EPTGirl Invents Nanoparticle that Kills Cancer - Page 4
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Enearde
France265 Posts
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DtorR
Australia171 Posts
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]343[
United States10328 Posts
On December 15 2011 18:07 chenchen wrote: I just want to make sure that people don't blow the news out of proportion. Every year, dozens of high school students bust out impressive sounding projects at Intel and Siemens finals that are more likely than not the work of their "mentors", as most competitive schools nowadays have mentorship programs that pair up kids with researchers that have PhDs. To be honest, these kids are probably much less impressive than International Math Olympiad competitors, and yet get so much more attention in the news because it's much easier to report "girl cures cancer" than "dude solves problem that 99% of our readers/viewers can't understand". lol, it's a little unclear (though I'd say the average IMO gold medalist is "more impressive" than the average Intel finalist.) But when you have big companies sponsoring you for big $$$ (which, incidentally, doesn't quite exist in math competitions; #1 on USAMO gets $20k, whereas the top 5 in Siemens and Intel each get at least $20k), and who know how to do publicity, ... well, they get the publicity. The fact that the research is in the medical field is just icing on the cake; moreover, so many top projects are biology/chemistry because what can a smart, ambitious high school student who still doesn't know very much do? She can work in a lab for 10 hours a week during the year and 40 a week during the summer, and have a 10% chance at getting good results (depending, of course, on mentor and location). I also don't really agree that the mentors "do everything": they're going to make sure the high schooler does the grunt work in the lab--but the high schooler doesn't exactly get a terrible deal either: they learn lab technique and scientific communication, and get a chance at big money. Not to mention a chance at meeting other smart kids at these competitions, too. The few and far between who do theoretical projects are usually unfortunately limited by their knowledge. It's hard to do representation theory if you barely know what a module is; it's hard to study superconductivity if you don't know any quantum mechanics. So each year, lots of smart kids work their butts off in lab, and some (a) have that extra drive and/or (b) get lucky and win competitions. It's not something so amazing that everyone should immediately know about it, but it's pretty impressive nonetheless. (The same can be said for IMO, except the problem there is that most of advanced Olympiad math is kind of worthless outside of contests. And again, publicity for Siemens/Intel happens because they know what they're doing and have the money to spend.) ... ok I'm not sure what I just ranted about, since it's 5 AM, but hopefully I responded to something someone said. T_T Edit: Hmm, I guess I concede the point that it's easier to talk about "curing cancer" than "solving some geometry problem with techniques that no one ever uses outside math contests" (read: harmonic conjugates... Casey's theorem... sigh.) | ||
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Morphling_
87 Posts
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Pandemona
Charlie Sheens House51449 Posts
Well done! | ||
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anycolourfloyd
Australia524 Posts
On December 15 2011 17:53 Lightwip wrote: Hmm, I don't really like the fact that this article treats you as though you're stupid. Impressive for sure, but you have to be careful. haha, that's good.. and so true. the media is all about "buzz words" that are just flat out misleading. and the pictures.. "point at that" "gesture your arms while you explain". oh, and your project HAS to be "sexy". which is why i'd like some more technical information about the projects. doing something in the media seems like the easiest fucking job in the whole world. all it requires is a primary school level understanding of humans and manipulation. | ||
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Voltaire
United States1485 Posts
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SomniGiggles
United Kingdom214 Posts
On December 15 2011 17:25 HoodedAvatar wrote: awesome the sooner we cure cancer the better! Sadly I would have to disagree, sure it would be nice, but if all cancer was cured throughout the world, overpopulation would become more of an issue. Not a discussion for now but.. However, I would love to cure it (I'm not an animal) due to it being such a horrible illness ;( | ||
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enemy2010
Germany1972 Posts
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EchoZ
Japan5041 Posts
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ooni
Australia1498 Posts
On December 15 2011 19:12 Morphling_ wrote: Not to be that guy, but why did you have to specify girl? Does she get bonus points for gender? Iono before I clicked the link, I assumed the person who found this would be an Asian. By chance (or other factors rolls eyes) I was right. Before it was specified I had an assumption, if "girl" was not there ofc one would assume it would be a guy from the topic title, an assumption that would be undeserving (it's life, face it). | ||
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SpaceFighting
New Zealand690 Posts
angela HWAITING! xD | ||
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Golem72
Canada127 Posts
On December 15 2011 17:44 wishbones wrote: instead of 2 years military service, all of us should have mandatory 1000 hours spent trying to better the planet. Finally a girl who invented something! Not bashing women in any way but am very happy in general because they've needed something like this for years this is a big step for all women. P.s. Men time to step your game up! | ||
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FallDownMarigold
United States3710 Posts
On December 15 2011 19:46 Golem72 wrote: Finally a girl who invented something! Not bashing women in any way but am very happy in general because they've needed something like this for years this is a big step for all women. P.s. Men time to step your game up! Ignorant lol. "needed something like this for years" you do realize that there are thousands of women that are currently publishing results far more rigorous those published by this 17 year old, yes? i'm not detracting from this girl's achievements, but rather just informing you that PLENTY of women make it big in science. in the past they just didn't get much recognition which is terrible, but you act as if women haven't done shit for years in science | ||
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Hall0wed
United States8486 Posts
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hp.Shell
United States2527 Posts
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SafeAsCheese
United States4924 Posts
On December 15 2011 19:08 Enearde wrote: Wow, really impressive but how did she get her hands on all she needs to accomplish such a thing? I mean, what we are talking about is pretty high tech things. Any intel? An advantage of being born in the upper class , set up for a successful life, mewouldthinks. Also, her high school is in silicon valley, etc. (Average income there is apparently over 100k+ a year per family) She was born with a good shot at being a scientist from the start. Then you have to take into consideration she is Asian, and was probably... "pushed along" that path by her parents. | ||
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iMAniaC
Norway703 Posts
In all seriousness, though, this is an amazing achievement by somebody who's just 17 years old. I hope she gets to continue her career! | ||
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Geo.Rion
7377 Posts
On December 15 2011 17:27 Dhalphir wrote: Somewhat unfortunately, she's not likely to get rich from this. Vital cures like this never make the creator any money, because the government won't stand for you charging an amount proportional to what it cost to develop. But, she'll be famous for life if it leads to a true cure. though it looks pretty good in a CV that "i found the cure for cancer", when applying for a job in medicine, i think there could be companies or research groups who 'd hire her for a pretty penny if this pans out true | ||
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XsebT
Denmark2980 Posts
I hope this works out well! | ||
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