15岁印度裔美国少女登上《时代》封面!还和性感女神朱莉视频对话!(附视频&对话稿)
英语演讲视频,第一时间观看
美国《时代》杂志每年均会选出年度风云人物,16岁的瑞典气候少女贝里上年当选成为2019年的风云人物,成为史上最年轻的年度人物。
而今年《时代》杂志首次选出「年度风云儿童」(Kid of the Year),由美国科罗拉多州15岁印度裔发明家拉奥(Gitanjali Rao)中选。
据报,来自丹佛市的拉奥在5000名候选人中脱颖而出,她曾研究AI和纳米碳管等的科学工具,又将有关研究应用在日常生活上,例如网络欺凌和水污染。
杂志又认为,拉奥向其他孩子展示了如何利用自身的好奇心和渴望,去创造一个新世界。
好莱坞女星安吉丽娜●朱莉亦有向她表达恭贺。拉奥表示我看起来并不像典型的科学家,我在电视上看到的科学家都比我年长,而且他们通常是白人。
又称,目标已经非单是依靠创造的设备来解决问题,更希望激励别人,如果我能做到,你也能做到,任何人都能做到。
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“Observe, brainstorm, research, build and communicate.” That is what the brilliant young scientist and inventor Gitanjali Rao told actor and activist Angelina Jolie about her process, over Zoom, from her home in Colorado, during a break in her virtual schooling. Just 15 years old, Rao has been selected from a field of more than 5,000 nominees as TIME’s first ever Kid of the Year. She spoke about her astonishing work using technology to tackle issues ranging from contaminated drinking water to opioid addiction and cyberbullying, and about her mission to create a global community of young innovators to solve problems the world over. Even over video chat, her brilliant mind and generous spirit shone through, along with her inspiring message to other young people: don’t try to fix every problem, just focus on one that excites you. “If I can do it,” she said, “anybody can do it.”
Jolie, a TIME contributing editor, is an Academy Award–winning actor and special envoy of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
ANGELINA JOLIE: When did you know that science was a passion of yours?
GITANJALI RAO: I feel like there wasn’t really one specific aha moment. I was always someone who wanted to put a smile on someone’s face. That was my everyday goal, just to make someone happy. And it soon turned into, How can we bring positivity and community to the place we live? And then when I was in second or third grade, I started thinking about how can we use science and technology to create social change. I was like 10 when I told my parents that I wanted to research carbon nanotube sensor technology at the Denver Water quality research lab, and my mom was like, “A what?” [Editor’s note: they are cylindrical molecules made of carbon atoms that are very sensitive to chemical changes, and thus are good for detecting chemicals in water, among other uses.] It was just that changing factor of, you know this work is going to be in our generation’s hands pretty soon. So if no one else is gonna do it, I’m gonna do it.
AJ: I love that. So much of what my generation should be doing is just making sure we do as little damage as possible to ensure that the next generation can take the lead.
I know one of your latest innovations helps prevent cyberbullying. Could you tell me about that?
GR: It’s a service called Kindly—there’s an app and a Chrome extension—which is able to detect cyberbullying at an early stage, based on artificial-intelligence technology. I started to hard-code in some words that could be considered bullying, and then my engine took those words and identified words that are similar. You type in a word or phrase, and it’s able to pick it up if it’s bullying, and it gives you the option to edit it or send it the way it is. The goal is not to punish. As a teenager, I know teenagers tend to lash out sometimes. Instead, it gives you the chance to rethink what you’re saying so that you know what to do next time around.
AJ: So you just put it on your kids’ phones?
GR: Yeah. I put out a survey to parents, teachers and students, and I honestly expected that students don’t want to be micromanaged.
AJ: Right. My kids would be like, “Don’t touch my phone, I’ll do it myself.”
GR: No, exactly, that’s what I would be like. But a lot of the teenagers were telling me that, you know, it doesn’t seem like I’m being micromanaged; it seems like I’m being given an opportunity to learn from my mistakes. So that’s what I was superexcited about, that they understood what the goal of it was.
AJ: The way you’re talking about technology as a tool to remind people and help them to grow seems like a very new and different thing. It’s so exciting to have such a forward-thinking young, and female, inventor.
Does that affect you in any way? It’s surprising because I think of women as being brilliant, but there are so few women in the science and tech fields.
GR: I don’t look like your typical scientist. Everything I see on TV is that it’s an older, usually white man as a scientist. It’s weird to me that it was almost like people had assigned roles, regarding like their gender, their age, the color of their skin. My goal has really shifted not only from creating my own devices to solve the world’s problems, but inspiring others to do the same as well. Because, from personal experience, it’s not easy when you don’t see anyone else like you. So I really want to put out that message: If I can do it, you can do it, and anyone can do it.
