????4月1日恰逢愚人節(jié)，谷歌（Google）推出了一項(xiàng)名為“谷歌嗅覺(jué)”（Google Nose）的服務(wù)。這個(gè)還處于測(cè)試階段的新玩意號(hào)稱能“利用最新技術(shù)向用戶提供最敏銳的嗅覺(jué)體驗(yàn)”。這或許只是愚人節(jié)玩笑，不過(guò)將來(lái)未必沒(méi)有可能。

????IBM去年12月曾表示，計(jì)算機(jī)在不遠(yuǎn)的將來(lái)有望獲得嗅覺(jué)能力。無(wú)獨(dú)有偶，據(jù)《華盛頓郵報(bào)》（the Washington Post）報(bào)道，Cyrano Sciences公司正在進(jìn)行數(shù)字嗅覺(jué)方面的研究。它的最新產(chǎn)品電子鼻能識(shí)別炸彈和遭到污染的食物，用途非常廣泛。

????IBM擁有強(qiáng)大的科研團(tuán)隊(duì)，它認(rèn)為讓計(jì)算機(jī)擁有如人類般的感官認(rèn)知能力是當(dāng)前的研究重點(diǎn)。去年12月，IBM在公司的年度《未來(lái)5項(xiàng)科技預(yù)測(cè)報(bào)告》中闡述了這一想法。

????化學(xué)傳感器是這類技術(shù)的一部分。一旦探測(cè)到某種模式，傳感器就會(huì)散發(fā)出相應(yīng)的氣味。IBM研究部副總裁伯尼?梅爾森曾告訴我：“可以在物體表面涂上化學(xué)傳感器，當(dāng)它探測(cè)到某種模式時(shí)，就會(huì)發(fā)出某種氣味。人們可以涂上各種各樣的傳感器，盡情地模擬自己喜歡的事物?！?/p>

????這些技術(shù)還能和智能手機(jī)相結(jié)合。例如它們能從你的呼吸中判斷出你是否感冒了，而醫(yī)生能根據(jù)這些信息對(duì)你進(jìn)行遠(yuǎn)程診斷，開(kāi)出處方。

????所以讓計(jì)算機(jī)擁有擁有嗅覺(jué)并不是什么天方夜譚。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：項(xiàng)航

????A Google April Fool’s Day post on Google Nose, a new service in beta that “l(fā)everages new and existing technologies to offer the sharpest olfactory experience available” may have been a joke, but it’s not that far from reality.

????Just ask IBM which last December said technologies that endow computers with a sense of smell are on the cusp of reality, if not broad adoption. Or Cyrano Sciences, which the Washington Post points out, is working to give machines a sense of smell. An electronic nose that could sniff out explosives and food contaminants, could be hugely useful.

????IBM, which fields a prodigious research organization, is convinced that endowing computers with human-like senses is a key focus and outlined its thoughts in its annual list of five technologies to watch last December.

????Such technologies include chemical sensors that emit an odor when they detect some sort of pattern. “You can paint chemical sensors on a surface and when they detect a pattern, they give off a smell — you could make a rich paint with all sorts of sensors that mimic things that you like,” IBM fellow and VP of innovation Bernie Meyerson told me at the time.

????If integrated with a smartphone, for example, these technologies could tell from your breath that you have or are about to get a cold and enable your doctor to diagnose you remotely based on that information and prescribe treatment.

????So a computing device with a nose that knows is really not all that crazy.