1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,920 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:09,160 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you didn't touch with technology? With tech 3 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: Stuff from how stuff flix dot com. Hello everyone, and 4 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:20,040 Speaker 1: welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette, and 5 00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:22,640 Speaker 1: I am an editor at how stuff works dot com. 6 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,960 Speaker 1: Sitting across from me as always, his senior writer Jonathan Strickland. 7 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:29,800 Speaker 1: Hey there, he's playing with a rubber dinosaur, one of 8 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: our one of the many accouterments that has given to 9 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:35,760 Speaker 1: us as one of the benefits of being in how 10 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:40,400 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com podcaster. We've got a glass bowl 11 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:43,400 Speaker 1: full of rubber dinosaurs. It's kind of hard not to 12 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:47,320 Speaker 1: play with it. It really is so sudden but inevitable portrayal. 13 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:53,680 Speaker 1: Nice kids, that's a Firefly reference. Um, technically, uh, Firefly 14 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:56,720 Speaker 1: episode one reference. Let's talk a bit about what we're 15 00:00:56,760 --> 00:01:00,160 Speaker 1: actually going to discuss today though, Yes, so today we 16 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:05,680 Speaker 1: wanted to talk about inkjet printers, some other kinds of printers, 17 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:09,640 Speaker 1: but not printers in the way that you would traditionally 18 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:11,479 Speaker 1: use a printer, you know, I think about you would 19 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: traditionally use a printer to print text or graphics on 20 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:16,480 Speaker 1: a piece of paper. Yeah, yeah, we UM, we thought 21 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:18,479 Speaker 1: it would be kind of fun to talk about some 22 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:21,320 Speaker 1: technologies that could be used in other ways that people 23 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 1: have sort of repurposed, if you will. And this is, uh, 24 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:25,959 Speaker 1: this is what we thought would be fun to talk 25 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:28,960 Speaker 1: about because UM, an inkjet printer is something we think 26 00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:31,960 Speaker 1: of as a very everyday thing. You know, you've got 27 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: a couple of different kinds of printers. You've got an 28 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:37,280 Speaker 1: impact printer and a non impact printer. And basically the 29 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:40,040 Speaker 1: differences the impact printers are like the old daisy wheels, 30 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:45,119 Speaker 1: where um, the printer actually hits the paper, It actually 31 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: touches the paper in some way. And in this case 32 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: that I was just mentioning, it's a daisy shaped UM, 33 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: what would you call a print head. I guess that 34 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:57,600 Speaker 1: where the type you know, the actual letter goes through 35 00:01:57,640 --> 00:01:59,240 Speaker 1: the ribbon. You know, it hits the ribbon and makes 36 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:01,800 Speaker 1: an impression on paper. UM. And then there were a 37 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:04,520 Speaker 1: series of non impact printers, which is you know, far 38 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:08,760 Speaker 1: more common day the laser printers, uh, the ink jet printers. UM, 39 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:11,919 Speaker 1: different types of technologies there, but you know they don't 40 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 1: actually touch the paper itself except the parts that feed 41 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:18,360 Speaker 1: the paper. UM, you know, through the right so we 42 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:22,280 Speaker 1: wanted to talk today about how these sort of printers 43 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:25,920 Speaker 1: have been used in in very novel ways in the 44 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:29,079 Speaker 1: medical field. Yeah, and not just the inkjet printers. But 45 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:32,040 Speaker 1: that's what we're gonna start off on because, uh, last 46 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:38,480 Speaker 1: year this being back in February, HP announced the first 47 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:42,399 Speaker 1: application of its ink jet technology in a non traditional 48 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:46,920 Speaker 1: printing role, which was all about printing chemicals when the 49 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:52,799 Speaker 1: with the specific purpose of helping pharmaceutical companies develop new drugs. 50 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:56,640 Speaker 1: And so you suddenly had these ink jet printers that 51 00:02:56,720 --> 00:03:00,679 Speaker 1: were being uh tweaked so that instead of being a 52 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: printer printer, it's now a medicine dispenser in a way. 53 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:08,520 Speaker 1: But to really get into the nitty gritty of this, 54 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:11,280 Speaker 1: we should probably talk about how a basic ink jet 55 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:16,360 Speaker 1: printer works. Now. It's, uh, it's the basic basics of 56 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:19,080 Speaker 1: it are pretty simple. I mean, you've got something that 57 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:21,919 Speaker 1: feeds the paper through the machine and something that sprays 58 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:24,799 Speaker 1: ink onto the page. Now right now, of course, if 59 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:28,399 Speaker 1: it just feeds the paper through and sprays the ink, 60 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: you can have a covered piece of paper with nothing 61 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: on it. So you kind of have to have some 62 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: way of making the you know, the stuff that you 63 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: want to print, show up the way you want it printed, 64 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: the letters on the page of a letter or um. Uh, 65 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:44,840 Speaker 1: if you want to print a photo, you want the 66 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 1: colors to appear in the in the right order, and 67 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 1: you want everything to be nice and sharp and uh 68 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:53,640 Speaker 1: and and and have a good definition. Otherwise you just 69 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 1: kind of have this messy look. So you have to 70 00:03:56,080 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: be able to make these drops really really really small, 71 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:02,720 Speaker 1: these drops of ink, because otherwise you would, you know, 72 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 1: you would you would not be able to make those 73 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:09,680 Speaker 1: definitions between things like hard angles versus a soft curve, 74 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:12,360 Speaker 1: and uh, you know, all the fonts would look the same, 75 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:15,160 Speaker 1: and just you wouldn't be able to create something that 76 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 1: looks crisp and clear. So the way inkjet printers do 77 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:23,680 Speaker 1: this is they use hundreds of tiny, tiny, tiny nozzles 78 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:31,919 Speaker 1: that spray out drops of ink that are incredibly small. Yeah. 79 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 1: Now I can tell you the first the first ink 80 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 1: jet printer I ever owned was in the mid eighties. Specifically, 81 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:42,880 Speaker 1: um and uh, you know, there there are things that 82 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:46,279 Speaker 1: go into an inkjet printer's quality that that have improved 83 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 1: significantly over this time. The ability to uh, to spray 84 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:55,479 Speaker 1: that mix the different colors, to make other colors. UM. 85 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:59,279 Speaker 1: You know the basic four color printing process cyan, magenta, 86 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:03,920 Speaker 1: yellow and c M y K, the K being black. UM. 87 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:06,919 Speaker 1: You know those those have gotten that the ability to 88 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,880 Speaker 1: to mix those has gotten so much more sophisticated. UM. 89 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: There are other things that factor into it too that 90 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:14,960 Speaker 1: just that I want to mention paper U two has 91 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:18,680 Speaker 1: been has factored into this, to the brightness of the 92 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 1: white paper if you're using white, or the absorption of 93 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:24,600 Speaker 1: the ink. UM. The technology for all of these things 94 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:28,799 Speaker 1: has improved significantly over the short time that we've done this, UM, 95 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:31,680 Speaker 1: but the basic technology is still there. You've got a 96 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 1: print head, UM, that is the part of the printer 97 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:38,600 Speaker 1: that's actually doing the printing. That's where all the nozzles 98 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: are located. They're located on that print head, and of 99 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:46,279 Speaker 1: course the ink cartridges that go inside the printer that's 100 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:49,320 Speaker 1: supplying the ink. Obviously, the ink itself has gotten more 101 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 1: sophisticated over over time, and in some cases, depending on 102 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:56,520 Speaker 1: the manufacturer and the technology behind it, UH, the print 103 00:05:56,560 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: head may actually be part of the cartridge itself. UM. 104 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:01,840 Speaker 1: You may have