有人解釋說波蘭用蛤蜊來控制供水，這太瘋狂了

有人解釋說波蘭用蛤蜊來控制供水，這太瘋狂了

While it seems that various technologies are completely taking over many different parts of human life, it appears that even some man-made things are better left to nature… Therefore, some places in the world have decided to trust clams and mussels to monitor the cleanness of their water. Despite most of us being used to seeing clams on a fancy dinner plate, some of them get a more important mission—monitoring the purity of drinking water.

盡管各種各樣的技術(shù)似乎完全占據(jù)了人類生活的許多不同部分，但似乎有些人造的東西還是留給大自然比較好……因此，世界上有些地方?jīng)Q定相信蛤蜊和貽貝來監(jiān)測它們的水的清潔程度。盡管我們大多數(shù)人都習(xí)慣了在精美的餐盤上看到蛤蜊，但其中一些人有一個更重要的任務(wù)——監(jiān)測飲用水的純度。

Turns out, some places use clams and mussels to test how clear the water is

事實證明，有些地方用蛤蜊和貽貝來測試水的清澈程度

While most people probably think of clams and mussels as a part of some fancy dinner, it appears they have a much higher significance in some places. For example, the water quality in Warsaw, the capital city of Poland, is monitored by clams. A Polish Tumblr user who goes by nickname Ftgurdy explained that the city of Warsaw gets its water from a river and “the main water pump has 8 clams that have triggers attached to their shells. If the water gets too toxic, they close, and the triggers shut off the city’s water supply automatically.” There’s a whole documentary on that, called Fat Kathy, and you can check out its trailer here. It follows how the main scientist-malacologist watches over the system’s operation. The film is described as “a philosophical essay on the dependence of people from nature and the world around them.”

盡管大多數(shù)人可能認(rèn)為蛤蜊和貽貝是一些高檔晚餐的一部分，但在某些地方，它們的重要性似乎要高得多。例如，波蘭首都華沙的水質(zhì)是由蛤蚌監(jiān)測的。一位昵稱為Ftgurdy的波蘭Tumblr用戶解釋說，華沙的水來自一條河，“主水泵有8只蛤，它們的殼上都有觸發(fā)器。”如果水毒性太強，它們就會關(guān)閉，而觸發(fā)器就會自動切斷城市的供水。“有一部關(guān)于這個的紀(jì)錄片，叫《胖凱西》，你可以在這里查看它的預(yù)告片。它遵循的是主要的科學(xué)家和心理學(xué)家如何監(jiān)視系統(tǒng)的運行。這部電影被描述為“一篇關(guān)于人類對自然和周圍世界依賴的哲學(xué)論文。”

The main water pump in Warsaw, Poland has 8 clams that are responsible for measuring how toxic the water is

波蘭華沙的主要水泵有8只蛤蜊，它們負(fù)責(zé)檢測水的毒性

Municipal Water and Sewage Enterprise in the Capital City of Warsaw confirms the use of fish and mussels for biomonitoring. They explain that they use biomonitoring at Warsaw Waterworks to increase the safety of the water treatment process. The mussels of the sharpened scallop species used are very sensitive to water pollution.

首都華沙的市政供水和污水處理企業(yè)證實使用魚和貽貝進(jìn)行生物監(jiān)測。他們解釋說，他們在華沙自來水廠使用生物監(jiān)測來提高水處理過程的安全性。磨尖扇貝的貽貝對水污染非常敏感。

Clams are known to be very sensitive and only open their shells slightly in order to feed

眾所周知，蛤蜊非常敏感，為了覓食，它們只會輕輕地打開殼

Apparently, the mollusks first undergo an acclimatization process after being caught and brought to the laboratory. It takes about two weeks. During that time, scientists also determine the natural opening of their shell—clams leave a slight opening and feed by filtrating water. Within one hour, one clam can filter and thus analyze the quality of 1.5 liters of water. They live only in completely clean waters and shut their shells immediately if they sense any impurity.

顯然，這些軟體動物在被捕獲并帶到實驗室后，首先要經(jīng)歷一個適應(yīng)環(huán)境的過程。大約需要兩周的時間。在此期間，科學(xué)家們還確定了它們的貝殼的自然開口，留下一個小的開口，通過過濾水來進(jìn)食。在一小時內(nèi)，一只蛤蜊可以過濾并分析1.5升水的質(zhì)量。它們只生活在完全干凈的水里，如果發(fā)現(xiàn)任何不干凈的東西，它們就會立即閉上殼。

Each clam at Warsaw Waterworks is carefully selected by scientists and undergoes an acclimatization process

華沙水廠的每只蛤蜊都經(jīng)過科學(xué)家的精心挑選，并經(jīng)過馴化過程

After completing their acclimatization process, clams are placed in a specially designed flow tank. They are connected to the system controller that sends data to a computer which records the degree that the clams’ shells are open all the time. If the water quality deteriorates, the clams close their shells to isolate themselves from the contaminated environment. That automatically triggers an alarm and shuts down water supply while scientists perform laboratory tests.

在完成適應(yīng)環(huán)境的過程后，把蛤蜊放入一個特別設(shè)計的水槽中。它們與系統(tǒng)控制器相連，系統(tǒng)控制器將數(shù)據(jù)發(fā)送到計算機，計算機記錄蛤殼一直處于打開狀態(tài)的程度。如果水質(zhì)惡化，蛤蜊就會關(guān)閉外殼，將自己與受污染的環(huán)境隔離開來。當(dāng)科學(xué)家進(jìn)行實驗室測試時，它會自動觸發(fā)警報并關(guān)閉供水。

Scientists also determine the natural opening of their shells and then attach equipment that is connected to the system controller

科學(xué)家們還確定了它們外殼的自然開口，然后將設(shè)備連接到系統(tǒng)控制器上

In order for the clams not to get used to the water that’s being tested, they only serve for three months. After their service is done, they are transported back to the same water they were taken from and are marked by the scientists so they don’t pick up the same clams again.

為了不讓這些蛤蜊適應(yīng)接受測試的海水，它們只吃三個月。服務(wù)結(jié)束后，它們會被送回原來取水的地方，科學(xué)家會對它們進(jìn)行標(biāo)記，這樣它們就不會再撿回原來的蛤蜊了。

If they detect polluted water, clams immediately shut their shells, which triggers the alarm

如果它們發(fā)現(xiàn)了被污染的水，蛤蜊就會立即合上殼，這就會觸發(fā)警報

Each clam in Warsaw Waterworks serves for three months, is later returned to the exact lake where it came from, and is marked so that scientists won’t pick up the same clams again

華沙水廠的每只蛤蜊都要服務(wù)三個月，之后會被送回原來的湖，并被標(biāo)記，這樣科學(xué)家們就不會再撿到同樣的蛤蜊了

Image credits: Fat Kathy