一種由蜘蛛絲和樹木制成的新材料可以取代塑料

一種由蜘蛛絲和樹木制成的新材料可以取代塑料

From raindrops in the Rockies to the very food on our plates, we've woven a tangled web for ourselves out of plastic.

從落基山脈的雨滴到我們盤子里的食物，我們用塑料為自己編織了一張錯綜復(fù)雜的網(wǎng)。

The future may no longer be in plastic, but rather a combination of spider silk and tree pulp. (Photo: Amy Johansson/Shutterstock)

It's strong and flexible and cheap. It's also a choking hazard for the planet.

它堅(jiān)固、靈活、便宜。這對地球來說也是一個窒息的危險。

But new research from Aalto University and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland suggests there may be a way to unravel this mess — with a little help from spiders, and our go-to environmental heroes, trees.

但是來自阿爾托大學(xué)和芬蘭VTT技術(shù)研究中心的一項(xiàng)新研究表明，也許有一種方法可以解決這個問題——借助蜘蛛和我們的環(huán)保英雄——樹木的一點(diǎn)幫助。

In a paper published this month in Science Advances, the scientists claim to have developed a new material by sticking cellulose fibers from wood to the silk protein found in spider webs. The result? A strong, flexible material that could do everything plastic does better — except, of course, clog up the planet.

在本月發(fā)表在《科學(xué)進(jìn)展》(Science Advances)雜志上的一篇論文中，科學(xué)家們聲稱，他們已經(jīng)開發(fā)出一種新材料，方法是將木材中的纖維素纖維粘在蛛網(wǎng)中的絲蛋白上。結(jié)果呢?一種堅(jiān)固、靈活的材料可以做任何塑料制品，當(dāng)然，除了堵塞地球。

The biomaterial is so effective, researchers are hailing it as a possible replacement for plastic in everything from the medical and textile industries to packaging.

這種生物材料非常有效，研究人員將其譽(yù)為從醫(yī)療、紡織到包裝等各個領(lǐng)域的塑料替代品。

"We used birch tree pulp, broke it down to cellulose nanofibrils and aligned them into a stiff scaffold. At the same time, we infiltrated the cellulosic network with a soft and energy dissipating spider silk adhesive matrix," Pezhman Mohammadi from VTT notes in a press release.

“我們用樺樹的紙漿，把它分解成纖維素納米纖維，排列成一個堅(jiān)硬的支架。與此同時，我們用一種柔軟且耗能的蛛絲粘合基質(zhì)滲透到纖維素網(wǎng)絡(luò)中，”VTT公司的Pezhman Mohammadi在一份新聞稿中寫道。

In other words, they dug into nature's cookbook to combine just the right ingredients to create a material that does all things plastic — but, since it's entirely biodegradable, it goes back to nature when its job is done.

換句話說，他們深入研究了自然的食譜，將正確的原料組合在一起，創(chuàng)造出一種可以做所有塑料事情的材料——但是，由于它是完全可生物降解的，所以當(dāng)它的工作完成時，它就會回歸自然。

Now, the trick may be to scale up the stuff to the levels of plastic. How many hard-working spiders would we need to scale up production to rival that of plastic? How about none at all?

現(xiàn)在，訣竅可能是將這種物質(zhì)放大到塑料的水平。我們需要多少辛勤工作的蜘蛛才能擴(kuò)大生產(chǎn)，與塑料蜘蛛相抗衡?什么都沒有怎么樣?

For their research, the Finnish scientists didn't use a single thread of spider silk, but rather produced webbing from bacteria with synthetic DNA.

在他們的研究中，芬蘭科學(xué)家沒有使用一根單一的蛛絲，而是用合成DNA的細(xì)菌制造了蛛網(wǎng)。

"Because we know the structure of the DNA, we can copy it and use this to manufacture silk protein molecules which are chemically similar to those found in spider web threads," lead researcher Markus Linder of Aalto University explains in the release. "The DNA has all this information contained in it."

“因?yàn)槲覀冎繢NA的結(jié)構(gòu)，我們可以復(fù)制它，并利用它來制造蛛絲蛋白分子，這些蛋白分子的化學(xué)結(jié)構(gòu)與蜘蛛網(wǎng)上發(fā)現(xiàn)的類似，”阿爾托大學(xué)的首席研究員馬庫斯·林德在新聞稿中解釋道。“DNA包含了所有這些信息。”

In addition to its stickiness, spider silk must be strong and stretchy to endure the struggles of captured insects. (Photo: Nechaevkon/Shutterstock)

Still, let's face it. Plastic isn't going to break a sweat just yet.

不過，讓我們面對現(xiàn)實(shí)吧。塑料還不會讓你汗流浹背。

Since the 1950s, when polymers really started to gain traction among consumers, annual production has increased by 200 times. In 2015 alone, we churned out more than 380 million tons of it.

自上世紀(jì)50年代以來，聚合物真正開始受到消費(fèi)者的青睞，年產(chǎn)量增長了200倍。僅2015年，我們就生產(chǎn)了3.8億噸。

But new biomaterials like this hybrid of spider silk and tree pulp, as well as more concerted international efforts to curtail single-use plastics may poke enough holes in its wrapper to let us breathe a little easier.

但是，新的生物材料，像這種蜘蛛絲和樹漿的混合物，以及國際上更協(xié)調(diào)一致的努力來減少一次性使用塑料，可能會在它的包裝上戳出足夠的洞，讓我們更容易呼吸。

Or perhaps, at least, we might get a much-needed third option at the grocery store: Paper, plastic … or spiderweb?

或者，至少，我們可能在雜貨店得到一個急需的第三種選擇:紙、塑料……還是蜘蛛網(wǎng)?