1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:16,479 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:18,160 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works in my Heart Radio and I love 5 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:21,119 Speaker 1: all things tech. And it is time once again for 6 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:24,560 Speaker 1: a classic episode of tech Stuff, where we bring you 7 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:29,360 Speaker 1: episodes from the deep dark archive of the more than 8 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 1: eleven years worth of shows. And this particular episode originally 9 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:39,360 Speaker 1: aired on August twelve, two thousand twelve, and it is 10 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:45,320 Speaker 1: called Printing Medication. It's all about using printer technology to 11 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:49,839 Speaker 1: dispense medication, very similarly to how you would print a 12 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:52,239 Speaker 1: sheet of paper with an ink jet printer. I think 13 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: it's a pretty fascinating subject. So let's listen in what 14 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: to what Jonathan from the Past and his co host 15 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 1: Chris Polette had to say on the subject. Shall we 16 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 1: let's talk a bit about what we're actually going to 17 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 1: discuss today though, Yes, so today we wanted to talk 18 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 1: about inkjet printers some other kinds of printers, but not 19 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 1: printers in the way that you would traditionally use the printer, 20 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: you know, I think about you would traditionally use a 21 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 1: printer to print text or graphics on a piece of paper. Yeah, yeah, 22 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:24,560 Speaker 1: we UM, we thought it would be kind of fun 23 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:27,560 Speaker 1: to talk about some technologies that could be used in 24 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:30,680 Speaker 1: other ways that people have sort of repurposed, if you will. 25 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:32,800 Speaker 1: And this is, uh, this is when we thought would 26 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 1: be fun to talk about because, um, an inkjet printer 27 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 1: is something we think of as a very everyday thing. 28 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:40,959 Speaker 1: You know, you've got a couple of different kinds of printers. 29 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:44,240 Speaker 1: You've got an impact printer and a non impact printer. Basically, 30 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:47,400 Speaker 1: the differences the impact printers are like the old daisy wheels, 31 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 1: where um, the printer actually hits the paper, It actually 32 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:54,320 Speaker 1: touches the paper in some way. And in this case 33 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 1: that I was just mentioning, it's a daisy shaped Um, 34 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: what would you call a print head? I guess that 35 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:04,920 Speaker 1: where the type you know, the actual letter goes through 36 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: the ribbon. You know, it hits the ribbon and makes 37 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 1: an impression on the paper. Um. And then there were 38 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:11,600 Speaker 1: a series of non impact printers, which is you know, 39 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 1: far more common day the laser printers, uh, the ink 40 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:18,800 Speaker 1: jet printers. UM, different types of technologies there, but you 41 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:21,560 Speaker 1: know they don't actually touch the paper itself except the 42 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:25,240 Speaker 1: parts that feed the paper, um, you know, through the right. 43 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 1: So we wanted to talk today about how these sort 44 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 1: of printers have been used in in very novel ways 45 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:35,760 Speaker 1: in the medical field. Yeah, and not just the ink 46 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:38,799 Speaker 1: jet printers. But that's what we're gonna start off on because, uh, 47 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 1: last year, this being back in February, HP announced the 48 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:49,000 Speaker 1: first application of its ink jet technology in a non 49 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 1: traditional printing role, which was all about printing chemicals when 50 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: the with the specific purpose of helping pharmaceutical companies develop 51 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 1: new drugs. And so you suddenly had these inkjet printers 52 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:07,440 Speaker 1: that we're being uh tweaked so that instead of it 53 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:12,360 Speaker 1: being a printer printer, it's now a medicine dispenser in 54 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:15,680 Speaker 1: a way. But to really get into the nitty gritty 55 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:17,959 Speaker 1: of this, we should probably talk about how a basic 56 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:23,079 Speaker 1: ink jet printer works. Now. It's, uh, it's the basic 57 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 1: basics of it are pretty simple. I mean, you've got 58 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:28,600 Speaker 1: something that feeds the paper through the machine and something 59 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:31,919 Speaker 1: that sprays ink onto the page. Now right now, of course, 60 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: if it just feeds the paper through and sprays the ink, 61 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:38,680 Speaker 1: you can have a covered piece of paper with nothing 62 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 1: on it. So you kind of have to have some 63 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:44,120 Speaker 1: way of making the you know, the stuff that you 64 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: want to print show up the way you want it printed, 65 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:49,960 Speaker 1: the letters on the page of a letter or um. Uh, 66 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,160 Speaker 1: if you want to print a photo, you want the 67 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:54,720 Speaker 1: colors to appear in the in the right order, and 68 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: you want everything to be nice and sharp and uh 69 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:00,840 Speaker 1: and and and have a good definition, and otherwise you 70 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:03,240 Speaker 1: just kind of have this messy look. So you have 71 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:07,520 Speaker 1: to be able to make these drops really really really small, 72 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:10,080 Speaker 1: these drops of ink, because otherwise you would, you know, 73 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:12,200 Speaker 1: you would you would not be able to make those 74 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:17,039 Speaker 1: definitions between things like hard angles versus a soft curve, 75 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:19,720 Speaker 1: and uh, you know, all the fonts would look the same, 76 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:22,480 Speaker 1: and just you wouldn't be able to create something that 77 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:25,679 Speaker 1: looks crisp and clear. So the way in jet printers 78 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:30,360 Speaker 1: do this is they use hundreds of tiny, tiny, tiny 79 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: nozzles that spray out drops of ink that are incredibly small. Yeah. Now, 80 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 1: I can tell you the first the first ink jet 81 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: printer I ever owned was in the mid eighties. Specifically, 82 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 1: um and uh, you know, there there are things that 83 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:53,640 Speaker 1: go into an inkjet printer's quality that that have improved 84 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:59,240 Speaker 1: significantly over this time. The ability to Uh, to spray 85 00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:02,799 Speaker 1: that mixed the different colors to make other colors. UM. 86 00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:06,600 Speaker 1: You know the basic four color printing process cyan, magenta, 87 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 1: yellow and black c M y K the K being black. UM. 88 00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:14,239 Speaker 1: You know those those have gotten that the ability to 89 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:17,240 Speaker 1: to mix those has gotten so much more sophisticated. UM. 90 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:18,840 Speaker 1: There are other things that factor into it too that 91 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,560 Speaker 1: just that I want to mention, paper two has been 92 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: has factored into this, to the brightness of the white 93 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:30,040 Speaker 1: paper if you're using white, or the absorption of the ink. UM. 94 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: The technology for all of these things has improved significantly 95 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:36,360 Speaker 1: over the short time that we've done this, UM, but 96 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:40,640 Speaker 1: the basic technology is still there. You've got a print head, UM, 97 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:43,279 Speaker 1: that is the part of the printer that's actually doing 98 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 1: the printing. That's where all the nozzles are located. They're 99 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:50,920 Speaker 1: located on that print head, and of course the ink 100 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:54,920 Speaker 1: cartridges that go inside the printer that's supplying the ink. Obviously, 101 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:58,320 Speaker 1: the ink itself has gotten more sophisticated over over time, 102 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: and in some cases, depending on the manufacturer and the 103 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:04,719 Speaker 1: technology behind it, UH, the print head may actually be 104 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:08,120 Speaker 1: part of the cartridge itself. UM. You may have an 105 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:10,320 Speaker 1: ink at printer at home, and if you do, uh, 106 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,280 Speaker 1: you may have seen