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One of the hardest parts of astronomy is figuring out causes and effects.
天文学里最大的难点就是理清因果关系。
After all, just because it seems like two things are related doesn't necessarily mean they are.
因为两个看似相关的事物可能没什么关系。
But last week, a team of radio astronomers presented one of those rare “smoking gun” pictures at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society's High Energy Astrophysics Division.
不过，上周，一组研究无线电的天文学家展示了罕见的“确凿证据”，这是一张图像。他们是在美国天文学会的高能天体物理学分部展示的。
It shows a so-called cannonball pulsar blasting away from a nearby supernova, and a trail of energized gas clearly points to where it came from.
图像上，一颗所谓的炮弹脉冲星从附近的一颗超新星处极速喷射出来。科学家从高能量气体的轨迹看出了它的来源。
Pulsars are the rapidly-spinning cores of neutron stars, which are stars mostly made of neutrons.
脉冲星是内核极速旋转的中子星。中子星就是大部分由中子组成的恒星。
But this thing isn't just spinning fast: It's also traveling in a straight line at more than a /million/ kilometers per hour.
不过，这颗脉冲星不只旋转速度极快，它还以每小时100多万公里的速度呈直线前进。
This pulsar is named J0002+6216 — which I swear is not a random string of numbers that I made up, it's actually describing the coordinates, so is useful for astronomers.
这颗脉冲星名为J0002+6216，我发誓这不是我胡编乱造的名字。这是依据坐标来起的名字，对天文学家来说是有用的。
Regardless, it was discovered as part of a really cool project called Einstein@Home.
不管怎么样吧，这颗脉冲星是一个很酷的项目的研究内容，这个项目名为Einstein@Home。
Instead of using a single supercomputer to comb through telescope data, this project uses computer power donated by hundreds of thousands of citizen scientists.
这个项目并没有用单独的超级计算机来梳理望远镜观测到的数据，该项目还用到了很多公众科学家捐赠的计算机能力。
It's specifically searching for pulsars, and so far, it's been pretty successful.
这些数据专门用来搜寻脉冲星，而目前来看，搜寻的结果很成功。
For this new discovery, researchers used the equivalent of 10,000 years of computing time to search observations made by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.
就这个新研究来说，科学家通过1万年的计算时间来搜寻美国宇航局费米伽玛射线太空望远镜所做的观测数据。
They discovered 23 pulsars, but J0002 really caught their eye.
他们发现了23颗脉冲星，不过，J0002尤为吸引他们的注意。
This object is about 6500 light-years from Earth, and it spins 8.7 times every second.
这颗脉冲星距离地球大概6500光年远，其转速是每秒钟8.7次。
But what was really significant was its speed.
但真正重要的在于它的速度。
This thing moves through space at around 4 million kilometers per hour, which is faster than 99% of measured pulsars.
这颗脉冲星以近每小时400万公里的速度飞行，比目前测量到的99%的脉冲星都要快。
Follow-up observations with the ground-based Very Large Array also revealed that
后续的观测是用甚大天线阵做的，观测结果表明，
it has a dramatic, 13 light-year-long tail, caused by a shockwave that forms as the super-speed object blasts through nearby gas.
这颗脉冲星的拖尾有13光年长，这是由冲击波引起的。而冲击波是由脉冲星极速穿过附近气体时产生的。
Yes, I said 13 light-years. Scientists think this object was formed thanks to a supernova.
大家没听错，拖尾确实有13光年那么长。科学家认为，这颗脉冲星之所以形成是因为一颗超新星的作用。
Based on the size of the bubble of material that the supernova left behind, called a supernova remnant, the team estimates the explosion happened around 10,000 years ago.
根据超新星遗迹的，该小组估测这次爆炸发生于大概1万年前。
It crushed the dying star's core into a pulsar and then gave it a kick in one direction.
这次爆炸将当时即将消亡的这颗恒星的内核积压成了脉冲星，并给了它一个推力。
At first, the light, outer layers of the star were likely blasted away much faster than the pulsar, but as everything slammed into the gas and dust surrounding the supernova, that light material also quickly lost its momentum.
起初，这颗恒星较轻的外层飞离的速度可能比脉冲星本身要快，但是由于所有物体在受到强力作用后都变成了超新星附近的空气和尘土，所以较轻的物质也很快就失去了动能。
Think about a cannon firing: The first stuff to come out is fire and smoke, but the heavy cannonball eventually goes the farthest.
试想一下炮弹发射的过程：第一个喷射出来的是火和烟，不过，质量较大的炮弹速度是最快的。
In the case of J0002, the astronomers estimate it overtook the supernova remnant after about 5000 years.
以J0002为例，天文学家估测，大概过了5000年后，脉冲星就吸收了超新星的残留物。
And today, it appears about 53 light-years from the bubble's center.
如今，这颗脉冲星距离残留物中心大概有53光年的距离。
Still, that doesn't explain how this thing ended up moving so fast.
不过，这依然无法解释为什么它移速如此之快。
And that's… well, it's still kind of a mystery.
这在我们眼中就算是一个谜题了。
After all, if a spherical star explodes, you'd think it would be relatively symmetric.
毕竟，如果球状恒星爆炸的话，我们会认为是相对对称的。
So it would make sense that forces pushing on the star's core should mostly cancel out.
所以，作用于恒星内核的外力基本上都相互抵消掉了。
But clearly, that's not what happened.
不过显然，事实并非如此。
This means J0002 is going to be a really useful object — especially since scientists have been able to figure out so much about its behavior.
