Could a tattoo help you stay healthy? | Carson Bruns

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Joanna Pietrulewicz

翻译人员: psjmz mz 校对人员: 功伟 邢

I'd like to introduce you to an interesting person named Ötzi.

我想给大家介绍一个有趣的人， 名叫奥茨。

He lives in Italy

他在意大利的

at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology

南蒂罗尔考古博物馆，

because he's a mummy.

因为他是个木乃伊。

This is an artist's rendition of what he might have looked like

这是一个艺术家对他5,300年前

when he was alive 5,300 years ago.

活着时的样子的重现。

You want to see what he looks like today?

你想看看他现在什么样子了吗？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

OK, brace yourselves, gross mummy pic coming at you.

好了，准备好， 恶心的木乃伊照片向你走来。

So, he's not as handsome as he used to be,

是的，他不像过去那样帅气了，

but he's actually in great shape for a mummy

但作为木乃伊，他看起来非常好，

because he was discovered frozen in ice.

因为他被发现时冻在冰中。

Ötzi is the oldest mummy that's been discovered with preserved skin.

奥茨是目前发现的保存有皮肤的 最古老木乃伊。

5,300 years is super old,

5300年是超级古老，

older than the Egyptian pyramids,

比埃及金字塔还古老，

and Ötzi's skin is covered in 61 black tattoos,

奥茨的皮肤上有61个黑色纹身，

all lines and crosses on parts of his body

他身体上所有这些交织的线条

where he might have experienced pain.

反映出他曾遭遇的疼痛。

So scientists think that they might have been used

所以科学家认为它们可能是被用来

to mark sites for some kind of therapy,

标记某种治疗的部位，

like acupuncture.

比如针灸。

So clearly, if the oldest skin we've seen

所以很明显， 如果我们看到的这个最古老的皮肤

is all tattooed up,

纹满了身，

tattooing is a very ancient practice.

纹身是一种非常古老的习俗。

But fast-forward to today and tattoos are everywhere.

但快进到今天，纹身几乎无处不在。

Almost one in four Americans has a tattoo,

几乎每四个美国人就有一个纹过身，

it's a multibillion-dollar industry,

这是一个数十亿美元的产业，

and whether you love tattoos or hate them,

不管你爱纹身还是憎恨它们，

this talk will change the way you think about them.

这个演讲将会改变你对它们的看法。

So, why are tattoos so popular?

那么，为什么纹身如此流行？

Unlike Ötzi, most of us today use tattoos for some kind of self-expression.

跟奥茨不同的是，今天我们很多人 把纹身当作自我的表达。

Personally, I love tattoos because I love art

个人而言，我爱纹身因为我爱艺术，

and there is something so wonderful to me,

并且这对我而言是一种神奇的事物，

almost romantic, about the way a tattoo as an art form

纹身作为一种艺术形式无法商品化，

cannot be commodified.

这相当浪漫。

Right? Your tattoo lives and dies with you.

没错吧？你的纹身伴你一生。

It can't be bought or sold or traded,

它不能买卖和交易，

so its only value is really personal to you,

所以它的唯一价值在于是你个人的东西，

and I love that.

我爱这一点。

Now, I tend to gravitate towards really colorful tattoos

现在，我倾向于那些色彩鲜艳的纹身，

because I'm obsessed with color.

因为我对色彩着迷。

I teach a whole course on it at my university.

我在大学里教了一整门这样的课程。

But my very first tattoo was an all-black tattoo

但我的首个纹身是全黑的，

like Ötzi's.

跟奥茨类似。

Yep, I did that clichéd thing that young people do sometimes

是的，我那时也做年轻人都会做的事情，

and I got a tattoo in a language I can't even read.

我纹了个我自己都不懂的语言的纹身。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

OK, but I was 19 years old,

但我当时是19岁，

I had just returned from my first trip overseas,

我刚从首个海外旅行回来，

I was in Japan in the mountains

我在日本的山上，

meditating in Buddhist monasteries,

在佛教寺庙里冥想，

and it was a really meaningful experience to me,

这对我真是一个很有意义的体验，

so I wanted to commemorate it with this Japanese and Chinese character

所以我想用“山”的日文和汉字

for "mountain."

