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If I asked you to picture birth control, what pops into your brain?
如果我让你想一个避孕方式 你先想到的会是啥？
The pill, the patch, IUDs, or maybe hormonal implants?
口服避孕药 避孕贴 宫内避孕器 还是激素植入物？
But the thing is, all these options are for biosex females.
然鹅 以上这些东西都是给女人用的 摊手
For biosex males, there's really only condoms and vasectomies,
而对于男性 你就只能用杜蕾斯这类套套啦 要么就进行输精管结扎
where a surgeon shuts the vas deferens tubes that let sperm travel up and out from the testicles.
它会把你的输精管切掉 而输精管才能让精液游离出蛋蛋
Even though there's been a bit of research on safe, reversible male birth control, no product has ever made it out of the lab.
虽然已经安全的进行过几次实验研究 希望能够达到可逆男性避孕 然鹅 卵用都没有
And this week in the journal Basic and Clinical Andrology,
这周的基础临床男性疾病研究期刊报道 一组研究员声称
a group of scientists announced some progress on a relatively new male contraceptive called Vasalgel.
他们在男性避孕药上有一定进展 这个新药叫做《输精管胶》
Vasalgel is a sticky polymer gel that's injected into the vas deferens tubes,
这个输精管胶是一种粘性聚合凝胶 能够进入输精管
physically blocking sperm so it can't swim up and mix with the semen.
从而物理阻塞精液的射出
Since semen is still being made, all the sex and fluid stuff works the same.
因为精子依然能够产生 所以仍然能够有性的感觉
But no sperm means no fertilization, and no pregnancy.
但是 不射精也就不会受精 当然你也不会有意外之宝
It's also designed to be a reversible contraceptive, so scientists can theoretically break down the gel
这也是一种可逆避孕药 研究者认为理论上
and flush it out with a second injection of a sodium bicarbonate solution.
注射碳酸钠溶液后 这个输精管胶就能够溶解
Plain old baking soda!
就是普通小苏打！
Before trying this contraceptive on humans, scientists have been testing its safety and effectiveness in animals,
在将该新型避孕药适用于人体之前 研究者在动物体上
like rats and rabbits, who are known for having lots of sex.
对其安全性及有效性进行实验（比如交配比较频繁的小白鼠小白兔）
And this new study involved injecting Vasalgel into 16 adult male rhesus monkeys at the California National Primate Research Center.
该项研究还包括在加利福尼亚的国家灵长类动物研究中心的 雄性恒河猴身上注射输精管胶
They were generally healthy after the treatment and went back to their monkey lives,
这些猴子在注射后都具有良好的身体状况 并返回到它们的猴群继续生活
interacting and mating with fertile females when they were housed together.
随后与住在一起且有良好生育能力的雌性猴进行交配
And even though some were continuously living with females for 2 entire years, not one fathered a baby!
结果显示 即使有的雄猴与雌猴同居长达两年之久 都没有一只猴子 孕育出后代！
Even with that 100% success rate, Vasalgel is a long way from being safe and ready to go in humans.
虽然看起来输精管胶的避孕成功率高达100% 但距离将其安全稳定的用于人体还有很长一段路 要走
Sixteen monkeys isn't that big of a big study, and there were still some side-effects.
在该项大研究里 十六只猴子的研究并不算大型研究 并且它们显示出一定副作用
During one monkey's surgery, the gel wasn't injected properly on one side,
在一只猴子的手术中 在其中一边 凝胶没有正确注射
so the researchers ended up giving him a partial vasectomy.
所以最后研究者对其进行了输精管的部分切除手术
Another developed a sperm granuloma, which is basically a lump of sperm outside the vas deferens that could become painful.
还有一只猴子是有了一个精子肿瘤 并且会疼痛 该肿瘤主要是由于 精子在输精管外聚集而形成
But the researchers looked at other rhesus monkey health data they had collected, too,
但是在记录在案的其他健康的恒河猴研究中
and found that sperm granulomas seemed to be more common in monkeys with vasectomies than in the group with Vasalgel.
发现在进行过输精管切除术的猴子中 精子肿瘤是一个较普遍现象 而输精管胶组的猴子相对较少
Finally, this particular study didn't try flushing out the Vasalgel, so we still don't know how reversible it is in primates.
不过最后 研究并没有进行输精管胶溶解这一步的实验 所以我们依然不知道该类药物如何在灵长类动物中进行可逆
So there's still a ton more work to do before Vasalgel becomes a widespread birth control option, but it's off to a promising start.
所以在该凝胶能够作为一种避孕药而广泛适用于人类之前 仍有许多工作要做 但现在至少能够看到曙光
Even though animal sex is interesting, all species reproduce in one way or another.
虽然动物交配是一种研究方向 但还有一种或其他的方式所有种类繁殖都会用到
You know what's really weird? Regeneration.
你知道它有多神奇么？ 再生
And hydra – the squishy tube-shaped freshwater animal,
水螅——一种黏糊糊的管状淡水动物
not the mythological sea serpent or Marvel villain – are really, really good at it.
