科学美国人60秒 电子蛋追踪非法贩子(1)

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Karen Hopkin.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是凯伦·霍普金。

Poachers take note.

偷猎者需要注意了。

If you’re thinking about stealing eggs from the nests of sea turtles on the beaches of Costa Rica, well, you may wind up getting more than you bargained for.

如果你考虑从哥斯达黎加海滩上的海龟巢穴里偷海龟蛋，那么，可能最终会得到意想不到的结果。

Because researchers have combined GPS technology with 3D printing to produce decoy eggs that look and feel like real turtle eggs…

因为研究人员将GPS技术与3D打印技术结合起来，制造出了视觉上和感觉上跟真的海龟蛋几乎没有差别的诱饵蛋……

but can track where traffickers go when they swipe these endangered embryos.

但是这种技术可以追踪非法买卖者偷窃的这些濒危胚胎的去向。

The egg-saving efforts are mapped out in the journal Current Biology.

《当代生物学》杂志上公布了有关保护海龟蛋的努力。

Some find sea turtle eggs to be a delicious seasonal treat…

一些人认为海龟蛋是美味的季节性食物，

others think they’re an aphrodisiac—which has produced a thriving illegal market.

另一些人认为海龟蛋是催欲剂——这催生了一个繁荣的非法市场。

The mock turtle eggs were crafted in response to something called the Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge, a program sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

这些仿制海龟蛋是为了响应美国国际开发署赞助的“野生动物犯罪技术挑战”项目而制作的。

Scientists led by Kim Williams-Guillen of Paso Pacifico, a conservation organization, devised the decoys.

由保护组织Paso Pacifico的吉姆·威廉姆斯-吉伦领导的科学家们设计了这些诱饵海龟蛋。

They drew their inspiration, in part, from a popular TV show, says Paso Pacifico’s executive director, Sarah Otterstrom.

Paso Pacifico的执行董事萨拉·奥特斯特罗姆表示，他们的灵感部分来自于一部热门电视节目。

“Kim’s idea to put a tracking device into the egg came from an episode of Breaking Bad where the police hid a GPS transmitter of a shipment of raw materials for a methamphetamines lab.”

“金姆在蛋里安装追踪装置的想法来自《绝命毒师》中的一集，在这一集里，警察在为冰毒实验室运输的一次原材料货物中藏了一个GPS发射器。”

The first challenge was getting the egg substitute just right.

首要挑战是如何让这些海龟蛋替代品恰到好处。

“We started with the size and dimension of the turtle egg, trying to figure out how much do they weigh, what’s their texture, how soft and squishy are there, they, and what’s their color.”

“我们从海龟蛋的形状和大小开始，试图弄清楚它们有多重，它们的质地是什么，它们有多柔软、多湿软，它们的颜色是什么。”

Then, they sorted out the electronics.

然后，他们整理了电子设备。

“Cell phones are very widespread throughout the world…

“手机在世界各地都非常普遍……

and we realized if we could just use a SIM card and the GPS GSM technology that’s used in cell phones,

我们意识到如果可以在手机上使用SIM卡和GPS GSM技术机,

that even if a beach was remote from a cell tower, if it was headed to a market somewhere it would eventually pass by a cell tower and the decoy eggs could transmit to one of these cell towers.”

即使海滩距离手机信号塔很远, 如果仿制海龟蛋朝某个地方的市场行进，途中终究会经过一个手机信号塔，那么诱饵海龟蛋可以向其中一个手机信号塔发送信号。”