WEBVTT - Nanohealthcare: The Tiny Doctors Inside Me 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:13.880 Works dot Com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:18.560 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. Julie. Um, 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.119 let's look in the future again. Why why don't we 0:00:22.880 --> 0:00:26.480 closing mine? All right? Engaging third eye? Al Right, did 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:30.760 you get to the firestorms and the pyramids of bones? 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:34.199 You've gone too far? Okay, so back up a little bit. Um, 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:36.440 well what are you more to the point, what are 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:40.199 you seeing in terms of healthcare in the next um 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:45.160 century or two? Where are we going? I am seeing 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:50.600 the sort of healthcare where I can just basically, um like, 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:54.280 just take my finger and swipe it on some sort 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:56.520 of metal thing and it will tell me everything about 0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:59.920 me I ever wanted to know. And how much calcium 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:04.360 I haven't vibed, I don't know potassium whatever. What do 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:06.800 you see? That's not very exciting one? Let me see 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:09.960 all right, Um, I'm seeing a day where instead of 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:14.320 taking um, like a multi vitamin vitamin every day, I 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:18.440 take one smart multi vitamin that that stays in my 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:21.960 system and administers for a year. Yeah, for administers like 0:01:22.000 --> 0:01:24.480 a year. So it's like a tiny doctor that lives 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:30.440 inside me and uh and administers medication as needed. That yeah, okay, 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:33.240 and and actually that doesn't that's not too far off right, 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:35.680 right we are? I mean, the technology is coming together 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:39.240 now the and it basically comes down to and to 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:40.960 something that's kind of a can be kind of a 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:45.039 scary word for for people who are are not already 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:48.760 like me, deep in the field, and that is is 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:54.800 nanotechnology materials and ultimately a concept we're talking about called 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:59.360 nano manufacturing. Now. For me, anyway, I just finished writing 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:02.200 an article called ten ways nano Manufacturing will alter Industry. 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:04.760 So and I hadn't I had not really researcher written 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:07.600 much about nanotechnology. So it was kind of a deep 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:09.720 die for me where I had to sort of like 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:11.079 a lot of these topics that kind of have to 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:12.519 start from scratch and be like, all right, what the 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:14.720 heck is this? And then and what does it mean? 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:17.079 And then how like what does it really mean? Not 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:19.919 just what are the words on the page um in 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:23.200 this right up or or this one. But I think 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:25.880 nanotechnology can be a little confusing because we tend to 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:28.680 get this fantastic voyage idea in our mind, by which 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:31.760 I mean the the Asimov novel in the movie and 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:35.239 not the Coulio video, but the idea of you know, 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:37.760 like a little miniature ship, like a little miniature submarine 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:40.000 has been shrunk down and it's doing things inside the 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:45.079 body or building things, um at this minuscule scale, like 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:49.359 the nano scale, just to everyone know exactly how small 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:52.840 we're talking about? What what? What does technology or nanotechnology? 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:56.960 All right? Like the at the nano scale of things, UM, 0:02:57.760 --> 0:02:59.880 where we have like we have like a single wall 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:04.600 old carbon nanitude um is scarcely one nanometer thick, all right, 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:07.919 So in relatable terms, you'd have to line up a 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:11.679 hundred thousand of those side by side in order to 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:15.320 equal the one hundred micrometer diameter of a single strand 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:19.359 of hair. Yes, okay, so that's that's how tiny it is, 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:21.760 but it's still it's by by comparing it to the hair, 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:26.600 it definitely puts it within like the grasp of human understanding, 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:32.280 but it's still very very tiny. Um. So nano nano materials, 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:37.440 nano nano technology, it involves dealing with matter at that scale, 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:40.960 which and you wouldn't think this is uh, it turns 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:44.160 out that when you are dealing with such small particles, 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:46.680 it's a lot easier to manipulate them, right, you can, 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:48.520 you can, you can. You have a lot more control 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:55.000 over the over the various characteristics of materials of of 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:59.080 well basically materials. And then but if you're altering you're 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:02.360 altering the material els in things such as medications uh 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:05.920 at times, or something as gigantic as uh