I brought along with me an abalone shell.

我想我要談一下大自然如何製造材料。

This abalone shell is a biocomposite material

我帶來了一個鮑魚殼。

that's 98 percent by mass calcium carbonate

這個鮑魚殼是一個生物複合材料，

and two percent by mass protein.

它百分之98的質量是由碳酸鈣組成

Yet, it's 3,000 times tougher than its geological counterpart.

另外百分之二是蛋白質。

And a lot of people might use structures like abalone shells,

但是比起其他在同個地方成長的物質﹐

like chalk.

它卻硬了三千倍。

I've been fascinated by how nature makes materials,

而且很多人或許會利用類似齙魚殼的東西，

and there's a lot of secrets to how they do such an exquisite job.

像是粉筆。

Part of it is that these materials are macroscopic in structure,

我對大自然如何製造材料感到著迷﹐

but they're formed at the nano scale.

對於如此精巧的工作﹐

They're formed at the nano scale,

過程中有許多機密。

and they use proteins that are coded by the genetic level

部份的原因是因為這些材料

that allow them to build these really exquisite structures.

雖然在結構上是肉眼可見的，

So something I think is very fascinating is:

但卻是在奈米尺度下形成。

What if you could give life to non-living structures,

它們是在奈米尺度下形成的，

like batteries and like solar cells?

而且它們利用基因編碼的蛋白質

What if they had some of the same capabilities

讓它們能夠製造出這些如此精巧的結構。

that an abalone shell did,

所以讓我感到非常著迷的是

in terms of being able to build really exquisite structures

如果你可以將生命賦予給

at room temperature and room pressure,

無生命結構，

using nontoxic chemicals

像是電池和太陽能電池？

and adding no toxic materials back into the environment?

又或他們擁有些像鮑魚殼一樣

So that's kind of the vision that I've been thinking about.

的能力，

And so what if you could grow a battery in a Petri dish?

就是說可以

Or what if you could give genetic information to a battery

在室溫及室壓下

so that it could actually become better as a function of time, and do so

利用無毒化學物質，

in an environmentally friendly way?

再加上無毒材料

And so, going back to this abalone shell,

來製造非常精巧的結構。

besides being nanostructured, one thing that's fascinating is,

這是我正在想的願景。

when a male and female abalone get together,

如果可以在培養皿內製造電池會是怎樣的呢？

they pass on the genetic information that says,

又或如果你可以給電池基因訊息

"This is how to build an exquisite material.

讓它可以隨著時間

Here's how to do it at room temperature and pressure,

表現更好，

using nontoxic materials."

而且又是用環保的方法﹖

Same with diatoms, which are shown right here,

所以﹐講回這個鮑魚殼，

which are glasseous structures.

除了是奈米結構，

Every time the diatoms replicate,

另外一個有趣的是

they give the genetic information that says,

當一公和一母的鮑魚相會時，

"Here's how to build glass in the ocean that's perfectly nanostructured."

他們會把「如何建造出這種精巧材料」的

And you can do it the same, over and over again."

基因訊息傳遞下去。

So what if you could do the same thing with a solar cell or a battery?

這就是如何在室溫室壓下利用

I like to say my favorite biomaterial is my four year old.

無毒物質生產。」

But anyone who's ever had or knows small children knows,

在矽藻上也是一樣，就是這種玻璃般的結構。

they're incredibly complex organisms.

每一次矽藻分裂，

If you wanted to convince them to do something they don't want to do,

他們就會把這樣的基因訊息傳遞下去：

it's very difficult.

「這是如何在海裡製造玻璃。

So when we think about future technologies,

完全是奈米尺度的。

we actually think of using bacteria and viruses --

而且你可以一而再、再而三地做相同的事情」

simple organisms.

所以如果你可以對太陽能電池或是電池

Can you convince them to work with a new toolbox,

做同樣的事情？

so they can build a structure that will be important to me?

我會說我最喜歡的生物材料就是我的四歲小孩。

Also, when we think about future technologies,

任何一個有過或認識小朋友的人都知道

we start with the beginning of Earth.

他們是非常複雜的個體。

Basically, it took a billion years to have life on Earth.

