Micro plastics can accumulate in the brains of mammals (哺乳动物) and even lead to behavioral changes, according to a new study. This not only adds to evidence about the harm that micro plastics are doing to our environment, but crucially provides new insight into what they could be doing to our bodies.
Plastic pollution is a huge environmental concern. In particular, tiny pieces of micro plastic have been found everywhere from our oceans to the atmosphere. A team led by University of Rhode Island professor Jaime Ross wanted to learn about whether these micro plastics accumulate in the brains of mammals and the potential impact on behavior.
The researchers gave mice drinking water contaminated (污染) with different concentrations of micro plastics over a three-week period. They used mice of different ages to see whether the effects would vary in the younger or older mice.
Besides indications of changes in the mice’s brains, the team saw changes in their behavior, which were particularly apparent in the older animals. The behavioral changes are similar to symptoms you might expect to see in patients with dementia (痴呆) .
“These were not high doses of micro plastics, but in only a short period of time, we saw these changes,” Ross said in a statement.
“In this study, the micro plastics were delivered orally via drinking water, detection in tissues such as the gastrointestinal tract, which is a major part of the digestive system, was always probable,” Ross explained. “But the brain is protected by a boundary called the blood-brain barrier, which should make it harder to access. The team found that micro plastics had entered the brain’s tissues.”
“Once inside, micro plastics cause a decrease in the levels of a brain protein called GFAP,” Ross said. “A decrease in GFAP has been associated with early stages of some neurodegenerative diseases, including dementia and depression.”
Now that even the remotest parts of our planet are seemingly unable to escape contamination with micro plastics, more research like this, which seeks to better understand how human beings’ plastic habit could be coming back to bite us, is more urgently needed than ever.
1. What does paragraph 2 focus on?| A．Why the study was carried out. | B．How ocean pollution appeared. |
| C．How a team studied micro plastics. | D．Why micro plastics spread quickly. |
| A．They delivered micro plastics directly into mice’s brains. |
| B．They used mice of the same age to consume micro plastics. |
| C．They set boundaries for mice’s digestive systems in advance. |
| D．They gave mice micro plastic-contaminated drinking water. |
| A．Brain tissues are easy to attack. | B．The study is far from convincing. |
| C．The research results are surprising. | D．Mice’s brains are generally inactive. |
| A．Moving to the remotest parts of our planet. |
| B．Conducting more research on micro plastics. |
| C．Keeping human beings’ current plastic habit. |
| D．Preventing industries from producing plastics. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】There is an increasing alarm about the extent of microplastics pollution, which has been found everywhere from Everest to the Arctic. However, it turns out there’s an even smaller and more poisonous form of plastic pollution entering remote reaches of the globe. A new study published in Environmental Research found significant quantities of nanoplastics (纳米塑料) in ice samples from both the North and South Poles.
“Now we know that nanoplastics are transported to these corners of the Earth in these quantities. This indicates that nanoplastics are really a bigger pollution problem than we thought,” study lead author Dusan Materic said in a press release.
Nanoplastics are plastics that are smaller than a micrometer in size. Their small size means they are more difficult to study than microplastics, or plastics between five millimeters and a micrometer. But they may be even more dangerous.
“Nanoplastics are very toxicological active compared to, for instance, microplastics, and that’s why this is very important,” Materic said.
Materic and his team used new methods to measure nanoplastic pollution in ice samples from Greenland and Antarctica. They sampled a 14-meter-deep ice core from the Greenland ice cap and sea ice from Antarctica’s McMurdo Sound. They found that there were an average of 13.2 nanograms per-milliliter of nanoplastics in the Greenland ice and an average of 52.3 nanograms per milliliter in the Antarctic ice
But what was even more surprising than the amount of nanoplastics in the remote ice was just how long they had sat there. “In the Greenland core, we see nanoplastic pollution happening all the way from the 1960s. So organisms, despite the lack of the solid evidence, likely all over the world, have been exposed to it for quite some time now,” Materic said.