like a 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:08.360 meta material that you plan to build a space elevator 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.480 out of. It's the analogy that I ended up using 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:14.800 the article was was like building blocks. It seems like 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:16.960 you start off with kind of big building blocks as 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:18.880 a kid, and then as you get a little older, 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:22.760 you start dealing with smaller blocks and the models that 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:24.560 you can build. Like so you wanted to build an 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:28.760 airplane out of alphabet blocks, you're gonna build something that 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:33.040 vaguely resembles an airplane, you know, assuming you assuming you 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:34.640 built it at a reasonable scale, like it had to 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:37.320 fit on a table. You can only build so detailed 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:39.600 an airplane, and you might have to use a little 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:43.760 uh um creativity uh to to see that it is 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:46.880 supposed to be an airplane. Legos are much smaller, there's 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:49.320 a lot more detail, there's a lot more room to 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:52.760 to create detail in the model, and you could build 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:56.960 a pretty amazing airplane model. Uh. That's the size of 0:04:57.000 --> 0:04:58.840 the table if you build it out of legos. The 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:02.480 smaller the building blocks the the the greater the power 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:06.520 over what you're building. And that's exactly how it ends 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:10.240 up with with nanotechnology. It's the idea that we're going 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:13.800 to build things at the scale that nature builds things. Yeah. 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:18.040 And not only that, but particles behave differently at that scale. UM. 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:20.800 And so that's why quantum physicists are really interested in 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:25.840 this obviously. UM. From the article how nanotechnology works, there's 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:28.120 a good example that says, you know, we can't teleport 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:30.520 ourselves to the other side of the wall, but at 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:33.960 the nano scale, and the electron can. And this is 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:37.679 actually called electron tunneling. So you know, all of a sudden, 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:40.479 you do see this really cool. Um, these these sort 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:43.400 of things happening, and we can apply them in a 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:48.480 really meaningful, you know, concrete way. Hence nano manufacturing. Right, 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:50.560 you get down to a small enough scale, solid things 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:55.120 aren't really solid anymore. You can manipulate, uh, materials and 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:58.960 buy materials. You can manipulate everything from steel to um 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:02.320 medication and make it behave a little more like you 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:05.400 wanted to. And and again it's it's when when nature 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:07.599 builts something. When nature builds a coral reef, it builds 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:10.960 it from the uh. And I'm sorry to personify nature here, 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:13.960 but but when nature builds a coral reef, it builds 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:16.920 it from the bottom up, from the smallest particles up. 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:19.800 And and this is about building things from the bottom up. 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:21.960 And that's why the I say, throw out the whole 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:24.640 sort of fantastic voyage image of it, or the idea 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:28.279 of tiny little robots that are essentially big robots shrunk down, 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:31.960 because that is a that's more of like um, top 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:36.400 down thinking. Uh and uh and and nanotechnology is generally 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:39.480 more about building things at the smallest scale. And it 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:42.840 has like huge implications for our healthcare. And we're not 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:44.480 talking this is not sci fi stuff. They mean this 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:46.960 is stuff that is in the works and around the corner. Yeah, 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:50.599 these these are real applications of nanotechnology that that definitely 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:52.800 make a difference. Not not just like oh, I bet 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:55.920 you can make a super strong sword or a tower 0:06:56.200 --> 0:06:58.760 that's is tall that's taller than the atmosphere. The type 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:02.320 of thing UM and and also before we get into 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:05.400 some of the healthcare um things that we'll be talking about, 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:07.360 I just wanted to mention too that right now there 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:10.360 are more than eight hundred commercial products that usually talk 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:12.880 about in the article too, like this is this is 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:15.760 something that's being used on in a widespread way. And 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:21.240 in fact, Adidas uses nanotechnology for their cleats because nanocarbon 0:07:21.280 --> 0:07:24.440 tubes are actually like a hundred times stronger than steel 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:26.720 and it's a lot lighter. Yeah, And when we use 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:30.040 the term nano manufacturing, the point is that I think 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:31.760 of it in terms of say a weapon, like a 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:35.360 like a gun, a musket. There's a time where to 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:38.360 create a musket you would have to have an artisan 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:41.000 basically that would make it and make it one by one. 