Manu Prakash: A 50-cent microscope that folds like origami

翻译人员: Rong Han 校对人员: Zhiting Chen

The year is 1800.

1800年

A curious little invention is being talked about.

人们都在谈论一个奇特的小发明，

It's called a microscope.

叫作显微镜。

What it allows you to do

它能让你

is see tiny little lifeforms

看到微小的生命形式，

that are invisible to the naked eye.

就是平常肉眼看不见的那种。

Soon comes the medical discovery

很快医学界就发现，

that many of these lifeforms are actually causes

许多这些生命形式 实际上正是造成

of terrible human diseases.

可怕的人类疾病的原因。

Imagine what happened to the society

想象一下社会大众 会有什么反应，

when they realized

当他们意识到，

that an English mom in her teacup

一个英国母亲从她的茶杯里

actually was drinking a monster soup,

喝到的实际上是一杯怪物汤。

not very far from here. This is from London.

离这儿就不远， 这张照片来自伦敦。

Fast forward 200 years.

让我们快进200年，

We still have this monster soup around,

这种怪物汤还存在着，

and it's taken hold in the developing countries

并且还在赤道带附近的

around the tropical belt.

发展中国家中肆虐。

Just for malaria itself,

仅就疟疾而言，

there are a million deaths a year,

每年就会造成一百万人死亡，

and more than a billion people

而且有十亿多的人需要接受检查，

that need to be tested because they are at risk

因为他们有可能

for different species of malarial infections.

被各种类型的疟疾感染。

Now it's actually very simple to put a face

其实很容易就能看到

to many of these monsters.

这些怪物长什么样。

You take a stain, like acridine orange

你拿个染料，比如吖啶橙

or a fluorescent stain or Giemsa,

或者一种荧光染料，又或者是吉姆萨染液，

and a microscope, and you look at them.

再拿个显微镜，就可以看了。

They all have faces.

它们都展现出面部特征。

Why is that so, that Alex in Kenya,

那为什么，肯尼亚的艾利克斯，

Fatima in Bangladesh, Navjoot in Mumbai,

孟加拉的法缇玛，孟买的纳菊特，

and Julie and Mary in Uganda still wait months

还有乌干达的茱莉和玛丽，还要等上好几个月

to be able to diagnose why they are sick?

才能得知他们的病因呢？

And that's primarily because scalability

首要原因是无法扩大

of the diagnostics is completely out of reach.

诊断范围。

And remember that number: one billion.

记得我刚才说的那个数字:十亿。

The problem lies with the microscope itself.

问题在于显微镜本身。

Even though the pinnacle of modern science,

尽管它们是现代科学的顶尖产物，

research microscopes are not designed for field testing.

实验显微镜却不是 为临床试验而设计的。

Neither were they first designed

它们最初根本也就不是

for diagnostics at all.

为了诊断疾病而设计的。

They are heavy, bulky, really hard to maintain,

它们一般又重又大，很难维护，

and cost a lot of money.

还非常贵。

This picture is Mahatma Gandhi in the '40s

这张照片里是四十年代时圣雄甘地

using the exact same setup that we actually use today

用着和我们现在用的一模一样的设备，

for diagnosing T.B. in his ashram

在他的修行处诊断肺结核，

in Sevagram in India.

那是在印度的色瓦格拉姆。

Two of my students, Jim and James,

我的两个学生， 吉姆和詹姆斯，

traveled around India and Thailand,

走遍了印度和泰国，

starting to think about this problem a lot.

他们开始不断思考这个问题。

We saw all kinds of donated equipment.

我们看到各种各样捐助得来的仪器，

We saw fungus growing on microscope lenses.

有些显微镜的镜头上都长了霉。

And we saw people who had a functional microscope

我们还看到有的人 拿着运转正常的显微镜，

but just didn't know how to even turn it on.

却不知道怎么把它打开。

What grew out of that work and that trip

我们从那时的工作和那段旅程中，

was actually the idea of what we call Foldscopes.

产生了我们现在称作 纸折显微镜的想法。

So what is a Foldscope?

那什么是纸折显微镜呢？

A Foldscope is a completely functional microscope,

这是一种功能完备的显微镜，

a platform for fluorescence, bright-field,

可以看荧光，亮视野，

polarization, projection,

还可以偏振化，投影。

all kinds of advanced microscopy

各种各样先进的显微镜技术，

built purely by folding paper.

都纯粹用可折叠的纸制造出来。

So, now you think, how is that possible?

那你现在会想，这怎么可能呢？

I'm going to show you some examples here,

我会给你们看几个例子，

and we will run through some of them.

而且我们还会试用一下其中几个。

It starts with a single sheet of paper.

