Visualizing hidden worlds inside your body - Dee Breger

看見體內潛藏的世界 - Dee Breger

Transcriber: Andrea McDonough Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

譯者: Jephian Lin 審譯者: Coco Shen

I'm going to take you on a journey

我想要帶領你們進入一段旅程，

into some hidden worlds inside your own body

藉由掃描式電子顯微鏡 讓你們看看

using the scanning electron microscope.

你們自己身體裡面 潛藏的世界。

These microscopes use a beam of electrons

這種顯微鏡用電子束

to illuminate things that are too small

來照亮一些小到 連可見光光子

to be seen by the photons of visible light.

都沒辦法看到的東西。

And to put this in context,

為了讓大家更容易了解，

if you mentally divide one tiny millimeter

如果你想像把小小的一毫米（millimeter）

into a thousand parts,

分成一千等分，

each one of those parts is a micrometer,

每一小段就是一微米（micrometer），

or micron for short.

或是簡短地叫 micron。

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.

那每一段就叫做奈米（nanometer）。

And it's nanometers and microns

而奈米和微米

that are the domain

正是

of the scanning electron microscope.

掃描式電子顯微鏡的尺度。

So, let's start with something on the body

所以，讓我們從我們身上

that we can measure at about 100 microns wide,

大約 100 微米寬的部份開始。

and that would be a human hair,

那就是人類的頭髮，

which now you can see is covered with scales,

你會看到上面佈滿鱗片，

just like all of our hairs,

我們所有的毛髮都是，

and in fact, just like all mammal hairs.

而實際上，所有 哺乳類動物的毛髮都是。

We're going to plunge into the body now,

現在我們要 縱身跳入體內，

and we've landed in the thyroid gland.

接著我們在甲狀腺上著陸。

Here we're looking at proteins

在這裡我們看到許多蛋白質

that are being secreted into a storage chamber

被分泌到一個貯藏室，

where they are going to develop

在那裡它們會先發展成為

into the mature thyroid hormones

成熟的甲狀腺荷爾蒙，

before being released into the body.

才會釋放到體內。

And at this point you might be wondering

這裡你可能會好奇

if these colors are real.

這些顏色是真的嗎。

The answer is no.

答案是不。

Electron images only happen in black and white.

電子影像只有黑色與白色。

I often colorize my images for various reasons,

我常常因為各種理由 幫它們染色，

but I don't change the structures,

但我不會改變 它們的結構，

so the strucutres that you're seeing

所以你看到的結構

are all exactly as they were

真的就是我用顯微鏡

when I photographed them in the microscope.

將它們拍下的樣子。

We're going to take a detour

接著們要繞個路

and zoom in on the heart muscle now.

放大看看心臟的肌肉。

And the heart muscle has this curious structure

心臟肌肉有這種奇怪的結構

that's kind of like corrugated cardboard.

有點像是瓦楞紙。

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

心臟跳動時 要舒張或收縮時就要靠它。

Let's go look at a lung with pneumonia.

我們來看看得肺炎的肺。

Here we've got a white blood cell

這裡有一個白血球

poking around in an air sac,

在肺泡內遊走，

looking for something to clean out

像是一臺小吸塵器

like a little vacuum cleaner.

在找尋要清除的東西。

This is your immune systems at work.

這就是你體內 正在工作的免疫系統。

So what are the kinds of things

所以，

that we don't want to be breathing,

除了細菌和病毒

besides bacteria and viruses?

哪些東西是你不想吸進來的呢？

Well, we all know to stay away from asbestos

嗯，我們都知道 要遠離石綿，

and now we can see why.

現在我們可以看到為什麼。

This is a close-up view of the mineral

這是一個石綿材質的物體

that asbestos is made from,

它的近照，

and now you can see that it's composed of

而你現在可以看到 它是由許多

many tiny, fine little needles.

很小、很細的針組成。

Each one of those needles is a single crystal.

每一根針都是 一個獨立的晶體。

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

而在這照片中， 它們正在散開

and tangle up into a spiky mess,

然後捲成尖尖的一團，

not for breathing.

