What Big Pharma is calling medicine seems suspiciously like witchcraft.

大藥廠所謂的藥似乎很像巫術。

But fear not, tis only science.

不過不用擔心，這只是科學。

So how does the painkiller scientifically know where the pain is?

那麼，止痛藥是如何科學地知道疼痛部位的呢？

Let's take a look at the adventure of your freshly swallowed Advil to understand a bit better.

讓我們來看看您剛吞下的Advil(一種止痛藥)的冒險經歷，以便更好地瞭解它。

After a long journey down your esophagus, we end up in the stomach.

經過食道的長途跋涉，我們最終到達胃部。

This is bad news for the Advil, considering your stomach is a pit of acid.

考慮到你的胃是一個酸坑，這對Advil來說是個壞消息。

In this pit, our hero dissolves completely, and once that has happened, he moves into the small intestine, where he gets absorbed into the bloodstream.

在這個坑裡，我們的主角會完全溶解，一旦溶解，他就會進入小腸，被血液吸收。

From here, he travels through the portal venous system to the liver.

從這裡，他通過門靜脈系統到達肝臟。

Once the liver gives the green light, the remains of our hero leave the liver and reaches general circulation.

一旦肝臟准許，英雄的遺體就會離開肝臟，進入血液循環。

Where is general circulation?

血液循環在哪裡？

Everywhere.

無處不在

But this still begs the question, how does it actually relieve the pain?

但這仍然引出了一個問題：它究竟是如何緩解疼痛的？

What is pain?

什麼是疼痛？

Though you feel pain in your arm, leg, or wherever else, pain doesn't actually happen in your body.

雖然你的胳膊、腿或其他部位會感到疼痛，但疼痛實際上並不發生在你的身體裡。

It happens in your brain.

它發生在你的大腦中。

But that's not to say that there isn't any action going on in your body.

但這並不是說你的身體裡沒有任何活動。

In most tissue, you will find cyclooxygenase enzymes.

在大多數組織中，你都能找到環氧化酶。

We'll call this cyclo.

我們稱之為 Cyclo。

When cells in your body are injured or experience stress, they release a whole ton of big words.

當體內細胞受傷或承受壓力時，它們會釋放出一大堆大詞。

Cyclo has a bit of a crush on one of these big words, arachrodonic acid.

Cyclo 對其中一個大詞 "花生四烯酸 "情有獨鍾。

But cyclo lacks confidence, so in the approach, they panic and completely devour them.

但 Cyclo 缺乏自信，在接近時慌不擇路，完全吞噬了他們。

They then turn them into something new.

然後，他們將其轉化為新的東西。

Prostaglandins.

前列腺素

Prostaglandins.

前列腺素

Pro.

Pro.

Sta.

Sta.

Glan.

格蘭

Dins.

Dins.

Once this stuff is released, it quickly binds onto receptors in your peripheral nervous system.

這種物質一旦釋放出來，就會迅速與外周神經系統中的受體結合。

That's the nervous part of your nervous system.

這是神經系統的神經部分。

Then your peripheral nervous system sends signals using electricity to your central nervous system.

然後，外周神經系統通過電流向中樞神經系統發送信號。

The big guy.

大塊頭

Brain cells then interpret these signals as pain, and inflames the area that's hurting.

然後，腦細胞會將這些信號解釋為疼痛，並使疼痛部位發炎。

But it's a faint pain, not really noticeable.

但這只是一種微弱的疼痛，並不明顯。

But because the brain hates itself, depending on how strong the electrical signal, a part of the brain cell called astrocytes releases the same attractive chemical cyclo-saw in the first place.

但是，由於大腦討厭自己，根據電信號的強弱，腦細胞中一個叫做星形膠質細胞的部分會在第一時間釋放出同樣具有吸引力的化學環鋸。

And oh hey, would you look at that, cyclo's in the brain as well.

還有，你看，大腦裡也有 cyclo。

And spoiler alert, pain.

還有劇透警報，疼痛。

Lots of pain.

痛苦萬分

You essentially echo the pain you already feel, making it hurt more.

你基本上是在重複你已經感受到的痛苦，讓它變得更痛。

Now this all works great, but it hurts.

現在，這一切都很有效，但也很傷人。

And because we humans are little wimps, we must put an end to it.

因為我們人類都是小懦夫，所以我們必須結束它。

Using little pills, or more specifically, nasets.

使用小藥丸，或者更確切地說，使用鼻塞。

What a naset does is disguise itself as the attractive chemical released by the injured cell.

鼻疽病毒會偽裝成受傷細胞釋放的具有吸引力的化學物質。

Meaning, it fits perfectly into where those injured cell chemicals usually bind to the cyclo.

也就是說，它完全符合那些受傷細胞化學物質通常與環狀結構結合的位置。

And then, it just doesn't move.

