BBC地平线：明日世界（2013）

专门为医学目的所设计的材料
that we could specifically design for medical purposes
而不是从角落找出来的东西
rather than just taking them off the shelf?
三十多年前兰格开始这项工作时
When Langer started over 30 years ago,
他的伟大设想是设计新材料 聚合物
his big idea was to design new materials - polymers -
可以进入身体
that could go inside the body
并完成各项医疗程序
and carry out all sorts of medical procedures
之后安全溶解
before dissolving safely,
比如输送药物
like delivering drugs
或成为供新皮肤 骨头和软骨生长的支架
or acting as scaffolds for growing new skin, bone and cartilage.
问题是从来没有人尝试这样做过
The problem was it had never been attempted before.
我们最初开始时
When we first started this,
人们都说我们不可能合成这样的聚合物
people said that we wouldn't be able to synthesise the polymer.
化学家说这太难实现或者不会起作用
The chemists said it would be too difficult or couldn't work.
他们说聚会物在体内会被分解 它们很脆弱
They said the polymers will break in the body, they're fragile,
人们说这不安全
and people said it wouldn't be safe.
这涉及了高分子科学 化学工程
It involved polymer science, chemical engineering
化学 药学 医药科学
and chemistry and pharmaceutics and pharmaceutical science.
还涉及神经外科和药理学
It involved also neurosurgery and pharmacology,
医学 放射学以及毒理学
medicine and radiology, and toxicology.
这种结合的结果很成功
This collaboration turned out to be a success,
这就是证据
and here's the proof.
这些是被放入病人脑中的聚合物晶片
These are polymer wafers being put into someone's brain
用来提供治疗肿瘤的靶向药物
to treat a tumour with targeted drugs.
这些设备现在已成为治疗癌症的常规部分
Devices like these have now become a routine part of treating cancer.
神经外科医生亨利·布莱默是兰格的主要合作者之一
One of Langer's key collaborators is neurosurgeon Henry Brem.
病人三天后回家
The patient goes home three days later.
他们不会因为化疗而感到不适
They're not sick from chemotherapy,
亨利·布莱默医生 约翰·霍普金斯医院
不会掉头发 不会呕吐
they don't lose their hair, they don't throw up,
不会出现任何典型的化疗的副作用
they don't have any of the typical, sad side effects of chemotherapy,
而且体内还有一种非常有效的药物
and yet they have a very effective drug
正在起作用
that's working on their behalf.
兰格把不同领域的人聚集起来
Langer's way of drawing people together
这种方式十分强大
is proving to be an immensely powerful way
促进了21世纪科学发展
of driving innovation in 21st-century science.
真正发展了跨学科的探索的
The way we have developed the interdisciplinary approach, really,
是我的实验室里的工作人员们
is the people I have in the lab.
我们的工作人员来自大约十个不同学科
We probably have people with about ten different disciplines.
克里斯我一会儿想见见你
Hey, Chris, I'll look forward to seeing you later,
还有 我给了你一些意见
but also, I gave you comments.
-是的 我看见了 谢谢 -太棒了
- Yes, I saw that. Thank you. - OK, great.
我认为做跨学科的研究的一大好处
I think the big advantage of trying to do interdisciplinary research
是你可以将工程学的东西
is you can take things that are,
应用到医学 反之亦然
say, in engineering and apply them to medicine and vice versa.
所以你有可能会走上
So, you have the possibility of going down avenues and roads
别人不会走的道路
that other people just wouldn't go.
事实上 在这个实验室里很难找到
In fact it's hard to find anyone in this lab
只具备一门专业知识的人
who's got just one area of expertise.
我马上就到
Hey, I'll be right there.
而且兰格一直在寻找新的合作者
And Langer is always hunting for new collaborators,
像吉奥·特拉沃尔索博士
like Dr Gio Traverso.
他有令人难以置信的好东西
He's got incredibly neat stuff.
事实上他是一个
He's actually the perfect example of
超级跨学科科学家的完美例子
somebody who's super-interdisciplinary.
我想说他现在集医学 分子生物学
I'd say now he's got medicine, molecular biology,
和工程学于一身
and engineering all in one person,
他会告诉你他几件他正在做的事情
so he'll tell you a couple of things that he's doing.
它们确实令人惊叹
They're actually amazing.
这是我们正在研究的东西之一
One of the things that we're working on,
-我们正在开♥发♥ -所有这些都是新发明
- we're developing... - And all these are inventions.
我们正在开♥发♥一系列可被人体吸收的设备
We're developing a series of ingestible devices,
它实际上是用不同的针编码
which are actually coded with different needles.
这根针实际上相当长
Here the needles are actually fairly long
因为我们的进步与发展
so they're getting smaller and shorter
它变得更小更短
as we progress with the development.
当这样的设备足够微型化时
When devices like this can be sufficiently miniaturised,
外部注射就可能会成为历史
external injections might become a thing of the past.
