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This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.
The ingredient that makes hot chilies hot is called capsaicin—and it can set your mouth on fire. But the spicy compound has a soothing effect too: in your gut, it kicks off a chemical cascade that might calm the immune system and reduce inflammation.
Researchers studied that phenomenon in mice. Once inside the gut, the capsaicin molecules plugged into a specific receptor, spurring the release of another compound, called anandamide. Anandamide happens to be an endocannabinoid—similar to active ingredients in marijuana—which binds to cannabinoid receptors in the gut. That last step in the cascade ramped up the production of cells that damp down inflammation in the mice—and even cured them of a mouse model of diabetes type 1, an autoimmune disease.
If all this sounds a bit similar to the chemical messaging that happens in the brain...that's because it is. "The gut has a very large nervous system. It's almost as large as the brain itself." Pramod Srivastava, an immunologist at UConn Health and one of the study's leaders.

"We don't quite fully understand what this huge amount of neurons are doing in the gut. We don't understand its language, and the molecules and mediators. And I think with this work we can at least claim to have found a couple of words in that language." The study is in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
So to recap that chemical chain: chilies cause the production of endocannabinoids, which produce immune suppressant cells, which soothe inflammation. So, what if you cut out the chili initiator, and just eat cannabinoids—pot brownies, stuff like that?
"Obviously we are very interested in people who use edible cannabinoids. I'm extremely curious if people with colitis or Crohn's disease, who are edible pot users, do they benefit from it? I have no idea. But it's something we can now find out because sizable numbers of people are consuming those edibles.”
Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

参考译文

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学~)7!Fdq]3t[。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔RJ7GNGOejt74。
让辣椒产生辣味的成分叫做辣椒素，它会让你的嘴巴冒火#1dcRZspn2X%Qg@HDBwD。不过这种辛辣的化合物也有舒缓作用：它会在肠道中触发一种化学级联反应，这种反应可以稳定免疫系统并减少炎症S+|lffoMKBS)4||5。
研究人员在小白鼠身上对这一现象进行了研究kxcf2*L~ze&。一旦进入肠道，辣椒素分子便会进入一种特殊的受体，促进另一种名为“大麻素”的化合物的释放&5F!Wy+n[@u9Z。这是一种内源性大麻素，类似于大麻中的有效成分，它会与肠道中的大麻素受体结合pKKGFwT^xat~@%YI=6=。级联反应的最后一步使小白鼠体内抑制炎症的细胞数量增加，甚至治愈了患有1型糖尿病的小白鼠，1型糖尿病是一种自体免疫性疾病Dw9N-*L]ncTwTa。
这些听起来可能有点像大脑中的化学消息传递，那是因为就是这样CsVh2,jZ*OHv(xk。“肠道拥有一个非常庞大的神经系统(9;7~Z!]2AP^[K。几乎和大脑的神经系统一样庞大UPCTl6**zK|H。”普拉莫德·斯里瓦斯塔瓦是康涅狄格大学健康中心的免疫学家，也是这项研究的负责人之一1%ngSFoy^(&~TF&HFM。
“我们不完全了解肠道中的大量神经细胞有何作用0_kt,X2h;Hh#。我们不懂神经细胞语言，也不了解这些分子和介质F%HIwtPUt@Wt。不过我认为，至少我们通过这项研究发现了这种语言的几个单词QC_ayAgASfqvGBeF。”这项研究发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》上~ZK6f;X)MiO72。
现在来回顾一下这个化学反应链：辣椒催生内源性大麻素，内源性大麻素产生免疫抑制细胞，这种细胞缓解炎症ILQ]mW4NCc.。那么，如果去掉辣椒这个引发剂，直接获取大麻素，比如吃大麻布朗尼之类的东西，会怎样呢？
“显然，我们对摄取可食用大麻素的人非常感兴趣azPdx&h74m。我非常好奇的是，如果患有结肠炎或克罗恩病的人食用大麻，能缓解病症吗？我并不知道答案nE@jbBpj)MJ[eb。不过因为现在有相当多的人在服用可食用大麻，所以我们可以找出答案bmxY3KR&TqrT。”
谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学*zdrKVs1sA0!L)。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔9gHQZA*--ns[D。

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重点讲解

重点讲解：
1. kick off (事件、比赛或讨论等)开始；
例句：Klein is in London to kick off a global promotional tour for her new book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.
克莱恩这次来伦敦，是为她的新书《休克教条：灾难资本主义的崛起》启动一次全球推广之旅Fy=w]G^fDv~G!。
2. damp down 抑制，平息（强烈的感情、争吵或危机)；
例句：His hand moved to his mouth as he tried to damp down the panic.
他用手捂住嘴巴，力图平息内心的恐慌|KWjSj|#!OF。
3. be interested in 感兴趣的；有兴趣的；关心的；
例句：We're interested in the source of these fictitious rumours.
我们对这些子虚乌有的谣言从何而来很感兴趣@iiX@bqa[)k0!@dgZa。
4. benefit from 获益；对…有益；有利于；
例句：Both sides have benefited from the talks.
双方都从谈判中获益3.zL8mrJD3Ll;。