that it's got a little something 107 00:06:13,279 --> 00:06:15,240 Speaker 1: that looks like a little circuit board on there. Well, 108 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 1: and that may very well be the actual print head, 109 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:21,839 Speaker 1: but you need a way to get it to scan 110 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:24,320 Speaker 1: across the paper, and that's what you have in your 111 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:28,120 Speaker 1: stepper motor. Basically, it's a part of the printer that 112 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: drives across the paper, and the instructions that come from 113 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:35,040 Speaker 1: the computer to the printer tell the motor where to 114 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:37,920 Speaker 1: stop on the page that the print head can spray 115 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:40,400 Speaker 1: ink onto the paper. So we're talking about something that's 116 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:42,840 Speaker 1: really really precise because it has to be able to 117 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:46,600 Speaker 1: make incredibly tiny adjustments in order for these nozzles to 118 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:49,680 Speaker 1: spray the ink exactly where it needs to go, because 119 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:52,920 Speaker 1: you know, you're talking about a really tiny scale, like 120 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:57,960 Speaker 1: on microns or even smaller. So these are really really 121 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,839 Speaker 1: tiny adjustments. And in fact, there's also a stabilizer bar 122 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:06,840 Speaker 1: that helps keep that that print head on the very 123 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:08,840 Speaker 1: even track it needs to be in order to do 124 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: its work. And it's that's the basic part of the printer, 125 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 1: part of a of an inkjet printer. I mean, there's 126 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:20,520 Speaker 1: another entire section that involves pulling the paper through and 127 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:24,520 Speaker 1: feeding it through properly, which for the purposes of our discussion, 128 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 1: really don't factor in because the medical variation of this 129 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 1: doesn't use paper. It's not pulling paper through in order 130 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:37,480 Speaker 1: to print out information. So I'm just gonna drop it 131 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:39,760 Speaker 1: from there because there's just no point as far as 132 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:41,640 Speaker 1: the rest of this goes. However, I will say we 133 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 1: have an article on our site about how inkjet printers work, 134 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: so if you're just curious about the technology and and 135 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 1: I want to learn more about it, We've got some 136 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:53,640 Speaker 1: animations and some illustrations there that really go into how 137 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:58,040 Speaker 1: these nozzles spray out these tiny drops of ink. There's 138 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 1: there's two basic versions that we talk about in the article. 139 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:07,200 Speaker 1: The thermal bubble version, where you have a a UH. 140 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:12,280 Speaker 1: You have a use resistors that generate heat to expand 141 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:16,480 Speaker 1: a piece within the nozzle that pushes the ink out, 142 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:21,000 Speaker 1: and then as the resistor drops in temperature UH, the 143 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: material contracts, which pulls more ink into the nozzle and 144 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:28,280 Speaker 1: it does this very very rapidly, and that's what forces 145 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:30,440 Speaker 1: the inc out of the nozzle in these tiny, tiny, 146 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:33,280 Speaker 1: tiny drops. Then there's, of course, the the other version 147 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:36,600 Speaker 1: is the piezo electric uh ink jet printer that we 148 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:38,959 Speaker 1: talked about in that pod, not not the podcast, in 149 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:42,800 Speaker 1: that article. And the piece of electric If you don't 150 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:45,040 Speaker 1: know what piece of electric means, that essentially means that 151 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:48,840 Speaker 1: if you have it's certain materials that if you run 152 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:51,720 Speaker 1: a current of electricity through them, it changes the shape 153 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:54,680 Speaker 1: of the material, and vice versa. If you were to 154 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:57,320 Speaker 1: change the shape of the material, you would generate an 155 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:01,319 Speaker 1: electric current. UM. So the quartz crystal in a in 156 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:06,000 Speaker 1: a watch is an example of a piece of electric material. UM. 157 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:08,000 Speaker 1: And in this case, you're talking about running a little 158 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:11,720 Speaker 1: current through and the piece of electric material changes shape 159 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 1: and that's what pushes the ink through the nozzle and 160 00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:18,280 Speaker 1: pulls more ink from the reservoir from the cartridge into 161 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:21,760 Speaker 1: the nozzle area. Uh. But there's more discussion about that 162 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:23,880 Speaker 1: in the article. I just figured that we should probably 163 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: move into kind of transition into the way that that 164 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:32,600 Speaker 1: HP leverage this technology for the medical field. Yeah. Yeah. 165 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:36,200 Speaker 1: One thing that we didn't quite touch on unless I 166 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:40,560 Speaker 1: was sleeping through that, which is possible, yeah, UM, was 167 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:45,080 Speaker 1: that the in in the inkjet process. Now you were 168 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:48,320 Speaker 1: talking about the piece of electric crystals UM and the 169 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:52,679 Speaker 1: piezo and the sorry in the inkjet process. UM. You know, 170 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:55,160 Speaker 1: each each of those nozzles has the ability to squirt 171 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:58,959 Speaker 1: droplets of ink and one of the cool things about 172 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:02,559 Speaker 1: that is as a droplet leaves, it creates a tiny 173 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:06,840 Speaker 1: amount of suction which pulls more ink to the print head. UM. 174 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:10,200 Speaker 1: So you know, this technology is what enabled HP to 175 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:13,199 Speaker 1: do this is you know, the ability to have the 176 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:16,400 Speaker 1: droplets pull one another and that helps feed inc through 177 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:19,960 Speaker 1: or whatever it is that you're using in the printer 178 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:24,640 Speaker 1: UH to be able to pull more of the material out. UM. 179 00:10:24,679 --> 00:10:27,960 Speaker 1: Of course, we talked about HP UH, you know, some 180 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:31,120 Speaker 1: time ago in the podcast UH, and we talked about 181 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:33,520 Speaker 1: how one of the first things they were involved with 182 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:38,200 Speaker 1: was medical technology. A long time before the desktop computer 183 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:40,880 Speaker 1: came out, they were involved with this. So it's certainly 184 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:44,920 Speaker 1: very natural that HP would be interested in UH combining 185 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:48,800 Speaker 1: it's it's medical technologies and its computer technologies. And I 186 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:51,480 Speaker 1: think they really came up with a novel idea. Yeah. 187 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 1: And in this case, you might be wondering, Okay, so 188 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:57,960 Speaker 1: why would you want to to print chemicals to create uh, 189 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:01,719 Speaker 1: to create pharmaceutical drugs And the answer to that is 190 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:05,600 Speaker 1: all about how pharmaceutical drugs are developed in the lab. 191 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:11,160 Speaker 1: It's a very methodical scientific process and it has to 192 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:16,120 Speaker 1: be otherwise disaster can strike. So when you're developing a drug, 193 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:18,840 Speaker 1: there are a lot of different things you have to consider. 194 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:21,280 Speaker 1: For one thing, you have to consider the efficacy of 195 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:24,560 Speaker 1: the drug itself, right, does it do what you need 196 00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:28,240 Speaker 1: it to do? Does it actually uh, you know, what 197 00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:32,080 Speaker 1: is the medicinal effect real, So there's that. That's an 198 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:36,400 Speaker 1: important part one, probably the most important part. But then 199 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:38,720 Speaker 1: you also have to figure out the balance of the 200 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:44,120 Speaker 1: ingredients that make up that drug, because at certain levels 201 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:46,640 Speaker 1: it might be toxic. So you have to do a 202 00:11:46,679 --> 00:11:50,360 Speaker 1: whole toxicology reports on whatever your drugs are, like what 203 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:54,000 Speaker 1: what dosage is the right amount for the average human being? 