Don't wash those fossils!

Standard museum practice can wash away DNA.

1.Washing, brushing and varnishing fossils — all standard conservation treatments used by many fossil hunters and museum curators alike — vastly reduces the chances of recovering ancient DNA.

2.Instead, excavators should be handling at least some of their bounty with gloves, and freezing samples as they are found, dirt and all, concludes a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences today.

3.Although many palaeontologists know anecdotally that this is the best way to up the odds of extracting good DNA, Eva-Maria Geigl of the Jacques Monod Institute in Paris, France, and her colleagues have now shown just how important conservation practices can be.This information, they say, needs to be hammered home among the people who are actually out in the field digging up bones.

4.Geigl and her colleagues looked at 3,200-year-old fossil bones belonging to a single individual of an extinct cattle species, called an aurochs.The fossils were dug up at a site in France at two different times — either in 1947, and stored in a museum collection, or in 2004, and conserved in sterile conditions at -20 oC.

5.The team's attempts to extract DNA from the 1947 bones all failed.The newly excavated fossils, however, all yielded DNA.

6.Because the bones had been buried for the same amount of time, and in the same conditions, the conservation method had to be to blame says Geigl."As much DNA was degraded in these 57 years as in the 3,200 years before," she says.

Wash in, wash out

7.Because many palaeontologists base their work on the shape of fossils alone, their methods of conservation are not designed to preserve DNA, Geigl explains.

8.The biggest problem is how they are cleaned.Fossils are often washed together on-site in a large bath, which can allow water — and contaminants in the form of contemporary DNA — to permeate into the porous bones."Not only is the authentic DNA getting washed out, but contamination is getting washed in," says Geigl.

9.Most ancient DNA specialists know this already, says Hendrik Poinar, an evolutionary geneticist at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.But that doesn't mean that best practice has become widespread among those who actually find the fossils.

10.Getting hold of fossils that have been preserved with their DNA in mind relies on close relationships between lab-based geneticists and the excavators, says palaeogeneticist Svante P bo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.And that only occurs in exceptional cases, he says.

11.P bo's team, which has been sequencing Neanderthal DNA, continually faces these problems."When you want to study ancient human and Neanderthal remains, there's a big issue of contamination with contemporary human DNA," he says.

12.This doesn't mean that all museum specimens are fatally flawed, notes P bo.The Neanderthal fossils that were recently sequenced in his own lab, for example, had been part of a museum collection treated in the traditional way.But P bo is keen to see samples of fossils from every major find preserved in line with Geigl's recommendations — just in case.

Warm and wet

13.Geigl herself believes that, with cooperation between bench and field researchers, preserving fossils properly could open up avenues of discovery that have long been assumed closed.

14.Much human cultural development took place in temperate regions.DNA does not survive well in warm environments in the first place, and can vanish when fossils are washed and treated.For this reason, Geigl says, most ancient DNA studies have been done on permafrost samples, such as the woolly mammoth, or on remains sheltered from the elements in cold caves — including cave bear and Neanderthal fossils.

15.Better conservation methods, and a focus on fresh fossils, could boost DNA extraction from more delicate specimens, says Geigl.And that could shed more light on the story of human evolution.

(640 words nature )

Glossary

Palaeontologists 古生物学家

Aurochs 欧洲野牛

Neanderthal (人类学)尼安德特人，旧石器时代的古人类。

Permafrost (地理)永冻层

Questions 1-6

Answer the following questions by using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

1.How did people traditionally treat fossils?

2.What suggestions do Geigl and her colleagues give on what should be done when fossils are found?

3.What problems may be posed if fossil bones are washed on-site? Name ONE.

4.What characteristic do fossil bones have to make them susceptible to be contaminated with contemporary DNA when they are washed?

5.What could be better understood when conservation treatments are improved?

6.The passage mentioned several animal species studied by researchers.How many of them are mentioned?

Questions 7-11

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? Please write TRUE if the statement agrees with the writer FALSE if the statement does not agree with the writer NOT GIVEN if there is no information about this in the passage.

7.In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences，Geigl and her colleagues have shown what conservation practices should be followed to preserve ancient DNA.

8.The fossil bones that Geigl and her colleagues studied are all from the same aurochs.

9.Geneticists don't have to work on site.

10.Only newly excavated fossil bones using new conservation methods suggested by Geigl and her colleagues contain ancient DNA.