也就是说，J0002对我们的研究很有用——尤其是科学家可以弄清楚其行为的原因。
So as we keep studying it, it could provide valuable new data to solve the riddle. Also, it just looks really darn cool.
所以，随着研究的持续，它可以为我们提供宝贵的新数据，以解开谜题。而且，仅就观赏而言，也很酷。
Changing gears to something much, much smaller, another team of researchers announced last week that they've successfully tested a new tool to fight against bacteria in space.
让我们把视线转到更小的物体上——另一组科学家于上周宣布他们成功地测试了一种新工具，可以抵御太空里的细菌。
The paper was published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, and it described a new material tested onboard the International Space Station that dramatically reduced the population of potentially-harmful microbes.
这篇文章发表在《微生物学前沿》期刊上，描述了国际空间站上存在的一种物质，这种物质可以极大地减少可能有害的微生物含量。
Bacteria are a big problem in space for many reasons.
太空里的细菌是个大麻烦，其原因有很多。
For one, to keep the air in and space out, all spacecraft are closed systems, meaning that every time an astronaut sneezes, that sneeze is just… there.
一方面，为了保持空气流通，所有航天器都采用封闭系统，也就是说，宇航员打的喷嚏也会留在太空舱里……
Our immune systems can also get weaker under the stresses of spaceflight, making it harder for our bodies to fight off an infection.
因此，人类的免疫系统会随着飞行的持续而越来越弱，抵御感染的难度也就越来越高。
And to top it all off, microbes can actually get stronger in microgravity and can mutate even faster.
最重要的是：微生物在微重力的状态下，生命力会越发顽强，突变的速度也越来越快。
This is why NASA sterilizes almost everything that goes to space, from new equipment to some of the food astronauts eat.
因此，美国宇航局会对所有飞入太空的物体进行杀菌消毒，无论是新设备还是与宇航员吃的食物。
But since you can't exactly sterilize the astronauts themselves, there's no way to keep bacteria totally out.
但由于不能对宇航员进行杀菌消毒，所以无法完全保证无菌。
Scientists have even found so-called superbugs up there, which are microbes resistant to many kinds of antibiotics.
科学家甚至在太空舱里发现了超级病菌。超级病菌也是微生物，对很多抗生素有抗性。
And that's where this new paper comes in. Researchers created a new material, called AGXX, that combines the elements silver and ruthenium.
这也是这篇新论文的切入点。一些科学家研发了一种新型材料，名为AGXX，这种材料是银和钌混合而成的。
Then, they took their mixture, coated a few pieces of steel, and stuck the pieces on a spot you might expect to be dirty: the bathroom door!
他们将这种混合物的外层镀上钢铁，然后钉在大家可能想到的一个很脏的地方——浴室门上！
The test had three parts: an uncoated patch of plain steel, a region covered in a coating of pure silver, and an area with AGXX.
这次测试有3个对象：未镀层的钢铁、镀上银层的部分、镀上AGXX的部分。
After 19 months, the silver-only part showed 30% fewer bacteria than the steel region, while the area covered by AGXX had a whopping 80% reduction.
19个月后，只镀上银的区域，其细菌量比镀上钢铁的区域少30%。而镀上AGXX的区域比镀上钢铁的区域少了80%。
That kind of reduction could be important for long-term spaceflight, like what it would take to send a crew to Mars and keep them healthy while they're there.
这种抗菌能力对于长期的太空飞行十分重要，比如，它能确保飞往火星的宇航员身体保持健康。
It's not surprising that silver is a key ingredient in this stuff: We've known about the metal's antibacterial properties for thousands of years, and modern medicine uses it in things like bandages for burn victims.
不出所料，银是这类材料的重要组成部分。数千年来，人类一直都知道银这类金属的抗菌特质，现代医学还用银来为受到灼伤的人制作绷带。
Ruthenium, on the other hand, is one of our newest attempts to fight bacteria.
而钌也是抗菌领域的一次重要尝试。
It's not used by itself, though; instead, its antimicrobial properties seem to come in combination with other elements.
不过，钌不能单独使用，其抗菌特质似乎只能在与其他元素一起使用的时候才能体现出来。
But here's the thing: Scientists don't really know why these metals work.
不过，科学家还不知道为什么这些金属有抗菌作用。
They seem to be able to bind with a bacteria's DNA and disrupt its basic functions, but why that's so effective isn't really understood.
但这些金属似乎就是可以与细菌的DNA结合，从而扰乱细菌的基础功能，只是我们还不知道其中的原因。
And, like with that mysteriously-fast pulsar, this puzzle makes any new data worth its weight in… ruthenium, I guess.
就像这颗神秘的脉冲星一样，这个谜题让有关钌的新数据体现了价值。
Which probably is more expensive than gold? I'm just guessing, cause I don't hear about it very much.
所以，钌比金要贵。这是我个人的猜想，我并没有得到准确的信息哦。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Space News!
感谢收看本期的《太空科学秀》！
Being able to bring you news is one of the coolest things that we get to do here on SciShow, and we couldn't do it without the generosity of our patrons on Patreon.
我们节目的宗旨是为大家带来最新的消息，但是如果没有粉丝们的支持，我们也难以为继。
So if you're a patron, thanks for your support!
所以如果您是我们的粉丝，在这里感谢您啦！
If you want to join our community of patrons and help us make episodes like this one, we would love to have you.
如果您想加入我们的粉丝社群，为我们制作节目贡献力量的话，我们求之而不得。
You can learn more at patreon.com/scishow.
详情请戳patreon.com/scishow。
