ABOUT THE SPEAKER
David Bolinsky - Medical animator
David Bolinsky and his team illustrate scientific and medical concepts with high-drama animation. You've never seen the life of a cell quite like this.

Why you should listen

Medical illustrator and animator David Bolinsky has devoted his career to displaying scientific and medical concepts in a clear, fresh light.

Since the earliest days of computer animation, he knew this art could be a powerful tool for explaining scientific concepts in ways that traditional medical illustration simply couldn't. Now, with XVIVO, the company he co-founded, he works with schools and with medical and scientific firms, turning complex processes into understandable, compelling films.

"The Inner Life of a Cell," highlighted at TED2007, represents the leading edge of medical animation, in both its technical achievement and its focus on compelling, memorable action. Created as part of the BioVision initiative to help explain cellular processes to students at Harvard's Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, the clip has captured the imagination of the press -- and reportedly, of Hollywood.

More profile about the speaker
David Bolinsky | Speaker | TED.com
TED2007

David Bolinsky: Visualizing the wonder of a living cell

David Bolinksy anima uma célula

Filmed:
2,216,452 views

O animador de filmes médicos David Bolinsky apresenta três minutos de uma incrível animação que mostra a frenética vida dentro de uma célula.
- Medical animator
David Bolinsky and his team illustrate scientific and medical concepts with high-drama animation. You've never seen the life of a cell quite like this. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:25
I'm a medical illustrator,
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Sou um ilustrador médico
00:28
and I come from a slightly different point of view.
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e eu tenho um ponto de vista um pouco particular.
00:31
I've been watching, since I grew up,
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Eu tenho visto, desde que eu me tornei adulto,
00:34
the expressions of truth and beauty in the arts
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expressões de verdade e beleza nas artes
00:38
and truth and beauty in the sciences.
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e expressões de verdade e beleza na ciência.
00:40
And while these are both wonderful things in their own right --
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E ainda que estas sejam coisas maravilhosas por si só
00:43
they both have very wonderful things going for them --
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ambas possuem outras coisas maravilhosas agregadas a elas,
00:46
truth and beauty as ideals that can be looked at by the sciences
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observados
00:52
and by math are almost like the ideal conjoined twins
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e matemática, são quase como as gêmeas siamesas
00:57
that a scientist would want to date.
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com quem um cientista gostaria de se encontrar.
01:00
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
01:02
These are expressions of truth as awe-full things,
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Estas são expressões da verdade como coisas repletas
01:07
by meaning they are things you can worship.
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em significado, elas são coisas veneráveis.
01:10
They are ideals that are powerful. They are irreducible.
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Elas são ideais poderosos, irredutíveis,
01:15
They are unique. They are useful --
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únicos, úteis
01:17
sometimes, often a long time after the fact.
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às vezes, freqüentemente muito tempo depois do fato.
01:20
And you can actually roll some of the pictures now,
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Podemos ver algumas imagens agora,
01:22
because I don't want to look at me on the screen.
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porque eu não quero me ver na tela.
01:26
Truth and beauty are things
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Verdade e beleza são coisas que são
01:28
that are often opaque to people who are not in the sciences.
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por vezes opacas a pessoas que não são cientistas.
01:33
They are things that describe beauty in a way
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Elas são coisas que descrevem a beleza de um modo
01:39
that is often only accessible if you understand the language
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às vezes acessível apenas se você entende a linguagem
01:44
and the syntax of the person
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e a sintaxe da pessoa
01:46
who studies the subject in which truth and beauty is expressed.
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que estuda a matéria na qual a verdade e beleza são expressas.
01:49
If you look at the math, E=mc squared,
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Em matemática, e=mc ao quadrado,
01:52
if you look at the cosmological constant,
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na constante cosmológica,
01:55
where there's an anthropic ideal, where you see that life had to evolve
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onde existe um princípio antrópico, onde você vê que a vida teve de evoluir
02:00
from the numbers that describe the universe --
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dos números que descrevem o universo.
02:03
these are things that are really difficult to understand.
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Estas são coisas realmente difíceis de entender.
02:06
And what I've tried to do
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E o que tenho tentado
02:07
since I had my training as a medical illustrator --
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já que eu fui treinado como ilustrador médico,
02:09
since I was taught animation by my father,
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já que meu pai me ensinou animação,
02:12
who was a sculptor and my visual mentor --
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ele foi escultor e meu mentor,
02:16
I wanted to figure out a way to help people
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eu quis descobrir um jeito de ajudar as pessoas
02:20
understand truth and beauty in the biological sciences