AJ: I know you have these “innovation sessions.” Tell me about those.
GR: I just looked at what worked for me and decided to share it with everyone else. So I made this process that I use for everything now: it’s observe, brainstorm, research, build, communicate. It started with a simple presentation and lesson plans, and then I started adding labs and contests that students could do. Now I’ve partnered with rural schools, girls in STEM organizations, museums all across the world, and bigger organizations like Shanghai International Youth Science and Technology group and the Royal Academy of Engineering in London to run innovation workshops.
The students that I work with, they just don’t know where to start. I think that if you give them that spark that they can then build off of, then that changes everything. That means one more person in this world wants to come up with ideas to solve problems.
At the end of every workshop, everyone has something that they can start working on. If you can do this in 45 minutes to an hour, imagine what you can do if you spend months and months working on it. I’m so excited when I get an email like, “Hey, I attended your workshop four months ago and here’s my finished product, I really love it, it’s a shoe that calls 911.”
AJ: That is insanely impressive. For so many young people, it takes a lot to find the confidence to be able to put an idea forward. You have a brilliant mind, clearly, but you are very, very generous with that mind, and that’s just really wonderful. What are you working on now?
GR: I’m currently working on an easy way to help detect bio-contaminants in water—things like parasites. I’m hoping for this to be something that’s inexpensive and accurate so that people in third-world countries can identify what’s in their water.
And I recently hit my goal of 30,000 students who I have mentored, which is superexciting. It’s like creating a community of innovators. I really hope the work that all of these kids are doing identifies innovation as a necessity and not something that’s a choice anymore. I hope I can be a small part of that.
AJ: I think you are. Your generation is unique. You don’t just accept what’s being put forward, but really question it, and that’s so important. I know there are many, many issues we’re facing today. With your work on water contamination, is the environment something that’s very much on your radar?
GR: Yeah. Our generation is facing so many problems that we’ve never seen before. But then at the same time we’re facing old problems that still exist. Like, we’re sitting here in the middle of a new global pandemic, and we’re also like still facing human-rights issues. There are problems that we did not create but that we now have to solve, like climate change and cyberbullying with the introduction of technology.
I think more than anything right now, we just need to find that one thing we’re passionate about and solve it. Even if it’s something as small as, I want to find an easy way to pick up litter. Everything makes a difference. Don’t feel pressured to come up with something big.
Most of my work with the bio-contaminants is based on a gene-based therapy solution which I’m still trying to figure out. I’m also working on a product that helps to diagnose prescription-opioid addiction at an early stage based on protein production of the mu opioid receptor gene. I’ve been really, really interested in genetics. That’s what I like, so that’s what I’m deciding to work on.
AJ: You know, one of the things you pointed out which is so important is that there is so much, you can get overwhelmed. When I started working in refugee camps, there are so many different issues to deal with within a displaced situation. You get overwhelmed, and you don’t really move. I love what you’re saying: find what you’re passionate about, and don’t try to solve everything. Every solution is a part of the bigger picture of what we have to do. I really hear that and appreciate you saying that.
Where do you get your news or do your research?
GR: My pop-culture news is actually MIT Tech Review. I read it constantly. I think that’s really where inspiration strikes: hearing about all these amazing people at schools like MIT and Harvard who are doing such amazing work with technology. And I try to connect it back to what I see out there and put it together in a way that no one’s seen before.
AJ: When you’re not doing all of these amazing things—because I feel like I’m speaking to a 60-year-old scientist in Geneva—what do you do that’s just a 15-year-old thing?
GR: Actually I spend more time doing 15-year-old things during quarantine. I bake an ungodly amount. It’s not good, but it’s baking. And, like, it’s science too.
AJ: So the science of the kitchen is not your specialty?
GR: I guess not, no. To be fair, most of the time we don’t have eggs at home, or like flour, so I have to like go online and search eggless, flourless, sugarless cookies, and then I try to make that. I made bread recently and it was good, so I’m proud of myself.
AJ: Well, I’m just so happy to get to know you a little bit. I’m sure I’ll be using your inventions in years to come and just being in awe of you as I watch you do more and more in your life, and I can say, “I met her once.”
