A small robot that can change its shape and produce heat shows potential in targeting cancer cells and preventing internal bleeding. It can also be used for delivering drugs directly to tumors (肿瘤) or inaccessible areas within the human body.
Researchers, led by Ren Hao Soon at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany, developed a centimeter-sized robot inspired by pangolins (穿山甲). It is constructed with soft and magnetic (磁性的) materials, allowing the robot to change its shape. To enable movement, shape shifting, and heat generation, the researchers applied magnetic fields to the robot’s metal parts. By adjusting the frequency of these fields, the robot was able to heat up and give out heat into its surroundings. The team observed that the robot’s body temperature could be over 70℃.
In addition, the researchers used the robot’s heat to deliver substances within a simulated (模拟的) stomach environment. They attached something simulating medicine capsules onto the robot, which dissolved upon heating, thereby releasing the goods. This technique holds promise for targeted drug delivery inside the body.
Soon, his team also tested the robot’s ability to halt bleeding. They created wounds using a dead pig’s stomach. By pumping blood through a small incision using a syringe, they simulated bleeding. Subsequently, the robot extended and covered the area, giving out heat to help stop bleeding.
According to Jake Abbott from the University of Utah, the robot could potentially be employed for targeted destruction of tumor cells, reducing the need for exposing large amounts of tissue to radiation or chemicals. By raising the robot’s temperature to a level unsafe for normal cells and keeping it in place for a few minutes, cancer cells can be killed.
1. What can we know about the small robot from the text?| A．It was born out of inspiration from the natural world. |
| B．It can be applied to targeting cancer cells and goods delivery. |
| C．It can be used to deliver substances to inaccessible rural areas. |
| D．It can generate heat constructed with specially-selected materials. |
| A．By using magnets. | B．By using heat. |
| C．By using radiation. | D．By using chemicals. |
| A．Control. | B．Detect. | C．Stop. | D．Monitor. |
| A．Tiny Robots Will Be Used In Medicine. |
| B．Tiny Robots Will Be Made to Give Out Heat. |
| C．Small Robots Will Be Made To Deliver Goods. |
| D．Small Robots Have Been Used To Cure Tumors. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Many got sleepless nights after Sora amazed the world with its remarkable ability of creating videos directly from text instructions. Discussions about what the artificial intelligence model can do and make a difference continue.
Some said it could give a huge blow to traditional industries such as film and television making, looking forward to the day when a movie can be created right after a novel is put into the model. But others remain skeptical about how powerful the model can be in changing the landscape of AI application.
Developed by a group of young talent from Microsoft-backed company OpenAI, the text-to-video model can generate videos up to a minute long while maintaining visual quality.
Shen Yang, a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University, said, “Sora represents a revolutionary leap in the field of AI-generated content (AIGC).”
As one of the leading scholars in AI research in China, Shen leads a team that studies the philosophy of AI. Until he learned about Sora, Shen was quite satisfied with his team’s AI-generated videos. A two-minute video on the Spring Festival produced by Shen’s team have recently won many likes on social media platforms. “Compared with the new model Sora, what we used are tools of the previous generation. There’s a huge gap in between,” said Shen.
As a frequent user of AI, Shen said the technology not only helps improve his productivity, but also benefits his daily life. His wife was suffering from cancer, and he used AI to assist in finding treatment, which has remarkably prolonged her life. He even wrote an award-winning science fiction novel using A.
However, new technologies do not mean good news to everyone. Many also concern about AI models’ safety issues since related regulations are lagging behind.
Sora is going to bring changes in many fields, including short video, film and television, news, games, advertising, education, and even industrial manufacturing, according to Shen. There is still much room to improve AI models. For instance, current AI models are not capable of drawing characters accurately and quickly. Shop signs lack meaning in Sora’s demo video showing a woman walking down a street in Tokyo. But these problems are believed to be solved as models update.
