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There may be nothing in science that's more mysterious than the brain,
在科学领域，没有什么比大脑更神秘的了。
and sometimes, neuroscientists get stuck trying to figure out what's going on up there.
有时，神经科学家会在试图弄清楚大脑里到底在发生什么时感到困惑。
Fortunately, they've got some backup coming from their friends in physics.
幸运的是，他们从物理界的朋友那里得到了一些支持。
Physicists don't usually have the answers neuroscientists are looking for,
物理学家通常没有神经科学家想要的答案，
but sometimes they've got the next best thing new tools to find them.
但有时他们会发现最好的新工具来解答谜团。
So, here are three exciting tools that might just help unlock the secrets of our brains.
这里有三个令人兴奋的工具，也许可以帮助我们解开大脑的秘密。
The first comes from what may be the last place you'd think to look astronomy.
第一个工具来自你可能想象不到的观察天文学的地方。
In astronomy, one big problem for telescopes on the ground is the fact that the earth's atmosphere distorts light passing through it.
在天文学中，地面望远镜面临的一大问题是地球大气层扭曲了通过它的光。
To correct for this, some new telescopes actually change the shape of their mirrors up to thousands of times a second to help undistort the light that hits them.
为了纠正这一点，一些新的望远镜实际上每秒会改变反射镜的形状数千次，以帮助消除撞击到它们的光线的干扰。
The result is a huge amount of extra detail that you'd normally only be able to get from a telescope out in space.
结果是你通常只能从太空望远镜中获得大量额外的细节。
But now, similar technology is being deployed not for telescopes, but in microscopy.
但现在，类似的技术并不是用于望远镜，而是应用于显微镜。
Granted, there's not usually a lot of atmosphere between the lens of a microscope and its subject,
诚然，在显微镜的镜头和被摄体之间通常没有太多的大气，
but there's often something even more problematic living tissue.
但存在着产生更多问题的活体组织。
Living tissue can also, of course, distort light, and if a researcher wants to image, say, the brain cells of a living creature,
当然，活体组织也会扭曲光线，如果研究人员想要生成，比如说，生物脑细胞的图像，
they can't exactly cut out all the stuff in their way.
他们不可能完全切断所有的东西。
In the past, that's meant settling for a blurry, low-res view,
过去，这意味着要适应模糊、低分辨率的图像，
but this new method, called adaptive optics, is starting to change things.
但这种新的方法，称为自适应光学，正在开始改变局面。
It's not as simple as just borrowing the same tech that is used in astronomy,
这并不像仅仅借用天文学中使用的相同技术那么简单，
since we don't understand how light interacts with different layers of living tissue as well as we understand its interaction with air.
因为我们既不了解光与不同生物组织层的相互作用，也不了解它与空气的相互作用。
But for small structures that aren't too deep, adaptive optics are already enabling views that are dramatically sharper.
但是对于位置不太深的小型结构物，自适应光学已经可以使视野变得更加清晰。
And microscope companies are starting to offer kits that let researchers add this technology to their microscopes.
而显微镜公司也开始提供工具包，让研究人员将这项技术添加到显微镜中。
As it becomes more affordable, it will open the door to a whole new realm of biology.
随着价格变得更便宜，它将打开一扇通往生物学新领域的大门。
Particle physicists are getting involved in the brain game, too.
粒子物理学家也在参与大脑游戏。
Recently, a team of physicists and neuroscientists have been working together to improve something you might be more familiar with here EEGs.
最近，一个由物理学家和神经科学家组成的团队一直在合作，改进你可能更熟悉的脑电图。
The EEG, or electroencephalogram, is a super important tool for diagnosing things like epilepsy, stroke, and brain tumors.
脑电图（EEG）是诊断癫痫、中风和脑瘤的一种非常重要的工具。
Basically, it listens to traffic in the brain, using electrodes on the scalp to pick up the signals that brain cells use to communicate.
基本上，它监听大脑中的信息流动，利用头皮上的电极来接收脑细胞用来交流的信号。
But EEGs don't just listen; they can also be used to stimulate brain cells directly by running electricity the other way—
但是脑电图不仅仅是听，它们还可以用来直接刺激脑细胞，
through the electrodes and into the brain.
通过另一种方式经过电极进入大脑。
The problem is, today, EEGs can be used to listen to the brain or stimulate it, but not both.
问题是，今天，脑电图可以用来听或刺激大脑，但不能两者同时进行。
Why? Well, it takes the strength of, like, six or seven AA batteries to stimulate the brain,
为什么？嗯，刺激大脑需要六到七节AA电池的强度，
but the signals the brain produces itself are around a million times weaker than that.
但是大脑自身产生的信号要比这弱100万倍左右。
Current EEGs don't have that huge range of sensitivity, so researchers can't just stimulate the brain and immediately measure its response.
目前的脑电图没有那么大范围的敏感性，因此研究人员不能仅仅刺激大脑并立即测量其反应。
Being able to do that would be really valuable, though,
然而，能够做到这一点非常有价值，
because it would show the link between activity in one region and a response in another—which could help them understand and treat certain conditions.
因为这将显示出一个区域的活动与另一个区域的反应之间的联系，这有助于他们理解和治疗某些疾病。
That is where particle physicists come in.
这就是粒子物理学家的用武之地，
That whole problem of detecting a super-faint signal in the middle of really strong ones… that's exactly what particle physicists do all the time.
粒子物理学家一直在做的就是在非常强的信号中探测到超微弱的信号。
So a team of researchers—from both physics and neuroscience—got together.
因此，一组来自物理学和神经科学的研究人员聚集在一起。
They took an off-the-shelf EEG system that could detect the brain's faint signals and added some electronics.
他们用现成的脑电图系统检测大脑微弱的信号，并添加了一些电子设备。
The final product alternates between listening to the brain and applying stimulation.