The study also looked at the types of plastic present in the samples. Half of the Greenland nanoplastics were polyethylene (PE), the kind of plastic used for plastic bags and packaging. A quarter came from tires and a fifth were polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is used for clothing and bottles.
1. Why should researchers focus more on nanoplastics?| A．They are smaller but more dangerous. |
| B．They are more important to science. |
| C．They are easily polluted by ocean water. |
| D．They are more active in cold surroundings. |
| A．The North and South poles are the birthplace of nanoplastics. |
| B．Nanoplastics have less influence on the planet than microplastics. |
| C．Nanoplastics have been existing since the 1960s throughout the world. |
| D．Nanoplastics found in the samples are widely used in the daily life. |
| A．The Greenland core. |
| B．The Antarctic ice. |
| C．The amount of nanoplastics. |
| D．Nanoplastics pollution. |
| A．Mircoplastics prove to be more dangerous. |
| B．Nanoplastics pose a threat to people’s life. |
| C．Nanoplastics are making their way to the poles. |
| D．Mircoplastics set the alarm bells ringing. |
【推荐2】Some scientists say that animals in the oceans are increasingly threatened by noise pollution caused by human beings.
The noise that affects sea creatures comes from a number of human activities. It is caused mainly by industrial underwater explosions, ocean drilling,and ship engines. Such noises are added to natural sounds. These sounds include the breaking of ice fields, underwater earthquakes, and sounds made by animals themselves.
Decibels(分贝) measured in water are different from those measured on land. A noise of one hundred and twenty decibels on land causes pain to human ears. In water, a decibel level of one hundred and ninety-five would have the same effect.
Some scientists have proposed setting a noise limit of one hundred and twenty decibels in oceans. They have observed that noises at that level can frighten and confuse whales.
A team of American and Canadian scientists discovered that louder noises can seriously injure some animals. The research team found that powerful underwater explosions were causing whales in the area to lose their hearing. This seriously affected the whales’ ability to exchange information and find their way. Some of the whales even died. The explosions had caused their ears to bleed and become infected.
Many researchers whose work depends on ocean sounds object to a limit of one hundred and twenty decibels. They say such a limit would mean an end to important industrial and scientific research.
Scientists do not know how much and what kinds of noises are harmful to ocean animals. However, many scientists suspect that noise is a greater danger than they believed. They want to prevent noises from harming creatures in the ocean.
1. According to the passage, which of the following is increasingly dangerous to sea creatures?| A．The man-made noises. | B．The noises made by themselves. |
| C．The sound of earthquakes. | D．The sound of the ice-breaking. |
| A．Different places with different types of noises. |
| B．The very human ears sensitive to all types of noises. |
| C．The same noise measured differently on land and in the ocean. |
| D．The ocean animals’ reaction to noises. |
【推荐3】Human activities are damaging our marine environment, and ocean pollution threatens human health, a new research has uncovered. The research was conducted by an international research team that published their results in the journal Annals of Global Health. They wrote about the widespread damage to the oceans by the actions of humans, which in turn also cause damage to human health. The researchers also made several recommendations regarding solutions to lessen these damages.
The study detailed the latest scientific findings of the critical role that the oceans play in our health and the health of our planet. It also examined the key factors damaging ocean health. With the increase in temperatures worldwide, the melting of sea ice also increases. It causes an increase in harmful bacteria and algae （藻类）into waters that were unpolluted in the past.
Coastal populations are threatened by the rise in sea level and the increasing frequency and violence of coastal storms. The increase of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere increases ocean acidity （酸度），which destroys sensitive food chains in the ocean. Climate change also worsens ocean pollution
According to the study's author Philip Landrigan, who is also a professor and Boston College Global Observatory on Pollution & Health director, the pollution in the ocean is a major problem. It is getting worse and is directly affecting human health. Landrigan also adds that the ocean's plastic pollution is not the entirety of the problem.
