Scientists have created a new app designed to identify dangerous mosquitoes based on sounds the insects make.科学家们设计了一款新的软件，旨在根据蚊子发出的声音来识别危险的蚊子。The app, called Abuzz, is aimed at helping fight major diseases spread by mosquitoes.这款名为Abuzz的软件目标是帮助控制蚊子传播的重大疾病。The diseases – such as malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever – kill hundreds of thousands of people each year.这类疾病包括疟疾、登革热和黄热病，每年都会造成数十万人死亡。Haripriya Vaidehi Narayanan is one of the researchers who helped develop the app.哈拉普瑞亚·万迪黑·纳亚农是帮助研发该软件的研究员之一。She began work on the project as a graduate student at Stanford University.她开始参与这个项目时是斯坦福大学的研究生。She is now with the Department of Immunology at the University of California, Los Angeles.现在她在加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校免疫学系工作。Narayanan told VOA that anyone with a mobile phone could use the app to identify mosquitoes.纳亚农告诉VOA说，任何一个携带手机的人都可以用这款软件来识别蚊子。“If they see a mosquito around, they just open the phone, open up the app, point their phone towards the mosquito and hit the record button,” she said.“如果他们看到周围有蚊子，只需要打开手机、打开这个软件，把手机指向蚊子，然后按下录音键就可以了，”她说。“Then, when the mosquito flaps its wings and starts flying around, it makes that noise, that annoying buzzing noise.“然后，当蚊子煽动翅膀开始在周围飞来飞去时，就会发出那种声音，那种令人烦恼的嗡嗡声。That noise is what gets recorded by the Abuzz app,” she added.这个声音会被Abuzz记录下来，”她补充道。Many diseases that mosquitoes carry do not have cures or vaccines.蚊子携带的许多疾病都没办法治愈，也没有疫苗。So, targeting the flying insects is the best way to control them.因此，针对飞着的蚊子研究才是控制它们的最佳方法。“The most important step is to know where the mosquitoes are,” Narayanan said.“最重要的一步是要知道它们在哪里，”纳亚农说道。Traditional methods for hunting mosquitos are costly and can take a very long time.传统捕杀蚊子的方法耗资巨大，耗时也很长。The process also requires labor-intensive trapping as well as trained scientists to identify the insects.过程中需要大量人力来诱捕蚊子，还需要训练有素的科学家进行辨别。Manu Prakash is a professor of bioengineering at Stanford University and a lead investigator on the project.马努·普拉卡什是斯坦福大学生物工程专业的教授，也是这个项目的首席研究员。He says that out of about 3,500 different mosquito species, only about 40 are dangerous to humans.他说，在大约3500种不同的蚊子里面，只有大概40种对人类有危险。Prakash says the goal of the project was to find out whether the mosquitoes around a person’s house are just an annoyance or whether they are possibly dangerous.普拉卡什说这个项目的目的是弄清楚在某个房子周围的蚊子到底只是让人觉得吵闹的无害蚊子，还是有可能对人造成危险。To find out, his team decided to listen.为了找到答案，他的团队决定听蚊子的声音进行研究。
When mosquitoes move their wings up and down, they produce buzzing sounds.当蚊子上下煽动翅膀，它们发出嗡嗡的声音。But each kind of mosquito makes a somewhat different buzzing noise.但是每种蚊子发出的嗡嗡声音并不一样。The app records these sounds.这个软件能记录下这些声音。Users of the app can get an answer by recording as little as one or two seconds of the buzzing sound.软件的用户只要记录下一到两秒的嗡嗡声就能得到答案。The app compares this recording to a collection of other recordings.软件把记录的声音和以前收集的声音做对比。It then predicts which species of mosquito it is most likely to be.然后就能预测最有可能是哪种蚊子。Billions of people around the world can use this tool with their phones.全世界数十亿人可以通过手机使用这个软件。So, the researchers say they will be able to monitor mosquitoes on a much larger basis than in the past.所以，研究员表示和过去相比他们能更大规模地监测蚊子。By crowdsourcing mosquito information worldwide, the app can help build maps of where dangerous mosquitoes are.通过众包搜寻全球蚊子信息，这个软件可以帮助建立危险蚊子聚集地图。This can help scientists and health officials identify areas where disease is likely to break out and where to target mosquito control.这能帮助科学家和健康官员确定相关疾病可能爆发的区域以及在哪里需要有针对性地控制蚊子。Prakash said he believes this kind of widespread community effort can be an important step in fighting mosquito-causing diseases.普拉卡什说他相信这种广泛的公众共同努力可能是防止蚊子造成疾病的重要一步。He added that the tool uses machine learning to get better as more people use it.他补充道随着使用人数增多，这个软件也使用机器学习来变得更好。“So, we’re very excited that if hundreds of thousands of people are recording mosquitoes every day“所以，我们很兴奋，如果每天有几十万人在记录蚊子– especially around the world – it will create the kind of community that is needed,” Prakash said.——特别是全世界的人们一起用它记录蚊子——它就会创造出自己所需要的环境。”普拉卡什说道。The development team is expected to release the Abuzz app to the public in the coming months.研发团队有望在未来几个月向公众发布Abuzz这款软件。Another group of researchers at the University of Oxford in Britain has been developing a similar app, called Mozzwear.英国牛津大学的另外一组研究人员也一直在研发一款类似的软件，叫Mozzwear。That app is designed to identify malaria mosquitoes by the sound they make.这款软件旨在通过识别声音来识别疟疾蚊子。I’m Bryan Lynn.布莱恩·琳恩为您报道。
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