an ink at printer at home, and 105 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:04,880 Speaker 1: if you do, UH, you may have seen that it's 106 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 1: got a little something that looks like a little circuit 107 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: board on there well, and that may very well be 108 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:12,679 Speaker 1: the actual print head, but you need a way to 109 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: get it to scan across the paper, and that's what 110 00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:20,240 Speaker 1: you have in your stepper motor. Basically, it's a part 111 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 1: of the printer that drives across the paper, and the 112 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:26,400 Speaker 1: instructions that come from the computer to the printer tell 113 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 1: the motor where to stop on the page that the 114 00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:32,120 Speaker 1: print head can spray ink onto the paper. So we're 115 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:34,840 Speaker 1: talking about something that's really really precise because it has 116 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:38,360 Speaker 1: to be able to make incredibly tiny adjustments in order 117 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:41,719 Speaker 1: for these nozzles to spray the ink exactly where it 118 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:43,919 Speaker 1: needs to go, because you know, you're talking about a 119 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:49,400 Speaker 1: really tiny scale, like on microns or even smaller, so 120 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:52,840 Speaker 1: these are really really tiny adjustments. And in fact, there's 121 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:57,279 Speaker 1: also a stabilizer bar that helps keep that that print 122 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:00,800 Speaker 1: head on the very even act it needs to be 123 00:07:00,839 --> 00:07:05,279 Speaker 1: in order to do its work. And it's that's the 124 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 1: basic part of the printer, part of a of an 125 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,280 Speaker 1: ink jet printer. I mean, there's another entire section that 126 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:14,400 Speaker 1: involves pulling the paper through and feeding it through properly, 127 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 1: which for the purposes of our discussion really don't factor 128 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:23,360 Speaker 1: in because the medical variation of this doesn't use paper. 129 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:27,440 Speaker 1: It's not pulling paper through in order to print out information. 130 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:31,120 Speaker 1: So I'm just gonna drop it from there because there's 131 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 1: just no point as far as the rest of this goes. However, 132 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:35,840 Speaker 1: I will say we have an article on our site 133 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:38,400 Speaker 1: about how ink jet printers work, so if you're just 134 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:41,360 Speaker 1: curious about the technology and and I want to learn 135 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 1: more about it, We've got some animations and some illustrations 136 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:47,800 Speaker 1: there that really go into how these nozzles spray out 137 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:51,720 Speaker 1: these tiny drops of of inc. There's there's two basic 138 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: versions that we talk about in the article. The thermal 139 00:07:54,800 --> 00:08:00,280 Speaker 1: bubble version, where you have a a UH. You have 140 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:06,600 Speaker 1: a use resistors that generate heat to expand a piece 141 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 1: within the nozzle that pushes the ink out, and then 142 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:14,920 Speaker 1: as the resistor drops in temperature UH, the material contracts, 143 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:17,960 Speaker 1: which pulls more ink into the nozzle and it does 144 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:21,240 Speaker 1: this very very rapidly, and that's what forces the ink 145 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:23,840 Speaker 1: out of the nozzle in these tiny, tiny, tiny drops. 146 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:26,120 Speaker 1: Then there's, of course, the the other version is the 147 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 1: piezo electric UH ink jet printer that we talked about 148 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:32,319 Speaker 1: in that pod, not not the podcast, but in that article. 149 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:35,640 Speaker 1: And the piece of electric If you don't know what 150 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:38,680 Speaker 1: piece of electric means, that essentially means that if you 151 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:42,319 Speaker 1: have it's certain materials that if you run a current 152 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 1: electricity through them, it changes the shape of the material, 153 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:48,160 Speaker 1: and vice versa. If you were to change the shape 154 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:52,120 Speaker 1: of the material, you would generate an electric current. UM. 155 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:54,959 Speaker 1: So the quartz crystal in a in a watch is 156 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:58,800 Speaker 1: an example of a piece of electric material. UM. And 157 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:00,959 Speaker 1: in this case you're talking about running a little current 158 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:04,480 Speaker 1: through and the piece of electric material changes shape and 159 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:07,440 Speaker 1: that's what pushes the ink through the nozzle and pulls 160 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:11,080 Speaker 1: more ink from the reservoir from the cartridge into the 161 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:14,520 Speaker 1: nozzle area. Uh. But there's more discussion about that in 162 00:09:14,559 --> 00:09:16,719 Speaker 1: the article. I just figured that we should probably move 163 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:20,320 Speaker 1: into kind of transition into the way that that HP 164 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:25,480 Speaker 1: leverage this technology for the medical field. Yeah. Yeah. One 165 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:29,040 Speaker 1: thing that we didn't quite touch on unless I was 166 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:33,840 Speaker 1: sleeping through that, which is possible. Yeah, UM, was that 167 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:37,920 Speaker 1: the in in the inkjet process. Now you were talking 168 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:41,360 Speaker 1: about the piece of electric crystals um, and the piezo 169 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:45,320 Speaker 1: and the sorry in the inkjet process. Um. You know, 170 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:47,880 Speaker 1: each each of those nozzles has the ability to squirt 171 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:51,640 Speaker 1: droplets of ink, and one of the cool things about 172 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:55,240 Speaker 1: that is as a droplet leaves, it creates a tiny 173 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:59,440 Speaker 1: amount of suction which pulls more ink to the print head. UM. 174 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:02,839 Speaker 1: So you know, this technology is what enabled HP to 175 00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:05,880 Speaker 1: do this is you know, the ability to have the 176 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 1: droplets pull one another and that helps feed inc through 177 00:10:09,520 --> 00:10:12,600 Speaker 1: or whatever it is that you're using in the printer 178 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:17,319 Speaker 1: UH to be able to pull more of the material out. UM. 179 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:20,600 Speaker 1: Of course, we talked about HP, UH, you know, some 180 00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:23,720 Speaker 1: time ago in the podcast UH, and we talked about 181 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:26,199 Speaker 1: how one of the first things they were involved with 182 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:30,880 Speaker 1: was medical technology. A long time before the desktop computer 183 00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:33,200 Speaker 1: came out, they were involved with this. So UH, it's 184 00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 1: certainly very natural that HP would be interested in UH 185 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:41,200 Speaker 1: combining it's it's medical technologies and its computer technologies. And 186 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:44,160 Speaker 1: I think they really came up with a novel idea. Yeah. 187 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:46,080 Speaker 1: And in this case, you might be wondering, Okay, so 188 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:50,640 Speaker 1: why would you want to to print chemicals to create uh, 189 00:10:50,679 --> 00:10:54,400 Speaker 1: to create pharmaceutical drugs And the answer to that is 190 00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:58,280 Speaker 1: all about how pharmaceutical drugs are developed in the lab. 191 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:03,840 Speaker 1: It's a very methodical scientific process, and it has to 192 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:08,800 Speaker 1: be otherwise disaster can strike. So when you're developing a drug, 193 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:11,480 Speaker 1: there are a lot of different things you have to consider. 194 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:13,920 Speaker 1: For one thing, you have to consider the efficacy of 195 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:17,280 Speaker 1: the drug itself. Does it do what you need it 196 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:21,400 Speaker 1: to do? Does it actually uh, you know, what is 197 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:25,960 Speaker 1: the medicinal effect real? So there's that. That's an important part, one, 198 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:29,560 Speaker 1: probably the most important part. But then you also have 199 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:32,600 Speaker 1: to figure out the balance of the ingredients that make 200 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:37,840 Speaker 1: up that drug, because at certain levels it might be toxic. 