Did This 15-Year-Old Kid Just Change the Course of Medicine?

[BlueStreak]

56. Yes, of course before it is brought to market. But what we have here

looks like a kid who said, basically, "I will cure cancer by combining nanotubes with electricity making a test strip that will only cost a few cents."

Look, the kid might be bright. Or he might have a father who is promoting him for sensational purposes. Conspicuously missing from the article were:

1) Any details about the solution

2) Any indication that it is more than just some daydream -- No evidence that even a prototype has been assembled in some crude form and tested successfully

3) Any respected scientist saying something like "Wow, the rest of us are such a bunch of fools. We have been spending billions every year for this and the kid just showed us exactly how we can detect Pancreatic cancer much earlier. Now that we see the solution, we can see it looks like a genuine breakthrough."

Lacking any of those things, it sounds to me like a hype job.

Regarding the Intel award, I don't know anything about that award, but there are lots of science awards given to students based mostly on their attitude and enthusiasm, rather than the demonstration of some fundamental scientific breakthrough. If we required a genuine scientific breakthrough before giving any science awards to high schoolers, there wouldn't be many awards given.

I hope I am completely wrong, but I think not. There are far more charlatans than geniuses.