SSS 2012-05-28
时间：2018-12-24 作者：英语课 分类：Scientific American(五)月
英语课
This is scientific American's 60 seconds science. I'm Sophie Bushwick, got a minute.
Tens of millions of years ago, cephalopods were hiding from enemies in clouds of ink. And it turns out thatcuttlefish today producing ink that's almost identical. Researchers found fossils of two giant celphalopods that swam in seas more than 160 million years ago. And each one contained preserved inksack. Analysis of this sacs revealed that some melanin pigment 2 the stuff makes ink dark had survived. Plus, the chemical make up of the melanin was virtually the same as the pigment found in modern day cuttlefish 1 ink. The work is the proceedings 3 of National Academy of Science. It's rare to find preserve soft tissue in the fossil record. In addition, bimolecules often break down, leaving none of orginal organ compounds . Melanin however has sturdy structure that was resist this fate.
And method this research used to isolate 5 from the fossils could help other palaeontologists better identify preserve organic molecules 4 and their functions. The finding also demonstrates that when something works evolution usually leaves it alone, because that ink broke, don't fix it.
1 cuttlefish
n.乌贼，墨鱼
- I have no idea about how to prepare those cuttlefish and lobsters.我对如何烹调那些乌贼和龙虾毫无概念。
- The cuttlefish spurts out dark ink when it is in danger.乌鲗遇到危险的时候会喷出黑色液体。
2 pigment
n.天然色素，干粉颜料
- The Romans used natural pigments on their fabrics and walls.古罗马人在织物和墙壁上使用天然颜料。
- Who thought he might know what the skin pigment phenomenon meant.他自认为可能知道皮肤色素出现这种现象到底是怎么回事。
3 proceedings
n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报
- He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
- to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