Lifesaving scientific tools made of paper | Manu Prakash

譯者: joya xue 審譯者: 易帆 余

So, I love making tools and sharing them with people.

我熱愛製作工具 並把它們分享給他人。

I remember as a child,

記得小時候我做的 第一個工具是顯微鏡，

my first tool I built was actually a microscope

that I built by stealing lenses from my brother's eyeglasses.

用從哥哥那偷來的眼鏡片做的，

He wasn't that thrilled.

他不是很高興。

But, you know, maybe because of that moment,

但，你知道嗎， 或許就是因為那一刻，

30 years later,

30 年後，我依然在做顯微鏡。

I'm still making microscopes.

And the reason I built these tools is for moments like this.

而我製作它們的原因， 就是為了這樣的時刻：

(Video) Girl: I have black things in my hair --

（影片）女孩：有黑色的 東西在我頭髮裡——

Manu Prakash: This is a school in the Bay Area.

馬努：這是在灣區的一所學校。

(Video) MP: The living world far supersedes our imagination

（影片）馬努：真實的世界如何運行 與我們的想像大相逕庭。

of how things actually work.

(Video) Boy: Oh my God!

（影片）男孩：天啊！

MP: Right -- oh my God!

馬努：沒錯——天啊！

I hadn't realized this would be such a universal phrase.

我真的沒想到 大家的反應都是這句話。

Over the last two years,

這兩年以來，

in my lab,

在我的實驗室裡，

we built 50,000 Foldscopes

我們做了五萬個 「折疊式顯微鏡」(Foldscope)，

and shipped them to 130 countries in the world,

並將之送到全球 130 多個國家，

at no cost to the kids we sent them to.

免費提供給孩子們使用。

This year alone,

單是今年，

with the support of our community,

在社群的支持下，

we are planning to ship a million microscopes

我們計畫發放一百萬台顯微鏡 給世界各地的小朋友。

to kids around the world.

What does that do?

這將有什麼作用呢？

It creates an inspiring community of people around the world,

它能營造一個有啟發性作用的社群，

讓世界各地的人 共同學習、相互傳授。

learning and teaching each other,

from Kenya to Kampala to Kathmandu to Kansas.

從肯尼亞到坎帕拉， 從加德滿都到堪薩斯。

我特別喜歡這計畫的一個效應，

And one of the phenomenal things that I love about this

is the sense of community.

就是「社群」的感覺。

There's a kid in Nicaragua

有一位尼加拉瓜的小孩，

teaching others how to identify mosquito species that carry dengue

能教別人如何透過顯微鏡觀察蟲卵，

by looking at the larva under a microscope.

來分辨會攜帶登革熱的蚊子。

There's a pharmacologist who came up with a new way

一名藥理學家，

找到了一個在任何地方 都能分辨假藥的新方法。

to detect fake drugs anywhere.

There is a girl who wondered:

有一個小女孩想知道：

"How does glitter actually work?"

「亮粉為什麼會發亮？」

結果發現了亮粉的物理結晶構造。

and discovered the physics of crystalline formation in glitter.

There is an Argentinian doctor

還有一位阿根廷的醫生，

who's trying to do field cervical cancer screening with this tool.

用這項工具實現了 現場實地子宮頸癌篩檢。

And yours very truly found a species of flea

甚至在我腳後跟處一公分深的地方，

that was dug inside my heel in my foot one centimeter deep.

你能挖到了新品種的跳蚤。

Now, you might think of these as anomalies.

你可能覺得這不過是特別情況。

But there is a method to this madness.

不過真的有辦法 讓這件神奇的事情成真。

I call this "frugal science" --

我叫它做「便宜科學」——

the idea of sharing the experience of science,

這是一個分享科學經驗，

and not just the information.

而非只有科學資訊的理念。

To remind you:

提醒各位，

there are a billion people on this planet

這顆星球上有十億人 生活在毫無基礎建設的環境裡：

who live with absolutely no infrastructure:

no roads,

沒有公路、

no electricity

沒有電力，

and thus, no health care.

所以也沒有醫療保健。

Also, there a billion kids on this planet that live in poverty.

同樣的，這星球上有十億孩童 生活在貧困之中，

How are we supposed to inspire them

應該怎樣啟發他們

for the next generation of solution makers?