来纪念它。

Now, here's what blows my mind.

现在，这是让我大吃一惊的。

My 14-year-old tattoo

我14年之久的纹身

and Ötzi's 5,300-year-old tattoos

和奥茨5300年之久的纹身

are made of the same exact stuff:

都来自同完全一样的材料：

soot,

烟灰，

that black powdery carbon dust

黑色的粉状碳尘，

that gets left behind in the fireplace when you burn stuff.

这种当你燃烧东西时，留在壁炉里的东西。

And if you zoom way, way in on either my tattoo or Ötzi's tattoos,

如果你放大我的纹身或者奥茨的纹身，

you'll find that they all look something like this.

你会发现它们都长得像这样子。

A tattoo is nothing more than a bunch of tiny pigment particles,

纹身不过是一堆微小的色素颗粒，

soot in this case,

在这里是烟灰，

that get trapped in the dermis,

被困在真皮里，

which is the layer of tissue right underneath the surface of the skin.

真皮是皮肤表面下面的一层组织。

So in over five thousand years,

所以在超过5千年的时候里，

we've done very little to update tattoo technology,

我们对纹身的技术升级甚少，

apart from getting access to more colors

除了有更多的颜色

and slightly more efficient methods of installation.

和相对更高效率的纹身方法外。

While I'm an artist, I'm also a scientist,

我是个艺术家，也是个科学家，

and I direct a laboratory that researches nanotechnology,

我领导一个研究纳米技术的实验室，

which is the science of building things with ultratiny building blocks,

这是一门用超小积木来建造东西的科学，

thousands of times smaller even than the width of a human hair.

比人类头发的宽度还要小几千倍。

And I began to ask myself,

于是我开始问自己，

how could nanotechnology serve tattooing?

纳米技术如何应用于纹身？

If tattoos are just a bunch of particles in the skin,

如果纹身只是身体上的一堆微粒，

could we swap those particles out for ones that do something more interesting?

我们能把这些粒子换成 更有趣的粒子吗？

Here's my big idea:

这是我的大设想：

I believe that tattoos can give you superpowers.

我认为纹身可以给你带来超能力。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Now, I don't mean they're going to make us fly,

我不是说它可以让我们飞起来，

but I do think that we can have superpowers

但我确实认为我们可以拥有超能力，

in the sense that tattoos can give us new abilities

从某种意义上，纹身可以给我们

that we don't currently possess.

目前我们不拥有的新能力。

By upgrading the particles, we can engineer tattooing

通过升级粒子，我们可以设计纹身，

so that it will change not only the appearance of our skin,

这样它们不仅会改变 我们皮肤的样子，

but also the function of our skin.

还有我们皮肤的功能。

Let me show you.

让我给你们展示下。

This is a diagram of a microcapsule.

这是一个微胶囊的示意图。

It's a tiny hollow particle with a protective outer shell,

它是一个微小的空心粒子， 有一个保护性的外壳，

about the size of a tattoo pigment,

和纹身颜料差不多大，

and you can fill the inside with practically whatever you want.

你可以在里面填满任何你想要的东西。

So what if we put interesting materials inside of these microcapsules

所以如果我们把有趣的材料 放进这些胶囊里面，

and made tattoo inks with them?

用它们来纹身怎样？

What sorts of things could we make a tattoo do?

我们可以用纹身来做什么呢？

What problems could we solve?

我们能解决什么问题？

What human limitations could we overcome?

我们能克服人类的什么局限？

Well, here's one idea:

这是其中一个主意：

one of our weaknesses as humans

我们人类的其中一个弱点是

is that we can't see ultraviolet, or UV, light.

我们看不到紫外线，简称UV。

That's the high-energy part of sunlight

这是阳光中的高能部分，

that causes sunburn and increases our risk of skin cancer.

它会导致晒伤，增加我们 患皮肤癌的风险。

Many animals and insects can actually see UV light, but we can't.

