Episode Details

Researchers at Michigan State University recently found that bees’ sense of “smell” is sensitive enough to identify chemical smells of cancer. 

密歇根州立大学的研究人员最近发现，蜜蜂的“嗅觉”足够灵敏，可以识别癌症的化学气味。 

Bees sense chemicals in their environment using antennae, structures on their heads, which serve as “noses” to sense smells. 

蜜蜂使用触角来感知环境中的化学物质，触角是它们头部的结构，充当感知气味的“鼻子”。 

The researchers wrote in a study published last month that honeybees can sniff out lung cancer on a patient’s breath. 

研究人员在上个月发表的一项研究中写道，蜜蜂可以通过病人的呼吸嗅出肺癌。

Debajit Saha is an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Michigan State University. He was part of a team that published the research. 

Debajit Saha 是密歇根州立大学生物医学工程助理教授。他是发表该研究的团队的一员。 

“Our world is visual. [The] insects’ world is all based on smell, so their sense of smell is very, very good,” Saha said. 

“我们的世界是视觉的。昆虫的世界都是基于嗅觉的，所以它们的嗅觉非常非常好，”萨哈说。 

“There is quite a bit of research that shows that when some cancer grows inside our body, our breath actually changes. Our research does show that honeybees can detect lung cancer and possibly other diseases based on the smell of those cells.” 

“大量研究表明，当某些癌症在我们体内生长时，我们的呼吸实际上会发生变化。我们的研究确实表明，蜜蜂可以根据这些细胞的气味来检测肺癌和可能的其他疾病。

”Saha and his team placed bees in small harnesses and attached small wires to their brains. The insects were then placed near chemicals that are like the breath of a person with lung cancer. 

Listen Now