科學家發明出可自動癒合的人造皮膚

Artificial flesh is growing ever closer to the real thing. Scientists in Australia have now created a new jelly-like material which they claim has the strength and durability of actual skin, ligaments, or even bone.
人造皮膚越來越像真的皮膚了。澳大利亞的科學家最近發明了一種新型果凍狀材料，他們表示，這種材料具有真正的皮膚、韌帶甚至骨骼的強度和耐用性。

"With the special chemistry we've engineered in the hydrogel, it can repair itself after it has been broken like human skin can," explains chemist Luke Connal from the Australian National University.
澳大利亞國立大學化學家盧克·康納爾解釋道：“我們研發的這種水凝膠擁有特殊的化學性質，它就像人類的皮膚那樣，在受損後可以自行修復。”

"Hydrogels are usually weak, but our material is so strong it could easily lift very heavy objects and can change its shape like human muscles do."
“水凝膠通常是很脆弱的，但我們研發的這種材料很強大，它可以輕鬆地舉起特別重的物體，而且可以像人類的肌肉那樣改變形狀。”

Having a squishy material with such remarkable properties could be huge for the development of next-generation soft robotics and biomedical devices. Creating a shape-changing hydrogel that has multiple functions has proved an ongoing challenge for scientists, even with natural inspiration from jellyfish, sea cucumbers, and Venus fly traps.
這種鬆軟的材料擁有如此卓越的特性，或許會對下一代軟體機器人和生物醫學設備的發展產生重要影響。儘管科學家們從水母、海蔘和捕蠅草等生物身上獲得了靈感，但要開發一種擁有多項功能且能改變形狀的水凝膠對他們而言依然是一項挑戰。

While some hydrogels can withstand mechanical stress, others have self-healing properties, and a few more have the abilities to memorise shapes or change colours.
有的水凝膠可以承受住機械壓力，其他的水凝膠具有自愈特性，還有的水凝膠可以記住形狀或改變顏色。

As far as the ANU researchers know, no one else has been able to incorporate all these functions into one all-encompassing gel. At least, not at the speed and efficiency they've achieved.
澳大利亞國立大學的研究人員表示，據他們所知，還沒有人能將所有的這些功能整合到一種凝膠上。至少，還達不到他們現在的速度和效率。

Putting their material through multiple tests, the authors claim to have created the first dynamic hydrogel that is strong, tough, fatigue resistant, self-healing and able to change shapes and 'remember' them afterwards.
研發者表示，對他們的材料進行了多次測試後，他們已經創造出第一款動態水凝膠，這種水凝膠強健且堅韌，能抗疲勞，且可以自愈，還能改變形狀，而且之後還能“記住”它們的形狀。