Cause of Baldness 科學家揭曉禿頭的原因 @ 看BBC學英文

Cause of Baldness 科學家揭曉禿頭的原因

Background: 近日，美國的科學家們表示他們發現了導致男士們脫髮的原因並希望能早日找到治療方法。研究表明人體內有缺陷的毛囊幹細胞導致生長出來的毛髮細得肉眼無法看得到。

For some men, bald is beautiful.

The iconic look may work for a few - especially celebrities - like the rugged Die Hard star Bruce Willis and Star Trek's Patrick Stewart.

For many though hair loss is no laughing matter. But now researchers in America say they've uncovered a cure.

An academic medical centre has found that hair follicles actually shrink, but don't disappear.

Dr George Cotsarelis, dermatology professor at Pennsylvania University, found the discovery hair-raising.

“What we found surprised us. The stem cells were present but they were not doing their job.”

The discovery of invisible hair sounds too good to be true. But what does it mean?

“It really gives us hope that because the stem cells are present it lowers the bar for developing treatments that could activate the stem cells and get them to form a new hair follicle,” said Dr Cotsarelis.

Treating these faulty stem cells means that, rather than just maintaining hair, we could soon regenerate hair.

Glossary 單字表

rugged 強健而富有魅力的
no laughing matter 嚴肅的事
to uncover 發現
cure 治療方法
hair follicle 毛囊
hair-raising 令人驚訝的
stem cell 幹細胞
to good to be true 好得令人難以置信
to lower the bar 消減阻礙
to regenerate 再生

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