201 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:41,280 Speaker 1: So you have to do a whole toxicology reports on 202 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:44,200 Speaker 1: whatever your drugs are, like what what dosage is the 203 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 1: right amount for the average human being? And and the 204 00:11:48,559 --> 00:11:52,120 Speaker 1: whole process can take depending on how many chemicals are 205 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:56,120 Speaker 1: going into this drug to create the molecules that make 206 00:11:56,240 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 1: up the foundation of this drug. Uh, you might have 207 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:03,080 Speaker 1: of very different effects just by saying, well, if we 208 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:07,520 Speaker 1: put more of ingredient A and then ingredient B, here's 209 00:12:07,559 --> 00:12:11,679 Speaker 1: the medicological effect the pharmacological effect, you know, And if 210 00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:14,920 Speaker 1: we put more B and than A, the pharmacological effect 211 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:18,560 Speaker 1: may be entirely different. And determining the right balance is 212 00:12:18,679 --> 00:12:22,160 Speaker 1: a challenge, right and it's a it's a painstaking process 213 00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:25,120 Speaker 1: that that can take a lot of time. Um. Of course, 214 00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:27,760 Speaker 1: if you're going by the scientific method, and uh for 215 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:29,880 Speaker 1: those of us have studied that in school. You know, 216 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:32,440 Speaker 1: it's it's pretty basic to us, but it wasn't, you know, 217 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:35,720 Speaker 1: many centuries ago. Um. You know, you have to you 218 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:39,880 Speaker 1: have to make one subtle adjustment to the process at 219 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:42,320 Speaker 1: every increment so that you know that that one thing 220 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:46,480 Speaker 1: is the only thing that you have changed. Yeah, exactly. 221 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:48,160 Speaker 1: You have to mark it down and say, okay, well 222 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:50,640 Speaker 1: I've I've tried A with B. A with B doesn't work. 223 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:53,160 Speaker 1: Uh so and now I will try A with C. 224 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:56,320 Speaker 1: You know, and you have to make those subtle changes 225 00:12:56,360 --> 00:12:58,360 Speaker 1: and and and it can take a lot of time 226 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:03,480 Speaker 1: to go through those things. Um. But HPS process of 227 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:06,520 Speaker 1: of going through this process has speed things, speeded things 228 00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:10,200 Speaker 1: up significantly, I would think because um, one of the 229 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:13,600 Speaker 1: things they do in chemistry of all kinds, not just 230 00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:17,640 Speaker 1: for a pharmacy is is titration. Um. And that's basically 231 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:21,240 Speaker 1: making these subtle delutions to see Um. You know, okay, 232 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:23,880 Speaker 1: so we've checked to see if a percent solution of 233 00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:28,240 Speaker 1: this chemical will work. Um. Now let's try the solution. Now, 234 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:31,520 Speaker 1: let's try the percent solution and oh gee whiz, that's 235 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:34,600 Speaker 1: gonna take forever, right, you wanna you want to keep? Really, 236 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:36,559 Speaker 1: what you're looking for is you're trying to find the 237 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:42,240 Speaker 1: lowest amount of the active ingredient that will still bring 238 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:45,240 Speaker 1: about the effects you want in order to minimize any 239 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:48,200 Speaker 1: potential side effects you might have from a medication. What 240 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:52,440 Speaker 1: you you don't think gastro intestinal distress is a positive 241 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:56,680 Speaker 1: side effect? I rarely do. It can be a comedic one. 242 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:00,760 Speaker 1: I'll be right back as a matter of but at anything, right, Yeah, 243 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:03,440 Speaker 1: this is this is a very painstaking process. Like Chris 244 00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:06,520 Speaker 1: was saying, you have to be able to determine, all right, well, 245 00:14:06,559 --> 00:14:09,719 Speaker 1: this is the specific level that we need to hit. 246 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:12,120 Speaker 1: This is this is how much of this drug versus 247 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:13,559 Speaker 1: this drug we need to hit in order to make 248 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 1: this medication work. And uh, in general, in the lab, 249 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:21,320 Speaker 1: this can take a very long time. If you're doing 250 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:24,400 Speaker 1: this by hand, it takes forever time. I had to 251 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:26,800 Speaker 1: do this in chemistry, had to do titrations in chemistry. 252 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:29,200 Speaker 1: And you know, you remember you're counting each drop and 253 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:32,320 Speaker 1: you're measuring very carefully, and and when you're talking about 254 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:36,880 Speaker 1: measuring drops with titration. That's not terribly precise. No, you're 255 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:39,720 Speaker 1: talking about drops that are that are pretty large, I 256 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:43,400 Speaker 1: mean especially compared to what these printers can do so well. 257 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:45,480 Speaker 1: In high school chemistry, what they were trying to teach 258 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:49,160 Speaker 1: us is the basics they want to teach you, uh 259 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:52,640 Speaker 1: you know, how how the scientific method works, how uh 260 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:56,280 Speaker 1: chemistry works, if you will, and uh you know they're 261 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 1: not we weren't trying to come up with a new uh, 262 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:04,680 Speaker 1: a new remedy for disease. Right, So the HP printers 263 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:08,000 Speaker 1: that can do this that they're digital dispensers, actually that's 264 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:10,880 Speaker 1: what they're called, but it's using that ink jet technology. 265 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:13,600 Speaker 1: What you're what you can do with these things is 266 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:16,520 Speaker 1: you can you get this little it's almost like a 267 00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:19,440 Speaker 1: it's like a cartridge in a way. But what you 268 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:23,040 Speaker 1: can do is you can put a certain whatever chemicals 269 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:25,480 Speaker 1: you're working in, you you put a tiny little drop 270 00:15:25,600 --> 00:15:30,280 Speaker 1: into one little reservoir for this ink jet printer essentially, 271 00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:33,960 Speaker 1: and then you can put a second one in another compartment, 272 00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:38,520 Speaker 1: and then you can program it the printer to mix 273 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:42,480 Speaker 1: those in different proportions with one another, so that you 274 00:15:42,560 --> 00:15:46,280 Speaker 1: suddenly come up with all these different very precise mixtures 275 00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:49,720 Speaker 1: of your various chemical compounds so that you can determine 276 00:15:49,720 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 1: which one is the best for whatever drug you are 277 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:56,880 Speaker 1: developing at the time. And it does it very very quickly, 278 00:15:56,920 --> 00:16:00,120 Speaker 1: so within half a minute. It can give you a 279 00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:05,200 Speaker 1: full scale of titrations across a fairly broad spectrum, and 280 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:09,360 Speaker 1: it's doing it at a very precise method. When it 281 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:14,160 Speaker 1: was first announced back in in they were talking about 282 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:19,480 Speaker 1: a precision of around twenty Peco leaders. Now, Pico is 283 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:23,640 Speaker 1: smaller than nano, okay, so a Nano leader would be 284 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:26,720 Speaker 1: one billionth of a leader. A Peka leader is one 285 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:29,600 Speaker 1: trillionth of a leader. So when it was announced it 286 00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:33,200 Speaker 1: was at a precision of twenty peak a leaders. Now 287 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:37,720 Speaker 1: it is according to HPS website on the subject, they've 288 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:41,480 Speaker 1: gotten it down to about thirteen Peka leaders, So it's 289 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:44,920 Speaker 1: even more precise now and it can do a titration 290 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:48,880 Speaker 1: of between thirteen Peako leaders up to ten micro leaders, 291 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 1: and a micro leader is one millionth of a leader. 292 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:56,240 Speaker 1: Just think if we were trying to advance burrito technology, 293 00:16:56,280 --> 00:16:59,360 Speaker 1: how much more precise we could get if we were 294 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:02,520 Speaker 1: going with more guio than just a pico to GUYO 295 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:10,440 Speaker 1: was that I was just waiting and waiting and like anyway, 296 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:14,280 Speaker 1: so yeah, the that hurt that one of the Uh, 297 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:17,159 Speaker 1: this doesn't really look I would advise you, if you're 298 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:18,800 Speaker 1: really interested in this, to to take a look at this. 299 00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 1: They do have videos of this process going on. It 300 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:24,399 Speaker 1: doesn't look like what we think of as a desktop 301 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:28,720 Speaker 1: ink jet printer. UM. It's it's these trays that it 302 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:33,240 Speaker 1: uses are are actually UM disposable to very important because 303 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:36,720 Speaker 1: you don't want any residue, no no UM. And it's 304 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:39,080 Speaker 1: it's kind of cool because it's a very small tray 305 00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:41,280 Speaker 1: and they dropped the tray into the printer and then 306 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:44,000 Speaker 1: they can add the chemicals that they're using for the study, 307 00:17:44,119 --> 00:17:48,480 Speaker 1: whichever study they're working on UM as they go. So uh, 308 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:50,760 