美国国家公共电台 NPR--How yeast will teach NASA about the dangers of space

How yeast¹ will teach NASA about the dangers of space

Transcript²

A NASA spacecraft passing by the moon on Monday is carrying 12,000 varieties of yeast. Researchers hope the tiny "yeastronauts" can teach them about how radiation will affect humans in space.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

This morning, a NASA spacecraft is passing by the moon on its way back to Earth. There are no astronauts on the capsule, but there is life on board. NPR's Geoff Brumfiel reports on microscopic³ space travelers.

GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE⁴: Space is dangerous, and one of the most dangerous things about it is radiation.

LUIS ZEA: We need to understand what this radiation can do to us and what are the mitigation approaches that we need to take.

BRUMFIEL: Luis Zea is principal investigator⁵ of an experiment now passing by the moon aboard NASA's Orion capsule. It's designed to test how life holds up under assault from all kinds of radiation, from solar wind to cosmic rays. But his spacefarers are maybe not what you'd expect.

ZEA: We're flying about 12,000 mutants of yeast.

BRUMFIEL: That's right - yeast, like what we use to make bread and beer back here on Earth. Zea and his team stashed⁶ them under a seat. When I visited him at the University of Colorado, Boulder⁷ in November, he and his colleague Tobias Niederwieser showed me a copy of the experiment. They took me into a lab, and there it was, about the size of a lunchbox.

TOBIAS NIEDERWIESER: Here are four bags that are filled with yeast capsule. So it's these little pellets that you can see right here. They're lyophilized, so they're freeze-dried.

BRUMFIEL: After Orion started its journey to the moon last month, the bags filled with nutrients⁸, and the yeast began growing. The experiment is running automatically.

NIEDERWIESER: It is doing everything itself.

BRUMFIEL: Now, it might surprise you that NASA would let yeast of all things aboard its multibillion-dollar spaceship, the one it hopes will someday land the first woman and first person of color on the moon. But Zea says yeast can teach us a lot about how human astronauts can withstand radiation.

ZEA: We don't look alike at all, but we have a lot of overlap⁹ between their genome and ours. And you can fly trillions of them in a tiny little bag, which you cannot do with humans, right?

BRUMFIEL: Zea's team genetically¹⁰ modified each group of yeast to have a single tweak to its genome. He expects some mutants will survive better than others. And when the experiment gets back to Earth...

ZEA: We're going to be able to pull out the DNA¹¹ and then do the counts of how many of each of the mutants survived.

BRUMFIEL: Ultimately, Zea says, these yeasty beasties may lead to drugs that can enhance the human body's own ability to protect against radiation, and that could help astronauts traveling into the final frontier.

Geoff Brumfiel, NPR News.

1 yeast   

n.酵母；酵母片；泡沫；v.发酵；起泡沫

参考例句：

• Yeast can be used in making beer and bread.酵母可用于酿啤酒和发面包。
• The yeast began to work.酵母开始发酵。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 microscopic   

adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的

参考例句：

• It's impossible to read his microscopic handwriting.不可能看清他那极小的书写字迹。
• A plant's lungs are the microscopic pores in its leaves.植物的肺就是其叶片上微细的气孔。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

6 stashed   

v.贮藏( stash的过去式和过去分词 )；隐藏；藏匿；藏起

参考例句：

• She has a fortune stashed away in various bank accounts. 她有一大笔钱存在几个不同的银行账户下。
• She has a fortune stashed away in various bank accounts. 她在不同的银行账户上秘密储存了一大笔钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 boulder   

n.巨砾；卵石，圆石

参考例句：

• We all heaved together and removed the boulder.大家一齐用劲，把大石头搬开了。
• He stepped clear of the boulder.他从大石头后面走了出来。

8 nutrients   

n.（食品或化学品）营养物，营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
• Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 overlap   

v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠

参考例句：

• The overlap between the jacket and the trousers is not good.夹克和裤子重叠的部分不好看。
• Tiles overlap each other.屋瓦相互叠盖。

10 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

11 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。