【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。