An asteroid ended the age of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Could something as catastrophic as that happen again?6600 万年前，一颗小行星结束了恐龙时代。 如此灾难性的事情还会发生吗？

Asteroids are something astronomers closely track. Recently, the asteroid named 2024 YR4 made headlines for its tiny, but real, chance of colliding with Earth in 2032. In February 2025, NASA increased the impact probability of this asteroid hitting us to 2.3%. Scientists have calculated that YR4 is between 40m and 90m in diameter. It would have the power of a nuclear bomb if it was to hit Earth, causing severe damage if the impact was in a populated area. However, Dr Robert Massey of the Royal Astronomical Society urges calm. He said he is not "losing sleep over" the asteroid, but stresses that funding planetary defence and spotting potential threats is essential.小行星是天文学家密切追踪的对象。 最近，一颗名为 2024 YR4 的小行星因其在 2032 年与地球相撞的微小但真实的机会而成为头条新闻。2025 年 2 月，美国宇航局将这颗小行星撞击我们的可能性提高到 2.3%。 科学家计算出YR4的直径在40m到90m之间。 如果它击中地球，其威力将相当于核弹，如果撞击在人口稠密地区，则会造成严重破坏。 然而，英国皇家天文学会的罗伯特·梅西博士敦促大家保持冷静。 他表示，他并没有因为这颗小行星“失眠”，但强调为行星防御提供资金和发现潜在威胁至关重要。

So what are asteroids? They are fragments of rock left over from the creation of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago. They frequently orbit close to Earth pushed by the gravity of other planets, though it was only in the late 1900s that scientists were able to systematically track near-Earth objects and learn this. They found that asteroids of more than 40m across, that's large enough to destroy a city, cross the Earth's path within lunar distance several times a year.那么什么是小行星？ 它们是 46 亿年前太阳系形成时留下的岩石碎片。 它们经常在其他行星的引力推动下在靠近地球的轨道上运行，尽管直到 1900 年代末科学家才能够系统地跟踪近地天体并了解这一点。 他们发现，直径超过 40m 的小行星（大到足以摧毁一座城市）每年都会在月球距离内多次穿过地球轨道。

The chance of an asteroid being large enough to penetrate our atmosphere intact and destroy a city is likely to happen once in every hundred years. In 1908, an asteroid exploded over Siberia, injuring people and buildings across more than 500 square kilometres. However, actual impacts aren't as common as near-misses. For example, the asteroid Apophis raised alarms after it was discovered in 2004 because it was estimated to be around the size of a cruise ship. Even scarier, in 1994, the comet named Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter, and, if it had hit Earth, all life would have been wiped out, just like the dinosaurs were.小行星足够大，可以完整地穿透我们的大气层并摧毁一座城市，这种情况可能每百年就会发生一次。 1908 年，一颗小行星在西伯利亚上空爆炸，造成 500 多平方公里的人员和建筑物受伤。 然而，实际影响并不像未遂事件那样常见。 例如，小行星阿波菲斯在 2004 年被发现后就引发了警报，因为据估计它的大小与一艘游轮差不多。 更可怕的是，1994年，名为舒梅克-利维9号的彗星撞上了木星，如果它撞上了地球，所有生命都会被消灭，就像恐龙一样。

So, it's safe to enjoy admiring the night sky because the chances of you being hit by an asteroid are very, very small, even if they're not zero.所以，欣赏夜空是安全的，因为你被小行星撞击的可能性非常非常小，即使它们不为零。

Everyone knows that dogs are supposed to be our best friends. Could it be that they know what we are thinking? Whether it's getting excited at the prospect of a walk or knowing that tasty food is coming soon, are our dogs reading our minds?

每个人都知道狗应该是我们最好的朋友。 难道他们知道我们在想什么吗？ 无论是对散步的前景感到兴奋，还是知道美味的食物即将到来，我们的狗会读懂我们的心思吗？

Now, by mind-reading we're not talking about knowing our deepest thoughts in detail, but various psychologists have suggested that dogs might have a theory of mind. What this means is that they are aware that other creatures, like humans, are able to see and understand things in different ways. In various experiments it appears that dogs are able to identify who is paying them attention. They are more likely to ask for food from someone if there is a reason that the human would know where the dog treats are. If dogs have been forbidden food by someone, they are more likely to try and get it quietly.