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a entender a verdade e beleza nas ciências biológicas
02:24
by using animation, by using pictures, by telling stories
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usando animação, usando imagens, contando histórias.
02:28
so that the things that are not necessarily evident to people
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Para que as coisas que não são necessariamente evidentes
02:32
can be brought forth, and can be taught, and can be understood.
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possam ser trazidas à luz, ensinadas, e compreendidas.
02:36
Students today are often immersed in an environment
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Os estudantes hoje são por vezes imersos em um ambiente
02:42
where what they learn is subjects that have truth and beauty
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onde o que eles aprendem são assuntos com verdade e beleza
02:47
embedded in them, but the way they're taught is compartmentalized
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incorporadas neles, mas a forma como lhes ensinam é compartimentalizada
02:52
and it's drawn down to the point where the truth and beauty
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e levada ao ponto em que a verdade e beleza
02:57
are not always evident.
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não são sempre evidentes.
02:58
It's almost like that old recipe for chicken soup
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É como aquela velha receita de canja,
03:01
where you boil the chicken until the flavor is just gone.
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onde você ferve a galinha até que o sabor tenha simplesmente... sumido.
03:06
We don't want to do that to our students.
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E não queremos fazer isso com nossos estudantes.
03:08
So we have an opportunity to really open up education.
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Temos então a oportunidade de realmente tornar a educação aberta.
03:12
And I had a telephone call from Robert Lue at Harvard,
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Eu recebi um telefonema de Robert Lue de Harvard,
03:15
in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Department,
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no Departamento de Biologia Celular e Molecular,
03:17
a couple of years ago. He asked me if my team and I
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alguns anos atrás. Ele me perguntou se eu e minha equipe
03:21
would be interested and willing to really change
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estaríamos interessados em realmente mudar
03:25
how medical and scientific education is done at Harvard.
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como a educação médica e científica é feita em Harvard.
03:28
So we embarked on a project that would explore the cell --
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E nós embarcamos no projeto que iria explorar a célula,
03:33
that would explore the truth and beauty inherent
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a verdade e a beleza inerentes
03:36
in molecular and cellular biology
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na biologia celular e molecular
03:38
so that students could understand a larger picture
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para que os estudantes tivessem uma visão geral
03:41
that they could hang all of these facts on.
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a que pudessem adicionar todos os fatos que aprendem
03:44
They could have a mental image of the cell
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e poderiam ter uma imagem mental da célula
03:47
as a large, bustling, hugely complicated city
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como uma grande, frenética, muito complicada cidade
03:55
that's occupied by micro-machines.
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que é ocupada por micro-máquinas.
03:57
And these micro-machines really are at the heart of life.
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E estas micro-máquinas são o centro real da vida.
04:00
These micro-machines,
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Elas, que são a inveja de
04:01
which are the envy of nanotechnologists the world over,
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nanotecnologistas em todo o mundo,
04:05
are self-directed, powerful, precise, accurate devices
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são auto-suficientes, poderosos, precisos, exatos dispositivos
04:12
that are made out of strings of amino acids.
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que são feitos de cadeias de aminoácidos.
04:15
And these micro-machines power how a cell moves.
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E estas micromáquinas efetuam o movimento da célula,
04:19
They power how a cell replicates. They power our hearts.
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a sua replicação, elas movimentam nossos corações,
04:24
They power our minds.
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e nossas mentes.
04:26
And so what we wanted to do was to figure out
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E então, o que queríamos fazer era descobrir
04:30
how we could make this story into an animation
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como poderíamos transformar esta estória em uma animação
04:33
that would be the centerpiece of BioVisions at Harvard,
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que seria a peça central da BioVisions em Harvard,
04:37
which is a website that Harvard has
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um website que Harvard tem
04:41
for its molecular and cellular biology students
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para estudantes de biologia celular e molecular
04:43
that will -- in addition to all the textual information,
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que iria -- adicionalmente a toda a informação textual,
04:48
in addition to all the didactic stuff --
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e material didático --
04:50
put everything together visually, so that these students
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construí-la visualmente, para que os estudantes
04:53
would have an internalized view of what a cell really is
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tivessem uma visão incorporada de o que a célula realmente é
04:57
in all of its truth and beauty, and be able to study
