新华网12月9日电 据美国科技博客Gizmodo报道，麻省理工学院的学者又有了新发明：一个非常神奇又便宜的传感器。大到一颗炸弹，小到一块发臭的牛肉，用户都可以不受其扰。这款传感器是一块近场通信芯片，能够借助碳纳米管的帮助监测到特殊气味的存在。

　　这款传感器的功能非常之酷炫。研发出这项技术的化学家曾探索过传感器的不同功效，发现其在食物包装方面大有可为。通过与智能手机相连，可及时告诉你食物是否腐坏。传感器加智能手机，就是这么简单!过去也曾有过类似的传感器，但都未与手机相连，也没有如此多的功能。

　　“这款传感器的一大亮点在于便宜。只要将它放在那里，然后来读取数据就OK了。无需线路，也不用电。”麻省理工学院的化学教授蒂莫西·斯瓦格在发布会上介绍说，“对于这样一项技术，如何应用到实际中去需要很大的想象力。”

　　麻省理工学院的科研小组已经为这款传感器申请了专利。他们还在不断改善，欲使之与蓝牙相连。这样，就能进一步扩大使用范围。另外，他们也考虑将传感器融入胸卡，在危险地区工作的员工碰到有害气体时，传感器就会发出警报。当然啦，对于常人来说，如果在家里的鸡肉变质时能收到警报，也是很不错的呀。

　　This Cheap Sensor Will Tell Your Phone When Food Goes Bad

　　Some MIT eggheads invented a very impressive and very inexpensive sensor that stands to protect you against anything from a bomb to a bad pack of beef. And it's so simple. The new sensor is just a modified near field communication (NFC) chip that can detect the presence of specific gases with the help of carbon nanotubes.

　　The functionality of the sensors is exciting. While the team of chemists who developed the technology are exploring all kinds of different uses for them, these sensors make great sense for food packaging. They can literally tell you if food has spoiled with a quick wave of a smartphone. Just the sensor and the smartphone—that's all it would take. We've seen similar sensors in the past, but none that work with smartphones and offer so much functionality.

　　"The beauty of these sensors is that they are really cheap. You put them up, they sit there, and then you come around and read them. There's no wiring involved. There's no power," MIT chemistry professor Timothy Swager said in a release. "You can get quite imaginative as to what you might want to do with a technology like this."

　　The MIT team that invented the sensors has applied for a patent on the technology. But they're also trying to improve it so that the sensors work with Bluetooth, which would extend their range. They even think that they could be integrated into badges so that employees in hazardous areas could get an alert if a dangerous gas is present. We'd probably be happy getting a push alert when our chicken is starting to get nasty, though.

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