成為下一代的問題解決者？

There are health care workers that we put on the line

還有要如何支援那些 靠著極有限的工具和資源保護我們，

to fight infectious diseases,

to protect us with absolutely bare-minimum tools and resources.

在對抗傳染性疾病的最前線 奮戰的醫療工作者。

So as a lab at Stanford,

作為史丹福大學的研究員，

I think of this from a context of frugal science

我在想，要如何運用 便宜科學的理念來啟發孩子們，

and building solutions for these communities.

並為這些社區設計出解決方案。

Often we think about being able to do diagnosis under a tree, off-grid.

我們通常需要考慮的是如何 在樹下、沒有電的情況下做診斷，

I'll tell you two examples today of new tools.

向各位說兩個新工具的案例。

One of them starts in Uganda.

其中一個我要從烏干達講起，

In 2013,

2013 年，在使用折疊顯微鏡 檢測血吸蟲病的一次野外考察中，

on a field trip to detect schistosomiasis with Foldscopes,

我觀察到一個小現象。

I made a minor observation.

In a clinic,

在這個地處偏僻遙遠的診所裡，

in a far, remote area,

I saw a centrifuge being used as a doorstop.

我看到一個離心機被用來做門擋，

I mean -- quite literally, the doorstop.

他們真的是直接拿離心機來擋門。

And I asked them and they said,

我對此表示疑惑，他們回答說：

"Oh, we don't actually have electricity,

「哦，我們並沒有電啊，

so this piece of junk is good as a doorstop."

所以這塊垃圾最好的用處 就是用來擋門。」

Centrifuges, for some of you who don't know,

離心機這個機器， 如果有人不了解的話，

are the pinnacle tool to be able to do sample processing.

它是非常重要的樣本分析工具，

You separate components of blood or body fluids

它可以幫你分離出 血液或體液中的成分，

to be able to detect and identify pathogens.

以供檢測和鑒別病原體用。

But centrifuges are bulky, expensive --

但離心機既笨重又昂貴——

cost around 1,000 dollars --

大概 1000 美元一台——

and really hard to carry out in the field.

並且非常難以搬運到野外工作。

And of course,

當然了，沒有電它們也無法運作。

they don't work without power.

Sound familiar?

這聽起來是不是有點耳熟？

So we started thinking about solving this problem,

所以我們開始思考 怎麼解決這個問題，

and I came back --

我回到實驗室，一直想到玩具。

kept thinking about toys.

Now ...

現在......

I have a few with me here.

我帶了幾個來。

I first started with yo-yos ...

我最開始是從溜溜球下手的，

and I'm a terrible yo-yo thrower.

我很不擅長玩溜溜球。

Because these objects spin,

但這個東西會旋轉，

we wondered,

我們就在想......

could we actually use the physics of these objects

能不能利用這個原理 來做離心機呢？

to be able to build centrifuges?

This was possibly the worst throw I could make.

這大概是我扔得最爛的一次。

But you might start realizing,

所以你就會開始想

if you start exploring the space of toys --

還有哪些工具與玩具一樣安全——

we tried these spinning tops,

我們試過陀螺......

and then in the lab,

然後在實驗室裡，

we stumbled upon this wonder.

我們偶然發現了這個神奇的小玩意，

It's the whirligig, or a buzzer, or a rundle.

這也是陀螺的一種，又叫拉線飛輪。

A couple of strings and a little disk,

它由幾根繩子和一個圓盤構成。

and if I push, it spins.

如果我拉一下繩子，它就會旋轉。

How many of you have played with this as a kid?

有多少人小時候玩過這個？

This is called a button-on-a-string.

這就是所謂的「鈕扣飛輪」。

OK, maybe 50 percent of you.

好吧，大概有一半的人。

What you didn't realize --

但你可能不知道——

that this little object

這個小東西，

is the oldest toy in the history of mankind ...

它是人類歷史上最古老的玩具。

5,000 years ago.

五千年前就和遺跡一起 深埋在我們的地球上。

We have found relics of this object hidden around on our planet.

Now the irony is,

但諷刺的是，

we actually don't understand how this little thing works.

實際上我們並不知道 這個小東西的原理是什麼，

That's when I get excited.

這樣的情況讓我相當興奮。

So we got back to work,

我們回到工作正軌上，

wrote down a couple of equations.

