经济学人下载:人造水母水中游

Science and technology
科学技术

A synthetic jellyfish that swims
人造水母水中游

Meet Medusoid, a bioengineered artificial jellyfish created by researchers at the California Institute of Technology and Harvard University.
这就是梅多索依德，一个通过生物工程技术制得的人工水母，它由来自加利福利亚理工学院和哈佛大学的研究者亲手打造。

Less than a centimetre in diameter, it was made by printing a pattern of protein onto a silicone base.
通过在硅树脂的基底上涂刷某种特定蛋白质制作而成的它，直径不足一厘米。

This pattern acted as a map on which cells from the heart muscle of a rat were grown.
这种特定蛋白质就好像是一张地图，在其表面上附着着生长好的老鼠心肌细胞。

When set free in a container of seawater,
当我们将它放入装有盐水的容器中，

the muscles could be jolted into action with a small electric charge to produce synchronised contractions, allowing Medusoid to swim.
那些肌肉细胞在小电荷产生的同步收缩作用下，上下摆动，梅多索依德便会游动起来。

The work, reported in Nature Biotechnology,
《生物科技进展》关于本项目的报道中指出，

was carried out to study the pumping action of muscles, which could be used to help design better artificial hearts.
该项成果成功地研究了肌肉的抽吸作用，这有助于我们研制出更好的人工心脏。