 5, 2006

This is Scientific American’s 60 seconds Science. I'm Karen Hopkins. This will just take a minute. Biologist G.B.S. Hording once said, the creator, if exists, has an inordinate fondness of beetles. Well, so do researchers at MIT. Inspired by the Namib Desert Beetle, MIT engineers Robert Cohen and Michael Rubner have produced a new material that can trap and control tiny volumes of water. The Namib dessert in southern Africa is one of the driest spots on earth. Its inhabitants survive by extracting precious moisture form the light morning fog that periodically sweeps across the desert sands. The beetle’s wings are studded with hydrophilic bumps that collect water droplets and hydrophobic channels that funneled droplets into the bug’s mouth. The MIT scientists use the similar design for their beetle mimicking material, described in the online version of the journal Nano Letters. Such materials could be used to help move small liquid samples around the lab on the chip or to make tents that could provide shelter and cool drink to people who camp in the dessert. The water harvesting material might not represent intelligent design, but is sure a good example of intelligent imitation. Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American’s 60seconds Science, I'm Karen Hopkins.
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Episode 2: September 6, 2006

This is Scientific American’s 60 Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? Last week the independent non-partisan Government Accountability Office the G.A.O. issued a report to Congress analyzing the White House's National Youth Anti-drug Media Campaign. The campaign is responsible for the many TV and radio commercials and magazine ads you’ve probably seen that aimed to keep kids from trying marijuana and other controlled substances, but the G.A.O. report finds that the ads have been disappointing and ineffective. The report says that the study of the campaign quote ‘provides no evidence that the campaign had a positive effect in relation to teen drug use, and shows some indications of a negative impact’ end quote. One negative was an increased depression that smoking pot was normal among teens. Between 1998 and 2006, Congress appropriated 1.4 billion dollars for the ineffective campaign, including 100 million dollars in 2006, 120 million dollars is still slated for the campaign for fiscal year 2007.Thanks for the minute for Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky.! c! G# z6 Q, f. ~( t! p: v! W, t
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Episode 3: September 7, 2006

This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? First, the bad news, it seems our bodies are actually designed to resist all attempts to fit into our pants. At an international conference on obesity this week, an Australian researcher reports that no matter what overweighed people try, diet and exercise, or exercise alone, eventually, their weight loss has a plateau. Evolution may be why we have such a fat chance to lose weight. Our ancestors who stored fat most efficiently during times of plenty, were better able to survive when the picking is slim. As a result, now when we diet, our bodies, thinking there is a famine of food, produce a hormone called “Ghrelin " that helps keep us hefty. Now that's where the good news comes in. Scientists at Scripps Research Institute have produced the vaccine that gets rid of this fat hoarding hormone. The researchers report that male rats who got the vaccine were lighter and leaner than their untreated littermates. But we will have to wait for the human trials to see whether the vaccine is in fact the best thing since slice bread. Thanks for the minute for Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky.
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Episode 4: September 8, 2006

This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? Psych-, I mean Psych-, psychology, some psychology news out of Los Angeles, celebrities are full of themselves. Researchers had two hundred celebrities fill out standardized psychology questionnaire, called the narcissistic personality inventory. The result, celebrities had higher narcissism scores than the regular folks. Man, they must be so stoked when they found out they got higher scores. Contestants on reality TV shows had the highest scores because it’s easier to get conceited than to get talent. One of the studies’ authors is Drew Pinsky, better known as Dr. Drew of the radio show ‘LoveLine’, but he is a also psychiatry professor at USC’s medical school, so he is not just a full of themselves celebrity. According to Pesky, narcissists crave attention; you are listening to me, right? They are overconfident of their abilities, Man; this got to be the best part I guess. They lack empathy, seriously, whatever you are doing, can’t wait, just listen to me, but they are also well liked especially on the first meeting. Hi! How are you doing? [Music] Thanks for the minute for Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky.
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Episode 5: September 11, 2006

This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? Why do bumblebees pick some flowers over others? Researchers have known for a while that flower’s color can be a signal. Color in short hand that says to a bee: hey, I get some good quality nectar here; why don’t stop by for a visit. But new findings show that bees also use color to get clues about a flower’s temperature. And according to a study from a British research team published in the journal Nature, some like it hot. Bees use up a lot of energy just stay in warm on some days. In fact, they can’t even fly if they are too cold. So if one flower is warmer than another, a bee can save some of its fuel by basking on that flower while it’s doing its pollinating business. And it turns out that bumble bees consistently do choose warmer flowers over cooler ones, even when the two flowers offer up the same quantity and quality of nectar. Some plants seem to be evolutionarily adapted to be slightly warmer because the warmer ones get visited more by the chilly bees. When it comes to getting pollinated, apparently the heat is on, and that is the buzz. Thanks for the minute for Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky.
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Episode 6: September 12, 2006

