A team of scientists based in Scotland have developed an “artificial tongue” that can be used to tell apart a host of single malts - a move they say might help in the fight against counterfeit products.

“You could train your particular ‘tongue’ to know what one of these whiskies ‘tasted’ like, so that when the fake stuff came along it could identify it and when the real stuff came along it could confirm that it was the real stuff,” said Alasdair Clark, the lead author of the research from the University of Glasgow.

Clark said the technology could be incorporated into a small, portable device and has a wide range of applications, from identifying poisons to monitoring the environment of rivers.

Writing in the journal Nanoscale, the team describes how their device is based on a glass wafer featuring three separate arrays, each composed of 2 million tiny “artificial taste buds” — squares about 500 times smaller than a human taste bud, with sides just 100nm long.

There are six different types of these squares in the device, three types made from gold and three from aluminium. Each of the three arrays contains one type of gold and one type of aluminum square.

When light is shone on an array, it interacts with the electrons at the surface of the squares, resulting in dips in the reflected light which can be measured. These dips appear at slightly different wavelengths depending on which type of square the light interacts with.

Crucially, these dips shift depending on the liquid surrounding the arrays. The upshot is that each liquid gives rise to its own “fingerprint” of measurements. That means the device can be used to tell apart different liquids — and even identify them if their “fingerprints” have been recorded before — without revealing their makeup, rather like our own tongues do.

The team found that the device produced a different pattern, or fingerprint, for each of the whiskies they put to test, allowing them to tell apart a range of drams including 12- and 18-year-old samples of Glenfiddich, 10-year-old Laphroaig and Glen Marnoch’s single malt Rum Cask.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【冒牌货】màopáihuò counterfeit made in imitation of what is genuine

with the intent to defraud

【结论】jiélùn upshot conclusion, result

一个苏格兰的科学家团队研发出了一种“人工舌头”，可以用来区分多种单一麦芽威士忌 —— 这样就可以打击假货了。

来自格拉斯哥大学的阿拉斯代尔·克拉克是这项研究的主要作者，他说：“你能训练一种特别的‘舌头’，让它了解某一种特定的威士忌的味道，然后当它尝到假货的时候就能鉴别出来，尝到真货的时候也能确认一下。”

克拉克说，这项技术可以整合进一个很小的便携装置中，应用范围非常广泛，从试毒到监测河流水质都可以。

研究团队在《纳米尺度》期刊上发表了文章，描述了他们的“人工舌头”是如何搭建在一块玻璃薄片上的。这个玻璃片上有三组不同的阵列，每一组都包含200万个正方形的微型“人造味蕾”—— 每个边长只有100纳米，是人类味蕾大小的五百分之一左右。

有六种不同的“人造味蕾方块”，三种由金制成，另外三种由铝制成。每个阵列都含有一种“金方块”和一种“铝方块”。

当光照到一个阵列上时，会与这些方块表面的电子相互作用，可以检测到不同的折射率。根据与光相互作用的方块种类不同，折射的波长会略有不同。

但更关键的是，这种折射率会随着阵列周围的液体不同而变化。结果就是每种液体都会产生一种属于自己的“指纹”。这样设备就能用来区分不同的液体了，如果液体特征之前被记录过，那么这个“舌头”就能把它认出来。但其实它并不知道这个液体里面到底有些什么成分--就和我们自己的舌头一样。

研究团队发现，“人工舌头”给每种接受测试的威士忌都生成了不同的模式，或者叫它指纹，让研究团队能够区分出12年和18年的格兰菲迪、10年的拉弗格和格伦·马诺奇的单一麦芽朗姆酒样品。

(chinadaily.com.cn)