According to Landrigan, the toxic pollutants that are dumped into our oceans are finding their way into people's bodies. The pathway is mainly through the consumption of polluted seafood. The most severely affected sectors include those fishing communities and small island countries. Their lives are dependent on the health of the ocean.
The research team suggests several measures to turn the situation around and save our oceans and our health, hoping that human activities change for the better so that ocean pollution is stopped and human health is improved.
1. What did the researchers find in their new study?| A．Oceans are becoming more and more polluted. |
| B．Oceans get back on humans for their activities. |
| C．Oceans are faced with the increasing temperature. |
| D．Oceans are being threatened by bacteria and algae. |
| A．Coastal storms will occur regularly and violently. |
| B．The harmful bacteria and algae will grow faster. |
| C．The ocean food chains will be poorly damaged. |
| D．Climate change over the oceans will be worse. |
| A．The plastic pollution is a tough problem. |
| B．Toxic pollutants will be deadly to the fish. |
| C．The ocean pollution puts people at risk. |
| D．Plastics most seriously pollute the oceans. |
| A．How ocean pollution damages human health. |
| B．What has caused the oceans' severe pollution. |
| C．How humans can find practical solutions. |
| D．What situation the oceans are exposed to. |
【推荐1】The Miao Sisters Festival is held every year in Guizhou's Taijiang County, where 97 percent of the 168,000 people there are from the ethnic （民族）Miao group. It is an ancient tradition, which brings men and women together through food, gifts and music.
In the days before the festival, young women gather leaves and wild flowers, which they use to dye （给•••染色）sticky rice with bright colors. This brightly colored rice, known as Sister Rice, gives the festival its name. During the festival, the young women dress in beautiful traditional clothes with large amounts of silver jewelry （首饰）.
The festival includes parades （游行）,horse races and musical performances. But the real focus is the interaction （互动）between the young women and the young men who visit from surrounding villages and sing songs. In one traditional type of song, a man and woman take turns singing to each other, and the first one to make a mistake loses the game. The loser must give the winner a gift, but the winner is expected to give a gift in return too.
After meeting the men, the women send them home with a bamboo basket containing dyed rice and hidden objects with special meanings. For example, a pair of chopsticks means she wants to marry the man, while garlic shows that she is not interested.
One of several stories about the festival’s beginning of a girl and a boy who fell in love. The girl's parents wanted her to marry her uncle's son» as was traditional at the time. She refused, and the boy likewise refused to marry anyone else. For a time, they could only meet in a field and pass hidden messages to each other through rice in a bamboo basket. Finally, the pair overcame their parents' opposition and were allowed to marry.
The Sister Rice Festival is perhaps the oldest festival in Asia that encourages love.
1. What is the purpose of young women collecting leaves and wild flowers?| A．To decorate their rooms. |
| B．To sell them and make money. |
| C．To give sticky rice different colors. |
| D．To cover some objects in a basket. |
| A．Water skiing. | B．Horse races. |
| C．Parades. | D．Singing songs. |
| A．A woman often loses the game. |
| B．A hidden pair of chopsticks suggests good things. |
| C．The winner need not send a gift. |
| D．Often a man needs to sing songs to a young woman. |
| A．the boy's parents didn't like the girl |
| B．they were not married in the end |
| C．the boy refused to marry the girl at first |
| D．the rice in the bamboo basket carried their love |
【推荐2】Laughter comes in many forms, from a polite chuckle to an infectious howl of amusement. Scientists are now developing an AI system that can copy various forms of laughter accurately. The team behind the laughing robot, Erica, say that the system could improve natural conversations between people and AI systems.
Dr. Koji Inoue, lead author of the research from Kyoto University, highlights empathy (共情) as a crucial aspect of conversational AI, suggesting laughter sharing as a means for robots to connect with users. To achieve this, Inoue and his team gathered data from over 80 speed-dating dialogues between male students and Erica, initially operated by amateur actors.
