评论
打印
You can see it in the logarithmic whorl of a nautilus. The milky iridescence of an abalone. The spiked turret of a queen conch. Precision, elegance, strength.
这些特性你可以在鹦鹉螺的对数螺旋状螺层上看到。可以在鲍螺的乳白色虹彩上看到。也可以在女王凤凰螺的尖状螺塔上看到。那就是精准、优雅、强韧。
The seashell is a consonance of form and function that both rivals and guides human creativity.
贝壳是形态与功能的调和，既可媲美人类的创造力，也引导了人类的创意。
From Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" to Frank Lloyd Wright's design for the Guggenheim Museum in New York, shells have inspired artists and architects throughout history.
从波提切利的“维纳斯的诞生”，到弗兰克·劳埃德·赖特为纽约古根海姆博物馆所做的设计，历来许许多多艺术家和建筑师都从贝壳汲取灵感。
Our admiration for seashells even predates writing.
我们甚至在有文字之前就懂得欣赏贝壳。
Archaeologists in Israel recently unearthed the remains of a clamshell necklace made about 120,000 years ago.
以色列考古学家最近挖出一条蚌壳项链的残片，是距今约12万年前制作的。
As enduring as our fascination with seashells are the mysteries they hold.
贝壳的神秘面纱也和我们对贝壳的迷恋一样历久不衰。
How did such complex and beautiful structures come into existence?
如此复杂而美丽的构造，到底是怎么形成的？
Evolution by natural selection can help explain why shells became widespread among mollusks, but it cannot fully elucidate how an individual creature builds a skeleton as exquisite as, say, the exceptionally spiny shell of a Venus comb murex.
自然选择的进化或许能解释贝类为什么会变成分布很广的软体动物，却无法完整阐明单一个体，比如说维那斯骨螺，如何形成长满尖刺的精致骨架。
To truly understand the seashell, we must peer beneath its biology to the underlying math and physics.
想要真正了解贝壳，就必须探究贝类生理构造背后的数学与物理学。
In recent years, scientists undertaking such work have developed a considerably more sophisticated understanding of the physical forces that guide shell formation.
近年来，从事这方面研究工作的科学家已经对主导贝壳形成的物理作用力获得更深入的见解。
Innovative studies by Derek Moulton, a professor of applied mathematics at the University of Oxford, and his colleagues have revealed that much of the astonishing variety of seashells can be explained by a few simple mathematical principles.
牛津大学应用数学教授德瑞克·摩尔顿和同事的创新研究发现，只要少数几个简单的数学原理，就能解释贝壳大部分的惊人多样性。
Every mollusk's body is surrounded by a mantle, a cloaklike organ that secretes calcium carbonate and mixes it with a scaffolding of protein to form a shell one layer at a time.
所有的软体动物都有一层外套膜包裹着，这层像斗篷般的器官会分泌碳酸钙，并把碳酸钙和支架蛋白混合在一起而逐渐层叠形成贝壳。
As a mollusk expands its shell, it adds new material to only one area: the opening, or aperture.
随着软体动物的壳越长越大，新的材料只会增添在一个部位：开口处，称为壳口。
Envision this as a circle. If, with each new layer, a mollusk deposits a ring of material the same size as the aperture, its shell will lengthen into a cylinder.
把这个开口想像成一个圆形。如果一个软体动物每次形成一层壳时沉淀出的一圈新材料，都跟壳口一样大，他的壳就会逐渐加长，最后变成圆柱状。
If, instead, the mollusk increases the circumference of each new ring, its shell will become a cone.
而要是这个软体动物每次都让那圈新材料的圆周长增加一些，他的壳就会变成圆锥状。
By depositing more material on one side of the opening than the other, a mollusk can curve a cylindrical shell into a doughnut.
只要让开口的其中一边沉淀的材料比另一边多，他就能把圆柱状的壳弯曲成甜甜圈的形状。
Imagine gluing a stack of lopsided rings, one atop another -- each thicker on its left side than its right.
现在再想像要把一叠左边比右边厚的材料圈黏在一起，一圈接着一圈往上叠。
Instead of forming a neat cylindrical tower as uniform rings would, they'd arc to one side -- like the wedges in a stone archway -- and eventually make a loop.
最后黏成的形状不会像左右两边均匀的材料圈所形成的笔直圆柱，而是会弯向一边，就像石造拱门的楔形石块一样，最后形成环状。
By rotating the points where the mantle secretes more or less material, a mollusk can twist such a loop into a spiraling tube.
如果再把外套膜分泌较多或较少材料的位置轮替一下，这哥软体动物就可以把这种环状物扭转成螺旋形的管状了。