204 00:11:55,440 --> 00:11:57,720 Speaker 1: And and the whole process can take depending on how 205 00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:01,200 Speaker 1: many chemicals are going into this drug to create the 206 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:06,600 Speaker 1: molecules that make up the foundation of this drug. Uh, 207 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:10,040 Speaker 1: you might have very different effects just by saying, well, 208 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:13,920 Speaker 1: if we put more of ingredient A and then ingredient B, 209 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: here's the medicological effect the pharmacological effect, you know, And 210 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:21,880 Speaker 1: if we put more B and than A, the pharmacological 211 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:25,880 Speaker 1: effect maybe entirely different and determining the right balance is 212 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:29,480 Speaker 1: a challenge, right, and it's a it's a painstaking process 213 00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:32,440 Speaker 1: that that can take a lot of time. Um. Of course, 214 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:35,320 Speaker 1: if you're going by the scientific method, and for those 215 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:37,400 Speaker 1: of us have studied that in school, you know, it's 216 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:39,760 Speaker 1: it's pretty basic to us, but it wasn't you know, 217 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 1: many centuries ago. Um. You know, you have to you 218 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:47,240 Speaker 1: have to make one subtle adjustment to the process at 219 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:49,640 Speaker 1: every increment, so that you know that that one thing 220 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:53,840 Speaker 1: is the only thing that you have changed. Yeah, exactly. 221 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:55,520 Speaker 1: You have to mark it down and say, okay, well 222 00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:57,960 Speaker 1: I've I've tried A with B. A with B doesn't work, 223 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:00,520 Speaker 1: uh so, and now I will try A with C. 224 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:03,640 Speaker 1: You know, And you have to make those subtle changes 225 00:13:03,679 --> 00:13:05,680 Speaker 1: and and and it can take a lot of time 226 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:10,800 Speaker 1: to go through those things. Um. But HPS process of 227 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:13,920 Speaker 1: of going through this process has speed things, speeded things 228 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:17,560 Speaker 1: up significantly, I would think because um, one of the 229 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:20,960 Speaker 1: things they do in chemistry of all kinds, not just 230 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:25,000 Speaker 1: for a pharmacy is is titration. Um. And that's basically 231 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:28,520 Speaker 1: making these subtle delutions to see um, you know, okay, 232 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:31,400 Speaker 1: so we've checked to see if a solution of this 233 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:35,560 Speaker 1: chemical will work. Um, now let's try the solution. Now 234 00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:38,880 Speaker 1: let's try the percent solution and oh gee whiz, that's 235 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:41,920 Speaker 1: gonna take forever, right, you wanna you want to keep? Really, 236 00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:43,920 Speaker 1: what you're looking for is you're trying to find the 237 00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:49,600 Speaker 1: lowest amount of the active ingredient that will still bring 238 00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:52,560 Speaker 1: about the effects you want in order to minimize any 239 00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:55,520 Speaker 1: potential side effects you might have from a medication. What 240 00:13:55,679 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 1: you you don't think gastro intestinal distress is a positive 241 00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:03,959 Speaker 1: side effect. I rarely do. It can be a comedic one. 242 00:14:04,679 --> 00:14:07,080 Speaker 1: I'll be right back as a matter of but at 243 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:10,400 Speaker 1: any rate, Yeah, this is this is a very painstaking process. 244 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:13,240 Speaker 1: Like Chris was saying, you have to be able to determine, 245 00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:16,440 Speaker 1: all right, well, this is the specific level that we 246 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:18,480 Speaker 1: need to hit. This is this is how much of 247 00:14:18,559 --> 00:14:20,480 Speaker 1: this drug versus this drug we need to hit in 248 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:24,280 Speaker 1: order to make this medication work. And uh, in general, 249 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 1: in the lab, this can take a very long time. 250 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:31,080 Speaker 1: If you're doing this by hand, it takes forever time. 251 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:32,760 Speaker 1: I had to do this in chemistry. I had to 252 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:35,440 Speaker 1: do titrations in chemistry. And you know, you remember you're 253 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:38,920 Speaker 1: counting each drop and you're measuring very carefully. And when 254 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:43,440 Speaker 1: you're talking about measuring drops with titration that's not terribly precise. 255 00:14:44,040 --> 00:14:47,000 Speaker 1: You're talking about drops that are that are pretty large, 256 00:14:47,040 --> 00:14:49,720 Speaker 1: I mean especially compared to what these printers can do 257 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:52,440 Speaker 1: so well. In high school chemistry, what they were trying 258 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:55,680 Speaker 1: to teach us is the basics they want to teach you, 259 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:58,960 Speaker 1: uh you know, how how the scientific method works, how 260 00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 1: uh chemistry works, if you will, and uh you know 261 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:05,800 Speaker 1: they're not we weren't trying to come up with a 262 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:09,200 Speaker 1: new uh a new remedy for a disease. Right, So 263 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:13,800 Speaker 1: the HP printers that can do this that they're digital 264 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:16,920 Speaker 1: dispensers actually that's what they're called, but it's using that 265 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:20,200 Speaker 1: ink jet technology. What you're what you can do with 266 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:23,080 Speaker 1: these things is you can you get this little it's 267 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:26,360 Speaker 1: almost like a it's like a cartridge in a way. 268 00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:28,680 Speaker 1: But what you can do is you can put a 269 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:31,760 Speaker 1: certain whatever chemicals you're working in. You you put a 270 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:36,240 Speaker 1: tiny little drop into one little reservoir for this ink 271 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:39,440 Speaker 1: jet printer essentially, and then you can put a second 272 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:43,600 Speaker 1: one in another compartment, and then you can program it 273 00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:49,000 Speaker 1: the printer to mix those in different proportions with one another, 274 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:51,800 Speaker 1: so that you suddenly come up with all these different, 275 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:56,280 Speaker 1: very precise mixtures of your various chemical compounds, so that 276 00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:59,800 Speaker 1: you can determine which one is the best for whatever 277 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:03,040 Speaker 1: rug you are developing at the time. And it does 278 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:06,000 Speaker 1: it very very quickly, so within half a minute, it 279 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:10,480 Speaker 1: can give you a full scale of titrations across a 280 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:14,080 Speaker 1: fairly broad spectrum. And it's doing it at a very 281 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:19,680 Speaker 1: precise method. When it was first announced back in inn 282 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:25,240 Speaker 1: they were talking about a precision of around twenty Peco leaders. Now, 283 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:30,640 Speaker 1: Pico is smaller than Nano, okay, so a Nano leader 284 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:33,720 Speaker 1: would be one billionth of a leader. A Peka leader 285 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:36,360 Speaker 1: is one trillionth of a leader. So when it was 286 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:39,560 Speaker 1: announced it was at a precision of twenty Peko leaders. 287 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:44,400 Speaker 1: Now it is According to HPS website on the subject, 288 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:48,600 Speaker 1: they've gotten it down to about thirteen Peka leaders, So 289 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:51,640 Speaker 1: it's even more precise now and it can do a 290 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:56,240 Speaker 1: titration of between thirteen Peako leaders up to ten micro leaders, 291 00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:58,640 Speaker 1: and a micro leader is one millionth of a leader. 292 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:03,560 Speaker 1: Just think if we were trying to advance burrito technology, 293 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:06,720 Speaker 1: how much more precise we could get if we were 294 00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:09,880 Speaker 1: going with more guio than just a pico to guyo. 295 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:13,919 Speaker 1: That was a long way for that. I was just 296 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:18,919 Speaker 1: waiting and waiting and like anyway, so yeah, the that 297 00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:22,760 Speaker 1: hurt that one of the Uh, this doesn't really look 298 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:25,159 Speaker 1: I would advise you, if you're really interested in this, 299 00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:27,040 Speaker 1: to take a look at this. They do have videos 300 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:29,800 Speaker 1: of this process going on. It doesn't look like what 301 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:33,600 Speaker 1: we think of as a desktop ink jet printer. UM. 302 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:37,400 Speaker 1: It's it's these trays that it uses are are actually 303 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:41,720 Speaker 1: UM disposable to very important because you don't want any residue, 304 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:44,960 Speaker 1: no no UM. And it's it's kind of cool because 305 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:47,680 Speaker 1: it's a very small tray and they dropped the tray 306 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:50,080 Speaker 1: into the printer and then they can add the chemicals 307 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:52,639 Speaker 1: that they're using for the study, whichever study they're working 308 