现在，我们所说的读心术并不是要详细了解我们最深层的想法，但许多心理学家都认为狗可能有一种心理理论。 这意味着他们意识到其他生物，比如人类，能够以不同的方式看待和理解事物。 在各种实验中，狗似乎能够识别谁在关注它们。 如果人类有理由知道狗的食物在哪里，他们更有可能向某人索要食物。 如果有人禁止狗吃东西，它们更有可能尝试悄悄地得到它。

As well as these behavioural studies, there are other things that show how dogs are able to relate closely to humans. Brain imaging studies have shown not only that canine brains react to human voices, but that they also show an emotional response to those human sounds which demonstrate strong feelings, such as laughing or crying. Brain scan studies have also shown that human faces also provoke an emotional response in dogs. Other studies have shown that sweat from people feeling scared could make dogs feel more stressed than sweat from happy people.

除了这些行为研究之外，还有其他一些研究表明狗如何能够与人类建立密切的关系。 脑成像研究表明，犬类的大脑不仅会对人类的声音做出反应，而且还会对那些表现出强烈感情的人类声音表现出情绪反应，例如笑或哭。 脑部扫描研究还表明，人脸也会引起狗的情绪反应。 其他研究表明，感到害怕的人流的汗比快乐的人流的汗会让狗感到更大的压力。

There is some debate about whether dogs have evolved to respond to human emotions as they have become domesticated or whether this behaviour is a learned reaction to stimuli. Experiments like those described above have also been carried out on wolves that have been raised by humans, who may have learned to respond to their carer's behaviour, but do not have the genes of a domesticated species. Wolves did show some abilities to respond to human emotions, but were less able to pick up more subtle clues.

关于狗是否在被驯化后进化到能够对人类情绪做出反应，或者这种行为是否是对刺激的后天反应，存在一些争议。 类似上述的实验也在人类饲养的狼身上进行，这些狼可能已经学会了对照顾者的行为做出反应，但不具备驯化物种的基因。 狼确实表现出了一些对人类情绪做出反应的能力，但它们不太能够捕捉到更微妙的线索。

Whether it's learned or innate, dogs' ability to read human emotions and intentions are one reason that we have included them in our lives for centuries. It's also why they have been successful as assistance dogs, helping their owners to get through everyday life.

无论是后天习得的还是天生的，狗解读人类情感和意图的能力是几个世纪以来我们将它们融入我们生活的原因之一。 这也是它们作为协助犬取得成功的原因，帮助主人度过日常生活。

The real beauty of inhalers is how they get these medications into your lungs. They work by suspending, or aerosolizing, medications into the air to be easily inhaled. Each type of inhaler does this in a slightly different way.吸入器真正的妙处在于，它能将药物高效地送入肺部。它的原理是将药物悬浮在空气中，或将其雾化成可吸入的微粒。而不同类型的吸入器实现这一过程的方式略有不同。

Dry powder inhalers require a person to breathe in to aerosolize a powder medication.干粉吸入器需要使用者主动吸气，使粉末状药物被雾化并吸入肺部。

Nebulizers, on the other hand, use either ultrasonic vibrations or compressed air to turn liquid medication into a mist.雾化器则利用超声波震动或压缩空气，将液态药物转化成细微的雾状颗粒。

The pressurized metered-dose inhaler works a lot like hairspray. This medicine is dissolved in a fluid called a propellant, and it's under high pressure. This causes the fluid and medication mixture to shoot out in a fast-moving mist.加压定量吸入器（MDI）的工作方式与喷发胶非常相似。药物被溶解在一种称为推进剂的液体中，并处于高压状态。当按下装置时，药液与药物的混合物会以高速喷出，形成可吸入的雾气。

But this mist can sometimes be hard to coordinate with breathing. So there’s one more device, called a soft mist inhaler, that administers doses at lower speeds, without the use of a propellant.不过，这种喷雾有时需要与呼吸动作配合，操作并不总是容易。因此，又出现了一种称为“软雾吸入器”的装置，它不使用推进剂，而是以较低速度释放药物，使吸入更加平稳自然。

Asthma and COPD each affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide each year. But thanks to inhalers, what once kept Proust confined to a cork-lined room, can now be treated in a few short puffs.哮喘和COPD每年都影响着全球数以亿计的人口。但多亏了吸入器，这种曾让普鲁斯特困于软木包裹房间、饱受折磨的疾病，如今只需几次轻轻吸入，就能得到有效控制。

