capture a video

埼玉大学中井淳一教授と遺伝学研究所川上浩一教授らの共同研究グループは世界で初めて生きた魚の神経の活動を撮影することに成功しました。具体的には遺伝子操作で、脳が発光するようにしたミノカサゴの稚魚（baby zebrafish）の餌となるゾウリムシ（paramecium）が泳ぎ回るのを認知したbaby zebrafishの脳内の神経活動をカルシウムセンサー（GCaMP）で発光させ、それを撮影したということです。

Scientists record a thought being formed in the brain

A team of Japanese scientists captured, for the first time, a video of a thought being formed in the brain. Although it is not a human brain, but one of a baby fish, scientists were able to see how informations are transmitted through a vast structure of neurons.

The process was similar to a miniature lightning, the international press reports. The scientists used a baby zebrafish, a fish species that has a particular characteristic: in their embryonic or larval states, zebrafish are almost transparent.

The hungry baby fish was dosed with fluorescencing agents that glow when neurons are activated. Then, the scientists induced a paramecium – a small organism about 200 micrometers in length -, which made the zebrafish think about food, and thus about catching the paramecium. The fish sent neural impulses in “optic tectum,” a region of the midbrain, which were able to be seen due to the super-sensitive fluorescent substance that detects neuron activity.

The whole process was conducted and video recorded by a team of scientists including Professor Koichi Kawakami from Japan’s National Institute of Genetics.

http://www.tokyotimes.com/2013/scientists-record-a-thought-being-formed-in-the-brain/

captured, for the first time, a video of a thought being formed in the brainという箇所は、最近はやりの言い方では「（画像）可視化」と訳せましょう。単にvisualizeよりも具体的です。かつ、capture a video of~という言い方そのものも新鮮でした。「撮影する」には、一般にfilm、recordとかvideotapeといった動詞をてっとりばやく使ってしまいますが、captureそのものに「〈ものを〉(画像や言葉で)(永続的な形で)とらえる，保存する」という意味があり、さらにcapture a video of~とすることで、「動きをとる」ということになるのですね。それにしてもすばらしい研究成果だと思います。（UG）