创业激情来源敲定？弓形虫闪亮登场
近日，皇家学会会刊B发了一个很迷的新研究：感染弓形虫的人类更可能去……创业。有学者在商界人士里测试弓形虫的效果，发现那些感染弓形虫的人有1.4倍的概率选择商学院，1.7倍概率选择“管理和创业”作为主修方向；有1.8倍概率已经创办了自己的公司。研究者给出的猜测是，大概是弓形虫让人更不怕失败，所以更敢于创业了。
弓形虫（Toxoplasma gondii）是一种原生动物寄生虫，它能感染100多种哺乳动物，但却只能在家猫和野猫的体内有性生殖。大凡对宿主有要求的寄生虫，一般都会采取一些手段，帮助自己进入指定的宿主体内。弓形虫自然也不例外：实验发现，被弓形虫感染的老鼠会发生大脑化学层面的改变，这样的老鼠不再害怕猫尿的气味，就更容易被猫吃掉，把弓形虫传给猫。
Parasite[1] found in cat poop[2] could reduce people's fear of failure
A parasite found in cat feces[2] could reduce humans’ fear of failure, leading more people to become entrepreneurs, according to a new study.
[1]parasite: a plant or animal that lives on or in another plant or animal and gets food from it 寄生植物；寄生动物；寄生虫
[2]cat poop和cat feces都是指猫的粪便...
Researchers found that Toxoplasma gondii — the behavior-altering parasite that infects an estimated 2 billion people worldwide — could be responsible for breaking down the mental barriers that stop people from taking risks, like launching a business, the study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B., found.
“Our main objective was to look at the association between Toxoplasma gondii infection and outcomes related to entrepreneurship, and we set out to study it on multiple hierarchical scales,” one of the study’s author’s, Pieter Johnson, told the Daily News. “We found a positive link between infection and entrepreneurial tendencies, so a very consistent pattern came out,” he said.
Toxoplasmosis can increase the risk of “car accidents, mental illness, neuroticism, drug abuse and suicide,” the study’s authors write in the paper — which doesn’t prove a causal relationship between the parasite and a decrease in people’s fear of failure.
Stefanie Johnson, a business professor at the University of Colorado and the lead author on the study, teamed up with her husband, Pieter, a biology professor at the university, to determine the parasite’s influence by studying college students and business professionals.
They saliva tested nearly 1,700 subjects for antibodies to toxoplasma[弓形虫抗体]. About 22% of the people they tested had once been infected.
“I was surprised at the number of people who had been infected,” Pieter said. “Given Colorado’s dry climate and the young population we looked at, I had expected the prevalence[盛行] would be lower, maybe closer to 10%.”
He said the focus of the study was informed by dinnertime conversations with his wife.
“We both knew about the parasite, and it seemed like a natural interface[3] of collaboration between us, to think of patterns of infection and how it might relate to business outcomes,” Pieter said.
[3]interface: the way in which two subjects, events etc affect each other
相互作用，相互影响
[+ between ]
The book deals with the interface between accountancy and law.
本书论及会计工作和法律的关系。
Students who tested positive for T. gondii were 1.4 times more likely to major in business and 1.7 times more likely to focus on management and entrepreneurship compared to other business-related areas of study, the team found.
对于大学生而言，感染弓形虫的人有1.4倍的概率选择商学院，1.7倍概率选择“管理和创业”作为主修方向，而非选择金融、会计或者市场营销；
Among professionals at entrepreneurship seminars, T. gondii-positive individuals were 1.8 times more likely to have started their own businesses compared to other attendees.
而那些参加创业相关活动的人里，感染弓形虫的人有1.8倍概率是已经创办了自己的公司。
最奇怪的是，一个国家的弓形虫感染率竟然和这个国家的创业活动有很好的关联。根据全球创业观察（GEM）数据库进行的分析表明，感染率高的地方，居民有近期创业意向的比例更高，正在进行创业的比例更高，表示“害怕失败所以不敢创业”的比例更低，所有这些都是统计显著的。
The duo[4] will continue testing links between the parasite and human behavior.
[4]duo: /'djuːəʊ,'duo/
1) N-COUNT A duo is two musicians, singers, or other performers who perform together as a pair. 二重奏演奏者; 二重唱演唱者; 二人组合表演者
...a famous dancing and singing duo.
…一个著名的歌舞表演二人组。
2)N-COUNT You can refer to two people together as a duo, especially when they have something in common. (有共同点的) 一对人
The Giants are led by the scoring duo of Adam Courchaine and Gilbert Brule.
巨人队由得分二人搭档亚当∙库彻恩和吉尓伯特∙布鲁尓领队。
“Conservatism is an area Stefanie is really interested in,” Pieter said. “We are also trying to track the source of infection and determine whether infection through exposure to cats or eating undercooked meats have different outcomes.”
英文来源：New York Daily News
中文来源：果壳网(仅供参考)