寫下了幾條方程式。

If you take the input torque that you put in,

如果你知道你的輸入扭矩，

you take the drag on this disc,

輪盤的阻力，及線的扭阻力，

and the twist drag on these strings,

you should be able to mathematically solve this.

如此就能直接導出數學公式 來解決這個問題。

This is not the only equation in my talk.

這可不是唯一的方程式，

Ten pages of math later,

經過十幾頁的數學計算之後，

we could actually write down the complete analytical solution

我們終於寫出了這個 動力系統的完整解析方案。

for this dynamic system.

最後得到的就是我們稱之為 「紙離心機」的東西。

And out comes what we call "Paperfuge."

That's my postdoc Saad Bhamla,

這是我帶的博士後，薩德．巴姆拉，

who's the co-inventor of Paperfuge.

也是紙離心機的共同發明者，

And to the left, you see all the centrifuges

左邊你看到的那些離心機 是我們想要替換掉的。

that we're trying to replace.

This little object that you see right here

你們現在看到的這個小東西，

is a disc, a couple of strings and a handle.

是一個圓盤，幾條線和一個把手。

And when I spin

當我想要它旋轉時，

and I push,

我這樣拉，

it starts to spin.

它就轉起來了。

Now, when you realize,

你會發現，

when you do the math,

如果你用數學來計算這東西的轉速，

when we calculate the rpm for this object,

mathematically, we should be able to go all the way to a million rpm.

理論上，我們可以 做到一分鐘一百萬轉。

Now, there is a little twist in human anatomy,

接下來跟人體解剖構造有關，

because the resonant frequency of this object is about 10 hertz,

因為這個小東西的 共振頻率大概有 10 千赫，

and if you've ever played the piano,

如果你彈過鋼琴的話，

you can't go higher than two or three hertz.

你就知道，不會高過 2-3 千赫。

The maximum speed we've been able to achieve with this object

我們這個小東西能達到的最大速度，

is not 10,000 rpm,

不是每分鐘一萬轉，

not 50,000 rpm --

也不是每分鐘五萬轉，

120,000 rpm.

而是每分鐘十二萬轉，

That's equal to 30,000 g-forces.

相當等於三萬個重力加速度。

If I was to stick you right here and have it spin,

如果我把你黏在這裡， 然後讓它旋轉，

you would think about the types of forces you would experience.

想想看你會感受到什麼樣的力量。

One of the factors of a tool like this

這樣的工具需要考慮一個關鍵，

is to be able to do diagnosis with this.

就是能否用於診斷。

So, I'm going to do a quick demo here, where --

所以我準備在這 做一個簡短的演示，

this is a moment where I'm going to make a little finger prick,

現在我要戳一下手指頭，

and a tiny drop of blood is going to come out.

這會流出一小滴血。

If you don't like blood, you don't have to look at it.

如果你不喜歡血，可以不看。

Here is a little lancet.

這有一個小採血針，

These lancets are available everywhere,

這樣的小針在哪都很常見，

completely passive.

完全沒有攻擊性。

And if I've had breakfast today ...

但願我今天早上吃了早餐......

That didn't hurt at all.

一點也不痛。

OK, I take a little capillary with a drop of blood --

好，我要拿採血管取一滴血——

now this drop of blood has answers,

現在這滴血就是答案，

that's why I'm interested in it.

這就是我為何對此感興趣的原因，

It might actually tell me whether I have malaria right now or not.

它能顯示我現在有沒有得瘧疾。

I take a little capillary,

我拿了個採血管，

and you see it starts wicking in.

你們能看到開始出血了。

I'm going to draw a little more blood.

我要再多擠一點血出來，

And that's good enough for right now.

這樣就夠了。

Now, I just seal this capillary by putting it in clay.

現在要把採血管放進黏土裡密封，

And now that's sealed the sample.

然後現在它是一個密封好的樣本了，

We're going to take the sample,

我現在要把它固定在紙離心機上。

mount it on Paperfuge.

A little piece of tape to make a sealed cavity.

用一片小膠帶把它黏上去，

So now the sample is completely enclosed.

現在樣本已經完全附著好了，

And we are ready for a spin.

我們準備好開始轉了。

I'm pushing and pulling with this object.

我要拉扯一下這個東西，

I'm going to load this up ...

先把它轉幾下……

And you see the object starts spinning.

