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They say there’s no use crying over spilled milk but it turns out tears can have a use after all; generating electricity.
俗话说，牛奶要是打翻了，哭也没有用，但事实证明，眼泪也是可以有用的：用来发电。
Well, more accurately an enzyme in tears, lysozyme, can be used to generate a tiny amount of electricity.
更准确地说，泪液所含的某种酶，也就是溶菌酶，可用来发微量的电。
Lysozyme is also found in saliva, mucus, egg whites, and milk, so spilled milk seems to be an untapped energy gold mine.
唾液，黏液，蛋清和牛奶中也有溶菌酶，所以啊，打翻的牛奶貌似也是个尚未开发的能量小金库喔。
Researchers have been studying lysozyme for decades.
研究人员研究溶菌酶已经研究了几十年了。
Back in 1965 it was the second protein structure and first enzyme shape that was ever mapped out.
早在1965年，它就已经是人们有史以来发现的第二种蛋白质结构和第一种酶形态。
But only recently was its electrical property discovered
然而，直到最近，人们才发现它带电这一特性，
when researchers placed a film of lysozyme crystals between two plates of glass and squeezed.
还是研究人员将溶菌酶晶体膜片放在两块玻璃片之间进行挤压时发现的。
Yep, that’s all it took. Electricity from a squeeze.
没错，就只需要这么点儿技术含量。挤一挤就挤出了电。
It’s known as Piezoelectricity, and it’s much more common than you might realize.
这种电被称之为“压电”，而且，这种电可比你想象的常见多了。
The phenomenon was discovered in 1880 by Pierre and Paul-Jacques Curie.
压电这种现象是1880年皮埃尔·居里和保罗-雅各·居里发现的。
Yes, as the husband and brother-in-law of double Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie.
没错，就是两次获得诺贝尔奖的玛丽·居里的丈夫和姐夫。
Apparently 90% of science back then was done by somebody with the last name Curie.
显然，当时90％的科学发明都是居里家的某个成员贡献的。
Today inkjet printers, earbud speakers, and acoustic-electric guitars use piezoelectricity by deforming a crystal and creating voltage.
现在的喷墨打印机，耳塞式扬声器和声电吉他用的都是压电，它们都是通过使晶体变形从而产生电压。
Not all crystals can generate electricity though.
然而，并非所有的晶体都能发电。
Piezoelectric crystals work because their basic repeating building block that makes them up is asymmetrical.
压电晶体能够发电是因为它们的基本结构是不对称的。
Normally the electrical charges of the atoms in the building block are balanced out by other nearby atoms,
通常情况下，晶体基本结构中原子的电荷和周围原子的电荷是正负抵消的，
but when the crystal is deformed,
然而，晶体发生形变后，
some atoms are pushed close together while others are moved farther apart, upsetting the balance.
一些原子被挤到了一起，而另一些原子则被分开了，原子之间的电荷平衡被打破。
The net effect is a positive charge on one side of the crystal and a negative charge on the other.
最终的效果就是晶体一侧带正电，另一侧带负电。
Quartz is a commonly used piezoelectric material
石英就是一种常用的压电材料，
and according to the researchers, lysozyme rivals it in efficiency.
然而，据研究人员的说法，在发电效应上，溶菌酶完全可以和石英匹敌。
But unlike quartz, lysozyme is a biological material,
然而，与石英不同的是，溶菌酶是一种生物材料，
meaning it’s non-toxic so it can have use for medical applications.
这就意味着它是无毒的，可用于医疗领域。
Well, non-toxic to us, the enzyme helps break down bacterial cell walls.
准确地说，是对我们人类是无毒，不过这种酶有助于瓦解细菌的细胞壁。
So researchers imagine this protein could be used to coat medical implants to make them electroactive AND anti-microbial.
所以，研究人员就设想，这种蛋白质可被涂覆在医疗植入物外面，使其不仅具有电活性，还能抵抗微生物。
An implant like this could use your own heartbeat to generate power for a pacemaker,
这样一来，你就可以靠自己的心跳为起搏器供电，
getting rid of the need for batteries what will eventually run flat and need to be replaced.
从而摆脱对电池的需求，毕竟，电池的电始终会被用完的，用完了就得换。
So the next time you’re crying over spilled milk,
所以下次，大家因为牛奶被打翻而哭泣的话，
maybe it’ll cheer you up to know that one day your tears could power a medical breakthrough.
知道有一天你的眼泪也能用来为某个医疗大突破供电，你或许能觉得心里好受一点。
If you’ve got a sob story or one that makes people cry tears of joy, you need to get it out there!
如果你有一个令人悲伤或者令人喜极而泣的故事，那你可得让你的观众把泪流出来啊！
When you buy a domain name from Domain.com,
在Domain.com购买一个域名，
you’re taking the first steps in creating an identity and vision for your brand.
就是为打造你自己的品牌创建了一个档案和一份愿景。
No domain extension will help tell your story like a .com or .net domain name.
而一个.com或者.net的域名远比其他域名更能帮你讲述你的故事。
Get 20% off Domain.com’s already affordable domain names and web hosting when you use coupon code SEEKER at checkout.
Domain.com网站的域名和虚拟主机价格都十分优惠，而且使用我们栏目的专属折扣码付款还能享折上八折优惠噢。
If this is your first time here we’d love to have you back so you should subscribe!
如果这是你第一次观看本栏目的视频，我们非常乐意看到你再次回到我们中间，所以赶紧订阅吧！
We’re constantly looking for new energy sources, and one of them might be seaweed! Trace talks algae here.
我们一直在寻找新能源，而海藻可能就是一种新能源！Trace在这期视频里就讨论了藻类这种潜在新能源这一话题。
That's all for now, thanks so much for watching SEEKER!
以上就是今天的节目内容，感谢大家的收看！
