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Caterpillar's Innards Move Before It Does

毛毛虫向前走路，内脏先行一步

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.

试想一下，若你每往前迈一步，肚子里的内脏都会涌到嗓子眼儿，会是个什么感觉？毛毛虫可就不用费尽脑汁来想像了——它们每天都是迈着这么激烈的步伐前进的！

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.

研究人员很好奇毛毛虫体内的流质究竟是如何运动的。因此，他们将一个毛毛虫放在跑步机上，并在其运动时用X射线照射检查。毛毛虫通过制造一个波来实现运动，这个波从毛毛虫身体的最末端开始，再绵延至身体的各个体节，直至头部，从而将毛毛虫的整个身体向前推送。科学家们曾假设毛毛虫的内脏会被压扁或被挤压或是晃动游移，就好像在一辆移动到汽车里放置的一碗果冻那样。

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.

而令他们惊奇的是，他们发现，毛毛虫并未像他们设想的那样，这种肉虫虫通过一种综合的、两阶段的系统运动，在此过程中，它们的内脏会在身体移动之前就向前移动。因此，它们的内脏的确会滑向嗓子眼儿，但这种滑动是可控制的。这一研究成果发表在《当代生物学》的网络版上。

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.

研究人员将这种步行方式描述成“不同于以往报告过的任何形式的步态运动”。这一研究发现已被工程师用于研究设计可实现的软体机器人。要知道，爱拼才会赢嘛！

-Molly Webster

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