美国国家公共电台 NPR Science Rewards Eureka Moments, Except When It Doesn't

Science Rewards Eureka Moments, Except When It Doesn't

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Now, some of us may think we know how science works, some genius sitting in a lab, working late into the night - and finally, eureka. Then come the big prizes and maybe the patents. Well, NPR's Rae Ellen Bichell reports that discoveries are rarely that straightforward².

RAE ELLEN BICHELL, BYLINE³: I'm going to tell you about the biggest thing since DNA⁴. It's actually a way to edit DNA as easily as fixing typos in an email.

(SOUNDBITE OF NEWS MONTAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: This is no longer science fiction, thanks to a new tool called CRISPR-Cas9.

GUY RAZ, BYLINE: CRISPR.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: CRISPR.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: CRISPR, C-R-I-S-P-R.

BICHELL: CRISPR-Cas9 is a long, awkward acronym⁵ that basically just means a molecule⁶ that cuts up DNA like a pair of scissors. Scientists figured out a way to use that scissor-tool in pretty much any organism - from mushrooms to human embryos⁷. And now, with patents and awards and probably a future Nobel Prize hovering⁸, the big question is, who exactly invented this revolutionary method?

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

NATHANIEL COMFORT: Yeah, that is literally⁹ a billion-dollar question.

BICHELL: That's Nathaniel Comfort, a historian of science and biomedicine at Johns Hopkins University. He says answering the question of who discovered CRISPR is a hairy mess.

COMFORT: We have this romantic notion of this eureka moment, right? And when it's happening, it's frequently not clear what the discovery is.

BICHELL: Was the discovery that nature already had a way to cut and paste DNA? Was it that people could control that process? Or was it when people made it into a ready-made tool? The answer is, it was all of these discoveries. Biology is complicated. So

there wasn't just some genius at Harvard who came up with all of it. It was lots of people in lots of labs working all over the world, which brings us to the city of Vilnius in Lithuania. It's home to medieval castles and potato dumplings called zeppelins, but it's also home to a biochemist whose name is really hard to pronounce.

VIRGINIJUS SIKSNYS: Virginijus Siksnys.

BICHELL: Shikshnees (ph)?

SIKSNYS: Uh, no.

BICHELL: No?

SIKSNYS: You missed one sh (ph).

BICHELL: Sheeksnees (ph)?

SIKSNYS: Siksnys.

BICHELL: Virginijus Siksnys has always worked in Lithuania, except for his Ph.D. in Moscow, back when his home country was part of the Soviet¹⁰ Union and borders were closed. He now leads a lab at the Institute of Biotechnology at Vilnius University.

SIKSNYS: So, this is one of the labs that will be probably empty.

BICHELL: Not many people know about Siksnys and his colleagues. But a few years ago, they did something really important. They figured out how bacteria cut genes¹² from other organisms and paste them into their own genetic¹³ code. And, more importantly, they found out how to control that process so that they could tell a bacterium¹⁴ which gene¹¹ to cut out. That was huge.

SIKSNYS: That was a kind of moment of discovery. So it was really exciting.

BICHELL: And, says Nathaniel Comfort, it was one of those important steps in getting gene editing to where it is now.

COMFORT: They figured out several important pieces of this puzzle. The catch is that they weren't the only ones to do that.

BICHELL: A prestigious¹⁵ group had come to similar conclusions at the same time. And both groups were rushing to publish their findings. The other group's paper got fast-tracked, and it came out first. That was a tough moment for Siksnys and his lab.

SIKSNYS: OK, so CRISPR field is really competitive.

BICHELL: Some of the authors on the other paper are now contenders for the U.S. patent and, some say, for a potential Nobel Prize. Siksnys knows he probably won't get a Nobel Prize. But he also knows how science really works, that big eureka moments are mostly a myth. Instead, discoveries happen when a pile of little eureka moments, like ones coming out of Vilnius, stack up in just the right way. And it's those moments, not the prizes, that keep him going. Rae Ellen Bichell, NPR News.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

3 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。

4 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。

5 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

6 molecule   

n.分子，克分子

参考例句：

• A molecule of water is made up of two atoms of hygrogen and one atom of oxygen.一个水分子是由P妈̬f婘̬ 妈̬成的。
• This gives us the structural formula of the molecule.这种方式给出了分子的结构式。

7 embryos   

n.晶胚；胚，胚胎( embryo的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Somatic cells of angiosperms enter a regenerative phase and behave like embryos. 被子植物体细胞进入一个生殖阶段，而且其行为象胚。 来自辞典例句
• Evolution can explain why human embryos look like gilled fishes. 进化论能够解释为什么人类的胚胎看起来象除去了内脏的鱼一样。 来自辞典例句

8 hovering   

鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• The helicopter was hovering about 100 metres above the pad. 直升机在离发射台一百米的上空盘旋。
• I'm hovering between the concert and the play tonight. 我犹豫不决今晚是听音乐会还是看戏。

9 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

10 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

11 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

12 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

13 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

14 bacterium   

n.(pl.)bacteria 细菌

参考例句：

• The bacterium possibly goes in the human body by the mouth.细菌可能通过口进入人体。
• A bacterium is identified as the cause for his duodenal ulcer.一种细菌被断定为造成他十二指肠溃疡的根源。

15 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。