你在研究牛痘疫苗吗 水痘还是其他的
So, are you working on a vaccine, or on bubbles, or which?
-目前是水痘 -好的
- Right now on the bubbles. - OK.
鲍勃的思维方式与其他人非常不同
Bob's mind works very differently than the rest of us.
他眼中的世界是一首歌♥ 是一首交响乐
He sees the world as a song, as an orchestral piece
埃利埃泽·埃德尔曼教授 麻省理工学院
而他是最终的指挥家
and he is the ultimate conductor.
他了解这首歌♥该如何演奏
He knows what it's supposed to sound like,
在一天结束的时候
and at the end of the day,
他能让我们每个人都演奏
he can have all of us play
所以我们的成品不仅音调和谐
so that what we produce is not only harmonious,
而且对每个演奏者来说
but each individual player,
比我们自己单独演奏的要优美的多
so much better than we could ever have done alone.
你会发现一些东西的
You'll find something.
如果它能起作用 这很好
If it works, that's a good thing,
但如果它根据原理工作
but obviously if it works according to theory,
-就更棒了 -是的
- that's a better thing. - Yeah, yeah.
经过近四十年 兰格的方法
After almost four decades, Langer's method now provides something
为其余的科学世界提供了蓝图
of a blueprint for the rest of the scientific world.
我认为那些人们在车♥库♥里工作
I think the days of an individual working in a garage
提出一个真正有影响的重大发明
and coming up with major inventions
这样的日子已经过去了
that really make an impact are over.
现在是一群有共同目标的人团队合作
It's teams now of people with a unified purpose that work together,
你得依靠每个人的专业知识
and you build on everyone's expertise.
八小时后鲍勃·兰格踏上了他的回家之路
Eight hours later and Bob Langer is on his way home,
但我相信他的工作并没有结束
but I don't think he's finished his work just yet.
看来我们集体可以做到的
It seems that collectively we can do far
远比最杰出的个人所做的多
more than even the most brilliant individual,
现在 一群新的发明家
and now a new breed of inventors
正在将这种跨学科的方法更进一步
is taking this interdisciplinary approach a step further
通过互联网将一个概念扩散到全球范围
by using the internet to develop a concept on a global scale.
其中之一是西泽·哈拉达
One of them is Cesar Harada,
他是一个鼓舞人心的年轻发明家
an inspirational young inventor
他充分发掘了互联网真正的力量
who's been tapping into the true power of the internet,
即大众的力量
the power of the crowd.
他的发明来源于近十年来最大的
His invention came as a result of one of the biggest
环境灾害之一
environmental disasters of the last decade -
2010年墨西哥湾漏油事故
the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion of 2010.
数百万桶原油流入墨西哥湾
Millions of barrels of crude oil poured into the Gulf of Mexico
而人类得清理残局
and the race was on to clear up the mess.
西泽·哈拉达想要帮忙
Cesar Harada wanted to help,
但他刚在麻省理工得到了一个令人垂涎的职位
but he'd just won a coveted place at MIT.
随着事件的发展 他面临一个艰难的抉择
As events unfolded, he faced a difficult choice.
我当时正在看电视 我感到震惊和悲伤
I was watching TV, and I was, er, terrified and sad,
我的答案是辞去我理想的
and my response was to leave my job,
在麻省理工学院的工作 我搬到了新奥尔良
my dream job in MIT, and move to New Orleans
西泽·哈拉达 Protei
并尝试开♥发♥清理漏油的技术
and try to develop technology to clean up the oil spill.
西泽认为被用来清理漏油的
Cesar believed that the fishing boats adapted with skimmers,
改装有撇油器的渔船
which were being used to clear up the spill,
不能胜任这份工作
weren't up to the job.
他们用来捞油的工具是一些小渔船
The tools they were using to capture it are these small fishing boats
它们可以捞起一些原油
and they capture some of the oil,
但假设你在一个充满原油的海洋里游泳
but imagine if you're swimming into an ocean of oil
你像这样伸展你的手臂捞油
and you're just extending your arms like this,
你能捞到的其实很少
you're not going to catch very much.
漏油的面♥积♥太大了
It's such a big surface.
更重要的是 当海面波涛汹涌时就无法捞油
What's more, when seas were rough, no skimming could take place.
很明显有许多问题需要解决
So obviously there were many problems to cope with,
你是怎么处理的呢
but how did you go about it?
你主要关注什么呢
What were you mainly focusing on?
首先要把人从这一过程中剔除
The first was to remove human beings from the...from the equation
那么你怎么做一条能运行的更好的船
so how do you make a boat that is going to operate better?
我将充分利用风能
And I will use wind power,
海面的水流和波浪 让船逆风而行
surface currents and the waves to actually navigate up the wind
这样就可以捕捉到顺风漂下来的原油