科技动态:美国宇航局于盐湖发现新物种

It may be a gamechanger in the search for an alien life. NASA scientist unveiled the discovery Thursday that it says redefines life as we know it, the existence of a type of bacteria that thrives on toxic¹ chemical arsenic². NASA scientist F. Wolf Seman.

这一发现也许改写了寻找外星人的历史。美国宇航局的科学家周四公布了他们的一项新发现，这很可能会重新定义我们所知道的生命一词。科学家们发现了一种能在有毒的三氧化二砷，也就是砒霜上顽强生存的细菌。美国宇航局专家F. Wolf Seman接受了采访。

And if there's an organism on earth doing something different. We've cracked open the door to what's possible for life elsewhere in the universe. And that's profound, and to understand how life is formed, and where life is going. This microbe substitutes arsenic for phosphorus in its basic biomolecules, and what else might we find? What else might we want to look for?

显然，世界上是存在着以另一种方式生存的生物。而我们正在逐步了解宇宙其他生物的生存方式。这项研究的意义是深远的，了解生命的意义，其他生命形式的意义也是深远的。这种微生物能够替代三氧化二砷成为生物分子中的磷，将来我们还会有什么新发现？我们还需要发现什么？

The finding in the salty lake near Yosemite National Park in California shows just how little scientists know about the variety of life forms on earth, and may greatly expand where they should be looking for life on other planets.

这项在加利福尼亚州约塞米特蒂国家公园盐湖附近的新发现显示，我们的科学家只发现了地球上多样物种的一小部分，也许他们还将探索其他星球上的物种。

John Decker, Reauters.

John Decker报道，路透社消息。

1 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

2 arsenic   

n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的

参考例句：

• His wife poisoned him with arsenic.他的妻子用砒霜把他毒死了。
• Arsenic is a poison.砒霜是毒药。