Japanese researchers have developed computerized chopsticks that improve salty tastes, potentially helping those who need to reduce sodium (钠) in their diets.

Co-developed by Meiji University professor Homei Miyashita and drink maker Kirin Holdings Co., the chopsticks enhance tastes 【小题1】 (use) electrical stimulation and a mini-computer worn on a wristband.

The device uses a weak electrical current to send sodium ions(离子) from food, through the chopsticks, 【小题2】 the mouth where they create a sense of saltiness, said Miyashita.

Miyashita and his lab have explored various 【小题3】 (way) that technology can interact with and stimulate human sensory experiences.

The taste-enhancing chopsticks may have particular significance in Japan, 【小题4】 the traditional diet favours salty tastes. The average Japanese adult 【小题5】 (consume) about 10 grams of salt per day, double the amount 【小题6】 (recommend) by the World Health Organization.

Excess sodium intake is related to increased incidence of high blood 【小题7】 (press) and other illness.

“【小题8】 (prevent) these diseases, we need to reduce the amount of salt we take,” said Kirin researcher Ai Sato. “If we try taking 【小题9】 (little) salt in an ordinary way, we would need to experience 【小题10】 pain of cutting our favourite food from our diet.”

Miyashita and Kirin hope to commercialize the chopsticks as early as next year.

Alexander Graham Bell was an influential scientist, engineer and 【小题1】(invent). He was born on March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is widely credited with the invention of the first telephone. Bell’s mother and wife【小题2】(be) both deaf, which had an effect【小题3】his work.

When he was 23, Bell and his parents moved to Canada. Bell studied the human voice and worked with different schools for【小题4】deaf. He experimented with sound, working with sound, working with equipment used to send different【小题5】(message) and record sound. He worked on acoustic telegraphy (声报机) with an electrical designer   【小题6】(name) Thomas Watson.

On February 14, 1876, Bell and Elisha Gray, an American electrical engineer, both filed patents (申请专利) covering the transmission (传送) of sounds telegraphically. Finally, Bell【小题7】(give) the patent. A few days   【小题8】(late), he succeeded in【小题9】(get) his telephone to work.

Bell improved the design and by 1886 more than 150,000 people owned telephones in the United States. He once said, “The day will come when the man at the telephone will be able to see the distant person to 【小题10】he is speaking.”

New Gene Therapy Partially Restores Sight to Blind Man

Researchers inserted genes that code for light-sensitive proteins in seaweed into the man’s retina(视网膜), and now he reports limited but much improved vision. Researchers say they 【小题1】(restore)limited vision in a blind man using a new type of gene therapy. The study, published this week in the journal Nature Medicine, used a gene for light—detecting proteins taken from a type of seaweed 【小题2】(rebuild)nerve cells in the man’s eye. “Seeing for the first time that it did work, 【小题3】only in one patient and in one eye is exciting,“ Ehud Isacoff, a neuroscientist at the University of California tells Carl Zimmer of the New York Times.

The man’s restored vision can’t be described as full vision, as he still can’t see colours or pick out faces or letters. But 【小题4】the 58-year-old man who suffers from a genetic disease called retinitis pigmentosa(色素性视网膜炎), could only barely detect light before the procedure, he can now perceive and count objects. The study presents the first instance of the new technique, called optogenetics, successfully 【小题5】(use)to treat a human patient.

To partially restore the man’s sight, researchers inserted the gene that codes for light-sensitive proteins 【小题6】(find)in seaweed and bacteria into the cells at the back of one of his eyes. With the genetic instructions for making opsins(视蛋白)inserted into his eye, these new opsins in the man’s eye send electrical signals to his brain 【小题7】they are exposed to light and subsequently change shape. The catch is that these opsins only respond to amber coloured light, which is 【小题8】the special glasses were necessary. Getting this system to work also required some seven months of training the volunteer’s brain to recognize and make sense of the new signals it was getting. This practice involved wearing the glasses at home and on walks. 【小题9】the seven-month mark, the man, who lives in France, excitedly realized he could see the white stripes of a crosswalk.

Botond Roska, a neuroscientist and gene therapist, holds the belief 【小题10】their technique is not a cure for blindness: ”For now, all we can say is that there is one patient with a functional difference.” Still, he believes this clinical result is “a milestone on the road to even better outcomes”.