SSS 2009-03-20
时间：2018-12-24 作者：英语课 分类：Scientific American(三)月
This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute.
Some people are worried that the more we learn about genetics, the closer we’ll get to a day when we can choose all sorts of characteristics for our babies: eye color, intelligence—and sex. Well, when it comes to sex, finches are a step ahead of us. Researchers in Australia show that female Gouldian finches can select the sex of their offspring. They published their research in the March 20th edition of the journal Science.
Gouldian finches have either red or black colorations on their heads. They choose their mate based on that head color. So researchers played a trick on the animals. They painted the heads of some red males black. Then they mated those seemingly black-headed birds with both red and black females. When the black females thought they were mating with a black male, they produced equal number of baby girl and boy birds.
But the red finch 1 females who thought they were mating with an incompatible 2 black-headed male had significantly more baby boys. Researchers say this is probably to reduce investment in what they call ‘inviable females.’ And they had fewer and smaller eggs. Truly a clutch performance.
Thanks for the minute for Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber.
- This behaviour is commonly observed among several species of finch.这种行为常常可以在几种雀科鸣禽中看到。
- In Australia,it is predominantly called the Gouldian Finch.在澳大利亚，它主要还是被称之为胡锦雀。
- His plan is incompatible with my intent.他的计划与我的意图不相符。
- Speed and safety are not necessarily incompatible.速度和安全未必不相容。