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Comment Re:All you have to do is trigger apotosis (Score 1) 185

So give the patient a fever?

Not exactly - that is worse.

It's more like give the individual cells a fever. Specifically if you can target the out of control cancer cells. The runaway machinery apparently can't cope with being too far outside normal operating range, whereas healthy cells, for the most part, can.

Comment Re:Winning... (Score 1) 185

There was a seminar by one of the scientists who was visiting the UW about evolutionary biology and the implications on viral load and parasites, which pointed out that, even as we reduce specific infestations, other infestations end up replacing them, if we don't alter the polluted water and food sources that created them in the first place.

So I'd say that it is a moving target. Even when we come up with malarial or TB drugs, we still fail to alter the underlying living conditions which create the risk factors in the first place.

Comment Don't reinvent the Wheel (Score 1) 548

A lot of people obsess over making new wheels. They'd be far better off it they wrote a decent object library to do wheels once, maintain it, and spend far more time getting the engine to push the wheel.

Wheels are wheels. You don't need to make a new one every time, unless you're writing the core Wheel program. Spend your time on the stuff that matters, not the inner mechanisms of the windshield washing blade, use someone else's windshield washing blade.

Comment All you have to do is trigger apotosis (Score 1) 185

To trigger that, you only need to raise the internal temp of cancer cells by a couple of degrees C, which would literally kill 98 percent of cancer cells and less than 1 percent of normal cells.

One of the researchers at the Wellcom Trust (sp?) figured that out, we had a Biochem seminar on it a few years back.

Comment The Inconvenient Truth (Score 1) 146

The inconvenient truth is that there is no actual way to stop a highly trained and capable team of individuals from weaponizing most things already INSIDE an airplane, and any trained individual could easily construct passable materials that could be easily reassembled on any airplane anyway.

You're doing it wrong.

Get rid of the TSA and stop wasting our time with this farce.

Want to stop terrorism on planes? Drill into passengers that they must throw coats and blankets and jump on all terrorists or they will all die.

That works.

The rest is crap.

Comment Most likely a combination of things (Score 1) 303

Partly a few rogue countries, but it's more likely high level photochemical reactions above high pollution zones over China where the level of pollution has gone way beyond safe levels. Throw some electrochemical processes and a highly unregulated "military" sector of Chinese companies and you've got a ready source.

Lightning cares nought for your political boundaries. Neither does pollution.

Comment All of the Above (tm) (Score 2) 299

It's actually All of the Above (tm).

It's a way for you to turn off and disable a stolen phone.

And it's a quick way for the Thought Police to turn off all cell phones which take nasty pics and vids and audio when they go all East Germany Stasi on your First Amendment and other rights.

By the way, in case you didn't know, even when they "turn off" wireless and cell node tracers in urban centers that could track your cell phone, they can always turn them back on with 5 minutes. So those cities that "removed" them but never physically removed them still have them enabled for crackdowns on anyone who thinks they actually have rights.

Comment Or you could just use the windows and screens (Score 1) 96

Since a long long time ago (about 50 years now) we've been able to use nearby windows and computer monitors - even picture frames - to pick up sounds inside rooms.

Why bother with a cell phone if you're trying to get a good audio pickup?

If you need to isolate a person, it's not a bad choice, but you can also use the other signals your cell gives out or responds to for locating the person precisely, without technically "using" the phone, and thereby alerting the target.

But, hey, do it the hard way, if you must.

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