【卫报】发光细菌为安全探测一亿地雷带来希望丨第72期

A team of researchers at an Israeli university has successfully tested a technology using fluorescent bacteria and lasers that could become a safer system for detecting buried landmines.

以色列一大学的研究小组成功测试了一项利用荧光细菌和激光的技术，这项技术可能使探雷变得更安全。

• fluorescent：发光，荧光

An estimated 100m landmines are scattered in some 70 countries, a legacy of often long-past conflict, and the devices injure up to 20,000 people a year.

据估计，有1亿枚地雷散落在约70个国家里，它们大多是长久以前冲突的遗留物。每年多达两万人因这些地雷而受伤。 

Mine clearance work is typically dangerous, labour-intensive and costly.

扫雷工作一般都很危险，而且要花费大量人力物力。

The team at Jerusalem's Hebrew University has tested mine detection using bacteria genetically modified to give off a fluorescent signal when mines - often made out plastic - are close, which can then be detected with a laser. 

“期待您的翻译，将您的理解留言在文章下方留言处，第二天将会有长难句解析。”

Reporting the findings in the journal Nature Biotechnology, the researchers say their approach relies on tiny amounts of vapour given off by the explosives in the mines.

研究者在期刊《自然·生物技术》上报告这一发现时说，他们的方法依靠地雷内爆炸物发出的微量蒸气。

It was recognised that some plants reacted to those vapours, and the research used modified bacteria that essentially glow in contact with the explosive vapour. Encased in polymer beads scattered on the suspected minefield, that fluorescence is then detected by a laser system that researchers suggest could be mounted on a vehicle - including drones.

某些植物对炸药蒸气起反应，研究中利用遇到炸药蒸气后本就会发光的改造菌 。在有雷区嫌疑的地面撒上包在聚合物小珠中的发光菌，随后激光器会检测到这些荧光。研究人员称激光器可以搭载在包括无人机在内的移动工具上。

The system has been successfully tested in a field of real landmines, scanning the ground at a rate of around 18cm per second - a speed the researchers hope to increase.

激光探测器在一片真实雷区中成功测试，它以每秒约18厘米的速度测扫地面。研究人员希望能提升这一速度。

Belkin's team is not the first to develop bacteria that glow in the presence of explosive vapour - similar findings were reported by a team at Edinburgh University in 2009 - but it appears to be the first to have developed a potentially functioning detection system using the technology.

第一个研究爆炸物细菌的并非是贝尔金的研究小组，2009年，爱丁堡大学的一个小组也报告了类似的发现。但贝尔金的小组首先发明了应用这项技术的、有实用可能的探测仪。

"Our field data show that engineered biosensors may be useful in a landmine detection system," said Prof Shimshon Belkin, who headed the experiment. However, the technology would need to be developed further still, he added.

“我们的现场数据显示改造后的生物探测器或可用于地雷探测仪，”试验的领队希姆雄·贝尔金教授说。但他还说这项技术仍需进一步研究。

"For this to be possible, several challenges need to be overcome, such as enhancing the sensitivity and stability of the sensor bacteria, improving scanning speeds to cover large areas, and making the scanning apparatus more compact so it can be used on board a light unmanned aircraft or drone."

“为实现这一目的，我们还需战胜许多挑战，比如加强探测菌的敏感度和稳定性，提升测扫速度来覆盖更大的地面，以及让测扫仪器更小巧，以能搭载到轻便的无人飞行器上。” 

The university said in a statement: "This appears to be the first demonstration of a functional standoff landmine detection system."

该大学在总结中说，“这看来是可行的非接触式地雷探测仪的首次亮相。”

A byproduct of the research by Belkin and his team was announced three years ago: the use of modified bacteria to detect pollutants in water, suggesting further applications for the technology.

贝尔金和他的小组的该项研究有一副产品已于三年前公布：用基因改造的细菌探测水中污染物，这意味着这项技术还有更多的应用。

翻译丨白夜叉

审核丨河清

编辑丨Ternence

注：以上所有图片均来源于网络