A painting that was once a masterpiece can lose its ___1___ after centuries of exposure to the elements. Its true hues may become ___2___ by grime and even buildups of salt. But now researchers in Spain are cleaning works of art with unlikely allies—bacteria.

Art restorers had been working on 17th century frescoes by Antonio Palomino in the church of Santos Juanes in Valencia. The paint was covered by salt crystals and gelatin glue. So the researchers headed to Italy to learn about a glue-munching bacteria. Then back in Spain, they trained a strain of Pseudomonas bacteria to preferentially ___3___ salt blooms.

They also figured out a new way to apply the bacteria. The scientists trap the bacteria in a gel. This way, the single-celled cleaning crew can destroy the salt layer with no moisture penetrating the murals.

When the gel is cleaned off, the surface is quickly dried, leading to the ___4___ of the bacterial assistants. The researchers presented the results at a seminar in Spain.

They’re now working on ___5___ the technique, so that it can be used with paintings on various surfaces. And thus bring dulled and damaged works of art back to life.
【视听版科学小组荣誉出品】
glory obscured nibble demise refining
曾经的油画杰作若是暴露在自然环境下几个世纪便会黯然失色。尘垢甚至是结盐都可能模糊油画的原始色彩。在现代清理油画的过程中，西班牙的研究人员借助了令人意想不到的帮手——细菌。 工作人员一直在为巴伦西亚圣胡安大教堂中那幅17世纪安东尼帕洛米诺的画作进行复原工作。这幅油画上覆盖了一层盐晶体和明胶，为此，研究人员专门赶赴意大利研究分解此类物质的细菌。回到西班牙，他们培养了一种假单胞菌来专门分解盐花。 此外，他们还发现了一种使用这种细菌的新方法。科学家们将细菌植入胶体中，如此，假单胞菌就能够在不让水分渗入壁画的同时分解盐晶体。 胶体清理掉之后，油画表面迅速恢复干燥，细菌好帮手也随之“寿终正寝”了。研究人员在西班牙的某项研讨会上公布了这项研究成果。 他们正努力改良这项技术以便在各个表面的油画上都能得到应用。灰头土脸的艺术作品终于有希望重放异彩啦～