Dialogue data labeled for individual, social, and joyful laughter was used to train an AI system to identify and produce fitting laughter responses. Based on the audio files, the algorithm (算法) learned their subtle differences, aiming to imitate social laughs subtly and hearty laughs empathetically.
“Our biggest challenge in this work was identifying the actual cases of shared laughter,” explained Inoue, emphasizing the need for careful categorization. Erica’s “sense of humor” was tested with four dialogues, integrating the new shared-laughter algorithm. These were compared to cases where Erica didn’t laugh or emitted social laughs upon detecting laughter.
The clips were played to 130 volunteers who rated the shared-laughter algorithm highly for empathy and naturalness. The team believed laughter could imbue robots with unique character traits, including conversational behaviors like laughter, eye gaze, gestures, and speaking style. However, Inoue acknowledged it could take over 20 years to have a “casual chat with a robot like we would with a friend.”
Professor Sandra Wachter, of the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford, said, “One of the things I’d keep in mind is that a robot or algorithm will never be able to understand you. It doesn’t understand the meaning of laughter. They fail to feel, but they might get very good at making you believe they understand what’s going on.”
1. Why do scientists develop the AI system that can copy various forms of laughter?| A．To make robots sound more human-like. |
| B．To help robots understand human emotions better. |
| C．To enable robots to have a sense of humor like humans. |
| D．To enhance the emotional interaction between people and AI systems. |
| A．Creating an algorithm that can genuinely feel amusement. |
| B．Identifying the situations where laughter is truly understood. |
| C．Distinguishing between different types of laughter accurately. |
| D．Collecting sufficient data for training the machine learning system. |
| A．Equip. | B．Inspire. | C．Engage. | D．Influence. |
| A．They are not capable of capturing human laughter. |
| B．They can imitate laughter but lack thorough comprehension. |
| C．It is possible for them to play tricks on humans occasionally. |
| D．It will take long before humans have comfortable conversations with them. |
【推荐3】People speak English in different parts of the world. The same words can be used in different ways, depending on where you live. People can also have completely different ways of saying the same thing.
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is asking the public to help it add new words. Editors want to find the regional differences in English around the world. They want to expand its record of the language.
Last year, the OED, BBC Radio and the Forward Arts Foundation teamed up to find local words in the United Kingdom. It resulted in more than 100 regional words and phrases being added to the dictionary. One was “cuddy wifter”, which means a left-handed person.
Now, the OED is widening its search to English speakers around the world. Eleanor Maier, an editor at OED, said the response has been great. Editors are listing a bunch of suggestions to include in the dictionary.
These include Hawaii’s “hammajang”, which means “in a disorderly state”. Another is the word for a swimming costume, “dookers” or “duckers”. It is used in Scotland.
The OED also might include the word “frog-drowner”, which Americans might use to describe a downpour of rain. Another possibility is “brick”. It means “very cold” to people in New Jersey and New York City.
The dictionary has already found that, depending on location, a picture hanging off center might be described as “agley”. It might also be called “catawampous” or “ahoo”.
“The OED aims to cover all types of English,” Maier said. That includes scientific words, slang and regional language. Maier also said that it can be difficult for the OED’s editors to identify regional words. The terms are more often spoken than written down.
The appeal is called Words Where You Are. It is looking for more suggestions. “We were surprised and pleased by the number of regional words we were able to include,” said Maier.
1. Which local word of the following most likely comes from one region of the United Kingdom?| A．Hammajang. | B．Dookers. |
| C．Catawampous. | D．Frog-drowner. |
| A．It is challenging to create a complete collection of regional words. |
| B．People are not enthusiastic about the appeal for regional words. |
| C．Regional words are more used orally than in written form. |
| D．Understanding regional words can be helpful when communicating. |
| A．It’s time to track where the local words come from. |
| B．The same English words can be used to say different things. |
| C．OED aims to expand its collection to attract locals. |
| D．OED will include more regional words from around the globe. |
| A．Entertainment. | B．Sports. |
| C．Culture. | D．Health. |