In chronic bronchitis, the airway’s lining is inflamed and produces more mucus to trap incoming smoke or dust particles. And the little hairs lining the airways that normally help push the mucus out are often damaged, so the mucus gets stuck. During a COPD attack, rescue inhalers open the airways, just as they do for asthma.在慢性支气管炎中，气道的内壁会发炎，并分泌出更多的黏液来捕捉进入的烟雾或灰尘颗粒。而那些原本排列在气道上的微小毛发（纤毛），通常负责将黏液向外排出，却常常受到损伤，导致黏液堆积无法排出。当COPD（慢阻肺）发作时，急救型吸入器可以像治疗哮喘一样，帮助打开气道。

Preventative inhalers are used daily to stop asthma and COPD symptoms before they even start. They often contain both a corticosteroid, which reduces inflammation, and a long-acting bronchodilator.预防型吸入器则是每天使用，用来在哮喘或COPD症状出现之前就加以控制。它们通常同时含有糖皮质激素（可减少炎症）和长效支气管扩张剂。

In fact, one class of bronchodilators for patients with COPD is related to the compounds in thorn apples. These drugs block signals from the nerves that tell the airway muscles to contract. Those same nerve signals are thought to be responsible for increasing mucus in the lungs, so these drugs may help clear the airways as well.事实上，用于治疗COPD患者的一类支气管扩张剂，其化学成分与曼陀罗中的化合物有关。这类药物通过阻断神经向气道肌肉发出的收缩信号来起作用。而这些神经信号也被认为会促进肺部黏液的增加，因此这种药物可能还能帮助清除气道。

So how do they work? When you take a breath, air travels through your lungs using tubes called airways, or bronchi. The airways funnel to sacs, called alveoli, where your red blood cells absorb all the oxygen your body needs.那么，它们是如何起作用的呢？当你吸气时，空气通过称为气道或支气管的管道进入肺部。气道最终通向被称为肺泡的气囊，红血球就在这里吸收身体所需的全部氧气。

But if you have asthma, the muscles around your airways may tighten, the lining of your airways may get inflamed, and your lungs may make too much of the mucus they use to trap dust and germs. Essentially, this clogs the pipes and makes it difficult to exhale.但如果你患有哮喘，气道周围的肌肉可能会收缩，气道内壁可能发炎，而肺部可能会产生过多的黏液——这种黏液原本用于捕捉灰尘和病菌。结果就像管道被堵住一样，使呼气变得困难。

Rescue inhalers deliver a medication called a bronchodilator that quickly relaxes these muscles, making it easier to breathe. These bronchodilators are short acting, lasting around four hours.急救型吸入器会输送一种名为“支气管扩张剂”的药物，它能迅速放松这些肌肉，使呼吸变得顺畅。这类支气管扩张剂属于短效药物，作用时间大约为四小时。

Rescue inhalers can be used for COPD, too. COPD is a catch-all term to describe the most common breathing conditions, like emphysema and chronic bronchitis, which people often have at the same time.急救型吸入器同样可以用于治疗慢性阻塞性肺病（COPD）。COPD 是一个总称，用来描述最常见的呼吸系统疾病，如肺气肿和慢性支气管炎，这两种疾病往往会同时出现。

In emphysema, repeated exposure to smoke or irritating particles breaks the inner walls of the alveoli. Because there's less surface area for blood and oxygen to interact, less oxygen makes its way to your bloodstream, causing you to constantly feel out of breath.在肺气肿中，长期接触烟雾或刺激性颗粒会破坏肺泡的内壁。由于血液与氧气交换的表面积减少，进入血液的氧气也随之减少，因此患者会持续感到呼吸困难。

Early 20th century writer, Marcel Proust, finished his magnum opus “In Search of Lost Time” from bed— in a cork-lined room to keep allergens out. Proust suffered from severe asthma. At the time, there weren’t great treatments. When breathlessness set in, he’d burn powders that filled the space with smoke and fumes. Or, for a quick fix, he’d smoke a doctor-recommended anti-asthma cigarette. These powders and cigarettes commonly contained thorn apple, which can open your airways. However, both were clearly terrible ideas. Smoking and fumes bring damaging, carcinogenic toxins into your lungs.二十世纪初的作家马塞尔·普鲁斯特，在床上完成了他的鸿篇巨著《追忆似水年华》——他住在一个用软木塞包裹的房间里，以隔绝过敏原。普鲁斯特患有严重的哮喘，而当时并没有有效的治疗方法。当他呼吸困难时，会燃烧一些粉末，使房间充满烟雾和气味；或者，为了快速缓解，他会抽医生推荐的“抗哮喘香烟”。这些粉末和香烟通常含有曼陀罗成分，可以帮助打开气道。然而，这两种做法显然都是糟糕的主意——吸入烟雾会把有害的致癌毒素带入肺部。