11.Paabo is still worried about the potential problems caused by treatments of fossils in traditional way.

Questions 12-13

Complete the following the statements by choosing letter A-D for each answer.

12.“This information” in paragraph 3 indicates:

[A] It is critical to follow proper practices in preserving ancient DNA.

[B] The best way of getting good DNA is to handle fossils with gloves.

[C] Fossil hunters should wear home-made hammers while digging up bones.

[D] Many palaeontologists know how one should do in treating fossils.

13.The study conducted by Geigl and her colleagues suggests:

[A] the fact that ancient DNA can not be recovered from fossil bones excavated in the past.

[B] the correlation between the amount of burying time and that of the recovered DNA.

[C] the pace at which DNA degrades.

[D] the correlation between conservation practices and degradation of DNA.

SellingDigitalMusicwithoutCopy-protectionMakesSense

A.　Itwasuncharacteristicallylow-keyfortheindustry’sgreatestshowman.ButtheessaypublishedthisweekbySteveJobs,thebossofApple,onhisfirm’swebsiteundertheunassumingtitle“ThoughtsonMusic”hasnonethelessprovokedavigorousdebateaboutthefutureofdigitalmusic,whichAppledominateswithitsiPodmusic-playerandiTunesmusic-store.Atissueis“digitalrightsmanagement”(DRM)—thetechnologyguardingdownloadedmusicagainsttheft.SincethereisnocommonstandardforDRM,italsohastheside-effectthatsongspurchasedforonetypeofmusic-playermaynotworkonanother.Apple’sDRMsystem,calledFairPlay,isthemostwidespread.SoitcameasasurprisewhenMr.JobscalledforDRMfordigitalmusictobeabolished.

B.　ThisisachangeoftackforApple.IthascomeunderfirefromEuropeanregulatorswhoclaimthatitsrefusaltolicenseFairPlaytootherfirmshas“lockedin”customers.SincemusicfromtheiTunesstorecannotbeplayedonnon-iPodmusic-players(atleastnotwithoutalotoffiddling),anyiTunesbuyerwillbedeterredfromswitchingtoadevicemadebyarivalfirm,suchasSonyorMicrosoft.WhenFrenchlawmakersdraftedabilllastyearcompellingAppletoopenupFairPlaytorivals,thecompanywarnedof“state-sponsoredpiracy”.OnlyDRM,itimplied,couldkeepthepiratesatbay.

C.　ThisweekMr.JobsgaveanotherexplanationforhisformerdefenceofDRM:therecordcompaniesmadehimdoit.TheywouldmaketheirmusicavailabletotheiTunesstoreonlyifAppleagreedtoprotectitusingDRM.TheycanstillwithdrawtheircataloguesiftheDRMsystemiscompromised.ApplecannotlicenseFairPlaytoothers,saysMrJobs,becauseitwoulddependonthemtoproducesecurityfixespromptly.AllDRMdoesisrestrictconsumerchoiceandprovideabarriertoentry,saysMrJobs;withoutittherewouldbefarmorestoresandplayers,andfarmoreinnovation.So,hesuggests,whynotdoawaywithDRMandsellmusicunprotected?“Thisisclearlythebestalternativeforconsumers,”hedeclares,“andApplewouldembraceitinaheartbeat.”

D.　Whythesuddenchangeofheart?MrJobsseemschieflyconcernedwithgettingEurope’sregulatorsoffhisback.RatherthancomplainingtoAppleaboutitsuseofDRM,hesuggests,“thoseunhappywiththecurrentsituationshouldredirecttheirenergiestowardspersuadingthemusiccompaniestoselltheirmusicDRM-free.”Twoandahalfofthefourbigrecordcompanies,hehelpfullypointsout,areEuropean-owned.MrJobsalsohopestopainthimselfasaconsumerchampion.AppleresentsaccusationsthatithasbecometheMicrosoftofdigitalmusic.

E.　Applecanaffordtoembraceopencompetitioninmusicplayersandonlinestores.Consumerswouldgravitatetothebestplayerandthebeststore,andatthemomentthatstillmeansApple’s.MrJobsisevidentlyunfazedbyrivalstotheiPod.Sinceonly3%ofthemusicinatypicaliTuneslibraryisprotected,mostofitcanalreadybeusedonotherplayerstoday,henotes.(AndeventheprotectedtrackscanbeburnedontoaCDandthenre-ripped.)SoApple’sdominanceevidentlydependsfarmoreonbrandingandeaseofusethanDRM-related“lockin”.