Speaker 1: it's it's really kind of cool because they're not using 309 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:53,040 Speaker 1: the same print head that they would if they were 310 00:17:53,359 --> 00:17:59,399 Speaker 1: say printing out their dissertations their studies on paper. But 311 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:01,399 Speaker 1: it's kind of cool to watch because it's you know, 312 00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:04,719 Speaker 1: you can see it spray onto the paper using these trays, right, 313 00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:08,960 Speaker 1: and it can also print into little like UM grids 314 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:12,480 Speaker 1: of containers. So in other words, you're you're printing out 315 00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:17,240 Speaker 1: the the compound that you've created into little containers, so 316 00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:20,160 Speaker 1: that then you can test each container and see what 317 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:25,320 Speaker 1: what affects that particular mixture will have, and whether or 318 00:18:25,359 --> 00:18:28,399 Speaker 1: not you know one is better than another, and and 319 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:32,120 Speaker 1: which one you should really focus on. This really streamlines 320 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:38,000 Speaker 1: the development of of pharmaceuticals, and you know we're talking 321 00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:45,880 Speaker 1: pharmaceuticals of course, is a multibillion dollar industry. And in theory, 322 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 1: by streamlining the process, you could bring the costs of 323 00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:55,200 Speaker 1: developing drugs down that again, in theory, could eventually pass 324 00:18:55,280 --> 00:18:59,720 Speaker 1: on down the line so that those individual drugs are 325 00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:03,960 Speaker 1: not as expensive as earlier drugs that took longer to develop. 326 00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:09,159 Speaker 1: Right now, of course, that's all based upon the cost 327 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:13,120 Speaker 1: of production. It's not necessarily based upon the actual corporate 328 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:17,240 Speaker 1: behavior of a pharmaceutical company, which I cannot really talk 329 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:20,719 Speaker 1: about because it doesn't have anything to do with technology. Well, 330 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:23,320 Speaker 1: that has to do with economy. As a yeah, as 331 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:27,640 Speaker 1: as a corporate body that has responsibilities to shareholders, its 332 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:31,520 Speaker 1: point is to maximize profits while doing its business. But 333 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:34,080 Speaker 1: theoretically this this should also help them too, because they 334 00:19:34,119 --> 00:19:39,840 Speaker 1: could probably deliver medicines more effectively and cheaply and still 335 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:43,520 Speaker 1: increase its bottom line in the process. UM also would 336 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:48,199 Speaker 1: speed up development of new medications UM. But there are 337 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:52,240 Speaker 1: also other benefits. People have talked about the possibility that uh, 338 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:56,200 Speaker 1: you know, we've we've talked about subdermal uh we haven't 339 00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:58,760 Speaker 1: on this podcast, but you know, people in general have 340 00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:03,480 Speaker 1: been discussing how the medical medical patches work, UM, the 341 00:20:03,560 --> 00:20:05,679 Speaker 1: drug delivery patches that you put on your skin for 342 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:10,119 Speaker 1: different kinds of medications. UM. There there have been discussions 343 00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:13,359 Speaker 1: that HP could use this technology to uh spray the 344 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:16,960 Speaker 1: medicine on a patch, and it could be something customized. 345 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:21,960 Speaker 1: For say, if Jonathan needs a specific formulation of a 346 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,840 Speaker 1: medication that would be different from the dosage that I 347 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:28,359 Speaker 1: would get, they would spray it onto you know, the 348 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:31,280 Speaker 1: patches for him and give him those, and they could 349 00:20:31,359 --> 00:20:34,800 Speaker 1: use the same dispenser to spray the ones that they 350 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:37,800 Speaker 1: would give to me for a different formulation of medication 351 00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:40,880 Speaker 1: would be a different concentration of the various ingredients. You're 352 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:43,720 Speaker 1: talking about personalized medicine at that point, because when you 353 00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:46,679 Speaker 1: think about it, are our basic medications that we go 354 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:48,879 Speaker 1: out and we take, you know, whether they're tablets or 355 00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:55,119 Speaker 1: capsules or whatever, they are based upon an average physiology 356 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:59,440 Speaker 1: for uh, you know, just the average patient for example, 357 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:04,160 Speaker 1: and that we don't necessarily fit that average. We may 358 00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:08,960 Speaker 1: our physiologies are different, metabolisms are different, The other medications 359 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:13,439 Speaker 1: we're taking might have interactions with this medication, and so 360 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:16,280 Speaker 1: you know, one person might not need as much as 361 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:18,720 Speaker 1: the other, or it might interfere so they cannot give 362 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:21,440 Speaker 1: that person as much, right so you know, and when 363 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:24,480 Speaker 1: you go to the doctor and you get a prescription, 364 00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:26,919 Speaker 1: you might have to get a different concentration of that 365 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:29,320 Speaker 1: drug than someone else would have. Or it might be 366 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:33,199 Speaker 1: something even more primitive, where it's just take half a 367 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:35,880 Speaker 1: tablet in the morning and a half tablet at night, 368 00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:38,320 Speaker 1: as opposed to a full tablet, whereas Chris might have 369 00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:41,199 Speaker 1: to take a full tablet each time. That's you know, 370 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:43,960 Speaker 1: these are not very precise, whereas in this case you're 371 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:48,720 Speaker 1: talking about tailoring medication to specific individuals so that you're 372 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:53,159 Speaker 1: getting the the most benefit from that medication with the 373 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:56,560 Speaker 1: fewest side effects. That's the real goal here, and and 374 00:21:56,600 --> 00:22:00,320 Speaker 1: it's not the only way that this could put actually 375 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:03,800 Speaker 1: come about. There's another kind of technology again, it's an 376 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:08,359 Speaker 1: ink jet technology, but it's um it's a different methodology 377 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:11,960 Speaker 1: that is being explored by a company called Glaxo smith Klin, 378 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:16,000 Speaker 1: very large pharmaceutical company, and what they're looking at is 379 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:22,960 Speaker 1: the possibility of printing medication directly onto tablets. So the 380 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:27,919 Speaker 1: tablets themselves are really the they're the paper in the 381 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:31,760 Speaker 1: in the printer analogy, right, that's the tablets themselves have 382 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:34,720 Speaker 1: no medicinal quality to them. They are just what the 383 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:37,320 Speaker 1: medicine is printed on top of. So basically, if you 384 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:40,080 Speaker 1: took the tablets without any medicine sprayed onto them, they 385 00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:43,600 Speaker 1: would effectively be a placebo. Yes, it would be almost 386 00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:45,360 Speaker 1: you know, essentially the same thing as a sugar mill 387 00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:50,280 Speaker 1: and a pluscebo. Placebos are great, man. I remember when 388 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:52,879 Speaker 1: I had a headache and I took three pluscebos. I 389 00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:57,359 Speaker 1: almost odeed on placebo. A placebo is something that has 390 00:22:57,400 --> 00:22:59,800 Speaker 1: no active ingredients in it. It's often used and if 391 00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:01,840 Speaker 1: you if you're not unfamiliar with the term, it's often 392 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:06,639 Speaker 1: used in uh in in scientific tests in order to 393 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:11,359 Speaker 1: determine whether or not a quote unquote real drug is effective. 394 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:15,320 Speaker 1: So you you would take a a selection of people 395 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:20,320 Speaker 1: who all are are needing medication for some particular ailment, 396 00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:23,320 Speaker 1: and it could be anything. It could be a physical ailment, 397 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:27,359 Speaker 1: could be emotional, mental, whatever. So you you've got this 398 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:30,000 Speaker 1: group of people and you divide them up into different groups. 