美国国家公共电台 NPR Making Space Food With Space Poop

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

There's only so much space on a spacecraft, which means limited space for food and water. American crews on the International Space Station recycle their own sweat and urine to produce fresh drinking water - bottoms up. Now new research from Penn State University may have figured out a way to not let another human waste go to waste by turning effluvia into food - got that? Dr. Lisa Steinberg was lead author on the study and joins us now. Thanks so much for being with us.

LISA STEINBERG: Thank you for having me.

SIMON: So I gather microbes do the heavy lifting here, right?

STEINBERG: They sure do. So microbes catalyze¹ most of the major processes on Earth to recycle nutrients², and we're putting them to work in the life-support system to do the same thing.

SIMON: And how's that work?

STEINBERG: We collect the solid and liquid waste from the astronaut, and we put it into a reactor³ where we have a mixed group of bacteria that break that waste down. And from that, they produce methane⁴ which is a gas. And then that methane can be fed to a second type of bacteria that it grows up. And then the cells themselves have a lot of protein, have a lot of fat, and they can serve as a supplement to the diet of the astronauts in the life-support system.

SIMON: And the final product looks and taste like what?

STEINBERG: My collaborator⁵ on the project, Dr. Chris House, described it as a marmite or Vegemite-like substance. I'm not familiar with either of those because I don't eat them. But he does and said that the consistency⁶ reminded him of that.

SIMON: Kind of - Vegemite and marmite - I've had both. Let's just describe it as kind of a translucent⁷ peanut butter except it don't taste like peanuts, OK?

STEINBERG: I'm sure it probably has a much yeasty or richer flavor than, you know, just peanut butter would.

SIMON: Yeah, but you haven't tasted it, right?

STEINBERG: No, so that would have required special permissions that we didn't obtain. So no, we did not taste it. But it has been used for years as a supplemental food for animal husbandry and aquaculture. And at some point, there were some tests done with people who described it as somewhat bland⁸.

SIMON: Oh, that's much better than I was faring. Yeah. All right.

STEINBERG: I recommended just bringing some Sriracha on board, and that'll make anything taste good.

SIMON: (Laughter) Absolutely true. And you know what the French say - as long as the sauce is good. And why is this a great step forward for mankind?

STEINBERG: Well, if we are going to have manned space missions to near-Earth asteroids⁹ or Mars - anything that is quite a distance away - it's not going to be feasible at this point to try to pack along all of the food and the water that astronauts would need for the duration of the trip. So we need to have some way of recycling the nutrients from waste material back into food material in a pretty short span of time. So we're hoping that this will make those kinds of manned space missions more feasible in the future.

SIMON: What remains¹⁰ for this to become a reality?

STEINBERG: Well, to put it on a life-support system, you would definitely need to have a lot of safety precautions in place. Astronaut protection would be first and foremost. You would need to make sure that there's no potential of pathogens from the waste getting into the food source. And then beyond that, you would just the system to be incredibly reliable and predictable. Nobody wants surprises in space.

SIMON: So so far, no plans for recipe book?

STEINBERG: No, not for me - I don't even cook at home, so I wouldn't know what to do with this.

SIMON: Dr. Lisa Steinberg, who's a post-doctoral astrobiology researcher at Penn State and lead author of the study - thanks so much for being with us.

STEINBERG: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF MATERIAL SONG, "COSMIC SLOP")

1 catalyze   

v.催化

参考例句：

• They are highly specific for the reactions that they catalyze.它们对被它们催化的反应有很强的专一性。
• They are highly specific for the reactions that they catalyze.它们对被它们催化的反应有很强的专一性。

2 nutrients   

n.（食品或化学品）营养物，营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
• Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

4 methane   

n.甲烷，沼气

参考例句：

• The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。
• Methane may have extraterrestrial significance.甲烷具有星际意义。

5 collaborator   

n.合作者，协作者

参考例句：

• I need a collaborator to help me. 我需要个人跟我合作，帮我的忙。
• His collaborator, Hooke, was of a different opinion. 他的合作者霍克持有不同的看法。

6 consistency   

n.一贯性，前后一致，稳定性；(液体的)浓度

参考例句：

• Your behaviour lacks consistency.你的行为缺乏一贯性。
• We appreciate the consistency and stability in China and in Chinese politics.我们赞赏中国及其政策的连续性和稳定性。

7 translucent   

adj.半透明的；透明的

参考例句：

• The building is roofed entirely with translucent corrugated plastic.这座建筑完全用半透明瓦楞塑料封顶。
• A small difference between them will render the composite translucent.微小的差别,也会使复合材料变成半透明。

8 bland   

adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的

参考例句：

• He eats bland food because of his stomach trouble.他因胃病而吃清淡的食物。
• This soup is too bland for me.这汤我喝起来偏淡。

9 asteroids   

n.小行星( asteroid的名词复数 )；海盘车，海星

参考例句：

• Asteroids,also known as "minor planets",are numerous in the outer space. 小行星，亦称为“小型行星”，在外太空中不计其数。
• Most stars probably have their quota of planets, meteorids, comets, and asteroids. 多数恒星也许还拥有若干行星、流星、彗星和小行星。

10 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。