00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:56,520 Speaker 1: on UM as they go. So uh, it's it's really 309 00:17:56,600 --> 00:17:58,879 Speaker 1: kind of cool because they're not using the same print 310 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:01,880 Speaker 1: head that they would if they were, say printing out 311 00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:07,520 Speaker 1: their dissertations from their studies on paper. And it's to 312 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:09,840 Speaker 1: watch because it's you know, you can see it spray 313 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:12,480 Speaker 1: onto the paper using these trays, right, and it can 314 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:17,760 Speaker 1: also print into little like UM grids. Of containers. So 315 00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:22,240 Speaker 1: in other words, you're you're printing out the big compound 316 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:25,080 Speaker 1: that you've created into little containers so that then you 317 00:18:25,080 --> 00:18:28,440 Speaker 1: can test each container and see what what affects that 318 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:33,360 Speaker 1: particular mixture will have and whether or not you know 319 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:36,720 Speaker 1: one is better than another, and which one you should 320 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:43,880 Speaker 1: really focus on. This really streamlines the development of of pharmaceuticals, 321 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:47,160 Speaker 1: and you know we're talking pharmaceuticals of course, is a 322 00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: multibillion dollar industry, and in theory, by streamlining the process, 323 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:59,240 Speaker 1: you could bring the costs of developing drugs down that again, 324 00:18:59,720 --> 00:19:04,760 Speaker 1: in theory could eventually pass on uh down the line 325 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:08,920 Speaker 1: so that those individual drugs are not as expensive as 326 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:13,440 Speaker 1: earlier drugs that took longer to develop. Right now, of course, 327 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 1: that's all based upon the cost of production. It's not 328 00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:22,240 Speaker 1: necessarily based upon the actual corporate behavior of a pharmaceutical company, 329 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:25,800 Speaker 1: which I cannot really talk about because it doesn't have 330 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:28,600 Speaker 1: anything to do with technology. Well, that has to do 331 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:32,160 Speaker 1: with economy. As a yeah, as as a corporate body 332 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:36,320 Speaker 1: that has responsibilities to shareholders, its point is to maximize 333 00:19:36,359 --> 00:19:40,080 Speaker 1: profits while doing its business. But theoretically this this should 334 00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:43,000 Speaker 1: also help them too, because they could probably deliver medicines 335 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:48,480 Speaker 1: more effectively and cheaply, and still increase its bottom line 336 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:52,080 Speaker 1: in the process. UM also would speed up development of 337 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:56,840 Speaker 1: new medications UM. But there are also other benefits. People 338 00:19:56,880 --> 00:20:00,080 Speaker 1: have talked about the possibility that uh, you know, we 339 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:04,360 Speaker 1: we've talked about subdermal uh we haven't on this podcast, 340 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:07,760 Speaker 1: but you know, people in general have been discussing how 341 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:11,959 Speaker 1: the medical medical patches work, UM, the drug delivery patches 342 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:15,440 Speaker 1: that you put on your skin for different kinds of medications. UM. 343 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:18,480 Speaker 1: There there have been discussions that HP could use this 344 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:22,560 Speaker 1: technology to uh spray the medicine on a patch, and 345 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:26,600 Speaker 1: it could be something customized. For say, if Jonathan needs 346 00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:30,560 Speaker 1: a specific formulation of a medication that would be different 347 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:33,879 Speaker 1: from the dosage that I would get, they would spray 348 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:36,960 Speaker 1: it onto, you know, the patches for him and give 349 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:40,760 Speaker 1: him those, and they could use the same dispenser to 350 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:43,320 Speaker 1: spray the ones that they would give to me for 351 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:46,399 Speaker 1: a different formulation of the medication, be a different concentration 352 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:49,760 Speaker 1: of the various ingredients. You're talking about personalized medicine at 353 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:52,360 Speaker 1: that point, because when you think about it, are our 354 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:55,119 Speaker 1: basic medications that we go out and we take, you know, 355 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:58,879 Speaker 1: whether they're tablets or capsules or whatever. They are based 356 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 1: upon an average physiology for uh, you know, just the 357 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:10,280 Speaker 1: average patient, for example, and that we don't necessarily fit 358 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:14,280 Speaker 1: that average. We may our physiologies are different, metabolisms are different, 359 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:20,040 Speaker 1: The other medications we're taking might have interactions with this medication, 360 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,480 Speaker 1: so you know, one person might not need as much 361 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:25,719 Speaker 1: as the other, or it might interfere so they cannot 362 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:28,240 Speaker 1: give that person as much, right so, you know, and 363 00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:31,800 Speaker 1: when you go to the doctor and you get a prescription, 364 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:34,280 Speaker 1: you might have to get a different concentration of that 365 00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:36,680 Speaker 1: drug than someone else would have. Or it might be 366 00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:40,520 Speaker 1: something even more primitive, where it's just take half a 367 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:43,199 Speaker 1: tablet in the morning and a half tablet at night, 368 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:45,639 Speaker 1: as opposed to a full tablet, whereas Chris might have 369 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:48,520 Speaker 1: to take a full tablet each time. That's you know, 370 00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:51,280 Speaker 1: these are not very precise, whereas in this case, you're 371 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:56,080 Speaker 1: talking about tailoring medication to specific individuals so that you're 372 00:21:56,119 --> 00:22:00,520 Speaker 1: getting the the most benefit from that medication with the 373 00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:03,879 Speaker 1: fewest side effects. That's the real goal here, and and 374 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:08,080 Speaker 1: it's not the only way that this could potentially come about. 375 00:22:08,119 --> 00:22:12,240 Speaker 1: There's another kind of technology again, it's an ink jet technology, 376 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:16,440 Speaker 1: but it's um it's a different methodology that is being 377 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:20,680 Speaker 1: explored by a company called Glaxo Smith Kleine, very large 378 00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:24,120 Speaker 1: pharmaceutical company, and what they're looking at is the possibility 379 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:31,520 Speaker 1: of printing medication directly onto tablets. So the tablets themselves 380 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:35,640 Speaker 1: are really the they're the paper in the in the 381 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:40,119 Speaker 1: printer analogy, right, that's the tablets themselves have no medicinal 382 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:42,560 Speaker 1: quality to them. They are just what the medicine is 383 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:44,960 Speaker 1: printed on top of. So basically, if you took the 384 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:49,000 Speaker 1: tablets without any medicine sprayed onto them, they would effectively 385 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:51,199 Speaker 1: be a placebo. Yes, it would be almost you know, 386 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:53,080 Speaker 1: essentially the same thing as a sugar mill and a 387 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:57,680 Speaker 1: plus sebo. Placebos are great, man. I remember when I 388 00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:00,240 Speaker 1: had a headache and I took three plus sebos. I 389 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:04,879 Speaker 1: almost odeed on placebo. Hey, it's Jonathan from two thousand nineteen, 390 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:07,000 Speaker 1: butting in here just go. Wanted to let you know 391 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:09,239 Speaker 1: we're going to take a quick break, but we'll be 392 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:20,160 Speaker 1: right back with more printing medication. A placebo is something 393 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:22,560 Speaker 1: that has no active ingredients in it. It's often used 394 00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:24,400 Speaker 1: and if you if you're not unfamiliar with the term. 395 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:29,080 Speaker 1: It's often used in uh in in scientific tests in 396 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:32,800 Speaker 1: order to determine whether or not a quote unquote real 397 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:37,119 Speaker 1: drug is effective. So you you would take a a 398 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:42,000 Speaker 1: selection of people who all are are needing medication for 399 00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:45,200 Speaker 1: some particular ailment. And it could be anything. It could 400 00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:49,359 Speaker 1: be a physical ailment, could be emotional, mental, whatever. So 401 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:51,800 Speaker 1: you you've got this group of people and you divide 402 00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:54,680 Speaker 1: them up into different groups. Your place cico group is 403 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:58,320 Speaker 1: your control group. These are people who are taking something 404 00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:01,560 Speaker 1: that has no active ingredients in it, and they you know, 405 00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:04,399 Speaker 1: they should not know