1. Which of the following might replace the underlined word in Paragraph 2?| A．Push. | B．Strike. |
| C．Warning. | D．Bonus. |
| A．All people cannot benefit from the new AI technologies. |
| B．AI model’s safety isn’t concerning despite lagging legal restrictions. |
| C．The AI-generated videos by Shen Yang’s team were better than those created by Sora. |
| D．The text-to-video model was developed by a group of young talent from Tsinghua University. |
| A．Reserved. | B．Objective. |
| C．Unconcerned. | D．Approving. |
| A．Sora: An AI video. | B．Video Making: AI Models. |
| C．Sora: A Powerful AI Tool. | D．Video Making: Future of AI. |
【推荐2】Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have been working on a fascinating new way to identify people: using the ways of their breath. This idea could change how we unlock our phones and access secure places.
The key to this technology lies in the way we breathe out. Every person has a unique way of breathing air, which creates specific turbulence (涡流) patterns. The IIT Madras team, led by Prof. Mahesh Panchagnula, has developed a method of catching these unique patterns and using them as a biometric (生物特征识别的) signature, similar to how fingerprints are used today.
They conducted tests with breath samples from 94 people and found that their system could correctly confirm the person’s identity with an impressive accuracy of 97%. However, when it came to identifying someone without knowing who they were beforehand, the accuracy was around 50%. This means the technology is great at confirming if someone is who they claim to be, but it still needs improvement in recognizing people without any prior information. What makes this research exciting is its potential beyond just unlocking phones. It could play a significant role in personalized medicine. Since the way we breathe can give insights into our health, this technology could help doctors tailor treatments to individual patients more effectively.
In a similar study at Kyushu University in Japan, researchers developed an artificial system that identifies people based on how their breath smells. This system showed a high accuracy rate of 97.8% in identifying individuals. However, this method currently requires people to fast (禁食) for six hours before testing, indicating that it still needs to be improved to be more practical for everyday use.
These advancements in using human breath for identification are not just about adding another cool feature to our smartphones. They represent a significant step forward in biometric technology, which could have far-reaching implications in security, medicine, and personal technology. This research at IIT Madras and Kyushu University is pioneering a new way of using the unique patterns of our breath for identification purposes, potentially revolutionizing (变革) how we interact with technology and receive medical care.
1. What makes the new technology possible according to paragraph 2?| A．The distinctive breath smells. | B．The unique patterns of breath. |
| C．The different patterns of fingerprints. | D．The speed of taking in air. |
| A．To eat no food for 6 hours is practical in everyday life. |
| B．To eat fast is a basic requirement for a higher accuracy rate. |
| C．The system is workable and will soon appear on the market. |
| D．Breath smells affected by food can decrease the accuracy rate. |
| A．It helps raise people’s awareness of health. | B．It will let people better understand their breath. |
| C．It makes unlocking our phones more easily. | D．It will introduce new ways to develop medicine. |
| A．Should We Still Use Fingerprints to Unlock Our Phone? |
| B．Fingerprint Patterns Can Identify Breath Types Easily |
| C．A Breath “Fingerprint” Could Be Used to Unlock Your Phone |
| D．Which Unlocking Method Is More Secure, Breath or Fingerprint? |
【推荐3】Innovations are not always welcome. In 1589 William Lee made his way to the English court, hoping to be granted a patent for his invention, a knitting machine. Queen Elizabeth I turned him down: "Consider what the invention could do to my poor subjects," she commanded. "It would assuredly bring ruin to them by robbing them of employment."