你能看到它已經開始旋轉了。

Unlike a regular centrifuge,

這和一般的離心機不同，

this is a counter-rotating centrifuge.

這是一個會來回旋轉的離心機，

It goes back and forth, back and forth ...

它會往前轉然後往後轉， 往前轉然後往後轉...

And now I'm charging it up,

我正在給它更多的動力，

and you see it builds momentum.

你能看到它越來越快了。

And now -- I don't know if you can hear this --

現在——我不知道你們 能不能聽到這個聲音——

30 seconds of this,

保持這樣 30 秒，

and I should be able to separate all the blood cells with the plasma.

我應該就能把血細胞和 血漿分離開，

And the ratio of those blood cells to plasma --

並且知道血細胞和血漿的比例——

(Applause)

（觀眾鼓掌）

Already, if you see right here,

已經好了，如果你看這裡，

if you focus on this,

注意看這個地方，

you should be able to see a separated volume

你可以看到 血細胞和血漿各別的容量，

of blood and plasma.

And the ratio of that actually tells me whether I might be anemic.

這個比例能讓我知道我是否貧血。

One of the aspects of this is, we build many types of Paperfuges.

我們造了很多類型的紙離心機，

This one allows us to identify malaria parasites

這一種讓我們能夠識別瘧疾寄生蟲，

by running them for a little longer,

讓它轉得更久一點，

and we can identify malaria parasites that are in the blood

我們就能看到血液裡的 瘧疾寄生蟲了，

that we can separate out and detect with something like a centrifuge.

這樣的分離和檢測就是 一般的離心機能做的。

Another version of this allows me to separate nucleic acids

另一個版本的紙離心機 能讓我們分離出核酸，

to be able to do nucleic acid tests out in the field itself.

能在野外做核酸測試。

Here is another version that allows me to separate bulk samples,

這個版本可以批量分離大量樣本。

and then, finally,

然後呢，最後，

something new that we've been working on

我們在研究的新產品，

to be able to implement the entire multiplex test on an object like this.

能在這樣的東西上施行多種測試，

So where you do the sample preparation and the chemistry in the same object.

能在同一個物體上準備樣品， 並進行化學反應。

Now ...

那麼……

this is all good,

這些聽起來都很好，

but when you start thinking about this,

但如果你認真地想想，

you have to share these tools with people.

當你想把這些工具分享給別人......

And one of the things we did is -- we just got back from Madagascar;

我們的行動之一是—— 我們剛從馬達加斯加回來；

this is what clinical trials for malaria look like --

瘧疾的臨床診斷看起來是這樣的——

（觀眾笑）

(Laughter)

你可以邊喝咖啡邊做這個。

You can do this while having coffee.

But most importantly,

但最重要的是，

this is a village six hours from any road.

這個村子離最近的公路要六小時。

We are in a room with one of the senior members of the community

我們和一名當地的長者，

and a health care worker.

還有一名醫療工作者在房間裡。

It really is this portion of the work that excites me the most --

這是工作中最讓我興奮的時刻——

that smile,

就是使用者的微笑，

to be able to share simple but powerful tools with people around the world.

能和世界上所有的人 分享簡單而強大的工具。

Now, I forgot to tell you this,

現在，我忘了告訴各位，

that all of that cost me 20 cents to make.

做這個東西只花了我 20 美分。

OK, in the negative time I have left,

好，在剩下不多的時間裡，

I'll tell you about the most recent --

我來給各位談談

(Laughter)

（觀眾笑）

invention from our lab.

我們實驗室裡最新的發明。

It's called Abuzz --

它叫「嗡嗡」(Abuzz) ──

the idea that all of you could help us fight mosquitoes;

我們的想法是， 讓所有人都能幫忙對抗蚊子，

you could all help us track our enemies.

你們都能幫忙追蹤我們的敵人。

These are enemies because they cause malaria, Zika, chikungunya, dengue.

蚊子之所以是敵人，是因為牠們傳播 瘧疾、茲卡病、屈公病和登革熱。

But the challenge is that we actually don't know where our enemies are.

困難在於，我們 其實不知道敵人到底在哪，

The world map for where mosquitoes are is missing.

蚊子的世界分佈圖還沒有人做出來。

So we started thinking about this.

所以我們開始思考這件事，

There are 3,500 species of mosquitoes,

世界上有 3500 種蚊子，

and they're all very similar.