先开始就是一张纸，

What you see here is all the possible components

这上面有用来组装 一个显微镜的全套部件，

to build a functional bright-field and fluorescence microscope.

可以成功组装一个 具有亮视野功能的荧光显微镜。

So, there are three stages:

这上面有三个部分，

There is the optical stage, the illumination stage

包括目镜部分，照明部分，

and the mask-holding stage.

还有样本存放部分。

And there are micro optics at the bottom

最下面是微型光学系统，

that's actually embedded in the paper itself.

实际上被嵌入在这张纸里面了。

What you do is, you take it on,

你要做的就是把它拿过来，

and just like you are playing like a toy,

然后就像玩个玩具一样，

which it is,

这也真的是个玩具，

I tab it off,

我把它撕下来，

and I break it off.

然后分开。

This paper has no instructions and no languages.

这张纸上没有什么任何说明， 也没有任何文字。

There is a code, a color code embedded,

这儿有一个记号， 彩色的记号，

that tells you exactly how to fold that specific microscope.

告诉你怎么折这一款的显微镜。

When it's done, it looks something like this,

折好之后，大概就像这样，

has all the functionalities of a standard microscope,

它具有标准显微镜的 所有功能，

just like an XY stage,

比如说一个纵横移动载物台，

a place where a sample slide could go,

是放样品载玻片的地方，

for example right here.

我这儿现在就有一个。

We didn't want to change this,

我们不想做出改动，

because this is the standard

因为它经过多年的优化，

that's been optimized for over the years,

现在已经标准化了，

and many health workers are actually used to this.

很多医务人员都很习惯使用它们。

So this is what changes,

不同的就是这个。

but the standard stains all remain the same

对于很多不同的疾病来说，

for many different diseases.

用于检测的标准染料也还和以前一样。

You pop this in.

把这个放进去，

There is an XY stage,

这有个纵横移动载物台，

and then there is a focusing stage,

还有个聚焦装置，

which is a flexure mechanism

这是一种具有伸缩性的装置，

that's built in paper itself that allows us to move

直接用纸制造， 这样我们就可以

and focus the lenses by micron steps.

通过微米级的移动来聚焦。

So what's really interesting about this object,

这个东西非常有意思的一点，

and my students hate when I do this,

尽管我的学生不喜欢我这么做，

but I'm going to do this anyway,

但我今天还是要做一下，

is these are rugged devices.

就是这些小仪器很坚固。

I can turn it on and throw it on the floor

我可以把它打开， 扔到地上，

and really try to stomp on it.

再使劲儿跺上几脚，

And they last, even though they're designed

它们也不会坏， 虽然它们

from a very flexible material, like paper.

是用纸这种非常柔软的材料做的。

Another fun fact is, this is what we actually

另一个有趣的事实是，

send out there as a standard diagnostic tool,

这是我们实际发送出去的 所谓标准诊断工具，

but here in this envelope

但是这个信封里，

I have 30 different foldscopes

我装了30个不同构型的 纸折显微镜，

of different configurations all in a single folder.

全都放进了一个文件夹里。

And I'm going to pick one randomly.

现在我要随便拿一个出来。

This one, it turns out, is actually designed

这个是专门用来

specifically for malaria,

检测疟疾的。

because it has the fluorescent filters built

这里面装着专门

specifically for diagnosing malaria.

用于诊断疟疾的荧光滤片。

So the idea of very specific diagnostic microscopes

制造专门用于针对某类疾病的 显微镜的想法

comes out of this.

就是从这产生的。

So up till now, you didn't actually see

到现在为止，你们实际上还没看到

what I would see from one of these setups.

我从这个装置里能看到什么。

So what I would like to do is,

所以现在我要做的就是，

if we could dim the lights, please,

请把灯关掉好吗，

it turns out foldscopes are also projection microscopes.

这些纸折显微镜 也都是投影显微镜，

I have these two microscopes that I'm going to turn --

这两个显微镜我要把它们转向

go to the back of the wall --

后面这面墙，

and just project, and this way you will see

然后投影，这样你们就能看见

exactly what I would see.

我所看到的影像。

What you're looking at --

你们现在看见的，

(Applause) —

（掌声）

This is a cross-section of a compound eye,

这是一只复眼的横切片，

and when I'm going to zoom in closer, right there,

现在我要把它放大些，来看这里，

I am going through the z-axis.

现在我正在z轴方向移动，

You actually see how the lenses are cut together

你们可以看出来这些晶状体

in the cross-section pattern.

被切出这种在横切片里特有的形态。

Another example, one of my favorite insects,

另一个例子， 是我最喜欢的昆虫之一，

I love to hate this one,

我乐于去憎恨它，

is a mosquito,

就是蚊子。

and you're seeing the antenna of a culex pipiens.

