TED演讲:为什么昆虫的大脑如此神奇(2)

 　　But even though the insect brain is organized very differently from ours, there are some striking similarities. 虽然昆虫与人类大脑的组成大相径庭，但是仍有很多惊人的相似之处。

　　For example, most insects have smell detectors¹ on their antennae², similar to those found in human noses. 比如说，大部分昆虫的触须都有气味感受器，与人类的鼻子功能相似。

　　And our primary olfactory³ brain regions look and function rather similarly,  并且嗅觉对应的脑区形态和功能也十分相似，

　　with clusters of neurons activated⁴ and deactivated⁵ in precise timing⁶ to code for specific scents⁷. 通过精确地在特定时间激活和钝化神经元群来为气味命名。

　　Scientists have been astonished by these similarities because insects and humans are not very closely related. 由于昆虫和人类并非近亲，二者的相似之处让科学家十分惊奇。

　　In fact, our last common ancestor was a simple worm-like creature that lived more than 500 million years ago. 事实上，二者最近的共同祖先已是距今约为五亿年前的一种类似蠕虫的生物。

　　So how did we end up with such similar brain structures when our evolution took almost entirely⁸ different paths? 二者的进化历程自此便分道扬镳，那为什么我们还有如此相似的大脑结构呢？

　　Scientists call this phenomenon convergent⁹ evolution. 科学家称这种现象“趋同进化”。

　　It's the same principle behind birds, bats, and bees separately evolving wings. 同理，鸟类、蝙蝠和蜜蜂各自进化出了翅膀。

　　Similar selective pressures can cause natural selection to favor the same evolutionary¹⁰ strategy in species with vastly different evolutionary pasts. 相似的生存压力能引起自然选择，使进化历程迥然不同的物种采用同样的进化策略。

　　By studying the comparison between insect and human brains, 通过比较昆虫和人类的大脑，

　　scientists can thus understand which of our brain functions are unique, and which are general solutions to evolutionary problems. 科学家能发现哪些功能是我们的大脑独有的，哪些是生存压力的通解。

　　But this is not the only reason scientists are fascinated by insect brains. 但这不是科学家着迷于昆虫大脑的唯一原因。

　　Their small size and simplicity¹¹ makes it easier to understand exactly how neurons work together in the brain. 它们小而简单，所以理解神经元的如何工作就比较容易了。

　　This is also valuable for engineers, 这对工程师来说也很可贵，

　　who study the insect brain to help design control systems for everything from self-flying airplanes to tiny search-and-rescue roach bots. 因为他们能根据昆虫大脑设计控制系统，包括无人飞机和微型搜救机器人。

　　So, size and complexity¹² are not always the most impressive things. 所以，大小和复杂性不是唯一让人印象深刻的东西。

　　The next time you try to swat a fly, take a moment to marvel¹³ at the efficiency of its tiny nervous system as it outsmarts your fancy brain. 以后你再打苍蝇，先花三秒钟瞻仰一下它的神经系统，因为它比你的还好。

1 detectors   

探测器( detector的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The report advocated that all buildings be fitted with smoke detectors. 报告主张所有的建筑物都应安装烟火探测器。
• This is heady wine for experimenters using these neutrino detectors. 对于使用中微子探测器的实验工作者，这是令人兴奋的美酒。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技

2 antennae   

n.天线；触角

参考例句：

• Sometimes a creature uses a pair of antennae to swim.有时某些动物使用其一对触须来游泳。
• Cuba's government said that Cubans found watching American television on clandestine antennae would face three years in jail.古巴政府说那些用秘密天线收看美国电视的古巴人将面临三年监禁。

3 olfactory   

adj.嗅觉的

参考例句：

• He is to develop a sensor to substitute for the olfactory abilities of dogs.克罗克将研制一种传感器用以代替狗的嗅觉功能。
• Based on these findings, Keller suspects that each person has an olfactory blind spot.根据这些发现，凯勒推断，每个人都有一个嗅觉盲区。

4 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

5 deactivated   

v.解除动员( deactivate的过去式和过去分词 )；使无效；复员；使不活动

参考例句：

• \"The brain can be deactivated. It can be yours to command.\" “大脑计算机可以被停止。如果你下达命令的话。” 来自互联网
• He successfully deactivated a nuclear reactor in a laboratory before meltdown. 他成功停用一个核反应堆在实验室之前崩溃。 来自互联网

6 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

7 scents   

n.香水( scent的名词复数 )；气味；（动物的）臭迹；（尤指狗的）嗅觉

参考例句：

• The air was fragrant with scents from the sea and the hills. 空气中荡漾着山和海的芬芳气息。
• The winds came down with scents of the grass and wild flowers. 微风送来阵阵青草和野花的香气。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

9 convergent   

adj.会聚的

参考例句：

• A curved-inwards wall has a convergent effect on wall spray.凹型壁面对碰壁喷雾有聚集作用。
• If a sequence is not convergent,it is divergent.如果一个序列不收敛，我们称它发散。

10 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

11 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

12 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

13 marvel   

vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事

参考例句：

• The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹。
• The operation was a marvel of medical skill.这次手术是医术上的一个奇迹。