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em toda a sua verdade e beleza, e pudessem estudar
05:01
with this view in mind, so that their imaginations would be sparked,
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com essa visão em mente, para que suas imaginações fossem estimuladas,
05:05
so that their passions would be sparked
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assim como suas paixões.
05:08
and so that they would be able to go on
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E que eles seriam aptos
05:10
and use these visions in their head to make new discoveries
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a usar essas visões para novas descobertas
05:14
and to be able to find out, really, how life works.
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e poder entender como a vida realmente funciona.
05:17
So we set out by looking at how these molecules are put together.
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Nós começamos olhando como essas moléculas interagem.
05:24
We worked with a theme, which is, you've got macrophages
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Trabalhamos com um tema que tem macrófagos
05:30
that are streaming down a capillary,
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que estão descendo por um capilar,
05:32
and they're touching the surface of the capillary wall,
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e tocando a superfície de suas paredes,
05:35
and they're picking up information from cells
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e obtendo informação das células
05:37
that are on the capillary wall, and they are given this information
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que estão nas paredes do capilar repassando a informação
05:41
that there's an inflammation somewhere outside,
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que existe uma inflamação em algum lugar lá fora,
05:44
where they can't see and sense.
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onde não conseguem ver ou sentir.
05:46
But they get the information that causes them to stop,
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Mas obtêm a informação que faz com que parem,
05:49
causes them to internalize that they need to make
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que internalizem sua necessidade de cumprir
05:53
all of the various parts that will cause them to change their shape,
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todas as etapas que farão com que mudem de forma,
05:58
and try to get out of this capillary and find out what's going on.
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e tentem sair do capilar para descobrir o que está acontecendo.
06:03
So these molecular motors -- we had to work
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Por estes motores moleculares -- tivemos de trabalhar
06:05
with the Harvard scientists and databank models
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com cientistas de Harvard e um banco de dados de modelos
06:11
of the atomically accurate molecules
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atômicos exatos das moléculas
06:14
and figure out how they moved, and figure out what they did.
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e descobrir como elas se movem, e descobrir o que fazem.
06:18
And figure out how to do this in a way
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E fazê-lo de um modo
06:20
that was truthful in that it imparted what was going on,
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que fosse fiel em que exibisse o que acontece,
06:26
but not so truthful that the compact crowding in a cell
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não tão fiel que a compacta multidão de uma célula
06:31
would prevent the vista from happening.
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nos impedisse de ver o que acontece.
06:34
And so what I'm going to show you is a three-minute
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Tenho para lhes mostrar um resumo de 3 minutos
06:38
Reader's Digest version of the first aspect of this film
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uma versão condensada do primeiro aspecto deste filme
06:41
that we produced. It's an ongoing project
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que produzimos. É um projeto em curso
06:44
that's going to go another four or five years.
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que deve durar outros 4-5 anos.
06:47
And I want you to look at this
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E peço que olhem para isto
06:49
and see the paths that the cell manufactures --
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e vejam os caminhos que a célula fabrica --
06:53
these little walking machines, they're called kinesins --
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estas pequenas máquinas que andam, elas são chamadas canesians --
06:57
that take these huge loads
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elas carregam estas enormes cargas
06:59
that would challenge an ant in relative size.
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que seriam um desafio para uma formiga, em tamanhos relativos.
07:02
Run the movie, please.
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Comece o filme, por favor.
07:06
But these machines that power the inside of the cells
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Mas estas máquinas que movimentam o interior da célula
07:09
are really quite amazing, and they really are the basis of all life
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são maravilhosas, e elas realmente são as bases de toda a vida.
07:13
because all of these machines interact with each other.
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Porque todas estas máquinas interagem umas com as outras.
07:18
They pass information to each other.
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passam informação entre si;
07:20
They cause different things to happen inside the cell.
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causam diferentes efeitos dentro da célula.
07:23
And the cell will actually manufacture the parts that it needs
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e a célula realmente fabrica as peças de que precisa
07:26
on the fly, from information
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instantaneamente, com a informação
07:28
that's brought from the nucleus by molecules that read the genes.
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que é trazida do núcleo por moléculas que lêem os genes.
07:33
