評論
打印
In the space that used to house one transistor, we can now fit one billion.
在以前，可以放置一個晶體管的空間，現在可以放10億個。
That made it so that a computer the size of an entire room now fits in your pocket.
這導致曾經占據了一整個房間的電腦，現在可以放在你的口袋里。
You might say the future is small.
也許你會說，未來東西都會越來越小。
As an engineer, I'm inspired by this miniaturization revolution in computers.
作為一個工程師，我受到了電腦微型化的啟發。
As a physician, I wonder whether we could use it to reduce the number of lives lost
作為一名醫生，我想知道我們可否用這個技術挽救更多的生命，
due to one of the fastest-growing diseases on Earth: cancer.
他們都死于地球上蔓延最快的疾病之一，癌癥。
Now when I say that,
如今當我這樣說的時候，
what most people hear me say is that we're working on curing cancer.
許多人認為我說的是我們在研究治愈癌癥。
And we are.
我們的確是。
But it turns out that there's an incredible opportunity to save lives
但是結果是，通過及早發現和預防癌癥
through the early detection and prevention of cancer.
就會有極大的機會拯救生命。
Worldwide, over two-thirds of deaths due to cancer are fully preventable
在全球，用我們今天已有的技術，超過三分之二因癌癥導致的死亡
using methods that we already have in hand today.
都是完全可以避免的。
Things like vaccination, timely screening and of course, stopping smoking.
包括疫苗接種，定期篩查，當然還有停止抽煙。
But even with the best tools and technologies that we have today,
但是就算使用如今我們擁有的最先進的工具和手段，
some tumors can't be detected until 10 years after they've started growing,
一些腫瘤仍然無法被探測到，直到它們已經生長了十年才被發現，
when they are 50 million cancer cells strong.
這時已經積累了5000萬的癌細胞了。
What if we had better technologies to detect some of these more deadly cancers sooner,
要是我們有更好的技術，在癌細胞剛剛產生時，在還可以被鏟除時就能更快
when they could be removed, when they were just getting started?
監測到一些更為致命的癌癥，會怎么樣呢？
Let me tell you about how miniaturization might get us there.
讓我來告訴你們微型技術，如何可能讓我們如愿。
This is a microscope in a typical lab
這是一個普通實驗室中的顯微鏡，
that a pathologist would use for looking at a tissue specimen, like a biopsy or a pap smear.
病理學家用它觀察組織標本，就像活體切片或巴氏涂片。
This $7,000 microscope
這個7000美元的顯微鏡
would be used by somebody with years of specialized training to spot cancer cells.
可以被受過幾年專業訓練的人用來檢測癌細胞。
This is an image from a colleague of mine at Rice University, Rebecca Richards-Kortum.
這張圖片來自于我萊斯大學的同事，麗貝卡·理查茲科圖姆。
What she and her team have done is miniaturize that whole microscope into this $10 part,
她和她的團隊實現了微縮這整個顯微鏡到這個價值10美金的部件中，
and it fits on the end of an optical fiber.
可以把它安裝在光纖的一端。
Now what that means is instead of taking a sample from a patient and sending it to the microscope,
這意味著無需在患者身上取得一個樣本，并送到顯微鏡下檢查，
you can bring the microscope to the patient.
你可以直接就把顯微鏡帶入病人體內。
And then, instead of requiring a specialist to look at the images,
并且，不用要求一個專業領域的人來觀察這個圖像，
you can train the computer to score normal versus cancerous cells.
你直接可以訓練電腦去比對正常和癌變的細胞。
Now this is important, because what they found working in rural communities,
這一點很重要，因為他們發現在農村地區工作，
is that even when they have a mobile screening van
就算他們有移動的檢查車，
that can go out into the community and perform exams and collect samples
可以走進農村進行檢查并且收集樣本，
and send them to the central hospital for analysis,
傳輸樣本到中心醫院進行分析，
that days later, women get a call with an abnormal test result and they're asked to come in.
幾天之后，女性們接到一個異常測試結果的電話，并被要求來醫院。
Fully half of them don't turn up because they can't afford the trip.
有一半的人不會出現，因為她們無法支付路費。
With the integrated microscope and computer analysis,
有了集成顯微鏡和計算機分析技術，
Rebecca and her colleagues have been able to create a van
麗貝卡和她的同事研發了同時具有
that has both a diagnostic setup and a treatment setup.
診斷裝置和治療裝置的醫療車。
And what that means is that they can do a diagnosis and perform therapy on the spot,
這意味著他們可以集診斷和實施治療于一車，
so no one is lost to follow up.
每個病人都不會錯過跟蹤治療。
That's just one example of how miniaturization can save lives.
這只是一個關于微型化如何拯救生命的例子。
