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Over the last few months, you might have seen people sharing photos online of Tide laundry detergent pods as pizza toppings, or like a big plate of ravioli.
在过去几个月，你也许看到网上有人po出照片，他们将汰渍洗衣球当做比萨饼配料，或是摆成一大盘意大利式饺子。
Like any meme, it’s funny because it’s absurd.
像任何一种流行一样，荒诞又有趣。
You’re obviously not supposed to eat laundry detergent, but those little pods are kind of food-like.
显然你不会吃掉这些洗衣液，但是这些小球还有点像是食物呢。
But then there's the Tide pod challenge, where people — mostly teenagers — started posting videos of themselves taking a bite.
但是随后又出现了汰渍洗衣球挑战，人们—大多数是青少年—开始上传一些他们食用汰渍洗衣球的视频。
And the problem is, the pods are actually pretty dangerous.
问题是，这些洗衣球真的相当危险啦。
In the first 3 weeks of 2018, at least 86 American teens have gotten sick enough to alert poison control.
2018年头三周里，至少86名美国青少年重病，这足以让人们意识到中毒控制的重要性。
People have understandably started freaking out, and YouTube and Facebook are pulling the videos out of public safety concerns.
人们开始陷入恐慌，出于公众安全顾虑，油管和脸书将这些视频下架。
So, why have Tide pods spun out of control?
所以为什么汰渍洗衣球迅速失控了呢？
We're going to try to break down the psychology behind the fad and explain how risky choices and internet fame could've played a part.
我们将探究这种狂热现象背后心理学并解释这种狂热是一种多么冒险的选择。
For one, the pods kind of look like oversized candies or Gushers fruit snacks.
首先，洗衣球有点像大号糖果或Gushers的糖果零食。
They're bite-sized, and can have colorful swirls. That's probably why toddlers chow down on them.
它们比较小且色彩斑斓。这或许就是为什么孩子们会吃掉它们的原因。
They're expecting a treat, not a concentrated dose of cleaning goop.
他们期待的是美味的糖果而不是浓缩清洁剂。
Adults might not be deceived, but this whole pods-as-food meme could've started for similar reasons.
虽然成年人不会被它们的外表所欺骗，但将小球当做食物的模仿还是由于外表开始风靡。
Turns out, even the shiny plastic coating might be appealing.
结果即使是闪光塑料外壳都很吸引人。
Humans like glossy objects, and one psychology study suggests it's because they remind us of water, which we need to survive.
人们喜欢有光泽的物体，一项心理学研究证明这类物品让他们想到人类赖以生存的水。
In one experiment, people rated glossy items as even more desirable when they were fed crackers but not given a drink, compared to a group of people who got both.
在一次实验中，当给参与者咸味饼干而非水的时候，相比那些既有饼干又有水的参与者，他们则会更加想要那些有光泽的东西。
Tide also describes its original pod scent as having "floral and fruity notes," almost like it's a fancy wine.
汰渍将他们原版洗衣球的味道描述为“有花香和水果香”，就像好酒一般。
Of course, not all of them read like a menu.
当然它们不是餐单。
The 'Plus Febreeze' and 'Spring Meadow' versions sound like the laundry detergents that they are.
Plus Febreeze和Spring Meadow版本听起来就像是洗衣剂。
But using food-related marketing to promote cleaning or hygiene products is pretty common, and it's led to some problems before.
但用食物创意促销清洁剂或洗衣剂产品的市场营销非常普遍，之前也引发了许多问题。
We humans love food, so companies will draw on those associations to make their boring cleaning products more appealing.
我们人类喜欢食物，所以公司就利用这些联系使他们无聊的清洁产品看起来更加吸引人。
Just think about 'sugar cookie' candles, 'watermelon fusion' shampoo, or bath bombs in virtually every cupcake flavor.
想想‘糖果曲奇’蜡烛、‘西瓜味’洗发水或是纸托蛋糕里的沐浴气泡弹。
And while it seems obvious that we shouldn't eat those things, people have. One study found that packaging is partly to blame.
显然我们不应该吃这些东西。一项研究发现包装也有责任。
If you put people in an fMRI machine and have them look at basic designs of cleaning products,
如果将人类置于功能磁共振成像机器中并让他们看看清洁产品的原包装图，
sometimes the same parts of the brain that respond to food packaging become activated.
有时大脑的一些部分还会被食物一样的包装所触动。
The study is very preliminary, but the authors suggest that food-related marketing fools your brain, at some level, into thinking cleaning products are edible.
虽然是初步研究，但作者认为食物相关的市场营销欺骗你的大脑，让你的大脑以为这些清洁产品是可以食用的。
But there's still a leap between thinking Tide pods look kind of like candy and actually eating them for fun.
但从汰渍洗衣球看起来像是食物到真的以吃掉它们为乐之间还有距离。
And this is where being a teenager could be important.
这就是与青少年有关的部分。
Teens are notorious for doing risky things, and a lot of that may be related to brain development.
青少年以冒险为乐，这和大脑发育有关。
In those awkward years, scientists think the prefrontal cortex, which helps regulate self-control, is still developing.
在这个尴尬的年纪，科学家们认为帮助调节的前额皮质还在发育。
At the same time, the reward-sensitive parts of the brain are extra active.
同时大脑的奖赏敏感部位格外活跃。
That imbalance seems to be even more out of whack when teens are being social or surrounded by friends.
当青少年开始社交或被朋友包围时，这种不平衡似乎更加不正常。
And teens seem to take more chances than adults when it comes to unknown risks, like using a drug they don't know much about.
青少年似乎比成年人更加愿意尝试未知的冒险，比如服用他们不了解的药物。
Because they might focus on possible rewards more than possible consequences.
