经济学人下载:定制宠物 只需按一下打印键

Science and technology

科学技术

Bespoke pets 

定制宠物

Just press print

只需按一下打印键

It will soon be possible to design and build household animals to order

按需定制宠物很快将成为现实

I could have sworn I ordered this in blue

我确定我当初定的是一只蓝色的

ONE of the most interesting technological trends of the past few years has been the rise of additive manufacturing.

直接数字化制造算得上是过去几年当中兴起的最新奇的新兴科技之一。

This technique, which uses three-dimensional printing to make objects ranging from violins to pilotless aircraft,

这一技术是使用三维打印技术制造从小提琴到无人机等各种产品。

allows the construction of individual objects at the whim of the designer.

通过这种技术，设计者可以根据自己天马行空的想象来制造单件产品。

Now, a small Californian company, the Gene Duplication Corporation, based in San Melito, proposes to push the technology to its limits.

如今，一家总部位于加州圣美利托镇的小公司—基因复制公司打算将这一技术运用到极致。

On Sunday it will announce plans to use 3D printing to make bespoke pets. 

本周日，该公司将宣布他们计划采用三维打印技术为顾客定制宠物。

GeneDupe, as the firm is known colloquially, has previously focused on the genetic engineering of animals.

该公司通常被人们称为GeneDupe，之前一直致力于动物基因工程的研究。

However Paolo Fril, the company's boss, is keen to expand into manufacturing them from scratch.

不过，公司的老板保罗-弗里热切地希望能够扩展业务范围：从零开始将动物制造出来。

PrintaPet does just that. 

就是要实现这个目标。

The idea of printing organs such as kidneys for transplant has been around for several years.

打印用于移植的器官的想法在几年前久就已经出现。

It works by growing separate cultures of individual cell types, and then spraying them out,

通过将不同种类的单个细胞分开培养，

layer by layer, in combination with a binding agent called a hydrogel, to build up the correct shape.

然后将它们一层一层喷洒出来，加上一种称作水凝胶的粘合剂，就可以构建出想要的形状。

Printing an organ this way is fairly easy.

通过这种方式打印一个器官相当简单。

A kidney, for instance, has only eight cell types.

比如，打印一个肾脏只需要用到八种不同类型的细胞。

An entire mammalian body, though, has 220 cell types.

不过，一个完整的哺乳动物机体中有220种不同类型的细胞。

Laying these down in the correct order is a much more complex problem.

按照正确的顺序将这些细胞组合起则要复杂得多。

To solve it, GeneDupe's researchers used nanotomography, a precise form of CT scanning that has a resolution of 500 nanometres,

为了解决这个问题，GeneDupe的研究人员运用纳米断层摄影技术对不同动物中每一个细胞的位置与特性进行分析。

to analyse the position and nature of every single cell in a variety of animals, particularly breeds of dog.

纳米断层摄影技术是一种更为精密的计算机断层扫描技术，其分辨率可达500纳米。

This knowledge not only permits existing breeds to be re-created,

获得动物机体中细胞的位置与特性信息以后，不仅可以将现有品种再制造出来，

but allows entirely new combinations of form, colour and behaviour to be invented, at the customer's command.

还可以根据顾客的需求，将动物的形状、颜色及习性进行组合制造出一些全新的品种。

GeneDupe's Universal Pet Printer is loaded with each of the 220 cell types, and is programmed with a three-dimensional map of the creature it is to create.

公司GeneDupe的万能宠物打印机内已经加载了构成哺乳动物机体的所有220种细胞，并且根据将要打印的动物体中细胞的三维信息图谱编写了打印程序。

That is devised by the firm's scientists, based on what the nanotomographic analysis has told them about the results of arranging cells in different ways in an animal's body.

根据纳米断层扫描分析的结果，该公司的科学家可以得知以不同的方式对动物体内的细胞进行组合的结果。这也是打印程序的编写依据。

The cells themselves are stored in suspension, in glass reservoirs, and each reservoir is connected to a computer-controlled spray gun. 

用于打印的细胞储存在装满悬浮液的玻璃容器中，每个容器都与一根电脑控制的喷枪相连。

The hydrogels are stored separately.

水凝剂分开储存。

One, known as osteogel, is particularly important, as this solidifies to provide the animal's initial skeleton. 

