 If you want to keep enjoying apples, melons and blueberries, bees need to be healthy and cared for. 如果你想继续享受苹果，西瓜和蓝莓，则需要关照蜜蜂并保证它们的健康。 Many plants rely almost entirely on bees as natural pollinators to produce some of nature's most nutritious foods, but bee species have been significantly declining in recent decades. 许多植物几乎完全依赖蜜蜂作为自然授粉者来生产一些自然界最有营养的食物，但近几十年来，蜜蜂种类已经明显减少。 pollinator：传粉者;(尤指)传粉昆虫 That could be due to pesticides, parasites, competition with other insect species, climate change, plant loss and a mismatch between the plants available and those that bee species enjoy. 这可能是由于杀虫剂、寄生虫、与其他昆虫物种的竞争、气候变化、植物损失、以及现有植物与蜜蜂物种所喜爱的植物之间的不匹配。 pesticide：杀虫剂 parasite：寄生虫 In a world without any or enough bees, it may be possible to pollinate fruit-bearing plants using soap bubbles, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal iScience. 根据周三发表在《科学》杂志上的一项研究，在一个完全没有或没有足够蜜蜂的世界里，用肥皂泡给果树授粉是可能的。 The loss of bees is a "worldwide crisis," said study coauthor Eijiro Miyako, an associate professor in the School of Materials Science at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. 研究合著者、日本先进科学技术研究所材料科学学院副教授宫口英二说，蜜蜂的消失是一场“世界性的危机”。 "Besides, conventional pollinations like hand pollination are very tough work and annoying for farmers," Miyako said. "They really want a convenient automatic pollination method. They are [the] main reasons why we need to make new artificial pollination." 宫口说：“除此之外，传统的授粉方式，如人工授粉，对农民来说是非常困难和烦人的工作。他们真的想要一种方便的自动授粉方法。这才是我们需要进行新的人工授粉的研究的主要原因。” In 2017, Miyako and his colleagues published a study in which they used a tiny drone to pollinate blossoming flowers. Although the drone was only two centimeters in diameter, it destroyed the flowers as it bumped into them because it lacked an autonomous controlling system, Miyako said. 2017年，宫口和他的同事发表了一项研究，他们使用一种微型无人机为开花的花朵授粉。宫口说，尽管无人机的直径只有两厘米，但它在撞花时摧毁了花朵，因为它缺乏自主控制系统。 blossoming：开花 So began the search for another method. While blowing bubbles with his son at a park, Miyako had an epiphany: If the soap bubbles didn't do any damage when they hit his son's face, maybe the bubbles would be soft, light and flexible enough to pollinate flowers without harming them. He confirmed that suspicion with an optical microscopy at his lab. 于是开始寻找另一种方法。当他和儿子在公园吹泡泡的时候，宫口有了一个顿悟：如果肥皂泡打到儿子脸上时没有造成任何伤害，也许泡泡会足够柔软、轻巧和灵活，可以在不伤害花朵的情况下为花朵授粉。他在实验室用光学显微镜证实了这一想法。 epiphany：顿悟 microscopy：显微镜检查 "It sounds somewhat fantasy, but the soap bubble is effective for pollination," Miyako said. “这听起来有点像幻想，但肥皂泡对授粉是有效的，”宫口说。 Bubble pollination 泡泡授粉 The researchers tested five different commercial surfactants — substances that reduce the surface tension of a liquid, thus increasing the liquid's spreading and wetting properties. 研究人员测试了五种不同的商业表面活性剂，它们能降低液体的表面张力，从而提高液体的扩散和润湿性能。 surfactant：表面活性剂 property：性质；特性 After three hours of pollination, the pollen activity through the bubbles was higher than that of other methods such as powder pollination or solution pollination (through which powder of pollen grains was applied to the flowers, or a solution of pollen, sugar and agar was sprayed, respectively). 被泡泡授粉后3小时，花粉活性高于其他方法，如粉末授粉或溶液授粉（分别用花粉粉或花粉、糖和琼脂溶液喷洒）。 agar：脂溶 In an orchard, the researchers shot up to 50 pollen-loaded bubbles onto natural pear flowers. Through fluorescence microscopy, they found that the pollen grains landed on the flower pistils and grew pollen tubes. The number of pollen grains on each pistil increased as the soap bubbles grew larger, but the grains decreased and the tubes shortened when more than 10 bubbles were shot, potentially because of toxic accumulation. 在一个果园里，研究人员在天然梨花上喷射出多达50个装花粉的气泡。通过荧光显微镜观察，他们发现花粉粒落在花蕊上，长出花粉管。随着肥皂泡的增大，每个雌蕊上的花粉粒数增加，但当射出10个以上的肥皂泡时，花粉粒减少，花粉管缩短，这可能是由于有毒物质的叠加。 fluorescence：荧光 pistil：雌蕊 After shooting two to 10 bubbles onto the pear flowers, fruits grew after 16 days — at a volume almost the same as that of conventional methods, the study said. 研究称，在梨花上喷两到十个泡泡后，果实在16天后生长，其体积几乎与传统方法相同。 While the fruit-bearing rate of the control group (which didn't undergo pollination) was about 58%, bubble and hand pollination both achieved a rate of around 95%. Soap pollination also called for much fewer pollen grains than other methods did. 对照组（未授粉）的结实率为58%左右，泡泡授粉和手工授粉的结实率均在95%左右。肥皂授粉也需要比其他方法少得多的花粉粒。 "No significant differences were observed between them," Miyako said. "In fact, the shape and size of young pear fruits after soap bubble pollination look the same as hand pollination. But ... our method has more potential advantages in terms of future automation and reduction of pollen grains." “他们之间没有明显的差异，”宫口说事实上，肥皂泡授粉后的梨幼果形状和大小与人工授粉的梨幼果形状和大小基本相同。但是......我们的方法在未来自动化和减少花粉粒方面具有更大的潜在优势。” Pros and cons of robotic pollination 机器授粉的利弊 Despite the study's success, a few factors require further consideration. Additional studies are needed to improve the process so pollen bubbles that miss flowers aren't wasted. 尽管研究取得了成功，但仍有一些因素需要进一步考虑。还需要进一步的研究来改进这一过程，这样就不会浪费掉错过花朵的花粉泡沫。 Bubbles also wouldn't be useful year-round since they can't withstand rain or strong winds. 泡沫授粉的方法也不会全年都适用，因为它们无法抵御雨水或强风。 withstand：承受 Potential environmental and health impacts of using manufactured soap bubbles to pollinate our food supply aren't yet clear. It's possible that the chemicals used to make the bubbles could accumulate and be difficult to degrade, the study said. 利用人造肥皂泡为我们的食物供应授粉对环境和健康的潜在影响尚不清楚。研究称，制造气泡的化学物质可能会积聚起来，难以降解。 degrade：降解  👇 |
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