科学美国人60秒 狗教炸弹嗅探机新把戏

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Old Yeller was a great smeller. Dogs in general have superior smelling abilities. They detect dead bodies, illegal drugs and explosives—even cancer. But dogs don't just have great olfactory¹ gear. Another reason they're amazing chemical detectors³? [sniffing⁵ sound] … is the sniff⁴.

老黄狗(来自电影《老黄狗》)嗅觉非常的灵敏。一般而言，狗具有优越的嗅觉。它们可以发现尸体、毒品、炸药——甚至癌症。但是狗狗们并不仅仅拥有强大的嗅觉器官。另外一个原因就是它们还具有神奇的“化学探测器”?那就是嗅。

"And it turns out almost every breed of dog does this at 5 Hz. Five times a second." Matthew Staymates, a mechanical engineer and fluid dynamicist⁶ at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Sniffing, he says, is really a two-part process. “Inspiration, expiration⁷, right? Inhale⁸, exhale⁹, inhale, exhale." That second part, the exhale, is key.

“结果表明，几乎每个品种的狗吸气的频率都是5赫兹。即一秒钟5次。”Matthew Staymates是美国国家标准与技术研究院的机械工程师和流体动力学家。他表示，嗅是有两个过程。“吸气和呼气?”吸气，呼气，吸气，呼气。第二部分，呼气才是关键。

"So when the dog is actively¹⁰ sampling or sniffing on the ground, there is a turbulent air jet that exits each nostril¹¹ during the exhale phase. Just like when you and I exhale there's an air jet that comes out of our nostrils¹². But the dog is down on the ground and those air jets are vectored down and toward its rear. And in the world of fluid dynamics¹³, if I pulse an air jet in one direction I basically pull air with it." So the dog is creating a pressure differential that effectively pulls new scents¹⁵ toward its nose.

“当狗狗在地上嗅赖嗅去的时候，在它呼气的时候，每个皮孔都会喷出紊流空气。就像我们呼气的时候，我们的鼻孔就会有气流喷出。但是狗狗是附身嗅地面，呼出的空气流会反冲会自己的呼吸器官。在流体动力学领域，如果我们呼出空气流是朝一个方向，最后，也会吸入这个空气流。”所以，狗狗在制造一种压力差，可以使鼻子嗅出新的气味。

Staymates and his colleagues discovered that effect using a 3-D–printed model of a Labrador retriever's nose, which they tested with fluid dynamics equipment. They then outfitted¹⁶ a commercial vapor¹⁷ detector² with sniffing nostrils, inspired by the dog nose. And they found that the actively sniffing detector was 16 times better at picking up the scent¹⁴ of explosives, compared to just continuously drawing in air—the usual method. The results are in the journal Scientific Reports.

Staymates和同事们利用拉布拉多猎犬鼻子的3维模型研究了效果并用以检测流体动力学设备。受到狗嗅觉的启发，他们在商业蒸汽探测器上也安装了“嗅觉”装置。结果发现，与通常的方法——仅持续的吸入气流相比，这种嗅觉设备在识别炸药气味上更加卓越。该研究结果发表在《科学报告》杂志上。

Staymates says he hopes next-generation sensors¹⁸ take sniffing seriously. "There's nanosensors out there that can detect very, very small amounts of materials. One of the things that's been overlooked: is how do you get the molecules¹⁹ of interest to the detector? So you can have the most sophisticated detector in the world, but unless you can get material to it, it's not very useful." Adding a sniffer though…could be just the thing to make those detectors more dogged.

Staymates表示，希望下一代的传感器可以认真考虑嗅觉装置。有的纳米传感器可以进行精微检测。但有一点被人们所忽视：“如何获得分子探测器?这样你就可以拥有世界上最先进的探测装置，或许装置不太实用，但是前提是你得拥有装置材料。”只添加一个嗅觉装置，就可以让那些感应器更加的灵敏。

1 olfactory   

adj.嗅觉的

参考例句：

• He is to develop a sensor to substitute for the olfactory abilities of dogs.克罗克将研制一种传感器用以代替狗的嗅觉功能。
• Based on these findings, Keller suspects that each person has an olfactory blind spot.根据这些发现，凯勒推断，每个人都有一个嗅觉盲区。

2 detector   

n.发觉者，探测器

参考例句：

• The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
• Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。

3 detectors   

探测器( detector的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The report advocated that all buildings be fitted with smoke detectors. 报告主张所有的建筑物都应安装烟火探测器。
• This is heady wine for experimenters using these neutrino detectors. 对于使用中微子探测器的实验工作者，这是令人兴奋的美酒。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技

4 sniff   

vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视

参考例句：

• The police used dogs to sniff out the criminals in their hiding - place.警察使用警犬查出了罪犯的藏身地点。
• When Munchie meets a dog on the beach, they sniff each other for a while.当麦奇在海滩上碰到另一条狗的时候，他们会彼此嗅一会儿。

5 sniffing   

n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• We all had colds and couldn't stop sniffing and sneezing. 我们都感冒了，一个劲地抽鼻子，打喷嚏。
• They all had colds and were sniffing and sneezing. 他们都伤风了，呼呼喘气而且打喷嚏。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 dynamicist   

n.力本论者，物力论者，力学家

参考例句：

• Fluid dynamicist Ronald Stouffer of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Princeton, New Jersey, agrees. 国家海洋和大气管理局（新泽西州普林斯顿）的流体动力学家罗纳德·斯托弗同意这个看法。 来自互联网

7 expiration   

n.终结，期满，呼气，呼出物

参考例句：

• Can I have your credit card number followed by the expiration date?能告诉我你的信用卡号码和它的到期日吗?
• This contract shall be terminated on the expiration date.劳动合同期满，即行终止。

8 inhale   

v.吸入(气体等)，吸(烟)

参考例句：

• Don't inhale dust into your lung.别把灰尘吸进肺里。
• They are pleased to not inhale second hand smoke.他们很高兴他们再也不会吸到二手烟了。

9 exhale   

v.呼气，散出，吐出，蒸发

参考例句：

• Sweet odours exhale from flowers.花儿散发出花香。
• Wade exhaled a cloud of smoke and coughed.韦德吐出一口烟，然后咳嗽起来。

10 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

11 nostril   

n.鼻孔

参考例句：

• The Indian princess wore a diamond in her right nostril.印弟安公主在右鼻孔中戴了一颗钻石。
• All South American monkeys have flat noses with widely spaced nostril.所有南美洲的猴子都有平鼻子和宽大的鼻孔。

12 nostrils   

鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Her nostrils flared with anger. 她气得两个鼻孔都鼓了起来。
• The horse dilated its nostrils. 马张大鼻孔。

13 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

14 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。

15 scents   

n.香水( scent的名词复数 )；气味；（动物的）臭迹；（尤指狗的）嗅觉

参考例句：

• The air was fragrant with scents from the sea and the hills. 空气中荡漾着山和海的芬芳气息。
• The winds came down with scents of the grass and wild flowers. 微风送来阵阵青草和野花的香气。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 outfitted   

v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They outfitted for the long journey. 他们为远途旅行准备装束。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• They outfitted him with artificial legs. 他们为他安了假腿。 来自辞典例句

17 vapor   

n.蒸汽，雾气

参考例句：

• The cold wind condenses vapor into rain.冷风使水蒸气凝结成雨。
• This new machine sometimes transpires a lot of hot vapor.这部机器有时排出大量的热气。

18 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

19 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• 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。