一种称为osteogel的水凝剂相当关键，它固化以后形成了动物最初的骨架。

Once the new creature is up and running,the various hydrogels are gradually replaced by natural secretions. 

一旦这种新制造出来的动物的机体能够正常工作以后，各种水凝剂将逐渐被自然分泌物所取代。

In the case of osteogel, that secretion is bone.

取代osteogel的就是骨骼。

The biggest difficulty Dr Fril has encountered is with nerve cells.

弗里博士遇到的最棘手的问题是如何处理神经细胞。

Unlike most other types of cell, which are small, the protuberances from a nerve cell, known as axons and dendrites, may stretch from the animal's spinal cord to the tips of its toes.

和其他大多数种类体积较小的细胞不同，神经细胞上的突起可能从脊髓一直延伸到脚趾尖。

To deal with this problem, the pet printer leaves a hole in each layer of cells at every point through which a nerve cell is supposed to pass.

为了解决这个问题，宠物打印机在每个细胞层都留有一个小孔，以便神经细胞的突起能从中穿过。

The holes are then filled with nerve-growth factor before the next layer is printed,

之后，在打印下一个细胞层之前往这些小孔中注满神经生长因子。

so that when the main body of the nerve cell is sprayed into place it rapidly grows axonal and dendritic protuberances to the right destinations.

这样神经细胞的主体喷洒到位之后便迅速长出树突与轴突并延伸到特定的末端。

Knowing how to print nerve cells, is, in fact, the key to the whole thing. 

事实上，打印神经细胞是整个工作的关键。

Size apart, a healthy heart, kidney or liver is pretty much the same in a retriever or a Rottweiler.

除了尺寸不同之外，要给拾物犬与罗威纳犬制造一颗健康的心脏、一个肾脏或者肝脏的步骤都差不多。

Coat colour, an important consideration for many owners, is easily dealt with by picking the right pattern of melanocyte cells in the skin.

许多宠物的主人都比较在意动物皮毛的颜色，要打印出不同的颜色只需要在皮肤中选取合适的黑色素细胞排列形式就能轻松实现。

But an animal's temperament is a very different matter.

但要构造动物的脾性却比这要复杂得多。

Controlling temperament means laying down the right mixture of nerve cells in the brain, since different types of cell have different effects on personality. 

要控制动物的脾性需要正确构造动物大脑中的神经细胞组合，因为不同的神经细胞对动物脾性有不同的影响。

Having worked out how to do this, GeneDupe is able to offer pets that have had their behavioural characteristics fine-tuned.

GeneDupe公司已经攻克了这个难题，现在他们可以对定制宠物的行为习性进行细微的调整。

If you want a docile Rottweiler, or even an aggressive retriever, you can have one made to your exact specifications.

如果你想要一只性情温顺的罗威纳犬，或者是一只凶猛的拾物犬，你都可以给出详细的要求然后定做一个。

Dr Fril, though, thinks that the most popular modification will be his tweaking of canine scent-marking behaviour so that local lampposts are no longer the preferred sites of relief and communication. 

不过，弗里博士认为他们对犬类气味标记行为的修改可能最受顾客青睐，因为经过修改之后的宠物狗不会再把路灯当成方便及与同类沟通的场所。

Instead, GeneDupe's pooches are pre-wired to recognise the company's proprietary DoggieLoos, which have a distinctive odour that is perceptible to canids, but not humans.

GeneDupe对其制造的狗狗都预先进行了处理，它们能够识别该公司的狗狗厕所。这种厕所能够散发出一种人类无法察觉但是犬类却能够识别的特殊气味。

There are still a few technical difficulties to overcome, of course, but Dr Fril plans to start taking orders soon.

当然，离最终实现还有一些技术难题需要攻克，但是弗里博士计划不久就开始接受订单。

And he is already looking forward to the firm's next product, custom-printed boyfriends and girlfriends for those who cannot find the right partner by conventional means， 

而他现在已经迫不及待地想开发公司的下一代产品—定制恋人。这款产品主要是针对那些通过传统方式没能找到合适伴侣的人，

a surprisingly large proportion of the population.

这个群体占人口总数的比例远远超出了人们的想象。

If all goes well, these will be available by St Valentine's day.

如果一切顺利，这款产品在情人节之前就会上市。

If not, customers will probably have to wait until April 1st of next year. 

不然的话，消费者可能就得等到明年的愚人节了。