4種超人的感覺

4種超人的感覺

Humans vary a lot when it comes to ability. Some of us compose songs that bring others to tears, some run like the wind, and others dream up new technologies that change the world. But that’s only the tip of the ability iceberg.

人類在能力方面差異很大。我們中的一些人創(chuàng)作的歌曲讓其他人流淚，一些人像風(fēng)一樣奔跑，還有一些人夢(mèng)想著改變世界的新技術(shù)。但這只是能力冰山的一角。

Scientists are discovering that a few of us are capable of far more amazing feats — some of which seem more superhero than human.

科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)，我們中的一些人能夠做出更驚人的壯舉——其中一些看起來比人類更像超級(jí)英雄。

Photo: Yuganov Konstantin/Shutterstock

Granted, most of these super abilities are probably genetic, but it’s fun to imagine that any of us might develop one or two with a little practice.

誠然，這些超能力中的大多數(shù)可能都是遺傳的，但想象一下我們中的任何一個(gè)人只要稍加練習(xí)就能培養(yǎng)出一兩種超能力，這是很有趣的。

Synesthesia

聯(lián)覺

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Imagine being able to hear or taste colors or see music swirling before your eyes. No, this isn’t some groovy flashback to the psychedelic '60s. It’s actually a neurological condition called synesthesia, which activates more than one sense simultaneously. According to some estimates as many as 1 in 200 people — mainly women — have it. The most common type involves perceiving numbers, letters or words in color (e.g., the letter A might always appear pea green). However, other synesthetes, for example, may hear “The Star-Spangled Banner” whenever they taste chocolate or smell lavender. The multi-sensual combinations are practically endless.

想象一下，你能聽到或嘗到顏色，或看到音樂在你眼前旋轉(zhuǎn)。不，這并不是回到迷幻的60年代。這實(shí)際上是一種叫做聯(lián)覺的神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)疾病，它同時(shí)激活不止一種感覺。據(jù)估計(jì)，每200人中就有1人——主要是女性——有此能力。最常見的類型包括感知數(shù)字、字母或顏色的單詞(例如，字母A可能總是呈現(xiàn)豌豆綠色)。然而，其他有聯(lián)覺者，例如，每當(dāng)他們品嘗巧克力或聞到薰衣草時(shí)，可能會(huì)聽到“星條旗永不落”。多感官的組合實(shí)際上是無窮無盡的。

Echolocation

回聲定位能力

Photo: micaelacampagna [CC BY 2.0]/Flickr

Bats do it. Dolphins do it. And apparently so do some humans. A few gifted people — all blind — have developed the ability to “see” nearby objects by creating sounds (e.g., clicking) and listening to the return echoes to sense their size, distance and density. Dan Kish, who lost both eyes in infancy to retinoblastoma (an aggressive form of eye cancer), is so skilled at echolocation (or “FlashSonar” as he likes to call it) that he can bike through crowded city streets and down steep mountain trails. He even camps alone in the wilderness for weeks on end.

蝙蝠、海豚具有定位能力。顯然，有些人也是如此。一些有天賦的人——都是盲人——通過制造聲音(例如，點(diǎn)擊)和聆聽回聲來感知周圍物體的大小、距離和密度，從而發(fā)展出“看到”附近物體的能力。丹·基什在嬰兒期就因?yàn)橐暰W(wǎng)膜母細(xì)胞瘤(一種惡性眼癌)失去了雙眼，他非常擅長回聲定位(他喜歡稱之為“閃光聲納”)，以至于他可以騎車穿過擁擠的城市街道和陡峭的山路。他甚至一連幾個(gè)星期獨(dú)自在野外露營。

Super tasters

超級(jí)品酒師

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About 25 percent of people have significantly more taste buds on their tongues, allowing them to savor flavors up to three times more intensely. Not surprisingly, Super tasters have less heart disease and are thinner because they don’t usually like the taste of fatty and sugary foods, but may also be more prone to certain cancers because they tend to shun green vegetables as well (particularly bitter kinds like Brussels sprouts and cabbage).

大約25%的人的舌頭上有更多的味蕾，這使得他們能更強(qiáng)烈地品嘗到三倍于常人的味道。毫不奇怪,超級(jí)品酒師很少得心臟病，而且更瘦,因?yàn)樗麄兺ǔ２幌矚g高脂肪和含糖食物的味道,但也可能更容易患某些癌癥，因?yàn)樗麄兂３１荛_綠色蔬菜(特別是苦種像抱子甘藍(lán)和卷心菜)。

Seeing auras

看到光環(huán)

Photo: jiuck [CC BY-NC-SA 2.0]/Flickr

Call them crazy, but there are some people who claim to see luminous colors or glowing light surrounding other people. Most scientists deny the existence of a visible human energy field, chalking it up to psychic poppycock or an unusual form of synesthesia. But at least one recent discovery should make even the most skeptical researcher take pause. Japanese scientists have shown that the human body actually does emit small amounts of visible light. In other words, we literally glow throughout the day and night, fluctuating in intensity. Though this light is apparently too weak to be detected by the human eye, still, you have to wonder ... could a few hypersensitive individuals really be aura-seers?

你可以稱他們?yōu)榀傋?，但也有一些人聲稱他們看到周圍有明亮的顏色或明亮的光。大多數(shù)科學(xué)家否認(rèn)存在可見的人類能量場(chǎng)，將其歸因于精神上的胡言亂語或一種不尋常的聯(lián)覺形式。但至少最近的一項(xiàng)發(fā)現(xiàn)應(yīng)該會(huì)讓最持懷疑態(tài)度的研究人員暫停下來。日本科學(xué)家已經(jīng)證明，人體確實(shí)會(huì)發(fā)出少量可見光。換句話說，我們?cè)诎滋旌屯砩隙际前l(fā)光的，只是在強(qiáng)度上波動(dòng)。雖然這種光線很微弱，肉眼無法探測(cè)到，但你不得不懷疑……少數(shù)高敏感的人真的能預(yù)知極光嗎?