牠們都非常相似。

Some of them are so identical

有得甚至相似到連昆蟲學家 在顯微鏡下也區分不出來。

that even an entomologist cannot identify them under a microscope.

But they have an Achilles' heel.

但牠們有一個致命弱點。

This is what mosquitoes flirting with each other looks like.

這是蚊子相互調情的場面，

That's a male chasing a female.

那隻雄蚊正在追求雌蚊。

They're actually talking to each other with their wingbeat frequencies.

牠們利用翅膀震動的頻率對話，

(Buzzing sound)

（嗡嗡聲）

And thus, they have a signature.

也就是說，牠們使用一種特定信號。

We realized that using a regular phone,

我們發現透過一隻普通的手機，

a $5-10 flip phone --

一隻價值 5-10 美金的 翻蓋式手機——

how many remember what this object is?

有多少人還記得這是什麼？

(Laughter)

（觀眾笑）

We can record these acoustic signatures from mosquitoes.

我們可以把蚊子的 音頻信號錄製下來，

I'll tell you exactly how to do this.

我來告訴各位確切要怎麼做。

I caught some mosquitoes outside.

我在室外抓到一些蚊子，

Unlike Bill [Gates], I'm not going to release them.

不像比爾蓋茨，我沒打算放生牠們。

(Laughter)

（觀眾笑）

But I will tell you how to record from this.

但我會告訴你們怎麼樣錄音，

All you do is tap them and they fly.

你只需要敲幾下， 牠們就會飛起來，

You can first test --

先測試一下，看能不能用耳朵聽到，

I can actually hear that.

And you bring your phone, which has microphones --

然後你拿起手機，上面有麥克風，

it turns out the mics are so damn good already,

普通手機的麥克風就相當好用，

even on regular phones,

that you can pick up this near-field signature.

你可以捕捉到近音場的音頻。

And since I'm out of time,

因為時間不夠用了，

let me just play the recording that I made a day ago.

允許我直接播放前一天做的錄音。

(Mosquitoes buzz)

（蚊子嗡嗡聲）

This is all the charming sound that you heard before

這就是大家都聽過的迷人聲音，

that you all love.

人人都喜歡。

One of the contexts of this

能用一隻普通的手機 這麼做的意義在於，

is that being able to do this with a regular cell phone

allows us to map mosquito species.

我們可以做出蚊子種類的分佈圖。

Using a flip phone,

通過翻蓋式手機，

we mapped one of the largest acoustic databases

我們可以繪製出一個 大型的音頻數據庫，

with 25 to 20 species of mosquitoes that carry human pathogens.

裡面包括了 20-25 種會攜帶 人類病原體的蚊子。

And from this and machine learning,

透過上傳更新的音頻數據，

anybody who uploads this data,

加上機器學習，

we can identify and tell the probability

我們就能判斷

of what species of mosquitoes you're actually working with.

你抓到的蚊子種類可能性。

We call this Abuzz, and if any of you want to sign up,

我們管這個叫「嗡嗡」， 如果有人願意參與的話，

just go to the website.

只要去看我們的網站就行。

Let me close with something

請允許我以自己內心很看重的事 來結束今天的演講，

that's very important and dear to my heart.

One of the challenges of today is we have terrible problems.

當今世界我們面臨很多可怕的問題，

We have a billion people with absolutely no health care,

世界上有十億人沒有任何衛生保健，

climate change, biodiversity loss,

氣候變化，生物多樣性流失，

on and on and on.

還有很多很多，

And we hope that science is going to provide the answer.

而我們希望科學能提供解決方案。

But before you leave this theatre today,

今天，在你離開會場之前，

I want you to promise one thing.

我希望你們能答應一件事，

We're going to make science accessible --

我們要讓科學更便利，

not just to the people who can afford it,

不僅是只有支付得起的人可用，

but a billion others who can't.

更要讓十億沒有經濟能力的人所用。

Let's make science and scientific literacy a human right.

讓科學的應用及知識的取得 成為一種人權，

The moment that you pass the tingling feeling of making a discovery

當你把「發現」的動人時刻 傳遞給另一個孩子的時候，

to another child,

you're enabling them to be the next group of people

你很有可能讓他們成為 下一代真正解決這些問題的人。

who will actually solve these problems.

Thank you.

謝謝大家。

(Applause)

（觀眾鼓掌）