VOA常速英语:Researchers Learn Lessons from Cats’ Tongues

This study began when Georgia Tech researcher Alexis Noel went home for break during her studies.
这项研究始于乔治亚理工学院的研究员Alexis Noel学习期间回家休息的时候。

My family cat Murphy decided to sit on my lap, on top of a microfiber blanket.
我家的猫咪想坐在我的膝盖上超细纤维毯子上面。

For some reason, he thought the blanket smelled really tasty, so he decided to take a lick, and he actually got his tongue stuck on some of those loops of the fabric.
出于某种原因，它认为毯子闻起来很好吃，所以它想舔一下，它的舌头就卡在织物的一些环上。

Wondering why that happen, Noel took a closer look at cat tongues when she got back to her lab.
Noel想知道为什么会出现这种情况，她回到实验的时候，仔细地观察了一下猫的舌头。

Using high-speed video, she discovered that a cat’s tongue is not carpeted in sandpaper-like-bumps at all,instead, sharp claw-shaped barb’s cover the front of the tongue.
通过高速录像，她发现猫的舌头面上完全不是像砂纸一样的凸起物，相反，尖锐的爪形倒钩覆盖在舌头的前面。

They lie flat, facing backwards, until they’re needed for grooming. Then the spikes spring upwards.
爪形倒钩面朝后，直到需要用它们来梳理时，这些尖刺向上弹起。

They actually have a shape very similar to cat claws, so they’re curved and on the top and curved on the bottom.
它们实际上和猫爪的形状相似，在顶部、底端都是弯曲的。

But different from cat claws, they actually have a U-shaped channel on the very bottom of the spine.
但是和猫爪不同的是，它们在这种脊柱的底部有一个U形的通道。

That channel allows saliva to get through the cat’s fur and down to the skin.
这个通道让猫唾液能够穿过猫的皮毛，进入到皮肤里。

Food dye shows how the liquid stays in the channel until the cat presses its tongue on its fur.
食用染料展示了猫舔毛之前，液体是怎么存留在通道内。

Noel used a 3D printer to create a brush covered in cat tongue-like spines to mimic the way cats groom their fur.
Noel用一个3D打印机打印了猫舌刺状物覆盖的刷子，模拟猫梳理毛发的方式。

Applications from her study could be new types of carpet cleaning technologies or ways to apply medication to a pet skin or even potentially, ways to reduce allergens in cat fur for people who have allergies.
她这项研究可以应用于创新毛毯清洁技术、或者涂抹药物于宠物毛发，或者甚至帮助对猫毛过敏的人减少过敏原。

I think what’s fascinating about this entire study is how such an interesting mechanism can come from something so common.
我认为，对整个研究来说，最令人着迷地方是这么有趣的机制是来自如此平常的东西。

There’s an old saying curiosity killed the cat,but in this case it provided one of the secrets to the cat’s success in life.
有句老话说，好奇心杀死猫，但是在这个例子里面，好奇心让我们知道猫是怎么成为人生赢家的。

Faith Lapidus, VOA news.
美国之音新闻，Faith Lapidus,报道。