文本选自：The Economist（经济学人）
作者：Unknown
原文标题：Humans shed genetic information everywhere they go
原文发布时间：17 May 2023
Humans shed genetic information everywhere they go
In the genetic age, ecologists' jobs are made much easier by two things. One is that every organism carries its own chemical identity card, in the form of its genome. The second is that they drop these ID cards everywhere they go. Urine, bits of fur stuck to a hedge, even shed skin cells: all deposit DNA into the environment. Cheap gene sequencing allows scientists to harvest this "environmental DNA" (eDNA) from soil, sand, water and the like, and use it to keep track of which species are living where.
"Every organism," of course, includes humans. In a paper published on May 15th in Nature Ecology & Evolution, a group of researchers from America and Europe report that such eDNA surveys pick up large quantities of human DNA too. That DNA can be read—and potentially matched with individuals—by anyone with the right equipment. The researchers did not set out to study "inadvertent human genetic bycatch", as they call the phenomenon. The work began at the Whitney Sea Turtle Hospital in Florida, during an investigation into a viral turtle disease.
The researchers sampled water from the turtle's tanks, as well as from ocean water and beaches upon which the creatures nested, looking for viral DNA. They expected to sweep up DNA from other species during their trawl. What was surprising, according to Jessica Farrell, a biologist at the Whitney Hospital and one of the paper's authors, was just how much human DNA they found. Even though many of their sampling sites were not near towns and cities, they found human genetic material in every sample they examined.
人类走到哪里都会散布遗传信息
精听党背景导读
河道中、海滩上、海洋里，乃至空气中，人们通过咳嗽、吐痰、排泄、冲马桶等途径将DNA带到每个角落。美国科学家的一项新研究发现，除了人迹罕至的孤岛和遥远的山顶，人类的痕迹几乎无处不在。
佛罗里达大学的研究人员说对这种广泛存在的人类DNA进行了测序，他们认为这种普遍性既是科学上的福音，也是道德上的困境。这些广泛存在的DNA的质量非常高，可让科学家识别相关的疾病突变，并确定附近人群的遗传血统。
文本选自：The Economist（经济学人）作者：Unknown原文标题：Humans shed genetic information everywhere they go原文发布时间：17 May 2023关键词：人类 DNA 信息
精听党带着问题听
1. 如何理解标题中的“shed”？2.“基因测序”用英语可以怎么表达？3. 研究人员是怎么进行采样的？
精听党选段赏析
标题解读
Humans shed genetic information everywhere they go
人类走到哪里都会散布遗传信息
shed
vt. 散布；1. shed tears 流泪；垂泪；淌眼泪；
段一
In the genetic age, ecologists’ jobs are made much easier by two things. One is that every organism carries its own chemical identity card, in the form of its genome. The second is that they drop these ID cards everywhere they go. Urine, bits of fur stuck to a hedge, even shed skin cells: all deposit DNA into the environment. Cheap gene sequencing allows scientists to harvest this “environmental DNA” (eDNA) from soil, sand, water and the like, and use it to keep track of which species are living where.
ecologist n. 生态学家；1. An ecologist who studies a pond today may well find it relatively unchanged in a year's time. 如今研究池塘的生态学者很可能会发现，池塘在一年之内基本没什么变化。
make easier 使更容易；
organism n. 生物，有机体；1. Every organism has a life span which is highly characteristic. 每个生物体的生命周期都极其独特。
genome n. 基因组，染色体组；1. The human genome has now been sequenced. 人类基因组的序列现已被测定。
urine n. 尿液，小便；1. pee n. 尿；撒尿；
hedge n. 树篱；1. The hedge needs pruning back. 树篱需要修剪了。
deposit vt. 沉积；储蓄；存放，寄存；1. Sand was deposited which hardened into sandstone. 沙经沉积固结形成沙岩。2. deposit money 存款；
gene sequencing 基因测序；
harvest vt. 收割，收获；采集，搜集；
参考译文
在遗传时代，有两件事使生态学家的工作变得容易得多。一是每个有机体都以其基因组的形式携带自己的化学身份证。第二个是他们走到哪里都会丢下这些身份证。尿液、粘在树篱上的毛皮碎片，甚至脱落的皮肤细胞：所有这些都会将 DNA 沉积到环境中。廉价的基因测序使科学家能够从土壤、沙子、水等类似物中获取这种“环境DNA”(eDNA)，并用它来跟踪哪些物种生活在哪里。
段二
“Every organism,” of course, includes humans. In a paper published on May 15th in Nature Ecology & Evolution, a group of researchers from America and Europe report that such eDNA surveys pick up large quantities of human DNA too. That DNA can be read—and potentially matched with individuals—by anyone with the right equipment. The researchers did not set out to study “inadvertent human genetic bycatch”, as they call the phenomenon. The work began at the Whitney Sea Turtle Hospital in Florida, during an investigation into a viral turtle disease.
