科學(xué)家的另類藝術(shù)：細(xì)菌作畫

If you think scientists can't be artsy, think again.
如果你覺得科學(xué)家沒有藝術(shù)氣息，那你就錯(cuò)了。

The American Society of Microbiologists (ASM) recently held its first "Agar Art" contest and received 85 submissions of artwork all created by microbiologists "using bacteria as paint and agar and a petri dish as a canvas," according to Emily Dilger, ASM's public outreach manager. Agar is a "jelly-like substance" that bacteria eat and grow on, Dilger explained.
美國(guó)微生物學(xué)家協(xié)會(huì)（American Society of Microbiologists，ASM）最近舉辦了第一屆“瓊脂藝術(shù)”大賽，據(jù)ASM公關(guān)經(jīng)理艾米麗?迪爾格（Emily Dilger）介紹，大賽共收到85份由微生物學(xué)家創(chuàng)作的參賽作品。它們都是“以細(xì)菌為顏料，以瓊脂和一個(gè)培養(yǎng)皿為畫布”完成的。迪爾格解釋稱，瓊脂是一種“膠狀物質(zhì)”，細(xì)菌可以通過吞食瓊脂生長(zhǎng)。

The microscopic masterpieces included a recreation of Vincent van Gogh's "The Starry Night" by Missouri microbiologist Melanie Sullivan. She used several types of bacteria to produce the various colors, including bacteria that is "a common cause of lower urinary tract infections" and a bacterium that can cause infections including pneumonia and meningitis, according to her description of her piece.
這些用顯微鏡才能觀察的作品中，來(lái)自密蘇里州的微生物學(xué)家梅勒妮?沙利文（Melanie Sullivan）的作品復(fù)刻了梵高的《星空》。她的作品描述介紹稱，她用多種類型的細(xì)菌制作出多種顏色，包括“引起下尿路感染的常見病原菌”和一種可導(dǎo)致肺炎和腦膜炎的細(xì)菌。

"Because a lot of these bacteria can have dangerous implications, we made sure all the submissions had to come from a member of the society," ASM marketing coordinator Chaseedaw Giles told ABC News. "Lots of safety precautions have to be taken, especially in properly storing and disposing these cultures, so we didn't just want random people playing around with bacteria."
ASM市場(chǎng)部協(xié)調(diào)員查西道·賈爾斯（Chaseedaw Giles）告訴美國(guó)廣播公司新聞（ABC News）：“因?yàn)檫@些細(xì)菌中有很多具有危險(xiǎn)性，所以我們確保所有參賽作品都是來(lái)自協(xié)會(huì)成員。我們做了很多安全防范措施，尤其在這些培養(yǎng)菌的妥善保存和處理方面，所以我們可不是讓隨便某個(gè)人來(lái) 擺弄細(xì)菌?！?/p>

The "Agar Art" contest ran through this summer, and the winners were announced in late September after a panel of five judges - including professors and an artist - reviewed the submissions based on "creativity, design, and presentation," Giles said.
賈爾斯介紹，“瓊脂藝術(shù)”大賽持續(xù)了一個(gè)夏天，最后由包括微生物學(xué)教授和一名藝術(shù)家在內(nèi)的五名評(píng)委經(jīng)過認(rèn)真的審查，作品的“創(chuàng)造性、設(shè)計(jì)和展示”于9月份評(píng)選出最后的獲勝者。

第一名作品：《神經(jīng)元》

The top three winners included artistic renditions of neurons, a map of New York City and the harvest season.
前三名作品分別是神經(jīng)元的藝術(shù)再現(xiàn)、紐約市地圖和收獲的季節(jié)。

《收獲的季節(jié)》獲得第三名

"One of the coolest things about the contest has been reading the descriptions from the scientists of all the ways they grew these different bacteria and all the trial-and-error they had to do," Giles said. "Many talked about the number of tries it took them to get certain patterns and intensity of color. Everyone did something different to come up with their final product."
賈爾斯說：“這次比賽最酷的地方之一就是閱讀各位科學(xué)家關(guān)于如何培養(yǎng)這些不同的細(xì)菌以及他們反復(fù)試驗(yàn)的過程描述。很多人描述了自己為了得到特定的圖案和色彩飽和度反復(fù)嘗試了多少次。每個(gè)人都為了最后的作品嘗試了很多不同的事情?！?/p>

The contest has also dispelled a long-held stereotype that scientists can't be artistic and vice versa.
本次比賽也打破了一直以來(lái)人們覺得科學(xué)家不懂藝術(shù)，藝術(shù)家不懂科學(xué)的成見。

《細(xì)胞間》獲得“最受大眾喜愛作品”獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)

"I think this is a great example of the beautiful things that can come out of not putting people in certain boxes and defining them by a strict label," Giles said. "It shows art and science can be married together."
賈爾斯說：“跳出原有的框架和避免嚴(yán)格的標(biāo)簽定義能夠產(chǎn)生美好的事物，我覺得這次比賽就是一個(gè)很好的例子。它展現(xiàn)了藝術(shù)和科學(xué)可以很好的融合在一起?！?/p>

Vocabulary

microbiologist：微生物學(xué)家

agar： 瓊脂

petri dish：皮氏培養(yǎng)皿

microscopic：用顯微鏡可見的

pneumonia：肺炎

meningitis：腦膜炎

rendition：演繹

trial-and-error：(為求完善的)反復(fù)試驗(yàn)

英文來(lái)源：ABC News

譯者：張卉

審校&編輯：劉明