時(shí)差N小時(shí):我的大腦是靜止的還是不斷變化的?

Scientists used to think that for all its complexity,the brain was pretty static.

科學(xué)家們過(guò)去常常認(rèn)為，大腦因?yàn)槠鋸?fù)雜性而呈現(xiàn)出靜止?fàn)顟B(tài)。

Once the brainmatured, it essentially stoppedgrowing and changing.

一旦成熟，大腦基本上就會(huì)停止生長(zhǎng)和變化。

And when neurons, or brain cells, were lostordamaged, they were gone for good.

當(dāng)神經(jīng)元或大腦細(xì)胞丟失或損壞時(shí)，大腦就會(huì)壞死掉。

But recent discoveries have caused neuroscientists tochange their tune.

但是最近的發(fā)現(xiàn)讓神經(jīng)學(xué)家改變了看法。

The human brain isanything but static-in fact, it's constantly growing and changing as itadapts to new informationand circumstances.

人類的大腦絕不是靜止的，事實(shí)上，它是隨著對(duì)新信息和新環(huán)境的適應(yīng)不斷生長(zhǎng)和變化的。

For example, scientists now know that there's a mechanism in the hippocampus a brainpartinvolved with memory, among other things that gives birth to new brain cells.

舉個(gè)例子來(lái)說(shuō)，現(xiàn)在科學(xué)家們知道大腦內(nèi)存在一種叫做海馬體的記憶機(jī)制，可以產(chǎn)成新的大腦細(xì)胞。

Scientists don'tknow exactly why the brain makes new cells or what the cells do.

但是，科學(xué)家們不能確切地知道大腦為什么能生成新細(xì)胞，而這些細(xì)胞又能做什么。

They may have something todo with forming memories, or be used to replace dead ordamaged cells.

它們可能和形成記憶有關(guān)，或者被用于代替老去或損壞的細(xì)胞。

In any case, in a recent experiment, scientists working with mice shut down their brains' abilitytomake new cells.

不管怎樣，在最近的一次實(shí)驗(yàn)中，科學(xué)家們用老鼠進(jìn)行實(shí)驗(yàn)，他們消除了這些老鼠們大腦生成新細(xì)胞的能力。

At first, the researchers observed that the mice had reduced functioning in cellularmechanismsin the brain important for memory formation.

起初，研究人員觀測(cè)到，老鼠大腦中對(duì)記憶生成非常重要的細(xì)胞機(jī)制的功能降低了。

But after about six weeks, they noticed that the mice's brains had begun to compensatebymaking existing neurons more active.

但是大約六周之后他們又發(fā)現(xiàn)，老鼠的大腦通過(guò)使現(xiàn)有的神經(jīng)元變得更加活躍從而彌補(bǔ)之前的損失。

Relatively newborn neurons created before the researchersshut down the neuron birthingprocess reacted by living longer than they normally would-almostas though they knew thatreplacements would not be forthcoming and so they had to workovertime to help the brain getback on course.

相對(duì)地，在研究人員阻止神經(jīng)元生成之前生成的神經(jīng)元比一般生成的存活更長(zhǎng)—就好像它們知道自己不會(huì)被很快代替，所以它們必須延時(shí)工作來(lái)幫助大腦回到正軌上。

This research is of the most basic, foundational kind. But knowing more about how thebrainresponds to changes could eventually have profound implications for how doctorsunderstandand treat Alzheimer's, dementia, and other brain illnesses.

這項(xiàng)研究是最為基礎(chǔ)的研究。但是，對(duì)大腦是如何變化的了解越多，就會(huì)對(duì)醫(yī)生了解與治療老年癡呆癥、癡呆和其它大腦疾病產(chǎn)生更為深遠(yuǎn)的意義。