Name: 看見看不見的：揭開從彩虹到X光的輻射神祕面紗 | Abram Abdou | TEDxUF (Seeing the Unseen: Demystifying Radiation from Rainbows to X-Rays | Abram Abdou | TEDxUF)
Uploaded: 2026-03-19T12:31:15.000Z
Duration: 15 min 47 s

as a physicist, I like to say that I have two main jobs, the first one of which is to ask questions, and

身為物理學家，我喜歡說我有兩份主要工作，第一份是提問，

the second one of which is to answer questions.

So thanks to all of you guys, I can say that I'm doing about one half of my job right now.

所以謝謝各位，我現在可以說我正在做我工作的一半。

And while I do get asked questions that are often very intimate with what I study personally, I also get asked questions that are a bit more pragmatic.

雖然我常被問到跟我個人研究非常相關的問題，但我也被問到一些比較實際的問題。

And one such question that really stuck out to me is, can I actually see what you work on?

其中一個讓我很印象深刻的問題是：我真的能看到你做什麼研究嗎？

Now, this question makes a lot of sense to me because many physicists work with the theoretical, or at least that is the stigma.

這個問題對我來說很有道理，因為很多物理學家都從事理論研究，或者至少大家是這麼認為的。

但並非所有刻板印象都是真的。

And I've always been much more of a visual learner.

我一直以來都是個視覺學習者。

I dislike long, wordy explanations when I'd much rather be looking at something.

我不喜歡冗長、囉嗦的解釋，我寧願看點東西。

I'd much rather be looking at a figure, looking at a graph.

In fact, I think I speak for most of us in this room when I say that I'd much rather be looking at an image.

事實上，我想我代表了在場的大多數人，我寧願看影像。

And what I want for all of you by the end of this talk is to understand how intimate radiation is with seeing.

我希望大家在這場演講結束時，都能瞭解輻射與視覺是多麼緊密相關。

I'm going to take a few moments to show you guys a collection of images.

我會花一點時間給大家看一系列的影像。

And in these moments, I want you guys to think about what these images are and what they have in common.

在這段時間裡，我希望大家想想這些影像是什麼，以及它們有什麼共通點。

Starting with this first image, the radioactive hazard safety symbol.

從第一張影像開始，就是放射性危害安全標誌。

This is an image I'm sure many of you guys have seen in movies, maybe TV shows, or maybe real life.

這張影像，我相信很多人都在電影、電視節目，或是現實生活中看過。

This next image is a radiopharmaceutical.

And this one is used in positron emission tomography scans.

its more common name, PET scan, may ring a few more bells.

但它更常見的名字，PET 掃描，大家可能比較熟悉。

Now, what all these images have in common is that they all involve radiation in some form.

其實，這些影像的共通點是，它們都跟某種形式的輻射有關。

Yes, even the last one, when I tell people I work with radiation, a lot of times they can quite literally jump back.

沒錯，就連最後一張，當我跟別人說我跟輻射打交道時，他們常常會嚇得往後跳。

And since it's my job to ask questions, I like to ask people, okay, what do you think of when I say the word radiation?

因為我的工作就是問問題，我喜歡問大家：「好，當我說到輻射這個詞時，你們會想到什麼？」

This could be because of the demographic I asked this question to, but I got some interesting results.

這可能跟我問的對象有關，但我得到了一些有趣的結果。

The first one of which was nuclear power plants, which, okay, makes perfect, complete sense to me.

其中第一個答案是核能發電廠，這對我來說，完全、百分之百說得通。

And while both of these involve radiation in some form, radiation is actually a lot more common than just these two images.

雖然這兩者都跟某種形式的輻射有關，但其實輻射比這兩個影像來得更常見。

You see an example of Radiation people tend to not think about are rainbows.

大家比較想不到的輻射例子，其實是彩虹。

What you see when perceiving a rainbow is actually electromagnetic radiation.

我們看到彩虹時，那其實是電磁輻射。

Another example is the warmth we feel from a campfire.

另一個例子是我們從營火感受到的溫暖。

We used to think that the fire would heat up the air and in turn the air would heat us up.

以前我們會認為是營火把空氣加熱，然後空氣再加熱我們。

When in reality it was the warmth from that campfire, the radiation from that campfire that was making us feel warm the whole time.

但實際上，是營火本身散發的溫暖，也就是營火的輻射，一直讓我們感覺到溫暖。

And then there's also nuclear radiation, which while yes, you do get from your local power plants, you are more likely to get from trace amounts of radioactive potassium isotopes in our food supply.

再來還有核輻射，沒錯，雖然你會從你家附近的發電廠那裡得到，但你更有可能從我們的食物供應中微量的放射性鉀同位素那裡獲得。

他們會問，是什麼樣的食物供應？

Fun in the making and the production of this talk.

製作和準備這次演講的過程很有趣。

I found out that bananas were considered both a fruit and a berry.

我發現香蕉同時被認為是水果和漿果。

This has nothing to do with the rest of this talk, but

這跟這次演講的其他內容無關，但是

what I will say is that while you can't choose if a nuclear power plant is built in your backyard, you can choose something else.

我想說的是，雖然你無法選擇核電廠是否蓋在你家附近，但你可以選擇別的。

However, this talk is not about how to avoid radiation.

不過，這次演講不是在講如何避免輻射。

Nonionizing radiation were some of those examples I listed earlier.

前面我列舉的例子中，就包含非遊離輻射。

The electromagnetic radiation from a rainbow, the warmth we feel from a campfire, and

像是彩虹的電磁輻射，以及我們從營火感受到的溫暖，還有

interestingly enough, the radiation that music Travels on through AM&FM radio, if any of you guys listen to that.