No life, from the smallest life to everybody here,
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Nenhuma vida, da menor até todos nós,
07:38
would be possible without these little micro-machines.
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seria possível sem estas micro-máquinas.
07:41
In fact, it would really, in the absence of these machines,
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Na verdade, na ausência delas,
07:45
have made the attendance here, Chris, really quite sparse.
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a audiência do Chris aqui seria bem escassa.
07:47
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
07:51
(Music)
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(Música)
08:03
This is the FedEx delivery guy of the cell.
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Este é o carteiro da célula:
08:07
This little guy is called the kinesin,
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ele é chamado canesian,
08:09
and he pulls a sack that's full of brand new manufactured proteins
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e ele puxa um saco cheio de proteínas novas
08:13
to wherever it's needed in the cell --
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para onde é necessário na célula --
08:15
whether it's to a membrane, whether it's to an organelle,
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seja para uma membrana, seja para uma organela,
08:18
whether it's to build something or repair something.
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seja para construir ou consertar algo.
08:20
And each of us has about 100,000 of these things
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E cada um de nós tem perto de 100.000 destas coisas
08:24
running around, right now,
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trabalhando agora,
08:26
inside each one of your 100 trillion cells.
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dentro de cada uma das nossas 100 trilhões de células
08:29
So no matter how lazy you feel,
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Então por mais que você se sinta preguiçoso,
08:32
you're not really intrinsically doing nothing.
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você não está mesmo intrinsicamente sem fazer nada.
08:34
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
08:38
So what I want you to do when you go home
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Eu espero que quando vocês cheguem em casa
08:40
is think about this, and think about how powerful our cells are.
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pensem sobre isto e sobre como nossas células são poderosas,
08:44
And think about some of the things
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e pense sobre algumas coisas que
08:45
that we're learning about cellular mechanics.
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estamos aprendendo em mecânica celular.
08:49
Once we figure out all that's going on --
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E uma vez que descubramos tudo o que está acontecendo --
08:52
and believe me, we know almost a percent of what's going on --
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e acreditem, sabemos quase 1% do que acontece --
08:56
once we figure out what's going on,
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uma vez que descubramos,
08:57
we're really going to be able to have a lot of control
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poderemos ter muito controle
09:00
over what we do with our health,
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sobre o que fazemos com nossa saúde
09:02
with what we do with future generations,
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o que faremos com gerações futuras,
09:05
and how long we're going to live.
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quanto tempo vamos viver.
09:07
And hopefully we'll be able to use this
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E esperamos poder usar isto
09:09
to discover more truth, and more beauty.
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para descobrir mais verdade e mais beleza
09:12
(Music)
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(Música)
09:26
But it's really quite amazing that these cells, these micro-machines,
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Mas é mesmo incrível que estas células, estas micro-máquinas,
09:31
are aware enough of what the cell needs that they do their bidding.
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sabem exatamente do que a célula precisa, elas fazem sua negociação.
09:36
They work together. They make the cell do what it needs to do.
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Elas trabalham juntas; fazem a célula fazer o que tem de fazer.
09:40
And their working together helps our bodies --
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E seu trabalho conjunto ajuda nossos corpos --
09:46
huge entities that they will never see -- function properly.
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enormes entidades que elas nunca conhecerão -- funcionar corretamente.
09:51
Enjoy the rest of the show. Thank you.
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Aproveitem o resto do show, obrigado.
09:52
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
Translated by Fabio Ceconello
Reviewed by Fabrício Pamplona

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
David Bolinsky - Medical animator
David Bolinsky and his team illustrate scientific and medical concepts with high-drama animation. You've never seen the life of a cell quite like this.

Why you should listen

Medical illustrator and animator David Bolinsky has devoted his career to displaying scientific and medical concepts in a clear, fresh light.

Since the earliest days of computer animation, he knew this art could be a powerful tool for explaining scientific concepts in ways that traditional medical illustration simply couldn't. Now, with XVIVO, the company he co-founded, he works with schools and with medical and scientific firms, turning complex processes into understandable, compelling films.

"The Inner Life of a Cell," highlighted at TED2007, represents the leading edge of medical animation, in both its technical achievement and its focus on compelling, memorable action. Created as part of the BioVision initiative to help explain cellular processes to students at Harvard's Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, the clip has captured the imagination of the press -- and reportedly, of Hollywood.

More profile about the speaker
David Bolinsky | Speaker | TED.com