你们现在看到的是 一只尖音库蚊的触角。

Right there.

就在那儿。

All from the simple setup that I actually described.

这些都是用我刚才说的 那种简单的装置看到的。

So my wife has been field testing

我妻子曾经实地考验过

some of our microscopes

我们的显微镜，

by washing my clothes whenever I forget them

她总是在我把衣物 落在烘干机里时

in the dryer.

把它们洗了。

So it turns out they're waterproof, and --

这样看来，它们是防水的，

(Laughter) —

（笑声）

right here is just fluorescent water,

这里装的是带荧光素的水，

and I don't know if you can actually see this.

我不知道你们是否能看见，

This also shows you how the projection scope works.

不过这里显示出来 投影是怎么形成的，

You get to see the beam the way it's projected and bent.

你可以看见光线 是如何被投射和弯曲的。

Can we get the lights back on again?

现在可以再把灯打开吗？

So I'm quickly going to show you,

现在我要快点给你们展示一下，

since I'm running out of time,

因为我快没时间了，

in terms of how much it costs for us to manufacture,

关于我们花多少成本来生产，

the biggest idea was roll-to-roll manufacturing,

最好的方式是卷式生产方式，

so we built this out of 50 cents of parts and costs.

我们每造一个只要花50美分。

(Applause)

（掌声）

And what this allows us to do

这让我们想出了

is to think about a new paradigm in microscopy,

使用显微镜的一个新模式，

which we call use-and-throw microscopy.

我们称之为一次性显微镜。

I'm going to give you a quick snapshot

我要给你们看一下

of some of the parts that go in.

这里面的某些部件。

Here is a sheet of paper.

这是一张纸，

This is when we were thinking about the idea.

这是我们当初开始这个设想的时候，

This is an A4 sheet of paper.

这是一张A4大小的纸，

These are the three stages that you actually see.

这是你们看到的那三个部分。

And the optical components, if you look at the inset up on the right,

光学部分，如果你看右边插图，

we had to figure out a way to manufacture lenses

我们必须得想一个办法

in paper itself at really high throughputs,

可以以纸本身为材料， 高效率地生产透镜。

so it uses a process of self-assembly

通过自行组装

and surface tension

以及表面张力，

to build achromatic lenses in the paper itself.

就可以在纸里面造出消色差透镜了。

So that's where the lenses go.

透镜就放在这里。

There are some light sources.

还有光源部分。

And essentially, in the end,

最后，也是最根本的，

all the parts line up because of origami,

所有部件通过折纸的方法对齐，

because of the fact that origami allows us

因为折纸的方法使我们

micron-scale precision of optical alignment.

在将光学配件对齐时 达到小于微米级的精确度。

So even though this looks like a simple toy,

所以尽管这看起来 就象个简简单单的玩具，

the aspects of engineering that go in

为制作它所用到的工程学

something like this are fairly sophisticated.

还是相当复杂的。

So here is another obvious thing that we would do,

显然我们还将做的另一件事，

typically, if I was going to show

通常如果我想证实，

that these microscopes are robust,

这些显微镜有多结实，

is go to the third floor and drop it from the floor itself.

我就上到三楼， 然后把它扔下去，

There it is, and it survives.

掉在那儿了， 还好着呢。

So for us, the next step actually

对我们来说， 下一步实际上

is really finishing our field trials.

就是真正完成我们的现场试验。

We are starting at the end of the summer.

我们将在夏季快结束的时候开始试验。

We are at a stage where we'll be making thousands of microscopes.

现在我们正在制造 数以千计的显微镜，

That would be the first time where we would be

这将是我们第一次，

doing field trials with the highest density

在进行实地检测时

of microscopes ever at a given place.

在一个地方投放的显微镜数量 达到最高的密度。

We've started collecting data for malaria,

我们已经开始从病人身上收集

Chagas disease and giardia from patients themselves.

关于疟疾，查格斯氏病 和贾第鞭毛虫病的数据。

And I want to leave you with this picture.

我想最后给你们看这张照片，

I had not anticipated this before,

我之前并没有预料到这一点，

but a really interesting link

不过在

between hands-on science education

动手型的科学教育

and global health.

和全球健康问题之间有一个有趣的联系。

What are the tools that we're actually providing

我们能提供什么样的工具，

the kids who are going to fight

给那些明天要和怪物汤

this monster soup for tomorrow?

斗争的孩子们呢？

I would love for them to be able to just print out

我非常希望他们可以打印出

a Foldscope and carry them around in their pockets.

一个纸折显微镜， 然后装在口袋里随身携带。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）