很多动物和昆虫可以看到紫外线， 但我们不能。

If we could, we'd be able to see sunscreen when it was applied on our skin.

如果我们可以，我们就可以看到 在皮肤上涂抹防晒霜。

Unfortunately, most of us don't wear sunscreen,

不幸的是，我们很多人不涂抹防晒霜，

and those of us who do

而那些涂防晒霜的人

can't really tell when it wears off, because it's invisible.

也不知道什么时候它没功效了 因为它不可见。

It's the main reason we treat over five million cases

这是我们每年仅在美国就治疗500多万例

of preventable skin cancer every year in the US alone,

可预防皮肤癌的主要原因，

costing our economy over five billion dollars annually.

这每年导致我们经济损失超过50亿美金。

So how could we overcome this human weakness with a tattoo?

那么我们如何使用纹身 来解决这个人类的缺点。

Well, if the problem is that we can't see UV rays,

如果问题出在我们看不见紫外线，

maybe we can make a tattoo detect them for us.

也许我们可以让纹身为我们来探测它。

So I thought, why don't we take some microcapsules,

于是我想，为什么我们不取一些胶囊，

load it up with a UV-sensitive, color-changing dye,

装上一种对紫外线敏感的变色染料，

and make a tattoo ink out of that?

然后用来做纹身墨水呢？

Now, one of the troubles of being a tattoo technologist

现在，纹身科技师的麻烦是

is finding willing test subjects.

找小白鼠。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And when it came time to test this tattoo ink,

当测试纹身墨水时，

I thought it best not to torture my poor graduate students.

我觉得最好还是不要折磨 我可怜的研究生们。

So I decided to tattoo a couple of spots on my own arm instead.

所以我决定在自己的手臂上纹几个斑点。

And It actually worked. Check it out!

它确实生效了。一起来看看！

I call these tattoos solar freckles

我把这些纹身叫做太阳雀斑，

because they're powered by sunshine.

因为它们是阳光供能的。

And right now, they're invisible,

现在，它们是不可见的，

but as soon as I expose them to a UV light, acting as the Sun --

但只要我把它们曝光在紫外线下， 跟太阳一样——

there they are, blue spots.

它们就来了，蓝色的点。

Now, I'm not wearing sunscreen in this video,

我没有在这个视频中涂防晒霜，

but if I was, those blue spots would not appear,

如果我涂了，这些蓝点就不会出现，

and then when my sunscreen wore off later,

然后当我的防晒霜用完时，

the solar freckles would reappear in UV light

这个太阳雀斑在紫外线下会出现，

and I would know that it was time to reapply sunscreen.

我就会知道是时候补充防晒霜了。

So these tattoos act as a real-time, naked-eye indicator

所以这些纹身就像一个实时的 皮肤紫外线曝光程度

of your skin's UV exposure.

的裸眼指示器。

And of course,

当然，

I think there are lots of really cool, artistic things you could do

我们可以用这样的色彩改变 的纹身来做很多真的很酷，

with a color-changing tattoo like this,

艺术方面的事情，

but I hope that it will also help us solve a big problem

但我希望它也会帮我们解决皮肤保护方面

in skin protection.

的大问题。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

Let me give you another example.

让我给你们另一个例子。

Normal human body temperature is about 97 to 99 degrees Fahrenheit,

正常的人体温度大约是97到99华氏度，

and if you fall outside of that range,

如果你的体温在这个范围外，

you need to seek medical attention right away.

你就得立刻寻找医疗关照。

Now, the problem is that humans can't detect our own body temperature

但问题在于人们没有温度计就无法探测

without a thermometer.

自己身体的温度。

Sure, you could try the old hand-on-the-forehead trick,

当然，你可以沿用把手机按住前额的老把戏，

but there's zero scientific evidence to back that up.

但没有科学证据支撑这一点。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So what if we could create a tattooable thermometer

如果我们创造一个你随时可以获得

that you could access anytime?