This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? Good wearing your bike helmet while cycling actually increase the risk of being hit by a car. Doctor Inn Walker is a traffic psychologist at University of Bath in England. He did the experiment himself, riding sometimes with the helmet and sometimes without. His bike included a distance sensor that measures exactly how close vehicles got to him. The surprising result of over 25 hundred times getting past, that’s about five minutes of riding in Manhattan by the way, where Vehicles on average got more than three inches closer if Walker rode with his helmet on. The researchers think that drivers associate helmet wearing with an experienced cyclist and figure the rider can handle tighter squeezes. The study has been accepted for publication in the journal called Accident Analysis and Prevention. By the way Walker was hit twice during his studies by a truck and a bus, and yes he had his nog protected in each case. A personal note: I am a cyclist who hits the pavement without ever being hit by a car, and I am gonna continue to wear my helmet. [Music] Thanks for the minute for Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky.
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Episode 7: September 13, 2006

This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? It takes guts to fight AIDS. Literally, the intestines are home to some 70 percent of the immune system. And researchers from the University of California, Davis have recently shown that the HIV virus can survive efforts to kill it by hiding out in the gut. Not only that, HIV can keep on replicating in the gut. So tests that measure the levels of virus in the blood may seem to show that the patient's virus levels are low, but the virus hiding out in the gut can still be replicating and lowering immunity. Inflammation due to the virus poses additional problems. The good news is that the new findings published in the journal Virology have shown medical researchers that they need to be aiming new treatments right at the gut. Meanwhile patients currently receiving anti-retroviral therapy could have their intestines checked with biopsies to see if they are harboring hidden HIV. Drugs to treat gut inflammation could be added to the mix of AIDS treatments and earlier retroviral therapy may help get the guts immune function back in gear. [Music] Thanks for the minute for Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky.
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Episode 8: September 14, 2006

This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. This will just take a minute. Researchers from Children’s Hospital in Boston were curious about the links between the flu and air-travel. After all, one infected person can spread an outbreak from Miami to Seattle in hours. So the researchers looked two deferent government statistics, the examined flu record between 1996 and 2005, and they also collected government estimates of the number of people traveling by airplane in those years. While in every year the number of flu cases peaked between February 15th and 19th except for 2001, when the peak day was March 2nd, almost two weeks later, of course in 2001, there was no air travel in the days after September 11th. And the traffic was down even after flights resumed, so looks like staying home help keep the flu from spreading, the findings published in the journal Public Library of Science Medicine could inform decision making in the event of a big flu epidemic and what great revenge against the perpetrators of September 11th attacks, we use data we wouldn’t have had otherwise to control disease and save lives. [Music] Thanks for the minute for Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky.
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Episode 9: September 15, 2006

This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? A picture is worth a thousand words and now probably about twenty pounds. This year a major digital camera company has a new camera out with what they call a slimming feature. You take a picture and the camera kind of squeezes the image to make the subject looks skinnier. The camera company's own website explains the effect is subtle; subjects still look like themselves, only before the last few thanksgiving dinners. But why stop there? How about additional features for making some other minor changes? For example, the health setting, you take a picture of your medical chart; the camera automatically adjusts your cholesterol and blood pressure levels to normal. Then there is the digital magic of the hair cam. And the ultra sensitive light meter finds the area of highest reflectivity---that's the top of your bold head, and covers it with hair in your choice of 256 beautiful colors. And don't forget the new smart cam. You’ll still look like yourself. Only your brow is wrinkled and folds. And a book on string theory or existential philosophy is peeking out of your pocket. Don’t worry though, the only thing you really need to read is the camera manual. [Music] Thanks for the minute for Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky.7 m9 W* O, w! X1 T
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Episode 10: September 18, 2006