Thankfully, today we have inhalers— simple but powerful devices that deliver lung medications straight to the source and without the nasty side effects of smoke inhalation.幸运的是，如今我们有了吸入器——这种简单而强大的装置能将药物直接输送到肺部病灶处，而不会产生吸入烟雾带来的副作用。

Inhalers are mainly used to treat two conditions: asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. And there are two main types: preventative inhalers and rescue inhalers. Preventative inhalers can be used every day to control symptoms. There are also rescue inhalers, which are great in an emergency, but using them regularly can be dangerous.吸入器主要用于治疗两种疾病：哮喘和慢性阻塞性肺病（COPD）。吸入器分为两大类：预防型吸入器和急救型吸入器。预防型吸入器可以每天使用，以控制症状；而急救型吸入器在紧急情况下非常有用，但若经常依赖使用则可能带来危险。

The major supermarkets have imposed their own voluntary ban on selling high-caffeine drinks to the under-16s, but this isn't the case in many smaller stores. Plans to prohibit their sale to children in England were published by the last government but then shelved. Now they're being revived by ministers.英格兰各大主要超市已经开始在店内自主实施禁令，不再向 16 岁以下的未成年人售卖咖啡因含量高的饮料，但许多小型商超并没有这样做。禁止在英格兰向未成年人售卖能量饮料的计划由上一届政府发布，但随后被搁置。现在政府大臣们正着手恢复这一计划。

The ban will apply to drinks containing more than 150 milligrams of caffeine per litre. Some drinks contain almost three times this amount. By contrast, a standard cola contains about 120 milligrams per litre. The British Soft Drinks Association said under its code of practice members didn't market or promote the sale of energy drinks to under-16s.该禁令将涵盖咖啡因含量超过每升 150 毫克的饮料。有些饮料中的咖啡因含量几乎达到了这个量的三倍。相比之下，普通的可乐饮料每升含约 120 毫克咖啡因。英国软饮料协会称，根据该协会的行业准则要求，协会的成员企业并没有向 16 岁以下的未成年人推销或宣传能量饮料。

In Scotland, there are restrictions at public sector sites. In Wales and Northern Ireland, ministers are considering a ban.在苏格兰，公共部门负责的场所内对能量饮料的售卖有所限制。在威尔士和北爱尔兰，政府大臣们也在考虑实施禁令。

How much pocket money did you get as a child, if any? Was it a regular, weekly allowance, or just occasional one-off payments for chores? Parents around the world have different ideas about the dos and don'ts of pocket money. How much should parents give? Should they track what their children spend money on? And where is the balance between teaching children valuable life lessons and simply spoiling them?您小时候得到了多少零用钱？ 这是常规的，每周的津贴，还是偶尔的一次杂务付款？ 世界各地的父母对零用钱的零用钱有不同的想法。 父母应该给多少？ 他们应该跟踪孩子花钱吗？ 教孩子有价值的生活课程和简单地破坏他们之间的平衡在哪里？

Giving children pocket money offers more than just disposable income – it can provide lessons in financial literacy. One of the first things children can learn is that money is finite – once it is spent, there's no more until the next allowance. This awareness can help children learn how to budget and make good financial decisions. For example, they might spend weeks saving up for something big and exciting, rather than spending small amounts immediately. Making money mistakes while the amounts are relatively small can prepare children for when they start handling larger sums of money as adults.2给儿童零用钱不仅提供可支配收入，还可以提供金融知识的课程。 孩子们可以学到的第一件事是金钱是有限的 - 一旦花费了，直到下一个津贴才有。 这种意识可以帮助儿童学习如何预算和做出良好的财务决策。 例如，他们可能会花几个星期的钱为大而激动人心的东西，而不是立即花费少量。 犯金额的时候犯错误，而年龄相对较小，可以为孩子们开始处理成年人时的大笔钱时做好准备。

