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You might think that scientists have the human body pretty well figured out.
你或许认为科学家已经把人类身体整的明明白白了。
They've only been studying it for, I don't know, centuries.
他们只对人体进行了好几个世纪的研究，我也不太清楚。
But a study published this week in the journal Nature Neuroscience documents a piece of ourselves that we didn't know existed until now:
但是《自然神经科学》杂志本周发布的一项研究记载了我们现在才知道的人类身体的一部分：
a brand-new type of brain cell.
一个全新的脑细胞。
This new neuron isn't found in mice and the researchers think it may be unique to primates, or even the human species—
在老鼠体内没有发现这种新的神经元，并且研究人员认为这种神经元或许是灵长类，甚至是人类所特有的—
and that means it could help us understand what makes us who we are.
这意味着这个发现可以帮助我们理解是什么造就了我们。
Two research groups—one from Hungary, and one from the US—
分别来自匈牙利和美国的两个研究团队
actually discovered this new neuron type at about the same time using very different techniques.
利用非常不同的技术同时发现了这种新的神经元。
When they realized this, they teamed up and worked together to publish their results.
当他们意识到这一点时，他们合作共同发表了他们的研究结果。
Both groups were studying neurons in a part of the brain called the cortex, the brain's outermost layer,
两组团队正在研究大脑皮质部分的神经元，皮质是大脑的最外层，
which is crucial to human consciousness. Over at the University of Szeged in Hungary,
对人类意识至关重要。在匈牙利赛格德大学，
the researchers were taking the more traditional route of examining the shape of the neurons in living tissue
研究人员采用更加传统的方法检测活组织中神经元的形状
and seeing how they respond to electrical pulses.
并观察它们对电脉冲的反应。
Different types of neurons look different and respond to currents in different ways.
不同种类的神经元看上去不一样，对电流的反应也不同。
It's the kind of work that's been done for decades, but usually on animal brains
这种方法已经过数十年尝试，但是通常只对动物大脑使用
—because, well, there just isn't a whole lot of access to live human brain tissue.
因为，没有那么多的人脑组织可以使用。
But the team partnered with doctors to get human samples from patients undergoing brain surgeries
但是团队和医生合作从进行脑部手术的病人那里获取人类样本
—which is how they found what they've dubbed the rosehip neuron.
——这样他们才发现了被他们成为玫瑰果神经元的全新脑细胞。
It has a dense bundle of axons— the nerve fibers that conduct electrical impulses—clustered around the cell's center.
玫瑰果神经元中含有一束浓密的轴突—引导电脉冲的神经纤维—聚合在细胞中心。
Hence 'rosehip', because the shape reminded them of a rose after its petals are shed.
因为这种形状让他们想起了一朵花瓣凋谢后的玫瑰，因此得名‘玫瑰果’。
Meanwhile, researchers with the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle
与此同时，西雅图艾伦脑科研究所的研究人员
were taking a newer approach to examining neurons, called transcriptomics.
采用更加新式的方法—转录组学，对神经元进行检测。
That's the study of the genes expressed by cells, which can tell us a lot about what makes those cells unique.
这是一种对通过细胞来表达的基因所进行的研究，可以让我们知道是什么让这些细胞如此特别。
Using tissue samples from two donated brains, they performed single-nucleus RNA sequencing,
使用来自两个捐献大脑中的组织样本，他们进行了单核-RNA排序，
a type of genetic analysis that let them identify the genes expressed by individual cells.
一种遗传分析，能让他们鉴别这些通过个体细胞表达的基因
The technique has only been possible for the past five years or so.
这项技术自五年前才可用。
And they found a pattern of gene expression different from all other neurons studied before.
他们发现了一种和之前所有神经元研究都不同的基因表达模式。
After comparing notes, the two teams realized the weirdly shaped neurons were the ones with this unique gene expression pattern.
交换意见后，两组团队意识到这种形状奇怪的神经元就带有这种独特基因表达模式。
And together, they were able to hammer out a few more details about them.
