Heman Bekele was inspired by Ethiopian workers laboring under the sun, and wanted to help ‘as many people as possible’

A middle-school teen has been named “America’s top young scientist” after developing a bar of soap that could be useful in the treatment of melanoma, a skin cancer that is diagnosed in about 100,000 people in the US each year and kills approximately 8,000.

  • PatFusty@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Lets get 1 thing straight, no he most likely didnt invent this, a team at 3M did. You always see these stories about rich kids and how they did this amazing thing while at their internship where their dad is the lab manager/owner when in reality these companies just wanted a poster child who was just some intern that is still learning about what titration means. I would bet that the extent of this kids biochemistry knowledge is that mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Also almost certainly doesn’t work as the headline describes.

      “Teenagers cures cancer” is shameless click bait.

    • Cyberflunk@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Where do you get your certainty? Do you have absolutely anything to back this up?

      Don’t get me wrong, the story might be shit, but, that doesn’t make your opinion smell less.

      • PatFusty@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I stayed at a holiday inn last night thats how I know. Do you really need proof that a 12 year old in middle school figured something out that people with PhDs have not done?

        • moonpiedumplings@programming.dev
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          1 year ago

          Considering I know someone, personally, who also made a scientific advancement at a young age, yes, it is possible.

          They taught themselves python, then how to inference and train machine learning models, then used image recognition models to detect their sister’s illness, which had visual signs.

          They had to get help from someone with a phd to test this on a larger scale, cuz resources, but I absolutely believe a middle/high schooler could do it.

          https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/del-norte-high-school-seniors-invention-could-save-thousands-of-lives/3159354/

          It’s not that phd’s are incapable of doing it, it’s simply that they never bothered taking a crack at this problem, using this method.

        • El Barto@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          If you read the article, you’ll realize that he didn’t invent the active components that fight cancer. He invented a new vehicle to deliver such components - the soap.

          For all intents and purposes, the headline is accurate. He invented the soap to treat skin cancer.

          Little Bobby invents a robot that can peel potatoes. Will you say that little Bobby didn’t really do anything because he didn’t invent robots, blades or potatoes?

          • Rodeo@lemmy.ca
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            1 year ago

            Little Bobby had an idea for a potato peeling robot and then somebody else took his idea and actually made it while Bobby is still daydreaming about it.

            Will you say little Bobby invented a new kind of robot?