《快速点击》世界科学新闻简报

I’m Scott Hershberger, with Scientific American as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Mass Media Science and Engineering Fellow.

我是《科学美国人》的斯科特·赫什伯格，是美国科学促进会大众传媒科学与工程研究员。

And here’s a short piece from the October 2020 issue of the magazine, in the section called Advances: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Science, Technology and Medicine.

下面是该杂志2020年10月期的一篇短文，题为《进展:来自科学、技术和医学前沿的报道》。

The article is titled “Quick Hits,” and it’s a rundown of some stories from around the globe.

这篇文章的标题是《快速点击》，它是来自世界各地的科学新闻简报。

From Mexico: In now flooded caves, researchers discovered the oldest known ochre mines in the Americas.

墨西哥报道:在当前被洪水淹没的洞穴中，研究人员发现了美洲最古老的赭石矿。

Around 12,000 years ago inhabitants of the Yucatán Peninsula extracted the red pigment, possibly for use as an antiseptic and sunscreen or for symbolic purposes such as body painting.

大约1.2万年前，尤卡坦半岛的居民提取了这种红色色素，可能是用作防腐剂和防晒霜，也可能是用于人体彩绘等象征性目的。

From Italy: A massive bloom of pink algae, triggered by low snowfall and high spring and summer temperatures, could accelerate the melting of the Presena glacier by causing the ice to absorb more sunlight.

意大利报道:由低降雪量与春夏季高温引发的粉红色海藻大规模泛滥，可能会导致冰吸收更多的阳光，从而加速普雷塞纳冰川的融化。

From Botswana: At least 350 elephants have dropped dead in the Okavango Panhandle since March, and live elephants have acted disoriented or seemed partially paralyzed.

博茨瓦纳报道:自3月份以来，至少有350头大象在奥卡万戈沙漠中死亡，而活着的大象表现出分不清方向或部分瘫痪的样子。

With poaching and anthrax ruled out as potential causes, investigators suspect an unknown disease.

由于排除了偷猎和炭疽热的潜在原因，调查人员怀疑是一种未知疾病引起的。

From Libya: A seven-million-year-old crocodile skull suggests the prehistoric animals may have traveled from Africa to the Americas.

利比亚报道:一具700万年前的鳄鱼头骨表明，这种史前动物可能是从非洲迁徙到美洲的。

Computerized tomography of the fossil, found in Libya, revealed a slight bump in the middle of the snout—a feature of modern American crocodiles but not their African counterparts.

这具化石是在利比亚发现的，电脑断层扫描显示，它的鼻部中间有一个轻微的凸起——这是现代美洲鳄鱼的特征，而非洲鳄鱼却没有。

From Polynesia: Through a genetic analysis of modern-day Polynesians and Indigenous people from South America’s Pacific coast, scientists concluded the two groups came into contact between A.D. 1150 and 1230.

波利尼西亚报道:通过对现代波利尼西亚人和南美洲太平洋海岸的土著居民的基因分析，科学家得出结论，这两个群体在公元1150年到1230年之间有过接触。

Where the transoceanic encounter occurred remains unknown, but the team suspects eastern Polynesia.

跨洋相遇的地点仍然未知，但研究小组怀疑相遇地点是东波利尼西亚。

And from the United Arab Emirates: The successful launch of a Mars orbiter called Hope marked the first interplanetary mission conducted by an Arab nation.

阿拉伯联合酋长国报道:火星轨道飞行器“希望”号的成功发射标志着阿拉伯国家首次执行星际任务。

Carrying instruments to study the Red Planet’s daily and seasonal weather, the spacecraft is set to enter Martian orbit in February 2021.

该航天器携带有研究这颗红色星球日常和季节性天气的仪器，将于2021年2月进入火星轨道。

That was “Quick Hits.” I’m Scott Hershberger.

这是《快速点击》的全部内容。我是斯科特·赫什伯格。