Visualizing hidden worlds inside your body - Dee Breger

Transcriber: Andrea McDonough Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

翻译人员: Xue Tan 校对人员: Nanyuan Chen

I'm going to take you on a journey

我将开启一段旅程，

into some hidden worlds inside your own body

通过使用扫描电子显微镜

using the scanning electron microscope.

带你们看看自己身体里面隐藏的世界。

These microscopes use a beam of electrons

这种显微镜使用电子束

to illuminate things that are too small

来展现那些小到连用可见光光子

to be seen by the photons of visible light.

都无法看见的东西。

And to put this in context,

为了让大家更容易理解，

if you mentally divide one tiny millimeter

想象一下如果你把小小的一毫米

into a thousand parts,

分成一千等分，

each one of those parts is a micrometer,

每一份就是百万分之一米，

简称微米。

or micron for short.

If you then divide one micron

如果你再把微米

into another thousand parts,

分成一千等分，

each one of those is a nanometer.

那每一份就是一纳米。

And it's nanometers and microns

而纳米和微米

that are the domain

正是扫描电子显微镜

of the scanning electron microscope.

所探查的尺度。

So, let's start with something on the body

接下来，让我们从身体上那些

that we can measure at about 100 microns wide,

大约100微米宽的部分开始看起，

and that would be a human hair,

那就是人类的头发，

which now you can see is covered with scales,

你会看到上面布满了鳞片，

just like all of our hairs,

我们所有头发都是这样，

and in fact, just like all mammal hairs.

事实上，所有哺乳动物的毛发都是这样。

We're going to plunge into the body now,

现在，让我们深入身体内部，

and we've landed in the thyroid gland.

先停留在甲状腺上。

Here we're looking at proteins

在这里我们可以看到许多蛋白质

that are being secreted into a storage chamber

被分泌到一个储藏室中

where they are going to develop

它们将在这里发展成为

into the mature thyroid hormones

成熟的甲状腺激素

before being released into the body.

随后被释放到体内。

And at this point you might be wondering

此时你可能会好奇

if these colors are real.

这些颜色是真实的吗。

The answer is no.

答案是：并非如此。

Electron images only happen in black and white.

电子影像只有黑白两色。

I often colorize my images for various reasons,

我经常由于各种原因为它们上色，

but I don't change the structures,

但我并不会改变它们的结构，

so the strucutres that you're seeing

所以你所看到的结构，

are all exactly as they were

就是当我用显微镜拍摄时

when I photographed them in the microscope.

它们真实存在的样子。

We're going to take a detour

下面我们绕道前行

and zoom in on the heart muscle now.

将心肌的镜头拉近。

And the heart muscle has this curious structure

心脏肌肉具有这种奇特的结构

that's kind of like corrugated cardboard.

很像褶皱的硬纸板。

That's what allows the heart to expand and contract as it's beating.

它使心脏在跳动时伸缩自如。

Let's go look at a lung with pneumonia.

我们再来看一看患有炎症的肺部。

Here we've got a white blood cell

这里是一个白细胞

poking around in an air sac,

正在一个气囊中不断翻找，

looking for something to clean out

宛若一台小真空吸尘器

like a little vacuum cleaner.

试图把内部的东西清理干净，

This is your immune systems at work.

此时你的免疫系统正在工作，

So what are the kinds of things

除了细菌和病毒外

that we don't want to be breathing,

那些我们不愿吸入的物质，

besides bacteria and viruses?

是什么样子呢？

Well, we all know to stay away from asbestos

当然，我们都知道要远离石棉

and now we can see why.

现在我们来了解一下为什么。

This is a close-up view of the mineral

这是组成构成石棉

that asbestos is made from,

的矿物质的特写，

and now you can see that it's composed of

你们可以看到它由

many tiny, fine little needles.

许多微小细密的针状结构组成。

Each one of those needles is a single crystal.

每个小针都是一个单独的晶体。

And in this picture, they're begininng to pry apart

这幅图里，它们开始打开分散

and tangle up into a spiky mess,

缠成带有尖刺的一团，

not for breathing.

让人无法呼吸。

What else might we want to avoid breathing?

还有其他什么东西我们不想吸入？

Well, how about diesel fuel?

