Could a tattoo help you stay healthy? | Carson Bruns

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Joanna Pietrulewicz

譯者: Helen Chang 審譯者: Marssi Draw

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

我想向各位介紹一個名叫 奧茨的有趣人物。

He lives in Italy

他住在義大利的 南蒂羅爾考古博物館，

at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology

because he's a mummy.

因為他是個木乃伊。

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

這是藝術家重現 5300 年前

when he was alive 5,300 years ago.

他還活著時的樣子。

You want to see what he looks like today?

你們想看看他今天的模樣嗎？

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

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

坐穩哦，噁心的木乃伊照片來了。

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

他是沒以前那麼英俊，

but he's actually in great shape for a mummy

然而對木乃伊來說， 他的狀態其實很棒，

because he was discovered frozen in ice.

因為他被發現的時候是在凍結的冰裡。

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

在所有被發現仍保有皮膚的 木乃伊中，奧茨是最古老的。

5,300 years is super old,

5300 年超老的，

older than the Egyptian pyramids,

比埃及金字塔更老，

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

奧茨的皮膚被 61 個 黑色刺青覆蓋著，

all lines and crosses on parts of his body

全都是交叉的線條，

覆蓋著他身上可能疼痛的各個部位。

where he might have experienced pain.

So scientists think that they might have been used

因此，科學家認為它們可能被用於

to mark sites for some kind of therapy,

標記某些治療方法，

like acupuncture.

類似針灸。

So clearly, if the oldest skin we've seen

如果我們看到的最古老皮膚

is all tattooed up,

全是刺青，

tattooing is a very ancient practice.

顯然刺青是一種非常古老的做法。

But fast-forward to today and tattoos are everywhere.

快轉到今天，刺青無處不在。

Almost one in four Americans has a tattoo,

幾乎四分之一的美國人有刺青，

it's a multibillion-dollar industry,

這是一個價值數十億美元的產業，

and whether you love tattoos or hate them,

無論你喜歡還是討厭刺青，

this talk will change the way you think about them.

這個演講都會改變你對它們的看法。

So, why are tattoos so popular?

為什麼刺青如此受歡迎？

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

與奧茨不同，今天我們大多數人 用刺青來做為某種自我表達。

Personally, I love tattoos because I love art

我個人因為喜歡藝術而喜歡刺青，

and there is something so wonderful to me,

對我來說，有些東西 美好得幾近浪漫，

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

有關刺青的藝術形式

cannot be commodified.

無法被商品化。

Right? Your tattoo lives and dies with you.

對吧？你的刺青與你共存。

It can't be bought or sold or traded,

它不能買賣、交易，

so its only value is really personal to you,

所以，它的確只對你個人有價值，

and I love that.

我很喜歡這樣。

Now, I tend to gravitate towards really colorful tattoos

我總被非常豐富多彩的刺青吸引，

because I'm obsessed with color.

因為我迷戀色彩。

I teach a whole course on it at my university.

我在大學教授一門完整的課程。

But my very first tattoo was an all-black tattoo

但我的第一個刺青是全黑的，

like Ötzi's.

像奧茨那樣。

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

沒錯，我和年輕人一樣， 有時會做老套的事，

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

用一種甚至我無法讀懂的語言刺青。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

OK, but I was 19 years old,

當時我 19 歲，

I had just returned from my first trip overseas,

剛從海外第一次旅行回來，

I was in Japan in the mountains

我在日本山上的佛寺參禪，

meditating in Buddhist monasteries,

and it was a really meaningful experience to me,

對我來說那是非常有意義的經歷，

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

所以我想用這個日文 和漢字的「山」來紀念它。

for "mountain."

Now, here's what blows my mind.

如今這讓我大吃一驚。

My 14-year-old tattoo

我紋了 14 年的刺青

and Ötzi's 5,300-year-old tattoos

和奧茨紋了 5300 年的刺青

are made of the same exact stuff:

用同樣的東西製成：

soot,

煙灰，

that black powdery carbon dust

黑色的粉狀碳，

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

燃燒後留在壁爐裡的東西。

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

如果你放得很大仔細看 我的刺青或是奧茨的刺青，

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

會發現它們看起來都像這樣。

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

刺青只不過是一堆微小的顏料顆粒，

soot in this case,

在這種情況下，

是煙灰被困在真皮中，

that get trapped in the dermis,

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

那是皮膚表面下的組織層。

So in over five thousand years,

因此，在超過五千年的時間裡，

we've done very little to update tattoo technology,

除了有更多顏色和更有效的紋法之外，

apart from getting access to more colors

我們在更新刺青技術方面少有更動。

and slightly more efficient methods of installation.