pick up 拿起，提起；拾起，捡起；（不费力地）获得，学会；
set out to 着手做，开始努力实现；
inadvertent adj. 疏忽的；不注意的；1. It was an inadvertent error. 那是无意的过失。
genetic bycatch 人类遗传副渔获物；1. bycatch n. 副渔获物；
Thousands of small fish are thrown back into the sea as bycatch. 成千上万误捕的小鱼被扔回大海中去了。
viral adj. 病毒性的，病毒引起的；
参考译文
“每个有机体”当然包括人类。在 5 月 15 日发表在《自然生态学与进化》杂志上的一篇论文中，来自美国和欧洲的一组研究人员报告说，这种 eDNA 调查也收集了大量的人类 DNA。任何拥有合适设备的人都可以读取该 DNA，并可能与个人进行匹配。研究人员并没有着手研究他们所说的“无意中的人类遗传副产物”现象。这项工作始于佛罗里达州的惠特尼海龟医院，当时正在调查一种病毒性海龟病。
段三
The researchers sampled water from the turtle’s tanks, as well as from ocean water and beaches upon which the creatures nested, looking for viral DNA. They expected to sweep up DNA from other species during their trawl. What was surprising, according to Jessica Farrell, a biologist at the Whitney Hospital and one of the paper’s authors, was just how much human DNA they found. Even though many of their sampling sites were not near towns and cities, they found human genetic material in every sample they examined.
sample vt. 采样，取样；取…的样品，从…中抽样；
nest vi. 筑巢；巢居；1. Thousands of seabirds are nesting on the cliffs. 成千上万的海鸟在悬崖上筑巢。
sweep up 打扫干净；搜寻；扫荡；
species n.（动植物的）种，物种；种类；1. This species is extremely rare. 这一物种极为罕见。
trawl n. 用拖网捕鱼；（在大量文件中）搜寻；彻底搜查；拖网；排钩；
sampling n. 取样；抽样；
参考译文
研究人员从海龟的水箱以及海龟筑巢的海水和海滩中采集了水样，以寻找病毒 DNA。他们希望在拖网期间从其他物种身上扫到DNA。惠特尼医院的生物学家、该论文的作者之一杰西卡·法雷尔 (Jessica Farrell) 表示，令人惊讶的是他们发现了这么多的人类 DNA。尽管他们的许多采样点都不在城镇附近，但他们在检查的每个样本中都发现了人类遗传物质。
精听党每日单词
shed
/ʃed/ vt. 散布；
ecologist
/iˈkɑːlədʒɪst/ n. 生态学家；
make easier
使更容易；
organism
/ˈɔːrɡənɪzəm/ n. 生物，有机体；
genome
/ˈdʒiːnoʊm/ n. 基因组，染色体组；
urine
/ˈjʊrɪn/ n. 尿液，小便；
hedge
/hedʒ/ n. 树篱；
deposit
/dɪˈpɑːzɪt/ vt. 沉积；储蓄；存放，寄存；
gene sequencing
基因测序；
harvest
/ˈhɑːrvɪst/ vt. 收割，收获；采集，搜集；
pick up
拿起，提起；拾起，捡起；（不费力地）获得，学会；
set out to
着手做，开始努力实现；
inadvertent
/ˌɪnədˈvɜːrt(ə)nt/ adj. 疏忽的；不注意的；
genetic bycatch
人类遗传副渔获物；
viral
/ˈvaɪrəl/ adj. 病毒性的，病毒引起的；
sample
/ˈsæmp(ə)l/ vt. 采样，取样；取…的样品，从…中抽样；
nest
/nest/ vi. 筑巢；巢居；
sweep up
打扫干净；搜寻；扫荡；
species
/ˈspiːʃiːz/ n.（动植物的）种，物种；种类；
trawl
/trɔːl/ n. 用拖网捕鱼；（在大量文件中）搜寻；彻底搜查；拖网；排钩；
sampling
/ˈsæmplɪŋ/ n. 取样；抽样；
精听党文化拓展
在早期针对人类进化的考古活动中，科技并不足够发达，只能通过简单的化石研究来分析人类进化的相似性和差别。在时代和科技的推动下，生物医学逐渐发达，微生物进化演变研究技术逐渐成熟，科学家可以根据早先逝去生物的遗留基因推演出其生前的存在与活动模式，从而为研究人类起源和迁徙的路线提供了强有力的空间。
根据科学家对人类基因库的总体研究，他们从人类23对染色体中的一对接受父母双方基因的Y染色体和X染色体入手，总结发现借此反映出来的遗传基因的变化从而推敲人类总体演化的特征。
简单来说，就是利用这对染色体中遗传下来的父母双方的基因建立谱系树，归纳其具有的共同特性。当出现共有的变化或者遗传特点时，这个时期的人类进化结果必然是由某个现象造成，这样就能推演出人类先祖的大致概况。
当科学家在对人类染色体的研究的谱系树中，发现其共有的某种变化时间节点时，他们就知道，人类的总体演变共性就是这里了。
根据人类基因的Y染色体共性（基因学上将这个人类共有的突变节点称为Y-MRCA，即“Y染色体亚当”），科学家将人类共有的进化时间节点推演到了大约15万年前，并发现这个时期的人类先祖基本都还聚集在非洲。此时，智人基本已经占据了主导地位。
精听党每日美句
Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally.
如果你想要成功，不要瞄准它；只做你热爱并相信的事情，它自然会到来。