that that it should be a 406 00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:06,960 Speaker 1: blind test. In fact, if it's a really good test, 407 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:09,720 Speaker 1: it's double blind, meaning that the people who are administering 408 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:12,520 Speaker 1: the test also do not know if the drug that 409 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:15,320 Speaker 1: they are administering is in fact the real drug or 410 00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:18,359 Speaker 1: the placebo version, because that way they can't give any 411 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:23,000 Speaker 1: information to the test group and influence their response. So 412 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:25,880 Speaker 1: you give the placebo to one control group, you give 413 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:28,440 Speaker 1: the drug to the test group, and then you do 414 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:31,199 Speaker 1: and then you compare the results. Now, this is a 415 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:34,000 Speaker 1: really complicated issue no matter what kind of test you're 416 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:37,199 Speaker 1: doing when you're talking about human beings, because uh you know, 417 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:41,480 Speaker 1: we're all different. Yeah, So even if the drug is 418 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:47,000 Speaker 1: completely effective, because we're humans, uh, the results may not 419 00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:51,040 Speaker 1: immediately tell you how effective that drug is. And that's 420 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:53,199 Speaker 1: so it's a it's a long process with lots and 421 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:55,440 Speaker 1: lots of testing before a drug can be said to 422 00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:59,080 Speaker 1: be effective. And if you measure it against the performance 423 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:01,480 Speaker 1: of the placebo group. Let's say that the control group 424 00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:03,920 Speaker 1: all says, oh, I felt so much better at taking 425 00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:07,400 Speaker 1: that medication. It was amazing, and the test group says 426 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:09,919 Speaker 1: the same thing. Well, now you don't know, because the 427 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:13,040 Speaker 1: placebo it was just as effective as the drug, which 428 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:17,080 Speaker 1: may mean that the drug has no medicinal effect. It 429 00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:20,119 Speaker 1: may mean that the medicinal effect is negligible, or it 430 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:24,200 Speaker 1: may just mean that people's are silly. But anyway, that's 431 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:29,359 Speaker 1: the whole testing procedure. So with this this other printing 432 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:33,160 Speaker 1: medication on tablets process, you would get to a point 433 00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:37,320 Speaker 1: where you could again very precisely control exactly what kind 434 00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:40,360 Speaker 1: and how much and how concentrated the medicine is when 435 00:25:40,359 --> 00:25:43,040 Speaker 1: you print it on the tablet. So in theory you 436 00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:46,800 Speaker 1: could again personalize medical treatment. Although if you're talking about 437 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:50,600 Speaker 1: a mass production model, you're really not talking about personalization. 438 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:55,080 Speaker 1: You're just talking about a different way of producing medicine. Uh. 439 00:25:55,119 --> 00:25:58,840 Speaker 1: There's some problems that they're facing with this. One of 440 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:02,479 Speaker 1: those being that currently, at least as of the recording 441 00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:06,000 Speaker 1: of this podcast and the most recent research material I 442 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:10,439 Speaker 1: could get hold of, uh, this is only effective for 443 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:15,120 Speaker 1: half a percent of all medications that come in tablet form. 444 00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:19,600 Speaker 1: So that means that only a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction 445 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:22,960 Speaker 1: of all the different tablet medicines would benefit from this approach. 446 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:28,000 Speaker 1: They're hoping to improve processes and get that number up 447 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:32,240 Speaker 1: to so still fewer than half. Right. Well, and at 448 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:35,280 Speaker 1: one time, uh, you know, my grandfather was a pharmacist, 449 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:39,119 Speaker 1: so you know, but he was a pharmacist in the 450 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:43,680 Speaker 1: early twentieth century. Um, And back then, they they mix 451 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,440 Speaker 1: things at the pharmacy. Now today you can still find 452 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:50,200 Speaker 1: pharmacists who will do this. Uh. They're they typically refer 453 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:52,960 Speaker 1: to themselves as compounding pharmacists. So if you see a 454 00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:56,320 Speaker 1: sign for a compounding pharmacy, basically what they're saying is, uh, 455 00:26:56,520 --> 00:27:00,240 Speaker 1: you know, we mix special medications. UM. I've actually had 456 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:03,720 Speaker 1: to have uh something mixed up special for me. Um. 457 00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:05,919 Speaker 1: And it's it's very weird to do this because you know, 458 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:08,119 Speaker 1: they get in there with the mortar and pestle and 459 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:11,560 Speaker 1: grind stuff up and mix stuff together. But if you 460 00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:14,360 Speaker 1: go to your you know, the pharmacy in your grocery 461 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:19,240 Speaker 1: store or your um, you know, the department store, generally 462 00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:21,439 Speaker 1: what they do is they order stuff and that can 463 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:23,880 Speaker 1: be inconvenient. Now, you know, they say, well, I can't 464 00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:26,520 Speaker 1: get that for you today. It's probably gonna be next 465 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:30,600 Speaker 1: Tuesday before I can get anything shipped in for us. Now, 466 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:33,280 Speaker 1: this this kind of technology, if it's on a patch 467 00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:35,680 Speaker 1: or you can print it onto a tablet, might mean 468 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,080 Speaker 1: that they could get uh, you know, the chemicals in 469 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:39,760 Speaker 1: and they can say, well, I can I can mix 470 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:43,239 Speaker 1: up that concentration for you later this afternoon. You might 471 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:45,680 Speaker 1: get your medication a lot more quickly. They might be 472 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:47,479 Speaker 1: able to get more of the raw materials in. Now 473 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:50,640 Speaker 1: I don't know, uh, you know, if it's only effective 474 00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:54,240 Speaker 1: for a certain amount of the um the population, and 475 00:27:54,359 --> 00:27:56,800 Speaker 1: it may not be as effective, but it might help. 476 00:27:57,240 --> 00:27:58,879 Speaker 1: On the other hand, that also might mean that they 477 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:02,160 Speaker 1: have a lot of ross off laying around that could 478 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:04,400 Speaker 1: be mixed to make other stuff. And as we know, 479 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:07,840 Speaker 1: pharmacies or targets for people who like to break in, 480 00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:11,360 Speaker 1: to steal stuff, to make things that may or may 481 00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:15,680 Speaker 1: not be legal, right, like illicit drugs. This is really 482 00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:19,000 Speaker 1: what we're talking about. Um. But see there there again, 483 00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:21,760 Speaker 1: there are benefits that this this technology could bring in 484 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:25,679 Speaker 1: also detriments. It's like any kind of technology really, but um, 485 00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:28,520 Speaker 1: the benefits are are enticing, yeah, you know, and not 486 00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:30,440 Speaker 1: not only are you talking about not only are you 487 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:35,760 Speaker 1: talking about personalized medication, uh, and also a streamlined manufacturing process. 488 00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:38,800 Speaker 1: You're also talking about the potential of this medication taking 489 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:42,040 Speaker 1: effect much more quickly than it would in a traditional format. 490 00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:43,760 Speaker 1: So if you talk about the tablet, where the medication 491 00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:47,320 Speaker 1: is essentially baked into the tablet, you know, the digestive 492 00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:49,520 Speaker 1: system takes a while to break that tablet down, and 493 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:53,560 Speaker 1: the medication gets into your your blood system, your circulatory 494 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:57,480 Speaker 1: system and is absorbed and however whatever the the the 495 00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:01,360 Speaker 1: the mechanical process is for that particular medication, because they 496 00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:04,840 Speaker 1: are different. Um, if you're printing it on the outside 497 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:07,000 Speaker 1: of the tablet, then that's going to get absorbed much 498 00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:11,280 Speaker 1: faster than it would if it were part of the tablet. 499 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:15,640 Speaker 1: So that's that's one potential benefit is that the the 500 00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:20,080 Speaker 1: pharmacological effects would would kick in earlier than they would 501 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:24,280 Speaker 1: with other types of tablets. Oh sorry, go ahead. I 502 00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:26,280 Speaker 1: was gonna say then that that's sort of if you 503 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:29,160 Speaker 1: you are thinking of uh, the ink jet printer in 504 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:32,040 Speaker 1: this case, printing on a row of tablets as though 505 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:35,560 Speaker 1: they were the paper in a desktop ink jet printer. 