不是传说中的九头蛇或是Marvel villain——是一种超级能够再生的动物
Even if you chop them into tiny, shapeless chunks of tissue, they can regrow in just two days –
即使你把它们剁成几段组织块 它们依然在两天内就能长回来
complete with tentacles, a mouth, and a sticky little foot.
就是再长出触须 嘴 和黏糊糊的脚
This superpower raises a bunch of questions, though, like: how can a tissue chunk know how much to regrow and where,
这个能力引发了一系列问题 比如：这些组织块是怎么知道 该在哪里长 长多少
without becoming a weird frankenblob with extra tentacles and triple-heads?
而不会长成一种有好多触须或是三颗头的 奇怪生物？
Well, researchers from the Israel Institute of Technology published a study in Cell Press this week,
以色列科技大学的研究者这周在细胞出版社发表了一篇论文
which looked at how important the tissue's physical structure is for regeneration.
主要介绍了组织的物理结构在再生中的重要性
Hydra have thin, parallel actomyosin fibers running throughout their body, like our muscle tissue.
水螅的全身都有薄的平行肌动球蛋白纤维 与我们的肌肉组织类似
They can contract these fibers to wiggle around,
它们可以通过控制这些纤维来蠕动
but it turns out that the alignment of these fibers is really important to help chopped-up tissue reform the right way.
不过这些纤维还能够 让断节的肢体很好的再生
See, hydra bodies are really simple: one head and one foot lined up along a single body axis.
而且你瞧 水螅的身体构造特别简单：只在身体的一边有一个头和一只脚
And regeneration starts pretty simply too -- when a tissue chunk twists and folds into a hollow ball called a spheroid.
并且再生条件也很低——当组织块扭成一个中空的球 一个叫球状体的球
The alignment of actomyosin fibers in the spheroid lays out a structure that gets inherited throughout the new hydra's body.
在这个球状体中的肌动球蛋白纤维的队列展示了它继承的结构 并遍布它整个新身体
So the researchers wanted to test how different tissue chunk shapes formed spheroids, and how that affects regeneration.
所以研究者打算研究这些不同的组织块是如何形成球状体的 并且如何影响再生
Because it can get real bad, real quickly.
因为它可能会很畸形 很快
Square tissue chunks folded really well, because the actomyosin fibers were stable and aligned,
因为肌动球蛋白纤维的稳定性与整齐性 方形组织块能够很好的交叠
and the outer edges were flexible and could follow those fibers' lead.
并且其它边很灵活 能够接触纤维头
On the other hand, slices of hydra shaped like closed rings didn't fold so well,
另一方面 会形成闭合环的水螅组织块不会良好交叠
and formed spheroids with different regions of actomyosin aligned in different ways.
并且会通过不同的对齐方式在肌动球蛋白的不同区域形成球状体
So these regenerated hydra were more deformed, and usually had multiple body axes – like two mouths and two feet.
所以这些再生水螅都很畸形 并且一般会有很多条身体轴心——比如有两张嘴和两只脚
Open rings did even worse – that extra cut made figuring out actomyosin alignment even trickier.
开环状的更惨——多出的部分让肌动球蛋白对齐变得更困难
But here's the thing: when the researchers threaded thin platinum wires into these ring-shaped fragments,
但是有个现象：当研究者用铂线穿过这些环状体时
they were more likely to regenerate correctly, and do it faster – maybe because the actomyosin fibers had more of a guide.
这些片段会以比较正确的姿势更快的再生——可能是因为肌动球蛋白纤维得到了更好的指引
This new research supports the idea that it's not just chemical signals that matter in growth and development,
该项研究支持这一观点：不只是化学信号影响生长和发展
because physical forces influence cells in lots of ways too.
物理因素也会对细胞有较多方面的影响
And even though hydra regeneration is a little more extreme,
虽然水螅的再生是个比较极端的例子
it's similar to how we humans heal wounds and develop as embryos.
但和我们人类的伤口自愈能力与胚胎发育能力相类似
So there's a lot we can learn about ourselves from these squishy little tubes.
所以从这些黏糊糊的管状物上能学到许多与我们相关的东西
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow, brought to you by our patrons on Patreon.
感谢收看这期科学秀 感谢赞助商Patreon
Thank you especially to our President of Space SR Foxley. Thank you, SR!
尤其感谢Space董事长SR Foxley 感谢您！
Additionally, we have just launched a podcast that we would like you to be interested in if you are an adult person.
另外 我们开了播客 如果你是个成年人 希望你会感兴趣
Because it is just sort of the scishow staff sitting around talking the way we normally talk, which can include some curse words.
因为该播客主要是科学秀的员工日常讨论模式 没准儿可能还有些粗话
I'll put a link in the description because we can't say the name of the podcast on SciShow.
因为科学秀里不能说播客名字 所以我会在简介里放上链接