This is Scientific American’s 60 seconds Science. I'm Karen Hopkins. Got a minute? Scientists have been busy figuring out the genes of lots of organisms, not just humans. So far they have done mice, chimpanzees, worms, yeast, just to name a few. And now we can add a tree's genome to that markedly assortment. Last week in the journal Science, a team of researchers reported the DNA sequence of the black cotton wood, a tree in the poplar family. They identified 45,000 genes in the poplar, which is way more than the 30,000 or so that humans have. So what makes a poplar a popular plant to study? Well, its genome is relatively small, just one fortieth the size of a pine tree's genome for example. It also grows fast, so scientists can cross-breed them and get mature trees to experiment on before they grow old and grey. The scientists, not the trees, I mean. And the poplar's fast growth makes them some attractive feeds stock for bio-fuels, for example, ethanol, an alternative to gasoline. With genome in hand, scientists can find ways to improve the tree's usefulness, perhaps creating varieties that grow even faster, or are easier to process. [Music] Thanks for the minute for Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Wood.
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" V  y8 C0 `/ k* P4 J3 O一些词汇的翻译（感谢honey_clover）：5 P1 K/ T% c" @. G( I& `
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yeast(酵母)" c4 r1 d7 b" `# ]- o
poplar(白杨)
7 j! q7 b2 N6 D& Iethanol(乙醇)
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Episode 11: September 19, 2006

[Music][Pirate Voice] This be Scientific American’s 60 seconds Science. I’m the dread pirate--- Steve. I’ll be taking a minute of your time. [Arrrrrrrrrrrr] Today is September 19th, the ‘International Talk Like a Pirate Day’. [Normal Voice]Seriously, [Yo ho ho], Check the web. It really is. And when they say talk like a pirate, they don’t mean, for example, can you [uh], copy these DVDs for me? No, they mean [uh], when you talk like this. [Pirate Voice] You know matey, anyone can be a pirate. All you needed was a proper disrespect for authority and a willingness to be seasick for months at a time. But to be a truly successful pirate, not just the son of a biscuit eater, well, you had to know a bit of science too. A good pirate captain had to know the astronomy to navigate by the stars. He had to be acquainted with meteorology and know enough fluid dynamics to make sure he didn’t overload his ship with booty. And he needed the psychological skills to manage his literally motley crew. The average pirate ship required a buccaneer surgeon to treat stab wounds and cat-o'-nine-tails slashes, and a swashbuckling general practitioner to make sure the men had the right diet to ward off scurvy with foods rich in vitamin C. Plus your pirate optometrist supplied the men with eye patches; and of course advanced veterinarian prac…[Ring] What do you mean my time is up?! I’m a pirate; I don’t care if my time’s up! Advanced veterinarian practice kept your pirate parrots in fine fettle. So you see, me hearty, no matter what’s your chosen path, science is sure to give you a hand, or at least a hook. [Music] Thanks for the minute for Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m the dread pirate--- Steve.
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Episode 12: September 20, 2006

[Music] This is Scientific American's 60 Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. This will just take a minute. Women scientists at research universities still face barriers in hiring and promotion. And the US is thus been deprived of an important source of scientific talent. Those are the finding at the report titled Beyond Bias and Barriers for filling the potential of women in academic science and engineering. The report was issued this week by the National Academy of Science and associated institutions. Yale biophysics and biochemistry professor John Steps served on the committee that wrote the report. "It's not a word prejudice but rather the accumulation of a lot of little thing that add up to discourage women." The report notes that women science faculties are paid less and promoted more slowly despite comparable productivity men, and including some two dozens recommendations to try to address the situation. "I hope that it won't be like so many reports that have gone before it. For ten years later people look around and see that really nothing happened." The report is available at www.nas.edu. [Music]Thanks for the minute for Scientific American's 60 Second Science. Steve Mirsky.
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Episode 13: September 21, 2006

[Music] This is Scientific American's 60 Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? “Lasers!” Doctor E wanted lasers you could mount on shark’s head to get Austin powers. But this week researchers announce the creation of lasers on little chips, or rather the chip lasers. Silicon, the familiar stuff of chips can direct light and some compounds, such as indium phosphide, can emit light when exact some voltage. Now scientists at Intel at University of California Santa Barbara have made a chip that combines the attributes of two materials to produce continue laser light. A litter voltage gets the indium phosphide to emit light, which then travels down past dictated by silicon waveguides. The laser light can then drive other electronics. A laser chip is cheap too, because it can be made with conventional silicon chip manufacturing techniques. The hope is that new chip could make future computer way faster than today’s, because they will rely on optical data flows that would transmit information from what would be a fire hose, compared to today’s electronic trickles. The new technology could also reduce the cost of fiber optic communications. [Music]Thanks for the minute for Scientific American's 60 Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky.
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Episode 14: September 22, 2006

