模拟闪电可以触发捕蝇草？

Venus flytraps have a well-known way of dispatching their victims: They snare inquisitive insects that brush up against trigger hairs in their fly-trapping pods (above).

维纳斯捕蝇草有一个众所周知的方法来对付它们的猎物:它们诱捕好奇的昆虫，这些昆虫在捕蝇荚里碰到触发机关的细丝（上图所示）。

But now, physicists have discovered that the triggering process may involve the release of a cascade of exotic chemicals similar to the whiff of ozone that tingles your nose after a lightning bolt.

但现在，物理学家们发现，触发过程可能涉及到一连串的外来化学物质的释放，类似于闪电后让鼻子感到刺痛的臭氧气味。

To study this process, scientists used an electrical generator to ionize air into a “cold plasma,” which they then gently blew toward a flytrap in their lab.

为了研究这一过程，科学家们使用发电机将空气电离成“冷等离子体”，然后将其轻轻吹向实验室的捕蝇草。

Normally, the flytrap’s closure is caused by an electrical signal created when two or more trigger hairs are brushed.

通常情况下，捕蝇器的关闭是由于两个或多个触发点被刷过时产生的电信号引起的。

But highly reactive chemicals in the plasma stream such as hydrogen peroxide, nitric oxide, and ozone had the same effect, even when they were blown at the pods too gently to trigger them by motion, they reported here last week at the annual Gaseous Electronics Conference.

但在上周的年度气体电子会议上，他们报告说，等离子体流中的高活性化学物质，如过氧化氢、一氧化氮和臭氧，即使它们被吹到豆荚里时太轻，无法通过运动来触发，也会产生同样的效果。

It’s a useful finding because the types of reactive oxygen and nitrogen molecules in cold plasmas play a major role in biological processes, including cell signaling.

这是一个有用的发现，因为低温等离子体中的活性氧和氮分子在包括细胞信号传导在内的生物过程中起着重要作用。

But normally, such processes have to be studied through complex analyses of cell cultures.

但通常，这些过程必须通过细胞培养的复杂分析来研究。

With the Venus flytrap, they can be observed directly, when the pods snap shut.

有了捕蝇草，当它们突然合拢的时候就可以被直接观察到。

Understanding such processes, the scientists say, could help biomedical researchers and aerospace engineers create a new generation of “intelligent materials” that can use similar signaling processes to change shape as needed, much as the Venus flytrap reflexively snaps shut when it senses its prey.

科学家们说，了解这些过程可以帮助生物医学研究人员和航空工程师创造出新一代的“智能材料”，这些材料可以使用类似的信号过程来改变形状，就像捕蝇草在感知猎物时反射性地关闭一样。

It’s an open and shut case for new research, including a more detailed examination of exactly how the various parts of the plant know how to spring shut at just the right moment.

对于新的研究来说，这是一个开门见山的案例，其中包括对植物各个部分如何在正确的时间关闭的更详细的研究。

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