所以如果你想要說服他們

And very rapidly, they became multi-cellular,

去做他們不想要做的事情﹐是非常困難的。

they could replicate, they could use photosynthesis

所以當我們在思考未來的科技，

as a way of getting their energy source.

我們會想利用細菌和病毒

But it wasn't until about 500 million years ago --

那樣簡單的生物體。

during the Cambrian geologic time period --

你能不能說服它們用新的方法

that organisms in the ocean started making hard materials.

讓它們能夠建造出一個

Before that, they were all soft, fluffy structures.

對我有用的結構？

It was during this time that there was increased calcium,

而且，我們思考著有關未來的科技。

iron and silicon in the environment,

我們從地球的開端講起。

and organisms learned how to make hard materials.

基本上，地球經過了幾十億年

So that's what I would like to be able to do,

才有生命。

convince biology to work with the rest of the periodic table.

且很快的，它們變成多細胞生物，

Now, if you look at biology,

它們會複製﹐它們可以用光合作用

there's many structures like DNA, antibodies, proteins and ribosomes

來取得它們能量的來源。

you've heard about,

但直到五千萬年前--

that are nanostructured --

在寒武紀地質時期--

nature already gives us really exquisite structures on the nano scale.

生物才從海洋移到陸地。

What if we could harness them

在那之前，生物都是柔軟蓬鬆的結構。

and convince them to not be an antibody that does something like HIV?

也是在這個時期

What if we could convince them to build a solar cell for us?

環境中的鈣、鐵和矽

Here are some examples.

逐漸增加。

Natural shells, natural biological materials.

然後生物們學會製造出硬的材料。

The abalone shell here.

那就是我想要做的--

If you fracture it, you can look at the fact that it's nanostructured.

說服生物學界

There's diatoms made out of SiO2,

與週期表上的其他元素合作。

and there are magnetotactic bacteria

現在如果你看看生物學中，

that make small, single-domain magnets used for navigation.

有很多像是DNA和抗體

What all these have in common

還有蛋白質和核糖體這些你有聽過的東西

is these materials are structured at the nano scale,

都已經是奈米結構的。

and they have a DNA sequence that codes for a protein sequence

所以自然界早已經給了我們

that gives them the blueprint

在奈米尺度下如此精巧的結構。

to be able to build these really wonderful structures.

如果我們能夠駕馭它們

Now, going back to the abalone shell,

說服它們不要當抗體

the abalone makes this shell by having these proteins.

就像HIV那樣﹖

These proteins are very negatively charged.

或是如果我們可以說服它們

They can pull calcium out of the environment,

為我們製造太陽能電池﹖

and put down a layer of calcium and then carbonate, calcium and carbonate.

所以這是一些例子：這些自然的貝殼。

It has the chemical sequences of amino acids which says,

這是天然的生物材料。

"This is how to build the structure.

這個鮑魚殼，如果你打裂它，

Here's the DNA sequence, here's the protein sequence

你可以看到它是奈米結構的。

in order to do it."

而矽藻是由二氧化矽組成

So an interesting idea is,

且它們是超磁細菌

what if you could take any material you wanted,

製造出微小、單一結構磁鐵來幫助導航。

or any element on the periodic table,

共同點是

and find its corresponding DNA sequence,

這些材料都是在奈米尺度上建造的，

then code it for a corresponding protein sequence to build a structure,

且他們都有DNA序列

but not build an abalone shell --

可以轉譯成蛋白質序列

build something that nature has never had the opportunity to work with yet.

給它們製造這些

And so here's the periodic table.

美好構造的藍圖。

I absolutely love the periodic table.

現在，回到齙魚殼，

Every year for the incoming freshman class at MIT,

鮑魚因為有這些蛋白質才能製造這個殼。

I have a periodic table made that says,

這些蛋白質帶有大量負電。

"Welcome to MIT. Now you're in your element."

且它們可以在環境中吸引鈣，

(Laughter)

鋪下一層鈣然後碳酸化、加鈣、再碳酸化。

And you flip it over, and it's the amino acids

它擁有氨基酸的化學序列，

with the pH at which they have different charges.

說著：「這是如何建造結構。

And so I give this out to thousands of people.

