Karen Hopkin: This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Karen Hopkin.
Karen Hopkin：这是《科学美国人》的 60 秒科学。我是Karen Hopkin。
Hopkin: Some sounds are spooky [ghostly yowl?]. Some are unpleasant [screechy blackboard? Vinyl album scratch?]. And some are entirely unsettling. [creaking door? Scream? Discordant psycho-shower-scene type music?].
Hopkin：有些声音听起来阴森诡异[鬼哭狼嚎?]，有些令人不悦[张口咀嚼的声?]，还有一些则会让人坐立难安。[嘎吱作响的门?尖叫声?不和谐的恐怖片音乐?]
But some sounds…some sounds…are like nothing you’ve ever heard before…and nothing you’d ever want to hear again.
但还有一些声音，还有些你可能从未听过、听了一次就不想再听第二次的声音。
THAT was the sound of 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde. And if you’re thinking, hold on, molecules don’t make noise…well, you’re right. But that discordant nightmare was an audible soundscape that represents the chemical properties of 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde.
这，是2-羟基苯甲醛的声音。你可能在想：等等，分子不会发出声音啊……好吧，你说得对。这段不和谐的怪声其实是对水杨醛(2-羟基苯甲醛)化学特性的可听化音景(soundscape)处理。
What’s even more eerie, is that while that sound may have made you want to crawl out of your skin and skitter towards the door, the chemical itself has a similar effect on ants. That’s according to a study in the journal Patterns.
虽然这种声音听得人灵魂出窍，但更奇怪的是，它代表的化学物质对蚂蚁也有类似的作用，这一结论来自发表在《模式》(Patterns)上的一项研究。
Jean-Luc Boevé: The world of insects is full of chemical compounds.
Jean-Luc Boevé :昆虫的世界充满了化合物。
Hopkin: Jean-Luc Boevé of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels.
Hopkin：Jean-Luc Boevé来自比利时皇家自然科学研究所。
Boevé: Thomas Eisner…who set up the field of chemical ecology… said that the insects are…the best chemists on earth. And he said this as a kind of joke but he was totally true in saying this because insects are producing rich amounts of different chemicals for different purposes.
Boevé：Thomas Eisner ……化学生态学领域的开创者……说昆虫是……地球上最好的化学家。他说这话是一种玩笑，但他说的完全正确，因为昆虫会产生大量不同的化学物质，来实现各种不同的目的。
Hopkin: Including keeping themselves and their families safe.
Hopkin：包括保护自己和家人的安全。
Boevé: Many other insect groups are producing volatiles and other compounds to defend themselves against predators.
Boevé：还有很多昆虫都会制造挥发性化合物来抵御天敌。
Hopkin: Like an overpowering perfume, these volatile secretions waft through the air and irritate critters who might be thinking of noshing on the bugs that produced them. Boevé, in particular, studies the larvae of sawfly species, which produce different cocktails of chemicals that act as a repellant, especially against ants.
Hopkin：就像一种强烈的香水一样，这些挥发性分泌物在空气中飘荡，刺激那些可能想吃它们的小动物。Boevé 专门对叶蜂幼虫进行了研究，它们会分泌不同的化合物混合体来驱赶其他生物，尤其是蚂蚁。
But Boevé is not only an entomologist. He’s also an amateur musician. And he got to thinking, well, smells transmit a signal by drifting through the air…and so do sounds.
但 Boevé 不仅是一名昆虫学家，他还是一名业余音乐家。他想，嗯，气味通过在空气中飘散来传递信号……声音也是如此。
Boevé: I thought that it would be quite interesting to go deeper into this parallel between the perception via two different sensory systems namely smelling and hearing. So the idea was to convert these volatiles into sounds. Then…to compare, on the one hand, predators reacting against the volatiles with, on the other hand, humans hearing sounds that represent these volatiles.
Boevé：我认为通过嗅觉和听觉这两种不同的感觉系统更深入地了解感知之间的平行关系会很有趣。所以我想将这些挥发物转化为声音。然后……一方面，比较捕食者对挥发物的反应，另一方面，看看人类如何看待这些挥发物的声音。
Hopkin: Step one was transforming aroma into audio. To do that, Boevé and his colleague Rudi Giot of the Higher Industrial Institute of Brussels turned to a process called sonification, which translates chemical parameters into sounds.
Hopkin：第一步是将香气转化为音频。为此，Boevé 和他在布鲁塞尔高等工业研究所的同事Rudi Giot采用了一种名为可听化(signification)的过程，把化学参数转换成声音。
Boevé: The chemical parameters that we used for instance it was the molecular weight of compound, or the fact that the compound possesses or not some functional groups. By functional group I mean an alcohol group or ketone group or aldehyde group or acid group.
