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回顧星期天LBS - 自然科學相關時事趣聞 All about 2021 Science
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Topic: Ants have the ability to sniff out cancer in humans, study reveals
Ants have the ability to sniff out cancerous cells in humans, a new study has discovered, suggesting they could be used for cancer diagnosis in future.
一項新研究發現，螞蟻能嗅出人體內的癌細胞，這表明螞蟻可用於未來對癌症的診斷。
Researchers from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) discovered that ant species Formica fusca has a well developed sense of smell.
法國國家科學研究中心（CNRS）的研究人員發現，「黑山蟻」（學名：Formica fusca ）這種螞蟻品種，嗅覺非常發達。
It was able to differentiate cancerous cells from healthy cells in humans, thanks to their sense of smell, limited trials revealed. But more clinical tests must be carried out before they could be used in clinical settings like hospitals, the team said.
有限的實驗顯示，這種螞蟻的嗅覺超強，能夠將人體的癌細胞與健康細胞區分開來。但是該研究團隊表示，還需要進行更多臨床測試，才能將黑山蟻用於醫院等臨床環境中。
They suggest that in future, ants could turn out to be better at dogs when it comes to locating cancerous cells in humans.
他們員指出，未來在識別人體癌細胞方面，螞蟻可能會比狗做得更出色。
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Topic: 科學家使用細胞再生技術讓老鼠回春 Scientists Reverse Aging In Mice Using Cell Rejuvenation Technique
Researchers in the US treated healthy mice with a form of gene therapy that refreshed older cells, making the animals more youthful according to biological markers that are used to measure the effects of ageing.
美國研究人員對健康老鼠實施一種更新老化細胞的基因療法，他們透過用來衡量老化效應的生物標記法，測出這些老鼠變年輕了。
Repeating the trick in humans is far from straightforward, but the findings will fuel interest in radical new therapies that aim to slow or reverse the ageing process as a means of tackling age-related diseases such as cancer, brittle bones and Alzheimer’s.
儘管難以用同樣的方法讓人類返老還童，但這一發現將點燃人們對以延緩或逆轉衰老為目標的激進新療法的興趣，這種療法可以用來治療諸如癌症、骨質疏鬆和阿茲海默症等與年齡相關的疾病。
The scientists drew on previous work by the Japanese Nobel laureate Prof Shinya Yamanaka, who showed that a mixture of four molecules – known as Yamanaka factors – can rewind adult cells into youthful stem cells that are capable of forming almost any tissue in the body.
科學家這一療法借鑑日本諾貝爾獎得主山中伸彌教授先前的研究成果。山中伸彌向世人展示，被稱為「山中因子」的4種分子組合在一起，可以讓成人細胞逆生長為年輕的幹細胞，而幹細胞可以分化成人體的任何組織。Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1506995 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1508339
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Topic: World’s oldest DNA sequenced from million-year-old mammoths
Teeth from mammoths buried in the Siberian permafrost for more than a million years have yielded the world’s oldest DNA ever sequenced, according to a study published on Wednesday, shining the genetic searchlight into the deep past.
據週三公布的研究，埋在西伯利亞永凍土層超過100萬年的猛獁象牙齒，提供全球最古老的去氧核醣核酸（DNA）定序，讓基因研究的探照燈指向遙遠的過去。
Researchers said the three specimens, one roughly 800,000 years old and two over a million years old, provide important insights into the giant Ice Age mammals, including the ancient heritage of the woolly mammoth.
研究人員表示，這3個樣本，一個約有80萬年歷史，另2個來自超過100萬年前，為現代人瞭解冰河時代猛獁象，包括「真長毛象」（woolly mammoth）的古老傳承，提供重要觀察角度。
The genomes far exceed the oldest previously sequenced DNA － a horse dating between 780,000 to 560,000 years ago.
此前，最古老的DNA定序來自78萬年前到56萬年前的一匹馬，而這些猛獁象基因組的年代更久遠得多。
The mammoths were originally discovered in the 1970s in Siberia and held at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow.
這幾頭猛獁象起初於1970年代在西伯利亞地區被發現，由莫斯科的俄羅斯科學院保管。
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Topic: Comet from edge of solar system killed the dinosaurs: study 研究：來自太陽系邊緣的彗星讓恐龍滅絕
Sixty-six million years ago, a huge celestial object struck off the coast of what is now Mexico, triggering a catastrophic "impact winter" that eventually wiped out three-quarters of life on Earth, including the
Published on 3 years ago