506 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:37,560 Speaker 1: But there's another way you could think about that, if 507 00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:40,280 Speaker 1: you were thinking about something like three D printing, then 508 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:43,160 Speaker 1: the medicine could be all mixed together and printed out 509 00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:44,960 Speaker 1: in the form of a tablet. Yeah. In fact, we'll 510 00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:47,480 Speaker 1: we'll talk about that in just a second. Uh. The 511 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:49,440 Speaker 1: one other thing I wanted to say about this tablet 512 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:52,600 Speaker 1: approach is that potentially you could even get to a 513 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:56,760 Speaker 1: point where you could print multiple drugs on a single tablet, 514 00:29:57,080 --> 00:30:00,120 Speaker 1: which would mean that another benefit for the patient and 515 00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:02,880 Speaker 1: is that if they are on something like three or 516 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:06,320 Speaker 1: four medications, instead of having to take three or four tablets, 517 00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:08,720 Speaker 1: they might only have to take one that has all 518 00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:12,320 Speaker 1: of the different medications printed on it. And now again, 519 00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:16,040 Speaker 1: because we're talking about of all tablets right now, even 520 00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:21,840 Speaker 1: at that there the goal being, um, that's you know, 521 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:25,480 Speaker 1: the odds that every medication a person might need, someone 522 00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:28,280 Speaker 1: who has a lot of different prescriptions. Uh. The odds 523 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:29,720 Speaker 1: that they would be able to get all of those 524 00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:34,280 Speaker 1: into one pill are not great, but it's a potential 525 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,240 Speaker 1: future for this technology. Sure. Yeah, they could print your 526 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:41,200 Speaker 1: your antihistamine and your allergy medication and your multi vitamin 527 00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:45,000 Speaker 1: altogether in one tablet that's prescribed. Do you buy your 528 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 1: doctor and just give you all of it in one 529 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:49,520 Speaker 1: one go. Yeah. Now you wanted to talk a little 530 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:53,760 Speaker 1: bit about printing out skin. Oh, yeah, that's true. Um, 531 00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:57,600 Speaker 1: I had forgotten about that. I completely blew the segway there. Yeah, 532 00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:00,480 Speaker 1: this is something that It was funny because I was looking. Uh. 533 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:03,800 Speaker 1: Jonathan and I have both heard about the potential for 534 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:08,280 Speaker 1: for uh using these printers last year, and so I 535 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:10,640 Speaker 1: was looking for that and in the process I found 536 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:13,440 Speaker 1: an article from actually quite a few years ago, from 537 00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:17,360 Speaker 1: two thousand four, UM in I d G News, UH 538 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:20,520 Speaker 1: from Susannah Patten, and what they were talking about was 539 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:26,160 Speaker 1: the possibility of using printers to print out skin, artificial 540 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:30,000 Speaker 1: skin for grafting purposes. UM. This would be really cool 541 00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:34,680 Speaker 1: because um, not all skin graphs take now. And they 542 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:37,480 Speaker 1: tried to get it from the from the patient who 543 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:40,720 Speaker 1: has been uh generally this is for burn victims. I 544 00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:43,880 Speaker 1: actually knew a kid when I was growing up who 545 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:47,120 Speaker 1: suffered second and third degree burns along his legs and 546 00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:50,640 Speaker 1: had to have an extensive skin graft and it was Yeah, 547 00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:52,440 Speaker 1: they had to take it from further up his leg 548 00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:55,800 Speaker 1: in order to to transplant it down on his leg, 549 00:31:55,840 --> 00:32:00,240 Speaker 1: and it was a a very long and painful says 550 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:04,160 Speaker 1: for him. Yeah, I just I can't imagine. Um. But 551 00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:08,280 Speaker 1: the problem, the problem is not all of that works 552 00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:11,440 Speaker 1: as successfully as they would like it too, because you know, 553 00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:13,680 Speaker 1: they have to cover the area or they're going to 554 00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:15,720 Speaker 1: try to cover the area, and there may not be 555 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:20,239 Speaker 1: suitable skin on the patient available to do the graft. Uh, 556 00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:22,080 Speaker 1: it can be you know, they're taking it from one 557 00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:24,880 Speaker 1: place and moving it to another, so they're you know, 558 00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:28,480 Speaker 1: they're creating more injury if you will, in the process 559 00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:32,080 Speaker 1: of crafts don't always take and sometimes they shrink. And 560 00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:37,040 Speaker 1: also there's a huge risk of infection. Yes, yes there are. Um. 561 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:40,160 Speaker 1: They actually we're doing this at the University of South 562 00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:43,760 Speaker 1: Carolina and uh they're using gel, a form of gel 563 00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:48,600 Speaker 1: instead of paper. UM, so they are actually repurposing. Now 564 00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:51,880 Speaker 1: this isn't using a new technology. This was actually repurposing 565 00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:58,640 Speaker 1: older printers with larger holes for nozzles. UM. So they 566 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:01,400 Speaker 1: this was you know, when the parimental process. But what 567 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:04,320 Speaker 1: they were doing was using this gel and and uh 568 00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:07,800 Speaker 1: you know, printing them the material that could be used 569 00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:13,840 Speaker 1: for graphs. And the benefit here um was that it 570 00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:18,000 Speaker 1: could be you know, more suitable for printing to that 571 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:24,480 Speaker 1: specific area, and it was less likely to shrink because 572 00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:27,920 Speaker 1: they were using this this artificial material, so it was 573 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:34,920 Speaker 1: really a better quality of material than the person's actual skin. Now, 574 00:33:34,960 --> 00:33:38,000 Speaker 1: I didn't find a lot of information about whether or 575 00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:40,440 Speaker 1: not this has been used currently, but this was done 576 00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:44,400 Speaker 1: in two thousand four, and it's a very interesting thought. UM. 577 00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:48,480 Speaker 1: They were also talking about the possibility of printing complete organs, 578 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:50,960 Speaker 1: which is also a three This would also be a 579 00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:56,840 Speaker 1: three D process. UM. That's pretty amazing to think about, UM. 580 00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:59,560 Speaker 1: And it's it's the kind of thing that obviously hasn't 581 00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:03,640 Speaker 1: been used a lot as of right now, but you know, 582 00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:06,480 Speaker 1: going forward now that three D printing is becoming very 583 00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:09,480 Speaker 1: much a reality in the rapid prototyping. Well, we discuss 584 00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:12,520 Speaker 1: this in a previous podcast to UM. You know, this 585 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:15,440 Speaker 1: is this is very much a fairly common thing now 586 00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:17,399 Speaker 1: you can buy your own three D printer. Now they're 587 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:19,520 Speaker 1: not cheap, and I'm not going to print out a 588 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:22,760 Speaker 1: human heart for you. But no, But but the idea 589 00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:25,279 Speaker 1: is that you could use gels. I also found, just 590 00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:28,839 Speaker 1: as a quick mention, um, scientists who are working on 591 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:33,720 Speaker 1: printing on gels for electrical connectivity. Uh, not not for 592 00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:39,239 Speaker 1: for medicine, but for the purposes of electronics. So as 593 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:42,840 Speaker 1: the the work into printing on gels continues, in the 594 00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:47,480 Speaker 1: work of printing for medicine continues, you can expect that, um, 595 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:50,240 Speaker 1: you know, these things are very much a possibility, and 596 00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:53,200 Speaker 1: you know may move very quickly in the years to come. 597 00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:54,959 Speaker 1: Chris and I have a little bit more to say 598 00:34:54,960 --> 00:35:05,080 Speaker 1: about printing medication right after this break. It's a very 599 00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:07,520 Speaker 1: exciting thing to me because I love the idea of 600 00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:10,719 Speaker 1: being able to print organs where you no longer have 601 00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:15,560 Speaker 1: to worry upon worry about getting the right donor or 602 00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:18,360 Speaker 1: if it's an organ that can be replaced with a 603 00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:20,280 Speaker 1: mechanical version, and then of course you have to worry 604 00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:24,240 Speaker 1: about other elements like your body rejecting it or whatever. 