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:43.320 But uh, and there's only so much you can do 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:45.680 with that. It takes a lot more effort, a lot 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:47.480 more cost, and a lot more time to say outfit 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:50.040 in army that way. But if you can, if you 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:53.040 can mass produce the weapon, then it's a lot easier 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:55.840 to get that technology out there and actually make a 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.520 difference with that technology, you know. And uh, And so 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:04.040 the idea with nano manufacturing is that nano fact manufacturing 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:07.160 involves getting the nanotechnology to the point to where we 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:10.400 can mass produce its effects and make a real impact 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:13.640 with the with the technology right, right, because as you 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:15.960 point out in the article, none of it really matters 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:18.440 unless it's you can produce it on a scale in 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:22.160 which everybody has access to it. But that's that seems 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:23.560 to be the way that it's going. Yeah, it's like 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:25.480 the iPhone, right, Like the the whole idea of the 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.200 The amazing thing about the iPhone was that not only 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:30.880 is the technology great, but they're able to mass produce it. 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:33.160 The point of the point that everyone could have one 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:35.440 if it took a lot of effort and only Steve 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:37.320 Jobs could have one, what's the point that doesn't make 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:40.880 any money, right, that doesn't change lives. And by the way, 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:43.559 they use nanotechnology too. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, nano 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:46.439 manufacturing is already uh, already out there, and it's just 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:49.000 going to increase as time goes on, and we're going 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:52.480 to see nanotechnology trickling down to various aspects of our life, 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:57.240 especially healthcare. Yes, and let's talk about what that's gonna 0:08:57.280 --> 0:08:59.760 look like, because I'm very excited by this. Something called 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:04.240 lab on a chip yes, Uh, do you want to 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.480 mention the uh the article with all the other day 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.760 Oh right, right, well, actually, yeah, before I talk about chlamydia, 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.240 because you know, we always like to do a public 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:17.959 service announcements about chlamydia. Um, they actually did use this 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:20.760 in some of their tests for this lab on a chip. 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:22.719 But before I talk about that, I want to talk 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:24.839 about how what what we're talking about here? What does 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:28.600 it look like? We're talking about transportable diagnostics via nano devices. 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:32.800 So a USB stick sized throwaway device called lab on 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:35.440 a chip. Right. Well, because if if anyone anyone out 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:37.400 there who's ever had like a blood sample taken, you 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:39.400 know the deal. They take the sample, but then they 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:41.000 have to send it off somewhere or take it into 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:44.280 the back room, and that involves, uh, it involves a 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:47.480 laboratory that is staffed, that is air conditioned. The expense 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:50.319 in the time really adds up. And that's assuming that 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:53.760 the facilities are there, uh where you can reach them. 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:57.319 If you travel out into the middle of nowhere, suddenly 0:09:57.400 --> 0:09:59.439 the you know, the labs farther away, it becomes a 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:02.959 more a pain or even an impossibility to rely on 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:06.920 the modern lab technology that we have. Uh, certainly in 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:09.480 the developing world to it becomes a huge issue. Yeah, 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:12.280 I mean, this is so convenient. You basically take a 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:14.360 droplet of fluid and you put it in the chip 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:17.400 and micro pumps inside it send the fluid to internal 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:22.640 vessels containing re agents that extract target disease biomarker molecules, 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:25.120 and then that whole device can be sent to a 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:28.520 lab for analysis. But but here's here's UM actually a 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:31.760 little one up on this. There's a diagnostic app for 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:37.560 smartphones that's been developed UM in which you could essentially 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:39.120 do the same thing. You have a tiny droplet of 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:41.680 a sample and you press it against the phone's touch 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:44.160 screen for analysis, where the app would work out whether 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:47.599 you have food poisoning, strepp road or flu um. And 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:49.880 how does it work. I mean, the touch screens are 