文章大意:本文是一篇说明文。文章主要介绍了一种可以像创可贴一样缠绕在你的指尖上的可穿戴式传感器,可以通过睡觉时指尖分泌的汗水来测量葡萄糖、维生素C或其他健康指标。
The sweat your fingertips produce while you sleep could help power the next generation of wearable sensors (传感器). These sensors can measure glucose (葡萄糖), Vitamin C, or other health indicators. That’s the promise of a new advance — a thin device that wraps around your fingertips like a Band-Aid. Its creators say that it is the most efficient sweat-powered energy harvester yet.
“The ability to harvest tiny amounts of sweat from the fingertips is really unique,” says Roozbeh Ghaffari, a researcher at Northwestern University.
Researchers around the world are currently developing wearable sensors to measure anything from a runner’s acceleration to a patient’s glucose levels.
However, what prevents these sensors from widespread use is how to power them continually. Batteries are large, heavy and short-lived, and solar power doesn’t work at night. More recently, researchers have looked to the human body itself to generate power.
Lu Yin, a scientist with the University of California, San Diego, and his team turned to fingertip sweat. Our fingertips are home to the highest concentration of sweat glands (腺体) on our bodies. They make sweat constantly, regardless of whether you’re exercising or not. We typically don’t notice this sweat because it disappears almost instantly.
The new device, reported in Joule, is just one square centimeter in size. It captures sweat and can generate 300 millijoules (毫焦耳) of energy per square centimeter during a night’s sleep. This is enough to power a watch for a day. What’s more, if a person wearing the device presses two fingers together, it can produce 30 millijoules per square centimeter. These little bursts of energy are enough to power a wearable Vitamin C sensor.
“It allows the user to continuously harvest energy from the human body,” says Wei Gao, a medical engineer at the California Institute of Technology. “From a power point of view, this makes wearable sensors more practical.”
Wearable sensors are still in the early stages of development, but research like this is helping to push them toward becoming an everyday reality, Ghaffari says.
8. What is unique about the sweat-powered energy harvester?
A.It is fairly easy and comfortable to wear. |
B.It is powered by a large and sustainable battery. |
C.It can harvest small quantities of sweat from fingertips. |
D.It can measure health indicators such as glucose and Vitamin C. |
9. What do the numbers in paragraph 6 suggest?
A.The new device is easy to operate. |
B.The new device requires little space to work. |
C.The new device is efficient in generating energy. |
D.The new device can continuously harvest energy. |
10. Which of the following is the best title for the text?
A.Making Good Use of Your Sweaty Fingers |
B.Your Fingertips Constantly Produce Sweat |
C.Improving Your Health with a new Device |
D.Wearable Sensors Have Become a Reality |