比如柴油燃料？

We're looking here at the particles of diesel soot,

这里我们看到的是柴油烟灰颗粒，

and these are extraordinarily tiny.

他们超乎寻常的微小。

In fact, each one of these little particles

实际上，这些小颗粒中的每一个

is only about 50 nanometers wide.

仅有50纳米宽。

We'll go and look at some blood now.

接着，现在将看到一些血细胞的模样。

We've got a collection

我们收集一些

of nice, fat, happy, healthy red blood cells,

正常，圆圆的，活跃健康的红细胞，

but they're all tangled up in a network of fibers.

但是它们被缠在一种网状纤维上。

This is how the body makes a blood clot.

这就是体内怎样凝结成血栓的过程。

And so, it surrounds a group of red blood cells

血块周围是一堆红细胞

and other cells, and traps them

和其他细胞，它拦截它们

so the blood can't flow.

这就使血液无法流动。

We've got two more blood cells here,

我们还得到另外两种血细胞的图片，

but they're not normal

但是它们不像血栓中的那些血细胞

like the ones in the blood clot image.

它们都是不正常的血细胞。

These are distorted.

这些有点畸形

You can see that they're curling up

可以看到他们弯卷

and beginning to grow what's going to become spikes.

并逐渐长成尖状类似物。

These are sickle cells

这些就是镰刀形红细胞

and these are what cause the condition

就是他们导致

of sickle cell amenia.

镰刀形红细胞贫血症的症状。

We've gone into the mouth now

我们现在进入口腔

and we've landed on dental plague,

看到的是牙斑菌，

which you can see is covered with bacteria,

你们可以看到它上面附着的细菌，

and in fact dental plague is host

事实上，牙斑菌是大约1000种不同种类

to about 1,000 different species of bacteria.

细菌的寄主。

Lovely to think about.

想想觉得还挺有意思，

And now we are on to other teeth.

我们接着看另外几颗牙。

We're on the surfaces of the,

这是牙与牙之间的

or the internal surfaces of the teeth themselves.

内表面的表层。

The smaller one is a baby tooth

小一点的是儿童的牙齿

that had just fallen out of the mouth

它刚刚从我一位年轻朋友

of a young friend of mine,

的嘴里掉下来，

and I want to call your attention to the little holes.

我想要大家仔细看看那些小孔。

Those little holes are the tops

这些小孔是一整个极微小的

of a whole network of tiny little tubes

管道网络的顶端

that circulate nourishing fluids inside your teeth.

在你的牙里管道中循环流动着提供养分的液体。

And we can see those tubes

在大一点的图片里

a little better in the larger picture

因为有一些管道的横切面

because some of them are in cross-section.

所以我们可以更清楚的看到它们。

But in fact, this larger picture is showing you

但事实上，大图展示的

a portion of a tusk, which you may know

是獠牙的一部分

is simply a great big, elongated tooth,

就是你们所知的那种非常大，很长的牙齿，

so you would expect to see the same features

你们可以想象我们的牙齿和獠牙

between your teeth and a tusk.

有着相同的特征。

But that larger tusk picture is also rough

同年幼的婴儿牙齿相比

by comparison to the young baby tooth.

那颗大一些的獠牙同样凹凸不平。

That's because it's many, many thousands of years old.

这是因为这颗獠牙已经存在了几千年之久

It's also partly fossilized.

它的一部分已经石化。

And, between these two pictures,

在这两幅图里，

now you can see how your teeth relate

你可以看到你的牙齿

to the tusk of an Ice Age mammoth.

与冰川期猛犸象的獠牙有着怎样的联系。

We're shooting up north now into the brain,

现在快速向上进入人的大脑，

and we can see these pink cells down at the bottom.

我们会看到底部这些粉红色的细胞。

Those are the neurons of memory.

这些就是组成记忆的神经元。

And I'm going to leave you with this picture

最后我将把这副图片留给你们

because I know you're going to take

因为我相信在TED会场这令人兴奋的日子里

a lot of happy memories away

你一定会收获

from your exciting day at TED

很多快乐的回忆。

and now you can visualize where those memories

现在你们可以想象这些记忆

are being stored in your own brain.

正被存储在你们大脑的哪里。

Thank you.

谢谢。