[Music] This is Scientific American's 60 Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? Brazil might be where the nuts come from, but the ants from Argentina have invaded California and some other states, leaving destruction in their wake. Pesticides and traps haven’t worked. One colony goes from San Diego to north of San Francisco. The Argentines displays native ants’ species and that has a ripple effect.  Creatures that feed on native ants go hungry and insects that do agricultural damage unless kept in check by native ants are now free to destroy crops. But scientists at the University of California Irvine think they’ve come up with a way to defeat the ants by turning them against each other. They reported their technique last week at a meeting at the American Chemical Society. The ants recognize each other through specific chemicals on their bodies. The researcher has coated ants with the chemicals just slightly different from the natural compound; it’s like putting a confederal uniform on a union soldier. When other ants get a whiff of their old pal, they attack. The hope is that the technique could cause descent within the entire colony, because even a house of ants divided against itself, can not stand. [Music]Thanks for the minute for Scientific American's 60 Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky.) `' A6 o! i: E/ `+ w6 F. v; _0 r1 S
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Episode 15: September 25, 2006

[Music] This is Scientific American's 60 Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? “And I’m not going to eat any more breakfast.” New research points to a single gene as the reason the first President Bush would not allow broccoli’s aggression to stand. According to a report in the latest issue of Current Biology, a receptor molecule involved in tasting broccoli and its relatives comes in various forms. Some of us have the form of the receptor gene allele that makes the vegetables really unpalatable. But why? Well these particular vegetables also include chemical compounds called glucosinolates that can interfere with thyroid function. The paper notes that a billion people are still at risk for thyroid insufficiency and that creates strong evolutionary selection pressure for the ability to detect glucosinolates and minimize their intake. The paper ends by saying this study demonstrates the importance of individual human taste gene alleles for the perception of food and illustrates how possession of even a single allele of a bitter taste receptor gene may greatly impact how a subpopulation perceives an entire family of vegetables. [Music]Thanks for the minute for Scientific American's 60 Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky.
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Episode 16: September 26, 2006

[Music] This is Scientific American's 60 Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? It seems like wherever you point the Harbor space telescope, you find something new. Now astronomers find some new things that really, really old, some of the oldest galaxies known. In 2002 the advanced camera for surveys was installed on the Harbor. The device allowed astronomers to probe the most distant corners of the universe and the astronomy distance equals time. Researchers have now uncovered more than 500 galaxies that appeared to have come into being some 13 billion years ago, less than a billion years after the Big Bang. The discovery shouldn’t form attempt to understand how galaxy originate which was pretty much black box even a decade ago. The newly discovered galaxies appear to be smaller than more modern ones and their color indicates that new stars were being born in them at tremendous rate, 10 times faster than the pace star birth that we see today in nearby galaxies. The findings appeared in upcoming issue of the Astrophysical Journal. It’s not like reading; even you are using a light telescope. Thanks for the minute. For scientific American 60-second science. I'm Steve Mirsky.
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Episode 17: September 27, 2006

[Music] This is Scientific American's 60 Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? Male crickets typically make quite a racket, their wings have what’s called a file and scraper apparatus, move the file across the scraper and the ensuing song lets females know that the males will be happy to see them. But on one Hawaiian Island the male song became deadly. A parasitic fly tracked down the males from the song and killed them. Now, normally being a mutant male cricket that couldn’t do the wing sing was a ticket to mating oblivion, but with the loud males being targeted by the parasitic flies, being a mutant mute male suddenly became an advantage. Less than 20 generations ago, 90 percent of the male crickets on the island can sing, now 90 percent can’t sing because evolution can work in a hurry if the states are high enough. The research is published in the journal Biology Letters, so how do the silent males attract mates? With a very clever new behavior! They appeared in a cluster around one of the remaining minority of males who still sings, and mingle with the many interested females who show up to hear the loud male. It’s like being a friend of a Sinatra's. Thanks for the minute. For scientific American 60-second science. I'm Steve Mirsky.
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Episode 18: September 28, 2006

[Music] This is Scientific American’s 60 Second Science, I’m Steve Mirsky. This will just take a minute. Golfer Barren Nelson died on September 26th at the age of 94, there’s a reason this is a science story besides the statistical in probability of wining 11 professional golf tournaments in a role which he did in 1945. You see Barren Nelson had a distinction few other athletes can never hope for. He had a robot named after him. In 1976 the United States Golf Association started using a mechanical swing machine to test the equipment. For example you wanna test new brands of golf balls to make sure there’re not juiced up adding 30 yards to drives and the machine was called the Iron Barren in attribute to the real Barren, because the real Barren swing was amazingly fluid and even more important, virtually identical each time he hit the ball. It’s been reported the Iron Barren was so consistent that the landing area in the grass of the golf association headquarters had to be replaced every couple of years, because of the golf balls hitting in the almost exactly the same spot day after day. They say the machine made 7 holes in one, after which it brought glasses of 10-W-30 for the sprinkler, the lawn mower and the golf carts. Thanks for the minute for Scientific American’s 60 Second Science, I’m Steve Mirsky.
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Episode 19: September 29, 2006

