科学美国人60秒 SSS 纳米技术使老鼠能够看到红外线

This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Karen Hopkin.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是凯伦·霍普金。

Tired of having to reach for your night-vision goggles¹ when you want to track someone’s heat signature after dark?

当你想在天黑后追踪某人的热信号时，你已经厌倦了用夜视镜吗?

Well, biotech may someday come to the rescue for all of you aspiring² spies.

好吧，生物技术也许有一天会来拯救想要成为间谍的你们。

Because researchers have developed an injectable, nanoscale antenna³, which they’ve used to allow mice to see beyond their normal visual spectrum⁴ and into the infrared⁵.

因为研究人员已经开发出了一种可注入的纳米级天线，他们已经用它让老鼠看到了超出正常可见光光谱的红外线。

The work appears in the journal Cell.

这项研究发表在《细胞》期刊上。

Like all mammals, we humans are only able to see light in the visible spectrum, which includes all of the colors of the rainbow.

和所有哺乳动物一样，我们人类只能看到可见光谱中的光，这包括彩虹的所有颜色。

That limitation is due to the photoreceptors in our eyes being only able to detect radiation with a wavelength⁶ of around 400 to 700 nanometers,

这种限制是由于我们眼睛里的感光器只能探测到波长在400到700纳米之间的辐射,

which means we can’t see infrared and near-infrared light, which has wavelengths⁷ a little bit longer.

这意味着我们看不到红外光和近红外光，它们的波长要长一些。

And that got scientists thinking.

这引起了科学家们的思考。

“So we always curious on whether we can use any method or technique to allow us to be able to see near-infrared or infrared light.”

“所以我们一直很好奇，我们是否可以使用任何一种方法或技术，让我们能够看到近红外光或红外光。”

Tian Xue of the University of Science and Technology of China.

中国科学技术大学的薛天说。

He reached out to his colleague Gang Han at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, who engineered a teeny tiny device, which he calls an “up-conversion nanoparticle.”

他找到了马萨诸塞大学医学院的同事韩刚，他设计了一种微型设备，他称之为“上转换纳米颗粒”。

“We actually developed nanoparticles, so-called up-conversion nanoparticles, that actually can effectively be activated⁸ by this near-infrared light.”

“我们实际上开发了纳米粒子，所谓的上转换纳米粒子，实际上它可以被这种近红外光有效地激活。”

Then they tested their system in mice.

然后他们在老鼠身上测试了他们的系统。

The nanoparticles attach themselves to photoreceptors in the animal’s retina.

纳米颗粒附着在动物视网膜上的感光细胞上。

There, they absorb infrared radiation and convert it to visible green light.

在那里，它们吸收红外辐射，并将其转化为可见的绿光。

“This green light is absorbed by retinal cells.”,

“这种绿光被视网膜细胞吸收。”,

which the brain then interprets as regular visible light.

然后大脑将其解释为普通的可见光。

This enhanced super-vision allows the animals to not only see in infrared, but to discriminate⁹ between different infrared patterns.

这种增强的视觉不仅能让动物看到红外线，还能区分不同的红外线模式。

So, for example, they could be taught to navigate¹⁰ toward horizontal stripes versus¹¹ vertical¹² ones—patterns that the researchers, themselves, couldn’t see.

例如，可以教它们辨别水平条纹和垂直条纹——这些图案是研究人员自己看不到的。

Even Xue found that a bit disconcerting.

就连薛天也觉得这有点令人不安。

“When we do the experiment sometime it feels a little bit creepy because if you do not wear night-vision goggles and when we do the testing we show the pattern to the animals, in fact to our own eyes we cannot tell any near-infrared patterns, but injected animal could.

“当我们做实验时，有时会感到有点毛骨悚然，因为如果你不戴夜视镜，当我们做测试时，我们向动物展示图案，实际上，我们自己的眼睛不能分辨任何近红外图案，但注射过的动物可以分辨。

They can use patterns to guide their behaviors very accurately¹³ and efficiently¹⁴.”

他们可以使用图案非常准确和有效地指导自己的行为。”

Han says the enhanced infrared detection did not appear to interfere¹⁵ with, or supersede¹⁶, the animal’s standard-issue visual abilities.

韩刚说，增强的红外探测似乎没有干扰或取代动物标准的视觉能力。

“The treated mice were able to perceive this light patterns in the daylight conditions, clearly suggesting that nanoparticles working in parallel with conventional visible vision as well.”

“已处理过的老鼠能够在日光条件下感知到这种光图案，这清楚地表明纳米颗粒也与传统的可见视觉并行工作。”

The technology, in addition to its applications in military or law enforcement, might even provide a possible fix for color blindness.

这项技术，除了在军事或执法部门的应用之外，甚至可能为色盲提供一种可能的解决方案。

And best of all, Xue notes, it wouldn’t need batteries.

薛天指出，最重要的是，它不需要电池。

This new nanoparticle technique is stealthy and it do[es] not need external power.

这种新的纳米颗粒技术是隐形的，它不需要外部电源。

The nanoparticles directly activated by the infrared light itself.”

纳米粒子直接被红外光激活。”

The nanoparticles remained active for as long as two months.

纳米颗粒的活性长达两个月之久。

A similar infrared boost could someday allow us humans to break through our natural visual limitations.

某天，类似的红外线增强技术可能会让我们人类突破自然的视觉限制。

And see things in a whole new light.

用全新的光线观察事物。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是凯伦·霍普金。

1 goggles   

n.护目镜

参考例句：

• Skiers wear goggles to protect their eyes from the sun.滑雪者都戴上护目镜使眼睛不受阳光伤害。
• My swimming goggles keep steaming up so I can't see.我的护目镜一直有水雾，所以我看不见。

2 aspiring   

adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求

参考例句：

• Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
• He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句

3 antenna   

n.触角，触须；天线

参考例句：

• The workman fixed the antenna to the roof of the house.工人把天线固定在房顶上。
• In our village, there is an antenna on every roof for receiving TV signals.在我们村里，每家房顶上都有天线接收电视信号。

4 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

5 infrared   

adj./n.红外线(的)

参考例句：

• Infrared is widely used in industry and medical science.红外线广泛应用于工业和医学科学。
• Infrared radiation has wavelengths longer than those of visible light.红外辐射的波长比可见光的波长长。

6 wavelength   

n.波长

参考例句：

• The authorities were unable to jam this wavelength.当局无法干扰这一波长。
• Radio One has broadcast on this wavelength for years.广播1台已经用这个波长广播多年了。

7 wavelengths   

n.波长( wavelength的名词复数 )；具有相同的/不同的思路；合拍；不合拍

参考例句：

• I find him difficult to talk to—we're on completely different wavelengths. 我没法和他谈话，因为我们俩完全不对路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Sunlight consists of different wavelengths of radiation. 阳光由几种不同波长的射线组成。 来自辞典例句

8 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

9 discriminate   

v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待

参考例句：

• You must learn to discriminate between facts and opinions.你必须学会把事实和看法区分出来。
• They can discriminate hundreds of colours.他们能分辨上百种颜色。

10 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

11 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

12 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

13 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

14 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

15 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

16 supersede   

v.替代；充任

参考例句：

• We must supersede old machines by new ones.我们必须以新机器取代旧机器。
• The use of robots will someday supersede manual labor.机器人的使用有一天会取代人力。