双语：未来的世界 由超材料建造

Plastics. Computers. Metamaterials? 塑料。电脑。超材料？

Almost half a century after Dustin Hoffman was taken aside in “The Graduate” and given the famous “one word” line about the future, it may be time to update the script again. And metamaterials appear to have the same potential to transform

entire industries. Over the past 15 years or so, scientists have learned how to construct materials that bend light waves, as well as radar, radio, sound and even seismic waves, in ways that do not naturally occur. 在电影《毕业生》(The Graduate)中，有人将达斯汀·霍夫曼(Dustin Hoffman)叫到一旁，对他说出了那句著名的“一个词”未来预言。现在距离电影上映已过去将近半个世纪，或许是时候更新剧本了。超

材料似乎也具有那种可以改变整个产业的潜力。在过去大约15年的时间里，科学家已经学会如何制造能够以非自然的方式使光波、雷达波、无线电波、声波，甚至地震波

弯曲的材料。

First theorized in 1967 by the Russian physicist Victor Veselago and invented in 1999 by a group led by the physicist David R. Smith, the new design approach was first seen as a curiosity that hinted at science fiction applications like invisibility cloaks. 俄罗斯物理学家维克托·韦谢拉戈(Victor Veselago)于1967年首次在理论上提出设想，物理学家戴维·R·史密斯(David R. Smith)领导的研究小组于1999年将理论转变为现实。

这种新方法起初被视作科幻小说中提到的稀奇之物，比如隐形披风。

But today, researchers have gained a better understanding of the science and are generating innovations in an array of fields, including radio antennas, radar, cosmetics, soundproofing and walls that help protect against earthquakes and tsunamis. 但如今，研究人员已经更好地了解了这项技术，正在各个领域进行创新，制造产品，比如无线电天线、雷达、化妆品、隔音材料，以及能抵御地震和海啸的墙壁。

Last year, the aircraft manufacturer Airbus announced that it was joining with Lamda Guard, a Canadian company, to test a metamaterial-based coating for cockpit windows to protect pilots in commercial aircraft from being blinded by laser pointers. 去年，飞机制造商空客(Airbus)宣布将与加拿大Lamda Guard公司合作，测试一种由

超材料制成的驾驶舱窗户保护层，以使商用飞机飞行员的视力免受激光指示器的影响。

A key innovation behind metamaterials is that they are constructed with subcomponents that are smaller than the wavelength of the type of radiation they

are designed to manipulate. The precise, often-microscopic patterns can then be used to manipulate the waves in unnatural ways. 超材料背后的关键创新在于他们是

由子部件制成的，这种子部件小于它们将会控制的放射线的波长。这种精密的、通常十分微小的子部件可以用来以非自然的方式控制波动。

The implications of these new materials can be seen in two prototype radar antennas being designed at Echodyne, a start-up firm here that has been funded with backing from Bill Gates, a Microsoft co-founder, and Madrona Venture Group. 可以从Echodyne正在设计的两种雷达天线原型机中看到这些新材料的影响，这家初创公司获得了微软(Microsoft)联合创始人比尔·盖茨(Bill Gates)及麦德罗纳风险投资集团(Madrona Venture Group)提供的资金。

There are obvious markets for the technology in automotive safety and self-driving cars. Google’s advanced experimental vehicles use a costly mechanical laser-based device called a lidar to create an instantaneous high-resolution map of objects around the car. Based on a rapidly spinning laser, Google’s lidars still cost roughly $8,000. The radars being designed by Echodyne may soon be able to create similar maps at a much lower cost. 汽车安全及自动驾驶汽车方面的技术明显存在市场。谷歌先进的实验性汽车能够利用昂贵的激光机械设备——被称作激光雷达——创建一份有关车周围环境的即时高清地图。在快速旋转激光的基础上制成的谷歌激光雷达售价约为8000美元（约合4.97万元人民币）。Echodyne正在设计的雷达可能很快就会创建类似的地图，但成本会低很多。

Echodyne is the third metamaterials company to be spun out of Intellectual Ventures, an investment and patent firm created by Nathan Myhrvold, a physicist who was Microsoft’s chief technology officer. Two other firms, Kymeta and Evolv Technology, are working on other metamaterial-based applications. Echodyne是高智发明(Intellectual Ventures)剥离出来的第三家超材料公司。高智发明是物理学家内森·梅尔沃德(Nathan Myhrvold)创办的投资和专利事务所，他曾在微软公司担任首席技术官。其他两家公司Kymeta和Evolv Technology正在研究超材料的其他应用方式。

Evolv is pursuing higher-performance airport-security-scanning technology, and Kymeta recently announced a partnership with Intelsat to design land-based and satellite-based intelligent antennas that would greatly increase the capacity and speed of next-generation satellite Internet services. Evolv希望开发出性能更高的机场安全扫描技术。Kymeta最近宣布与Intelsat公司合作，共同设计一种安装在地面和卫星上的智能天线，可以大大提高下一代卫星互联网服务的容量和速度。