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:54.160 are highly sensitive, right, and so they can they can 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:58.240 store electric charges known as capacitance. Okay, and because the 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:01.920 screens are so sensitive, they can detect very small capacitance 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:05.839 changes and could could be these sort of platforms that 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:10.839 could actually identify disease markers. But okay, this is the 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:13.840 interesting part or or I mean, this is all interesting, 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:16.800 but here comes to the chlamydia. Right, okay, so watch 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:20.120 out here it comes. Young Yo Park and Beyng Yon 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:23.319 Juan at the Korea Advance Institute for Science and Technology 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:27.480 took three solutions containing differing concentrations of DNA from the 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:31.000 bacteria that causes chlamydia. Okay, they're originally going to going 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:33.200 to use crabs, but they were told they would get 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:37.520 laughs if they did that, they would get laughs. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:41.360 that's nice. Anyway, So they they apply these droplets from 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:43.920 each to an iPhone size multi touch display, and they 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.760 found that the output from the screens array of crisscrossed 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:51.520 touch sensing electrodes could distinguish between the capacitances caused by 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:55.640 each concentration using droplets of only ten micro leaders micro leaders, 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:58.160 which is one thousands of amlilate leader by the way. 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:02.079 Um so, but they're not able to differentiate between pathogens yet. 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:05.760 But differentiating between concentrations is really a first step. So 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:09.120 another problem is who wants their touch screen to be 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:13.199 bathed in the chlamidia? Really? Yeah? It especially changes the 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:15.880 whole You know, you're at the train station and some 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:17.960 some dudes down on his luck and was like, hey, 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:20.080 can I kind of borrow your phone for a second, 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:22.400 because it's weird enough if he's about to make a 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:24.599 you know, a personal call, but if he's going to 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:26.640 check for chlamydia with your cell phone, it's it's a 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:29.400 little weird, right right, And then you don't know, all 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:32.160 of a sudden, you've got, you know, chlamydia placed up 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:36.000 against your skin. You got chlamydia cheek really, But the 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:39.000 technology could be applied in in a to a kind 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:44.439 of star trek Um spit scanning device that would have 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:47.640 have huge potential, And like I said, not only that 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:50.520 in developing world, but pretty much in the field in general. 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:52.880 Like anytime someone who is out in the field wanting 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:55.840 to test somebody or anybody, you could have it geared 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:58.880 to particular ailments or or or maybe a little more broad, 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:02.240 but you could you who diagnose people in real time 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.439 in the field. Yeah, exactly. And they are trying to 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:07.599 come up with some removable stickers to put over the 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:09.959 phones that you don't you're not you know, transmitting a 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:13.240 little bio samples of chlamydia for instance. Well there you go. 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:15.880 I mean they already has even the Steve Jobs didn't 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:19.880 like them, told when I tried to buy one once. Yeah, 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:22.360 because they were Like Steve Jobs doesn't like those because 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:25.000 they imply that the screen is not solid and and 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:28.520 and can be easily scratched. And he's right. In my experience, 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:30.360 they're kind of a con you know, you end up 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:33.160 placing the stupid trastic thing over the over the screen, 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:35.640 and then all that does is just caused dust to 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:37.719 build up underneath there. I mean, I've never managed to, 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:41.760 you know, knock on wood to scratch your mess up 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:44.640 my screens. Yeah, but I mean what we're talking about 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:47.000 here is if if you are going to use yourself 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:55.120 have yeah or something akin to that. Um. But okay, 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:59.480 So that's that's one instance. We also have better, longer 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:04.200 lasting drugs, which you sort of inferred about the vitamins. Yeah, 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:06.680 they're There are a few different ways to look at 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:08.800 this stuff. One way is, of course, you you change 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:11.880 the way that the drug interacts with the human body. 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:15.080 Just consider, for instance, the botulism toxin in botox treatments. 