美国科学60秒 SSS 2015-04-03（在线收听） |
Body odor. The smell of BO is unmistakable. And the culprit(犯人) behind that signature stench(恶臭) is a molecule called thioalcohol(硫醇). Our noses are so attuned(理解的) to it, we can pick up quantities as small as one part per trillion. But here’s the mystery. How does that stinky substances get there in the first place? Well, it turns out bacteria named Staphylococcus hominis is the major perpetrator, along with a few of its relatives. Their genes code for enzymes that snip(剪断) the molecules in our sweat to pieces, creating the offensive thioalcohols along with bits of food for the bacteria. Hey, bacteria gotta eat, too, right? When innocuous(无害的) E. coli bacteria were given the genes that our BO perpetrators have naturally, they too could achieve the stink. These findings were presented at the annual meeting of the society for general microbiology in Birmingham, in the UK.
Not surprisingly, this work was partially found by Unilever(联合利华). Because now we have identified these microbial targets, the researchers say, it might be possible to design more effective deodorants(除臭剂), which instead of crippling all underarm(腋下) bacteria, dispatch only the most dastardly(卑鄙的) denizens(居民). Smells like profit to me.
Christopher Intagliata. |
| 原文地址：http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/sasss/2015/4/306328.html |