VOA双语新闻：印尼科学家期盼国内科技发展

This week Indonesian scientists met with American counterparts in Jakarta to trade ideas and seek support for projects such as plastic made from local plants, new fuel cells and heartier varieties of rice.

印尼科学家和美国科学家这星期在雅加达交流看法，并为一些研究项目寻求支持。

Yessi Permana and Marsia Gustiananda research two very different topics - one biodegradable plastic, the other infectious diseases. But both are driven by a desire to see their country prosper from domestically developed technology.

博马纳和古斯蒂南达研究的课题完全不同，一个是能生物分解的塑料，一个是传染病的预防。但他们都想看到印尼因为国内自行研发的科技而繁荣起来。

The researchers were participants at the KAVLI Frontiers of Science Symposium outside Jakarta - one of a series of conferences partly sponsored by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences that bring together researchers from around the world to discuss advances and opportunities in their fields.

From bean to plastic

Permana is working to create a more environmentally-friendly plastic from the castor oil bean. His bigger goal is to find more industrial uses for the vast number of tropical plants that thrive in Indonesia. Creating plastic from plants will help the country manage its waste disposal problems.

博马纳正在研究如何利用蓖麻子产生更环保的塑料。他希望为这种在印尼大量生长的热带植物找到更多的工业用途。用植物生产塑料将能帮助印尼应付废物处理问题。

“My focus is on utilizing Indonesian potential," Yessi said. "The biomass is so abundantly available here. My motivation is doing this so I can say to the foreign companies, you want to come to my country do not export the raw materials, buy the end products.”

博马纳说：“我的重点在发挥印尼的潜力。这里的生物量很丰富。我的动机是这样，我可以对外国公司说，你来我的国家不是要从这里购买原料，而是来买成品。”

Although many companies now create plastic from renewable resources to avoid the use of chemical fuel, Permana says his research is unique because it uses non-edible materials that will not clog landfills.

虽然现在许多公司都从可再生的资源中产生塑料，以避免使用化学燃料，但博马纳说，他的研究是独特的，因为它用的是非食用物质。

Reworking the system

Permana worked in Japan after receiving his doctorate from the University of Tokyo, but says he was disappointed when he realized how international manufacturing supply chains frequently work.

博马纳在东京大学完成博士学业后留在日本工作，但他说，当他了解到国际制造业供应链是如何运作时，他感到很失望。

The problem, as he saw it, was that raw materials brought from Indonesia were being converted into end products in Japan and then resold to the Indonesian market at a higher price.

他认为，问题在于，日本从印尼买来原料，在日本做成产品，然后以较高的价格再卖回去给印尼市场。

The 36-year-old scientist says he decided to leave Japan and return to Indonesia after a realization he made while changing diapers.

这位36岁的科学家说，他是在给孩子换尿布时突然看清楚这件事的。他因此决定离开日本回到印尼。

“Since I have to change diapers at home, I saw wet tissues needed for baby and baby oil products and I can see the components on it consisted of the hydrogenated castor oil," Permana said. "The problem is they bought that not from an Indonesian company, they bought that from a Japanese company as an end product. And we just gave them the bean, the raw material."

博马纳说：“因为我得在家换尿布，我看到了婴儿用的湿纸巾和婴儿油产品。我可以看出上面的成分来自氢化蓖麻油。问题是，他们不是从印尼公司那儿买来的，而是从日本公司买来的成品。所以我们只是给他们提供原料蓖麻子。”

Vaccines derived from genetic analysis

Marsia Gustiananda was also inspired by an ordinary event when she was living in the Netherlands and watched her son receive vaccinations that provide crucial protection against life-threatening diseases.

古斯蒂南达是研究疫苗的。她也是在荷兰居住时受到一件很平常的事情的启发。她看到医生给她儿子接种疫苗。

“This is something that really affects us, so it has a very broad social impact if you discover a vaccine that will work and prevent people from getting sick,” Gustiananda said.

古斯蒂南达说：“这是真正影响我们的东西，所以如果你发现了一种能有效预防患病的疫苗，它会有很广泛的社会影响力。”

Gustiananda is now a researcher at the Eijkman Institute, where she is using a new branch of genetic analysis called immunoinformatics to develop vaccines for influenza using computer models.

古斯蒂南达现在是印尼艾克曼研究所的研究人员。她使用了被称为免疫资讯学的新遗传分析法，以电脑模式研发出流行性感冒疫苗。

Indonesia’s health policies drew CRIticism from the international community in early 2007 when former Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari stopped sharing bird flu samples with the World Health Organization. She said the move was motivated by fears that pharmaceutical companies in the West would use viruses from Indonesia to make vaccines that were too expensive for developing countries.

印尼的卫生政策在2007年早些时候引发国际社会批评，当时的卫生部长苏帕里暂停与世界卫生组织分享禽流感样本。苏帕里说，这项举动是因为他们害怕西方药厂会用印尼的病毒生产疫苗，而这种疫苗对发展中国家太过昂贵。

Gustiananda, who calls Indonesia a “hypermarket” for infectious diseases, says research on disease should not spark protectionism.

古斯蒂南达把印尼称为传染性疾病的“超大市场”，她说，研究疾病不应该有保护主义。

“Influenza is a pathogen that can spread all over the world very quickly, so I think it is very important for many nations to really work together to tackle this problem,” Gustiananda said.

她说：“流行性感冒是一种能迅速在全世界散播的病原体，所以我想很多国家合作来解决问题是很重要的。”

Green technologies

Other Indonesia scientists at the conference are pursuing green technologies by researching renewable energy and exploiting local materials. One project is trying to use zirconia, a tin byproduct, to create solid oxide fuel cells. That technology is currently used to power highly efficient cell phone antennas that can be scaled for use in rural communities. Another project was aimed at creating a new strain of rice that will better adapt to weather pattern transformations brought on by climate change.

出席会议的其他一些印尼科学家的研究项目是绿色科技，他们研究可再生能源和开采当地原料。其中一个计划是用锡的副产品氧化锆来生产固态氧燃料电池。这个科技目前用来为高功率手机天线提供电力，可给偏远地区使用。还有些科学家在研究培植新的稻米品种，这种稻米能更好地适应气候变迁导致的天气类型改变。

Several participants urged the Indonesian government to encourage more such projects through greater funding for scientific research and development.

来自：VOA英语网 文章地址: http://www.tingvoa.com/html/20110714/48687.html