2006十大科学奇闻 The Weird Science Awards
发布: 2009-2-18 21:29 | 作者: alibaba | 来源: 大风车中英文门户网站社区
2006十大科学奇闻
1：The Red Sea parts again 红海两岸再次分开
它到底分开过一次还是两次，这次科学家们通过卫星照片可以清晰的看出红海两岸的阿拉伯板块和非洲板块在逐渐分开。
It parted once. It parted twice. And this time scientists are watching the whole thing. Satellite images show the Arabian tectonic plate and the African Plate are moving away from each other and parting the southern end of the Red Sea. This growing rift, which is tearing the northeast of Ethiopia and Eritrea from the rest of Africa, could eventually create a whole new sea.
去年9月，埃塞俄比亚北部某地的地面突然下沉10英尺，迅速向两侧裂开，红海裂开的大洞足以将数头骆驼和数只山羊吞没。据英格兰利兹大学地球物理学家蒂姆·赖特估计，在未来100万年左右，裂缝将继续扩大，届时非洲之角将从非洲大陆完全脱离，形成世界上的第八大洲——东非洲。
我们可以将我们有不同口音和方言的原因归咎于自我意识加强而形成的地域边界。但是那又怎么能解释不同地方的动物也会有方言呢？利用水下麦克风，科学家发现，西北太平洋的蓝鲸发出的声音和太平洋西部的蓝鲸就不一样。
We could blame our accents and different dialects on self-imposed borders -- but that doesn’t explain why animals from different regions speak in dialects. Using underwater microphones, scientists eavesdropped on whale talk and found that the blue whales off the Pacific Northwest sound different than those living in the western Pacific Ocean or near Chile. The reason? Still unknown.
今年公开的一项研究结果显示，鲸鱼的交流语言比人们原以为的更加完善丰富。鲸鱼的声音指令广泛，例如呼唤它们年幼的孩子、寻求可能的配偶，甚至表达情感，都有不同的表达方式。研究人员已经识别出了驼背鲸的622种社交声音。
A new wave: Scientists write on water
科学家可以在水上面写字
用波浪发生器，科学家可以在水面上写出字来。
Using wave generators, scientists were able to write on water. The Advanced Multiple Organized Experimental Basin (AMOEBA)-- a circular tank created by researchers -- can form the Roman alphabets and some Japanese characters. The device could soon find its way to your nearest amusement park.
日本三井造船昭岛研究所的研究员目前用 15 秒就可以在水面上产生出一个字符，甚至还可以做出直线来。
Spider cries out while mating
蜘蛛的哭声是对雄性蜘蛛交配时让雌蛛兴奋的一种反应。
When mating, female Physocylus globosus squeak to tell their men what they should be doing. The cries are in response to being excited by males rhythmically squeezing their genitalia inside the female. The more a male squeezes, the greater the chance that it will be his sperm that sires her offspring.
人类并非惟一在性交期间发出欢快声音的动物。据最新一项研究称，一种雌性蜘蛛在交配时也会发出高频率的尖叫声，“指示”雄性蜘蛛的下一步动作。研究人员将雌性蜘蛛的这种尖叫声称为“摩擦声”，因为它听上去就如同皮革制品摩擦时产生的吱嘎作响的声音。
Scientists produced healthy offspring from the cells of another species for the first time by taking rat stem cells involved in sperm production and implanting them in mice testicles. In the future, researchers hope to grow sperm of livestock or endangered species in mice or other lab animals.
美国科学家今年早些时候利用老鼠胚胎干细胞首次培育出具有繁殖能力的精子，并利用其培育出老鼠胚胎。此项成果有望为繁育牲畜和其他濒临灭绝的动物开拓一条新道路。负责此项研究的乔治·戴利说，从干细胞中培育出的精子只比普通精子少了一条尾巴，其他地方没有什么区别。
在一个悲惨和不寻常的事故，深受喜爱和欢迎的澳大利亚电视台的动物保护主义者，史蒂夫欧文，在拍摄大堡礁时被魟杀死。
In a tragic and unusual accident, the much loved and popular Australian television personality and conservationist, Steve Irwin, was killed by a stingray while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. Stingrays sport a tail with an 8-inch spear that stiffens when faced with a threat. Although the spear packs venom that alters heart rate and respiration, it rarely kills humans. The Crocodile Hunter was probably killed because the stingray's spear pierced his heart.
澳大利亚著名野生动物保护者、享誉全球的“鳄鱼捕手”史蒂夫·艾尔文9月4日在澳大利亚东北部海岸大堡礁附近拍摄一部纪录片时，被一条黄貂鱼的尾棘刺中胸部，中毒身亡，年仅44岁。警方在对此事调查后称，史蒂夫死于一次极为罕见的意外事故。
Writer H.G. Wells imagined it in his writing in the late 1800’s, and this year scientists inched closer to creating an invisible man. Duke University researchers created a cloaking device that can make objects invisible to microwave light. The device works by rerouting microwaves beam around it the way boulders in a stream divert flowing water.
英国科学家正在研究一种神奇的隐身装置，理论表明，一旦将物体放入此装置里面，它将不会被肉眼看到。伦敦帝国理工学院和美国杜克大学研究出了一种特殊的、包裹在物体外面的新材料，这种材料能使光线均匀、柔和地“涂”在物体表层。人的肉眼是感受不到如此微弱的光线的，就好像物体不存在一样。
中国医生给一个44岁做过阴茎移植的患者切除了移植的阴茎，该患者曾经在一次事故中失去了自己的阴茎。因为该男子和他妻子的心理问题，在移植新的阴茎两个星期后，又再次切除了该器官。
Chinese doctors removed the transplanted penis of a 44-year-old man who had lost his own in an accident. The organ was removed two weeks after the transplant because of psychological problems encountered by the man and his wife.
在广州成功完成世界首例异体阴茎移植的中国男子因其妻子拒绝其新“命根”导致他产生严重心理问题，被迫忍痛割掉新接上的阴茎。据了解，广州一家医院为该男子成功进行了移植手术后，因他妻子难以接受这一器官导致他产生严重心理问题而不得不把它割掉了。
硬币在你拿到手里气味会变化吗？实际上是因为拿到硬币后人手皮肤里的油和含铁的硬币发生的化学反应产生的气味。这种化学反应让大多数人都忍不住要赶紧洗手去除异味。
That metallic odor you smell after handling change? It's created by the breakdown of oils in skin after touching objects that contain iron. The chemical reaction has most of us running to wash our hands to get that musty scent out.
当我们在触摸过铁质工具、铁艺器皿、铁质栏杆或硬币后，仔细闻一下我们的手，都会发现手上有一种特殊的“金属”味。难道金属真能够发出气味吗？科学家戴特马尔·格林德曼说：“我们感觉自己闻到的是金属的气味其实只是一种错觉。”
亚马孙河已经几度改变自己的主意了。美洲南部的主要水道目前是从西到东流入大西洋的。但是科学家发现数百万年前，这条大河是从东到西流，有时甚至是往两边流的。
The Amazon River apparently changed its mind a few times in history. South America’s majestic waterway currently flows east into the Atlantic Ocean. But scientists found this year that millions of years ago, the great river flowed east to west and at one time went in both directions at once.
即使是最稳定的地貌也会在长期的地质年代中发生乾坤大逆转，世界第一大河亚马孙河就在时间的长河中悄无声息地改变了流向。一项最新研究显示，几百万年前，亚马孙河是向西流的，如今的亚马孙河却是向东涌入大西洋