科学美国人60秒 SSS Pigeon Pb Proxies Could Cut Kids' Blood Tests
时间：2018-12-24 作者：英语课 分类：2016年Scientific American(八)月
Pigeons. Ever since humans established permanent agricultural settlements, we’ve lived side-by-side with the birds—or, as some people call them, rats with wings. They walk on our sidewalks, roost on our buildings, and eat our leftovers 1. But soon pigeons may help us identify risks to public health.
"What we're doing here in my lab is we're assessing how we can use something that's been considered a pest that people actively 2 try to exterminate 3: the pigeon. How can we use it to better the environment for not only ourselves but for pigeons and for other wildlife?"
U.C. Davis neurobiologist Rebecca Calisi. She looked at lead levels in blood samples from more than 800 injured pigeons brought to a New York City wildlife rehabilitation 4 center. And she compared those to lead levels in blood samples collected from children by the New York City Department of Health in routine screening efforts. The results were published in the journal Chemosphere. [Fayme Cai and Rebecca M. Calisi. Seasons and neighborhoods of high lead toxicity 5 in New York City: The feral pigeon as a bioindicator]
"The neighborhoods where children have high rates of lead toxicity, that's where we saw pigeons with high blood lead levels…so this is a proof of concept kind of project."
Most pigeons will live out their lives within just two kilometers of the place they hatched, so the birds may be able to help researchers develop a detailed 7 map of the risk of toxic 6 lead exposure.
In people, especially kids, lead exposure can affect intelligence, brain development, social skills and memory. Having demonstrated that pigeons can pinpoint 8 areas with high lead contamination, Calisi thinks that the birds can help researchers zero in on other potential environmental hazards as well.
"The thing is, we don't know what to test for right now. We know to test for lead, but what about certain pesticides 9? Or fire retardants are a big problem these days. We're not sure what the problems are. So instead of drawing a ton of blood from children and putting them through all these tests, why not use an animal that shares our environment, the pigeon, and test for a whole suite 10 of different potential harmful pollutants 11?"
So rather than dismissing them as rats with wings, why not think of them as…lab rats with wings?
—Jason G. Goldman
[The above text is a transcript 12 of this podcast.]
- He can do miracles with a few kitchen leftovers.他能用厨房里几样剩饭做出一顿美餐。
- She made supper from leftovers she had thrown together.她用吃剩的食物拼凑成一顿晚饭。
- 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。
- Some people exterminate garden insects by spraying poison on the plants.有些人在植物上喷撒毒剂以杀死花园内的昆虫。
- Woodpeckers can exterminate insect pests hiding in trees.啄木鸟能消灭躲在树里的害虫。
- He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
- No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。
- The hoarse grunt or squeal is characteristic of toxicity.嘶哑的哼声和叫声是中毒的特征。
- Dieldrin is related to aldrin,and its toxicity to earthworms is similar.狄氏剂与艾氏剂有关，对蚯蚓的毒性是相似的。
- The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
- There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。
- He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
- A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。
- It is difficult to pinpoint when water problems of the modern age began.很难准确地指出，现代用水的问题是什么时候出现的。
- I could pinpoint his precise location on a map.我能在地图上指明他的准确位置。
- vegetables grown without the use of pesticides 未用杀虫剂种植的蔬菜
- There is a lot of concern over the amount of herbicides and pesticides used in farming. 人们对农业上灭草剂和杀虫剂的用量非常担忧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- She has a suite of rooms in the hotel.她在那家旅馆有一套房间。
- That is a nice suite of furniture.那套家具很不错。
- Pollutants are constantly being released into the atmosphere. 污染物质正在不断地被排放到大气中去。
- The 1987 Amendments limit 301(g) discharges to a few well-studied nonconventional pollutants. 1987年的修正案把第301条（g）的普通排放限制施加在一些认真研究过的几种非常规污染物上。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
- A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
- They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。