This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. This will just take a minute. The Shapiro Delay. It's not when Mr. Shapiro is late for dinner. It happens in this unique double pulsar, two neutron stars orbiting each other about 2000 light-years away. The Shapiro Delay is when the pulses of light from one pulsar get delayed by the curvature of space time when they passing close to the other pulsar. And measuring the delay has lead to a striking confirmation of Einstein's General Relativity, recently published in the Journal Science. Each of the stars in the double pulsar is only about 20 kilometers across, but with a mass greater than our Sun. The resulting large local curvature in space time provides various tests of Relativity. But the one giving the most precise result is the Shapiro Delay. The time lag is small about 90 millionth of a second. Well, that's within 0.05 percent of what's predicted by General Relativity. And no doubt the small discrepancy is in the measurements, not the theory; Bad news for the many amateur physicists who sent us manuscripts overthrowing Einstein because Albert is still accurate. Thanks for the minute for Scientific American’s 60 Second Science, I’m Steve Mirsky.
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Episode 20: October 2, 2006

[Music] This is Scientific American's 60 Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? The shocking news out of New Hampshire, a single bear has been implicated in the depth of more than 25,000 rainbow trout earlier this month. The news was all the more stunning, because the bear was wearing a little yellow rain-coat, because it was a teddy bear. According to the Concord monitor of New Hampshire newspaper, the teddy bear somehow wound up in the fishing game department trout hatchery pool. Once in the pool the clog drained, any increasingly stagnant water became depleted of oxygen killing the fish. Hatchery supervisor Robert Faucet, say they had a faucet, just not the kind of deliver fresh water into the pool. Anyway, hatchery supervisor Robert Faucet, issued the statement that read, “Release of any teddy bear into the fish hatchery water is not permitted”. He went on to recommended anyone who happened to drop a teddy bear into the water, find a fishing game employee to help remove it. So to review, trout catch and release, teddy bear’s release and catch. Thanks for the minute for Scientific American’s 60 Second Science, I’m Steve Mirsky.3 d) G/ N6 c2 r$ u6 e) q
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Episode 21: October 3, 2006

[Music] This is Scientific American's 60 Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? The Noble Prizes are being awarded this week. We have info on the new winners on our website, www.sciam.com. But did you know that four people have won two Noble Prizes? Madame Curie and Linus Pauling each won two, and they're pretty famous. But two other people remain less well-known, even though they really helped make the world reliving. John Bardeen won the 1956 Physics Nobel for inventing the transistors, so that a portable radio no longer remained putting in a real barrel. He then helped develop a theory for superconductivity for the 1972 Physics Prize. Meanwhile Frederick Sanger won the 1958 Chemistry Nobel for finding the amino acid sequence of the protein insulin and basically inventing protein sequencing. He then came up with DNA sequencing, which led to our ability now to unravel the human genomes, animal genomes and many other organisms and to Chemistry Noble number two in 1980. So if you won a Nobel Prize this week, congratulations! Now get back to work. Thanks for the minute for Scientific American’s 60 Second Science, I’m Steve Mirsky.5 K; ^1 \$ P5 B6 S1 m" B" ^2 Q7 s2 Y

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Episode 22: October 4, 2006

This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. This will just take a minute. October 4th is perhaps one of the least celebrated but the most important anniversaries in the history of science. It was on that date in 1836 that Charles Darwin returned to his family home in England after 5 years on the HMS Beagle. In the introduction to Origin of Species he notes how struck he was by the plants and animals he saw in the South America and by whether they might help him solve the mystery of how species came into being. He then shares this straightforward yet profound thought. “On my return home, it occurred to me in 1837 that something might perhaps be made out on this question by patiently accumulating and reflecting on all sorts of facts which could possibly have any bearing on it. In other words, I am going gather as much information as I possibly can and then think about it very deeply for a long time.” 23 years passed between Darwin's return from the sea and the publication of this world-shaking book, the ocean voyage was a crucial foundation, but the long intellectual voyage that led to the theory of evolution truly began when Darwin got back home. Thanks for the minute for Scientific American’s 60 Second Science, I’m Steve Mirsky.
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, C. `8 B' J5 w" o+ C[ 本帖最后由 追梦者 于 2007-10-8 14:18 编辑 ]

