刺激大脑能否防止晕车?

    Some people can get motion sickness from being in moving vehicles such as cars or airplanes.
    有些人在快速移动的交通工具上会晕车,例如坐车或坐飞机。

    But, a new device could stop motion sickness by suppressing some signals in the brain.
    但是,一种新的设备可以通过抑制一些大脑信号来防止晕车。

    Motion sickness occurs when the motion you sense with your inner ear is different from the motion you see. Symptoms of motion sickness are dizziness, nausea and vomiting. People have tried different ways to prevent the condition, including wrist bands and anti-nausea drugs.
    当你通过内耳感受到的运动和你眼睛看到的运动有差别时就会晕车。晕车的症状包括头晕、恶心、呕吐等。人们已经尝试了不同的办法来防止晕车,包括腕带和抗恶心药物。

    But often, nothing works.
    但是通常都不奏效。

    Now, scientists at Imperial College London are working on a device to counteract motion sickness.
    现在伦敦帝国理工学院的科学家正致力于一种抵抗晕车的设备。

    Michael Gresty is an expert on the condition.
    迈克尔·格雷斯蒂(Michael Gresty)是晕车方面的专家。

    "You imagine being on a bicycle or motorbike; you go around the corner, you lean into the corner, which remains perfectly upright in physics.
    想象一下骑着自行车和摩托车走在拐弯处时,你朝着拐角处倾斜,这在物理上仍然保持了完全笔直。

    "You don't do that in a car. You don't do that on a ship. You're actually struggling to find out what is upright and what's the best way of dealing with it."
    你在车上和船上是并没有这样做。你实际上是在努力搞清楚什么才算笔直以及最好怎么应对。”

    The device sends a weak electrical current through electrodes placed on a person's head. The electric current appears to cause the brain to suppress signals that affect the inner ear.
    该设备通过安放在人体头部的电极发送出一个弱电流。该电流似乎能让大脑抑制影响内耳的信号。

    Researcher Qadeer Arshad says the scientists found "that it took longer for the individual to develop motion sickness and that they also recovered faster."
    研究人员卡迪尔·艾尔沙德(Qadeer Arshad)表示,这些科学家发现,“这让人们要更长时间才会晕车,他们恢复也更快。”

    The next step is to test the device outside the laboratory.
    下一步是在实验室之外测试这一设备。

    Michael Gresty says there are no reports of unwanted side effects from the small amounts of electricity released by the device.
    格雷斯蒂表示,目前没有报告称这种设备释放的少量电流会有副作用。

    The researchers hope a device that plugs into a smart phone and attaches to the head will be available within 10 years.
    研究人员希望未来十年能制成一种可以插入智能手机并连接到头部的设备。

    I'm Jonathan Evans.
    我是乔纳森·埃文斯。(51VOA.COM对本文翻译保留全部权利,未经授权请勿转载,违者必究!)