Researchers at Michigan State University recently found that bees ’ sense of “smell ” is sensitive enough to identify chemical smells of cancer .
密歇根州立大学的研究人员最近发现，蜜蜂的“嗅觉”灵敏到足以识别癌症的化学气味。
Bees sense chemicals in their environment using antennae , structures on their heads , which serve as “noses ” to sense smells .
蜜蜂用头上的触角来感知环境中的化学物质，触角就像它们闻气味的“鼻子”。
The researchers wrote in a study published last month that honeybees can sniff out lung cancer on a patient's breath .
研究人员在上个月发表的一项研究中写道，蜜蜂能从病人的呼气中嗅出肺癌。
Debajit Saha is an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Michigan State University .
德巴吉特·萨哈是密歇根州立大学生物医学工程助理教授。
He was part of a team that published the research .
他是发表这项研究的团队成员之一。
“Our world is visual . [The ] insects ’ world is all based on smell , so their sense of smell is very , very good ,” Saha said .
“我们的世界是视觉的。[这些]昆虫的世界则完全建立在气味上，所以它们的嗅觉非常非常好，”萨哈说。
“There is quite a bit of research that shows that when some cancer grows inside our body , our breath actually changes .
“有相当多的研究表明，当某些癌症在我们体内生长时，我们的呼气确实会发生变化。
Our research does show that honeybees can detect lung cancer and possibly other diseases based on the smell of those cells .”
我们的研究确实表明，蜜蜂能根据这些细胞的气味检测出肺癌，可能还有其他疾病。”
Saha and his team placed bees in small harnesses and attached small wires to their brains .
萨哈和他的团队把蜜蜂固定在小小的束带里，并在它们的大脑上连接了细小的电线。
The insects were then placed near chemicals that are like the breath of a person with lung cancer .
然后，研究人员把这些昆虫放在类似肺癌患者呼气的化学物质附近。
The scientists added that the bees could also tell the difference between different kinds of lung cancer .
科学家补充说，蜜蜂还能区分不同类型的肺癌。
The discovery could help doctors detect many cancers , including lung , breast , head and neck , and colorectal cancers , earlier than other methods .
这一发现可能帮助医生比用其他方法更早地发现多种癌症，包括肺癌、乳腺癌、头颈癌和结直肠癌。
Saha says detecting cancers this way would be an improvement .
萨哈说，用这种方法检测癌症将是一大进步。
“The reason is , many times we detect the cancer late ,” when a growth has become too big to control easily .
“原因是，很多时候我们发现癌症太晚了，”那时肿瘤已经大到难以控制。
But , he added , when cancer starts growing the breath starts changing much earlier .
但他补充说，癌症开始生长时，呼气早就开始变化了。
He hopes to develop a system that a patient will be able to breathe into and which can be carried around easily .
他希望开发一种便于携带的系统，让病人可以对着它呼气。
This would deliver test results immediately .
这样就能立即得出检测结果。
“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 .
“希望在未来五年内，我们能拿出成果，证明可以用这些昆虫大脑传感器为人类做诊断，”萨哈说。
Using animals to detect cancer is not a new idea .
利用动物检测癌症并不是什么新想法。
At the Penn Vet Working Dog Center at the University of Pennsylvania , researchers are training dogs to smell some kinds of cancer .
在宾夕法尼亚大学的宾大兽医工作犬中心，研究人员正在训练狗嗅出某些类型的癌症。
Cindy Otto is executive director of the Penn Vet Working Dog Center in Philadelphia .
辛迪·奥托是费城宾大兽医工作犬中心的执行主任。
She said many other animals also have very good senses of smell .
她说，许多其他动物的嗅觉也非常好。
“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，部分原因在于它们与人类合作，所以能把信息传达出来，”她补充说。
The dogs are in a program where they live with families and are brought to “work ” each day .
这些狗参加了一个项目，平时和家庭一起生活，每天被带去“上班”。
Not all dogs can do this work .
并不是所有的狗都能做这项工作。
“They need to love it to be engaged .
“它们得真心喜欢才会投入。
And so , it's a really fun game for them .”
所以，这对它们来说是个非常有趣的游戏。”
Some researchers say that dogs detect cancer better than machines .
一些研究人员说，狗检测癌症比机器更准确。
They note that a dog's sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 times sharper than that of humans .
他们指出，狗的嗅觉比人类灵敏1万到10万倍。
She said dogs are more sensitive to smells than any machines sold today .
她说，狗对气味的敏感度超过目前市面上的任何机器。
But the scientists hope to create a machine that will identify disease just as well as dogs .
但科学家们希望造出一台能像狗一样准确识别疾病的机器。
Otto said doctors in ancient Greece and Rome used odor as a tool to identify disease .
奥托说，古希腊和古罗马的医生就曾把气味作为识别疾病的工具。
She hopes the researchers can build on that “and advance the health of not only humans , but dogs and other species as well .”
她希望研究人员能在此基础上更进一步，“不仅促进人类的健康，也促进狗和其他物种的健康”。