SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Digest

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS -March 19, 2002: Digest

VOICE ONE:
This is Sarah Long.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Bob Doughty¹ with Science in the News, a VOA Special English program about recent developments

in science. Today, we tell about new treatments for cancer
.
a way to prevent a baby from having a terrible
disease
.
new research about an ancient dinosaur²
.
and how to become a space tourist.
((THEME)
)

VOICE ONE:
The United States Food and Drug Administration has approved a new kind of drug that uses radiation to kill
cancer cells. Current chemotherapy drugs are effective at killing³ cancer cells. But they also kill healthy, normal

cells. This leads to pain, organ damage and other physical problems for cancer patients.

 

The new kind of drug affects only cancer cells. Doctors say the drugs could someday end the
unwanted side effects of cancer treatment. Patients would feel better and be able to take even
more anti-cancer drugs that would improve their chances for survival.

VOICE TWO:

One new kind of drug works by placing a radioactive substance onto a genetically⁶ engineered protein, or
antibody. The antibody moves through the patient’s blood, attaches to cancer cells and kills them. This
treatment is called radioimmunotherapy. Researchers say such drugs can be developed to fight many kinds of
cancer.

The newest such drug to be approved is called Zevalin. It is for people who have a cancer of the white blood cells
called non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and have not been helped by other drug treatments. Zevalin carries radioactive
particles to the cancer cells and kills them. Doctors say the patient ’s body then develops healthy, new white
blood cells. The treatment particles lose their radioactivity after several days or weeks.

VOICE ONE:

Tests have showed that Zevalin reduced cancer tumors in about seventy-five percent of patients. The cancer
completely disappeared in as many as thirty percent of the people treated with Zevalin in the tests.

Zevalin does cause other effects on the body, however. These include stomach problems and reduction of while
blood cells. This makes the patient more likely to suffer infections. However, some researchers say these effects
are less harmful than those caused by drugs now used to treat cancer.

VOICE TWO:

A similar kind of treatment uses powerful magnets to pull drug particles into cancerous growths. Researchers
from drug companies are testing this treatment on patients with liver cancer in China. They are also planning a
larger international test.

Another kind of cancer treatment uses laser light to cause chemical reactions in drugs that kill cancer cells. This
light treatment does not affect nearby healthy tissue.

((MUSIC BRIDGE))


VOICE ONE:

Doctors in Chicago, Illinois, have helped a woman have a baby who is free of the risk of developing early
Alzheimer’s disease.

The medical name for this kind of genetic⁵ engineering is pre-implantation genetic diagnosis⁷. It has been done to
prevent diseases that are passed from parents to their children. These diseases include hemophilia, sickle⁸ cell
anemia⁹, muscular dystrophy, Tay-Sachs disease, cystic fibrosis and Huntington’s disease.

In this process, doctors test a woman ’s eggs or embryos¹⁰ for genes¹¹ that carry the disease. Only those embryos
without the genes are placed in the woman’s uterus to develop into a baby.

VOICE TWO:

The woman in the latest example of pre-implantation diagnosis is an expert in genetics. She is thirty years old.
Her family carries a gene⁴ that causes an extremely rare form of Alzheimer’s disease. It causes severe memory
loss and mental disability at an early age. The woman ’s father, sister and brother all developed this early
Alzheimer’s disease when they were in their thirties. Her father died at the age of forty-two.

The woman also carries the gene. She did not want to pass it on to her children. She also did not want to become
pregnant and then have the fetus¹² tested for the early Alzheimer’s gene.

VOICE ONE:

The woman and her husband sought help from Yury Verlinsky and his team at the Reproductive Genetics
Institute in Chicago. The doctors treated her with hormones¹³. She produced twenty-three eggs. Tests showed
which were free of the early Alzheimer’s gene. These were fertilized¹⁴ with her husband’s sperm¹⁵ and placed in

her uterus.

She gave birth to a healthy baby girl about eighteen months ago. The baby does not have the gene for the disease.
The doctors reported the work in the Journal of the American Medical Association. They say it is the first use of
genetic engineering to prevent early Alzheimer’s disease in a family.

VOICE TWO:

Some doctors have praised the work as a way to end the continuing tragedy of a disease passed from parents to
children. Other experts have criticized it as a step toward designing babies. Critics also noted¹⁶ that the woman
would soon be unable to care for her child and would die before the child has grown up. However, Doctor
Verlinsky said many children have only one parent.

