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When I say “salmonella,” what comes to mind?
当我提起“沙门氏菌”,你脑中马上会浮现出什么?
Eggs? Chicken? Actually, think carrots, cucumbers, cantaloupes.
鸡蛋?鸡肉?实际上,想想胡萝卜,黄瓜,哈密瓜。
It’s foods we eat raw that tend to cause the biggest salmonella outbreaks.
我们生吃的食物往往造成最大的沙门氏菌爆发。
But an invention by physicists at Auburn University could make testing for bacteria as simple as slapping on a sticker and waving a handheld scanner.
但奥本大学物理学家们的一项发明可能使测试细菌变得像撕下贴纸及挥舞手持扫描器一样简单。
The sticker part of the system contains a tiny sliver of metallic glass.
贴纸部分的系统包含一个金属玻璃棉条。
The side touching the food is coated with phage E2, a virus engineered to stick only to Salmonella typhimurium bacteria.
触摸食物的一边涂有噬菌体E2,这是一种被研发成只会依附鼠伤寒沙门氏菌的病毒。
In the handheld scanner, a small wire coil creates an oscillating magnetic field, which makes the glass sliver in the sticker vibrate in sympathy.
而在手持扫描仪内部的小线圈创建的一个振荡磁场使得在贴纸内的玻璃棉条同时产生震动。
The coil can measure that rate of vibration.
而线圈就会测量振动的频率。
If salmonella is present under the sticker, it gets snagged by the phage and makes the sticker a touch heavier—enough to change its vibration frequency.
如果沙门氏菌目前在贴纸下,它会受到噬菌体阻碍，使贴纸变重从而改变其振动频率。
The scanner could pick up the shift and sound an alarm.
扫描仪就会接收到这一变化之后报警。
The work appears in the Journal of Applied Physics.
这项研究已经在《应用物理》上发表。
The system should work on most produce—but probably not on chicken or eggs, because they can harbor salmonella on the inside.
该系统适用于多数生产,但鸡肉或鸡蛋可不行,因为它们会从内部产生沙门氏菌。