The fears of Good Queen Bess have echoed down the centuries—from the Luddites, who destroyed textile machinery in the early 19th century, to John F. Kennedy, who warned of the dangers of automation during his presidential campaign of 1960. In the 21st century the concerns have switched to robots and artificial intelligence (AI); 30% of American workers believe their jobs are likely to be replaced by robots and computers in their lifetime
In the past the relationship between machine and human labor has been driven by two factors: the substituting effect, which caused people to lose jobs, and the complementing effect, which allowed employees to do their work more productively. Mr. Susskind worries that, in the future, the substituting effect will take over. Advances in Al have been so rapid that machines will eventually be better than people at most activities, he says, and so will be the "default（默认）choice" for performing them. A few highly paid humans will still be employed, but the rest will either struggle to find work or fall into the "precariat", stuck in jobs that are not just poorly paid but also unstable and stressful.
This depressing view of the impact of technology is plausible（貌似有理的）. But so is a more optimistic outlook, as the economist Roger Bootle showed in his book. Mr. Bootle argued that Al and robotics would improve productivity and economic growth, and release people from performing the most lengthy tasks. As for employment, there will always be demand for services with the human touch. Perhaps, the truth is that it is impossible to be sure whether the latest advances will in the end have mainly good or bad economic effects.
1. What's the purpose of the examples in Paragraphs 1 and 2?| A．To tell people how many inventions are made. |
| B．To remind people how important the machines are. |
| C．To demonstrate the possible dangers to human beings. |
| D．To show some people's attitude towards new inventions. |
| A．People who have stable jobs. | B．People who like their jobs. |
| C．People who are stuck in bad jobs. | D．People whose jobs are well-paid. |
| A．Positive. | B．Negative. | C．Neutral. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．The impact of technology is depressing. |
| B．He showed a pessimistic attitude to technogy in his book. |
| C．AI and robotics would harm productivity and economic growth. |
| D．AI and robotics release people from performing long and tiring tasks. |
【推荐1】Stephen Warren, study leader at the University of Washington, has been on the case of the green icebergs for more than 30 years. He first took samples from one of these green hunks of ice in 1988, near the Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctic. Most glacial ice occurs in shades of white to brilliant blue. The bluer the ice, the older it is. Typically, compression (压缩)from accumulating layers of snow pushes air bubbles out of the ice, reducing the scattering of white light. The compressed ice absorbs most of the light except for blue, creating the blue color seen in the hearts of icebergs and glaciers.
The green ice was similarly bubble-free, and yet it looked green instead of blue. Warren and his team soon found that the green ice came not from glaciers, but from marine ice. That's the ice from the undersides of floating ice shelves.
At first, the team thought that organic material in the marine ice was causing the green color. But further research showed that the green marine ice didn't have a higher — than — usual amount of organic impurities. Now, a new study finds that a different sort of impurity may be the root cause of the green ice. Warren and his colleagues report that the marine ice at the bottom of the Amery Ice Shelf has 500 times more iron than the glacial ice above.
This iron comes from the rocks under the Antarctic Ice Sheet, which are turned into fine powder as glaciers move over them. The icebound iron oxidizes (氧化)as it contacts seawater. The resulting iron oxide particles take on a green color when light scatters through them. When icebergs break off the larger ice shelf, they carry this iron-rich ice with them. It's like taking a package to the post office. The iceberg can deliver this iron into the ocean far away, and then melt and deliver it to other living things that can use it as a nutrient.
1. What's special about the iceberg found by Warren?| A．The iceberg was old. |
| B．The iceberg absorbed blue light. |
| C．The iceberg's heart was pure white. |
| D．The iceberg was bubble-free and green. |
| A．Impurities of marine ice. |
| B．Reflection of green plants. |
| C．Iron dust from marine ice. |
| D．Compression from layers of snow. |
| A．Deliver the package. |
| B．Bring marine life nutrients. |
| C．Oxidize the seawater. |
| D．Break off the large ice shelf. |
| A．A Study About Antarctic |
| B．The Colors of Icebergs |
| C．The Movement of the Icebergs |
| D．The Mystery of the Green Icebergs |
【推荐2】Churchill, Manitoba is a small town. The northern winds roll through it from Canada's Hudson Bay. It might be just another point on the map if not for its seasonal settlers.
