medicine

This is Angela Zhang, a Californian student who just won $100,000 in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology. Her contribution to the competition? Nothing big, just discovering a cell that can fight cancer. Oh sorry, I meant developed that cell. Her work, titled "Design of Image-guided, Photo-thermal Controlled Drug Releasing Multifunctional Nanosystem for the Treatment of Cancer Stem Cells," is a total mouthful, but some are saying it's a real "Swiss army-knife" in the fight against cancer - helping both the treatment of cancer cells and their detection.

Did I mention that she's seventeen years old?

And with that, I'm going to go pretend like I've accomplished something with my life.

Check the via link for more info!

How the treatment worked:

1) One of the patient's two olfactory bulbs was removed and the olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) were grown in culture

2) 100 micro injections of OECs were made above and below the damaged area of the spinal cord

3) Four strips of nerve tissue were placed across an 8mm gap in the spinal cord. The scientists believe the OECs acted as a pathway to stimulate the spinal cord cells to regenerate, using the nerve grafts as a bridge to cross the severed cord

Via BBC:

Darek Fidyka, who was paralysed from the chest down in a knife attack in 2010, can now walk using a frame.

The treatment, a world first, was carried out by surgeons in Poland in collaboration with scientists in London.

Details of the research are published in the journal Cell Transplantation.

Claire Lomas became the first paralyzed woman to complete the London Marathon in a bionic suit. Check the via link for the full story!

The exoskeleton will support the lower part of the body and enable the paralyzed wearer to walk using wireless electrodes attached to the head that collect brainwaves, which then signal the suit to move.

Warning: Things get a little work-unsafe and gross in the end.