Ever-Sharp Urchin Teeth May Yield Tools That Never Need Honing
～海膽的『自我銳利齒』可能幫助開發永不變鈍的工具～
相信常刮鬍子的男性們偶而會出現這樣的困擾，
一刮下去就感覺好痛呀，大概是刮鬍刀片又鈍了吧（唉，有不會變頓的刮鬍刀嗎？）。
嗯，本篇選自ScienceDaily (Dec. 26, 2010)的研究新聞（附上個人翻譯），
文中告訴大家，科學家發現海膽擁有一種獨特的『牙齒自我銳利』的機制，
也許將來能幫助人類打造『永保銳利』的工具唷～～
（本篇研究主角：紫海膽）
ScienceDaily (Dec. 26, 2010) — To survive in a tumultuous environment, sea urchins literally eat through stone, using their teeth to carve out nooks where the spiny creatures hide from predators and protect themselves from the crashing surf on the rocky shores and tide pools where they live.
科學日報（2010年12月26日） -
為了生存在一個具挑戰的環境中，海膽得常常藉由啃咬石頭，用他們的牙齒在岩石角落上鑿出藏匿身體的洞穴，用以躲避掠食者的補殺和保護自己免於被強大的衝浪給摧毀。
（環狀排列的五顆牙齒，你不會想把手伸進去的）
The rock-boring behavior is astonishing, scientists agree, but what is truly remarkable is that, despite constant grinding and scraping on stone, urchin teeth never, ever get dull. The secret of their ever-sharp qualities has puzzled scientists for decades, but now a new report by scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and their colleagues has peeled back the toothy mystery.
科學家們都同意，海膽鑽磨岩石的行為相當驚人的，而真正了不起的是，儘管海膽牙齒不斷在岩石上打磨和刮刻，但海膽牙齒永遠不會變鈍。這些牙齒永恆銳利的秘密一直困擾科學家幾十年，然而，來自威斯康新大學麥迪遜分校和他們同事的最新研究報告指出，他們已經揭露這牙齒的秘密了。
（海膽牙齒近拍）
Writing in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, a team led by UW-Madison professor of physics Pupa Gilbert describes the self-sharpening mechanism used by the California purple sea urchin to keep a razor-sharp edge on its choppers.The urchin's self-sharpening trick, notes Gilbert, is something that could be mimicked by humans to make tools that never need honing.
團隊領導的威斯康星大學麥迪遜分校物理系教授，吉伯特，正在撰寫準備投稿至『先進功能材料雜誌』的研究報告，文中描述了『加利福尼亞紫海膽如何藉由自銳機制保持牙齒鋒利邊緣。』吉伯特指出：『人類能夠模仿海膽牙齒的自銳技巧，造出不需要打磨的工具。』
"The sea urchin tooth is complicated in its design. It is one of the very few structures in nature that self-sharpen," says Gilbert, explaining that the sea urchin tooth, which is always growing, is a biomineral mosaic composed of calcite crystals with two forms -- plates and fibers -- arranged crosswise and cemented together with super-hard calcite nanocement. Between the crystals are layers of organic materials that are not as sturdy as the calcite crystals.
海膽牙齒擁有複雜的設計。它是一種極少數具有自我銳利的結構性質。海膽牙齒，它一直在成長，是由生物礦物方解石晶體以馬賽克模式所構成的，內含有兩種形式 - 板狀和纖維狀 – 他們交叉排列並用一種奈米方解石粒子膠結在一起形成超硬的構造。晶體層間是由有機材料構成，並不像方解石晶體般堅固。
（注意其中板狀和纖維狀的結晶體，其間較暗色部分即有機質）
"The organic layers are the weak links in the chain," Gilbert explains. "There are breaking points at predetermined locations built into the teeth. It is a concept similar to perforated paper in the sense that the material breaks at these predetermined weak spots."
