Yes. The entire thesis of the researchers is more than a little bizzare:

No, these machines are going to be used in 'first world' situations in order to help surgeons perform difficult tasks. The idea that someone is going to send a highly complex robot out into the total boonies is pretty far fetched. Surgery is much more than the surgeon. It's the scrub and circulator nurses. It is the sterile OR and equipment. It is anesthesia and pre op and post op nursing. This machine will do little to help with the lack of care.

Now, having a poorly secured surgical robot anywhere isn't such a bright idea and it is likely that the manufacturers need to work on this, but surgery robots are in their infancy at present.

Because 'extremophile' is too hard to spell.

Further, can you imagine an entire state full of Jack Russell terriers?

Scary.

Ripper: Mandrake?
Mandrake: Yes, Jack?
Ripper: Have you ever seen a Commie drink a glass of water?
Mandrake: Well, I can't say I have, Jack.
Ripper: Vodka, that's what they drink, isn't it? Never water?
Mandrake: Well, I-I believe that's what they drink, Jack, yes.
Ripper: On no account will a Commie ever drink water, and not without good reason.
Mandrake: Oh, eh, yes. I, uhm, can't quite see what you're getting at, Jack.
Ripper: Water, that's what I'm getting at, water. Mandrake, water is the source of all life. Seven-tenths of this Earth's surface is water. Why, do you realize that 70 percent of you is water?
Mandrake: Good Lord!
Ripper: And as human beings, you and I need fresh, pure water to replenish our precious bodily fluids.
Mandrake: Yes. (he begins to chuckle nervously)
Ripper: Are you beginning to understand?
Mandrake: Yes. (more laughter)
Ripper: Mandrake. Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water, or rainwater, and only pure-grain alcohol?
Mandrake: Well, it did occur to me, Jack, yes.
Ripper: Have you ever heard of a thing called fluoridation. Fluoridation of water?
Mandrake: Uh? Yes, I-I have heard of that, Jack, yes. Yes.
Ripper: Well, do you know what it is?
Mandrake: No, no I don't know what it is, no.
Ripper: Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face?

It will probably take a while for a satellite flyover to check. IIRC there is a hyperaccurate GPS on, or near, the summit so that might give us some info. Remember the Himalayas are pretty active with some areas getting as much as 1 cm / yr in vertical displacement.

Obviously, this is not the high priority right now.

My first (microprocessor) love. And one that would have remained faithful had I not been entranced by bigger silicon....

You certainly would be.

Money.

Lots of money.

Righter tighter
Lefter looser

That stuff is relatively harmless. I'd not suggest using it as an emergency fluid supply for the reasons you and others mention and the fact that propylene glycol is the active ingredient in a number of bowel preparations used to clean the gut completely out before procedures. You'd be sick, nauseated, completely drained and in a world of butt hurt.

But you won't rust.

This. He could just grab a kilo of meth and get arrested. He'd have his year(s) of solitary confinement, the potential for a catastrophe or two, better medical care and a good buzz.

What's not to like?

They make deep cycle lead acid batteries for (mostly) boats. Typically they last 5-6 years in a marine application and you can drain them to about 10% without problems. Newer controllers are good in that regard. I'm using six deep cycle batteries pulled from various boats as my backup system. They should last for at least another 5 years since they are now warm and dry and not vibrating all of the time. They are also fully recyclable.

Not sure why you'd want to go to a lithium based technology in a stationary application.

If you get yourself stomped in an earthquake, maybe we will send you a package of Doritos and a new keyboard. But that's only if your karma improves. Right now, you're looking to get a couple of Slashdot dupes.

And we're being generous.

The price of admission for us geeky folks to support the infrastructure responsible for the bread-and-circuses is that they have to throw a little bone (less than 1% of GDP) to things we think are cool. Otherwise we would all be cyberterrorists and commies.

Probably not - at least in this case. They are looking at a specific form of cancer, lymphoma. Lymphomas do span the gamut from being indolent to extremely aggressive, hence the need for accurate diagnosis, but we have a fairly good idea of what the natural history of each subtype is. This system is not designed to mow through a bunch of clinical data and pop out a 'cancer' diagnosis.

That said, TFA is incredibly poorly written. It is anything but clear WHAT information they are using (pathology slides? DNA samples? Chart notes?) and it is most certainly not AI.

While over diagnosing pre clinical cancers is a concern, this particular methodology won't make that worse. In fact, if it actually does work, it might decrease what are essentially false positive diagnoses by linking the testing component to the natural history of the disease (eg, 'this particular cancer is mostly harmless, don't worry about it much').