It happens like clockwork every fall that hundreds of polar bears make their way through the town to the freezing bay where they hunt for seals after the ice packs enough to support their weight. The animals have been connected with Churchill since at least 1619. That's when Norwegian explorer Jens Munk and his sailors recorded making a meal of one bear while they wintered in the area. “It was of good taste and did not disagree with us. ”That's what Munk wrote in his journal.
Over the years, the animals' coming has earned the town the name of“Polar Bear Capital of the World. ”Today, Churchill's bear population goes beyond its human population. There used to be about 7, 000 residents but now only 813 living there. There was no such thing as an organized tour group to see the bears until 1980. The town might have been in terrible financial hardships. But the growing bear tourism industry helped.
Today, some 10, 000 tourists come to the town to see polar bears for six weeks in autumn every year. But the reasons why they come are different from before. Everyone was happier and they had such a good time seeing polar bears. Now things have changed because the word is out that this Western Hudson Bay population of bears, Churchill Bears, are going to be the first population of polar bears to die out. So when the tourists come up, they all have a little bit of a lump in their throats（如鲠在喉）because they're looking at a beautiful bear, but they're also looking at a dying-out bear, which makes the whole attitude toward the bears different. Unfortunately, that's becoming the major part of the whole attraction of the tours as well. Come and see the bears before it's too late.
1. What can we learn about Churchill polar bears from the text？| A．They have eaten up the seals in the Hudson Bay. |
| B．They come to Churchill at the same time every year. |
| C．They move to Churchill to escape the northern winds. |
| D．They are so dangerous that most natives left their home. |
| A．They fed many polar bears. | B．Polar bears were dangerous. |
| C．They hunted a bear for food. | D．They found some seals in the bay. |
| A．They make many people settle down. | B．They attract many hunters to come here. |
| C．They bring much tourist income. | D．They supply food to locals. |
| A．To say good-bye to Churchill Bears. | B．To help polar bears become happier. |
| C．To take photos with Churchill Bears. | D．To stop polar bears going to the town. |
【推荐3】Many students study with little thought about what comes after a period of study. But what you do after study could have an effect on how well you learn and remember new information. Today on Education Tips, we will explore two no-cost ways that can help you improve your learning: wakeful rest and sleep.
When many students finish study, they often go straight to other activities such as looking at their phones or computers, playing video games or watching TV. But researches suggest that resting after you study may help you remember what you have studied. By reducing your activity after a study period, your brain gets a chance to rest. Resting is difficult when you have too much stimulation from electronic devices, games, lights and so on. While this might sound unusual to you, many studies have explored the benefits of what is called “wakeful rest”.
A 2019 study found that both young and older adults were able to better remember or recollect information from passages after doing wakeful rest. The findings appeared in Neuroscience Letters. This study involved 45 younger people and 40 elderly adults. “Wakeful rest led to higher overall recollection in both age groups,” the researchers noted. If you want to give it a try, here are a few simple things to do. Rest quietly for five to ten minutes. Do not look at your phone, read stories or play games.
In addition to wakeful rest, sleep is also important for learning. The Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School notes that sleep helps people to learn in two ways. A report on the school's website explains that “a person who doesn't have enough sleep cannot focus attention and therefore cannot learn well.” It also says, “Sleep itself has a role in improving memory, which is important for learning new information.”
1. What should students do after study according to the passage?| A．Play video games. | B．Watch TV. |
| C．Look at their phones. | D．Rest for a while. |
| A．A phone. | B．A game. | C．Wakeful rest. | D．Some information. |
| A．They cannot concentrate attention. |
| B．They are likely to lose interest in games. |
| C．They become more interested in new information. |
| D．They can remember new information more quickly. |
| A．Actors. | B．Drivers. | C．Students. | D．Engineers. |
| A．Findings on Sleep | B．Things to Do after Study |
| C．Suggestions on Education | D．Activities to Stay Energetic |
