People usually have stereotypes about different breeds of dogs: Rottweilers and pit bulls are aggressive, while Labradors and golden retrievers are extra friendly.
However, a genetic study published recently in the journal Science involving more than 2,000 dogs and paired with 200,000 survey answers from owners demonstrates that the widespread assumptions are mostly unfounded.
Undeniably, many behavioral traits can be inherited, but the modern concept of breed offers only partial predictive value for most types of behavior, and has nothing to do with how affectionate or quick-tempered a dog can be.
Photo: Pixabay 照片: Pixabay
“While genetics plays a role in the personality of any individual dog, a specific dog breed is not a good predictor of those traits,” said Elinor Karlsson, director of the Vertebrate Genomics Group at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
The team sequenced the DNA of 2,155 purebred and mixed-breed dogs to search for common genetic variations that could predict behavior, and combined this information with surveys from 18,385 pet-owner surveys from Darwin’s Ark, an open-source database of owner-reported canine traits and behaviors.
Overall, breed explained just 9 percent of variation in behavior, with age a better predictor of some traits.
(Translated by Rita Wang, Taipei Times)
羅威那犬和比特犬屬於攻擊性犬種，拉布拉多和黃金獵犬則格外友善，這都是眾所周知的刻板印象。
然而，《科學》期刊近來發表了一項基因研究。這份涉及兩千多隻狗，搭配狗主人二十萬個答覆的調查，顯示大部分的廣泛假設都是沒有根據的。
不可否認地，許多行為特徵可以遺傳，但品種的現代概念僅對大多數類型行為提供部分預測價值，幾乎跟狗會多麼溫順或者暴躁易怒無關。
麻省理工學院和哈佛大學布洛德研究所脊椎動物基因組學主任卡森說：「儘管遺傳在任何一隻狗的個性中都發揮作用，但特定犬種無法有效預測那些特徵。」
研究團隊對兩千一百五十五隻純種狗和雜種狗的DNA進行測序，尋找可以預測行為的常見基因變異，並將這些資料與來自「達爾文方舟」一萬八千三百八十五名狗主人的調查數據結合研究。達爾文方舟是一個由主人回報犬類特徵和行為的開源資料庫。
整體來說，品種只能解釋犬類百分之九的行為差異，而年齡是部分行為特徵的較佳預測指標。
(中央社)
Tourists will benefit as yen falls 日本6月將開放觀光！日圓「貶值」學換匯英文 自疫情爆發至今已超過兩年，全球逐漸邁向與疫情共存的方式，日本政府也將陸續鬆綁邊境管制，最快有機會六月就開放外國觀光客以團體旅遊方式入境。加上日圓近期狂貶，來到二十年來新低點，專家預估，日本將迎來新一波的旅遊熱潮。今天我們就從國外報導的日圓貶值現象，提前為旅日做好準備吧！ yen weakness 日圓疲軟 Yet economists see building pressure for a shift if persistent yen weakness exacerbates inflation by raising import costs, particularly for energy, and reckon that 125 is a key level. （然而，若是日圓持續疲軟而提高進口成本，尤其在能源上，將加重通貨膨脹，經濟學家認為政策轉變的壓力很大，並預估貶破125是關鍵點。） yen weakness是「日圓疲軟，weak (a.)意思是「虛弱的、疲弱的，加上「-ness」名詞字尾，代表「疲軟的概念；加上「-en」動詞變化則有「弱化、削弱」的意思。 The bill would seriously weaken environmental protections. （這項法案將嚴重削弱對環境的保護。） exacerbate (v.)「惡化、加劇、加重，英文的定義為to make something that is already bad even worse（使某件已經很糟的事情更糟）。文章中提到通膨（inflation）加劇，將會對經濟造成負面的影響，因此可以看出作者的態度是不樂觀的。 This attack will exacerbate the already tense relations between the two communities.（這次襲擊將令兩個原本已經處於緊張狀態的團體關係更加惡化。） 提高成本raise、rise怎麼用？ raise import cost是「提高進口成本，討論數據「上升、下降時，經常使用raise和rise這兩個動詞，但是特別注意兩者使用方式有所不同。raise是及物動詞(vt)，後方必須要接一個受詞（名詞），如raise your hand、raise the eyebrows；然而，rise是不及物動詞(vi)，不能直接加上受詞，而是要在中間穿插一個介系詞作為連結功能的用途，如常見的go (to) school、listen (to) music等，因此rise的用法就是inflation rises，常見的the sun rises in the east就是如此。 The government plans to raise taxes. （政府計畫增稅。） Inflation is rising by 2.1 percent a month. （通貨膨脹一個月增長百分之二‧一。） 升值、貶值怎麼說？ Japanese yen depreciation is a big problem for the Japanese economy, because
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