605 00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:27,560 Speaker 1: When you when you're talking about printing your own organs, 606 00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:30,279 Speaker 1: you can think about a time in the future where 607 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:33,480 Speaker 1: we might be able to say this organ was printed 608 00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:38,600 Speaker 1: specifically from this person's based on this person's DNA and 609 00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:43,239 Speaker 1: their physiology, so that the likelihood of the body accepting 610 00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:45,560 Speaker 1: the new organ is much higher than it would be 611 00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:49,840 Speaker 1: if it were a traditional transplant, and so the survivability 612 00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:53,600 Speaker 1: goes up. You don't have to worry about organ donors 613 00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:57,200 Speaker 1: as much. You you reduce the need for people to 614 00:35:57,239 --> 00:36:00,479 Speaker 1: sit on a waiting list for a transplant it for 615 00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:04,200 Speaker 1: indeterminate amounts of time. And you know, that's a very 616 00:36:04,239 --> 00:36:08,799 Speaker 1: that's an incredibly emotionally taxing situation to be in, you know, 617 00:36:08,840 --> 00:36:11,919 Speaker 1: where you don't know if you're going to ever get 618 00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:14,439 Speaker 1: the organ you need. You know, it's a race against time, 619 00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:17,520 Speaker 1: and there are people ahead of you. It's that's a 620 00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:23,520 Speaker 1: tough situation. So the benefits of this technology are enormous. 621 00:36:23,640 --> 00:36:26,160 Speaker 1: It's really hard. I mean, I could not exaggerate how 622 00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:30,480 Speaker 1: important it would be. Um. But getting back into also 623 00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:33,600 Speaker 1: three D printing and and closer to stuff that's happening 624 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:37,239 Speaker 1: on happening right now. You you alluded to it in 625 00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:42,560 Speaker 1: the early, way too early, the attempted segue, Uh yeah, 626 00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:46,920 Speaker 1: using three D printing to create drugs like like a 627 00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:52,040 Speaker 1: like a capsule or a tablet. There's a professor actually 628 00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:55,760 Speaker 1: the chair of chemistry at Glasgow University named Lee Cronin 629 00:36:56,480 --> 00:37:00,239 Speaker 1: who was he had a TED talk about this. He's 630 00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:04,839 Speaker 1: actually he's known for some pretty uh innovative ideas in 631 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:08,799 Speaker 1: various spaces. He's also a fellow who has really kind 632 00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:11,879 Speaker 1: of he's got He's got a lot of goals this guy. 633 00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:17,040 Speaker 1: One of them is to eventually create a create a 634 00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:20,200 Speaker 1: life form like that was Another one of his projects 635 00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:25,080 Speaker 1: is not just creating um this three D printing drug thing. 636 00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:30,840 Speaker 1: He also did TED talk about using a process to 637 00:37:30,920 --> 00:37:33,680 Speaker 1: actually create a new form, a synthetic form of life. 638 00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:36,760 Speaker 1: So he's got a lot of a lot of synthetic 639 00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:40,479 Speaker 1: fingers and synthetic pies out there, but he was talking 640 00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:45,280 Speaker 1: about using three D printers to create to create UH drugs. 641 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:47,640 Speaker 1: And one of the ways he would the way they're 642 00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:50,480 Speaker 1: talking about doing this is building first using a polymer 643 00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:55,680 Speaker 1: called that they're calling reaction where, which would create essentially 644 00:37:55,760 --> 00:38:00,760 Speaker 1: the reaction chamber for a chemical process. Right, because drugs 645 00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:04,560 Speaker 1: are are in general they are the uh the result 646 00:38:04,719 --> 00:38:10,600 Speaker 1: of some sort of chemical reaction between various ingredients interacting together, well, 647 00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:15,360 Speaker 1: you can control somewhat the Really, you can completely control 648 00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:19,480 Speaker 1: the concentration and effect of those drugs by not just 649 00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:23,080 Speaker 1: the amount of the active ingredients that you introduce, or 650 00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:25,160 Speaker 1: the or the various ingredients that you introduce the don't 651 00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:29,319 Speaker 1: necessarily have to be active. Uh, not just controlling how 652 00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:32,239 Speaker 1: much of each of those individual ingredients come in, but 653 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:37,040 Speaker 1: the size and shape of the reaction chamber, because that 654 00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:41,919 Speaker 1: can control the speed of the chemical process, which can 655 00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:46,719 Speaker 1: again affect what the outcome of that process will ultimately be. 656 00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:50,040 Speaker 1: A fast process might result in a different type of 657 00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:52,279 Speaker 1: drug than the slow process, even if you're using the 658 00:38:52,320 --> 00:38:57,080 Speaker 1: same ingredients. So he came up with this idea, or 659 00:38:57,080 --> 00:38:59,520 Speaker 1: he and his team came up with this idea of 660 00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:03,759 Speaker 1: using the polymer to to print out very very precise 661 00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:08,040 Speaker 1: reaction chambers, and then using the same printer laying down 662 00:39:08,160 --> 00:39:11,279 Speaker 1: layers of the various compounds that you would use for 663 00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:14,160 Speaker 1: a drug, and the heavier compounds would be on top, 664 00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:18,120 Speaker 1: the lighter compounds on the bottom, and essentially the heavier 665 00:39:18,160 --> 00:39:22,040 Speaker 1: compounds would start to sink down into the lighter compounds 666 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:25,960 Speaker 1: and a very controlled chemical reaction would take place. Ultimately, 667 00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:28,879 Speaker 1: he hopes to be able to lace this reaction where 668 00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:32,440 Speaker 1: polymer with various catalysts, and a catalyst of course, is 669 00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:36,680 Speaker 1: something that that facilitates a chemical reaction, right, So in 670 00:39:36,680 --> 00:39:42,360 Speaker 1: other words, you would have an entire pharmacological lab reduced 671 00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:46,279 Speaker 1: down to a tiny, tiny form factor because you're using 672 00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:48,440 Speaker 1: a three D printer. That would be very cool. It 673 00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:53,160 Speaker 1: would be really cool. And then his ultimate goal would 674 00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:56,680 Speaker 1: be that people patients would be able to purchase a 675 00:39:56,719 --> 00:39:59,960 Speaker 1: printer and take it home and connected to their computer 676 00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:03,840 Speaker 1: or and then they would buy essentially buy a drug 677 00:40:03,880 --> 00:40:09,240 Speaker 1: recipe from whatever pharmacy or you know, whatever, whatever the 678 00:40:09,239 --> 00:40:12,600 Speaker 1: the the vendor would be. But they would buy the 679 00:40:12,680 --> 00:40:16,200 Speaker 1: drug recipe online which would then download to their computer. 680 00:40:16,280 --> 00:40:17,960 Speaker 1: They would send you know, they would have to have 681 00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:23,000 Speaker 1: the the basic ingredients whatever those basic ingredients are for 682 00:40:23,080 --> 00:40:25,959 Speaker 1: that drug. But they would then send a print job 683 00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:28,839 Speaker 1: essentially to their printer and it would then print that 684 00:40:28,880 --> 00:40:33,680 Speaker 1: medication out for them. So he actually compares his project 685 00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:38,480 Speaker 1: to iTunes and the iPod. He says, you know, it's 686 00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:41,759 Speaker 1: it's all it's an app. It's not the content, it's 687 00:40:41,800 --> 00:40:45,360 Speaker 1: just the way of generating whatever it is. You know, 688 00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:48,200 Speaker 1: it's it's your way to access content that's provided by 689 00:40:48,239 --> 00:40:50,800 Speaker 1: other people. It's like a smartphone app in the sense 690 00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:53,200 Speaker 1: that this is just the program that lets you do 691 00:40:53,280 --> 00:40:55,719 Speaker 1: the stuff. The actual content is going to come from 692 00:40:55,719 --> 00:40:58,919 Speaker 1: whatever the vendor is. So if you need to buy 693 00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:04,680 Speaker 1: pain killer, you could purchase the pain killer recipe, send 694 00:41:04,719 --> 00:41:06,759 Speaker 1: it to your printer and print it out. Now, this 695 00:41:06,840 --> 00:41:08,920 Speaker 1: is not that different from the other three D printer 696 00:41:09,160 --> 00:41:11,959 Speaker 1: conversation we've had. In the previous podcast, we talked about, 697 00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:15,520 Speaker 1: you know, people designing stuff. Like, let's say that someone 698 00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:20,320 Speaker 1: designs a particularly nice table. The table just looks really cool, 699 00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:23,480 Speaker 1: and then yeah, and then you can download, you know, 700 00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:26,239 Speaker 1: purchase and download the schematic for that table, send it 701 00:41:26,280 --> 00:41:28,239 Speaker 1: to a three D printer, and have it print out 702 00:41:28,239 --> 00:41:31,839 Speaker 1: the various pieces you need to assemble that table. This 703 00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:34,520 Speaker 1: is the same idea, except you're taking it to medicine 704 00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:38,279 Speaker 1: as opposed to furniture or a toy or even a 705 00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:40,560 Speaker 1: prototype whatever else you know, you would use a three 706 00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:44,640 Speaker 1: