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I'll never forget the day I saw the first ultrasound image of my peanut-size son-to-be.
我永远不会忘记看到自己花生粒大小儿子第一张超声图像的那天。
If only the pictures weren't so fuzzy.
要是照片不那么模糊就好了。
Is it a boy or—is that her foot?
这是个胖小子还是女娃的小脚丫?
Now physicists at Nanjing University in China have come up with a method to clean up pictures made from high-pitched acoustic waves.
而现在中国南京大学的物理学家们想出了一个由高频声波让照片变清晰的方法。
Think of a one-way mirror—but for sound.
想想单向镜，但那只是声音。
Their system would let the pressure waves that carry sound pass through if they come from the left.
如果从左边而来，他们的系统会让携带声音的压力波通过。
But it reflects waves hitting it from the right.
但它会反映出来自右边回馈的波。
No known natural material can do this.
没有任何已知的天然材料能够做到这一点。
But a metamaterial—a clever arrangement of thin brass plates bent into tiny maze-like shapes—has just the right properties.
但是有一种超材料，巧妙设计弯曲成小迷宫形状般的的薄黄铜片就具有了上述适合的属性。
The metamaterial can even be tailored to steer the outgoing sound and to filter out all sounds except those of a particular frequency.
这种超材料甚至可以量身定做,引导发出声音并过滤掉除特定频率外所有的声音。
That's just what you want for a sharp ultrasound picture.
这就是你所需要的清晰超声图像。
The work appears in Applied Physics Letters.
这项研究已经在应用物理快报上发表。
The researchers are now building a prototype of their design.
研究人员目前正在构建一种基于他们设计的原型。
Maybe one day, the only thing fuzzy about those first fetal photos will be the way they make you feel inside.
也许有一天, 唯一模糊的胎儿第一张照片将是这些小宝贝在你心里的模样。
