Health Care

In a great reminder that government science spending is about advancing the economic interests of the politicians, bureaucrats and their cronies, not about advancing science or technology, a 15 year old boy develops a cancer test that costs pennies.

"Yes, a 15-year-old boy named Jack Andraka has done what scientists with millions of dollars-worth of research grants at their disposal have failed to do. He invented a dipstick-type sensor to detect pancreatic, ovarian, and lung cancer that is:

• 168 times faster
• 26,000 times less expensive, and
• 400 times more sensitive than the current standard of detection

And he did it using Google and Wikipedia as his primary research tools — online resources that are available to virtually anyone on the planet with an internet connection. What’s more, the test costs three cents, takes five minutes, and has a 90 percent accuracy rate. Compare that to the current standard, which employs 60-year-old technology, costs about $800, and misses 30 percent of all pancreatic cancers."

Thank goodness he didn't believe what he learned in school.