Temporary tattoos have been around for a long time, but as any inking enthusiast would agree, they're nothing compared to the real deal. And yet, there are times when tattoos don't end up like you wanted them to, or you just get bored with them after a while. In such cases, getting a tattoo removed involves laser treatments that are both expensive and painful. But not anymore. It might soon be possible to temporarily get a permanent tattoo, thanks to this new type of tattoo ink developed by a group of engineering students.

很早以前就有临时纹身这个东西了，但是正如墨水纹身爱好者所言，比起真正的纹身，临时纹身根本不值一提。然而，有时候你的纹身不是你想要的样子，或者过了一阵子你对它感到厌烦了。在这些情况下，用激光去除纹身既昂贵又痛苦。但这即将成为历史。而且，可以像临时纹身一样迅速消除的永久可见纹身或许将很快成为现实，这都得益于几个工程学专业学生所发明的新型纹身墨水。

The special ink has a huge advantage over regular tattoo ink – it can be removed from your skin through an extraordinarily simple and inexpensive process. You simply visit your tattoo artist and have them trace over the tattoo with a removal solution. Voila! It's all gone. Or, you can just erase the part of it that you don't like and turn it into a whole new artwork. The choice is yours.

这种特殊墨水相较普通纹身墨水有个很大的优点：它可通过极其简单且成本不高的方法消除你皮肤上的纹身。你只需去找纹身艺术家，让他们在你的纹身上涂上纹身消除溶液。瞧！你的纹身就会消失得一干二净。又或者，你可以选择消除你不喜欢的纹身部分，然后把纹身改造成一个全新的艺术作品。随你怎么选择。

The product is named 'Ephemeral', after the team of Chemical and Biomolecular engineering students who took part in the recent $200,000 Entrepreneurs Challenge held by NYU Stern's Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The team comprised of five School of Engineering students and a sixth one from Stern won the grand prize of $75,000 for their unique invention.

这种产品名叫Ephemeral，是一组化学与生物分子工程学的学生参加一次创业挑战赛的参赛作品，该挑战赛由纽约大学商学院的伯克利创业与创新研究中心主办，奖金20万美元。该团队是由五个工程学院的学生和一个来自商学院的学生组成，他们因为此项独特的发明而获得75000美元的大奖。

"Ephemeral was born through a personal experience of mine," said Seung Shin, one of the team members. "Ever since I was young, I was always interested in tattoos but my parents were extremely against it mostly because of its permanence." Shin later went on to get a tattoo anyway, but eventually had it removed as well. "It was the worst experience of my life," he said. "It was extremely painful, ineffective, and costly." The experience got him thinking about simpler methods of tattoo removal, and ultimately brought the idea to fruition during the competition. The trick was to reduce the size of the ink molecules, making it easier to simply wipe away.

团队成员宋欣（音）表示：“Ephemeral来源于我的一段个人经历。我从小就一直很喜欢纹身，但我父母因为纹身的永久性而极力反对我纹身。”但尽管如此，宋欣之后还是继续纹身，不过最终他把纹身消除了。他说：“这是我人生中最糟糕的经历，因为这种去除纹身的方法太痛苦了，而且不仅无效还很贵。”这段经历让他思考是否有更简单的纹身去除法，最终在创业比赛中他把这个想法变成了现实。而其中的诀窍就是将墨水分子减小，使其变得容易擦除。

"Tattoo inks today are permanent because of the fact that the dye molecules are too big for your body's immune system to take away," explained Anthony Lam, another team member. "By using smaller molecules, we've encapsulated them inside this spherical structure that's big enough that your immune system doesn't take it away. But when you remove it, it essentially eats away one of the components and the dye molecules are flushed out."

另一团队成员安东尼•拉姆解释说：“如今的纹身墨水之所以是永久性的，就是因为其染料分子太大，导致人体免疫系统无法将其去除。通过使用更小分子的染料，我们将其封装在一个足够大的球状结构中，大到不会被免疫系统去除。当去除纹身的时候，染料分子会破坏球状结构，从中流出，进而被洗除。”

The team spent eight months developing the product, competing against 249 other teams from seven other NYU schools. Starting with initial idea pitches, they worked their way through elimination rounds, coaching sessions, and a Q&A before a panel of judges on May 1. After presenting a three-minute pitch and video explaining their concept, Ephemeral was voted the winner in the 'Technology Venture Competition', securing the $75,000 grand prize.

该团队花了八个月时间研制出这种产品，打败了其他249组来自纽约大学七个学院的团队。他们一开始先是展示了自己的初创想法，接着一路过关斩将，晋级淘汰赛、通过培训环节，并在5月1号的评委问答环节胜出。在三分钟的初步展示和视频讲解理念后，Ephemeral被选为“技术创业大赛”的优胜者，获高额奖金75000美元。

Ephemeral is currently being tested – first on cells, then on pigs – and Shin says that they hope to release the product commercially by fall next year. They're also planning to start accepting seed funds on June 1. "We haven't really sealed down the pricing yet, but we're looking at anywhere from $50 to $100 for an average sized tattoo," he said. "Right now, we're planning for our financing round and we hope to have it up in the next 10 months or so."

Ephemeral现在正在进行产品检测——首先是在细胞层面上，然后是猪的皮肤上，宋欣表示他们希望产品能在明年秋季上市。他们还计划于6月1号开始接受种子基金的资助。他说：“我们还未给产品定价，但希望每瓶纹身墨水的价格能控制在50到100美元之间。现在，我们正在计划资金链，也希望能在未来的十个月将其运行起来。”