Some parents link pocket money to household chores, teaching kids that hard work and good behaviour is rewarded. Louise Hill is the CEO of GoHenry – a money management service for children. She says that earning through chores encourages financial independence and "ultimately gives much more satisfaction rather than instant gratification". The downside of this, however, is that kids may only help around the house when they receive payment, rather than seeing it as their shared responsibility. In their adolescence, young people may transition to a more lucrative way of earning pocket money – part-time work such as babysitting.一些父母将零用钱与家务联系起来，教孩子努力工作和良好行为得到回报。 路易斯·希尔（Louise Hill）是Gohenry的首席执行官 - Gohenry（儿童资金管理服务）。 她说，通过琐事赚钱会鼓励财务独立性，并“最终给予更多的满足感，而不是即时的满足感”。 但是，不利的是，孩子们在收到付款时只能在房屋周围有所帮助，而不是将其视为他们的共同责任。 在青春期，年轻人可能会过渡到一种更有利可图的赚钱方式 - 兼职工作，例如保姆。

Pocket money used to mean exactly that – coins or notes that children could keep in their pocket. And when they're young, seeing physical cash is a good way for them to understand money. But in today's digital world, families are increasingly going cashless. Online money management services are emerging in the market, many of them offering a combination of prepaid debit cards and an app that both child and parent can use to track spending. Some even offer gamified money lessons and the option to set up pots to fulfil savings goals. This modern approach is just another way children can be prepared for adult life, where many transactions are digital.零用钱曾经是确切的意思 - 硬币或指出孩子可以放在口袋里。 当他们年轻时，看到实物现金是他们了解金钱的好方法。 但是在当今的数字世界中，家庭越来越无现金。 在线货币管理服务正在市场上出现，其中许多提供了预付费借记卡以及孩子和父母可以用来跟踪支出的应用程序的组合。 有些人甚至提供游戏的金钱课程，并可以选择设置锅以实现储蓄目标。 这种现代方法只是儿童可以为成人生活做好准备的另一种方式，那里的许多交易都是数字化的。

There's no perfect formula when it comes to pocket money, and a lot will depend on family situation and finances. Ultimately, learning to spend wisely, save and even give generously can help children build a healthy relationship with money that can continue into adulthood.关于零用钱，没有完美的公式，很大程度上取决于家庭状况和财务状况。 最终，学会明智地花费，储蓄甚至慷慨地付出可以帮助孩子与可以持续成年的金钱建立健康的关系。

Simply put, to make better digital cameras, you need image sensors with higher numbers of larger photosites. Engineers know this. In fact, it’s basically how they’ve made the best cameras humanity have: giant telescopes that take photos of deep space. But phones don't even have as much sensor space as a standard DSLR camera, let alone the surface area of a massive telescope. In fact, most phone camera sensors are no larger than a pea.简单来说，要制造更好的数码相机，就需要拥有更多、更大的感光元件（photosites）的图像传感器。工程师们对此心知肚明。事实上，人类迄今为止制造出的最强大“相机”——那些拍摄深空的巨型望远镜——正是基于这一原理。然而，手机的传感器面积远小于单反相机，更不用说庞大的望远镜镜面了。实际上，大多数手机相机的传感器都不过豌豆大小。

Fortunately, these devices have a technological trick to compensate for their cameras’ tiny size: powerful processors. When you snap a picture on your phone, this pocket-computer starts running complex algorithms, which often begin by secretly taking a string of photos in rapid succession. The algorithms then manipulate these pictures, using math to perfectly align them and identify their best parts before combining the images into one high-quality photo. The end result is an image with less noise, wider dynamic range, and higher resolution than its sensors should be able to achieve.幸运的是，手机拥有一种可以弥补摄像头尺寸不足的技术手段——强大的处理器。当你按下快门拍照时，这个掌上电脑会立即运行复杂的算法，通常会在你毫无察觉的情况下快速连拍多张照片。然后算法会对这些照片进行数学运算，精确对齐每一张图像，挑选出最优部分，再将它们融合成一张高质量的照片。最终生成的图像噪点更少、动态范围更宽、分辨率也远超传感器本身的物理极限。