399 00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:33,600 Speaker 1: Your placebo group is your control group. These are people 400 00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:37,120 Speaker 1: who are taking something that has no active ingredients in it, 401 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:40,760 Speaker 1: and they you know, they should not know that that 402 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:42,880 Speaker 1: It should be a blind test. In fact, if it's 403 00:23:43,119 --> 00:23:45,399 Speaker 1: a really good test, it's double blind, meaning that the 404 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:48,160 Speaker 1: people who are administering the test also do not know 405 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:51,160 Speaker 1: if the drug that they are administering is in fact 406 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:54,280 Speaker 1: the real drug or the placebo version, because that way 407 00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:57,480 Speaker 1: they can't give any information to the test group and 408 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:01,880 Speaker 1: influence their response. So you give the placebo to one 409 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:04,560 Speaker 1: control group, you give the drug to the test group, 410 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:07,760 Speaker 1: and then you do and then you compare the results. Now, 411 00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:10,480 Speaker 1: this is a really complicated issue no matter what kind 412 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:12,480 Speaker 1: of test you're doing when you're talking about human beings, 413 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:17,560 Speaker 1: because uh, you know, we're all different. Yeah, so even 414 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:21,919 Speaker 1: if the drug is completely effective, because we're humans, uh, 415 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:26,879 Speaker 1: the results may not immediately tell you how effective that 416 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:29,240 Speaker 1: drug is. And that's so it's a it's a long 417 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:31,800 Speaker 1: process with lots and lots of testing before a drug 418 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:34,959 Speaker 1: can be said to be effective, and if you measure 419 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:37,640 Speaker 1: it against the performance of the placebo group. Let's say 420 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:39,879 Speaker 1: that the control group all says, oh, I felt so 421 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:42,880 Speaker 1: much better at taking that medication. It was amazing, and 422 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,439 Speaker 1: the test group says the same thing. Well, now you 423 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:48,800 Speaker 1: don't know because the placebo it was just as effective 424 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:51,640 Speaker 1: as the drug, which may mean that the drug has 425 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:55,480 Speaker 1: no medicinal effect. It may mean that the medicinal effect 426 00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:59,840 Speaker 1: is negligible, or it may just mean that people's are silly. Yes, 427 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:05,240 Speaker 1: but anyway, that's the whole testing procedure. So with this 428 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:09,680 Speaker 1: this other printing medication on tablets process, you would get 429 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,960 Speaker 1: to a point where you could again very precisely control 430 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:16,520 Speaker 1: exactly what kind and how much and how concentrated the 431 00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:18,960 Speaker 1: medicine is when you print it on the tablet. So 432 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:23,199 Speaker 1: in theory, you could again personalize medical treatment, although if 433 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:26,439 Speaker 1: you're talking about a mass production model, you're really not 434 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:29,440 Speaker 1: talking about personalization. You're just talking about a different way 435 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:34,120 Speaker 1: of producing medicine. Uh, there's some problems that they're facing 436 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:38,520 Speaker 1: with this, one of those being that currently, at least 437 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:41,119 Speaker 1: as of the recording of this podcast and the most 438 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:45,520 Speaker 1: recent research material I could get hold of, UH, this 439 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:50,359 Speaker 1: is only effective for half a percent of all medications 440 00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:54,720 Speaker 1: that come in tablet form, So that means that only 441 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:57,879 Speaker 1: a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of all the different tablet 442 00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:02,120 Speaker 1: medicines would benefit from this approach. They're hoping to improve 443 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:07,040 Speaker 1: processes and get that number up to so still fewer 444 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:10,879 Speaker 1: than half. Right. Well, and at one time, uh, you know, 445 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:14,920 Speaker 1: my grandfather was a pharmacist, so you know, but he 446 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:18,719 Speaker 1: was a pharmacist in the early twentieth century. UM, and 447 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:22,359 Speaker 1: back then, they they mix things at the pharmacy. Now 448 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:25,720 Speaker 1: today you can still find pharmacists who will do this. Uh. 449 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:29,359 Speaker 1: They're they typically refer to themselves as compounding pharmacists. So 450 00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:31,840 Speaker 1: if you see a sign for a compounding pharmacy, basically 451 00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:36,359 Speaker 1: what they're saying is, uh, you know, we mix special medications. UM. 452 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:39,560 Speaker 1: I've actually had to have uh something mixed up special 453 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:42,239 Speaker 1: for me. UM. And it's it's very weird to do 454 00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:44,119 Speaker 1: this because you know, they get in there with the 455 00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:47,240 Speaker 1: mortar and pestle and grind stuff up and mix stuff together. 456 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:50,359 Speaker 1: But if you go to your you know, the pharmacy 457 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:53,720 Speaker 1: in your grocery store or your um, you know, the 458 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:57,760 Speaker 1: department store, generally what they do is they order stuff 459 00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:00,440 Speaker 1: and that can be inconvenient. Now you know, they say, well, 460 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:03,120 Speaker 1: I can't get that for you today. It's probably gonna 461 00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:05,600 Speaker 1: be next Tuesday before I can get anything shipped in 462 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:09,760 Speaker 1: for us. Now, this this kind of technology, if it's 463 00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:11,800 Speaker 1: on a patch or you can print it onto a tablet, 464 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:14,359 Speaker 1: might mean that they could get uh you know, the 465 00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:16,320 Speaker 1: chemicals in and they can say, well, I can, I 466 00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:19,760 Speaker 1: can mix up that concentration for you later this afternoon 467 00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:21,919 Speaker 1: and you might get your medication a lot more quickly. 468 00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:23,640 Speaker 1: They might be able to get more of the raw 469 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:26,560 Speaker 1: materials in. Now I don't know, uh, you know, if 470 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:29,960 Speaker 1: it's only effective for a certain amount of the um 471 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:33,000 Speaker 1: the population, then it may not be as effective, but 472 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:35,440 Speaker 1: it might help. On the other hand, that also might 473 00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:38,160 Speaker 1: mean that they have a lot of raw stuff laying 474 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:40,800 Speaker 1: around that could be mixed to make other stuff. And 475 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:44,000 Speaker 1: as we know, pharmacies or targets for people who like 476 00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:47,520 Speaker 1: to break in to steal stuff to make things that 477 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:53,080 Speaker 1: may or may not be legal essentially is what we're 478 00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:56,280 Speaker 1: talking about. Um. But see there there again, there are 479 00:27:56,359 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 1: benefits that this this technology could bring and also detriments 480 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,320 Speaker 1: like any kind of technology really, but um, the benefits 481 00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:05,959 Speaker 1: are are enticing. Yeah, you know. Not not only are 482 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:08,840 Speaker 1: you talking about not only are you talking about personalized medication, 483 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:13,400 Speaker 1: uh and also a streamlined manufacturing process. You're also talking 484 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:16,640 Speaker 1: about the potential of this medication taking effect much more 485 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:19,199 Speaker 1: quickly than it would in a traditional format. So if 486 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:21,360 Speaker 1: you talk about a tablet where the medication is essentially 487 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:24,880 Speaker 1: baked into the tablet, you know, the digestive system takes 488 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:27,119 Speaker 1: a while to break that tablet down, and the medication 489 00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:30,960 Speaker 1: gets into your your blood system, your circulatory system and 490 00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:35,960 Speaker 1: is absorbed and however, whatever the the the the mechanical 491 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:40,400 Speaker 1: process is for that particular medication, because they are different. Um, 492 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:42,360 Speaker 1: if you're printing it on the outside of the tablet, 493 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:45,280 Speaker 1: then that's going to get absorbed much faster than it 494 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:49,840 Speaker 1: would if it were part of the tablet. So that's 495 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:53,920 Speaker 1: that's one potential benefit is that the the pharmacological effects 496 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:57,880 Speaker 1: would would kick in earlier than they would with other 497 00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:01,800 Speaker 1: types of tablets. Well, sorry, go ahead, I was gonna say, 498 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:05,000 Speaker 1: And that that's sort of if you you are thinking of, uh, 499 00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:07,560 Speaker 1: the ink jet printer in this case, printing on a 500 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:10,560 Speaker 1: row of tablets as though they were the paper in 501 00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:13,800 Speaker 1: a desktop inkjet printer. But there's another way you could 502 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:15,800 Speaker 1: think about that, if you were thinking about something like 503 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:18,640 