F.　ThemusicgiantsaretryingDRM-freedownloads.Lotsofsmallerlabelsalreadysellmusicthatway.Havingseenwhichwaythewindisblowing,MrJobsnowwantstobeseennotasDRM’sdefender,butasaconsumerchampionwhohelpedinitsdownfall.Wouldn’titleadtoasurgeinpiracy?No,becausemostmusicisstillsoldunprotectedonCDs,peoplewishingtostealmusicalreadycandoso.Indeed,scrappingDRMwouldprobablyincreaseonline-musicsalesbyreducingconfusionandincompatibility.Withtheleadingonlinestore,Applewouldbenefitmost.MrJobs’sargument,inshort,istransparentlyself-serving.Italsohappenstoberight.

NotestoReadingPassage1

1.low-key:

抑制的，受约束的，屈服的

2.showman:

开展览会的人,出风头的人物

3.unassuming:

谦逊的,不夸耀的,不装腔作势的

4.iPod：

(苹果公司出产的)音乐播放器

5.iTunesstore：

(苹果公司出产的)在线音乐商店

6.getoffperson’sback:

不再找某人的麻烦，摆脱某人的纠缠

7.gravitate:

受吸引，倾向于

8.unfazed:

不再担忧，不被打扰

Questions1-7

DothefollowingstatemetsreflecttheclaimsofthewriterinReadingPassage1?

WriteyouranswerinBoxes1-7onyouranswersheet.

TRUEifthestatementrefletstheclaimsofthewriter

FALSEifthestatementcontradictstheclaimsofthewriter

NOTGIVENifitisimpossbiletosaywhatthewriterthinksaboutthis

1.AppleenjoysacontrollingpositionindigitalmusicmarketwithitsiPodmusic-playerandiTunesmusic-store.

2.DRMisagovernmentdecreeissuedwithapurposetoprotectdownloadedmusicfromtheftbyconsumers.

3.LackofstandardizationinDRMmakessongsboughtforonekindofmusicplayermaynotfunctiononanother.

4.ApplehasbeencriticizedbyEuropeanregulatorssinceithasrefusedtograntalicenseFairPlaytootherfirms.

5.Allmusiccanbeeasilyplayedonnon-iPodmusicdevicesfromSonyorMicrosoftwithouttoomuchfiddling.

6.AppledependsfarmoreonDRMratherthanbrandingforitsdominanceofthedigitalmusicdevices.

7.IfDRMwascancelled,Sonywouldcertainlydominatetheinternationaldigitalmusicmarket.

Questions8-10

ChoosetheappropriatelettersA-Dandwritetheminboxes8-10onyouranswesheet.

8.WhichofthefollowingstatementsaboutMr.Jobs’ideaofDRMisNOTTRUE?

A.DRMplacesrestrictionsonconsumer’choiceofdigitalmusicproductsavailable.

B.DRMcomplesiTunesbuyerstoswitchtoadevicemadebySonyorMicrosoft.

C.DRMconstitutesabarrierforpotentialconsumerstoenterdigitalmusicmarkets.

D.DRMhindersdevelopmentofmorestoresandplayersandtechnicalinnovation.

9.Theword“unfazed”inline3ofparagraphE,means___________.

A.refused

B.welcomed

C.notbothered

D.notwellreceived

10.WhichofthefollowingstatementsisTRUEifDRMwasscapped?

A.Sonywouldgainthemostprofit.

B.Morecustomerswouldbe“lockedin”.

C.Asuddenincreaseinpiracywouldoccur.

D.Online-musicsaleswouldprobablydecrease.

Questions11-14

Completethenotesbelow.

ChooseNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSfromReadingPassage1foreachanswer.

Writeyouranswersinboxes11-14onyouranswersheet.

Mr.SteveJobs,thebossofApple,explainsthereasonwhyheusedtodefendDRM,sayingthatthecompanywasforcedtodoso:therecordcompanieswouldmaketheirmusicaccessibleto…11...onlyiftheyagreedtoprotectitusingDRM;theycanstill…12…iftheDRMsystemiscompromised.HealsoprovidesthereasonwhyAppledidnotlicenseFairPlaytoothers:thecompanyreliesonthemto…13….ButnowhechangeshismindwithapossibleexpectationthatEurope’sregulatorswouldnottroublehimanymoreinthefuture.Heproposesthatthosewhoareunsatisfactorywiththecurrentsituationindigitalmusicmarketshould…14…towardspersuadethemusiccompaniestoselltheirmusicDRM-free.

