雌鼠献声
Female Vocalists Are In the (Mouse) House
雌鼠献声
撰文 伊莱·陈（Eli Chen）
翻译 M
审核 邰伦玥
Careful recordings of mouse interactions find that females vocalize, overturning the long-held view that only males sing during courtship.
通过分析老鼠互动的高精度录音，研究人员发现了雌鼠的声音，从而推翻了长期存在的在求爱中只有雄性发声的观点。
How do you attract a mate? If you’re a male mouse, you take the Frank Sinatra approach—you sing. Scientists have known about crooning male mice for years. And past experiments showed that if you leave male mice alone with an unconscious female or even with just a trace of her urine, the males will sing. If you reverse roles, the females do not sing. So scientists believed that in courtship, males made all the noise. Until now.
你如何引起一位伴侣的注意？如果你是一直雄鼠，你会使用辛纳特拉的方式——唱歌。数年前，科学家已经知道雄鼠会在求爱中温柔低唱。过去的实验中，如果单独的雄鼠被置于一只昏迷的雌鼠，甚至只是雌鼠的尿迹前，雄鼠也会唱歌。但若两者的角色对调，雌性则不会唱歌。因此，科学家认为在求爱中，只有雄性会发声。但现在不是了。
“The problem with the field is that we’ve never had a way to figure out who’s vocalizing.” Neuroscientist Josh Neunuebel at University of Delaware. He realized that researchers needed better listening tools.
“这个领域上的问题是，我们一直没有方法去识别哪一方在发声。”来自特拉华大学的神经科学家，乔什?诺纽保如是说。他意识到研究人员需要更好的录音设备。
So Neunuebel built a mouse-sized recording studio. His team lined a small closet with nylon mesh and foam, which absorb sound rather than reflect it. And they installed ultrasonic microphones, because mice make sounds at a frequency that’s above the range of human hearing.
因此诺纽保构建了一个适用于老鼠的录音棚。他的团队以尼龙织网与泡沫内衬了一个小柜子。这些可以吸收声音，从而避免声音的反射。并且，他们在柜内安装了超声波麦克风，因为老鼠可以发出的声音频率超过人类所能听到的范围。
[Mouse singing sound]
【老鼠的歌声】
That’s some mouse singing slowed down so we can hear it.
这些是通过缓慢播放从而使人类可以听到的老鼠歌唱声音。
Neunuebel’s set-up made it possible for the researchers to determine that some songs were in fact coming from female mice. The gals that sang back to the males pursuing them also slowed down their pace, as if to say (Neunuebel’s voice): “Hey! I’m interested in you. Catch me if you can.” The study is in the journal eLife. [Joshua P. Neunuebel et al, Female mice ultrasonically interact with males during courtship displays]
诺纽保的装置使研究人员们得以确认，一些歌声确实是来源于雌鼠的。这些回应了雄鼠歌声的雌鼠也同时放慢了脚步，仿佛对着雄性说：“嘿！我对你有兴趣，来追我呀！”该研究发表在eLife上。[Joshua P. Neunuebel et al, Female mice ultrasonically interact with males during courtship displays]
Neunuebel still wants to work out more details about how these interactions occur. But with improved technology, maybe the researchers can pick out pick-up lines. At least the ones that sound nice…to mice.
诺纽保仍想找出关于这些互动是如何发生的更多细节。也许伴随着技术的进步，研究人员能够找出一些搭讪的套话。至少找到一些听起来好听的吧——当然，是对老鼠而言。
（题图来源：jessicaraydesign.com）
京ICP备11000850号 
京公网安备11010502039775号
信息网络传播视听节目许可证0111611号
国家科技基础条件平台
© 2011- 版权所有：中国数字科技馆 未经书面许可任何人不得复制或镜像
未经书面许可任何人不得复制或镜像
京ICP备11000850号
京公网安备11010502039775号 信息网络传播视听节目许可证0111611号
国家科技基础条件平台