Speaker 1: three D printing, then the medicine could be all mixed 504 00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:21,480 Speaker 1: together and printed out in the form of a tablet. Yeah. 505 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:24,360 Speaker 1: In fact, we'll we'll talk about that in just a second. Uh. 506 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:26,000 Speaker 1: The one other thing I wanted to say about this 507 00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:29,480 Speaker 1: tablet approach is that potentially you could even get to 508 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:32,920 Speaker 1: a point where you could print multiple drugs on a 509 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:36,640 Speaker 1: single tablet, which would mean that another benefit for the 510 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:39,720 Speaker 1: patient is that if they are on something like three 511 00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:42,440 Speaker 1: or four medications, instead of having to take three or 512 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:45,040 Speaker 1: four tablets, they might only have to take one that 513 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:48,840 Speaker 1: has all of the different medications printed on it. And now, 514 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:53,000 Speaker 1: again because we're talking about all tablets right now, even 515 00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:58,920 Speaker 1: at their the goal being, um, that's you know, the 516 00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:02,680 Speaker 1: odds that re medication a person might need someone who 517 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:05,400 Speaker 1: has a lot of different prescriptions. Uh, the odds that 518 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:06,960 Speaker 1: they would be able to get all of those into 519 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:11,680 Speaker 1: one pill are not great. But it's a potential future 520 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:14,440 Speaker 1: for this technology. Sure. Yeah, they could print your your 521 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:19,040 Speaker 1: antihistamine and your allergy medication, and your multi vitamin altogether 522 00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:22,320 Speaker 1: in one tablet. That's prescribed to you by your doctor 523 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:25,400 Speaker 1: and just give you all of it in one Now 524 00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:29,440 Speaker 1: you wanted to talk a little bit about printing out skin. Oh, yeah, 525 00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:33,240 Speaker 1: that's true. Um, I had forgotten about that. I completely 526 00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:35,640 Speaker 1: blew the segway there. Yeah, this is something that It 527 00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:38,520 Speaker 1: was funny because I was looking Jonathan and I both 528 00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:42,800 Speaker 1: heard about the potential for for UH using these printers 529 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:46,160 Speaker 1: last year, and so I was looking for that, and 530 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:49,520 Speaker 1: in the process I found an article from actually quite 531 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:52,280 Speaker 1: a few years ago, from two thousand four. Um in 532 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:56,360 Speaker 1: I d G news UH from Susannah Patten, and what 533 00:30:56,400 --> 00:31:00,000 Speaker 1: they were talking about was the possibility of using printers 534 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:05,720 Speaker 1: to print out skin, artificial skin for grafting purposes. Um, 535 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:10,520 Speaker 1: this would be really cool because um, not all skin 536 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:12,760 Speaker 1: graphs take. Now. They tried to get it from the 537 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:16,600 Speaker 1: from the patient who has been generally this is for 538 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:20,040 Speaker 1: burn victims. I actually knew a kid when I was 539 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:23,440 Speaker 1: growing up who suffered second and third degree burns along 540 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:26,440 Speaker 1: his legs and had to have an extensive skin graft 541 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:28,560 Speaker 1: and it was Yeah, they had to take it from 542 00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:31,719 Speaker 1: further up his leg in order to to transplant it 543 00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:35,320 Speaker 1: down on his leg, and it was a a very 544 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:38,760 Speaker 1: long and painful process for him. Yeah, I just I 545 00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:43,000 Speaker 1: can't imagine. UM. But the problem, the problem is not 546 00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:46,680 Speaker 1: all of that UM works as successfully as they would 547 00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:49,120 Speaker 1: like it too, because you know, they have to cover 548 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:51,600 Speaker 1: the area or they're going to try to cover the area, 549 00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:55,280 Speaker 1: and there may not be suitable skin on the patient 550 00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:58,040 Speaker 1: available to do the graft. Uh. It can be you know, 551 00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:00,080 Speaker 1: they're taking it from one place and and moving it 552 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:03,840 Speaker 1: to another, so they're you know, they're creating more injury 553 00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:06,960 Speaker 1: if you will, in the process of don't always take 554 00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:11,080 Speaker 1: and sometimes they shrink. And also there's a huge risk 555 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:15,120 Speaker 1: of infection. Yes, yes there are UM. They actually uh 556 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:18,360 Speaker 1: we're doing this at the University of South Carolina and 557 00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:22,960 Speaker 1: uh they're using gel, a form of gel instead of paper. UM. 558 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:26,719 Speaker 1: So they are actually repurposing Now this isn't using a 559 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:31,680 Speaker 1: new technology. This was actually repurposing older printers with larger 560 00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:36,320 Speaker 1: holes for nozzles. UM. So they this was you know, 561 00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:39,160 Speaker 1: in the experimental process. But what they were doing was 562 00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:42,280 Speaker 1: using this gel and and uh you know printing them 563 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:46,280 Speaker 1: the material that could be used for graphs. And the 564 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:52,120 Speaker 1: benefit here UM was that it could be you know, 565 00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:57,360 Speaker 1: more suitable for printing to that specific area, and it 566 00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:02,120 Speaker 1: was less likely to shrink because they were using this 567 00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:06,920 Speaker 1: this artificial material, so it was really a better quality 568 00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:12,320 Speaker 1: of material than the person's actual skin. Now, I didn't 569 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:15,280 Speaker 1: find a lot of information about whether or not this 570 00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:17,640 Speaker 1: has been used currently, but this was done in two 571 00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:21,560 Speaker 1: thousand four, and it's a very interesting thought. UM. They 572 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:25,480 Speaker 1: were also talking about the possibility of printing complete organs, 573 00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:27,960 Speaker 1: which is also a three This would also be a 574 00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:33,920 Speaker 1: three D process. UM. That's pretty amazing to think about, UM. 575 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:36,560 Speaker 1: And it's it's the kind of thing that obviously hasn't 576 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:40,600 Speaker 1: been used a lot as of right now. But you know, 577 00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:43,440 Speaker 1: going forward now that three D printing is becoming very 578 00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:46,440 Speaker 1: much a reality in the rapid prototyping. Well, we discuss 579 00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:49,480 Speaker 1: this in a previous podcast to UM. You know this 580 00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:52,440 Speaker 1: is this is very much a fairly common thing. Now. 581 00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:54,360 Speaker 1: You can buy your own three D printer. Now they're 582 00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:56,480 Speaker 1: not cheap and I'm not going to print out a 583 00:33:56,560 --> 00:33:59,719 Speaker 1: human heart for you, but no. But but the idea 584 00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:02,239 Speaker 1: is that you could use gels. I also found just 585 00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:05,800 Speaker 1: as a quick convention, UM, scientists who are working on 586 00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:10,680 Speaker 1: printing on gels for electrical connectivity, uh not not for 587 00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:16,239 Speaker 1: for medicine, but for the purposes of electronics. So as 588 00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:19,840 Speaker 1: the the work into printing on gels continues, in the 589 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:24,440 Speaker 1: work of printing for medicine continues, you can expect that, um, 590 00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:27,200 Speaker 1: you know, these things are very much a possibility, and 591 00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:30,200 Speaker 1: you know, may move very quickly in the years to come. 592 00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:32,600 Speaker 1: And it's a very exciting thing to me because I 593 00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:35,760 Speaker 1: love the idea of being able to print organs where 594 00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:39,720 Speaker 1: you no longer have to worry upon worry about getting 595 00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:43,080 Speaker 1: the right donor or if it's an organ that can 596 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:45,879 Speaker 1: be replaced with a mechanical version, and then of course 597 00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:49,440 Speaker 1: you have to worry about other elements like your body 598 00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:53,000 Speaker 1: rejecting it or whatever. When when you're talking about printing 599 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:55,680 Speaker 1: your own organs, you can think about a time in 600 00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:58,560 Speaker 1: the future where we might be able to say this 601 00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:03,279 Speaker 1: organ was printed specifically from this person's based on this 602 00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:08,440 