Dinosaurs¹ were most likely killed off because they never got a good night's sleep, scientists have claimed.

科学家们宣称，恐龙灭绝的原因很可能是它们没有好好睡上一觉。

Giant meteorites² from outer space, fire storms, tidal waves and an ice age have all been suggested by expects to explain the demise³ of dinosaurs. However, the latest theory to explain their reptilian⁴ claims they did not survive because their reptilian sleeping patterns meant their brains did not learn new skills properly.

专家们曾提出各种各样的假设来解释恐龙的灭绝，从外太空的巨型陨石，风暴性大火，潮汐以至冰期不一而足。然而最新的研究表明恐龙灭绝师因为它们那种爬行动物的睡眠方式无法让它们的大脑有效地掌握新的技能。

Unlike mammals and birds, reptiles⁵ are unable to experience slow wave sleep, the type of sleep believed to be responsible for boosting memories, especially those connected to performing new tasks. As a result, reptiles are much more limited in the type of complex behavior they can experience than other animals such as mammals and birds.

跟哺乳动物和鸟类不同，爬行动物没有慢波睡眠，此种睡眠据信能增强记忆，尤其是增强那种与新任务相关的记忆。这样一来，相对哺乳动物和鸟类，爬行动物所能实行的复杂行为的类型就相对有限了。

The implication of new research by Niels Rattenborg, of the Max Planck Institute for ornithology⁶ in Germany, is that the inability of dinosaurs--which are ancestors of modern-day reptiles--to experience slow wave sleep may have been one of the reasons why they became extinct. Slow wave--or deep wave leads to enhancements in both learning and physical performance. It effectively shuts down the parts of the brain that have learned new skills and allows this learning to become consolidated⁷ without interruption.

这一新发现来自德国马克斯·普朗克鸟类研究所的尼尔斯·拉腾伯格，其隐含意义在于缺乏慢波睡眠的能力是恐龙—现在爬行动物的祖先—灭绝的原因之一。慢波睡眠—也就是深度睡眠—能同时增强学习能力和体力。它能有效地关闭大脑中那些习得了新技能的部分，由此使大脑不受干扰地消化吸收新的知识。

Without this crucial ability it could be that, when the earth experienced huge climatic changes towards the end of the era of the dinosaurs, they were unable to pick up sufficient new tricks to learn their way out of extinction⁸.

恐龙缺乏这种至关重要的能力，这可能意味着，在恐龙时期末期地球气候发生巨变的时候，它们无法学到足够的新技能，因此也就无法逃脱灭绝的厄运。