评论
打印
If you've ever had wasabi… Well, actually, you probably haven't eaten real wasabi. That's because it's super rare outside of Japan.
如果大家尝试过山葵...嗯...其实大家可能没有吃过真的山葵。那是因为在日本之外的地方，山葵是超极罕见的。
That green stuff that comes with your sushi is just a blend of horseradish and mustard dyed to look like wasabi.
寿司上的绿色物质仅仅是辣根和芥末相混合成山葵的样子而已。
But if you've ever thought you had wasabi, or are just a fan of plain ole horseradish in general,
但是如果你认为自己吃过山葵，或是只是普通辣根的爱好者，
you're familiar with that special burning sensation that fills your nose.
那么你应该很熟悉那种特殊灼热感充斥鼻腔的感觉。
Well, that's thanks to a chemical that's abundant in those foods one that triggers your body's defenses to toxins.
多亏了这种食物中满含的化学物质，是它引起了你体内对毒素的防御机制。
Wasabi and horseradish are both cabbage-type plants related to things like broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts, and mustard.
山葵和辣根都是卷心菜科植物，比如花椰菜、羽衣甘蓝、球芽甘蓝和芥末。
And they've been selectively bred for at least a thousand years to have nice, big rhizomes, a type of underground stem,
它们被有选择性的繁衍至少千年才能有好的大根茎，这是地下茎的一种，
because those are ground or shredded to add that special kick to your meal.
因为那些要被研磨或切碎后才能为你的餐食添加特殊的后劲。
The nose burn largely comes from a compound called allyl isothiocyanate. It's also found to a lesser extent in mustard and radishes.
鼻子的灼烧感主要来自一种化合物质—异硫氰酸烯丙酯。芥末和萝卜中也有少量这种物质。
It easily becomes airborne, so when you eat wasabi or horseradish,
它很容易通过空气传播，所以当你吃山葵或辣根时，
a bunch of it floats up into your nose, right to where you have all these special detectors for it.
一股子这种物质就会飘进你的鼻子里，正好飘到了所有那些感测它的特殊探测器上。
These detectors are called receptors, and they're molecules on the surface of nerve cells that allow them to respond to things.
这些探测器被称为感受器，并且它们位于神经细胞表面的分子，这些神经细胞让它们能够对事物做出反应。
Each type of receptor responds to different groups of molecules.
每种类型的感受器都对不同分子群做出反应。
The one for allyl isothiocyanate is called TRPA1. And it detects more than wasabi and horseradish.
对异硫氰酸烯丙酯做出反应的感受器叫做TRPA1。它能探测的不仅仅是山葵和辣根。
It also alerts your body to the presence of tear gas, cigarette smoke, and car exhaust.
还能提醒你的身体催泪弹、香烟烟雾和汽车尾气的存在。
Basically, a bunch of possible airborne irritants.
基本上是一群可能通过空气传播的刺激物。
When triggered, receptors tells their nerve cells to message the brain, which results in that itching or burning sensation.
当这种刺激物被触发时，感受器告知它们的神经细胞为大脑报信，因而造成瘙痒或灼热感。
And there are simply more of these receptors in your nose than in your mouth, which is why you really feel the burn there.
你鼻子里的这种感受器比嘴巴里的多，所以你才会觉得鼻子灼热。
Enough of the offensive substance leads to coughing, crying, basically anything to try and get it out of you.
足够多的攻击性物质会导致咳嗽、流泪，基本上会导致任何体内想要将此物质排除的反应。
TRPA1 is related to other pain-causing receptors, like TRPV1 the one responsible for the burn of hot chilis.
TRPA1和其他引起疼痛的接收器相关，比如TRPV1，它对辣椒的灼热感产生反应。
But it's kind of weird because it responds to a lot of things.
但是它有点奇怪，因为它还会对很多其他事物产生反应。
In addition to wasabi and airborne irritants, it can also be set off by chemicals produced by your own cells,
除了山葵和空气传播刺激物外，它还会自己体内细胞产生的化学物质所激发，
so it's sometimes to blame for pain, itching, or burning associated with inflammation or immunological diseases.
有时是因为疼痛、瘙痒或是和炎症或免疫性疾病相关联的灼热。
And it even seems to be involved in sensing dangerously cold things.
它甚至还参与到了感知超级寒冷的事物中。
It has so many triggers that scientists are still trying to figure out all the ways it can go off, and how the body uses it.
科学家们仍在尝试弄清很多触发物并了解身体如何使用它。
But in the meantime, some are harnessing its powers for good.
但同时，有些利用这些能量是有原因的。
A group of researchers is hoping to develop a special fire alarm for the hard of hearing
一组研究人员希望能够为听障人士开发一种特别的火警警报器
instead of making a loud sound, it would spray a mist made of allyl isothiocyanate. It's basically a wasabi alarm!
不用制造巨大的声响，而是喷射出异硫氰酸烯丙酯制成的薄雾。其实就是山葵报警器啦！
Because it's probably better to have the feeling of fire in your nose than have an actual fire at your feet.
因为鼻子感觉冒火或许总比脚底真的着火要好。
Thanks to Jan Bartnik for asking about horseradish! And thanks to all of our patrons who voted on this question in our poll.
感谢 Jan Bartnik的提问！感谢所有为这个问题投票的赞助人们。
We really can't say it enough: without our patrons, we couldn't do what we do.
我们想说：没有我们的赞助人，我们做不了这些。
If you have some burning questions like this that you'd like us to consider,
如果你有一些像这样刺激的问题想要我们回答，
you can learn more about joining our community of patrons at Patreon.com/SciShow.
你可以登录Patreon.com/SciShow了解如何加入我们的patrons社区。