-----Tinahadnothingforbreakfast,____________she?

-----_____________.Shehadsomebreadandmilk.

1. A European spacecraft took off today to spearhead the search for another "Earth" among the stars.

2. The Corot space telescope blasted off aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan shortly after 2.20pm.

3. Corot, short for convection rotation and planetary transits, is the first instrument capable of finding small rocky planets beyond the solar system. Any such planet situated in the right orbit stands a good chance of having liquid water on its surface, and quite possibly life, although a leading scientist involved in the project said it was unlikely to find "any little green men".

4. Developed by the French space agency, CNES, and partnered by the European Space Agency (ESA), Austria, Belgium, Germany, Brazil and Spain, Corot will monitor around 120,000 stars with its 27cm telescope from a polar orbit 514 miles above the Earth. Over two and a half years, it will focus on five to six different areas of the sky, measuring the brightness of about 10,000 stars every 512 seconds.

5. "At the present moment we are hoping to find out more about the nature of planets around stars which are potential habitats. We are looking at habitable planets, not inhabited planets. We are not going to find any little green men," Professor Ian Roxburgh, an ESA scientist who has been involved with Corot since its inception, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

6. Prof Roxburgh said it was hoped Corot would find "rocky planets that could develop an atmosphere and, if they are the right distance from their parent star, they could have water".

7. To search for planets, the telescope will look for the dimming of starlight caused when an object passes in front of a star, known as a "transit". Although it will take more sophisticated space telescopes planned in the next 10 years to confirm the presence of an Earth-like planet with oxygen and liquid water, Corot will let scientists know where to point their lenses.

8. Measurements of minute changes in brightness will enable scientists to detect giant Jupiter-like gas planets as well as small rocky ones. It is the rocky planets - that could be no bigger than about twice the size of the Earth - which will cause the most excitement. Scientists expect to find between 10 and 40 of these smaller planets.

9. Corot will also probe into stellar interiors by studying the acoustic waves that ripple across the surface of stars, a technique called "asteroseismology".

10. The nature of the ripples allows astronomers to calculate a star’s precise mass, age and chemical composition.

11. "A planet passing in front of a star can be detected by the fall in light from that star. Small oscillations of the star also produce changes in the light emitted, which reveal what the star is made of and how they are structured internally. This data will provide a major boost to our understanding of how stars form and evolve," Prof Roxburgh said.

12. Since the discovery in 1995 of the first "exoplanet" - a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun - more than 200 others have been found by ground-based observatories.

13. Until now the usual method of finding exoplanets has been to detect the "wobble" their gravity imparts on parent stars. But only giant gaseous planets bigger than Jupiter can be found this way, and they are unlikely to harbour life.

14. In the 2010s, ESA plans to launch Darwin, a fleet of four or five interlinked space telescopes that will not only spot small rocky planets, but analyse their atmospheres for signs of biological activity.

15. At around the same time, the US space agency, Nasa, will launch Terrestrial Planet Finder, another space telescope designed to locate Earth-like planets.

Choose the appropriate letter from A-D for question 1.

1. Corot is an instrument which

(A) can help to search for certain planets

(B) is used to find planets in the orbit

(C) can locate planets with human beings

(D) can spot any planets with water.

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage? For questions 2-5 write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contraicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage

2. Scientists are trying to find out about the planets that can be inhabited.

3. BBC Radio 4 recently focuses on the broadcasting of Corot.

4. Passing objects might cause a fall in light.

5. Corot can tell whether there is another Earth-like planet.

Based on your reading of the passage, complete the sentences below with words taken from the passage. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

With measurements, scientists will be able to search for some gaseous and rocky planets. They will be extremely excited if they can discover some small 6. __________, the expected number of which could be up to 7. __________ .

Corot will enable scientists to study the 8. __________ of stars. In this way, a star’s mass, age and chemical composition can be calculated.

According to Prof Roxburgh, changes in light can be caused by passing planets or star 9. __________. The related statistics can gain us a better 10. __________ of the star formation and evolvement.

Observatories have found many exoplanets, which are 11. __________ other stars than the Sun. The common way used in finding exoplanets can only detect huge gas planets, which do not 12. ___________ .