AJ:你在什么时候发现自己热爱上了科学?GR:我不觉得有那么一个很特别的时刻让我感觉自己突然爱上了科学。我是总希望把微笑放在他人脸上的那类人。这也是我每天的目标,让每个人都快乐。于是,很快的,这样的目标变成了如何将乐观的心态和健康的社区带进我们的生活。当我在小学2、3年级的时候,我开始思考,如何用科学技术来改造我们的社会。差不多在我10岁的时候,我告诉我的父母,我想在丹佛水质研究实验室里做一个碳纳米管传感器的研究。我妈妈的反应是 “一个什么?”(编者注:他们是碳原子组成的圆柱分子,对化学物质的变化十分敏感,有利于检测水中的化学成分。)我认为,这个任务很快就会传到我们这代人的手中。所以,如果没有其他人来做的话,我就承担下来。
GR:这是一个叫 “Kindly” 的网络服务,有小程序和网站分支,通过人工智能来检测到最初始阶段的网络霸凌。我用户编码固定一些有霸凌倾向的单词,然后我的电脑会通过这些单词来鉴定一些意思相近的单词。比如,输入一个单词或短语,这个服务程序就会帮助鉴定是否有霸凌倾向。这不是为了惩罚,而是帮助年轻人谨慎使用自己的语言。 AJ:就直接装载在孩子的手机上吗?
GR:是的,我已经在家长、老师和学生中做过了调研并得到了认可。我并不希望孩子们被掌控。
AJ:是的,我的孩子们肯定会说,不要碰我的手机,我自己来弄。 GR:的确如此。我自己也会这样。但是很多学生告诉我,我的这个设计并不让他们觉得自己被监控了,反而是一个在自己的错误中学习的机会。这才是我超级兴奋的地方,那些使用者明白我的初衷。 AJ:你在解释的用科技手段作为工具来提醒和帮助年轻人的成长,听上去非常的新颖且与众不同。有你这样的具有前瞻思维的年轻女性发明家真的令人高兴。这对你有什么样的影响吗?我很惊喜,毕竟女性在科学和高科技领域的人数不多。
GR:我不是大家想象中的科学家。我们看到媒体上科学家的形象好像都是一个模式的,有固定的性别、年纪、甚至肤色。我的梦想不只是用我设计的软件来解决世界上的问题,更要以此来激发其他人也开始做同样的事情。因为,我的个人经验告诉我,当你没有同伴时,要完成一件事情很难。所以,我很想告诉大家这句话:如果我能做到,你也能做到,任何人都能做到。
AJ:我听说,你有“发明课堂”,给我介绍一下吧。 GR:我已经成功完成了我的一些想法,就决定分享给大家。我设计了这样一套程序,几乎适用于所有的创新,那就是:观察、头脑风暴、研究、创建、沟通。从一份简单的项目介绍开始,到计划书,然后加入实验部分。我和上海国际青年科技团、伦敦皇家工程学院等都有合作的创新发明工作坊。学生们一开始不知道从哪里着手,但是只要给他们一些点拨,他们就有可能改变世界。也就是说,随时都有可能有人爆发出为这个世界解决问题的点子。在每一次工作坊结束时,每个学员都会有一个项目可以展开。令我兴奋的是,我会收到类似这样的邮件:你好,我四个月前参加了你的工作坊,现在我有了完成的产品,是一种鞋子,名字叫911。
AJ:这个太棒了。对大多数年轻人来说,需要很大的自信来把自己的创想变成现实。你有聪明的大脑,同时还非常非常的善良,这真的是太完美了。你现在在做什么? GR:目前我在研究一个简便的方法来检测水里的生物污染物,比如像寄生虫。我希望这个方法是价廉且精准的,可以让第三世界国家的人们也能使用来检测他们的水质。同时,我刚刚达到了一个目标,就是已经有3万名学生得到了我的辅导,真的让我很兴奋。这就像是在创建一个年轻发明家的社区,我真心希望这些学生在做的能够让发明创作成为我们的必需,而不只是可有可无。而我是这个群体中的一小部分。
AJ:当你休息的时候,你做些什么?我感觉我在跟一个60岁的老科学家对话,你做一些15岁的孩子会做的事情吗? GR:其实,在当下的疫情隔离中,我做了很多15岁的人做的事情。我还做了很多烘焙,虽然很丑,但也是我的烘焙,也算是一种科学实验。
AJ:所以,厨房里的科学不是你的强项?
GR:我觉得不是。现在的情况,我们家里大部分时间没有鸡蛋或者面粉。所以,我要上网搜索无鸡蛋、无面粉、无糖的饼干的配方。最近,我做了面包,还不错,我挺为我自己骄傲。 AJ:我很高兴对你有了一点了解。我相信,不久的将来我会开始使用你的发明。我会告诉大家“我曾经和她聊过天。”
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