Science in the News【DOC精选】.doc

Cassini Studies Mysterious Geysers on a Saturn Moon An experimental drug shows promise against a worm disease. And the Grand Canyon could be much older than scientists have thought. Transcript of radio broadcast: 07 April 2008 VOICE ONE: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.? Im Barbara Klein. VOICE TWO: And Im Bob Doughty.? This week, we will tell about icy material shooting up from a moon of the planet Saturn.? We will also tell about an experimental drug for the disease schistosomiasis.? And, we tell about a new study of the Grand Canyon -- one of Americas greatest natural wonders.? (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Enceladus, photographed by the Cassini spacecraft Saturn is best known for the rings of icy material that surround the planet.? But Saturns moons interest scientists because some may hold liquid water and other materials necessary for life.? Recently, the American space agency NASA ordered the Cassini spacecraft to visit one of Saturns most interesting moons.? NASA jointly operates Cassini with the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The moon is Enceladus.? It is not Saturns largest moon.? It is only five hundred kilometers across.? But the forces that affect the surface of Enceladus are very active.? VOICE TWO: Periodically, huge amounts of material shoot up from the surface.? NASA officials have called these events geysers, like the hot water that is forced out from under the ground on Earth.? Cassini first captured pictures of such an event three years ago.? The pictures have proved so scientifically important that NASA made changes to its plans for Cassini just to study the geysers.? On March twelfth, the space agency directed Cassini to pass only about fifty kilometers from the surface of Enceladus.? Cassini got so close that it passed through material shooting out of the moon.? The spacecraft was traveling at a speed of fifteen kilometers a second.? VOICE ONE: What Cassini found has only increased scientists inter