讓你不能呼吸。

What else might we want to avoid breathing?

你想避免吸入的 可能還有什麼？

Well, how about diesel fuel?

嗯，可能是柴油？

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

我們這裡看到的 是一些油煙粒子，

and these are extraordinarily tiny.

它們真的非常小。

In fact, each one of these little particles

事實上，每一個這種粒子

is only about 50 nanometers wide.

只有 50 奈米寬。

We'll go and look at some blood now.

現在我們進一步看一下血液。

We've got a collection

這是一群

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

良好、肥大、 快樂、又健康的紅血球，

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

但是它們都被一團纖維 捲在一起。

This is how the body makes a blood clot.

這就是體內 產生血栓的過程。

And so, it surrounds a group of red blood cells

所以，它把一群紅血球 還有其它細胞圍住，

and other cells, and traps them

困住它們，

so the blood can't flow.

血就不能流動了。

We've got two more blood cells here,

這裡還有另外兩個血球，

but they're not normal

但它們不太正常，

like the ones in the blood clot image.

跟血栓那張看到的那些不一樣。

These are distorted.

這些血球變形了。

You can see that they're curling up

你可以看到它們正在捲曲

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

準備要變成尖刺狀的東西。

These are sickle cells

這些是鐮刀型紅血球，

and these are what cause the condition

就是它們造成

of sickle cell amenia.

鐮刀型貧血的症狀。

We've gone into the mouth now

我們現在跳進嘴裡

and we've landed on dental plague,

然後在牙菌斑上著陸，

which you can see is covered with bacteria,

你可以看到上面覆蓋著細菌，

and in fact dental plague is host

而事實上牙菌斑是

to about 1,000 different species of bacteria.

大約 1,000 種細菌的家。

Lovely to think about.

想到就很舒服，對吧？

And now we are on to other teeth.

現在我們在另一顆牙齒上。

We're on the surfaces of the,

我們在牙齒的表面，

or the internal surfaces of the teeth themselves.

或是說它們內部的表面。

The smaller one is a baby tooth

小的那張是幼童的牙齒，

that had just fallen out of the mouth

是從我一個年輕朋友的嘴裡

of a young friend of mine,

剛掉下來的，

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

而我想請你們注意一下那些小洞。

Those little holes are the tops

那些小洞是

of a whole network of tiny little tubes

一群小管束的網絡的頂端，

that circulate nourishing fluids inside your teeth.

它們是用來 在你牙齒內運送養分。

And we can see those tubes

我們可以發現 這些小管束

a little better in the larger picture

在大張的照片裡比較明顯，

because some of them are in cross-section.

因為有些還有呈現截面狀。

But in fact, this larger picture is showing you

但實際上，這張大的圖

a portion of a tusk, which you may know

是獠牙的一部份，你可能知道

is simply a great big, elongated tooth,

就是又大又長的牙齒，

so you would expect to see the same features

所以你可能期待看到一些 相同的結構

between your teeth and a tusk.

在你的牙齒和獠牙上。

But that larger tusk picture is also rough

但是大顆的獠牙 在和兒童牙齒比較時

by comparison to the young baby tooth.

也比較粗糙。

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

這是因為，這顆已經放了 好幾千年了。

It's also partly fossilized.

它可能有點變化石了。

And, between these two pictures,

接著，在這兩張照片中，

now you can see how your teeth relate

你可以看出你的牙齒

to the tusk of an Ice Age mammoth.

和冰河時期的猛瑪象 之間的關係。

We're shooting up north now into the brain,

現在我們要向上衝， 進到腦部，

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

我們可以看到這些 底部粉紅色的細胞。

Those are the neurons of memory.

它們是記憶的神經元。

And I'm going to leave you with this picture

我會停在這個畫面，

because I know you're going to take

因為我知道你們

a lot of happy memories away

在 TED 這精彩的一天中

from your exciting day at TED

會留下許多愉快的回憶，

and now you can visualize where those memories

而現在你們 可以想像這些回憶

are being stored in your own brain.

是存在你大腦的什麼地方。

Thank you.

謝謝。