Speaker 1: person's DNA and their physiology, so that the likelihood of 603 00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:11,239 Speaker 1: the body accepting the new organ is much higher than 604 00:35:11,239 --> 00:35:14,399 Speaker 1: it would be if it were a traditional transplant, and 605 00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:18,000 Speaker 1: so the survivability goes up. You don't have to worry 606 00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:21,640 Speaker 1: about organ donors as much. You know, you you reduce 607 00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:25,280 Speaker 1: the need for people to sit on a waiting list 608 00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:29,480 Speaker 1: for a transplant for indeterminate amounts of time, and you know, 609 00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:33,920 Speaker 1: that's a very that's an incredibly emotionally taxing situation to 610 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:36,839 Speaker 1: be in, you know, where you don't know if you're 611 00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:39,440 Speaker 1: going to ever get the organ you need. You know, 612 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:41,840 Speaker 1: it's a race against time and there are people ahead 613 00:35:41,880 --> 00:35:46,920 Speaker 1: of you. It's that's a tough situation. So the the 614 00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:51,000 Speaker 1: benefits of this technology are enormous. It's really hard. I mean, 615 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:54,480 Speaker 1: I could not exaggerate how important it would be. Um 616 00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:58,040 Speaker 1: but getting back into also three D printing and and 617 00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:01,959 Speaker 1: closer to stuff that's happening on happening right now. You 618 00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:06,320 Speaker 1: you alluded to it in the early, way too early, 619 00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:10,200 Speaker 1: the attempted segue. Uh yeah, using three D printing to 620 00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:14,640 Speaker 1: create drugs like like a like a capsule or a tablet. 621 00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:20,000 Speaker 1: There's a professor actually the chair of chemistry at Glasgow 622 00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:24,719 Speaker 1: University named Lee Cronin who was he had a ted 623 00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:28,600 Speaker 1: talk about this. He's actually he's known for some pretty 624 00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:33,160 Speaker 1: uh innovative ideas in various spaces. He's also a fellow 625 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:36,520 Speaker 1: who has really kind of he's got he's got a 626 00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:39,239 Speaker 1: lot of goals. This guy one of them is to 627 00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:45,120 Speaker 1: eventually create a create a life form like that was 628 00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:48,719 Speaker 1: another one of his projects is not just creating um 629 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:52,680 Speaker 1: this three D printing drug thing. He also did ted 630 00:36:52,719 --> 00:36:58,520 Speaker 1: talk about using a process to actually create a new form, 631 00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:01,319 Speaker 1: a synthetic form of life. So he's got a lot 632 00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:05,040 Speaker 1: of a lot of synthetic fingers and synthetic pies out there, 633 00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:08,480 Speaker 1: but he was talking about using three D printers to 634 00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:12,279 Speaker 1: create to create drugs. And one of the ways he 635 00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:15,160 Speaker 1: would the way they're talking about doing this is building 636 00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:19,120 Speaker 1: first using a polymer called that they're calling reaction where, 637 00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:26,120 Speaker 1: which would create essentially the reaction chamber for a chemical process. Right, 638 00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:29,600 Speaker 1: because drugs are are in general they are the uh, 639 00:37:29,719 --> 00:37:33,840 Speaker 1: the result of some sort of chemical reaction between various 640 00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:40,400 Speaker 1: ingredients interacting together. Well, you can control somewhat the really 641 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:43,399 Speaker 1: you can completely control the concentration and effect of those 642 00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:48,400 Speaker 1: drugs by not just the amount of the active ingredients 643 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:50,600 Speaker 1: that you introduce or the or the various ingredients that 644 00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:53,800 Speaker 1: you introduce the don't necessarily have to be active, uh, 645 00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:57,040 Speaker 1: not just controlling how much of each of those individual 646 00:37:57,360 --> 00:38:01,239 Speaker 1: ingredients come in, but the size and shape of the 647 00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:06,120 Speaker 1: reaction chamber, because that can control the speed of the 648 00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:11,319 Speaker 1: chemical process, which can again affect what the outcome of 649 00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:15,360 Speaker 1: that process will ultimately be. A fast process might result 650 00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:17,480 Speaker 1: in a different type of drug than a slow process, 651 00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:22,319 Speaker 1: even if you're using the same ingredients. So he came 652 00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:24,120 Speaker 1: up with this idea, or he and his team came 653 00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:27,799 Speaker 1: up with this idea of using this polymer to to 654 00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:32,239 Speaker 1: print out very very precise reaction chambers and then using 655 00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:36,719 Speaker 1: the same printer laying down layers of the various compounds 656 00:38:36,719 --> 00:38:39,040 Speaker 1: that you would use for a drug, and the heavier 657 00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:42,280 Speaker 1: compounds would be on top, the lighter compounds on the bottom, 658 00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:46,720 Speaker 1: and essentially the heavier compounds would start to sink down 659 00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:50,320 Speaker 1: into the lighter compounds and a very controlled chemical reaction 660 00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:53,239 Speaker 1: would take place. Ultimately, he hopes to be able to 661 00:38:53,360 --> 00:38:57,719 Speaker 1: lace this reaction where polymer with various catalysts and a 662 00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:01,879 Speaker 1: catalyst course is something that that facilitates the chemical reaction. Right, 663 00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:06,560 Speaker 1: So in other words, you would have an entire pharmacological 664 00:39:06,719 --> 00:39:12,080 Speaker 1: lab reduced down to a tiny, tiny form factor because 665 00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:14,399 Speaker 1: you're using a three D printer. That would be very cool, 666 00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:18,640 Speaker 1: It would be really cool. And then his ultimate goal 667 00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:22,640 Speaker 1: would be that people patients would be able to purchase 668 00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:25,640 Speaker 1: a printer and take it home and connect it to 669 00:39:25,760 --> 00:39:29,560 Speaker 1: their computer, and then they would buy essentially buy a 670 00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:35,040 Speaker 1: drug recipe from whatever pharmacy or you know, whatever, whatever 671 00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:38,600 Speaker 1: the the the vendor would be. But they would buy 672 00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:42,400 Speaker 1: the drug recipe online, which would then download to their computer. 673 00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:44,160 Speaker 1: They would send, you know, they would have to have 674 00:39:44,360 --> 00:39:49,200 Speaker 1: the the basic ingredients whatever those basic ingredients are for 675 00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:52,160 Speaker 1: that drug. But they would then send a print job 676 00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:55,000 Speaker 1: essentially to their printer, and it would then print that 677 00:39:55,080 --> 00:39:59,840 Speaker 1: medication out for them. So he actually compares his project 678 00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:04,640 Speaker 1: to iTunes and the iPod. He says, you know, it's 679 00:40:04,719 --> 00:40:07,919 Speaker 1: it's all. It's an app. It's not the content. It's 680 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:11,480 Speaker 1: just the way of generating whatever it is. You know. 681 00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:14,360 Speaker 1: It's it's your way to access content that's provided by 682 00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:16,959 Speaker 1: other people. It's like a smartphone app in the sense 683 00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:19,399 Speaker 1: that this is just the program that lets you do 684 00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:21,879 Speaker 1: the stuff. The actual content is going to come from 685 00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:25,680 Speaker 1: whatever the vendor is. So if you need to buy 686 00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:30,879 Speaker 1: pain killer, you could purchase the pain killer recipe, send 687 00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:32,960 Speaker 1: it to your printer, and print it out. Now, this 688 00:40:33,040 --> 00:40:35,120 Speaker 1: is not that different from the other three D printer 689 00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:38,200 Speaker 1: conversation we've had in the previous podcast, we talked about, 690 00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:41,680 Speaker 1: you know, people designing stuff like let's say that someone 691 00:40:41,760 --> 00:40:46,479 Speaker 1: designs a particularly nice table. The table just looks really cool. 692 00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:50,080 Speaker 1: And then and then you can download, you know, purchase 693 00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:52,520 Speaker 1: and download the schematic for that table, send it to 694 00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:54,480 Speaker 1: a three D printer, and have it print out the 695 00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:58,160 Speaker 1: various pieces you need to assemble that table. This is 696 00:40:58,200 --> 00:41:01,000 Speaker 1: the same idea, except you're taking it to medicine as 697 00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:05,080 Speaker 1: opposed to furniture or a toy or even a prototype 698 00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:06,880 Speaker 1: whatever else you know, you would use a three D 699 00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:11,520 Speaker 1: printer to create. So it's but it's the same basic approach. 700 00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:15,840 Speaker 1: He's just like, why can't we apply this approach to medicine. 