比爾蓋茨捐400萬,研究蚊子自相殘殺

Microsoft founder Bill Gates is pouring $4 million into a project to create killer mosquitoes that destroy each other through sex.

微軟創始人比爾·蓋茨正在向一個項目投入400萬美元，該項目旨在創造出能夠通過交配消滅其他蚊子的殺手蚊子。

It's a bold bid to curb malaria, a deadly disease typically transmitted through the bite of infected mosquitoes.

這是一個遏制瘧疾的大膽的嘗試，這種致命的疾病通常通過受感染蚊子的叮咬傳播。

Gates will use funds from his own charity organization – the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – to eradicate malaria “within a generation.”

蓋茨將利用他自己的慈善組織——比爾和梅琳達·蓋茨基金會——在不到一代人的時間裏根除瘧疾。

The plan is to create genetically-modified male mosquitoes that mate with their female counterparts in the wild.

該計劃是爲了創造出基因改良的雄蚊，能在野外與雌性蚊子交配。

Only female mosquitoes bite so Gates' army of gene-engineered male mosquitoes would be safe to humans.

只有雌性蚊子會叮咬，所以蓋茨的基因工程的雄性蚊子對人類是安全的。

What's important is that these male mosquitoes contain a self-limiting gene that gets passed onto female mates.

重要的是，這些雄性蚊子含有一種自我限制的基因，會傳播給雌性伴侶。

When the females give birth, their offspring will die before adulthood thanks to the gene.

當雌性動物分娩時，它們的後代在成年之前就會因基因問題而死亡。

Mosquitoes only start biting people once they're adults, so given enough time, the danger of blood-sucking female mosquitoes could be eradicated.

蚊子只有在成年後纔開始叮咬人類，所以只要有足夠的時間，就可以消除吸血雌蚊的危險。

This means it would be possible to stem the spread of malaria through mosquito bites.

這意味着有可能通過蚊蟲叮咬阻止瘧疾的傳播。

They're developed by a UK company called Oxitec, which has dubbed the creations “Friendly Mosquitos” — although their female mates may disagree.

它們是由一家名爲Oxitec的英國公司研發的，該公司稱這種蚊子爲“友好的蚊子”——儘管它們的雌性伴侶可能不同意這種說法。

Oxitec has already created gene-engineered mosquitoes to deal with the Zika virus.

Oxitec已經制造了基因工程蚊子來對付寨卡病毒。

In some areas, the wild populations of Aedes aegypti (the mosquito that carries Zika) have been reduced by 90 percent.

在一些地區，埃及伊蚊(攜帶寨卡病毒的蚊子)的野生種羣數量減少了90%。

However, not everyone is happy about the prospect of genetically-modified mosquitoes being used to prematurely terminate their offspring.

然而，並不是所有人都對轉基因蚊子被用於提前終止其後代的前景感到高興。

Oxitec's work has been heavily criticized by Friends of the Earth, a charity dedicated to protecting the environment.

Oxitec的工作受到了致力於保護環境的慈善組織“地球之友”的嚴厲批評。

But Bill Gates is a long-time supporter of Oxitec's work.

但是比爾·蓋茨是Oxitec的工作的長期支持者。