Boevé：我们选用了一些化学参数，例如化合物的分子量，是否包含某些官能团等。我说的官能团指羟基、羰基、醛基、羧基等。
Hopkin: These molecular properties were then mapped to musical qualities, like pitch and tone, duration and timbre, even reverberation.
Hopkin：这些分子特性随后被映射到音乐特征，如音高和音调、持续时间和音色，甚至混响。
Boevé: Doing so we built up a library of the molecule sounds obtained by converting each molecule into one sound.
Boevé：我们通过将每个分子转换为一个声音，建立了一个分子声音库。
Hopkin: So acetic acid…basically a concentrated vinegar…sounds like:
Hopkin：所以醋酸……相当于一种浓缩醋……听起来像：
…while geranial, an isomer of citral, which is a main component of the oil in a citrus fruit's peel, sounds more like:
…而香叶，柠檬醛的一种异构体，它是柑橘类水果果皮中油的主要成分，听起来更像：
Hopkin: Boevé is not the first to use sonification to convert chemical data into audio waves. As early as the 1970s, geneticists were transforming the four letters of DNA sequences into tunes that were, well, not exactly chart-topping.
Hopkin：Boevé 并不是第一个使用声波将化学数据转换为音频波的人。早在 1970 年代，遗传学家就将 DNA 序列的四个字母转换成曲调，嗯，不过吧，这些曲调不怎么好听。
Boevé: The sounds were…not very nice, not very rich. Because if you have only four tones, then the music or the sound that you hear are…very monotonous.
Boevé：那些声音不是很好听，也不是很丰富。只用4个音来写音乐，结果肯定非常单调。
Hopkin: The insect irritants were much more interesting…because each species produces its own signature chemical blend. Boevé and Giot mimicked those molecular mixtures by taking the individual chemical sounds and mixing them together on a sound board…using different volumes to represent the concentrations of compounds in each species’ toxic concoction.
Hopkin：昆虫生成的刺激物就有趣多了，每个物种都会产生独有的化合物混合体，Boevé和Giot把不同化学成分对应的声音混合在同一段音频中，来模拟不同分子的混合物，还用不同的音量来表示各个物种的有毒混合物中特定成分的浓度。
Hopkin: That’s the chemical stylings of Nematus tibialis, a locust sawfly larva. Which is heavy on the dolichodial, an essential oil that some plants use as an insect repellant.
Hopkin：这是角豆树叶蜂(Nematus tibialis)的“化学形象”，它的分泌物中包含大量具有两个醛基的环烯醚萜类化合物dolichodial，这种化合物也是一些植物用来驱虫的精油。
And this pungent tune helps keep Hoplocampa testudinea, the European apple sawfly, from being eaten.
这种尖锐的曲调有助于防止欧洲苹果锯蝇 Hoplocampa testudinea 被吃掉。
Hopkin: But that’s just the setup. Then came the experiment. Boevé exposed ants to the actual chemicals…either individually or in mixtures…and recorded how thoroughly the predators were repulsed by each. And for the sonified sounds…volunteers would play clips…of single molecules or mixtures…and listen to the sounds from a pair of loudspeakers.
Hopkin：这还只是基本设置，后面还有实验。Boevé将蚂蚁暴露在一种或多种混合的真实化学物质之中，记录不同化学物质对它们的驱赶情况;对于可听化的声音，受试者会聆听扬声器播放的对应一种或混合的多种分子的音频。
Boevé: Then we asked them to go backward, walk backward until they were at a comfort zone. And I was measuring, I was noting the distance that they walked backward.
Boevé：我们让受试者向后退，退到他们觉得舒服的位置，然后测量他们后退的距离。
Hopkin: And he found that the molecules and mixtures that were most annoying to ants were the same ones that, when sonified, caused volunteers to retreat.
Hopkin：他发现，蚂蚁最讨厌的分子和混合物，正是可听化后令受试者大步后退的分子和混合物。
Boevé: And many told me that some sounds were quite frightening and that’s why they went backward.
Boevé：很多受试者告诉我，有些声音很吓人，所以他们选择了后退。
Hopkin: But Boevé isn’t in it for the scares. The correlation between a chemical’s effect on ants…and a sound’s effect on people…means that he can use sonification to study the defensive scents of new species…or species for which it might be hard to scare up a specimen.
Hopkin：但Boevé并不觉得这是因为声音很吓人。化学物质对蚂蚁的作用与声音对人的作用具有关联性，这意味着他能够利用可听化来研究新物种的防御性气味，或是研究很难惊吓到实验物种的气味。
Hopkin: Scare up? Get it?
Hopkin：被吓到了?明白了吗?
Hopkin: For Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Karen Hopkin.
