SSS 2008-11-14
时间:2019-01-08 作者:英语课 分类:Scientific American(十一)月
This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Rachel Kremen. Got a minute?
Researchers have discovered that improving voter turnout tends to result in better decision-making—at least amongst fish. A recent study of stickleback found that they select a leader by consensus 1 and, the more fish in the pool, the more likely they’ll make a good choice.
In the experiment, a school of fish was presented with two mock candidates for leader. One of the fake fish swam left, the other right. The pack of real fish was then allowed to decide which leader to follow. According to the study, which was published recently in the journal Current Biology, the stickleback tended to follow the candidate that looked the healthiest. Larger or fatter fish, for example, were usually chosen over smaller fish. Fish with spots—often a telltale sign of disease—generally lost out to a non-spotty adversary 2. The fish also seemed to have a preference for a more richly colored candidate, though the researchers say they have yet to determine why. Maybe his environmental record won them over?
Thanks for the minute for Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Rachel Kremen.
- Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗?
- What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么?