Nature's Brendan Maher: My Top 5 Longreads of 2011
Brendan Maher is biology features editor for the news team at Nature, the UK-based science journal.
布伦丹·马赫 (Brendan Maher) 是英国科学杂志《自然》新闻团队的生物学专题编辑。
***
***
My selection of the best science-themed longreads for 2011 suffers from two major limitations: 1.) I couldn’t read everything, so have probably missed some very worthy entries.
我对 2011 年最佳科学主题长读物的选择有两个主要限制：1.) 我无法阅读所有内容，因此可能错过了一些非常有价值的条目。
2.) I purposely did not include articles from Nature, where I am an editor.
2.) 我故意不包含来自《自然》的文章，我是《自然》的编辑。
For some top stories from our pages see our end-of-year special.
有关我们页面上的一些热门故事，请参阅我们的年终特辑。
***
***
1.
1.
“Autistic and Seeking a Place in an Adult World,” Amy Harmon, New York Times
“自闭症患者在成人世界中寻求一席之地”，艾米·哈蒙，《纽约时报》
The science supporting new behavioural approaches to treating autism is slipped in subtly in this wonderful tale about a teenage boy with autism trying to engage with the world of “neurotypicals.” So is practically every other theme about the social and scientific difficulties that autism presents.
支持治疗自闭症的新行为方法的科学巧妙地融入了这个关于一个患有自闭症的十几岁男孩试图融入“神经典型”世界的精彩故事中。事实上，关于自闭症所带来的社会和科学困难的所有其他主题也是如此。
The multimedia efforts are a treat, but Harmon’s writing is an absolute clinic in pacing.
多媒体的努力是一种享受，但哈蒙的写作绝对是节奏上的诊所。
2.
2.
“The Possibilian,” Burkhard Bilger, The New Yorker
“可能性论”，布克哈德·比尔格，《纽约客》
An obligatory nod to The New Yorker and to the ubiquitous David Eagleman, who has become something akin to the Oliver Sacks of our time (of course our time already has an Oliver Sacks).
这是对《纽约客》和无处不在的大卫·伊格曼的致敬，他已经成为了我们这个时代的奥利弗·萨克斯（当然，我们的时代已经有了一个奥利弗·萨克斯）。
The details Bilger pulls into this profile are delicious.
比尔格在这篇简介中提供的细节非常精彩。
How could one not love a lab that studies the perception of time in which everyone seems to be wearing a broken wristwatch?
人们怎么能不喜欢一个研究时间感知的实验室，其中每个人似乎都戴着一块坏掉的手表呢？
3.
3.
“The Behavioral Sink,” Will Wiles, Cabinet Magazine
“行为沉沦”，威尔·威尔斯，内阁杂志
This was a weird, wild and utterly immersive history of John B.
这是约翰·B·肯尼迪 (John B.
Calhoun’s Universe 25, a mouse utopia of sorts where food was plentiful, but space was not.
卡尔霍恩的第 25 宇宙，有点像老鼠的乌托邦，食物充足，但空间却很匮乏。
Once the population reached maximum density, behaviour turned pathological.
一旦人口达到最大密度，行为就会变得病态。
The results of this experiment fit neatly’with apocalyptic fears prevalent during the late 1960s and early 1970s inspired in part by the book “The Population Bomb”.
这项实验的结果与 20 世纪 60 年代末和 70 年代初普遍存在的世界末日恐惧完全吻合，部分原因是受到《人口炸弹》一书的启发。
These themes are fun to reflect on, without alarm, in the year that the 7 billionth human was born
在第 70 亿人类诞生的那一年，反思这些主题很有趣，无需惊慌
4.
4.
“False Positive,” Jon Cohen, Martin Enserink, Science
“误报”，乔恩·科恩，马丁·恩塞林克，《科学》
“Done.
“完成了。
Case closed.
案件结案。
Finito, lights off, The End,” is the ironic lede to this retelling of the story of Judy Mikovits, a passionate virologist hell-bent on proving that chronic fatigue syndrome is caused by a retrovirus originally referred to as XMRV.
菲尼托，熄灯，结束”是对朱迪·米科维茨故事的讽刺性引导，朱迪·米科维茨是一位充满热情的病毒学家，一心想证明慢性疲劳综合症是由最初被称为 XMRV 的逆转录病毒引起的。
The beginning is ironic because unbeknownst to anyone, the story would erupt again and again late in the fall, when Mikovits was sued by her former employer for allegedly stealing lab notebooks and then arrested as a fugitive from justice in a soap-opera-worthy postscript.
开头很讽刺，因为谁都不知道，这个故事在秋末一次又一次地爆发，当时米科维茨因涉嫌盗窃实验室笔记本而被她的前雇主起诉，然后在肥皂剧般的后记中作为逃犯被捕。
I’ll note (in the gentle, ribbing way of a friendly competitor) that we called the death of this hypothesis several months prior in our pages, but Science’s take is as detailed as it is riveting.
我会注意到（以友好竞争对手的温和、开玩笑的方式）我们几个月前在我们的页面中称这个假设已死亡，但《科学》杂志的观点既详细又引人入胜。
5.
5.
“How Digital Detectives Deciphered Stuxnet, the Most Menacing Malware in History,” Kim Zetter, Wired
“数字侦探如何破译历史上最具威胁性的恶意软件震网”，Kim Zetter，《连线》
This is one of the few things that keeps me up at night.
这是让我彻夜难眠的少数事情之一。
We also did some coverage of this next evolution of computer viruses as weapons of war.
我们还对计算机病毒作为战争武器的下一次演变进行了一些报道。
Wired’s blow-by-blow account was, as you might expect, exceptional.
正如你所料，《连线》的详细报道非常出色。
BONUS
奖金
“One in a Billion: A boy’s life, a medical mystery,” Mark Johnson Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“十亿分之一：一个男孩的生命，一个医学之谜”，马克·约翰逊·凯瑟琳·加拉格尔，《密尔沃基哨兵报》
I’m taking an extra turn because this three part series ran in late December after I had submitted my five best last year.
我要多做一次，因为这个由三部分组成的系列赛是在我去年提交了我最好的五个作品之后于 12 月下旬开始的。
Yes, it’s a bit obvious of me to pick a Pulitzer-Prize-winning package, but if you haven’t read this, you really should.
是的，我选择普利策奖获奖包有点明显，但如果你还没有读过这篇文章，你真的应该读一下。
The themes and challenges spelled out in this story of a sick child being helped by genomics will become a much larger part of the health-care discussion in the next few years.
这个关于一个生病的孩子得到基因组学帮助的故事中阐述的主题和挑战将成为未来几年医疗保健讨论的重要组成部分。
***
***
Share your own Top 5 Longreads of 2011, all through December.
整个 12 月，分享您自己的 2011 年 5 首长读作品。
Just tag it #longreads on Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook.
只需在 Twitter、Tumblr 或 Facebook 上标记#longreads 即可。