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:20.440 Of course, bochualism toxin is a toxin but bacteria that's 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:23.560 generally bad for the human body unless it is administered 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:27.640 in small doses. For generally, it's like for muscle ailments 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:31.120 or for just merely cosmetic retulism in and of itself 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:36.040 is not necessarily something you want to cross. So uh, 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:42.280 doctors have actually generally inject botox because into a target 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:45.840 tusue because it can't pass through skin, right okay. Researchers 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:49.840 at the University of Massachusetts Allow Nano Manufacturing Center, however, 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:54.120 are working on creating a topical botox cream. Their secret 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:58.080 is they attached the toxin to a nanoparticle that allows 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:01.040 it to hitch a ride through the skin. And so 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:06.080 you you basically have a nanoparticle, this manipulated particle at 0:15:06.080 --> 0:15:09.000 the nanoscale that is capable of passing through the skin 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:12.520 as as a lot of materials, uh and in substances 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:16.880 are capable of doing. And it ends up changing the 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:19.840 way that the boschel m toxin reacts with the body. 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:23.040 Like I said, it is a right, So suddenly something 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:26.400 that could not transfer through the skin can be rubbed 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:29.240 on in a cream form. I wonder if Nicole kid 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:33.200 Kidvin knows about this. I hate to say that. You 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:35.400 know what creeps me out about this is that we 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:38.560 have the blood brain barrier, right right, Yeah, that's the 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:41.400 thing there. Our skin is generally that the whole. Some 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:43.760 things can pass through and some can't. Like it generally 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:46.560 works in our favor. Um, if you don't want just 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:48.680 anything to come in, it's like a it's a private 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:51.600 party inside and not everything is invited, right, And so 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:54.920 so all of a sudden you've got you know, botulism 0:15:56.000 --> 0:16:00.000 or the toxin at least in this concentration being absorbed 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:02.760 by your skin getting into your bloodstream. Right. And so 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:05.760 the blood brain barrier is a membrane that protects the 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:09.320 brain from potentially harmful chemicals in the bloodstream, right, from 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:12.720 making sure that doesn't cross into your brain. So that 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:14.800 this is something that keeps coming up. What is the 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:19.400 ability of nanomaterials to cross that barrier? And I don't 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:21.680 think that we have a good understanding of this yet. Yeah, 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:23.640 do you end up this is one of the fears 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:26.160 of nanotechnology in generally you end up creating these particles 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:29.440 that end up just passing right into our brain, right, Yeah, 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:31.440 I mean you know, do you wanna do you want 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:34.600 to bow talk to your brain? No? Probably not right, 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:37.240 Uh So that's that's a little bit creepy, but it 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:40.440 is you know, it's very interesting in terms of the delivery, 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:43.160 right and a lot of these drugs have really cool 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:47.160 delivery systems. Yeah, and also real quick like basic delivery 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:51.480 UM physics if you will include things like solutability, like 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:53.640 the ability of a drug to become a part of 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:56.320 your blood, to break down, to break down, you know, 0:16:56.400 --> 0:17:00.040 in the body. UM nanotechnology will allow us to you 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:04.480 create drug particles at the nanoscale, so the the absorption 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:09.359 rate increases and dosage levels decrease because you end up 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:12.000 having to to put in less of a of a 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:15.680 particular medication because the particles are so much smaller, it 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:19.680 ends up being more potent being well it uh, you 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:23.200 absorb it faster and more completely. So it's it's it 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:26.720 allows you to to make a smarter version of a 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:30.720 particular medication. Okay. And this is also where the length 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:33.119 of time comes into right, Like you could take something 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:35.920 and it could last for I don't know, two weeks, 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:39.000 two months, no matter, you know, depending on what it 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:42.840 is being administered, right. Yeah. Researchers at Northwestern University are 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:47.920 actually developing drug devices made from nanodiamonds which prevent medicine 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:51.480 from releasing too swiftly into the body. UM. So the 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:54.040 idea this is again coming back to what I mentioned earlier, 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:56.640 the idea that you could implant month's worth of medication 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.680 directly into the affected tissue area. Like, think of it 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:01.840 this way. You're going out of town for the weekend. 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:03.560 What do you do if you have a dog? Defeed? 