Harvard Student Develops Technique To Diagnose Cancer From A SingleDrop Of Blood

Harvard student Neil Davey, A.B. ’18, has developed a technique that pushes the possibility of non-invasive cancer diagnosis one step closer to reality.

Photo: https://www.seas.harvard.edu

His technique involves injecting a tiny amount of blood into a microfluidic device to encapsulate single cells from the blood stream in individual microfluidic drops. Once the cells have been encapsulated, Davey uses a polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a common technique in molecular biology, to target and amplify fragments of cancer DNA within the drops.

“The advantage of this technology is that it is ultra-sensitive, so I can detect as few as one cancer cell from a billion normal cells in the blood,” he said. “The process is also very specific. One can uniquely detect a wide range of cancers using this DNA amplification technology.”

The technique could hold huge implications in the world of cancer diagnostics, which currently relies primarily on invasive and dangerous tumor biopsies. Microfluidics is much easier and cheaper than traditional methods, since the test uses only tiny amounts of reagents and takes 30 to 60 minutes to complete. The technology is currently about 90 percent accurate, but that accuracy can be improved if the test is refined to target more genes of the cancer cell, Davey said.

For Davey, who recently declared an economics concentration with a secondary field in statistics, the opportunity to use his knowledge to potentially improve the lives of cancer patients has been extremely rewarding.

Meet 'Nadine' A Human-Like Robot Who Has a 'Personality, Mood andEmotions'

Photo: telegraph.co.uk

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have unveiled "Nadine," the world's most human-like robot who is socially intelligent, with "her own personality, mood and emotions". Nadine has begun work as a university receptionist as scientists predict the new technology will eventually provide childcare and offer friendship to lonely elderly people. 

Nadine was created to be a doppelganger of Professor Thalmann, according to NTU's news release, which said the "humanoid" has "soft skin and flowing brunette hair. She smiles when greeting you and also shake hands with you, and looks at you in the eye when talking." Unlike conventional robots, Nadine has her own personality, mood and emotions, "she can be happy or sad, depending on the conversation" and  she can even "recognize past guests and spark up conversation based on previous chat." The university added that "Nadine is powered by intelligent software similar to Apple’s Siri or Microsoft’s Cortana."

Prof Thalmann, the director of the Institute for Media Innovation who led the development of said robots such as Nadine are poised to become more visible in offices and homes in future. “Robotics technologies have advanced significantly over the past few decades and are already being used in manufacturing and logistics,” she said. 

“As countries worldwide face challenges of an aging population, social robots can be one solution to address the shrinking workforce, become personal companions for children and the elderly at home, and even serve as a platform for healthcare services in future. 

Untethered jailbreak released for iOS 7

If you asked Santa for the chance to get favorite Jailbreak features back on your iDevice this year, your Christmas miracle has arrived. The Evasion team has released a jailbreak tool for devices running iOS 7

Google Glass wearers can now take photos by WINKING

As part of the December software update, Google Glass wearers can now take photos by winking.

 In the latest software update for the wearable technology, users can now take photos by winking in the direction of the object they want to photograph.
The device’s built-in camera registers the movement of the eye to take the shot and to make sure this movement isn’t mistaken for a blink, the wink will need to be exaggerated to register. 

Accidental inventions that changed the world.

1. Matches

We all wonder what life was like before electricity or the Internet, but imagine life before matches. For those of us who like to create controlled flame from time to time with the strike of a match, we can thank a British pharmacist and his dirty mixing stick. In 1826, John Walker noticed a dried lump on the end of a stick while he was stirring a mix of chemicals.

Experiment finds that plants won't grow near WI-FI router.

 In a 21st Century world, we are increasingly surrounded by WI-FI, yet there is no clear scientific consensus about its effects on us. However, an experiment has shown that these invisible signals generated from cellphones and laptops could be causing serious damage to plants.

Physicists Say Universe Might Be About To Collapse.

 The universe might be about to collapse, scientists have announced.

It has long been predicted that the universe, which has been expanding since the event known as the Big Bang, might one day reach a point where the process would reverse.

In that scenario - which could have several causes - the universe would begin to contract and eventually compact into a small hard ball - a similar state to the pre-Big Bang.
But one of the many unanswered questions that surround that theory is exactly when this might occur.
Now physicists say they might have evidence, it could br sooner, rather than later.
A team at the University of Southern Denmark say that according to their calculations, it is possible that a process called a universal "phase transition" could begin at virtually any time in which every particle in existence becomes extremely heavy.

Google buys Boston Dynamics, maker of spectacular and terrifying robots.

 Google has acquired robotics engineering company Boston Dynamics, best known for its line of quadrupeds with funny gaits and often mind-blowing capabilities. Products that the firm has demonstrated in recent years include BigDog, a motorized robot that can handle both ice and snow, the 29 mile-per-hour Cheetah, and an eerily convincing humanoid known as PETMAN. News of the deal was reported on Friday by The New York Times, which says that the Massachusetts-based company's role in future Google projects is currently unclear.

Should You Tape Over Your Webcam?

 If you're one of those people who gets made fun of for putting a piece of tape over your webcam, don't worry—you're not crazy. Unfortunately, your paranoia is justified, since it is in fact, possible for the internet's n'er-do-wells to secretly seize power of your computer's forward-facing camera.

 Webcam spying came to headline news earlier this year when news broke of a "sextortion" situation in which Miss Teen USA was surreptitiously photographed au naturale by a remotely-hacked webcam. Ostensibly, the hacker infected the pageant winner's computer with spyware, using remote access tools to secretly enable the webcam.