With the launching of Darwin, astronomers will be able to analyse whether those rocky planets have 13. __________ for life.

Felicity Lawrence

Thursday December 28, 2006

The Guardian

1. Consumers are to be presented with two rival new year advertising campaigns as the Food Standards Agency goes public in its battle with the industry over the labelling of unhealthy foods.

2. The Guardian has learned that the FSA will launch a series of 10-second television adverts in January telling shoppers how to follow a red, amber and green traffic light labelling system on the front of food packs, which is designed to tackle Britain’s obesity epidemic.

3. The campaign is a direct response to a concerted attempt by leading food manufacturers and retailers, including Kellogg’s and Tesco, to derail the system. The industry fears that traffic lights would demonise entire categories of foods and could seriously damage the market for those that are fatty, salty or high in sugar.

4. The UK market for breakfast cereals is worth ￡1.27bn a year and the manufacturers fear it will be severely dented if red light labels are put on packaging drawing attention to the fact that the majority are high in salt and/or sugar.

5. The industry is planning a major marketing campaign for a competing labelling system which avoids colour-coding in favour of information about the percentage of "guideline daily amounts" (GDAs) of fat, salt and sugar contained in their products.

6. The battle for the nation’s diet comes as new rules on television advertising come into force in January which will bar adverts for unhealthy foods from commercial breaks during programmes aimed at children. Sources at the TV regulators are braced for a legal challenge from the industry and have described the lobbying efforts to block any new ad ban or colour-coded labelling as "the most ferocious we’ve ever experienced".

7. Ofcom’s chief executive, Ed Richards, said: "We are prepared to face up to any legal action from the industry, but we very much hope it will not be necessary." The FSA said it was expecting an onslaught from the industry in January. Senior FSA officials said the manufacturers’ efforts to undermine its proposals on labelling could threaten the agency’s credibility.

8. Terrence Collis, FSA director of communications, dismissed claims that the proposals were not based on science. "We have some of the most respected scientists in Europe, both within the FSA and in our independent advisory committees. It is unjustified and nonsensical to attack the FSA’s scientific reputation and to try to undermine its credibility."

9. The FSA is understood to have briefed its ad agency, United, before Christmas, and will aim to air ads that are "non-confrontational, humorous and factual" as a counterweight to industry’s efforts about the same time. The agency, however, will have a tiny fraction of the budget available to the industry.

10. Gavin Neath, chairman of Unilever UK and president of the Food and Drink Federation, has said that the industry has made enormous progress but could not accept red "stop" signs on its food.

11. Alastair Sykes, chief executive of Nestlé UK, said that under the FSA proposals all his company’s confectionery and most of its cereals would score a red. "Are we saying people shouldn’t eat confectionery? We’re driven by consumers and what they want, and much of what we do has been to make our products healthier," he said.

12. Chris Wermann, director of communications at Kellogg’s, said: "In principle we could never accept traffic light labelling."

13. The rival labelling scheme introduced by Kellogg’s, Danone, Unilever, Nestlé, Kraft and Tesco and now favoured by 21 manufacturers, uses an industry-devised system based on identifying GDAs of key nutrients. Tesco says it has tested both traffic lights and GDA labels in its stores and that the latter increased sales of healthier foods.

14. But the FSA said it could not live with this GDA system alone because it was "not scientific" or easy for shoppers to understand at a glance.

Questions 1-6

Answer the questions below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

1. When will instructions be given on reading the color-coded labels?

2. Where can customers find the red light labels?

3. What problem is the FSA trying to handle with the labeling system?

4. Which product sells well but may not be healthy?

5. What information, according to the manufacturers, can be labeled on products?

6. What can not be advertised during children’s programmes?

Questions 7-13

Use the information in the text to match the people (listed A-E) with the opinions (listed 7-13) below. Write the appropriate letter (A-E) for questions 1-7.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

A Ed Richard

B Terrence Collis

C Gavin Neath

D Alastair Sykes

E Chris Wermann

7. Generally we will not agree to use the red light labels.

8. It is unreasonable to doubt if FSA is trustworthy.

9. We are trying to meet our consumers’ needs.

10. The food industry has been improving greatly.

11. The color-coded labeling system is scientific.

12. Our products will be labeled unhealthy by the FSA.

13. We are ready to confront the manufacturers.