D printer to create. So it's but it's the same 707 00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:48,200 Speaker 1: basic approach. He's just like, why can't we apply this 708 00:41:48,320 --> 00:41:51,560 Speaker 1: approach to medicine. If it works in this case, could 709 00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:53,400 Speaker 1: it not work in this So that's what he and 710 00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:56,680 Speaker 1: his team are working on now. They they're still, you know, 711 00:41:56,800 --> 00:41:58,920 Speaker 1: in the very early days of testing as far as 712 00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:03,120 Speaker 1: this is concerned, but it's a very promising and interesting approach. Now. 713 00:42:04,200 --> 00:42:07,120 Speaker 1: People have already raised some concerns about the ultimate goal 714 00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:10,200 Speaker 1: about being able to buy a printer. You know, these 715 00:42:10,239 --> 00:42:12,759 Speaker 1: prinners cost a couple of thousand dollars. But when you 716 00:42:12,880 --> 00:42:15,279 Speaker 1: when you when you compare that to the price of 717 00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:21,759 Speaker 1: buying medication over time, that is not a big deal. 718 00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:25,200 Speaker 1: Assuming that the raw materials are not as expensive as 719 00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:27,839 Speaker 1: the medication would be, then you would be saving money 720 00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:30,759 Speaker 1: in the long run, assuming you live long enough for 721 00:42:30,840 --> 00:42:35,560 Speaker 1: that to benefit you. Right, So, if we live in 722 00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:37,239 Speaker 1: a world where you can go out and buy a 723 00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:40,200 Speaker 1: three D printer that can print medication, in a world 724 00:42:40,239 --> 00:42:43,080 Speaker 1: where you could buy a three D wright, one of 725 00:42:43,080 --> 00:42:45,440 Speaker 1: the concerns is, well, let's say that this is not 726 00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:48,640 Speaker 1: a pervasive technology. Let's say that it only goes out 727 00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:51,320 Speaker 1: to a small percentage of the people in the world 728 00:42:51,400 --> 00:42:54,759 Speaker 1: who can get hold of this, either because it's got 729 00:42:54,760 --> 00:42:59,120 Speaker 1: a barrier economically, or perhaps it's a legal thing. You know, 730 00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:02,000 Speaker 1: maybe it's legal in some areas but not in others 731 00:43:02,400 --> 00:43:06,919 Speaker 1: at any rate. Let's assume that only uh, we'll say 732 00:43:06,960 --> 00:43:09,880 Speaker 1: one percent, one percent of the world's population has access 733 00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:13,400 Speaker 1: to this technology. For the purposes of this discussion, that 734 00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:15,840 Speaker 1: one percent ends up going out and buying this printer, 735 00:43:16,040 --> 00:43:18,760 Speaker 1: taking at home, and now they've got a drug printing machine. 736 00:43:19,680 --> 00:43:24,480 Speaker 1: What stops that one percent from becoming drug dealers? Alright? 737 00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:28,200 Speaker 1: That's that's the problem that people are saying. They're saying, well, 738 00:43:28,239 --> 00:43:31,840 Speaker 1: if this is not a technology that everyone has access to, 739 00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:34,719 Speaker 1: you have essentially made a whole bunch of people their 740 00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:37,799 Speaker 1: own drug companies where they can they they will go out, 741 00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:39,960 Speaker 1: they'll buy the recipe for whatever drug it is that 742 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:43,319 Speaker 1: they want to print, print out a whole bunch of them, 743 00:43:43,320 --> 00:43:46,200 Speaker 1: and then essentially sell that drug in a black market. 744 00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:49,200 Speaker 1: That a new black market would be generated because you 745 00:43:49,239 --> 00:43:52,160 Speaker 1: would bypass the pharmaceutical companies and the pharmacies and the 746 00:43:52,200 --> 00:43:56,520 Speaker 1: doctors and you would just have regular individuals kind of 747 00:43:56,560 --> 00:44:00,680 Speaker 1: prescribing medication out to whoever wants it. So there are 748 00:44:00,760 --> 00:44:03,680 Speaker 1: some concerns about that now. Uh. Corona and for his part, 749 00:44:03,719 --> 00:44:06,160 Speaker 1: pretty much dismisses that. He says, you know, this is 750 00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:08,520 Speaker 1: that you're worrying about something that's not even an issue yet, 751 00:44:08,560 --> 00:44:11,360 Speaker 1: and when we get there, it won't be an issue. Um, 752 00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:14,600 Speaker 1: but that's still you know, the critics have still been 753 00:44:14,640 --> 00:44:18,200 Speaker 1: a little concerned with what could potentially happen. Well, in 754 00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:21,719 Speaker 1: three D printing, they've already been people upset that you 755 00:44:21,760 --> 00:44:25,680 Speaker 1: can print a thing because you know, they've made things 756 00:44:25,760 --> 00:44:28,840 Speaker 1: that weren't that weren't you know, a book or a 757 00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:31,560 Speaker 1: piece of music or a film, and they said, oh, 758 00:44:31,680 --> 00:44:33,480 Speaker 1: you know, we don't have to worry about people copying 759 00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:36,920 Speaker 1: our stuff. Well it's now there. I have read reports 760 00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:40,040 Speaker 1: of people who make things three D things, and you 761 00:44:40,120 --> 00:44:43,239 Speaker 1: know they're going, wait, they're making our things, right, So 762 00:44:43,520 --> 00:44:46,120 Speaker 1: now we have to deal with this copyright thing because 763 00:44:46,160 --> 00:44:47,840 Speaker 1: you could just make our stuff at home. You know, 764 00:44:47,920 --> 00:44:49,840 Speaker 1: we saw the we saw the music world deal with 765 00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:54,160 Speaker 1: this first, and then film and television, and then books, 766 00:44:54,840 --> 00:44:58,680 Speaker 1: so books and publishing. So we've seen major industries already 767 00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:01,760 Speaker 1: have to deal with this. It just means that everything 768 00:45:01,840 --> 00:45:03,840 Speaker 1: is going to have to deal with this. Yeah, you know, 769 00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:06,560 Speaker 1: that's that's the crazy thing is that. And what will 770 00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:08,359 Speaker 1: be funny is that I'm sure we're going to see 771 00:45:08,360 --> 00:45:14,120 Speaker 1: the same sort of uh ham fisted mistakes being made 772 00:45:14,160 --> 00:45:16,799 Speaker 1: by each industry. Like it's just like, seriously, people, did 773 00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:20,600 Speaker 1: you not learn anything from the previous incarnations of this problem. Well, 774 00:45:20,640 --> 00:45:23,960 Speaker 1: there these are industries that haven't necessarily typically had to 775 00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:27,120 Speaker 1: deal with them. Some of them had to it. They're 776 00:45:27,120 --> 00:45:28,600 Speaker 1: there are people who thought they were out of trouble 777 00:45:28,600 --> 00:45:30,360 Speaker 1: and people who thought they were immune to it. That 778 00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:33,279 Speaker 1: is another podcast. However, I did want to mention to 779 00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:37,759 Speaker 1: h really quickly because we're kind of going along. But um, 780 00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:40,080 Speaker 1: there are also three D printers being used in other 781 00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:44,799 Speaker 1: types of medicine. Two. UM. I have seen uh three 782 00:45:44,880 --> 00:45:51,360 Speaker 1: D printing being used to create custom uh dental materials, um, 783 00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:55,160 Speaker 1: you know, for people who need uh implants or or 784 00:45:55,280 --> 00:45:57,640 Speaker 1: you know those kinds of things. Um. And I know 785 00:45:57,680 --> 00:46:01,040 Speaker 1: that they're using three D printing to create other types 786 00:46:01,280 --> 00:46:05,840 Speaker 1: of implants, uh, you know obviously the harder physical material 787 00:46:05,920 --> 00:46:10,879 Speaker 1: bone things like replacing knee joints or hip joints, jawbones. 788 00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:15,359 Speaker 1: That's just amazing. Yeah, the idea of just printing out 789 00:46:15,440 --> 00:46:17,720 Speaker 1: on you whatever it is, which is great because again 790 00:46:17,760 --> 00:46:21,280 Speaker 1: you can print it at such precision that you can 791 00:46:21,520 --> 00:46:24,440 Speaker 1: meet the needs of the patient much more readily than 792 00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:27,040 Speaker 1: you could if you're talking about you know, a one 793 00:46:27,080 --> 00:46:30,000 Speaker 1: size fits all approach, because we're not all one size 794 00:46:30,040 --> 00:46:32,480 Speaker 1: as it turns out. Yeah, well, it's fascinating to think 795 00:46:32,480 --> 00:46:35,280 Speaker 1: that you might be able to do X rays and 796 00:46:35,760 --> 00:46:38,840 Speaker 1: cat scans and and things that that imaging that you 797 00:46:38,840 --> 00:46:41,680 Speaker 1: would uh not have been able to use just a 798 00:46:41,760 --> 00:46:46,439 Speaker 1: generation to go to get such precision precise measurements, put 799 00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:49,000 Speaker 1: that information into a computer and print out what you 800 00:46:49,040 --> 00:46:51,080 Speaker 1: need rather than having to you know, make a cast 801 00:46:51,320 --> 00:46:53,640 Speaker 1: or you know whatever to to create a new one 802 00:46:53,719 --> 00:46:55,480 Speaker 1: or go, h you know what you look like you 803 00:46:55,600 --> 00:46:58,600 Speaker 1: might have a medium size hip. Let's throw that in there, 804 00:46:59,040 --> 00:47:01,239 Speaker 1: all right. Then that rep up another classic episode of 805 00:47:01,239 --> 00:47:04,319 Speaker 1: tech Stuff. Hope you guys enjoyed it. If you have 806 00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:08,680 Speaker 1: any suggestions for future episodes of tech stuff, not future 807 00:47:08,880 --> 00:47:12,239 Speaker 1: classic episodes that would be weird that you can let 808 00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:14,520 Speaker 1: me know, send me an email the addresses tech stuff 809 00:47:14,560 --> 00:47:17,120 Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com, or drop me a 810 00:47:17,160 --> 00:47:19,920 Speaker 1: line on social media. You can find all the links 811 00:47:19,920 --> 00:47:23,520 Speaker 1: to that on our website that's text stuff podcast dot com. 812 00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:26,400 Speaker 1: You also find an archive of all of our past episodes, 813 00:47:26,440 --> 00:47:28,960 Speaker 1: not just the ones from two thousand twelve, and a 814 00:47:29,040 --> 00:47:31,239 Speaker 1: link to our online store where every purchase you make 815 00:47:31,320 --> 00:47:33,400 Speaker 1: goes to help the show, and we greatly appreciate it, 816 00:47:33,440 --> 00:47:40,520 Speaker 1: and I'll talk to you again really soon. Text Stuff 817 00:47:40,560 --> 00:47:42,880 Speaker 1: is a production of I heart Radio's How Stuff Works. 818 00:47:43,040 --> 00:47:45,880 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i 819 00:47:45,960 --> 00:47:49,200 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 820 00:47:49,239 --> 00:47:50,160 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.