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万物简史(MP3+中英字幕) 第433期:小生物的世界(4)

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With this ability to evolve rapidly goes another, even scarier advantage. Bacteria share information. Any bacterium can take pieces of genetic coding from any other. Essentially, as Margulis and Sagan put it, all bacteria swim in a single gene pool. Any adaptive change that occurs in one area of the bacterial universe can spread to any other. It's rather as if a human could go to an insect to get the necessary genetic coding to sprout wings or walk on ceilings. It means that from a genetic point of view bacteria have become a single superorganism—tiny, dispersed, but invincible.

有了这种能力,另一种更加吓人的优势会很快产生。细菌能共享信息,任何细菌都能从任何别的细菌那里接到几条遗传密码。正如马古利斯和萨根所说,实际上,所有的细菌都在同一基因池里游泳。在细菌的宇宙里,一个区域发生的适应性变化,很快会扩展到任何别的区域。这就好像人可以从昆虫那里获得长出翅膀或在天花板上行走所必需的遗传密码一样。从遗传角度来看,这意味着细菌已经成为一种超级生物——又小,又分散,但又不可战胜。
bacteria

They will live and thrive on almost anything you spill, dribble, or shake loose. Just give them a little moisture—as when you run a damp cloth over a counter—and they will bloom as if created from nothing. They will eat wood, the glue in wallpaper, the metals in hardened paint. Scientists in Australia found microbes known as Thiobacillus concretivorans that lived in—indeed, could not live without—concentrations of sulfuric acid strong enough to dissolve metal. A species called Micrococcus radiophilus was found living happily in the waste tanks of nuclear reactors, gorging itself on plutonium and whatever else was there. Some bacteria break down chemical materials from which, as far as we can tell, they gain no benefit at all.

无论你吐出,滴下或泼出任何东西,细菌几乎都能在上面生活和繁殖。你只要给它们一点儿水汽——比如用湿抹布擦一擦柜子——它们就能滋生,仿佛从无到有。它们会浸蚀木头、墙纸里的胶水、干漆里的金属。澳大利亚科学家发现,有一种名叫蚀固硫杆菌的细菌生活在浓度高得足以溶解金属的硫酸里——实际上,它们离开了浓硫酸就活不成。据发现,有一种名叫嗜放射微球菌的细菌在核反应堆的废罐里过得怪舒服的,吃着钚和别的残留物过日子。有的细菌分解化学物质,而据我们所知,它们从中捞不到一点儿好处。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
bacteria [bæk'tiəriə]

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n. (复数)细菌

 
gene [dʒi:n]

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n. 基因

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universe ['ju:nivə:s]

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n. 宇宙,万物,世界

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counter ['kauntə]

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n. 计算器,计算者,柜台
[计算机] 计数器

 
evolve [i'vɔlv]

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v. 进展,进化,展开

联想记忆
adaptive [ə'dæptiv]

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adj. 适合的,适应的,能适应的

 
genetic [dʒi'netik]

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adj. 基因的,遗传的,起源的

联想记忆
species ['spi:ʃiz]

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n. (单复同)物种,种类

 
spread [spred]

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v. 伸展,展开,传播,散布,铺开,涂撒
n.

 
thrive [θraiv]

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vi. 兴旺,繁荣,茁壮成长

 

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