701 00:41:16,200 --> 00:41:18,319 Speaker 1: If it works in this case, could it not work 702 00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:20,200 Speaker 1: in this So that's what he and his team are 703 00:41:20,239 --> 00:41:23,239 Speaker 1: working on now. They they're still you know, in the 704 00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:25,880 Speaker 1: very early days of testing as far as this is concerned, 705 00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:30,640 Speaker 1: but it's a very promising and interesting approach. Now people 706 00:41:30,640 --> 00:41:34,040 Speaker 1: have already raised some concerns about the ultimate goal about 707 00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:36,840 Speaker 1: being able to buy a printer. You know, these printers 708 00:41:36,880 --> 00:41:39,359 Speaker 1: cost a couple thousand dollars. But when you when you 709 00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:43,600 Speaker 1: when you compare that to the price of buying medication 710 00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:49,000 Speaker 1: over time, that is not a big deal. Assuming that 711 00:41:49,040 --> 00:41:51,920 Speaker 1: the raw materials are not as expensive as the medication 712 00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:54,200 Speaker 1: would be, then you would be saving money in the 713 00:41:54,239 --> 00:41:57,279 Speaker 1: long run, assuming you live long enough for that to 714 00:41:57,719 --> 00:42:02,120 Speaker 1: benefit you. Right. So, if we live in a world 715 00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:03,799 Speaker 1: where you can go out and buy a three D 716 00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:06,680 Speaker 1: printer that can print medication in a world where you 717 00:42:06,719 --> 00:42:10,200 Speaker 1: could buy a three right, Uh, one of the concerns is, well, 718 00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:13,640 Speaker 1: let's say that this is not a pervasive technology. Let's 719 00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:16,239 Speaker 1: say that it only goes out to a small percentage 720 00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:18,520 Speaker 1: of the people in the world who can get hold 721 00:42:18,520 --> 00:42:23,200 Speaker 1: of this, either because it's got a barrier economically, or 722 00:42:23,239 --> 00:42:26,160 Speaker 1: perhaps it's a legal thing. You know, maybe it's legal 723 00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:29,279 Speaker 1: in some areas but not in others. At any rate, 724 00:42:29,560 --> 00:42:33,880 Speaker 1: Let's assume that only, uh, we'll say one percent, one 725 00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:36,960 Speaker 1: percent of the world's population has access to this technology. 726 00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:40,359 Speaker 1: For the purposes of this discussion, that one percent ends 727 00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:42,759 Speaker 1: up going out and buying this printer, taking at home, 728 00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:46,560 Speaker 1: and now they've got a drug printing machine. What stops 729 00:42:46,600 --> 00:42:52,480 Speaker 1: that one percent from becoming drug dealers? Alright, that's that's 730 00:42:52,520 --> 00:42:54,560 Speaker 1: the problem that people are saying. They're saying, well, if 731 00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:58,040 Speaker 1: this is not a technology that everyone has access to. 732 00:42:58,560 --> 00:43:00,919 Speaker 1: You have essentially made a whole bunch of people their 733 00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:03,960 Speaker 1: own drug companies where they can they they will go out, 734 00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:06,160 Speaker 1: they'll buy the recipe for whatever drug it is that 735 00:43:06,200 --> 00:43:09,480 Speaker 1: they want to print, print out a whole bunch of them, 736 00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:12,400 Speaker 1: and then essentially sell that drug in a black market. 737 00:43:12,440 --> 00:43:15,400 Speaker 1: That a new black market would be generated because you 738 00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:18,360 Speaker 1: would bypass the pharmaceutical companies and the pharmacies and the 739 00:43:18,400 --> 00:43:22,120 Speaker 1: doctors and you would just have regular individuals, you know, 740 00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:25,920 Speaker 1: kind of prescribing medication out to whoever wants it. So 741 00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:29,319 Speaker 1: there are some concerns about that now. Uh. Corona and 742 00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:32,000 Speaker 1: for his part, pretty much dismisses that. He says, you know, 743 00:43:32,080 --> 00:43:33,960 Speaker 1: this is that you're worrying about something that's not even 744 00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:35,959 Speaker 1: an issue yet, and when we get there, it won't 745 00:43:35,960 --> 00:43:39,600 Speaker 1: be an issue. Um, but that's still you know, the 746 00:43:39,680 --> 00:43:42,479 Speaker 1: critics have still been a little concerned with what could 747 00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:46,120 Speaker 1: potentially happen. Well in three D printing, they've already been 748 00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:50,120 Speaker 1: people upset that you can print a thing because you know, 749 00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:54,279 Speaker 1: they've made things that weren't that weren't you know, a 750 00:43:54,320 --> 00:43:57,239 Speaker 1: book or a piece of music or a film, and 751 00:43:57,239 --> 00:43:58,560 Speaker 1: they said, oh, well, you know, we don't have to 752 00:43:58,560 --> 00:44:01,560 Speaker 1: worry about people copying our uf we it's now there. 753 00:44:01,719 --> 00:44:05,279 Speaker 1: I have read reports of people who make things three 754 00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:09,239 Speaker 1: D things and they're going, wait, they're making our things right, 755 00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:11,799 Speaker 1: So now we have to deal with this copyright thing 756 00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:14,040 Speaker 1: because you could just make our stuff at home. You know, 757 00:44:14,080 --> 00:44:16,040 Speaker 1: we saw the We saw the music world deal with 758 00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:20,360 Speaker 1: this first, and then film and television and then books, 759 00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:24,880 Speaker 1: so books and publishing. So we've seen major industries already 760 00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:27,920 Speaker 1: have to deal with this. It just means that everything 761 00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:29,920 Speaker 1: is going to have to deal with this. Yeah, you 762 00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:32,520 Speaker 1: know that's that's the crazy thing is that. And what 763 00:44:32,600 --> 00:44:34,279 Speaker 1: will be funny is that I'm sure we're going to 764 00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:40,040 Speaker 1: see the same sort of uh ham fisted mistakes being 765 00:44:40,080 --> 00:44:42,800 Speaker 1: made by each industry. Like it's just like, seriously, people, 766 00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:45,680 Speaker 1: did you not learn anything from the previous incarnations of 767 00:44:45,719 --> 00:44:49,319 Speaker 1: this problem. Well, there these are industries that haven't necessarily 768 00:44:49,400 --> 00:44:53,319 Speaker 1: typically had to deal with them, had to it. They're 769 00:44:53,320 --> 00:44:54,840 Speaker 1: they're people who thought they were out of trouble and 770 00:44:54,920 --> 00:44:57,200 Speaker 1: people who thought they were immune to it. That is 771 00:44:57,239 --> 00:45:00,520 Speaker 1: another podcast. However, I did want to mention to really 772 00:45:00,560 --> 00:45:04,160 Speaker 1: quickly because we're kind of going along, but um, there 773 00:45:04,200 --> 00:45:06,920 Speaker 1: are also three D printers being used in other types 774 00:45:06,960 --> 00:45:11,120 Speaker 1: of medicine tubs. UM. I have seen uh three D 775 00:45:11,239 --> 00:45:17,560 Speaker 1: printing being used to create custom uh dental materials, um, 776 00:45:17,600 --> 00:45:21,120 Speaker 1: you know, for people who who need uh implants or 777 00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:23,680 Speaker 1: or you know those kinds of things. UM, and I 778 00:45:23,719 --> 00:45:26,719 Speaker 1: know that they're using three D printing to create other 779 00:45:26,840 --> 00:45:31,600 Speaker 1: types of implants, uh, you know obviously the harder physical 780 00:45:31,640 --> 00:45:37,080 Speaker 1: material bone, things like replacing knee joints or hip joints, jawbones. 781 00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:41,560 Speaker 1: That's just amazing. Yeah, the idea of just printing out 782 00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:43,920 Speaker 1: on you whatever it is, which is great because again 783 00:45:43,960 --> 00:45:47,040 Speaker 1: you can print print it at such precision that you 784 00:45:47,120 --> 00:45:50,440 Speaker 1: can meet the needs of the patient much more readily 785 00:45:50,480 --> 00:45:53,000 Speaker 1: than you could if you're talking about, you know, a 786 00:45:53,040 --> 00:45:55,920 Speaker 1: one size fits all approach, because we're not all one 787 00:45:55,920 --> 00:45:58,400 Speaker 1: size as it turns out. Yeah, Well, it's fascinating to 788 00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:01,160 Speaker 1: think that you might be able to do X rays 789 00:46:01,200 --> 00:46:04,719 Speaker 1: and cat scans and and things that that uh imaging 790 00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:07,560 Speaker 1: that you would uh not have been able to use 791 00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:12,080 Speaker 1: just a generation ago to get such precision precise measurements, 792 00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:15,040 Speaker 1: put that information into a computer and print out what 793 00:46:15,080 --> 00:46:16,880 Speaker 1: you need rather than having to you know, make a 794 00:46:16,920 --> 00:46:19,680 Speaker 1: cast or you know whatever to to create a new 795 00:46:19,680 --> 00:46:21,480 Speaker 1: one or go, h, you know what, you look like 796 00:46:21,600 --> 00:46:24,360 Speaker 1: you might have a medium size hip. Let's throw that 797 00:46:24,440 --> 00:46:27,840 Speaker 1: in there. I can't wait until I can't wait until 798 00:46:27,840 --> 00:46:30,680 Speaker 1: I can print another version of me but better looking. 799 00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:35,760 Speaker 1: Send in the clones. I think that's a good place 800 00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:39,279 Speaker 1: to to end on this podcast. Yes, so this was 801 00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:41,279 Speaker 1: a fun topic for us to take. You know, the 802 00:46:41,360 --> 00:46:45,360 Speaker 1: idea of taking one form of technology and then reimagining 803 00:46:45,480 --> 00:46:50,160 Speaker 1: or reinventing new ways of using that tech in ways 804 00:46:50,200 --> 00:46:52,600 Speaker 1: that you know we didn't intend back when the technology 805 00:46:52,680 --> 00:46:55,839 Speaker 1: was first built. Um, that's really fascinating to us. If 806 00:46:55,880 --> 00:46:58,120 Speaker 1: you guys have any suggestions for topics that we should 807 00:46:58,160 --> 00:47:01,120 Speaker 1: tackle in future episodes of tech Stuff, please let us know. 808 00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:03,640 Speaker 1: You can send us an email or addresses tech stuff 809 00:47:03,719 --> 00:47:07,600 Speaker 1: at Discovery dot com, or contact us on Facebook. For Twitter, 810 00:47:07,920 --> 00:47:09,920 Speaker 1: you can find us at both of those locations with 811 00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:13,400 Speaker 1: the handle tech Stuff. H S W and Chris and 812 00:47:13,440 --> 00:47:17,120 Speaker 1: I will talk to you again really soon. For more 813 00:47:17,160 --> 00:47:20,040 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics, visit hastaff Works 814 00:47:20,080 --> 00:47:26,600 Speaker 1: dot com. Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand 815 00:47:26,640 --> 00:47:28,799 Speaker 1: twelve camera. It's ready, are you