As part of an effort to improve treatments for life-threatening illnesses, a team of scientists have created rabbits that glow in the dark.

为了促进研究治疗危害人类疾病的方法，近日一组科学家培育出了一种会在黑暗中发光的荧光兔。

Their efforts produced two rabbits out of a litter of eight that went from being a normal, fluffy white to glowing green in the dark. The rabbits were born at the University of Istanbul as part of a collaboration between scientists from universities in Turkey and Hawaii.

这一窝一共有八只兔子，其中两只从正常的毛绒绒白兔变成了在黑暗中发绿光的荧光兔。这两只兔子是在伊斯坦布尔大学诞生的，由土耳其和夏威夷大学的科学家合作研发。

The rabbits glow to show that a genetic manipulation technique can work efficiently, though the specific color is more cosmetic than scientific. "The green is not important at all – it's just a marker to show the experiment can be done successfully," said University of Hawaii associate professor Stefan Moisyadi.

这些荧光兔子的成功培育，表明基因操作技术是可行的，尽管这个颜色只是个表象，并不具有多大的科学意义。“绿色一点都不重要——这只是表明实验可以成功进行，”夏威夷大学副教授斯特凡·莫伊斯雅迪说。

To produce the glowing effect, researchers injected jellyfish DNA into a mother rabbit's embryos. Those altered embryos were then inserted back into the mother. Similar experiments have resulted in glowing cockroaches and cats.

为了产生这种荧光效果，研究人员在一只母兔的胚胎中注入了水母的DNA，之后再把这些变异的胚胎植回母体。类似的实验还曾培育出荧光蟑螂和荧光猫。

Eventually, the researchers hope the technique can lead to new ways to produce medicines, Moisyadi said. The rabbits are expected to have the same life span as their non-glowing counterparts, but Moisyadi said he understands people can object to this kind of experimentation involving live animals.

莫伊斯雅迪表示，最终，研究人员希望这项技术可以用于生产药物。这些兔子的寿命预计将会和普通兔子一样，但是莫伊斯雅迪说他理解人们可能会反对这种活体动物实验。

"To the people against, I say: think about, what are the benefits and what are the injuries?" Moisyadi said. "And if the benefits outweigh the injuries, let's go with the benefits."

“我想对反对的人说：想一想，好处是什么，坏处又是什么？”莫伊斯雅迪说。“如果好处大于坏处，那我们就往好的方面看吧。”