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Rogue theory of smell gets a boost
1.A controversial theory of how we smell, whichclaims that our fine sense of odour depends onquantum mechanics, has been given the thumbs up by a team of physicists.
2.Calculations by researchers at University College London (UCL) show that the idea that wesmell odour molecules by sensing their molecular vibrations makes sense in terms of thephysics involved.
3.That's still some way from proving that the theory, proposed in the mid-1990s bybiophysicist Luca Turin, is correct. But it should make other scientists take the idea moreseriously.
4."This is a big step forward," says Turin, who has now set up his own perfume companyFlexitral in Virginia. He says that since he published his theory, "it has been ignored rather thancriticized."
5.Most scientists have assumed that our sense of smell depends on receptors in the nosedetecting the shape of incoming molecules, which triggers a signal to the brain. This molecular'lock and key' process is thought to lie behind a wide range of the body's detection systems:it is how some parts of the immune system recognise invaders, for example, and how thetongue recognizes some tastes.
6.But Turin argued that smell doesn't seem to fit this picture very well. Molecules that lookalmost identical can smell very different — such as alcohols, which smell like spirits, and thiols,which smell like rotten eggs. And molecules with very different structures can smell similar.Most strikingly, some molecules can smell different — to animals, if not necessarily to humans— simply because they contain different isotopes (atoms that are chemically identical but havea different mass).
7.Turin's explanation for these smelly facts invokes the idea that the smell signal inolfactory receptor proteins is triggered not by an odour molecule's shape, but by its vibrations,which can enourage an electron to jump between two parts of the receptor in a quantum-mechanical process called tunnelling. This electron movement could initiate the smell signalbeing sent to the brain.
8.This would explain why isotopes can smell different: their vibration frequencies arechanged if the atoms are heavier. Turin's mechanism, says Marshall Stoneham of the UCLteam, is more like swipe-card identification than a key fitting a lock.
9.Vibration-assisted electron tunnelling can undoubtedly occur — it is used in anexperimental technique for measuring molecular vibrations. "The question is whether this ispossible in the nose," says Stoneham's colleague, Andrew Horsfield.
10.Stoneham says that when he first heard about Turin's idea, while Turin was himselfbased at UCL, "I didn't believe it". But, he adds, "because it was an interesting idea, I thought Ishould prove it couldn't work. I did some simple calculations, and only then began to feel Lucacould be right." Now Stoneham and his co-workers have done the job more thoroughly, in apaper soon to be published in Physical Review Letters.
11.The UCL team calculated the rates of electron hopping in a nose receptor that has anodorant molecule bound to it. This rate depends on various properties of the biomolecularsystem that are not known, but the researchers could estimate these parameters based ontypical values for molecules of this sort.
12.The key issue is whether the hopping rate with the odorant in place is significantlygreater than that without it. The calculations show that it is — which means that odouridentification in this way seems theoretically possible.
13.But Horsfield stresses that that's different from a proof of Turin's idea. "So far thingslook plausible, but we need proper experimental verification. We're beginning to think aboutwhat experiments could be performed."
14.Meanwhile, Turin is pressing ahead with his hypothesis. "At Flexitral we have beendesigning odorants exclusively on the basis of their computed vibrations," he says. "Oursuccess rate at odorant discovery is two orders of magnitude better than the competition."At the very least, he is putting his money where his nose is.
(668 words Nature)
Questions 1-4 Do the following statements agree with the information given in thepassage? 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
1.The result of the study at UCL agrees with Turin’s theory.
2.The study at UCL could conclusively prove what Luca Turin has hypothesized.
3.Turin left his post at UCL and started his own business because his theory was ignored.
4.The molecules of alcohols and those of thiols look alike.
Questions 5-9 Complete the sentences below with words from the passage. Use NO MORETHAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
5.The hypothesis that we smell by sensing the molecular vibration was made by ______.
6.Turin’s company is based in ______.
7.Most scientists believed that our nose works in the same way as our ______.
8.Different isotopes can smell different when ______ weigh differently.
9.According to Audrew Horsfield, it is still to be proved that ______ could really occur inhuman nose.
Question 10-12 Answer the questions below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS fromthe passage for each answer.
10.What’s the name of the researcher who collaborated with Stoneham?
11.What is the next step of the UCL team’s study?
12.What is the theoretical basis in designing odorants in Turin’s company?
答案及解析 Key and Explanations：
1.T 见第一段。“give sth the thumbs up”为“接受“的意思。
2.F 见第三段。“That's still some way fromproving that the theory, proposed in the mid-1990sby biophysicist Luca Turin, is correct.”意即“现在尚无法证实生物物理学家Luca在九十年代中期提出的理论是否正确。”
3.NG
4.T 见第六段“Molecules that look almost identical can smell very different — such asalcohols, which smell like spirits, and thiols, which smell like rotten eggs.”“identical”一词是“完全相同”的意思。这句话是说alcohols和thiols的分子结构看起来一样，但是它们的味道却相去甚远。
5.Luca Turin 文章第二，三和七段均可看出Luca的理论即人类的鼻子是通过感觉气味分子的震动来分辨气味的。
6.Virginia 见第四段。
7.tongue 见第五段“This molecular 'lock and key' process is thought to lie behind a widerange of the body's detection systems: it is how some parts of the immune system recogniseinvaders, for example, and how the tongue recognizes some tastes.”
8.the atoms 见第八段“This would explain why isotopes can smell different: their vibrationfrequencies are changed if the atoms are heavier.”
9.vibration-assisted electron tunneling 见第九段“"The question is whether this is possiblein the nose," says Stoneham's colleague, Andrew Horsfield.”句中的代词“this”指句首的“vibration-assisted electron tunneling”。
10.Andrew Horsfield 见第九段结尾。
11.proper experimental verification 见第十三段。
12.their computed vibrations 见第十四段
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