吉伯特說：『有機層就是脆弱環節。牙齒內有著預先確定地點而建成的突破點。在某種意義上說，這在概念上類似於穿孔紙，這些材料會按照預定的弱點破裂。』
（科學家們認為，這些有機物質是海膽牙齒上的天生的薄弱環節，可以使牙齒的一部分在打磨岩石的過程中『剝落』，其作用和打孔紙上的孔相似。這就意味著，這些不斷生長的牙齒，可以有規律地脫落磨損部分，以保持邊緣鋒利。）
The crystalline nature of sea urchin dentition is, on the surface, different from other crystals found in nature. It lacks the obvious facets characteristic of familiar crystals, but at the very deepest levels the properties of crystals are evident in the orderly arrangement of the atoms that make up the biomineral mosaic teeth of the sea urchin.
從表面上觀察，結晶性質的海膽牙列是不同於其他自然界中所發現晶體。這方面沒有明顯與熟悉的晶體特徵，但在最深層次的晶體屬性是顯而易見的，海膽的牙齒的晶體是由有次序排列的原子晶體組成合併的生物礦物以馬賽克方式所構築的。
To delve into the fundamental nature of the crystals that form sea urchin teeth, Gilbert and her colleagues used a variety of techniques from the materials scientist's toolbox. These include microscopy methods that depend on X-rays to illuminate how nanocrystals are arranged in teeth to make the sea urchins capable of grinding rock. Gilbert and her colleagues used these techniques to deduce how the crystals are organized and melded into a tough and durable biomineral.
為了深入研究形成海膽牙齒其晶體的根本性質，吉伯特和她的同事們從材料科學家的工具箱使用各種方法進行分析。這些方法包括於X射線晶體成像，照亮牙齒納米晶體是如何排列的，使海膽能夠磨碎岩石。吉伯特和她的同事們使用這些技術來推斷出晶體是如何融合在一起，成為一個有組織，堅韌和持久的生物礦物。
Knowing the secret of the ever-sharp sea urchin tooth, says Gilbert, could one day have practical applications for human toolmakers. "Now that we know how it works, the knowledge could be used to develop methods to fabricate tools that could actually sharpen themselves with use," notes Gilbert. "The mechanism used by the urchin is the key. By shaping the object appropriately and using the same strategy the urchin employs, a tool with a self-sharpening edge could, in theory, be created."
吉爾伯特說：『知曉海膽牙齒自我銳利的秘密，可能有一天會實際應用為人類的工具製造。現在我們知道它是如何作用的，其知識可以用來開發製作工具的新方法。海膽所使用的機制是關鍵。通過適當塑造對象，並與海膽採用相同的自銳策略，從理論上說也該能創造這樣的工具。
The new research was supported by grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. In addition to Gilbert, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley; Argonne National Laboratory; the Weizmann Institute of Science; and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory contributed to the report.
新的研究得到了美國能源部和國家科學基金會的補助金。除了吉爾伯特，研究人員從美國加州大學伯克利分校，阿貢國家實驗室，在魏茨曼科學研究所和勞倫斯伯克利國家實驗室對這篇研究報告都作出貢獻。
Journal Reference （參考文獻）:
- Christopher E. Killian, Rebecca A. Metzler, Yutao Gong, Tyler H. Churchill, Ian C. Olson, Vasily Trubetskoy, Matthew B. Christensen, John H. Fournelle, Francesco De Carlo, Sidney Cohen, Julia Mahamid, Andreas Scholl, Anthony Young, Andrew Doran, Fred H. Wilt, Susan N. Coppersmith and Pupa U. P. A. Gilbert. Self-Sharpening Mechanism of the Sea Urchin Tooth. Advanced Functional Materials, 2010; DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201001546
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海膽不是只有海膽蓋飯唷～～～
有空也來瞧瞧，海膽的好兄弟，海星吧～～
創作內容
海膽不是只能做海膽蓋飯唷～（來看看海膽神奇的『自我銳利齒』吧）
自然科學 (24)