因为他们或许更加在意奖励而非后果。
It's not that you can't override this risk-taking behavior, but it could explain why we're seeing teenagers, rather than older adults, popping Tide pods in their mouths.
并不是你无法拒绝这个冒险的行为，而这能解释为什么我们看见青少年而非老年人将汰渍洗衣球塞进嘴里。
Another part of it might have to do with the warnings not to eat the pods, which might make people think, "How bad could they be?"
另一个部分就和不要食用洗衣球的警告有关，这或许会导致人们认为，“这能有多糟糕？”
This gets at something psychologists call reactance. People hate being told what to do.
这和心理学家所说的感应抵抗有关。人们不喜欢被告知要去做某事。
A natural reaction to a limit on your independence is to do a thing anyway.
对独立性限制的自然反应起到了作用。
Researchers have seen this with warning labels on cigarettes and violent video games — they can backfire and actually increase the appeal.
研究员们将这些和香烟以及暴力游戏广告中的警告标签看成是一样的—适得其反且增加了其吸引力。
This is sometimes called the boomerang effect or forbidden fruit effect.
这被称为反向效应或禁果效应。
To be fair, not all warnings do this, and it doesn't affect everyone.
公平地说，并不是所有警告都这样，警告也并不能影响到所有人。
So it's hard to say whether this is actually driving people to eat the pods.
所以不能确定这就是驱使人们食用洗衣球的原因。
The vast majority of people aren't doing it, because, well, they get that eating concentrated laundry detergent isn't good.
大多数人不吃洗衣球，是因为他们了解吃这些浓缩洗衣剂是不好的。
But something has to be prolonging the joke, and maybe it has to do with internet fame.
但某种因素延长了这个闹剧，或许这和网络名人有关。
Some psychologists have noticed that in recent years, more and more pre-teens have become preoccupied with fame, and are using social media to get it.
一些心理学家注意到，近些年来，有越来越多不满13岁的孩子注重名声并利用社交媒体获取。
In one focus group, 8 out of 20 kids said fame was the most important value to them, beating out things like kindness or success.
在一个焦点小组中，20个孩子中有8个表示名声是最重要的，而善良或成功均排在后边。
And the Tide pod challenge is exactly the type of thing that tends to go viral, which is what these people probably want for their videos.
汰渍洗衣球挑战正是疯狂传播的这种类型，这或许就是他们想从视频中得到的。
Researchers have repeatedly found that content that makes us emotional is more likely to be shared.
据称研究员们发现我们更愿意分享那些让我们情绪活跃的视频。
That can include things like anxiety or awe, as well as disgust.
包括焦虑或敬畏以及厌恶。
Now, because burning curiosity might encourage more risky behavior and challenge videos, here's what happens when you eat a Tide pod.
现在，好奇心鼓励了更多的冒险行为和挑战视频，这就是食用汰渍洗衣球的原因。
And, frankly, there's a lot of burning.
坦白讲是挺令人激动的。
Laundry pods are full of chemicals called surfactants, which are molecules that can grab ahold of dirt on one end, and attract water on the other.
洗衣球里都是被称为表面活性剂的化学物质，表面活性剂的分子能够抓住一端的污渍并吸附另一边的水分。
So when they're rinsed away, they remove grime.
所以当它们被冲洗掉时，也除掉了污渍。
That means they're great at cleaning clothes, but aren't meant to be inside of your body.
这意味着它们擅于清洁衣物，但并不意味着它们能进入你的身体。
Once they're in your mouth, the pod chemicals will start eating away at your tissues — from your throat down to your stomach.
它们一旦进入嘴里，小球化学物就会开始吞噬你的组织—从喉咙到胃部。
The most common reaction to all this is vomiting, which can be extreme, like throwing up blood.
最常见的反应就是呕吐，极度呕吐，比如吐血。
Kids who have eaten the pods have stopped breathing, had seizures, or gone into comas.
吃下洗衣球的孩子停止呼吸、出现痉挛或是陷入昏迷。
A few children have died, as well as several adults with dementia who ate pods.
一些孩子因此丧命，还有些患痴呆的成年人食用之后也死亡。
Doctors don't know for sure why pods are so dangerous, because regular liquid laundry detergent isn't as bad.
医生并不确定为什么这些洗衣球会如此危险，因为通常洗衣液并没那么危险。
It could be because of the higher concentration, the ingredients, or something about the packet itself.
这可能是因为它们浓度更高、它们所含材料或是小包本身的原因。
Laundry pods are also more toxic than dishwasher pods, and liquid pods are worse than powder ones.
洗衣小球同样比洗碗小球更加剧毒并且液体小球比粉末更糟糕。
So of course the Tide pod challenge involves the most hazardous concoction. So, Internet, we understand the appeal.
所以当然汰渍洗衣球挑战含有最危险的混合。所以互联网嘛，我们理解其吸引力。
Or at least we can guess, until some psychologists do serious research on challenge videos.
或者至少我们猜测，除非一些心理学家对此挑战视频进行严肃研究。
These pods are enough like food that the memes can be funny. But please don't actually eat them. You can't enjoy your fame if you're dead.
这些洗衣球确实像食物一样有趣。但不要真的吃掉它们。死了可就享受不到出名的感觉啦。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow News!
感谢收看本期科学秀！
If you want to learn more about the internet and our brains,
如果你想了解更多关于互联网和大脑知识，
you can check out videos like "What Makes a Meme Go Viral?" over on SciShow Psych at youtube.com/scishowpsych.
你可以登录youtube.com/scishowpsych观看视频“是什么让流行疯狂传播？”
