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Ancient Brewmasters Made Medicinal Beer

古代釀酒大師將啤酒制成藥

In 1980, a scientist looking at bone fragments under an ultraviolet microscope noticed the bones were glowing green -- a hallmark of the antibiotic tetracycline. The drug latches onto calcium and gets deposited in bone. Nothing unusual. Except these bones were from a Nubian mummy buried 1,600 years ago in Sudan -- long before scientists discovered tetracycline, in 1948.

1980年，一位科學(xué)家在紫外線顯微鏡下觀察骨骼碎片時(shí)注意到這些骨骼發(fā)出了幽幽綠光——這種綠色熒光是骨骼含有四環(huán)系抗生素的一種標(biāo)志。四環(huán)素類藥物會(huì)與鈣螯合，沉積在骨骼中。這本來(lái)沒(méi)什么稀奇的。但這些骨頭的來(lái)歷可不簡(jiǎn)單——它們來(lái)自于1600多年前埋葬在蘇丹的努比亞木乃伊，而科學(xué)家們直至1948年才發(fā)現(xiàn)了四環(huán)素。

At the time, other scientists said the antibiotic probably just contaminated the bones after death. Because tetracycline’s secreted by a soil bacterium, Streptomyces. To get to the bottom of this, a chemist recently took bone from the mummy of a Nubian child and dissolved it in hydrogen fluoride, a nasty acid that helps extract tetracycline. And this bone extract also matched the chemical signature of tetracycline -- evidence that the antibiotic was built into the kid's bones as he grew. That analysis appears in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

當(dāng)時(shí)，其他的科學(xué)家認(rèn)為這種抗生素可能是在這個(gè)努比亞人死后污染到骨頭上的。因?yàn)樗沫h(huán)素是由土壤中的一種細(xì)菌——鏈霉菌分泌而成。為了弄清真相，最近，有一位化學(xué)家從一名努比亞兒童木乃伊身上提取了部分骨骼，將其溶解于氟化氫，這種極具腐蝕性的酸可用于提取四環(huán)素。而骨骼提取物也符合四環(huán)素等化學(xué)特征——這一證據(jù)表明這種抗生素是在兒童成長(zhǎng)過(guò)程中沉積于骨骼里的。該研究的分析報(bào)告發(fā)表在《美國(guó)體質(zhì)人類學(xué)雜志》上。

Anthropologists know the Nubians were skilled brewers. Researchers now believe that the ancient brewmasters learned to purposely make their beer medicinal, by lacing it with grain contaminated with antibiotic-producing Streptomyces bacteria. Just imagine that prescription.

人類學(xué)家知道努比亞人精于釀造啤酒。如今，研究人員認(rèn)為古代的啤酒釀造大師學(xué)會(huì)了將沾染有可產(chǎn)生抗生素的鏈霉菌的谷物摻入釀酒原料，特意使他們釀制的啤酒具有藥性。想想看，這是多么美妙誘人的藥方啊！

-Christopher Intagliata

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