這是DNA序列、這是蛋白質序列

And I know it says MIT and this is Caltech,

才能完成這件事。」

but I have a couple extra if people want it.

所以有趣的是，如果你可以選擇任何一種材料

I was really fortunate to have President Obama visit my lab this year

或是元素週期表上的任何一個元素，

on his visit to MIT,

然後找到它對應的DNA序列，

and I really wanted to give him a periodic table.

將它轉譯成相對的蛋白質序列

So I stayed up at night and talked to my husband,

來建造一種結構，但不是建造鮑魚殼--

"How do I give President Obama a periodic table?

透過大自然來建造出一個

What if he says, 'Oh, I already have one,'

大自然還沒有機會建造的東西。

or, 'I've already memorized it?'"

還有這是個元素週期表。

(Laughter)

我超愛元素週期表的。

So he came to visit my lab and looked around -- it was a great visit.

每年MIT進來的大一新生

And then afterward, I said,

我都會給他們一張元素週期表在上面寫著：

"Sir, I want to give you the periodic table,

「歡迎來到MIT。現在你在你的元素中了。」

in case you're ever in a bind and need to calculate molecular weight."

然後你把它翻過來就是氨基酸

(Laughter)

以及它們在不同酸鹼度時的不同電荷。

I thought "molecular weight" sounded much less nerdy than "molar mass."

所以我給了好幾千人這樣的表。

(Laughter)

我知道它上面寫著是MIT﹐而這裡是加州理工學院，

And he looked at it and said,

但我這有多出來的表﹐如果有人想要的話。

"Thank you. I'll look at it periodically."

且我很幸運的

(Laughter)

今年歐巴馬總統來MIT參觀的時候

(Applause)

參觀到我的實驗室，

Later in a lecture that he gave on clean energy,

而我真的很想要給他一張元素週期表。

he pulled it out and said,

所以我熬夜跟我老公討論：

"And people at MIT, they give out periodic tables." So ...

「我要如何給歐巴馬總統一張元素週期表呢？」

So basically what I didn't tell you

如果他說：「喔！我已經有一張了。」

is that about 500 million years ago, the organisms started making materials,

或是「我已經背起來了」的話那我該怎麼辦？

but it took them about 50 million years to get good at it --

所以他來到了我的實驗室

50 million years to learn how to perfect how to make that abalone shell.

到處晃晃 -- 那是一個很棒的拜訪。

And that's a hard sell to a graduate student:

而之後我跟他說：

"I have this great project ... 50 million years ..."

「總統，我想要給你這張元素週期表，

So we had to develop a way of trying to do this more rapidly.

以備你在處於困境時會需要計算分子量。」

And so we use a nontoxic virus called M13 bacteriophage,

而且我覺得比起分子質量

whose job is to infect bacteria.

分子量聽起來比較不會有那麼書呆子的感覺。

Well, it has a simple DNA structure

然後他看了一下

that you can go in and cut and paste additional DNA sequences into it,

接著說﹐

and by doing that, it allows the virus to express random protein sequences.

「謝謝你。我會週期性地去看它。」

This is pretty easy biotechnology,

（笑聲）

and you could basically do this a billion times.

（掌聲）

So you can have a billion different viruses

而之後他在一個乾淨能源的演講中

that are all genetically identical,

把它拿出來說：

but they differ from each other based on their tips,

「MIT那邊的人會分發元素週期表。」

on one sequence,

所以基本上我沒有跟你們說的是

that codes for one protein.

大約五億年前，生物體開始製造材料，

Now if you take all billion viruses, and put them in one drop of liquid,

但他們花了大約五千萬年才擅長製造材料。

you can force them to interact with anything you want

他們花了大約五千萬年

on the periodic table.

才學會如何完美地製造出鮑魚殼。

And through a process of selection evolution,

而且那樣是很難推銷給研究生的。

you can pull one of a billion that does something you'd like it to do,

「我有一個很棒的方案 -- 要花五千萬年的。」

like grow a battery or a solar cell.

所以我們需要發展出一個

Basically, viruses can't replicate themselves; they need a host.

可以更快做到的方法。

Once you find that one out of a billion,

所以我們利用病毒，

you infect it into a bacteria, and make millions and billions of copies

一個叫做M13的無毒噬菌體，

of that