科学家说，尼安德特人和现代人类祖先之间的异血缘性接触比我们原先的印象要更早。从一名尼安德特人染色体里发现的现代人祖先的 DNA 痕迹说明，现代人类祖先与尼安德特人开始交配融合的时间比已知时间要早四万年。以下是 BBC Rebecca Morelle 的报道： The ancient remains of a female Neanderthal found in a remote cave in the mountains of Siberia are the source of the latest…
英国雷丁大学的一项新的研究显示，由于天气变化的影响从英国到美国的飞行时间有可能会延长。以下是 BBC Matt McGrath 的报道： Flights coming from the US to Europe normally benefit from the powerful winds from the jet stream, which can boost speeds by up to 300…
一项研究显示，热带雨林地区的树木砍伐促进了黑鼠对森林地带的入侵。发表在《热带生物学》期刊上的一篇文章指出，迄今为止，这些哺乳动物一直都在回避那些不能给它们提供地面保护的森林。以下是 BBC 记者 Matt McGrath 的报道： While black rats have spread rapidly throughout the world over the past 400 years, they’ve tended to avoid mature forests, disliking the leafy floors…
世界卫生组织警告，寨卡病毒很可能会扩散到全美洲。到目前为止该病毒感染已扩及加勒比、北美和南美地区的21个国家。其中巴西出现的病例最多。今年夏天的奥林匹克运动会就将在巴西举行。以下是 BBC Wyre Davies 从巴西发来的报道： Since first being detected in Brazil less than a year ago, the Zika virus has spread like wildfire and has now been reported across Latin…
美国天文学家说，他们有强有力的证据表明在我们的太阳系中还存在着第九颗行星，就在冥王星遥遥之外的地方。加州理工学院 (Caltech) 的天文学家对这颗行星应该处在天空里的什么位置有一个模糊的概念。他们的这项工作肯定会激发一场试图追踪行星的运动。以下是BBC Jonathan Amos 的报道。 The idea that there might be a so-called Planet X moving in the distant reaches of the Solar System has been debated for more…
在南极冰层下可能藏着一个尚未被证实的巨大峡谷。科学家们正在进行多种试验以进一步核实捕集到的数据，他们计划在2016年晚些时候公布试验的结果。科学家希望这些试验能帮他们了解冰层对未来气候变化的反应。以下是 Jonathan Amos 的报道。 For more than five decades scientists have been trying to draw an accurate map of what lies under the Antarctic ice sheet, which is more than…
一项为慈善机构“儿童行动”所作的调查发现,英国的许多父母发现让自己的孩子去做作业比让他们关掉手机、笔记本电脑或电视更容易。以下是 BBC 罗伯特•皮戈特的报道。 Action for Children questioned 2,000 parents and found that almost a quarter struggled to restrict their children’s screen time. In comparison, only about a fifth said they…
一个来自108年前的漂流瓶被冲上了海岸，其中的字条可能是迄今为止最古老的瓶中信。请听 Damien McGuinness 发回的报道。 The message in a bottle had been lost for more than a century, bobbing along the waves before Marianne Winkler stumbled across it as she was…
意大利研究人员称，与人类相同，犬类可以快速模仿同类动物的表情，同时也展示出能读懂同胞情感的能力。以下是 Helen Briggs 的报道。 The ability to feel empathy is built into the human brain. We smile or laugh almost instantly in response to others. Until now this ability was…
绝大多数的癌症是由环境因素造成的，而主要原因并不是因运气不佳。以下是 Richard Lister 的报道。 It’s long been known that giving up cigarettes, reducing alcohol intake and avoiding sunburn can reduce the chances of getting certain types of cancer. But this…
BBC环境分析员 Roger Harrabin 说，参加在巴黎举行的第二十一届联合国气候变化大会（COP21）的各国谈判代表就如何应对环境、气候变化以及新兴经济体对全球环境带来的影响进行了探讨。 Negotiators here are, in effect, discussing the shape of a new world order. The old rich-versus-poor divisions are now much more complex. The most vulnerable nations…
随着手机银行应用的普及，英国高街上遍布各家银行的景象可能随之一去不返。Simon Gompertz 报道手机银行应用的流行趋势。 In a small office behind London’s King’s Cross station a band of technology entrepreneurs is setting up a bank with 140 staff to offer what traditional banks…
据世界气象组织称，2015年全球温度与过去一年相比普遍高出许多，2015年很可能成为有记录以来最热的一年。以下是 Roger Harrabin 的报道。 The WMO says this five-year period has brought record heat to Asia, Europe, South America and Oceania and North America. This latest October was exceptionally warm.…
科学家警告说我们即将进入一个后抗生素时代。研究人员在中国的病人和牲畜身上发现了一种能对抗最有效的抗生素“粘菌素 (colistin)”的超级细菌。以下是 James Gallagher 的报道。 Bacteria becoming completely resistant to antibiotics could plunge medicine back into the dark ages. It would affect not only infections but also surgery and cancer…
医生首次打破人类血脑保护屏障，对脑癌施以药物治疗。其它大脑疾病，比如，老年痴呆症也可以用同样方法进行治疗。以下是 BBC Michelle Roberts 发回的报道： The blood-brain barrier does a good job of keeping toxins out. But this tightly-packed layer of cells which separates the brain from its blood vessels…
文字稿 瑞典的一项大型研究项目发现，家中有宠物狗的低龄孩子日后不大可能患哮喘。BBC记者 Michelle Roberts 有以下报道： Many people are allergic to dogs, or at least the dead skin cells and saliva that they shed as they groom themselves. But a new…
文字稿 据世界卫生组织最新发表的报告称，食用像培根、香肠和火腿等加工肉制品确实可以增加患癌症的风险。此报告说，每天吃50克的加工肉产品，相当于不到两片培根的量，就会使患直肠癌的几率增加18%。 This new assessment puts processed meat, such as salami and ham, in the highest category of five possible rankings of cancer-causing agents. And they say that red meat,…
文字稿 美国研究人员对与我们祖先生活方式相似的非洲和南美洲社会居民的睡眠习惯进行了调查研究。研究表明我们祖先的睡眠时间可能少于我们。以下是 Rebecca Morelle 的报道。 From artificial lights to late-night TV and now our smartphones, modern life is often blamed for ruining our sleep. But this study suggests our ancestors…
文字稿 澳大利亚相关部门为其宰杀野猫的决定做出辩解说野猫威胁到当地物种的存活。英国歌手莫里西（Morrissey）和法国影星碧姬·芭铎 (Brigitte Bardot) 指责此宰杀行为。以下是 Jon Donnison 的报道。 The proposed cull will involve the killing of two million feral cats that the Australian government says are decimating many threatened species…
文字稿 根据一项研究结果显示，过分依赖使用电脑和搜索引擎会使人脑的记忆力减退。以下是 Oliver Farrimond 的报道。 Scientists spoke to 6,000 adults in eight European countries and found that while many were able to recall phone numbers from their childhood, fewer could…