This approach is known as computational photography, and advances here are likely how phone companies will continue to advertise increasingly better cameras without improving their image sensors. Today, these algorithms often leverage machine learning, where phones learn to improve your shots based on patterns found in massive photo databases. For example, night mode prioritizes dynamic range and noise reduction, while portrait mode tells your phone to focus on a central subject and blur the background. Machine learning also allows our phones to do the opposite, unblurring faces to grab quick candid shots. And newer programs can even help you remove unwanted elements altogether.这种方法被称为计算摄影（computational photography）。未来，手机厂商很可能会继续依靠这项技术来宣传“更好的相机”，而不必真正提升传感器硬件。如今，这些算法常常借助机器学习（machine learning），让手机从海量图片数据库中学习如何自动优化你的照片。比如，夜景模式会优先增强动态范围、减少噪点；人像模式则让手机聚焦于主体人物并虚化背景。而机器学习还能反向操作，让手机“去模糊”人脸，从而捕捉自然瞬间。更先进的程序甚至能帮你直接移除照片中不想要的元素。

So, with the help of software, even phones with the smallest cameras can snap crisp, detailed photos of loved ones, spectacular views, and of course, lots and lots of food.因此，在强大软件的加持下，即使是最小的手机摄像头，也能拍出清晰细腻的照片——无论是所爱之人的笑容、壮丽的风景，还是那一盘盘令人垂涎的美食。

When the Visualphone VP210 hit the market in 1999, it advertised a never-before-seen feature: a camera. With only 0.11 megapixels and storage for 20 photos, the Visualphone is a relic compared to modern devices sporting three distinct cameras, each with up to 100 times more resolution. But while this technology has improved dramatically in the 21st century, engineers are rapidly approaching a hard limit on phone camera quality.1999年，当Visualphone VP210上市时，它宣传了一项前所未有的功能——摄像头。这个摄像头仅有0.11百万像素，最多能储存20张照片。与当今配备三颗摄像头、分辨率高出上百倍的智能手机相比，Visualphone简直就是古董。然而，尽管这项技术在21世纪突飞猛进，工程师们如今正迅速接近手机相机质量的硬性极限。

To understand this limit, we first need to know how phone cameras work. Just like any other digital camera, when your phone takes a picture, light enters through its lens. This lens focuses the light onto an image sensor covered in a grid of photosites— microscopic light sensors roughly 100 times smaller than a grain of sand. There are millions of these sensors, and each one is covered by a red, green, or blue filter, allowing it to measure how much of that color is in the light hitting its location. Then these measurements are simplified, rounding them to less detailed numbers. This stepsacrificessome data, thus lowering the final images’ quality, but it’s essential for the camera’s processor. This computer can only handle so much information as it decrypts the three sets of color data to assemble a digital recreation of the image.要理解这个极限，我们首先得了解手机摄像头的工作原理。和其他数码相机一样，当手机拍照时，光线会通过镜头进入。镜头将光线聚焦到一个图像传感器上，这个传感器表面覆盖着由光敏单元（photosites）组成的网格——这些微型感光元件比一粒沙子小约100倍。这样的感光元件有上百万个，每一个上面都有红、绿或蓝的滤光片，使它能够测量到达该位置的光线中对应颜色的强度。接着，这些测量值会被简化，四舍五入成较粗略的数字。这一步虽然会牺牲部分数据，从而降低最终图像的质量，但却是摄像头处理器运作所必需的。因为这个微型计算机在解读三组颜色数据、重建数字图像的过程中，所能处理的信息量是有限的。

While the quality of this final photo depends on every part of the camera, nothing determines the look of a digital picture more than the image sensor. And engineers judge the quality of image sensors based on their performance in three areas. The first is resolution, or level of detail. Sensors with higher numbers of photosites offer better resolution, as the camera can collect more granular light data. Second and third are dynamic range and noise. Dynamic range is the span from light to dark within a single photo, and noise is the graininess that can come from poor lighting, long exposure times, or an overheating camera. Both these factors can be improved by using larger photosites, which can capture more light overall. This wider range of data helps processors better measure the intensity of the incoming light, adding contrast and reducing noise.虽然最终照片的质量取决于相机的每一个部分，但决定数码图像观感的关键因素，莫过于图像传感器。工程师通常从三个方面评估传感器的质量。第一是分辨率，即细节的清晰程度。拥有更多感光元件的传感器能提供更高的分辨率，因为它能收集更细微的光线数据。第二和第三是动态范围与噪点。动态范围指的是一张照片中从最亮到最暗的跨度，而噪点则是由于光线不足、曝光时间过长或摄像头过热而产生的颗粒感。这两者都可以通过使用更大的感光元件来改善，因为更大的感光面积能捕捉到更多光线。更宽的数据范围让处理器能更准确地判断光线强度，从而提升对比度并减少噪点。