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

我是個藝術家兼科學家，

and I direct a laboratory that researches nanotechnology,

我帶領一個研究奈米技術的實驗室，

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

這是一種用超微小物 來構建東西的科學，

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

甚至微小到人類頭髮寬度 千分之一的等級。

And I began to ask myself,

我開始思考，

how could nanotechnology serve tattooing?

如何把奈米技術用於刺青呢？

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

如果刺青只是皮膚中的一堆顆粒，

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

可不可以將這些顆粒 換成更有趣的東西呢？

Here's my big idea:

這是我的想法：

I believe that tattoos can give you superpowers.

我相信刺青可以賦予我們超能力。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

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

我並不是說會讓我們能飛，

but I do think that we can have superpowers

但我認為我們能夠擁有超能力，

in the sense that tattoos can give us new abilities

因為刺青可以帶給我們

目前不擁有的新能力。

that we don't currently possess.

By upgrading the particles, we can engineer tattooing

我們可以透過顆粒升級來設計刺青，

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

這樣不僅可以改變皮膚的外觀，

but also the function of our skin.

還可以改變皮膚的功能。

Let me show you.

讓我示範給你們看。

This is a diagram of a microcapsule.

這是一粒微膠囊的圖。

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

是個帶有保護外殼的微小空心顆粒，

about the size of a tattoo pigment,

大小與刺青顏料相當，

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

你幾乎可以隨心所欲地填充內部。

So what if we put interesting materials inside of these microcapsules

倘若我們將有趣的材料 放入這些微膠囊內，

and made tattoo inks with them?

用它們作為刺青墨水呢？

What sorts of things could we make a tattoo do?

可以用刺青做什麼呢？

What problems could we solve?

可以解決哪些問題呢？

What human limitations could we overcome?

可以克服哪些人類的限制呢？

Well, here's one idea:

這裡有個想法：

one of our weaknesses as humans

身為人類的弱點之一

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

就是我們看不到紫外光或紫外線。

That's the high-energy part of sunlight

這是陽光的高能量部分，

that causes sunburn and increases our risk of skin cancer.

會導致曬傷，增加 罹患皮膚癌的風險。

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

許多動物和昆蟲實際上 看得到紫外線，但我們不能。

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

如果看得見的話，我們 能適時地在皮膚上塗抹防曬霜。

Unfortunately, most of us don't wear sunscreen,

不幸的是，大多數人不塗防曬霜，

and those of us who do

而塗抹的那些人並不知道

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

什麼時候應該要補擦， 因為它是看不見的。

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

僅在美國，每年治療超過 500 萬例可預防性皮膚癌，

of preventable skin cancer every year in the US alone,

年經濟損失超過 50 億美元，

costing our economy over five billion dollars annually.

這是主要原因。

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

那麼，我們如何用刺青 來克服這個人類的弱點呢？

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

如果問題在於我們看不到紫外線，

maybe we can make a tattoo detect them for us.

也許可以讓刺青為我們偵測紫外線。

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

所以我想，何不拿一些微膠囊，

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

填裝對紫外線敏感的變色染料，

and make a tattoo ink out of that?

用它製作刺青墨水呢？

Now, one of the troubles of being a tattoo technologist

作為刺青技師的困難之一

is finding willing test subjects.

就是要找自願被測試的對象。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And when it came time to test this tattoo ink,

當要測試這種刺青墨水時，

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

我認為最好不要 折磨我可憐的研究生。

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

所以我決定在自己的 手臂上紋幾個點。

And It actually worked. Check it out!

它確實有效。看看這個！

I call these tattoos solar freckles

我把這些刺青稱為太陽雀斑，

because they're powered by sunshine.

因為它們是由陽光驅動的。

And right now, they're invisible,

它們此刻隱形；

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

一旦我將它們暴露在 充當太陽的紫外線下，

there they are, blue spots.