然後，它就不動了。

It basically acts like a plug, not allowing anything to bind with the cyclo.

它基本上就像一個塞子，不允許任何東西與 Cyclo 結合。

So no stuff is made.

是以，沒有製造出任何東西。

Therefore, that signal to the brain is no longer released, your brain perceives less pain, and also, because it doesn't really know what's going on, it commands less inflammation.

是以，通往大腦的信號不再被釋放，你的大腦感知到的疼痛就會減少，同時，由於它並不真正知道發生了什麼，它也會減少發炎。

So you're kind of killing two birds with one stone.

是以，你算是一石二鳥。

And again, this is happening literally everywhere, not just the hurt area.

再說一遍，這種情況不僅發生在受傷的地區，而是到處都在發生。

But that's only for naset painkillers.

但這隻適用於鼻止痛藥。

Other painkillers, like Tylenol, approach things a bit differently.

其他止痛藥（如泰諾）的處理方法略有不同。

These painkillers are called acetaminophene.

這些止痛藥被稱為對乙酰氨基酚。

But I'm just going to call them ace, because that sounds a lot cooler, and I don't know how to spell acetaminophene.

但我還是叫它們王牌，因為聽起來更酷，而且我不知道乙酰氨基酚怎麼拼寫。

Ace gets into your blood the same way as before, and therefore, also reaches everywhere.

Ace 進入血液的方式和以前一樣，是以也會到達各個地方。

The difference is, they don't affect everywhere.

不同的是，它們不會影響到任何地方。

While naset painkillers block cyclo in the tissue, ace ignores the tissue and goes straight for the big guy.

納塞止痛藥能阻斷組織中的賽克洛，而王牌止痛藥卻無視組織，直奔 "大傢伙 "而去。

Once it's in there, it plugs the cyclo in your brain, preventing it from making any big words, meaning there's no echo, and that pain you feel is very, very faint.

一旦它進入你的大腦，它就會堵塞你大腦中的環路，阻止它發出任何大的聲音，這意味著沒有回聲，你感覺到的疼痛就會非常非常微弱。

But hold on, if they both end up in the bloodstream, how is it that ace can get to the brain, but naset can't?

等等，如果這兩種物質都會進入血液，那麼怎麼會是 ace 可以進入大腦，而 naset 卻不能呢？

That's thanks to what I like to call the BB barrier.

這要歸功於我所說的 BB 屏障。

This is what separates the blood from your brain, and it doesn't let much through, but it does have some small cracks in it.

它將血液與大腦隔開，雖然不會有太多血液通過，但也有一些小裂縫。

Naset is bigger and mostly polar, which in chemistry talk means it's sticky.

納塞特的體積更大，大部分是極性物質，用化學術語來說就是粘性。

On the other hand, ace is pretty small and mostly non-polar, meaning it's slippery.

另一方面，Ace 非常小，而且大部分是非極性的，這意味著它很滑。

So it kind of just squeezes through and ends up in your brain.

於是，它就這樣擠了進來，最終進入了你的大腦。

The downside of going straight to your brain rather than to the source is that the big word is still released where you are hurt, and sent to the brain.

直達大腦而非源頭的弊端在於，大字報仍會在你受傷的地方被釋放出來，並傳送到大腦。

So the brain still knows you're hurt, and while it's not echoed, it's still going really signals to inflame the area.

是以，大腦仍然知道你受傷了，雖然沒有回聲，但它仍然會發出真正的信號，使該區域發炎。

Okay, that's cool and all, but why does ace ignore the cyclo in the tissue, but not the cyclo in the brain?

好吧，這很酷，但為什麼艾斯忽略了組織中的環路，卻沒有忽略大腦中的環路呢？

That's because they're actually slightly different.

這是因為它們實際上略有不同。

If cyclo is a puzzle piece where painkillers or pain signals are matching puzzle pieces, then there would be two slightly different variations, cyclo 1 and cyclo 2.

如果 Cyclo 是一塊拼圖，止痛藥或疼痛信號是匹配的拼圖，那麼就會有兩種略有不同的變體，即 cyclo 1 和 cyclo 2。

Cyclo 1 is located in your tissue, while cyclo 2 in your brain.

環 1 位於人體組織中，而環 2 位於大腦中。

Pain signals and nasets are slightly simpler puzzle pieces that can fit with either, while ace is a very specific puzzle piece that only fits with cyclo 2, ending up in your brain.

疼痛信號和鼻息肉是稍微簡單的拼圖，兩者都能拼出，而王牌則是非常特殊的拼圖，只能拼出 Cyclo 2，最後出現在你的大腦中。

Making you feel better.

讓你感覺更好

Anyway, the Aspen and Tylenol is going to cost around 1 subscribe altogether, and I'll just flip the screen here real quick for you.

總之，阿斯彭和泰諾一共要花費 1 美元左右，我很快就會把螢幕翻過來給你看。