在沿海霧中發(fā)現(xiàn)了大量的有毒汞

在沿海霧中發(fā)現(xiàn)了大量的有毒汞

It's been nearly 40 years since John Carpenter's cult-classic horror film, "The Fog," was unleashed upon the world, and it continues to haunt us in some unexpectedly realistic ways.

約翰·卡朋特的經(jīng)典恐怖電影《迷霧》上映已經(jīng)快40年了，它以一些出人意料的現(xiàn)實方式繼續(xù)困擾著我們。

Coastal fog might be a heath hazard. (Photo: Aileen Devlin, Virginia Sea Grant [CC BY-ND 2.0]/Flickr)

In the film, a deadly supernatural fog engulfs a California coastal town, killing all those who wander into its mist. Now it turns out this zany plot might actually contain more truth than fiction, and living in coastal communities everywhere might bear serious consequences.

在電影中，一場致命的超自然霧籠罩了加利福尼亞的一個沿海小鎮(zhèn)，所有在霧中漫步的人都被殺死了?，F(xiàn)在，事實證明，這個滑稽的情節(jié)實際上可能比小說包含更多的真相，生活在沿海社區(qū)可能會產(chǎn)生嚴重的后果。

A new study out of the University of California, Santa Cruz, has detected alarming levels of toxic mercury in California's coastal fog. The research is just the latest confirmation that this neurotoxin can be carried in fog, deposited on land, and found within the food chain, according to Phys.org.

加州大學圣克魯斯分校的一項新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，加州沿海霧霾中有毒汞的含量達到了令人擔憂的水平。據(jù)Phys.org網(wǎng)站報道，這項研究只是最新的一次證實，這種神經(jīng)毒素可以在霧中攜帶，沉積在陸地上，并在食物鏈中被發(fā)現(xiàn)。

The first warning sign occurred when researchers studying mountain lions in California's Santa Cruz Mountains measured dangerous concentrations of mercury in the cats' systems. At least one lion studied had mercury levels known to be toxic to species like mink and otters, and two others had "sublethal" levels that reduce fertility and reproductive success. A deeper look found that mercury contamination in coastal environments runs far deeper than what was found in the lions, though.

第一個警告信號出現(xiàn)在研究人員對加利福尼亞州圣克魯斯山的美洲獅進行研究時，他們測量了貓科動物體內汞的危險濃度。至少有一頭被研究的獅子體內的汞含量已知對水貂和水獺等物種是有毒的，而另外兩只獅子體內的汞含量處于“亞致死”水平，會降低它們的生育能力和繁殖成功率。更深入的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，沿海環(huán)境中的汞污染比獅子體內的汞污染要嚴重得多。

A study led by Peter Weiss-Penzias, an environmental toxicologist who has pioneered the study of pollutants in coastal fog, also found that mercury levels in lichen and deer were significantly higher inside the fog belt than beyond it. The correlation of elevated mercury levels with the fog zone made the source of the toxin obvious: it was in the fog.

環(huán)境毒理學家彼得·韋斯-彭齊亞斯領導的一項研究還發(fā)現(xiàn)，地衣和鹿體內的汞含量在霧帶內明顯高于霧帶外。汞含量升高與霧區(qū)之間的相關性使得毒素的來源顯而易見:它就在霧中。

"Lichen don't have any roots so the presence of elevated methylmercury in lichen must come from the atmosphere," said Weiss-Penzias. "Mercury becomes increasingly concentrated in organisms higher up the food chain."

“地衣沒有任何根，所以地衣中甲基汞含量的升高肯定來自大氣，”Weiss-Penzias說。“汞越來越多地集中在食物鏈較高的生物體中。”

The lichen get eaten by the deer, which get eaten by the mountain lions. Due to a process known as bioaccumulation, by the time the mountain lions get exposed, the mercury has been magnified by a significant degree. What begins as trace amounts of methylmercury in tiny water droplets floating through the air becomes life-threatening levels of deadly neurotoxin.

地衣被鹿吃，鹿被山獅吃。由于一種被稱為生物積累的過程，當美洲獅暴露在水銀下時，水銀已經(jīng)被放大了很大程度。當微量的甲基汞在空氣中飄浮時，致命的神經(jīng)毒素就會威脅到生命。

In collecting data for this study, Weiss-Penzias recalled of his own tale and what led him into doing toxicology research on fog. Once, while riding his bike along the coast, he thought to himself: "I was riding through this absolute fogstorm, with water dripping off my glasses, and I just wondered, 'What's in this stuff?'"

在為這項研究收集數(shù)據(jù)的過程中，維斯-彭齊亞斯回憶了自己的經(jīng)歷，以及是什么促使他對霧進行毒理學研究。有一次，他騎著自行車沿著海岸騎行，心想:“我騎著車穿過這片濃霧，水從我的眼鏡上滴下來，我在想，‘這是什么東西?’”

When he collected samples and brought them into the lab for testing, the results surprised everyone. "The lab called me, saying they'd have to re-run the tests, because they didn't believe the numbers," he recalled.

當他收集樣本并把它們帶到實驗室進行測試時，結果讓所有人都大吃一驚。“實驗室打電話給我，說他們必須重新進行測試，因為他們不相信這些數(shù)字，”他回憶說。

While this latest study was performed on California's coastal ecosystems, researchers warn that what they found there can likely be found in coastal fog around the world. That's because the source of mercury in coastal fog is from the ocean, and the world's oceans have a fairly even distribution of this toxin across the planet.

雖然這項最新的研究是在加利福尼亞的沿海生態(tài)系統(tǒng)上進行的，但研究人員警告說，他們在那里發(fā)現(xiàn)的東西可能會在世界各地的沿海霧中發(fā)現(xiàn)。這是因為沿海霧中的汞來自于海洋，而世界各大洋中這種毒素的分布相當均勻。

The oceans aren't to blame, though; we are. The increased amount of mercury found in our oceans is directly connected with an increased amount of pollution generated from mining and coal-fired power plants around the world. "Mercury is a global pollutant," explained Weiss-Penzias. "What's emitted in China can affect the United States just as much as what's emitted in the United States."

然而，海洋并不是罪魁禍首;我們是來旅游的。海洋中汞含量的增加與世界各地采礦和燃煤發(fā)電廠產(chǎn)生的污染增加直接相關。“汞是一種全球性的污染物，”維斯-彭齊亞斯解釋說。“中國排放的氣體對美國的影響和美國的排放一樣大。”

An international treaty was adopted in 2013 to protect humans and the environment from mercury. It was called the Minamata Convention on Mercury, named after a Japanese city that suffered a terrible incident of mercury poisoning. Weiss-Penzias hopes that this latest research will bring attention to the fact that our coastal ecosystems are especially impacted by this dangerous toxin.

2013年通過了一項保護人類和環(huán)境免受汞污染的國際條約。它被稱為水俁病公約，以一個遭受可怕的汞中毒事件的日本城市命名。韋斯-彭齊亞斯希望這項最新的研究能夠引起人們對這樣一個事實的關注:我們的沿海生態(tài)系統(tǒng)尤其受到這種危險毒素的影響。

"It's important for the future of that treaty to understand all the different ways that mercury impacts the environment," he said.

他說:“了解汞對環(huán)境的各種不同影響方式，對該條約的未來很重要。”