本集内容

What can the male fly brain tell us about the human mind

雄性果蝇的大脑能揭示哪些关于人类思维的奥秘

文字稿

It's as beautiful as it is incredible.

它既美丽，又令人难以置信。

This is the brain and nervous system of a male fly.

这是雄性果蝇的大脑和神经系统。

Every nerve cell sliced up and analysed under an electron microscope and then put together into a 3D map. Two years ago, the same team produced a female fly brain.

每一个神经细胞都被切成薄片，在电子显微镜下进行分析，然后再将这些数据整合起来，构建出一幅三维图谱。两年前，同一研究团队还绘制出了雌性果蝇的大脑图谱。

Dr Isabella Beckett, researcher, Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology
"We were expecting to find some differences, and we did find them, and we were really excited by what we got. So in the male fly brain, approximately 5% of what we found was different from the female fly brain. "

伊莎贝拉·贝克特博士 英国医学研究理事会分子生物学实验室研究员
“我们原本预计会发现一些差异，而事实也确实如此，我们对这些发现感到非常兴奋。在雄性果蝇的大脑中，我们发现大约有 5% 的结构与雌性果蝇的大脑不同。”

On the face of it, the male and female brain are pretty similar, but let's take a deep dive inside to find out how tiny changes in wiring can make a big difference to behaviour, such as courtship. The male is in the middle, tracking the female, and these are the bits of wiring involved. The dangly bits enhance the male's visual system.

从表面看，雄性和雌性的果蝇大脑非常相似，但让我们深入大脑内部看看神经连接中的细微变化是如何对行为产生巨大影响的，比如求偶行为。中间的是雄性果蝇，它正在追踪雌性果蝇，而这些就是参与这一过程的神经连接。那些下垂的神经结构能够增强雄性果蝇的视觉系统。

And then there's aggression. Males tend to fight more, and these extra bits here help the male work out when competition is near. And then there's the love song. Males make this sound in order to attract females by beating their wings, and these are the bits that are involved. Now, scientists have known that all three behaviours have been linked to just two genes.

接下来是攻击行为。雄性果蝇往往更具攻击性，而这里这些额外的神经结构能够帮助它们判断附近是否存在竞争对手。然后是 “求爱之歌”。雄性果蝇会通过震动翅膀发出这种声音，以吸引雌性，而这些就是参与这一行为的神经结构。科学家们早已知道，这三种行为都与仅仅两个基因有关。

What they've lacked until now are the bits in the middle. Now, that's important because by being able to link the genes to the wiring to the behaviours in fruit flies, they'll be able to do the same with the brains of other animals, including us.

一直以来，他们所缺少的是连接两者的中间环节。而这一点非常重要，因为一旦能够把果蝇的基因、神经连接和行为联系起来，科学家们就能够用同样的方法研究其它动物的大脑，包括人类的大脑。

Dr Greg Jefferis, Lead researcher, Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology
"What we're really trying to do is to understand the anatomy of thought, and we think that the technology we've been using and the logic of linking genes, circuits, and behaviour is going to transfer to other species, you know, and eventually even to humans, where we know, for example, that schizophrenia and autism have very strong genetic components. "

格雷戈里·杰弗里斯博士 英国医学研究理事会分子生物学实验室研究负责人
“我们真正想做的是理解 ‘思维的解剖结构’，我们认为，我们一直使用的技术，以及将基因、神经回路和行为联系起来的研究思路，也可以应用到其它物种身上，并最终应用于人类。例如，我们知道精神分裂症和自闭症都具有很强的遗传因素。”

The fly brain maps are the first step in truly understanding not just how their brains work, but ours too.

果蝇大脑图谱只是第一步，它将帮助我们真正理解大脑是如何运作的，不仅是果蝇的大脑，也包括人类的大脑。

重点词汇或表达

take a deep dive 深入研究

enhance 增强，提高，改善

anatomy 解剖结构

autism 自闭症

genetic 遗传的，与遗传有关的