Experts say this process would not be used for most people who have a family member with Alzheimer’
s
disease. The more common kinds of Alzheimer’s disease happen much later in life. And they are not caused by
only one gene.

((MUSIC BRIDGE))

VOICE ONE:

Ancient animals called dinosaurs¹⁷ have captured the imagination of millions of people around the world. The huge
dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex has even been in popular American movies like “Jurassic Park.
”
In some movies,
Tyrannosaurus rex is shown running at top speed after cars and helicopters. The Tyrannosaurus in the movies is a
terrible combination of speed and power.

Yet two biological scientists say this is probably wrong. They are John Hutchinson of Stanford
University in California and Mariano Garcia of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Their
research suggests that Tyrannosaurus rex could only walk slowly.

VOICE TWO:


Mister Hutchinson and Mister Garcia used a biological computer model to study the bones of
the ancient creature. They found that the legs of Tyrannosaurus were not strong enough for the animal to be able
to run fast.

The meat-eating dinosaur weighed almost six-thousand kilograms. Mister Hutchinson says the animal ’s legs
would have had to be huge to enable the creature to run fast. He says its leg muscles would have had to be eighty-
five percent of its total weight.

The findings of the two biological scientists conflict with current scientific information about Tyrannosaurus.
Until now, many scientists believed that the huge dinosaur could run up to seventy kilometers an hour.

(MUSIC BRIDGE))

VOICE ONE:

* UDSKLF,PDJH


Would you like to orbit the Earth inside the International Space Station? Now you can take a
space holiday—for a price. This is due to a recent decision by top space officials of the United
States, Russia, Canada, Japan and the European Space Agency.

Last April, American businessman Dennis Tito reportedly paid between twelve -million and
twenty-million dollars to spend one week on the International Space Station. The American
Space Agency had strongly objected to the Russian plan to permit a civilian¹⁸ on the costly¹⁹

research vehicle.

After two years of negotiations²⁰, however, space officials have agreed on a process to train private citizens to take
trips to the International Space Station.

VOICE TWO:

NASA recently agreed to conditions that will permit Russia to sell trips to the space station. An American
company called Space Adventures Limited of Arlington, Virginia, is planning the trips. The company has sold a
space trip to Mark Shuttleworth, a South African businessman. Next month, Mister Shuttleworth will be launched
into space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Experts say the change in policy at NASA shows a new desire to use space vehicles for business and industrial
purposes. Yet, the average citizen will not be able to travel into space in the near future. Space Adventures
Limited sells a training program for space flight that costs two -hundred-thousand dollars. That price does not
include the cost of the trip to the International Space Station. That holiday in space costs twenty-million dollars.

((THEME))

VOICE ONE:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by Nancy Steinbach and Mario Ritter. It was produced by
Cynthia Kirk. This is Sarah Long.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Bob Doughty. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice
of America.

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1 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

2 dinosaur   

n.恐龙

参考例句：

• Are you trying to tell me that David was attacked by a dinosaur?你是想要告诉我大卫被一支恐龙所攻击？
• He stared at the faithful miniature of the dinosaur.他凝视著精确的恐龙缩小模型。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 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。

5 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。

6 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

7 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

8 sickle   

n.镰刀

参考例句：

• The gardener was swishing off the tops of weeds with a sickle.园丁正在用镰刀嗖嗖地割掉杂草的顶端。
• There is a picture of the sickle on the flag. 旗帜上有镰刀的图案。

9 anemia   

n.贫血，贫血症

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。
• I was put on iron tablets for my anemia.我曾因贫血吃补铁药片。

10 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

11 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

12 fetus   

n.胎，胎儿

参考例句：

• In the fetus,blood cells are formed in different sites at different ages.胎儿的血细胞在不同时期生成在不同的部位。
• No one knows why a fetus is not automatically rejected by the mother's immune system. 没有人知道为什么母亲的免疫系统不会自动排斥胎儿。

13 hormones   

n. 荷尔蒙，激素 名词hormone的复数形式

参考例句：

• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body. 这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
• The adrenals produce a large per cent of a man's sex hormones. 肾上腺分泌人体的大部分性激素。

14 Fertilized   

v.施肥( fertilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The study of psychology has recently been widely cross-fertilized by new discoveries in genetics. 心理学研究最近从遗传学的新发现中受益匪浅。
• Flowers are often fertilized by bees as they gather nectar. 花常在蜜蜂采蜜时受粉。

15 sperm   

n.精子，精液

参考例句：

• Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
• In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中，一个精子使一个卵子受精。

16 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

17 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

19 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

20 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。