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Caterpillar's Innards Move Before It Does

毛毛蟲向前走路，內(nèi)臟先行一步

Imagine if before you took each step, your guts lurched up into your throat. Well, caterpillars don't have to imagine - they take such drastic steps every day.

試想一下，若你每往前邁一步，肚子里的內(nèi)臟都會涌到嗓子眼兒，會是個什么感覺？毛毛蟲可就不用費盡腦汁來想像了——它們每天都是邁著這么激烈的步伐前進的！

Researchers were interested in how fluids move around inside a caterpillar. So they put one on a treadmill and x-rayed it while it walked. Caterpillars move by a wave that starts at the back end of their body and sweeps through each segment until it reaches the head, pushing it forward. The scientists had assumed that the guts were squished or squeezed or wobbled about like a bowl of jello in a moving car.

研究人員很好奇毛毛蟲體內(nèi)的流質(zhì)究竟是如何運動的。因此，他們將一個毛毛蟲放在跑步機上，并在其運動時用X射線照射檢查。毛毛蟲通過制造一個波來實現(xiàn)運動，這個波從毛毛蟲身體的最末端開始，再綿延至身體的各個體節(jié)，直至頭部，從而將毛毛蟲的整個身體向前推送?？茖W(xué)家們曾假設(shè)毛毛蟲的內(nèi)臟會被壓扁或被擠壓或是晃動游移，就好像在一輛移動到汽車里放置的一碗果凍那樣。

They were surprised instead to find that the insects move via an integrated, two-stage system in which their guts go forward before their outer body does. So, their innards do slide into their throat, but it's a controlled glide. The finding was published online in the journal Current Biology.

而令他們驚奇的是，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，毛毛蟲并未像他們設(shè)想的那樣，這種肉蟲蟲通過一種綜合的、兩階段的系統(tǒng)運動，在此過程中，它們的內(nèi)臟會在身體移動之前就向前移動。因此，它們的內(nèi)臟的確會滑向嗓子眼兒，但這種滑動是可控制的。這一研究成果發(fā)表在《當代生物學(xué)》的網(wǎng)絡(luò)版上。

The researchers describe the way of walking as "unlike any form of legged locomotion previously reported." The discovery is already being investigated by engineers for possible soft-bodied robots. Because no guts, no glory.

研究人員將這種步行方式描述成“不同于以往報告過的任何形式的步態(tài)運動”。這一研究發(fā)現(xiàn)已被工程師用于研究設(shè)計可實現(xiàn)的軟體機器人。要知道，愛拼才會贏嘛！

-Molly Webster

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