科学美国人: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，美国科学促进协会大众传媒科学与工程研究员

And here’s a short piece from the November 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11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 Panama: Vampire bats monitored at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute have fewer interactions with family and friends when ill, biologists say.

巴拿马报道:生物学家表示，史密森热带研究所监测的吸血蝙蝠生病时与家人和朋友的互动较少。

But they do not seem to stay apart intentionally—instead sick bats are simply too lethargic to call out to or groom one another.

但它们似乎并不是故意分开的——相反，生病的蝙蝠只是太没精打采，不会叫唤或为彼此梳理毛发。

From Canada: The last fully intact ice shelf in Canada collapsed into the Arctic Ocean this summer.

加拿大报道:今年夏天，加拿大最后一块完全完好无缺的冰架坍塌，进入北冰洋。

Located in the territory of Nunavut, the Milne Ice Shelf lost 80 square kilometers of ice—40 percent of its area—in just two days.

位于努纳武特地区的米尔恩冰架在短短两天内失去了80平方公里的冰，占其面积的40%。

From Chile: Living 6,700 meters above sea level, a yellow-rumped leafeared mouse found at the summit of the dormant volcano Llullaillaco is the highest-dwelling mammal ever documented.

智利报道:在海拔6700米的休眠火山尤耶亚科山顶发现了一种黄腰叶鼠，它是有记录以来居住在海拔最高的哺乳动物。

It remains unclear how the animal survives the oxygen scarcity and freezing temperatures at this elevation.

目前还不清楚这种动物是如何在高海拔缺氧和寒冷的温度下生存下来的。

From Russia: An analysis of ancient woolly rhino DNA from Siberia revealed that the population size was stable for thousands of years before the mammal's extinction 14,000 years ago, suggesting that a warming climate—not hunting by humans—most likely triggered its demise.

俄罗斯报道:一项来自西伯利亚的古代长毛犀牛DNA分析显示，在这种哺乳动物于1.4万年前灭绝之前，其数量在数千年里保持稳定，这表明气候变暖——而不是人类的狩猎——最有可能导致了长毛犀牛的灭绝。

From Ethiopia: Paleoanthropologists unearthed a 1.4-million-year old hand ax made from a hippo's leg bone.

埃塞俄比亚报道:古人类学家发掘出了一把140万年前用河马腿骨制成的手斧。

Together with recently discovered stone tools, the ax indicates that Homo erectus had a diverse tool kit several hundred thousand years earlier than scientists had suspected.

连同最近发现的石器，斧头表明直立人拥有多样化的工具箱，比科学家们猜想的要早数十万年。

And from Antarctica: Contrary to researchers' expectations, methane-eating microbes failed to rapidly contain the first methane leak detected on the Antarctic seafloor.

南极洲报道:与研究人员的预期相反，吞噬甲烷的微生物未能迅速遏制南极海底发现的第一次甲烷泄漏。

The finding means more of the potent greenhouse gas may have been pouring into the atmosphere than previously thought.

这一发现意味着，排放到大气中的强效温室气体可能比之前认为的要多。

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。