Is Your Bed Dirtier than Chimpanzees??? 你的床比大猩猩的還要臟?

A study comparing swabs taken from chimp nests with those from human beds found that peoples sheets and mattresses harboured far more bacteria from their bodies than the animals beds did from theirs.

研究員們分別從黑猩猩的窩和人類的床鋪上采取了樣本進行比較。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，人類床單和床墊上的細菌要遠遠多于黑猩猩窩里的。

The researchers say their findings suggest that our attempts to create clean environments for ourselves may actually make our surroundings “l(fā)ess ideal”.

相關(guān)人員稱，結(jié)果表明我們往往想要創(chuàng)立一個清潔的環(huán)境，但卻往往會適得其反。

More than a third—35 percent of the bacteria in human beds comes from our own saliva， skin and faecal particles. By contrast， chimps—humans closest evolutionary relatives—appear to sleep with few such bacteria. “We found almost none of those microbes in the chimpanzee nests， which was a little surprising，” said Megan Thoemmes， lead author of the paper.

人類床鋪上超過三分之一（35%）的細菌來自于唾液、皮膚以及排泄物殘留。相反，黑猩猩——人類的近親，它們周邊的細菌反而更少。論文的主要作者Megan Thoemmes稱：“令人有些驚訝的是，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)黑猩猩的窩里根本沒有這些細菌。”

The researchers collected samples from 41 chimpanzee beds or nests in Tanzania and tested them for microbial biodiversity. At 15 primates nests， researchers also used vacuums to find out whether there were arthropods， such as insects， spiders， mites and ticks. “We also expected to see a significant number of arthropod parasites， but we didnt，” said Ms Thoemmes.

實驗采集了41個坦桑尼亞黑猩猩的床或窩作為樣本，并檢測了上面的微生物多樣性。在15個黑猩猩的窩里，研究人員還用吸塵器檢測它們的巢穴中是否有諸如昆蟲、蜘蛛、螨蟲、虱子等節(jié)肢動物。Thoemmes女士說：“我們原以為會看到大量的節(jié)肢動物寄生蟲，然而結(jié)果并非如此，”

In addition， the team were shocked to find very few fleas， lice and bed bugs— ectoparasites—in the chimp nests. Although they sleep surrounded by fewer bodily bacteria， chimps had a more diverse range of other natural bacteria from their leafy surroundings， the research found. Ms Thoemmes said she believes humans susceptibility to autoimmune diseases and allergies could be linked to these differences.

另外，團隊還驚訝于他們在黑猩猩的窩里只找到了數(shù)量很少的跳蚤、虱子以及臭蟲等體表寄生蟲。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，盡管黑猩猩睡覺時周圍的身體細菌較少，但它們在多葉環(huán)境中有更多種類的其他天然細菌。Thoemmes 女士稱，她認為人類自身免疫系統(tǒng)的敏感性以及過敏反應(yīng)與這些差異息息相關(guān)。

Word Bank

swab /sw?b/ n. （用拭子采集的）化驗樣本

Take a swab in the nose and send it to the lab.

arthropod /'ɑ?θr?p?d/ n. 節(jié)肢動物

The world largest arthropod is the Japanese Spider Crab.

ectoparasite /ekt?'p?r?sa?t/ n. 皮外寄生物，外寄生蟲