Fruit Fly Immunity Stronger While Sleeping

For those of you who’ve spent many of your waking hours this winter washing your hands and fretting about getting sick, you might be better off just staying in bed. Because scientists from Stanford University have found that the immune system works best after dark.The scientists were studying fruit flies, which are active at dawn and dusk, and sleep through the night like you and me. The circadian rhythm that tells these critters, and many others, when to snooze and when to cruise, controls lots of bodily functions. So the scientists got to wondering whether it also regulates the immune system and the fly’s ability to fight infections. Yes, even fruit flies can catch some pretty nasty bugs. Which the scientists proceeded to demonstrate.They took a bunch of flies and infected them with some unsavory bacteria. Half the flies were infected while they slept, half while they were awake. Turns out that the flies that were infected at night were better able to battle their bugs than flies who got sick during the day, results presented at the American Society for Cell Biology meeting in San Francisco on December 14th. Whether human immunity is also better during sleep isn’t yet known. But Shakespeare might have been onto something when he called sleep “nature’s soft nurse.”

Words

fret：使苦惱，使發愁，使煩躁，侵蝕，苦惱，發愁，使煩惱，使磨損，腐蝕

dusk：薄暮，黃昏，傍晚

circadian：生理節奏的，以24小時為週期的。circle：圓周

circadian (adj.)coined 1959 by German-born biologist Franz Halberg, from Latin circa "about" (alternative form of circum "round about;" see circum-) + diem, accusative singular of dies "day" (from PIE root *dyeu-"to shine"). The original use is in circadian rhythm.

circum-word-forming element meaning "around, round about, all around, on all sides," from Latin adverb and preposition circum "around, round about," literally "in a circle," probably accusative form of circus"ring" (see circus). The Latin word was commonly used in word-formation. In French, the element became circon-; Kitchin points out that con for cum is common even in classical Latin. For sense development, compare German rings "around."

snooze：假寐，打盹兒

nasty：汙穢的，險惡的，下流的

unsavory：沒有味道的，討厭的，難聞的，難吃的，名譽不好的。savory：美味可口的，鹹的，芳香開胃的

savory (adj.)"pleasing in taste or smell," c. 1200, from Old French savore "tasty, flavorsome" (Modern French savouré), past participle of savourer "to taste" (see savor (n.)).

savory (n.)aromatic mint, late 14c., perhaps an alteration of Old English sæþerie, which is ultimately from Latin satureia "savory (n.)," a foreign word in Latin. But early history of the word suggests transmission via Old French savereie. In either case, the form of the word probably was altered by influence of the Middle English or Old French form of savory (adj.).