《时代》周刊评出2014年度最佳发明

13.The Pillbox that Gets Personal

个性化药盒

T.J. Parker grew up in a family that owned and operated a pharmacy, he knows firsthand how confusing it can be for people to track which meds to take when, especially if they fill multiple prescriptions. That’s why the e-pharmacy he runs now, PillPack, doesn’t traffic in bottles. Instead, every two weeks, patients are sent a dispenser, which has their medication—all of it—sorted into a ticker tape of tearable packets, organized by date and time.

T•J•帕克在一个经营药房的家庭中长大。对于人们要记住什么时候该吃什么药是多么难的一件事——尤其是如果同时要吃多种药，他有切身感受。这便是为什么他现在经营的电子药房不销售整瓶药的原因。作为替代，药房每两周会向患者寄送一个分药器Pillpack药盒，里面的药物都按日期和时间分装在一撕即开的纸袋中。

14. Bananas that Prevent Blindness

预防失明的香蕉

In sub-Saharan Africa, up to 30% of kids under age 5 are at risk of going blind—among other conditions—for one simple reason: they don’t get enough eye-nurturing vitamin A. But what if the bananas that make up a lot of their diet could be re-engineered to deliver it? Australian biogeneticist James Dale and his team began developing a vitamin-A-enriched “superbanana”. “These bananas could potentially solve” a major health problem, Dale says.

在撒哈拉以南的非洲地区，多达30%的5岁以下儿童存在失明危险，原因包括一个简单的事实：他们摄入可保护视力的维生素A不够多。如果在他们饮食中占很大比重的香蕉被改造为含有维生素A，情况会怎样呢？澳大利亚遗传生物学家詹姆斯•戴尔和他的团队开始培育一种富含维生素A的“超级香蕉”。戴尔称，“这些香蕉有可能解决”一个重大的健康问题。