他们有了一些关于它们的更多细节。
Rosehip neurons are part of a larger category of brain cells called inhibitory neurons,
玫瑰果神经元是一种更大的脑细胞种类—抑制神经元的一部分
which regulate the activity of other neurons as they transmit information in the brain.
抑制神经元可以在传递信息时调节其他神经元的活动。
They're sort of like the brain's traffic cops,
它们有点像是大脑的交通警察，
controlling the flow of information from one place to another so that everything runs smoothly.
管控信息的传播流，确保一切运转顺畅。
It's not clear exactly what these rosehip neurons control, but their shape may provide a clue.
那些玫瑰果神经元控制的是什么尚不明确，但是它们的形状或许提供了一条线索。
They form connections with another type of brain cell called pyramidal neurons.
它们和另一种脑细胞—锥体神经元形成连接。
These are part of the larger category of excitatory neurons,
这些是兴奋性神经元类型的一部分，
which basically do the opposite of inhibitory ones: they send signals that make other neurons more likely to fire.
兴奋性神经元主要工作和抑制神经元相反：它们发送信号让其他神经元变得活跃。
But rosehip neurons only attach to a very specific part of pyramidal neurons,
但是玫瑰神经元仅依附在锥体神经元中的一个非常特别的部分，
which could mean that they regulate information flow in a very specific way.
这意味着它们以一种非常特别的方式调控信息流。
We don't yet know exactly what they regulate, or how.
我们仍不清楚它们调控的是什么以及怎么调控。
But it might be something not found in other animals.
但是这或许是其他动物大脑中所没有的。
When the team compared their neuron to the varieties of neurons found in mouse brains, they couldn't find anything similar.
当团队将它们的神经元和老鼠大脑中的各种神经元相对比时，他们没有发现任何相似点。
It's hard to say for sure that rosehip neurons are only found in humans or other primates,
很难确切的说玫瑰果神经元仅存在于人类或其他灵长类脑中，
because it's not like scientists have checked the brains of every single other animal.
因为科学家并没有对其他每种动物的大脑进行检测。
But they definitely don't seem to exist in rodents, at least.
但至少它们绝对不存在于啮齿动物脑中。
And that means they might play a role in brain processes we don't see in other animals.
那意味着它们或许在其他动物所没有的脑活动中起作用。
If nothing else, rosehip neurons are the latest evidence that as useful as lab mice can be,
如果别无其他，玫瑰果神经过就是和实验室老鼠一样有用的最新证据，
they aren't perfect models, especially when it comes to studying psychiatric and neurological diseases.
它们并非完美的模型，尤其是涉及研究精神疾病和神经疾病时。
Next, the researchers want to look for rosehip neurons in other parts of the brain,
接下来，研究人员想要在大脑的其他部分寻找玫瑰果神经元，
which might give them more insight into what the neurons actually do.
这或许能给他们更多对神经元的深刻理解。
They also want to examine brain tissue samples from people with psychiatric disorders to see
他们还想检测精神障碍患者的脑组织，
if their rosehip neurons differ in any way from the ones in healthy brains.
以此检测他们的玫瑰果神经元是否和健康大脑中的玫瑰果神经元不一样。
Now that they've found this new type of neuron,
现在他们发现了这种新神经元，
they want to learn everything about it—especially if it's part of what makes us human.
他们想了解关于它的一切—尤其是这是否是造就人类的物质。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow News!
感谢收看本期《科学秀》！
If you want to keep up to date on the most important science news, be sure to stop by every Friday to check out our news episodes.
如果想及时观看科学界最最要消息，一定要在每周五观看我们的新节目。
And if you want to learn more about your brain and how it works,
如果你想了解更多关于大脑以及大脑如何工作的知识，
well, we have an entire channel dedicated to the human mind.
我们有一个专门讲解人类大脑的频道。
You can head over to YouTube.com/SciShowPsych to learn more and subscribe.
登录YouTube.com/SciShowPsych了解更多。