Hopkin：这里是《科学美国人》的 60 秒科学，我是Karen Hopkin。
Karen Hopkin: This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Karen Hopkin.
Hopkin: Some sounds are spooky [ghostly yowl?]. Some are unpleasant [screechy blackboard? Vinyl album scratch?]. And some are entirely unsettling. [creaking door? Scream? Discordant psycho-shower-scene type music?].
But some sounds…some sounds…are like nothing you’ve ever heard before…and nothing you’d ever want to hear again.
THAT was the sound of 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde. And if you’re thinking, hold on, molecules don’t make noise…well, you’re right. But that discordant nightmare was an audible soundscape that represents the chemical properties of 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde.
What’s even more eerie, is that while that sound may have made you want to crawl out of your skin and skitter towards the door, the chemical itself has a similar effect on ants. That’s according to a study in the journal Patterns.
Jean-Luc Boevé: The world of insects is full of chemical compounds.
Hopkin: Jean-Luc Boevé of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels.
Boevé: Thomas Eisner…who set up the field of chemical ecology… said that the insects are…the best chemists on earth. And he said this as a kind of joke but he was totally true in saying this because insects are producing rich amounts of different chemicals for different purposes.
Hopkin: Including keeping themselves and their families safe.
Boevé: Many other insect groups are producing volatiles and other compounds to defend themselves against predators.
Hopkin: Like an overpowering perfume, these volatile secretions waft through the air and irritate critters who might be thinking of noshing on the bugs that produced them. Boevé, in particular, studies the larvae of sawfly species, which produce different cocktails of chemicals that act as a repellant, especially against ants.
But Boevé is not only an entomologist. He’s also an amateur musician. And he got to thinking, well, smells transmit a signal by drifting through the air…and so do sounds.
Boevé: I thought that it would be quite interesting to go deeper into this parallel between the perception via two different sensory systems namely smelling and hearing. So the idea was to convert these volatiles into sounds. Then…to compare, on the one hand, predators reacting against the volatiles with, on the other hand, humans hearing sounds that represent these volatiles.
Hopkin: Step one was transforming aroma into audio. To do that, Boevé and his colleague Rudi Giot of the Higher Industrial Institute of Brussels turned to a process called sonification, which translates chemical parameters into sounds.
Boevé: The chemical parameters that we used for instance it was the molecular weight of compound, or the fact that the compound possesses or not some functional groups. By functional group I mean an alcohol group or ketone group or aldehyde group or acid group.
Hopkin: These molecular properties were then mapped to musical qualities, like pitch and tone, duration and timbre, even reverberation.
Boevé: Doing so we built up a library of the molecule sounds obtained by converting each molecule into one sound.
Hopkin: So acetic acid…basically a concentrated vinegar…sounds like:
…while geranial, an isomer of citral, which is a main component of the oil in a citrus fruit's peel, sounds more like:
Hopkin: Boevé is not the first to use sonification to convert chemical data into audio waves. As early as the 1970s, geneticists were transforming the four letters of DNA sequences into tunes that were, well, not exactly chart-topping.
Boevé: The sounds were…not very nice, not very rich. Because if you have only four tones, then the music or the sound that you hear are…very monotonous.
Hopkin: The insect irritants were much more interesting…because each species produces its own signature chemical blend. Boevé and Giot mimicked those molecular mixtures by taking the individual chemical sounds and mixing them together on a sound board…using different volumes to represent the concentrations of compounds in each species’ toxic concoction.
Hopkin: That’s the chemical stylings of Nematus tibialis, a locust sawfly larva. Which is heavy on the dolichodial, an essential oil that some plants use as an insect repellant.
And this pungent tune helps keep Hoplocampa testudinea, the European apple sawfly, from being eaten.
Hopkin: But that’s just the setup. Then came the experiment. Boevé exposed ants to the actual chemicals…either individually or in mixtures…and recorded how thoroughly the predators were repulsed by each. And for the sonified sounds…volunteers would play clips…of single molecules or mixtures…and listen to the sounds from a pair of loudspeakers.
Boevé: Then we asked them to go backward, walk backward until they were at a comfort zone. And I was measuring, I was noting the distance that they walked backward.
Hopkin: And he found that the molecules and mixtures that were most annoying to ants were the same ones that, when sonified, caused volunteers to retreat.
Boevé: And many told me that some sounds were quite frightening and that’s why they went backward.
Hopkin: But Boevé isn’t in it for the scares. The correlation between a chemical’s effect on ants…and a sound’s effect on people…means that he can use sonification to study the defensive scents of new species…or species for which it might be hard to scare up a specimen.
Hopkin: Scare up? Get it?
Hopkin: For Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Karen Hopkin.
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