时差N小时 黄蜂和玫瑰的对话（在线收听）

The conversation of wasps and roses on today's moment of science.

时差N小时：黄蜂和玫瑰的对话

Have you ever started talking to someone, only to discover you have nothing in common and, therefore, nothing to say?

你曾有过这样的经历吗？想打破坚冰跟别人交流，却发现毫无共同语言。

You might imagine that a yellow jacket, flying about its waspy business, and a rose bush, intent on growing green leaves in the sun, would be in a similar fix:

想象一下，一只忙着采蜜的黄蜂，一堆在阳光下茁壮成长的玫瑰花丛，它们之间也会出现这样的尴尬场面吗？

nothing in common, nothing to say. Actually, rose bushes and other plants have a time honored method of communicating with yellow jackets and other wasps.

两种截然不同的生物，怎么会有共同语言呢。但实际上植物，包括玫瑰花丛，与黄蜂有着经得起时间考验的交流方式。

A yellow jacket's waspy business is probably finding food. One of the things it likes to eat is nice, juicy caterpillars.

黄蜂的工作可能就是找食物。肥美的毛虫是它们喜爱的食物之一。

The caterpillar, of course, likes to eat nice, green leaves.

当然毛虫喜欢吃嫩绿的树叶。

So you see, the plant and the yellow jacket have something in common after all: The plant is eaten by the very thing the wasp likes to eat.

所以，玫瑰与黄蜂有着共同的对手毛虫；黄蜂吃毛虫，而植物被毛虫吃。

Yellow jackets have good eyes for spotting caterpillars and other prey, but a plant that is being eaten doesn't want to just wait around for the wasp to notice.

尽管黄蜂视力非常灵敏，一眼就能侦查出毛虫和其他猎物，但是玫瑰还是不想坐以待毙，她要想办法引起黄蜂的注意。

Fortunately for your roses, evolution has provided the plant with its very own distress signal, based on smell.

幸运的是，进化赋予了玫瑰独一无二的求救方式，气味信号。

When a caterpillar chops into a leaf, the plant releases an acid that smells the same as fresh cut grass.

当毛虫蚕食叶片时，玫瑰会释放出一种酸性物质，闻起来像青草的香气。

The caterpillar's bites also spill a kind of alcohol from the damaged leaf cells.

毛虫咬过之后，损坏的叶片细胞也会溢出一种物质，酒精。

This alcohol mixes with the cut grass aroma and carries it upward in a rising plume where it can be smelled by our circling yellow jacket.

酒精味与青草味混合，并一缕一缕地向上挥发，以便让在上空盘旋的黄蜂闻到。

Millions of years of evolution have taught the yellow jacket that following this smell often leads to a delicious meal.

经过上百万年的进化，黄蜂学会了一个道理，跟着香味走就会能饱餐一顿。

So what do wasps and roses talk about? They talk about what's for lunch.

现在你知道黄蜂和玫瑰在谈论什么吗？他们在谈论午餐吃什么。