很有趣的是，音樂透過AM和FM廣播傳播的輻射，如果你們有人還會聽的話。

Still, what I find particularly interesting is ionizing radiation.

不過，我個人覺得特別有趣的是遊離輻射。

It's a little bit different from some of those non ionizing examples from earlier.

這跟前面提到的非遊離輻射例子有點不太一樣。

And how it works is that a buildup of energy occurs.

And when that right amount of energy goes on and strikes the atom, an electron is removed from that atom.

當累積到足夠的能量並撞擊原子時，就會有一個電子從原子中被移除。

To ionize just means to remove an electron.

遊離的意思就是移除一個電子。

An example of ionizing radiation that I think is very familiar to most of us in this room is the X ray.

我認為在座各位都很熟悉的遊離輻射例子，就是X光。

We are going to segue out of physics and into history for a second.

我們要暫時從物理學跳到歷史。

And for the history lovers in your room, you have the time to shine.

各位歷史愛好者，現在是你們大放異彩的時候了。

For the science lovers, this may intrigue you as well as it intrigues me, because it is about the discovery and the creation of the first ever X ray.

科學愛好者，這可能會跟科學一樣吸引我，因為這是關於第一道X光的發現與創造。

And it all begins with this man right here.

It wouldn't be a TED talk if there wasn't a photo of a man way before my time right behind me.

如果演講後面沒有放一張我那個時代之前的照片，那就不是TED演講了。

And he was a physicist performing experiments on fluorescence utilizing vacuum tubes.

他是一位物理學家，當時正在利用真空管進行螢光實驗。

Now, this talk is also not about vacuum tubes, but

現在，今天的演講也不是關於真空管，

to give you some context, these were tubes that were mostly empty with a little bit of gas in them.

不過為了讓大家有點概念，這些管子裡面大部分是空的，只有一點點氣體。

And what scientists found particularly intriguing about these tubes was that they would glow when you'd run electricity through them.

科學家們覺得這些管子特別有趣的地方是，當你通電時，它們會發光。

Now, Ronkin was one of those physicists studying this phenomenon, and

Ronkin 就是研究這種現象的物理學家之一，

he'd cover these tubes when they weren't in use.

他會在不使用這些管子的時候把牠們蓋起來。

But then one day he noticed that despite the fact that the tubes were covered, a nearby screen across the room would glow.

但有一天他注意到，儘管管子被蓋住了，房間另一邊的螢幕卻會發光。

身為人類，我們就是喜歡會發光的東西。

And immediately he began to do some research and began to conclude that there was an invisible ray traveling from the tubes through the covering, all the way to the screen.

於是，他立刻開始研究，並推斷出有一種看不見的射線，正從管子穿過覆蓋物，一路傳到螢幕。

Now, it is not every day that the result of the unknown phenomenon you are studying is actually the result of an invisible ray.

要知道，你研究的未知現象，結果竟然是看不見的射線，這可不是每天都會發生的事。

And it's not every day where that conclusion would even be considered correct.

而且，這個結論也不是每天都會被認為是正確的。

And because he didn't know what to name this ray, he decided to name it after.

因為他不知道這種射線該取什麼名字，所以他決定以它來命名。

In mathematics, it's commonly used to signify the unknown, the X ray.

在數學裡，X 通常用來代表未知數，所以就叫做 X 光。

Now, Ronkin knew this X ray could create images, and

現在，倫琴知道這種 X 光可以產生影像，

he thought to himself that he wanted to create an image intentionally this time.

他心想，這次他想要有意識地去創造一個影像。

And his wife, Anna Ludwig, gave him her hand.

然後，他的妻子安娜．路德維希伸出了她的手。

I show this image for two reasons, the first one of which was that it's the first ever X ray ever created.

我之所以展示這張影像，有兩個原因，第一個是這是史上第一張 X 光影像。

而且我們之後還會再回到這個話題。

But the second reason is that one of the first things ever captured through an X ray was.

但第二個原因，是 X 光最早捕捉到的東西之一，

Was not just skin, was not just bones, but

不只是皮膚，不只是骨頭，而是

love, with Anna Ludwig's wedding ring being the most apparent feature of that image.

愛，其中安娜．路德維希的婚戒是影像中最明顯的特徵。

It's because that wedding ring absorbed more X rays than anything else in that photo, than the skin, than the bones.

這是因為那枚婚戒吸收的 X 光比照片中的任何東西都多，比皮膚、比骨頭都多。

And immediately scientists and physicians and clinicians began to see implications.

接著，科學家、醫師和臨床醫生們立刻看到了相關的應用。

And they thought to themselves, if we can see differences between the skin and the bones, what other differences can we see?

他們心想，既然我們能看到皮膚和骨頭之間的差異，還能看到哪些其他的差異呢？

Can we see differences in different kinds of bones?

我們能看到不同種類骨頭的差異嗎？

Maybe we can see fractures, or just maybe we can use it to see things that we know shouldn't be there, in case any of you guys have kids that swallow things, or was a kid that swallowed things.

也許我們能看到骨裂，或者，如果各位家裡有小孩吞過東西，或是各位小時候吞過東西，我們或許能用它來看到那些不該在身體裡的東西。

This was the first time ever and human history that we were ever able to see inside the body without cutting it open.

這是人類歷史上第一次，我們能夠在不切割身體的情況下看到體內。

If every time I went to a hospital, I risked being put underneath the knife, I would be extremely hesitant to go to hospitals.

如果每次去醫院都可能面臨開刀，我會非常猶豫去醫院。

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看見看不見的：揭開從彩虹到X光的輻射神祕面紗 | Abram Abdou | TEDxUF (Seeing the Unseen: Demystifying Radiation from Rainbows to X-Rays | Abram Abdou | TEDxUF)

phenomenon

scenario

intimate

immediately