最终的产品是在倾听大脑和应用刺激之间交替进行。
In true scientific fashion, they tested the first prototype on themselves.
他们先在科学原型上进行测试。
And it seems to work! This first version can only send a basic signal and listen for any response, but the team is already working to expand that.
而且似乎有用！第一个版本只能发送一个基本信号并监听响应，但该团队已经在努力将其扩展。
So, don't look for this at your doctor's office anytime soon, but now that we know the principle works,
所以，短期内不要在你的医生的办公室里找这个，但是现在我们知道这个原理是有效的，
it seems like it's only a matter of time.
对其应用似乎只是个时间问题。
Finally, here's a question you probably never expected to hear What if we made an earthquake in the brain? A... brainquake?
最后，这里有一个你可能从未想到会听到的问题，如果我们的大脑发生了地震呢？脑震？
Well, someone actually asked that question — in the hopes of finding a better way of imaging deep inside the brain.
实际上有人问了这个问题——希望能找到一种更好的方法来深入大脑内部成像。
Today, doctors currently have two options. They can stick you in an MRI machine or use an X-ray machine to conduct a CT scan.
现在，医生们有两种选择，他们可以把你放在核磁共振成像机里，或者用X光机进行CT扫描。
There are downsides to both of those methods, though, so some researchers have been exploring a third way to peer inside ultrasounds.
不过，这两种方法都有缺点，因此一些研究人员一直在探索第三种窥窃超声波内部的方法。
Ultrasound imaging creates vibrations in the body that reflect off our organs and back to a special sensor that turn them into an image.
超声波成像在人体内产生振动，反射出我们的器官，并返回到一个特殊的传感信号，将它们转换成图像。
They work really well for seeing inside things like the uterus, so naturally, people have tried using them to image the brain.
它们能很好地观察子宫等内部的情况，因此，人们尝试用它们来给大脑成像。
The problem is, the hard, round shape of our skulls causes the vibrations to bounce around in complicated ways,
问题是，我们头骨坚硬的圆形导致振动以复杂的方式反弹，
wch produces an image that just doesn't look like much.
这就产生了一个看起来不太像的图像。
But this result happens to be a lot like what happens when seismic waves from an earthquake reflect around inside of our planet.
但这个结果恰好和地震产生的地震波，在地球内部反射时发生的情况非常相似。
And, that is a problem physicists have been working on for a long time.
而且，这是物理学家们研究了很久的一个问题。
To create a picture of what's inside the Earth, geophysicists don't start with a blank slate—they start with a rough model approximating what's inside.
为了绘制地球内部的图像，地球物理学家不会从一块空白的石板开始，而是从一个近似于地球内部的粗略模型开始。
Then, they gradually tune their model based on real-world seismic data.
然后，根据真实的地震数据逐步调整模型。
Starting out with a basic sketch helps them weed out the data points that are way off so their final image is cleaner.
从一个基本的草图开始，可以帮助他们剔除那些远离的数据点，这样最终的图像就更清晰了。
And now, researchers are trying to apply those same techniques to create ultrasound images of our brains.
现在，研究人员正试图应用同样的技术来制作大脑的超声波图像。
They're starting with models and then using those vibrations to fine-tune those models to see things more clearly.
他们从模型开始，然后利用这些振动对模型进行微调，以便更清楚地看到事物。
They've only tried it with simulated brains so far, but the approach seems to be working!
到目前为止，他们只在模拟大脑中尝试过，但这种方法似乎奏效了！
And, if it can get turned into an actual product, the benefits could be enormous.
而且，如果它能转换成真正的产品，其好处可能是巨大的。
An ultrasound scanner for your brain could be small enough for ambulances to carry,
大脑的超声波扫描仪可以小到救护车能够携带，
enabling EMTs to diagnose things like strokes before a patient even gets to the hospital. Which could be huge.
让急救人员在病人到达医院之前就诊断出中风之类的症状。这可能影响巨大。
Today, a lot of the world's most important problems are in medicine, and fortunately, biologists aren't in this alone!
今天，世界上许多最重要的问题都出现在医学领域。幸运的是，生物学家并不孤单！
With the help of a friendly neighborhood physicist, our brains can all end up healthier and happier.
在友好的邻里物理学家的帮助下，我们的大脑最终会变得更健康、更快乐。
If you want to learn more about creative techniques that can help us better understand human nature,
如果你想了解更多有助于我们更好地了解人性的创新技术，
you might like the book "Social Physics," which is available on Blinkist.
你可能会喜欢《社会物理学》这本书，这本书可以在Blinkist上找到。
Look, it's not always possible to sit down and read the whole book, no matter how much the subject interests you, and that's why Blinkist exists.
不管你对一个主题有多感兴趣，也不可能总能坐下来读完整本书，这就是为什么会有Blinkist。
It's an app that pulls out the most important insights from nonfiction books and condenses them down to just 15 minutes.
这是一款从非小说类书籍中提取重要见解，并将其浓缩到15分钟的应用程序。
Blinkist has over 3000 titles in its library, including books on self-help, business, and history.
Blinkist图书馆中有3000多种图书，包括自助、商业和历史书籍。
You can read or listen to any of them, which gives you a way to keep learning and developing yourself, even on a tight schedule.
你可以阅读或听其中任何一本，这让你即使在时间紧张的情况下，也能不断学习，开发自己。
You can try out unlimited access for one week for free if you're one of the first people to sign up at Blinkist.com/SciShowPsych.
如果你是第一批在Blinkist.com/SciShowPsych注册的人，可以免费无限制访问试用一周。
You'll also get 25% off if you decide to sign up for the full membership.
如果您决定注册成为正式会员，还能享受25%的折扣。
