Hello everyone! It's time for another edition of News Bites!
I'm Paz Bueno…
And I'm Nancy Sun.
In today's news:
Taiwanese scientists discover a new animal, electricity that's all around us, and a possible Russian spy.
Stay tuned!
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台灣科學家發現無眼鰻魚
Taiwanese Scientists Discover Eyeless Eels
In the Philippines and Australia, scientists found something special in dark underwater caves (陰暗的水下洞穴).
The unique sea snake, often called a 'moray eel' (海鰻), was discovered by a team including scientists from the National Sun Yat-sen University.
Now, these eels live in super dark caves (超級黑暗的洞穴).
They are slowly losing their eyes because, down there, they simply don't need them!
The scientists caught nine of these eels.
They found that some had tiny eyes, some had just one eye covered by skin, and two of them had no eyes at all!
他們發現有些鰻魚的眼睛很小，有些鰻魚的眼睛被皮膚覆蓋，有兩條甚至完全沒有眼睛！
After a good look, they found that these eels were like no others ever seen before!
They gave these new eels a fancy name: Uropterygius cyamommatus.
These are the first eels found in these super deep, dark underwater caves.
Now, here's the cool part: the scientists believe these eels are showing us evolution in real time.
科學家認為這些鰻魚正在進化，我們都看得到。
These eels used to rely on their sight (依賴他們的視覺) , but now they're relying on their other senses (感官) because there's no light in these caves.
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用空氣發電
Scientists Generate Electricity from Thin Air
Electricity (電力) is part of our everyday lives.
It powers everything we use… our lights, refrigerators, and the devices you're using to hear this episode!
But, did you know electricity is hiding all around us, even in the air we breathe?
你知道我們周遭，甚至我們呼吸的空氣，也隱藏著電力嗎？
Scientists have recently made a device that can create electricity from thin air!
科學家最近製造了一個空氣發電的裝置。
This new device, called the 'Air-gen,' works by capturing (捕捉) the tiny drops of water in the air.
These scientists say that the device can be made from almost any material, as long as it's full of really, really small holes.
With this exciting discovery, we might be on the path to another source of sustainable energy (永續能源).
The Air-gen was invented by some clever folks (聰明人) at the University of Massachusetts.
Since then, they've been trying different materials and are learning more every day!
They believe that this Air-gen technology could one day give us electricity anytime, anywhere.
This is still early days for the Air-gen (還只是初期), and scientists are working hard to make it even better.
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俄羅斯【間諜】鯨魚在瑞典現身
Russian 'Spy' Whale Surfaces in Sweden
Whales and dolphins are extremely intelligent creatures.
鯨魚和海豚是極其聰明的生物。
For many years, scientists have been trying to find out how smart they really are.
Many of these marine mammals have been trained by humans.
And some people even think navies have trained them as soldiers!
甚至有人認為海軍曾經給牠們軍事訓練！
Back in 2019, a Beluga whale (白鯨) called Hvaldimir, found in Norway wearing a harness (背帶).
The harness was made for a camera with the words "Equipment St. Petersburg" on it.
St. Petersburg is a Russian city, so that made people think he might have been trained by the Russian navy.
This cool creature has just been spotted again (再次被發現), this time off Sweden's coast!
Hvaldimir was first found way up in northern Norway, and since then, he's been on a slow journey down the coast.
Hvaldimir最初在挪威北部被發現，之後牠一直沿著海岸慢慢移動。
He has been traveling faster and faster, zooming down the rest of the Norwegian coast and ending up in Sweden.
牠最近加快了速度，沿著挪威海岸迅速南下，最後到達了瑞典。
Marine biologists (海洋生物學家) said they're not sure why he's traveling so fast.
It could be because he's looking for a mate (伴侶), or he could just be feeling lonely, since Belugas are very social (白鯨是非常社會化的動物).
Some of you might be asking, why the name Hvaldimir?
Well, in Norwegian, "hval" means "whale", and "dimir" is like the name "Vladimir".
The name is a little joke about the whale's supposed connection to Russia.
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So, in today's News Bites:
Scientists from the National Sun Yat-sen University were part of a team that discovered a new species of moray eel.
These eels live in super dark caves in the Philippines and Australia.
The scientists believe these eels are showing us evolution in real time, because they are slowly losing their eyes!
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And,
Scientists have recently made a device that can create electricity from thin air!
This new device, called the 'Air-gen,' works by capturing the tiny drops of water floating in the air.
This technology could one day give us electricity anytime, anywhere.
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And,
Back in 2019, a Beluga whale called Hvaldimir, was found in Norway wearing a harness.
Recently, he was spotted on the southwestern coast of Sweden.
Some people think he might have been trained by the Russian navy.
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And that's today's episode of News Bites!