He noted that Curiosity is the first rover to be equipped with the tools to study carbon isotopes on the surface of Mars.

他指出，" 好奇号" 是第一个配备了研究火星表面碳同位素工具的探测器。

By extracting oxygen, and carbon isotopes from the sediment and analyzing their chemical make-up, geochemists can deduce temperature, humidity, and even weather conditions from prehistoric world.

通过在沉积层里提取氧和碳的同位素，并且分析其化学构成，地化学家能够推测出温度、湿度、甚至是史前世界的气候条件。

Different kinds of plants produce different ratios of carbon isotopes during photosynthesis, depending on what kinds of environments they live in.

不同种类的植物在光合作用过程中会产生不同比例的碳同位素，这取决于它们所处的环境类型。

Burning coal and oil pumps out tons of CO2, as you know, but it also causes a decrease of certain carbon isotopes, like Carbon-13.

如您所知，燃烧煤炭和石油会排出数吨二氧化碳，但它也会导致某些碳同位素减少， 例如碳 13。

Other methods have been used to study the ancient climate, like analyzing marine core samples, and the ratios of carbon isotopes in fossil leaves.

其他方法已被用于研究古代气候，例如分析海洋核心样本以及化石叶子中碳同位素的比率。

But things that eat instead of photosynthesize -- like animals and fungi -- pick up carbon isotopes from their food, so their ratios can vary a lot.

但是那些吃东西而不是进行光合作用的东西——比如动物和真菌——从它们的食物中获取碳同位素，所以它们的比率可能会有很大差异。

To try to link the evolution of these species with changes in the environment, Chu Xuelei of the Institute of Geology and Geophysics in Beijing and his colleagues have been looking at carbon isotopes in the Doushantuo rocks.

为了把这些物种的进化和环境变化联系起来，北京地质与地球物理研究所的储雪雷（音译）和他的同事用碳同位素方法测试陡山沱石块。

For example, plants that live in cool, humid climates are typically what're known as C3 plants, because their way of photosynthesizing results in a 3-carbon acid that has its own unique combination of carbon isotopes.

例如，生活在凉爽、潮湿气候中的植物通常是所谓的 C3 植物，因为它们的光合作用方式会产生一种 3 碳酸，这种酸具有自己独特的碳同位素组合。