Portuguese designer creates bee-based cancer
detection device
Scientific research has demonstrated that bees have an acute sense of smell and
can be trained to perform health checks by
detecting a certain odour in a person’s breath.
This concept was used by the Portuguese
designer Susana Soares to create an effective yet
simple device capable of detecting cancer and
other serious diseases.
The bees are placed in a glass chamber into
which the patient exhales; the bees fly into a smaller secondary chamber if they
detect cancer.
The process used to train these “sniffer bees” is quite simple, and the bees can be
trained in as quickly as ten minutes. It consists of exposing the bees to a certain
odour and feeding them with a solution of water and sugar. They will associate the
scent with sugar and will remember it for the rest of their six-week lives.
The project has gotten a lot of interest from charities and proves useful as a form
of detecting a disease in its early stages.
Henrique Costa, 12ºB
6-year-old cancer survivor
donates 700 toys to sick kids
In Washington, Mary Bridge Children's Hospital
got a big gift from a very special little girl.
Dryden, six years old, battled leukaemia for two and a half years. Now that she is
finally free from cancer, a kind idea came up. With help from her brothers and sisters,
she collected and donated more than 700 toys to sick kids at the hospital.
"I had cancer and I got lots of toys," said Dryden. "I want to make other kids happy
with toys, too."
Rita Elias, 12ºC
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