藍色斑點，就在那裡。

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

我沒有在這段影片中擦防曬霜，

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

但如果有，就不會 出現那些藍色斑點，

and then when my sunscreen wore off later,

當我的防曬霜隨後消失時，

the solar freckles would reappear in UV light

太陽雀斑會再次出現在紫外線下，

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

我就知道應該補擦防曬霜了。

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

因此，這些刺青可以作為

肉眼即時可見的 皮膚紫外線暴曬指標。

of your skin's UV exposure.

And of course,

當然，

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

我認為可以用這樣顏色變化的刺青

做很多非常酷的藝術性作品，

with a color-changing tattoo like this,

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

但我希望它也能幫我們解決

一個保護皮膚的大問題。

in skin protection.

(Applause)

（掌聲）

Let me give you another example.

讓我再舉一個例子。

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

正常人體的體溫約在 華氏 97 至 99 度之間，

and if you fall outside of that range,

如果超出該範圍就需要立即就醫。

you need to seek medical attention right away.

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

現在問題在於如果不用溫度計，

人類無法測到自己的體溫。

without a thermometer.

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

當然，你可以使用 手碰額頭的老伎倆，

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

但是那完全沒有 任何科學根據可佐證。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

So what if we could create a tattooable thermometer

如果我們能夠創建

可以隨時看的刺青溫度計呢？

that you could access anytime?

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

還記得太陽雀斑 如何在刺青墨水的微膠囊內

inside of the microcapsules of the tattoo ink?

使用紫外線敏感的染料嗎？

Well, you could also put heat-sensitive dyes

你也可以將熱敏感染料 放在微膠囊內，

inside of microcapsules

and you could make different tattoo inks

你可以製作不同的刺青油墨，

that change color at different temperatures.

在不同的溫度下改變顏色。

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

假設它們是華氏 96、98 和 100 度。

If you place those inks side by side,

如果把這些墨水並排放置，

now you have a temperature scale

現在就有了人體溫度計。

tuned to the human body.

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

在這影片中，

你可以看到不同的 刺青斑塊依次消失，

disappearing sequentially

as the pigskin we tested them on

因為它們所在的 測試豬皮，溫度升高了。

is heated up.

So if you were to place a tattoo like this

所以，如果你把這樣的刺青

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

放在一個對外部溫度波動 穩定的位置——

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

也許放在嘴裡，嘴唇的後面——

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

然後只需看一下鏡子裡的刺青

by just glancing at your tattoo in the mirror.

就可以隨時讀取體溫。

Amazing, right?

很棒吧？

(Applause)

（掌聲）

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）

Another limitation that we have as humans

身為人類的另一限制

is that our skin doesn't conduct electricity,

是我們的皮膚不導電，

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

這可能是一件好事，但未必——

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

if you have an electronic biomedical implant,

如果你有電子生物醫學植入物，

like a pacemaker for example.

例如心律調節器。

Right now, if you have a pacemaker,

現在如果你有心律調節器，

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

需要每五年或十年動一次手術， 以便在電池耗盡時更換電池。

And wouldn't it be nice if, instead,

如果反過來，

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

透過一片導電皮膚給電池充電， 那不是很棒嗎？

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

如果你試圖用刺青來解決這個問題，

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

那麼第一步就是製作會導電的刺青。

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

所以我們一直在實驗室裡 研究刺青墨水。

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

而現在，我們可以透過刺青墨水

將皮膚的電導率提高 300 倍以上。

with our conducting tattoo ink.

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

我們還有很長的路要走，

才能達到類似銅線的導電效率，

of something like a copper wire,

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

但我們一直有所進展， 我對此感到非常興奮，

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

因為我認為這能為刺青的可能應用

for tattoos.

打開新世界。

I envision a future where tattoos enable us --

我想像刺青是我們的未來——

tattooable wires and tattooable electronics enable us

刺青電線和刺青電子產品，

使我們能夠將技術 與我們的身體融合在一起，

to merge our technologies with our bodies

so that they feel more like extensions of ourselves

使它們感覺更像是我們自己的延伸，

rather than external devices.

而不是外部的設備。

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

這是少數幾個我們透過使用奈米技術

by using nanotechnology to upgrade our tattoos,

以提升刺青來獲得新能力的例子，

but this really is only the beginning.

但這真的才剛開始。

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

我相信高科技刺青的應用沒有極限。

In the future, tattoos will not only be beautiful,

在未來，刺青不僅美麗，

they'll be functional too.

還有功用。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）