(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.
It's an idea straight out of Star Wars: suck the humidity from dry desert air, and turn it into drinking water.
(Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope: "What I really need is a droid who understands the binary language of moisture vaporators.Vaporators? Sir, my first job was programming binary load lifters—very similar to your vaporators in most respects.")
Very similar to the vaporators in Star Wars's moisture farms, scientists have now used a box of gunmetal gray powder to pry moisture from the dry Arizona air by night...and deliver drinking water the next day.
The powder consists of tiny structures called metal organic frameworks, which contain even tinier pores to grab water.
"Initially, the water goes in and the first water molecules to go in and adhere to their internal surface, and make the pores more polar and so more water comes in."
Omar Yaghi, a chemist at U.C. Berkeley.
The powder-filled box is built inside yet another box. At night the larger box is left open, to let in the cool slightly humid air. But when it's closed in the morning, it helps trap heat—and evaporated water—inside. The water then condenses inside the larger box and trickles down to be collected—no cooler or power source needed.
The finding by Yaghi and colleagues is in the journal Science Advances.
It would take many truckloads of powder to sustain a community—every pound of the zirconium-based metal organic framework used here only squeezes three ounces of water from the air per day. But Yaghi is testing a much cheaper, more efficient aluminum-based powder. Which might just bring us a little closer to Tatooine. Technologically.
Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.
参考译文
这里是科学美国人——60秒科学
这是直接源于《星球大战》的一个想法:从干燥的沙漠空气中吸收湿气,然后将其转化成饮用水 。
(《星球大战4:新希望》):“我真正需要的是懂水分冷凝机的二进制语言的机器人 。冷凝机?先生,我的第一份工作是为二进制负载升降机编程,这在很多方面和您的冷凝机非常相似 。”
与《星球大战》中湿地农场的冷凝机极为类似,现在科学家用一盒铁灰色粉末,在夜间从亚里桑那州干燥的空气中吸收湿气,然后在第二天形成饮用水 。
这种粉末由被称为金属有机框架的微小结构组成,该结构包含更小的孔来吸收水分 。
“一开始,水分进入,第一个水分子进入结构内,然后附着在内表面上,使小孔的磁极更强,因此能吸收更多水分 。”
加州大学伯克利分校的化学家奥马尔·亚吉说到 。
这个装满粉末的盒子装在另一个盒子里 。晚上,外层的大盒子打开,让有些清凉湿润的空气进入盒子 。而到了第二天早上,盒子会关闭,这有助于留住盒子里的热量并蒸发掉水分 。然后,水在大盒子里凝结,滴落下来被收集起来——不需要冷却器或电源 。
亚吉和同事的研究结果发表在《科学进展》期刊上 。
维持一个社区的供水需要多辆卡车的粉末,因为这里使用的锆基金属有机框架,每磅每天只能从空气中挤出3盎司水 。不过亚吉正在测试一种更为便宜也更高效的铝基粉末 。从技术角度来说,这可能让我们更接近塔图因星球 。
谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学 。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔 。
译文为可可英语翻译,未经授权请勿转载!
重点讲解
重点讲解:
1. turn into (使)变成;(使)成为 ;
This is to take a body cell and order it to turn into a stem cell using a set of molecular instructions.
这种方法靠一系列分子指令将体细胞转化成干细胞 。
2. consist of 由…组成;由…构成;
The committee co nsists of ten members.
委员会由十人组成 。
3. adhere to 黏附;附着;
Small particles adhere to the seed.
小颗粒牢牢附着在种子上 。
4. at night 晚间;晚上;
The weather did not help; hot by day, cold at night.
天气也不肯帮忙:白天很热,晚上很冷 。