科学家们创造了一种奇怪的“活混凝土”，受损时可以自行愈合

Scientists at the University of Colorado, Boulder have created what The New York Times calls a "living concrete", teeming with photosynthetic bacteria, that can grow itself and regenerate itself – much like a living organism.

科罗拉多大学博尔德分校的科学家们创造了《纽约时报》所称的“活混凝土”，里面充满了能进行光合作用的细菌，这些细菌能自我生长和自我再生，就像活的有机体一样。

The concrete is a mixture of gelatin, sand, and cyanobacteria that cools similarly to Jell-O, the Times reports.

据《泰晤士报》报道，这种混凝土是明胶、沙子和蓝藻菌的混合物，其冷却方式与果冻相似。

The resulting structure was able to regenerate itself three times after researchers cut it apart, suggesting a potential breakthrough in the nascent field of self-assembling materials.

经过研究人员的三次切割，最终的结构能够自我再生，这意味着在新生的自组装材料领域有了潜在的突破。

The living concrete, which the Colorado scientists made in partnership with DARPA, starts out as a sickly green color that fades as the bacteria dies off, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Matter.

根据周三发表在《Matter》杂志上的一项研究，科罗拉多科学家与美国国防部高级研究计划局合作制造的这种活性混凝土，一开始是一种病态的绿色，随着细菌的死亡，这种绿色会逐渐消失。

It really does look like a Frankenstein material, UC Boulder engineer and project leader Will Srubar told the NYT.

加州大学博尔德分校的工程师兼项目负责人威尔·斯鲁巴尔对《纽约时报》说:“这真的很像科学怪人的材料。”

Even as the color fades, the bacteria survive for several weeks and can be rejuvenated – resulting in further growth­ – under the right conditions.

即使颜色褪去，细菌也能存活数周，并在合适的条件下恢复活力，从而进一步生长。

DARPA is particularly interested in a self-growing material that it can use to assemble structures in remote desert areas, or potentially even in space, according to the NYT.

据《纽约时报》报道，美国国防部高级研究计划局对一种能够自我生长的材料特别感兴趣，这种材料可以用于在偏远的沙漠地区组装结构，甚至可能用于太空。

If the living concrete can scale up to that level, it could reduce the amount – and weight – of materials that space agencies will need to launch.

如果活的混凝土能扩大到那个水平，就能减少太空机构发射所需材料的数量和重量。

There's no way we're going to carry building materials to space, Srubar told the NYT. "We'll bring biology with us."

“我们不可能把建筑材料送到太空，”斯鲁巴尔告诉《纽约时报》。“但我们会带去生物学。”