【英语时差8,16】蟑螂对抗辐射: 谁是赢家？ -下

（单词翻译）

But get this-cockroaches are radiation wimps¹ compared to some other insects. Adult fruit flies have survived doses of 1600 Grays, and some ant species can handle doses up to 2250 Grays. We don’t really know what gives insects so much better radiation resistance than us. Radiation penetrates² their cells as well as it does ours. Scientists suspect that one reason could be that insect cells usually contain fewer chromosomes³, and so less DNA⁴, than mammal cells. Since radiation poisoning is the result of destruction or mutation⁵ of DNA, having relatively⁶ less DNA in your cells may make it easier for those cells to survive radiation exposure.