Researchers at Michigan State University recently found that bees ’ sense of “smell ” is sensitive enough to identify chemical smells of cancer .
密西根州立大學的研究人員最近發現，蜜蜂的「嗅覺」靈敏到足以辨識癌症的化學氣味。
Bees sense chemicals in their environment using antennae , structures on their heads , which serve as “noses ” to sense smells .
蜜蜂用頭上的觸角來感知環境中的化學物質，觸角就像牠們聞氣味的「鼻子」。
The researchers wrote in a study published last month that honeybees can sniff out lung cancer on a patient's breath .
研究人員在上個月發表的一項研究中寫道，蜜蜂能從病人的呼氣中嗅出肺癌。
Debajit Saha is an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Michigan State University .
德巴吉特·薩哈是密西根州立大學生物醫學工程助理教授。
He was part of a team that published the research .
他是發表這項研究的團隊成員之一。
“Our world is visual . [The ] insects ’ world is all based on smell , so their sense of smell is very , very good ,” Saha said .
「我們的世界是視覺的。［這些］昆蟲的世界則完全建立在氣味上，所以牠們的嗅覺非常非常好，」薩哈說。
“There is quite a bit of research that shows that when some cancer grows inside our body , our breath actually changes .
「有相當多的研究顯示，當某些癌症在我們體內生長時，我們的呼氣確實會發生變化。
Our research does show that honeybees can detect lung cancer and possibly other diseases based on the smell of those cells .”
我們的研究確實顯示，蜜蜂能根據這些細胞的氣味檢測出肺癌，可能還有其他疾病。」
Saha and his team placed bees in small harnesses and attached small wires to their brains .
薩哈和他的團隊把蜜蜂固定在小小的束帶裡，並在牠們的大腦上連接了細小的電線。
The insects were then placed near chemicals that are like the breath of a person with lung cancer .
然後，研究人員把這些昆蟲放在類似肺癌患者呼氣的化學物質附近。
The scientists added that the bees could also tell the difference between different kinds of lung cancer .
科學家補充說，蜜蜂還能區分不同類型的肺癌。
The discovery could help doctors detect many cancers , including lung , breast , head and neck , and colorectal cancers , earlier than other methods .
這一發現可能幫助醫生比用其他方法更早地發現多種癌症，包括肺癌、乳癌、頭頸癌和大腸直腸癌。
Saha says detecting cancers this way would be an improvement .
薩哈說，用這種方法檢測癌症將是一大進步。
“The reason is , many times we detect the cancer late ,” when a growth has become too big to control easily .
「原因是，很多時候我們發現癌症太晚了，」那時腫瘤已經大到難以控制。
But , he added , when cancer starts growing the breath starts changing much earlier .
但他補充說，癌症開始生長時，呼氣早就開始變化了。
He hopes to develop a system that a patient will be able to breathe into and which can be carried around easily .
他希望開發一種便於攜帶的系統，讓病人可以對著它呼氣。
This would deliver test results immediately .
這樣就能立即得出檢測結果。
“Hopefully , within the next five years , we'll have something to show that humans can be diagnosed using these insect brain disc sensors ,” Saha said .
「希望在未來五年內，我們能拿出成果，證明可以用這些昆蟲大腦感測器為人類做診斷，」薩哈說。
Using animals to detect cancer is not a new idea .
利用動物檢測癌症並不是什麼新點子。
At the Penn Vet Working Dog Center at the University of Pennsylvania , researchers are training dogs to smell some kinds of cancer .
在賓州大學的賓大獸醫工作犬中心，研究人員正在訓練狗嗅出某些類型的癌症。
Cindy Otto is executive director of the Penn Vet Working Dog Center in Philadelphia .
辛蒂·奧托是費城賓大獸醫工作犬中心的執行主任。
She said many other animals also have very good senses of smell .
她說，許多其他動物的嗅覺也非常好。
“But part of what makes dogs so good is that they cooperate with humans , and so , they communicate that information ,” she added .
「但狗之所以如此出色，部分原因在於牠們與人類合作，所以能把資訊傳達出來，」她補充說。
The dogs are in a program where they live with families and are brought to “work ” each day .
這些狗參加了一個計畫，平時和家庭一起生活，每天被帶去「上班」。
Not all dogs can do this work .
並不是所有的狗都能做這項工作。
“They need to love it to be engaged .
「牠們得真心喜歡才會投入。
And so , it's a really fun game for them .”
所以，這對牠們來說是個非常有趣的遊戲。」
Some researchers say that dogs detect cancer better than machines .
一些研究人員說，狗檢測癌症比機器更準確。
They note that a dog's sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 times sharper than that of humans .
他們指出，狗的嗅覺比人類靈敏1萬到10萬倍。
She said dogs are more sensitive to smells than any machines sold today .
她說，狗對氣味的敏感度超過目前市面上的任何機器。
But the scientists hope to create a machine that will identify disease just as well as dogs .
但科學家們希望造出一台能像狗一樣準確辨識疾病的機器。
Otto said doctors in ancient Greece and Rome used odor as a tool to identify disease .
奧托說，古希臘和古羅馬的醫生就曾把氣味作為辨識疾病的工具。
She hopes the researchers can build on that “and advance the health of not only humans , but dogs and other species as well .”
她希望研究人員能在此基礎上更進一步，「不僅促進人類的健康，也促進狗和其他物種的健康」。