Researchers have designed a musical instrument that can detect counterfeit drugs by the pitch of its notes.研究者設(shè)計(jì)了一種樂器,可以通過(guò)其演奏出來(lái)的音調(diào)檢測(cè)出假藥。
? 撰文\播音:克里斯托弗·因塔利亞塔(Christopher Intagliata) 翻譯:陳美娟 審校:許楠 You probably don't think of scientific or medical instruments as the kind of instruments that actually make music. But now researchers have built a scientific instrument specifically designed to detect counterfeit medications through sound. <> 你可能不會(huì)把科學(xué)或者醫(yī)療用具用作樂器。但現(xiàn)有研究者制造了一種科學(xué)用具,能夠通過(guò)演奏聲音檢測(cè)出假藥。(聲音樣例) "Someone even made the comparison that we're making a scale in the sense that it measures mass, you know, but it also plays scales in the sense it makes musical notes!" William Grover, a bioengineer at U.C. Riverside. “有些人甚至打了個(gè)比方:就像在用天平測(cè)量物體質(zhì)量的同時(shí)還用它彈奏音符!”來(lái)自加州大學(xué)河濱分校的生物工程學(xué)家威廉·格羅弗說(shuō)道。 He and his team took inspiration from the African musical instrument called the mbira. It has metal tines, which resonate over a small wooden board when you pluck them. <> 他的團(tuán)隊(duì)從一種叫安比拉琴的非洲樂器上得到靈感。這種琴上有金屬齒,撥弄的時(shí)候木質(zhì)琴板上有回聲。(安比拉琴聲) Instead of tines, Grover's instrument uses a hollow metal tube. Load a sample of medication inside, and it changes the tone of the instrument. "A sample that's dense creates a lower note. A sample that's less dense creates a higher note, in terms of pitch." 格羅弗團(tuán)隊(duì)的樂器使用中空金屬管來(lái)替代金屬齒。將藥品樣本放入后,會(huì)改變樂器的音調(diào)。“密度大的藥品導(dǎo)致音調(diào)更低。密度不那么大的藥品的音調(diào)更高。” For example, here's the tube with air inside: <> 例如,這是管中充了氣的聲音:(充氣音樣)。 Here it is again, with water inside: <> It's denser, so the pitch is lower. 這是加了水之后的聲音:(加水音樣)。誰(shuí)的密度更大,音調(diào)就更低。 The World Health Organization reckons about 10 percent of the medications in low and middle-income countries are fakes. Sometimes, dangerous ones. So the idea here is to fill the tube with a sample that's known to be safe—cough syrup from a reputable source, for example. Then compare it to a bottle you're not so sure about. 據(jù)世衛(wèi)組織統(tǒng)計(jì),中低收入國(guó)家中10%的藥品都是假藥,有時(shí)會(huì)導(dǎo)致嚴(yán)重后果。因此他們想要將安全的藥品——例如來(lái)源可靠的止咳糖漿,填充在管道中,然后將不確信真?zhèn)蔚乃幤放c之進(jìn)行比較。 "If you get the same pitch out of those two samples, it's very good evidence that they're probably the same material, and the suspect substance is a safe drug to take. But if you get a different pitch out of the two samples that's absolute proof that those two samples are chemically different. And that shows you there's something wrong with the sample you were given and you probably shouldn't take it." “如果這兩種樣品得到的音調(diào)相同,這就能很好的證明它們用料相同,這種不確定的藥物是安全的,能夠放心使用。但如果得到不同的音調(diào),這就一定能證明這兩種樣本化學(xué)成分不同,這表明樣本來(lái)源有問(wèn)題,不應(yīng)使用。” The instrument is designed to test only liquid samples for now. And while the human ear is sensitive enough to hear the difference between samples of air and water, the difference between a real and a counterfeit drug might be imperceptible to our ears. So Grover built a free website where users can upload recordings of the instrument, from their smartphone or computer, and analyze the hertz. Then repeat it with the suspect sample. 目前這種儀器只能用于檢測(cè)液體樣本。盡管人耳能夠靈敏的鑒別空氣和水樣本的音樣,但我們還是無(wú)法區(qū)分真藥和假藥音樣的細(xì)微差別。因此格羅弗創(chuàng)立了一個(gè)網(wǎng)站,以供用戶用手機(jī)或者電腦下載儀器記錄的聲音并且分析其赫茲高低,然后再與可疑樣本進(jìn)行對(duì)比。 The researchers published the work in an open-access journal called ACS Omega… [Heran C. Bhakta et al., Musical Instruments As Sensors] 研究者將這項(xiàng)工作發(fā)表在美國(guó)化學(xué)學(xué)會(huì)的“歐米茄”(Omega)子刊開源雜志上。 ...in hopes of inspiring people around the world to build these things themselves. "I can literally make one of these out of junk in your garage in about five minutes probably. The hardest thing to come by is tubing. We've made them out of bent copper tubing like you get out of a radiator. Just junk, lying around. It's remarkable how easy they are to make. My dream would be to have the instructions for making them and using them shared as widely as possible." ……希望能啟發(fā)世界各地的人們自己創(chuàng)建這樣的樣本?!拔铱梢栽谖宸昼妰?nèi)用你們車庫(kù)里的垃圾造一個(gè)這樣的儀器出來(lái)。最難的是把它弄成管狀。我們已經(jīng)能夠利用散熱器里的彎銅管做出這種儀器了。制作過(guò)程非常非常簡(jiǎn)單,僅僅用身邊的垃圾就可以了。我希望可以有一個(gè)制作指南,然后將之最大范圍地投入使用?!?/span> It is, admittedly, a pretty convincing pitch. 毫無(wú)疑問(wèn),這種儀器發(fā)出的音調(diào)相當(dāng)有說(shuō)服力。