想象一下，如果你拥有一种神奇的塑料，能够在午餐时变成勺子，然后在喝水时变成可以盛水的杯子，然后在你需要用餐时，它又能恢复成原来的勺子形态。这种听起来魔术般的塑料，实际上正是科学家们在研究的“多能性塑料”。
What if you could transform the plastic spoon you used at lunch into a cup for your water and then change it back to a spoon? That is precisely what researchers had in mind when they created “pluripotent (多能性的) plastic.”
如果你能把午餐时用的塑料勺子变成盛水的杯子，然后再变回勺子呢?这正是研究人员在研发“多能性塑料”时所考虑的。
The magical material is made using polymers (聚合物) that can be modified by heating. The technique is often used in metalwork. It requires heating the metal to a specific temperature and then chilling it. The researchers found that heating the plastic to temperatures between 60℃ and 110℃ and then rapidly freezing it allowed them to create different objects in no time. To test the plastic, they first made it into a spoon strong enough to scoop up peanut butter. The spoon was then transformed into a fork to pick up cheese. After that, the fork was converted into an adhesive (粘合剂), which then became a small claw to pick up objects.
这种神奇的材料是由可以通过加热修饰的聚合物制成的。这种技术常用于金属加工。它需要将金属加热到特定的温度，然后冷却。研究人员发现，将塑料加热到60℃到110℃之间，然后迅速冷却，可以在短时间内制造出不同的物体。为了测试这种塑料，他们首先把它做成一个勺子，它的强度足以舀起花生酱。然后勺子变成了叉子，用来夹起奶酪。之后，叉子被转化为粘合剂，然后变成一个拿东西的小爪子。
The team, led by graduate student Nicholas Boynton, published their study in the journal Science. The current version of the plastic still needs to be improved. Its shape-shifting ability stops working after seven times. The plastic holds its shape for at least a month, but the engineers are unsure how long it remains suitable for reuse.
由研究生尼古拉斯·博因顿领导的研究小组在《科学》杂志上发表了他们的研究成果。目前的塑料版本还需要改进。它的变形能力在七次之后就失效了。这种塑料至少可以保持一个月的形状，但工程师们不确定它可以重复使用多久。
However, they state that once ready, it would be extremely useful, both on Earth and in space. “If you’re going to live on the moon or Mars, you can’t take a bunch of materials with you, so it’d be great if you have this one material that you can turn into a bunch of different stuff,” said Boynton. More importantly, it could help reduce the amount of single-use plastics that end up in our landfills every day. Also, current plastics have varying molecular (分子的) structures that are permanently bonded. As a result, plastic items have to be carefully sorted before recycling. If pluripotent plastic becomes the universal standard, all items could be processed together. This would make recycling a lot easier and more efficient.
然而，他们表示，一旦准备就绪，它将非常有用，无论是在地球上还是在太空中。博因顿说:“如果你要在月球或火星上生活，你不能随身携带一堆材料，所以如果你有这种材料，你可以把它变成一堆不同的东西，那就太好了。”更重要的是，它可以帮助减少每天进入垃圾填埋场的一次性塑料的数量。此外，目前的塑料具有不同的分子结构，这些结构是永久结合的。因此，塑料制品在回收之前必须仔细分类。如果多能塑料成为通用标准，所有项目都可以一起加工。这将使回收更加容易和有效。
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