BBC 6分钟英语学习 水母能帮助我们解决问题吗？

English from BBC Learning English. Hello.

This is six minute English from BBC, learning

English. I'm Neil, and I'm Georgina.

Of all the weird and wonderful creatures living under the sea, perhaps the strangest are jellyfish, those robbery, cone shaped creatures found floating in the water, their long tentacles trailing behind.

Some jellyfish species have a bad reputation for scaring away tourists, clocking up fishing nets and even blocking power station pipes.

But with more and more plastic rubbish ending up in the sea these days, you're as likely to swim into a plastic bag as a jellyfish.

Now, scientific research is discovering that these robbery sea creatures might provide an answer, a sticky solution, to the problem of plastic pollution.

In this program, will be learning how jellyfish mucus could provide the answer to plastic waste in the seas, and of course, well be learning some related vocabulary along the way.

But 1st, it's time for my quiz question.

Georgina, you mentioned jellyfish scaring away beet goers with their sting.

But what is the best way to treat jellyfish stings?

Is it a with ice, thee, with salt, or sea with vinegar?

Well, neil, I have been stunged by jellyfish before, and I think the best way to treat them is see with vinegar.

OK? Georgina will find out later if that's right.

Now, as I mentioned in recent years, tiny pieces of plastic called micro plastic, have been a significant problem for the world, seas and oceans.

They've been found all over the world, in arctic ice, at the bottom of the sea, and even inside of anims, including humans.

Slovenian scientists, doctor Anna Rotter heads go jelly, a European research team of jellyfish ecologist, looking into the problem.

Here she is speaking to BBC World Service program People fixing the world.

Micro Plastics, plastics in general, are being an increasing problem.

There are everywhere. When I was a little girl, we were more environmentally friendly, not knowing so we never used plastic bags to go shopping.

We always went with a cloth bags.

We never used plastic to put our vegetables in it.

Single use spoons or forks and knives.

This is, for me, something unheard of when I was the little girl.

Doctor Rotter says when she was a child, people were more environmentally friendly, not harmful to the environment, or having the least possible impact on it.

At that time, there were very few single use plastics.

Plastic items like spoons and forks, designed to be used just once then thrown away.

Single use plastic bags, E.G., were unheard of, surprising or shocking, because they were not previously known about or commonly used.

The situation since then has changed dramatically.

In fact, there's been such an increase in micro plastics that today, the UN lists plastic pollution as one of the world's top environmental threats.

But how do jellyfish fit into the story?

Well, is the jelly part of jellyfish, and specifically their sticky, jelly like mucus, that is key.

Here's Doctor Rotter again explaining more to BBC World Service program people fixing the world the mucus.

This is like, um, by risk of some substance that is being excreted from jellyfish might have that they are called the absorbative properties.

So it means that the particles, various particles, can attach to this mucus.

So could we use jellyfish and their mucus as a magnet for the micro plastic particles?

Jellyfish produce a thick, sticky liquid called mucus?

Doctor Rotta has discovered that this mucus has strong absorbative properties.

It can absorb taken liquids and other substances and hold them in.

One of the substances jellyfish mucus absorbs are the particles that make up micro plastics.

By trapping these tiny pieces of floating plastic, the mucus acts like a magnet, an object that attracts certain materials, like metal, or, in this case, micro plastic waste.

As rising sea temperatures and overfishing of their natural predators have boosted jellyfish numbers, this novel way of using their mucus couldn't have come at a better time.

Doctor Rotters research is still in the early stages, but it's hoped that jellyfish mucus could hold the key to a future free of microplastic polluted oceans.

Which is a big prize for the cost of a few jellyfish things.

Speaking of which, now, what was the correct answer to your quiz question?

Right? I asked you the best way to treat jellyfish stings, what did you say to a Gina?

I said, it's sea with vinegar, which is the right answer.

Well done. Vinegar inactivats the stings.

So remember to pack a bottle of vinegar the next time you head to the beach.

In this program, we've been hearing how scientists are using jellyfish mucus, a thick, sticky liquid produced in their bodies, to break down micro plastics in the sea.

Our addiction to single use plastics, plastic items which are used only once, then thrown away,

and which often get washed out to see, has created a situation which is definitely not environmentally friendly.

That means having a minimal impact on the environment.

Until quite recently, the problems of micro pollution and single use plastic were unheard of, surprising or shocking because of not having been previously known about.

Scientists are hoping that the mucus' absorbative qualities, its ability to absorb liquids and other substances and hold them, will allow it to trap particles of plastic floating in the sea, making jellyfish.

mucus, a magnet for pollution, an object that attracts certain materials, usually metals, but in this case, micro plastic waste.

That's all for this program. But to hear more about how these amazing sea creatures could help clean our oceans, why not check out People Fixing the World from the BBC World Service?

And to hear more interesting items on trending topics, why not join us again soon here at six minute English Wife Now Bye.

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