纹身温度计会怎样？

Well, remember how the solar freckles used a UV-sensitive dye

还记得刚才太阳雀斑 是如何利用微胶囊纹身墨水

inside of the microcapsules of the tattoo ink?

里面的紫外线敏感材料的吗？

Well, you could also put heat-sensitive dyes

你也可以把热敏染料

inside of microcapsules

放进微胶囊里面，

and you could make different tattoo inks

这样你可以做不同的纹身墨水

that change color at different temperatures.

可以在不同的温度下改变颜色。

Suppose it was 96, 98, and a hundred degrees Fahrenheit.

假设现在是96，98和100华氏度。

If you place those inks side by side,

如果你把这些墨水放在一起，

now you have a temperature scale

现在你有了一个标在人体上

tuned to the human body.

的温标。

In this video, you can see the different patches of tattoos

在这个视频中，你可以看到不同的纹身

disappearing sequentially

渐次消失，

as the pigskin we tested them on

当我们在测试的猪皮上

is heated up.

加热时。

So if you were to place a tattoo like this

所以如果你想把这样的一个纹身

in a location that was stable to external temperature fluctuations --

放在对外界温度波动稳定的地方——

maybe inside of the mouth, perhaps on the back of the lip? --

也许放在嘴巴里面，嘴唇后面？

then you'd be able to read your body temperature anytime

这样你就可以随时阅读你的体温了，

by just glancing at your tattoo in the mirror.

只需要在镜子中看一看你的纹身。

Amazing, right?

神奇，对吗？

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

Thank you.

谢谢！

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

Another limitation that we have as humans

另外一个我们作为人类的局限是

is that our skin doesn't conduct electricity,

我们的皮肤并不导电，

and that can be a good thing, but not necessarily --

这是个好事情，但也未必——

(Laughter)

（笑声）

if you have an electronic biomedical implant,

如果你有电子生物医学植入，

like a pacemaker for example.

比如起搏器。

Right now, if you have a pacemaker,

现在，如果你有一个起搏器，

you need surgery every five or 10 years to replace the battery when it dies.

你需要每五年或十年做 一次手术来更换电池。

And wouldn't it be nice if, instead,

如果我们能简单地通过一块

we could simply recharge the battery through a patch of conducting skin?

导电皮肤给电池充电，岂不是很好？

Well, if you were to try to tackle that problem with a tattoo,

如果你想用纹身来解决这个问题，

the first step would be to make a tattoo that conducts electricity.

第一步是制作一个可以导电的纹身。

So we've been working on a conducting tattoo ink in my lab.

所以我们一直在实验室里 研究一种导电纹身墨水。

And right now, we're able to increase the conductivity of skin over 300-fold

现在我们已经可以通过 我们的导电纹身墨水

with our conducting tattoo ink.

把皮肤的导电性增加300倍。

Now, we have a long way to go before we reach the conductivity

现在，在我们达到像铜那样的导电性前，

of something like a copper wire,

仍有很长的路要走，

but we're making progress and I'm really excited about this

但我们在取得进步， 并且我真的为此感到兴奋，

because I think that it could open up a whole new world of possibility

因为我认为这为纹身开辟了一个

for tattoos.

全新的天地。

I envision a future where tattoos enable us --

我展望了一个纹身使我们——

tattooable wires and tattooable electronics enable us

可纹身的电线和可纹身 的电子设备使我们能够

to merge our technologies with our bodies

将我们的技术与我们 的身体结合起来，

so that they feel more like extensions of ourselves

这样它们感觉起来更像是我们自己的扩展

rather than external devices.

而非外部设备。

So these are a few examples of the new abilities that we can gain

这是一些通过使用纳米技术 升级我们的纹身

by using nanotechnology to upgrade our tattoos,

可以获得的新能力的几个例子，

but this really is only the beginning.

但这仅仅是个开始。

I believe the sky is the limit for what we can do with high-tech tattoos.

我相信高科技纹身的前途无量。

In the future, tattoos will not only be beautiful,

未来，纹身不仅美观，

they'll be functional too.

它们也实用。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）