時差N小時:打針一定會痛嗎?

From fluvaccines to tetanus boosters, injections areamust in modern medicine.

從流感疫苗到破傷風針，注射在現(xiàn)代醫(yī)學中是不可或缺的。

But do they always have to makeyou say Ouch?

但是它們是否就一定會讓你尖叫呢?

Eh,no?

嗯,不會嗎?

No,indeed.If new microneedle technology issuccessful, we may soon have needles that injectmedicine without your even knowing it.

真的不會!如果新的顯微針技術(shù)成功了的話，我們將很快享受甚至你都不能意識到的藥物注射。

How does this work, you ask?

你快問它是如何辦到的?

How does it work?

如何辦到的?

You feel things because of the nerves that are embedded in your skin.

你有感覺是因為你皮膚里鑲嵌的有神經(jīng)。

However, the entiresurface of your skin is not covered.

然而，它卻沒有完全覆蓋你的皮膚。

From a microscopic viewpoint, there is plenty of spacebetween nerves where a super-tinyneedle wouldn’t be felt.

在顯微鏡下可以看到，神經(jīng)之間有很多空間，而在這里人們便感受不到微型針。

No way!

不可能!

Way! Researcher Mark Prausnitz and his coworkers at the Georgia Institute of TechnologyinAtlanta have already built micro-injection devices.

可能!亞特蘭大喬治亞理工學院的研究人員Mark Prausnitz和他的同伴們已經(jīng)研制出了微型注射器具。

Imagine a platform the size of your thumbnail,made of silicon, metal or glass.

試想它就如拇指指甲蓋大小，材料是硅、金屬或是玻璃。

The surface is covered with a thousand needles, each no bigger than aperiod at the end of atypewritten sentence.

表面被一千個微型針所覆蓋，每一個都還沒一個句子中的句號那么大。

When this chip is placed on your skin its like rolling in a briar patch-you are pierced againandagain.

當這個芯片被植入到你的皮膚就仿佛是卷入到了荊棘區(qū)一樣，它會一次又一次的刺你。

But so small are the briars, you feel nothing.

但它是如此的小，以至于你什么都感覺不到。

Because they cause no discomfort,microneedles may soon allow doctors to administercontrolled amounts of medication over longperiods of time.

因為它們不會帶來不適感。微型針很快就能讓醫(yī)生在很長時間內(nèi)掌管在量上有控制的藥物治療。

That would be a big step toward the precision medicine of tomorrow–and awayfrom the bigOuch of yesterday.

這對于告別以前的疼痛時代、對于將來藥物治療的精準性來說都是邁出了一大步。