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:06.240 Do you just open six cans of alpo and leave 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:08.280 them there on the table for the dog? No, you 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:11.280 have somebody come and open one can um you know, 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:13.480 of two cans a day for the dog. Because the 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:15.040 dog doesn't know any better, it will eat all the 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:18.480 cans of alpo and make itself sick. You need somebody 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:20.879 to administer it. So this is the idea instead of 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:24.399 instead of having to administer you know, all the the 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:26.920 alpo one bit of a time, it could self administer. 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:28.920 You know. It's interesting too because I was just thinking 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:31.080 about birth control and how this is going to affect 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:33.560 that because you have birth control pills, like I think, 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:36.680 like a season all or maybe that's a subcutaneous um 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:39.880 birth control that they implant. But in any case, they've 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:42.119 got different kinds of birth control pills that you have 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:44.800 to take only like you know, every four months or 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:47.719 some one and so forth, and um, I mean, essentially 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:49.320 you could do the same thing with birth control. You 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:52.080 could you could have it release over your period and 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:54.400 just take one pill, right and and the other really 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:56.640 exciting area is is of course, like I said, being 0:18:56.640 --> 0:19:00.159 able to target the area of the body, like uh, 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:02.680 I mean, that's the big thing about cells, right, the 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:08.480 particular cells, a particular particular organs. Even um. Chemotherapy tends 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:12.720 to be um such an ordeal because you're generally having 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:15.280 to treat the whole body to treat the area that 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:18.960 you want, you know, instead of going after the you're 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:21.840 you're treating the population to get to the criminal. So 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:24.760 if if we could, if we could, we could apply 0:19:24.920 --> 0:19:27.640 it to just a particular area of the body through 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:30.520 through these these nano delivery devices, you could have a 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:33.280 situation where you could treat you could use the chemotherapy 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:37.439 therapy to target the specific cells and not end up 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:39.600 you know, making the individual rul sick, which is great 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:41.440 because then you're not wiping out a bunch of healthy 0:19:41.520 --> 0:19:45.440 cells exactly. Yeah, And that is a chief complain about chemotherapy, 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:48.000 that um that comes up over and over again. And 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:51.080 then you have something called super pain killers. Oh yes, 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:54.200 this and this sounds crazy just because of these substances 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:57.200 involved in it. But University of Kentucky College of Medicine, 0:19:57.240 --> 0:20:00.840 they came up with this concept of taking a morphine molecule, 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:04.680 which of course is the heavy pain killer UM and 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:08.400 uh the th HC molecule th HC being the intoxicating 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:11.919 part of marijuana, and joining them together with a single 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:15.520 nanoparticle and then once so once in they travel into 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:17.320 the body. But once in the body, the linking bit 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:20.720 breaks free and releases the morphine and the th HC 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:25.200 in equal targeted doses. See that's that's insane, right, because 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:27.720 you wonder, I mean, obviously that would be really helpful 0:20:28.440 --> 0:20:31.919 for surgical procedures and you know, trying to heal from 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:35.240 certain things and trying to avoid pain in general. But wow, 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:38.560 doesn't that make an interesting cocktail of a of a drug. Yeah? 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:41.159 And it also I can't help but think of like 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:44.720 drug companies in their various patents on substances, you know, 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:46.639 because the idea is like you you take a you 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:50.560 take two patent medications, and when the patents running out, 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:52.520 you just sort of combine them together and then you 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:54.640 have a new patent. So if you could, I wonder 0:20:54.720 --> 0:20:59.080 to what extent um nano manufacturing allow just minor tweaks 0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:01.720 in medications to make sure they continue to keep the 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:06.639 pattern well. And also does this make us rethink legalization 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:09.520 of marijuana at least here in the United States? Probably not, 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:13.119 because you know, again, this is this is a medical use, right, 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:15.600 this is which we have medically used. We are one 0:21:15.680 --> 0:21:18.280 in some places. But still, I mean, now that you're 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:21.400 gonna you're gonna use it in this context, it sort 0:21:21.440 --> 0:21:25.320 of makes the whole uh cannabis are the against cannabis 0:21:25.440 --> 0:21:27.320 argument a little bit silly. Well, and then let's take 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:29.560