有问题的请跟帖，有需要讨论的请跟帖，但但是顶的话就免了吧~~~

“Episode 14: September 22, 2006“正文的第一句话不明白。
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9 Z3 |: {" J3 pBrazil nuts和 Argentina ants有啥关系啊？完全不搭界嘛。这是外国人的幽默还是他们就喜欢以这种方式来开始一段说话？抑或是这里面包含着某种隐喻？
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另：nuts from Brazil也很奇怪，难道美国的nuts都是从Brazil进口的？

两个都是ants,巴西的ants应该有什么典故吧.我仔细听了下,除了现在的这个版本,听不出更好的意思了~

一个小问题：Episode 14，倒数第一句（The hope is that the technique could cause descent within the entire colony, because even a house of ants divided against itself, can now stand.）可能还是应该为can not stand，"A house divided against itself can not stand.”（一个自己裂开的房子是站不住的）是A.Lincoln关于南北战争和美国必须统一的名言（前几天刚看了一堆Lincoln妙语）。前面也提到了putting a confederal uniform on a union soldier。

来自Wikipedia的关于"Brazil ant"和"Argentine ant"的搜索结果：6 S7 E3 Z+ h# H' h+ A
Brazil ant:
$ V7 q! c7 S/ _+ \5 W, CThe red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta), or simply RIFA, is one of over 280 members of the widespread genus Solenopsis. Although the red imported fire ant is native to South America, it is best known in the United States, Australia, Taiwan, Philippines, and the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. & f, l. ^: U9 w& o
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Colonies were accidentally introduced into the United States in the 1930s through the seaport of Mobile, Alabama[1]. Cargo ships from Brazil docking at Mobile unloaded goods infested with the ants; they have since spread from Alabama to the coastal plain and piedmont of almost all of the southeastern states, as well as into California. The ants were accidentally introduced into Australia in 2001, in a similar way[2]( 巴西真损，干了一次还有二次 原来美国连蚂蚁都是移民，下次签证的时候看谁还敢说我们美国不欢迎有移民倾向的人).
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$ y" R9 t) i) |2 @( N. SArgentine ant (Linepithema humile, formerly Iridomyrmex humilis) is a tiny dark ant native to northern Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and southern Brazil. The species has been inadvertently introduced by humans to many other areas of the world, such as South Africa, New Zealand, Japan, Easter Island, Australia, Hawaii, Europe, and many parts of United States, including the southeastern U.S. and California.: }- T3 i9 q3 Q6 ?$ K. H

! P6 y+ \  ?1 W4 `  sThe worker ants are only about 1.6 mm (1/16th inch) long and can easily squeeze through cracks and holes no more than 1 mm (0.040 inch) in size. Queens are two to four times the length of workers. These tiny ants will set up quarters in the ground, in cracks in concrete walls, in spaces between boards and timbers, even among belongings in human dwellings.5 Z, N! W  Q/ ]

+ y2 `; o3 I: C4 ]# m1 B可能巴西蚂蚁来的早但是没有阿根廷蚂蚁破坏力大吧
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[ 本帖最后由 spyder1011 于 2007-8-19 22:34 编辑 ]

恩.最后那一句当初争议蛮大~~~我也在反复思考啊

原来典故在这里啊~~~感谢感谢~~

怎么沉了,顶

请问为什么都是06年的啊？最近官方没在出吗？

另外请问一下有没有哪个贴子里面把前十五期的听力文件放一起的，方便一下我们这些错过前面各期的懒人？:)

好像没有找到……
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本来想把刚下的各篇听力源文件在这里一起贴出来，结果发现自己不能贴1024K以上的东西……/ I9 _; u9 Y. T& s2 d2 S( P* b
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刚刚自己重新压了一下放在这，不知道算不算画蛇添足^_^- Z+ d  @6 l0 ~& L* K
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[ 本帖最后由 狼猪 于 2007-8-27 18:14 编辑 ]

接着...
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[ 本帖最后由 狼猪 于 2007-8-27 18:19 编辑 ]

晕....不是有个集合贴么.....

Last but not least...

晕？有吗？没看到，汗…………我还去一个一个找的，555

还是没有找到传说中的集合贴…… 3 ]* ?* a- A, t2 R4 n$ g! [
看来偶不但听力不行，视力也开始出现问题了

好东西！！